A strange new life. [Naruto]

[okashihime]

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?

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 were 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.

The door burst open mid-inspection. I turned my eyes to the newcomers.

A man dressed in white kimono, severe face, long black hair, upturned thin eyebrows, white eyes. The corners of his eyes were deformed, like veins coming from the sides of his face.

I knew that face. I knew the name. I even knew what was happening to his eyes. That man was Hyuga Hiashi, clan head, my father. What? No! My dad died when I was eight. My name was Camilla, but I was also Hinata. I was fifteen, almost sixteen. I was three years old, and always failed when training the family techniques? I couldn't sense chakra, even with my byakugan. This was so trippy.

Hyuga Hiashi byakugan stare pierced my soul. I felt naked and unclean.

Others rushed inside the room. Women and men in white clothes, but not the same as Hiashi; it was a uniform of sorts. They were deferential; I could see they wanted, but dared not, to stop father. Hiashi stepped closer without a word. His hand was closed in a severe fist. We didn't break eye contact. I knew there was something wrong when he pointed a glowing white finger at me.

"Can you tell me what's happening here, Hiashi?" An old man's voice broke the moment.

I tore my eyes from my fat—Hiashi, looked at the man who, one moment ago, hadn't been in the room. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't mistake him. Smaller than Hiashi, but his presence demanded attention. White pointy goatee, old-looking face, three lines from the eyes to his cheeks, two marks on his left cheek. Funny red and white hat with the fire symbol, and the white clothes were just to make sure everyone knew this grandpa was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," father bowed.

"What were you trying to do to Hinata?"

"I've told you, Hiruzen," Father said, voice heated. "My daughter died two years ago. This thing," Hiashi said, pointed at me, "is not her!"

"I don't agree with your reasoning, Hiashi, but I respect the Hyuga clan's decision."

"Then why are you stopping me?" Father demanded.

"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, fingers still pointed at me.

Something inside me died at those words. The small, frail part of me 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, a 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 was I in Naruto? That didn't make any sense. This was not how the story was supposed to go. Fat—Hiashi 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?

 

[okashihime]

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 I was three. No one knew where I was for the last two years.

That helped me put some things into perspective. The event known as the Hyuga affair happened when Hinata was three years old. The Third Raikage sent his village Head Ninja to kidnap her— 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 — my uncle — was offered to Kumogakure as restitution.

That seems to be the point of divergence from the original time-line. Hina—I 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 it 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.

"Very well, it pleases me to know that." He smiled; it looked genuine. I wasn't sure if it was. "I'll—" He started, but I moved my hands again. I mimicked writing, drawing the hiragana characters in the air. Hinata hadn't learned enough kanji before being kidnapped, mastering only the simpler version of the language.

Nevertheless, I wrote. "Could I ask for something?"

I didn't know if Hiruzen was used to this type of conversation. The man didn't blink or even struggle to understand the words I wrote.

"And what would you ask for?"

I looked down. A nurse had been kind enough to bring me a mirror. When I looked at myself, I saw Hinata's face reflected. Dark blue hair had started to grow again. It was still the same round, soft face except for the eyes. They were not white anymore. The girl in the mirror had black eyes, and if I looked hard enough, one of the pupils was vertical, like a snake's. Another reason why Hiashi wanted to kill me?

I looked back at the Hokage. He waited patiently. It was a gamble, but without any clan resources, I wasn't sure I could keep up with people from this world. I wanted an advantage. I wanted a cheat. I wrote again.

"Fuinjutsu theory books. Language primer." My reasoning was simple. The fourth Hokage was cool. And sealing techniques are op. Without a Dojutsu cheat, seals were the next best option.

Old man Hokage scratched his chin. Looked me up and down. "Can you cast Fuinjutsu?"

I had no idea. I think most people can cast it, but the real question was if I had any affinity to it, which I didn't think I did. At least initially, Hinata didn't study that field. I shrugged.

"Very well," Old man Hokage said, "I'll give a scroll with basic instructions. If you can learn from it, I'll give you more."

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.

 

[okashihime]

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 that 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's hairstyle 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 by an older woman, an older man, his mother and father, probably, and a teenager. A portly ninja talked with Uchiha's father figure. 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 an open finger glove. Call me a weeb if you want. But I was already inside the 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 the 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.

"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 the academy, I expected gruesome training, constant spar, intense mental exercises. What I got was children's 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 to him.

"What is it, Hinata-chan?" The man asked, knelt, tousled my hair.

I froze a bit. I wasn't expecting this kind of treatment. I soldiered on. I took my communication board, wrote what I needed. "I don't know how to sense chakra. Can you teach me?"

Sensei stared at the board for a moment, scratched his goatee. Smiled. "Well, we don't start teaching it until later years, you are not behind your peers."

I nodded, that was fair, but still, I needed to learn. "Teach me, please?" I wrote.

Sensei nodded, sat down cross legged. "Why not," he said. I copied his movements, sat down. The man extended his hand, white light burning on it. I felt it, hot and inviting. I wanted to—

"Can you feel this?" Sensei asked.

I blinked, surprised. Nodded. Wrote on my board. "Hot, cozy."

Sensei read my words, burst out laughing, Hands holding his large belly. I didn't know what was funny about what I wrote.

"Right, sorry." Sensei said. "That's good, everyone feels chakra in a different way. That's good." Sensei taped above his navel. Physical and spiritual energy are stored here," tapped his heart, "and chakra is generated here."

I nodded. I knew that one. The chakra pathway system, or meridians. The Hyuga clan was big on that, with their gentle fist style that mostly targeted meridians to block chakra flow. Hinata, unfortunately, never really learned about it. And it wasn't discussed as much in the story, but I knew the basics. The dantian stored physical and spiritual energy. The heart mixed both to produce chakra.

"Good." Sensei said. "Close your eyes, try to feel the chakra inside you. It should be easy, your reserves are large."

I noted Sensei's phrasing. Was he a sensor type? I did as he asked. Closed my eyes, and tried to feel the chakra inside me. Time passed, not sure how long, but nothing. I opened my eyes, looked at sensei again. I could feel his chakra when he projected like that, but I didn't know how to feel my own. I shook my head. Wrote on my board.

"I don't know what to do." I admitted.

"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 known 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 its 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.

 

[okashihime]

Oof, I might have bungled the initial posting. Haha.
There's a lot more chapters already written and posted elsewhere. I'll add them over the next days.

 

[okashihime]

Using chakra was instinctual and awesome. I didn't even need to direct the energy, it moved on its own to fill my legs, feet and eyes. I ran. Faster and longer than I ever ran before. I don't know 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 the 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 overthrow 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.

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 root 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 — at least for me — 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.

A dumb idea sparkled in my brain. Maybe not dumb. Old man Hokage said he would give me more fuinjutsu if I learned the first scroll. I could use that. Learn the scroll, then march to the Hokage tower and ask to talk with the old man. I'm pretty sure he would make time to talk with me. I could ask to talk with Wolf-senpai who rescued me, say I wanted to thank my saviour. That wasn't a good plan, but it was a plan. I risked being noticed by Danzo, but he would never be as vulnerable as he was now, with only one stolen sharingan and without Shisui's Mangekyo.

I closed the water. My fingers were already blue and puckered. I dried myself, got warm clothes. It was time to learn fuinjutsu.

---

My routine didn't change much compared to the first day of academy. I woke early, ran for about one hour. Ate breakfast. Made lunch. Went to the academy, played the games, mouthed the letters songs. Two things did change, however. I couldn't avoid learning things faster than the other kids, I was, at least in my own head, a teenager. I didn't want to draw more attention than necessary. I clamped down on my chakra. Hard.

After awakening my own perception, I couldn't see, but I could feel the bundle of warmth inside each of the kids, and the bonfire inside the instructors. I looked for Naruto. It was easy to find him with this new perception. The brat had a freaking sun of chakra inside his belly, but only one source of chakra. Whoever created the Kyuubi's seal was a master. I couldn't feel Kurama's chakra.

I even realized the kids were using chakra instinctively to strengthen their muscles. I didn't. No instinctual chakra enhancement for me. The difference was immediate. I got slower. I couldn't keep up with the other kids while playing the ninja games. I got tired fast. It drew a bit of attention at first, since I had been able to keep up on the first day, but sensei soon gave it up as a bad job. Which worked fine for me. I didn't know if it worked like that, but If I managed to keep up with shinobi without using chakra, when I did use it, I would have the upper hand. Raise the baseline before applying the buffs, right?

I've gotten a fair share of nicknames in the first weeks. Kids, being the cruel things they were. Ochitahime(fallen princess), Oshihime(mute princess), even Kurohime(black princess) I heard. It didn't really bother me.

In those first weeks, I also put some of my plans to work. Well, one of my plans. I had no intention of following up with canon events and marrying Naruto, but that didn't mean I couldn't make his academy years easier. Truth be told, Naruto fresh out of the academy was a pain: loud, rude, annoying. But even so, I liked him. And didn't want him to suffer too much. Thus, my befriend Naruto's plan started.

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

On the second day of the 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-eyed, 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 know 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.

 

[okashihime]

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 known for their precise chakra control. How in the hell was it so hard? I might not have the name anymore, but I was still a Hyuga, right?

I didn't know 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 it 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, others were added. Hand to eye coordination exercises, pattern recognition. Even in the form of children's games, I wasn't fooled. It was training, even harder for me who refused to use chakra.

After those first few days, Naruto stuck to me like a sad puppy. Follow 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. Making 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. That was so dumb. I should have realized I would need more money. Should have saved more instead of paying extra for the old lady to change the clothes to my liking. Guess Naruto would have to take responsibility. And I would need Daikoku-Sensei's help.

When classes ended I grabbed Naruto before he ran away.

"Hinata-chan? What is it?" The brat asked.

I rolled my eyes. Ignored his question. Dragged a squirming Naruto to sensei. Released his hand, but glared at him when he wanted to leave. I pointed down and stomped my feet. He got the message. No leaving. I got my communication board. Sensei looked amused.

I wrote. "Sensei, I need your help to talk with Naruto. Can you read it for him?" I showed my board to sensei.

The portly man chuckled. "I can do that."

I bowed in thanks. Easier than writing. I erased the previous message, wrote another. "Naruto, I've been making bentos for you all month long, but I ran out of money. If you want me to keep doing it, you need to help me buy stuff." I showed sensei the board.

The man looked between me and Naruto, read the words out loud.

Naruto, the dumb kid stuttered. "W-what you mean, Hinata-chan?"

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 by 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 its 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 that advice 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.

 

[okashihime]

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.

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 there was 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 trying 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 seen 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 like 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's games in the morning, which I 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.

In the afternoons, the kids now had painting classes, which taught them calligraphy. I already knew it. No sensei complained that I kept studying things on my own.

At night, fuinjutsu now took most of my time. I still kept with chakra training exercises, adding ever more heavy stuff to my own body and keeping them glued there with chakra. At some point, I tried adding more than one object at the same time, but that was a whole new level of hard. Right now, I need to master the technique the old man Hokage left for me, instead of ramping up the chakra control difficulty.

Three weeks in I already knew the scroll contents by heart. It was a simple seal designed to store a small object, like a kunai or a bunch of shuriken. I couldn't recreate the seal with chakra. The scroll didn't teach me how. Had to draw it by hand, and push chakra in the symbols. It took two more weeks before I could re-create the symbols without error.

About three and a half months of hard training and I finally managed to do it.

I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go with this plan. Even this early, Sasuke was a jerk. But I don't think the whole clan deserved death, and Konoha would benefit greatly by just removing Danzo before he got his hands on Shisui's sharingan. I still had no idea how I would convince Kakashi-Sensei to help me. I hope he would.

That night, I prepared everything I needed. Made a copy of the seals. Stored a pebble, a coin. Others I left empty, ready to use if the old man asked me to. I also packed my writing supplies and more ink to draw seals. I wasn't a fast drawer, It took me a few minutes to finish the thing, but it worked. Speed would come with practice.

Next day, after the morning training — I couldn't call it games anymore, those things were too tiring for me to call it a game — I left the academy, walked toward the Hokage tower. I never been there myself, but the place wasn't a secret.

I walked up to the door, stopped to steel my nerves before entering it. I couldn't see it, but a bonfire of chakra had started following me when I got closer to the entrance. Followed me inside as well. I was nervous. I looked about, checking out the place. It was my first time here. The place where the bundle of chakra was had no one. Stealth jutsu? Trippy. The tower lobby reminded me of those old hotels. Plants decorations, a kunoichi wearing a forehead protector behind a desk. Stairs on the corners leading up.

The kunoichi didn't look up when I entered. That was fine, it gave me time. I took my board, wrote on it. I hesitated for a moment before showing it to the woman. The hidden shinobi had walked just behind me to read over my shoulder. It was fine. I could do this. I got up, knocked on the desk to get the woman—teenager's attention. Showed her the board.

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 the 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 sounding like she was singing.

I nodded. Took out my bag, picked up the original fuinjutsu scroll, put it 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 it to 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!

 

[okashihime]

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, it 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 sat 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?

"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 know 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 bundles of chakra around the room. ANBU and ROOT if I had to guess.

My eyes still hadn't left the enemy when I finished writing. I raised my board.

The Hokage chuckled. Danzo got up from his chair, face stormy.

"Leave it, Danzo, it's only a child."

Hypocrite Danzo fumed. He turned to the Hokage, glared. "Why you waste your time with this I'll never understand." Danzo turned around and left, not without glaring at me again. His chakra surged, like a tidal wave. It engulfed me, it promised death, it demanded obedience. It was evil, uncaring. It squeezed my heart, gouged my eyes, stabbed me a thousand times.

The door banged closed behind me and my legs gave up. I fell down, trembling. Tears fell from my eyes, I hadn't noticed I started crying. I looked at the board. I don't know why I wrote that. The words there were my actual feelings when I entered the room.

It read: "Your ugly face scared me."

Old man Hokage was by my side. Still chuckling. Didn't seem aware of what had just happened. "The ugly man left," he said with another chuckle, "It's okay now." He stopped, tilted his head. "Although, don't make it a habit to insult those stronger than you. It's a bad habit to have." Was that tacit approval to insult those weaker than me?

I nodded frantically. That had been dumb, even if it had worked. Insulting the man to make him leave in a fit of anger. One of the other bonfires of chakra left as well. I guess now it was only the Hokage and the ANBU.

Hokage-sama helped me to my feet and sat me on the guest chair. Circle around, sat on his chair again. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He asked.

Right, not time to woolgather. I had plans. Plans I might have just doomed by antagonizing the enemy. I took my board, erased the insult, wrote on it again. Presented it to the Hokage.

He read it, not commenting on me still not speaking. "Have you now?" He asked. "Show me."

I did just that. I took the original scroll manual from my bag and placed it on his desk. I picked the two seals I had created, one with the pebble, the other with the coin. Placed those on the desk as well. I picked the three other empty seals I prepared, placed them open for the old man to peruse.

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 — something I was starting to think was due to chakra — many of the other brats in the academy thought nothing about it aside from games and stuff. I had put effort into 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 things in 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 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 it inside my bag. Part one of my plan was 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 a 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!

 

[okashihime]

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 myself 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 the story run its 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 obscured Kakashi's expression 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 squeals 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.

"Oh, for me as well?" The man asked, picked up the sandwich. He unwrapped it, sniffed. Took a bite. "That's an interesting flavor," said after chewing. "What is this white sauce?" He asked, took another bite.

I scurried to wipe my board, wrote more. After checking that I got everything right, I showed the Hokage the board again. "It's called mayo." I used katakana to write the mayo part, since it wasn't a native word. I wanted them to think it was something I came up with. "Eggs, vinegar, oil and salt. Mix it very thoroughly."

Hiruzen took another bite of his chicken sandwich. "It has a distinct flavor. How did you come up with that?"

Yikes. Hadn't expected him to ask that. I went with the excuse I planned for everything.

I erased the board, wrote on it: "I dreamed about it."

Old man just hummed, said nothing. Well, that was as good a time as any to skedaddle. I bowed once more. Packed everything, moved toward the door. The old man called from behind his desk.

"Thank you for the meal Hinata-chan. Wolf-san will walk you to the entrance."

In the time I wasn't looking, Kakashi's sandwich had disappeared, so had the candy. The man moved behind me. I nodded to him, he nodded back.

Kakashi led me through the maze of corridors until I was out. He didn't follow me outside, but that was okay. I could find my way from here. That went great, that went really well. I had been afraid somehow the Hokage would ask more stuff, which I didn't want to answer. Or that Kakashi wouldn't show up. Freaking Danzo there threw me out of the loop for a moment, but all is well when it ends well. As they say.

With a pep on my step, I ran home. I had more things to study, and a serious conversation to prepare for.

---

Kakashi looked at the girl running with abandon down the road. Hinata had the makings of a great kunoichi. Able to use chakra at the age of five, even more so fuinjutsu. The girl had surprised him with her seals. At the Hokage request, he had been keeping an eye on her, to make sure the Hyuga clan wouldn't try anything untoward, among other things.

He walked inside the Hokage office again. Removed his mask. Slouched on the chair.

"What do you think?" The old man asked.

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 at others."

"Humm," Hiruzen considered. "I thought the same." He took some papers from the table, read them, 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 for 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's whereabouts. 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 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 was Orochimaru's sleeper agent.

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."

 

[okashihime]

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 to 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, and 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 slowly was 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 — ended up going with the coins anyway — 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, strengthening 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.

Time passed. I might have fallen asleep. I wasn't sure. But I was awake now, and something wasn't right. I didn't move. Kept my breathing slow. Tried to pretend I was still sleeping. There was a bundle of chakra inside my apartment. It burned cold, indifferent. It wasn't one I have ever felt before. I would know. They were by my bed.

My heart pounded. It was a miracle the intruder didn't heard it. A finger touched my forehead. Chakra flooded my brain. The world turned hazy. I was so tired, sleepy. What was I thinking just now? Something inside me stirred. My own chakra surged. It slurped on the intruding energy, like a fat kid slurping spaghetti. Messy, icky, oh so tasty. I gasped. I punched, kicked, flailed wildly.

There was a muffled sound, something hit me in the head, hard, painful. It hurt even more when I hit the ground at a strange angle. My arm bent in a way it wasn't supposed to. It hurt so much, I wanted to cry.

There were other noises inside my apartment. Another bundle of chakra. I heard painful grunts, steel piercing flesh. Iron smell in the air, water dripping nearby. It hurt too much. Darkness engulfed me again.

---

I opened my eyes again. I was somewhere else. Not my apartment. I was on a bed, a blanket covering me. My arm hurt, but not as much as I expected. I sat down. My whole arm was in some sort of casket. Huh. I looked around. A plain bedroom. Soft beige walls. A shelf. Books. Few other decorations. It didn't look like a prison.

A door on the other side opened, in walked Kakashi-sensei still wearing his ANBU's uniform. We stared at each other. He turned around, walked out of the room. Returned a moment later with a chair. Placed it by my bed. Sat with his arms draped on the back of the chair like those cool guys from school. Sooo cool. I forgot the pain for a moment. Had to hold down a mute squeal of joy.

"You wanted to talk." He stated.

I looked around. Didn't see my board anywhere, nor anywhere else I could write. I shrugged. Wrote on the air. "What happened?"

Kakashi-sensei stared at me for a long moment. "Someone tried to kidnap you," he drawled, "again."

Right, I could have put that one together. That's 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."

 

[okashihime]

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 want 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 — even if I'm just saying they are dreams — should be doable. Stranger things happen in Naruto stories 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 lasers through his eyes, I'd be dead. I took another deep breath. I wrote. "Most of the dreams make 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 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 of them, Orochimaru calls him Zetsu. His appearance was 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 an 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."

Kakashi had started pacing again. He looked at me several times, before pacing even more. I gave the man time. I had just dumped a shitload of things on him. And I was about to make his day even worse.

"The second dream?" Kakashi-sensei asked, after what felt like an hour of pacing inside the small room.

I didn't know if the first 'dream' was plausible, but at least believed it could be. I tried my best to give some details about Zetsu, and hint that the Uchiha clan wasn't responsible for the kyuubi attack. This next one was pure fabrication. I would be pushing credibility. I didn't pick Kakashi-sensei just because he was cool. I did it because I knew the man didn't like Danzo, on the account of Danzo trying to kill him to steal Obito's sharingan. I was banking on that prejudice helping Kakashi-sensei look past all the holes in my story.

"In the second dream, I'm somewhere underground. A lab of sorts. I'm talking with—" I stopped, hesitated. Damn, I was such a coward. Even now that man scared the fuck out of me. I shuddered. Moved my fingers again. "I'm discussing plans to create something for someone who Orochimaru addresses as Danzo."

Kakashi went still. I couldn't blame him. God save me. I soldiered on.

"I don't understand all the details. But Orochimaru is making something out of something else called Senju. Most of the conversation is too difficult to follow, but Orochimaru is getting, not excited, but anticipation? Orochimaru asks about a sample, says Hiruzen would object. Danzo dismisses those concerns with a wave of his hand, saying the old fool can't do anything." I tilt my head. The narrative I was trying to hint was Orochimaru hard on for anything dojutsu. "At some point, he asks Danzo how the eye is behaving. Danzo got defensive. Aggressive. They argue. Danzo left soon after. Before the dream ends. Orochimaru chuckles, very creepy. He murmured, intense, looking to where Danzo went, more like a question. Uchiha Shisui next? The dream goes on for a bit more, but Orochimaru is reading papers I can't read."

Tension bled from my shoulders. I leaned back on the bed again. Took deep breaths. Man, this was hard.

Silence stretched inside the room. Until I heard Kakashi walking to the door. I sat again. Looked at him. "Don't go anywhere. Sleep. You are safe here." He ordered.

I did as the man commanded, and settled down to sleep again.

---

I didn't know what I expected. It certainly wasn't another meeting with the Hokage. The man asked me how I felt, and asked nothing about what I told Kakashi-sensei the previous day. I hoped that meant Kakashi-sensei hadn't told the old man. I took the opportunity to press on my luck, to ask stuff.

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, the 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.

 

[okashihime]

Kakashi-sensei took me to my apartment later that same day. We didn't talk much. He entered the house with me, and I spotted the dried blood near my bed. Yikes, couldn't they at least have cleaned the place a bit?

A hand falling on 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 sorts 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. — How could he be this cool? — 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 that 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 if 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.

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 where each function was a tile, and you just connect functions using wirelines through input output. Trippy. Which meant it was rote memorization work, and boring words at that.

The scrolls old man Hokage gave explained the theory, then listed dozens of basic building blocks. It gave examples of how to combine those blocks to create an effect. This wasn't really what I wanted. I wanted to understand, learn how these seals worked. This would let me create my own seals, sure, but I was limited by the existing vocabulary. It felt like something missed there and I didn't know what.

Days blurred in a haze of physical training, chakra training, rote memorization. The stress of not knowing if my plan worked only made things worse. Kakashi-sensei didn't visit again. I had no reason to see the Hokage. Not until I mastered the seal vocabulary, which I wasn't nowhere close to.

Days turned to weeks, and before I realized, first semester of the Academy ended.

I didn't know what to do. Had my plan worked? There was nothing unusual, nor did people behave differently. Sasuke didn't change. Still a kid, still a stuck up kid, still a stuck up jerk kid. The anime implied Itachi had been accused of killing Shisui, even got in a fight with his clan about it. That would affect Sasuke, right? But no, Emosuke didn't change a bit. Arrogant, stupid emo.

I put that out of my mind. I had tried. Stressing over unknown results wouldn't help me any.

Second semester rolled in. Cast on my arm finally gone. Training introduced other types of activities. Tree climbing. Tag games. Hiding games. Capture flag. Shinobi rules games and works. Some of the simpler kids loved it. Loudmouth Naruto delighted in those games, even if most of the other kids played with him only when ordered by a sensei. It was in the second semester he started pranking people. I felt bad for him. But the lazybones hadn't learned how to read yet. I couldn't talk with him.

Sasuke, as expected, excelled in almost all activities. Almost all, because I still beat him in mental games. Perks of being older? I was better at maths and physics. I had an easier time understanding and solving problems. I felt really ashamed of gloating my mental prowess over a kid. Urgh, I'm the worst. But really, the jerk went out of his way to prove himself better than me in everything else.

At least, that was what he believed. I still kept true to myself. I didn't advertise learning fuinjutsu. I hadn't any reason to show off my chakra control. My taijutsu was a mix of Konoha's basic martial arts and whatever I could remember from the Hyuga gentle fist. It was a mess.

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 behave 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 mastered the exercise, I paid another visit to the old man. Or at least I tried to. Kunoichi Secretary-chan didn't lead me up into the tower 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 was pretty funny. I might use her to taste test my other concoctions.

 

[okashihime]

Second year of the 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 phrases and the S-rank mission triggered 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 a 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.

Might very well have been just the results of intense training. Placebo. I felt good about it. I thought it was working. That was enough for me.

I still kept up with my chakra control training. I had something stuck to me all the time, beneath my clothes. It was second nature by this point. I didn't even notice it anymore. I still had more active training, at least two times a week. Among the new exercises I got from the Hokage, there were these ones where you needed to expel the chakra from your hand, interact with something at a distance. From there, creating chakra threads. Use the threads to interact with stuff. There was even the origami folding exercise. All year long I toiled with those, improving bit by bit. When I finally mastered them, I went to see the old man again. Like before, Secretary-chan had another set of exercises for me. Alongside those exercises, I just thought about things I couldn't do with my chakra, and trained until I could do it.

My hair kept moving while I was wall-walking? Train chakra to keep hair and clothes unmoving. Add to that the normal sticking stuff exercise. Too easy? Add multiple stuff, of varying sizes. It took too much time to push chakra into the seal? Train fast expelling chakra without losing cohesion. And so on. Wherever I looked, there was something I couldn't do with chakra that needed training.

My taijutsu still was a mess. I was weaker and slower. I know, my fault that. My way of fighting changed to something like reaction based combat. Combining what I remembered of the gentle fist, Konoha's style, I created my own set of movements designed to deflect and evade. Redirect others' attacks. Trim down necessary movements. That was the only way I could compete. Where others were faster and stronger, I moved less, redirected instead of fighting it.

I still lost more often than not. Kids like Sasuke and other clan kids who had their parents to teach them often managed to kick my behind pretty easy. But others? Naruto was the easiest to defeat. He never planned his attacks. His movements were always exaggerated. Made it easy to redirect the flow. I couldn't actually beat him on stamina. He would always get up. But our spars were often just a few minutes, not hour long slogs.

Second year of the academy also introduced the kunoichi classes: Make-up, flower arrangement, tea making, music, the usual girl stuff. Between the many instruments available, I was drawn to the Koto, the thirteen string cumbersome zither instrument that spoke to my soul. I couldn't carry one with me, they were too big for that, but I was already making plans. If I created a big enough seal, I could store that baby and have it with me all the time. I could see it. Imagine Shino and Kiba's face when I played Taylor's Shake it off for them. I grinned. It was an evil grin. I couldn't help it!

Of my other side projects I also saw improvements. I've taken to using Secretary-chan as a 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 gossip. 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 the second year, the 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 for 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 up 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.

 

[okashihime]

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—it 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.

That was so mean. Best Girl Ino should know I was her biggest fan. I couldn't wait until she did it again.

Humm, there was something wrong with that wish.

Before I could figure out what was happening, the door opened again and in strode a kunoichi. I had expected, somehow, for the woman to be dressed in a luxurious kimono, face full of makeup, hair tied on a complicated updo. The kunoichi had long, curly, black hair and wore oval glasses along with red lipstick. Her outfit was a simple pink kimono with mesh armour underneath and a pair of baggy red pants with flip-flop-like sandals worn with socks. Totally not what I was expecting.

She crossed the room, stood in front of us. Face serious, eyes sharp.

"Welcome to your first Kunoichi class. I'm a chunin, you may call me Suzume-sensei. From me, you'll learn things the silly brats out there couldn't even dream about."

I cast a glance around the room. That small speech got most of the class's attention.

"Look around," Sensei said, gesturing to the room at large. "Everything in this room is a tool in our arsenal. Everything is a weapon of deception and information gathering." Sensei pointed at the mannequin with the fancy kimono. "That kimono? It can conceal more weapons than normal utility pouches, it can also distract your target." She pointed at the tea set. "The tea ceremony isn't just about etiquette, it's about controlling the flow of the room, reading your target's body language, and maintaining composure under pressure and attention."

I nodded, that made sense. I liked the idea of being the center of an intricate web of intrigue and lies. That looked very cool.

Suzume-sensei pointed to the flower arrangement. "The flowers you'll arrange aren't just decoration. They can be a hidden message, or a hidden weapon laced with poison. Your imagination is the only thing that will limit how you use these tools."

There was a bit of a hubbub in class, girls gossiping and snickering. Somehow, that was enough to break all of sensei's persona. She went from someone looking confident to something else.

"While you learn the subtle ways of a ninja, the brats outside are throwing kunai, getting stronger, and learning how to fight." Another burst of giggles. Not sure why they were laughing, that was horrible. Suzume-glared at the whole class, or tried to, she looked more like a scaredy-cat, the act was there, but no way I felt intimidated by her. "Being a kunoichi is excelling in the subtle arts, and being equal, if not better than the brats. You are my students. If I catch any of you doing less than your absolute best, there will be hell to pay!"

A few girls burst out in open giggles, others just looked away. Sensei just stood there, looking now more nervous than I felt at the start. The woman shuffled, adjusted her glasses. "We'll start with the tea-making ceremony."

That was so strange. Was she a good or a bad kunoichi? Or maybe this was an elaborate act?

---

Sensei showed us the proper tea ceremony etiquette. I, and the whole gaggle of girls, didn't miss that sensei cleaned the utensils four times before actually using it, or how she immediately dipped a napkin on some sort of liquid from a small transparent bottle and used that to clean her hands, face and arms. Wild.

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 wanted 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 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.

 

[okashihime]

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 to 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 explosion's location. I had the inkling that the battle, far as it was, waged on the Uchiha compound.

The village was in uproar the next day. Rumors run 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 a 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.

Emosuke skipped the rest of the semester, much to the gaggle of fan-girls consternation. I enjoyed the break. No more emo trying to beat me at everything.

In the second semester of the academy, we started to learn the first of the three academy ninjutsu. Henge no Jutsu. We started with hand seals. Dog - Boar - Ram. Again and again, the sensei's demonstrated how we need to circulate the chakra for this technique.

Sasuke had returned with the new semester. He had changed. Still arrogant, still a jerk, but now a sullen, depressed jerk. Really? What's up with the brat? I know his father died, but it could have been worse. Why was he assuming the same sullen persona from the story? Was it really fate? I knew he was the reincarnation of Indra, and the Curse of Hatred, but really?

Depressed Sasuke became even more of a pain to deal with. He was obsessed with being the first, the best. Sparring with him was almost torture. He went for weak spots. Hit where it would hurt. Didn't stop until I couldn't get up anymore. The fucker. The only other he treated like that was loudmouth Naruto, who declared himself Sasuke's rival.

For a time, I considered cheating. Use chakra and teach the brat a lesson. But I resisted. That was good training. I was pretty sure I would always fight an uphill battle against the monsters of this world: Orochimaru, Tobi, a whole bunch of S-rank missing-nin. It hurt my pride to admit, but getting my ass handed out by Emosuke just proved how much I still had to train. What business did I have with the gods of shinobi of this world when I couldn't deal with a depressed kid?

I didn't hold back in the things I was good at. Intelligence work, deciphering things, coded messages. Strategy. I wasn't top of the class, but I did very well on those. My music practice continued apace. I managed to beg an instrument from the Academy to practice at home. I took to playing in the evenings to relax.

By the end of the third year, the shape of the class took form. Sasuke was the overall first place. Naruto was the overall last place. I was in the middle of class scores. I was good at some things, passable at others. By then, I knew how to create simple fuinjutsu and how to modify existing ones. I went with the classics: ankle and arm weight bracelets. Adding weights made me even worse at the physical aspects of my training. I didn't mind. No one expected anything from me in that area anyway.

Emosuke started to have a negative effect even in the ball of sunshine that was Naruto. I was getting worried.

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's 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 time a little fire. It was rare that 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 the 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.

 

[okashihime]

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— 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.

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.

"Obacchan, teach me about flower arrangements! I need to win a bet against Sakura-chan!"

Natsu-baachan was the first to react. She chuckled. "Sakura-chan you say? Wasn't she the little devil you said was so pretty you could hardly look at her?"

I staggered at the surprise attack.

Chiyo-baa didn't let up. "What about Best Girl Ino? She isn't in the picture anymore?"

I staggered two more steps. Damn, I forgot how insidious these grannies were. This was going to be a long battle.

---

It had been a brutal fight. It took all my cunning, guile and a copious amount of cupcakes to convince the gossip club. I even had to sacrifice my hair to appease tousling hands. But I persevered, and now I had the information I needed. There was… a lot more to consider regarding flower arrangement that hadn't been covered in the Kunoichi classes. Was this a case of lack of time? From the brief glimpse I saw of grandma's words, flower arrangement was like a vast, deep, unfathomable ocean.

But I had grasped a few essentials: flower type, color, balance, and presentation. I was ready to win. I took out the small slip of paper where I wrote the places to gather those flowers from. Kiyo-Obacchan was kind enough to list a few spots for me, and how I should arrange the flowers for the best effect.

Armed with knowledge, a plan and a recipe, I ran. Not for long, however. The last person I was expecting to see barred my path.

"There you are." Ino huffed, pulled the hair out of her face. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

What was she doing here? Why? I took out my board, my hands shook just a bit. I wrote my question. "Shouldn't you be helping with the shop?"

Ino-chan rolled her eyes. Walked closer, looked at the slip of paper I was still holding. "Mom's mission was canceled." Ino said like that explained everything. "I'm going to help you win that stupid bet. Sakura-chan went too far this time."

I blinked, owlish and confused. Huh, what was happening? I mean, in the years since, I was on somewhat good terms with all the girls in the class. My early fangirling had mostly subdued, and I could say that if I wasn't friends with Ino and Sakura, we were at least on good terms. I mean, I wanted to say we were friends, the silly bet was friends material right? But to have Ino take my side? Wasn't she glued at the hip with Sakura-chan?

Ino plucked the treasure map from my fingers. "Nice choice of flowers." She tapped her chin, gave me a complicated, mischievous look. Grabbed my hand, dragged me. "Come, I know where you can find these." We had taken two steps when she stopped, looked at me, serious. "But it will take time to gather everything. I'll prepare the tea. Can you get us something to eat?"

I nodded. I wasn't even aware I was nodding. But then I nodded harder. Hell yes! Picnic with Ino? Yes! Please!

We parted ways for a few minutes. I gathered my supplies, got a few of my best cupcakes, an empty basket for the flowers. Skipped toward training field three. That's where Ino told me to meet her. I arrived before she did, but Best Girl Ino didn't keep me waiting for long.

She arrived running and panting. A small bag hung around her shoulders. "Sorry!" She said, hands on her knees. "Mom wanted me to look after the store. I had to escape again."

I gave her a small wave. Escape again?

Ino recovered quickly. She marched up to me, took my hand, led me away. "Come on, there's a lot to do and we don't have enough time."

The first place we visited wasn't one of the spots on my list. This was a small hidden patch of flowers a few minutes away from the training grounds. Ino knelt by the flowers, fingers tracing the petals. "Pretty aren't they? Mom was the one who told me about this spot. It's been hidden here for years. She found it when she was still a genin."

I was crouched by her side, attention divided between Ino and the hidden blossoms. These weren't the same on my list, but they looked pretty. Small, round like petals, nice smelling, red tinged color.

I nodded, extended my arm to pluck some. Ino grabbed my hand, shook her head. "Not these ones." She said, "I know of better ones. Come." She got up, still holding my hand, dragged me away again.

We visited a few more hidden flower patches, each with its own story from Ino, who seemed to know everything about their meanings. I knew her family was deep into the flower business, but I hadn't known it was this serious. Did Ino have family lessons on the meaning of flowers? Was that a secret knowledge of the Yamanaka clan? I ended up not picking any of the ones she showed me. None of them were the ones on my list, and whenever I tried, Ino always dragged me to a prettier patch of flowers. Obacchan had been adamant that I couldn't change the flowers if I wanted to win the bet.

Now, we were at a large flower field. Ino had spread a piece of fabric on the ground, and we had an impromptu picnic. We had eaten, and were now laying on the ground side by side looking at the blue sky and the shape of clouds.

Ino raised her hand, like trying to grasp the sky. "What do you think the future will be like, Hinata-chan?"

That was a strange question. I knew what the future would be like. War, devastation, death, and ninja killing ninja. I don't think that was what she was asking. I took my board, wrote my answer. "I dunno? Maybe we'll become famous Kunoichi."

Ino ruminated on that for a while. Turned on her side, looking at me instead of the sky. I did the same, our faces weren't that far apart. "Mom always keeps saying I shouldn't worry about it. Being a Kunoichi, I mean." She huffed, annoyed. "That I'm too young to worry about the future. That the best thing would be to find a good husband to marry." Best girl Ino rolled her eyes.

I made a face. That was annoying advice.

"Do you think we'll always have to follow the paths our families expect of us, Hinata-chan?"

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-chan 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-chan 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.

 

[okashihime]

Second to last year 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, 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 particularly 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."

I glowered at the man. Angrily scribbled on my board. "How am I 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?"

I stomped, glared. I turned around, fuming. What kind of bullshit logic was that? Wouldn't that make people with better jutsu complacent? I sulked for a while that day. I even went to the mission hall. It was just besides the academy after all.

The shinobi there looked at me with eyes full of curiosity. I took my board, erased the previous words, wrote others. "How many mission points for a technique?" I was still sulking. Angry.

Thankfully, the man was in a good mood. Indulged me. "What's your name?" Shinobi-san asked.

"Hinata."

Shinobi-san consulted some notes, looked at me strangely. What now, do I have a special note to my file because I'm not a Hyuga anymore?

"A D-Rank jutsu can be exchanged for ten mission points," The man said. "A C-Rank jutsu costs twenty-five. But to buy any C-Rank or above, you need permission from your sensei, or as a reward for service."

I nodded. I thought it would be something like that. I wrote another question on my board. "How many mission points for a D and C Rank mission?"

"It varies," the shinobi started, "D-rank are usually one point, maybe more depending on how long it takes to complete and the client's satisfaction. C-rank rewards around five points. More if they are dangerous, and the client's satisfaction."

I wrote on my board again. "Thank you, Shinobi-san." I showed him the board. Bowed after he read. I left while the man chuckled at my antics.

If I took team 7 as an example, they performed around ten D-rank missions, before earning a C-rank. That would be what, one new jutsu? I would need to slave my days completing D-rank missions just to learn basic weak jutsu. I didn't even want to know how much for an A-rank one. Shame was, I couldn't even beg the old man Hokage for some cool jutsu. I hadn't seen him for years, only meeting Secretary-chan to get new chakra control exercises, which reminded me, I need to pay another visit. The last scroll had only one exercise, and I had mastered that one already.

Next day I visited the Hokage tower. Secretary-chan smiled when I walked inside. "Good afternoon Hinata-chan."

I bowed. Dug inside my bag. Took a prototype cupcake. Presented it to the girl. She took it, ate a small bite. Sighed content.

"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 was interacting with simultaneously, as well as 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 as 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 available to me. These days, I spent a lot of time 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 the information I needed to master seals.

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

 

[okashihime]

"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 – 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 Party in the USA.

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.

Things somehow spiraled after that. Sensei pressed me for more, and fearing for my life, I told her about my modification of Queen's Taylor song Shake It Off: Explode it Off. Even my changed silly Ninja Face, based on Goddess Gaga's Poker Face she extracted from me. Not sure when, I caught myself teaching Sensei the lyrics, and the dance moves that went with each song. What kind of manipulation jutsu was this? Had the woman put me on a genjutsu when I wasn't looking?

Somehow, sensei found three other shinobi. The big guy, looking like a bodybuilder, brought a sizable set of taiko drums. Another, a housewife-looking woman, had a biwa. The third one looked like a young boy carrying a pair of Kane. Wild.

We played. Sensei sang the lyrics. I even changed the way I played the koto. We propped it up on a higher stand, so I didn't need to sit down to play. I even followed a few of the dance moves I taught sensei.

---

That was how I got pulled into that mess. But that was a worry for tomorrow. Today, I was trying to convince Sakura to ignore her silly fight with Ino over Emosuke. I mean, what did they even see in him? Obsessed brat, always trying to burn my face off and being an overall jerk.

Talking to Sakura was a bust. The girl was too deep into her obsession to come to her senses. Even mentioning Emosuke was enough to garner her suspicion. That left me trying to convince Ino again. Ino was easier to deal with, if still as stubborn as Sakura.

With Ino, I just needed countless pastries and sweets, and she'd hear me out. Even if I think she was just humoring me. Anyhow, I had to try. It was sad seeing the two friends drift apart for such silly reasons. Worse still, they kept getting mad at me when I visited one or the other. They behaved like I had to choose between who I wanted to be friends with. One or the other. I nipped that attitude right in the bud. The first time they tried to put me on the spot, I went on a sweets strike. A whole month without giving either of them my cupcakes while providing the rest of the class the usual treats.

That helped but didn't solve the problem. How was I going to convince them?

---

It was the next day. I propped myself up, scowled at Emosuke looking down on me, face stormy. He looked even more angry for having taken me down. It didn't change with the fact that the brat tried to burn my face, again. This time, I dodged the ball of fire, which didn't help when he kicked my feet under me. At least today he didn't push further than that. I mean, I did kick him in the nuts last time he tried to push too far. Serves him right.

Again, it didn't matter. Today I was on a mission. Most of the class already left, my target almost lost among the gaggle. A quick pat down to clear most of the dust and make my hair presentable, and off I was after the blonde.

I approached, tapped her shoulder, showed her my board when she looked at me. "Can we talk?"

Her pale blue eyes narrowed. "About?"

"You and Sakura-chan." I wrote back. Her face soured. I pushed on. "It's dumb to end your friendship because of a silly fight."

"Dumb?" Ino raised an eyebrow. "Are you calling me dumb?"

I shook my head, scribbled furiously. "The fight is dumb. Not you."

Ino huffed, folded her arms. "Sakura started it when she decided she was my rival."

My early annoyance with Emosuke spiked. I wished past me hadn't been so restrained and taught the brat a lesson. I decided to try a different track. "You both seem unhappy. I remember how close you were."

For a moment, Ino's facade cracked. Her eyes were full of pain. But she squared her shoulder, flipped her hair. "She'll have to apologize first. I'm not giving up on Sasuke-kun just because she decided she now likes him too."

I sighed. Well, damn. I didn't want to push this. Was Fate-kun playing against me here? But I wasn't willing to just leave it be. I crossed my arms, gave her a flat look. My stare said what my words couldn't.

Ino was the first to look away. She let out an exaggerated groan. "Fine, I'll consider it. But only because you asked."

I flashed Best Girl Ino my biggest smile. "Thank you, Ino-chan." I wrote. To sweeten the deal, I popped out a box of cupcakes. Presented my offering. Ino took them grudgingly but popped one into her mouth immediately. Same experiment with the coconut-like fruit flavor.

"These are good," she mumbled, mouth full of frosting.

---

Sayuri-sensei had somehow commandeered one of the nearby parks for the music event. Under her insistence, I invited everyone I knew: Neighbors, the GGC, the class, the academy senseis. I even invited the Old Man Hokage and "Wolf-san". Secretary-chan, unfortunately, couldn't leave her post. Shame.

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" – Sensei having dragged me from behind the safety of my koto to perform the dance moves with her – 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.

 

[okashihime]

I... don't know how to add author's note without polluting the chapter here, so I'll just post it in a separate response.

I created a few AI images for sensei. They're AI generated cause poor and hiring an artist is expensive.

There are two more, which the forum doesn't load, for some reason, there the links:

https://i.ibb.co/FqX1wdN/00008-483255597.png

https://i.ibb.co/VDwVDrZ/00009-2361215629.png

I've also made a parody for the song, based on Party in the CIA from Weird Al.


[Verse]

I moved out to Konoha recently
With a plain and simple dream
Wanna infiltrate some ninja place
And topple their regime
Those ninja in black with their matching scroll cases
Where everything's on a need-to-know basis;
Shinobis got that swagger
Everyone's so smoke and dagger
I'm feelin' nervous but I'm really kinda wishing
For an undercover mission
That's when the Hokage came on the patio
And I put my gear on!
Got my explosive cupcake a ton!
And I had my seals drawn!

[Pre-Chorus]

So I get my shurikens
My exploding pills
My classified dossier
Joinin' the ANBU like yeah
Shreddin' the enemies like yeah
I memorized all the enemy spies I've got to explode today

[Chorus]

Yeeeaaahhh, it's a party in the ANBU way!
Yeeeaaahhh, it's a party with jounins hey!


Lastly, there are the instruments referenced here:
Biwa:

Shakuhachi:

Kane:

Taiko drums: (There are several of them, these are just an example)

 

[okashihime]

I had just turned twelve. It was the start of the year. It was the last day of the 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 weighed 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 — surprise surprise — 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 in the 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 badly 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, I didn't know 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.

Instead of 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 babies when compared to me, but the academy didn't measure 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 in 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 from bullying too much. At least not aside from the first years.

I was the mute girl, the weird girl, the bringer of sweets. Anyone who bullied me didn't get sweets. Easy as that. Know thy enemy and all.

Without tooting my own horn too much, I was a pretty good shinobi. Despite my lack of jutsu — something I planned to address as soon as I had mission points — I was competent at taijutsu. Due to that same quirk of chakra, I was immune to any genjutsu that tried to mess with my mind. I had 'mastered' fuinjutsu. No, that was a lie. I knew a few seals, I knew all the common building blocks. I could improve on what I knew: storage seals, exploding tags, but I had no way of truly creating something new.

I was stuck. Worse because each seal seemed to use a different logic altogether. Like different languages entirely. My dreams of flying god seemed even more distant. I had the time space logic there on storage seals, but no matter what I tried, it just didn't work. Same with using chakra to create seals. I was stuck to ink and cumbersome logic. It was frustrating.

That and explosions. I mean, what was a girl without explosions? We trained with explosive tags in the academy. I managed to take a few home with me. After deciphering it, creating my own explosive tags was par for the course. I had a lot, really, a lot of explosive tags. Not just the basic ones. No, I improved on them. Let's just say the Konoha police weren't happy with me. But I was training on a training ground. Those Uchiha police should have been thanking me for being alive. Not that they knew it.

I was pretty sure I was stronger than your average chunin. I dare to hope I even matched, number by number, some newly promoted jounin. Of course I didn't think I had a sweeping chance against the lowest of chunins out there in a real battle. Good jutsu and real battle experience counted for a lot, after all. And I lacked both.

But I got off track.

Emosuke was still sullen and depressed. The gaggle of girls still thought he was hot shit. Naruto still thought he was Sasuke's rival. I passed the first two exams, today was the third one. All of the class had passed one or another, except for Naruto who failed two. I wasn't worried. Naruto was ninja Jesus after all. Things would work out in the end, somehow.

I flicked my wrist, pushed a bit of chakra in the seal there. My communication board v5.7 sprang to life over my arm, pen and eraser ready. I took the pen, wrote. Turned the board around so Shino could read. "You think Naruto will pass this time?"

Cool guy Shino just shrugged. Loudmouth Kiba fell down laughing. I should have expected that. Kids will be kids. Even if they were trained to kill.

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.

 

[okashihime]

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 get 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 — and maybe selling a seal here and there — 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 were 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 an 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 into detail about 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 that to 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.

Dressed and prepared, I went to the academy. I got in, sat on my corner. Observed the other kids. The mood was cheerful. Kids talked, waved, laughed. It got strange when Naruto sauntered in wearing a forehead protector.

I watched in nostalgia as the scene played out in front of my eyes. Kids demanded to know what he was doing here. The brat pointing at his forehead protector. He sat in the same row as Emosuke. Sakura arrived soon after, sat between the two. Naruto was head over heels for Sakura. The bimbo only had eyes for Emosuke.

Even the kiss scene was the same. I couldn't help it. I cheered. I mean, couldn't make a sound, but I jumped in joy like the fan-girl I was. A trickle of worry percolated in my mind. If the world had a way of imposing the same events, was Emosuke destined to be Outcastsuke? I thought saving his clan, and preventing his brother from committing genocide would solve the problem, but Sasuke turned ever more taciturn and emo over the years.

But things had changed, I could change things. My next big issue right now was preparing for the chunin exam. With the changed time-line, I wasn't sure if Orichimaru would target Emosuke in the Forest of Death; countless other Uchiha were alive after all, but I guess that was just an attack of opportunity. Evil Snake's plan had always been to kill the Third. Old man Hokage had gone soft, Danzo was right about that, but I didn't want the old man to die. I had time. Six months to train with Kurenai-sensei, to prepare, to change the world one more time.

Class had settled after the impromptu love comedy between Naruto and Sasuke. Even more after the fan-girl squad beat the crap out of Naruto. I was glad I managed to disentangle myself from that can of worms. Emosuke still tried to beat me in the areas I was better at, but years of silent treatment were enough to make even the most depressed and obsessed of kids give up. There was no satisfaction involved when confronting me. Take that, you jerk!

Iruka-sensei walked inside the class room. Called for order.

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi." He called out. He stood straight, hands joined at his back. "But you are still genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started." He said. "Now you will soon receive missions to help the village, so today we will create three man teams, and each will have a jounin-sensei."

Iruka-sensei looked at the class. His eyes lingered on Naruto. His face softened a bit. Lips curled into a smile. From what I remembered, Kurenai-sensei went to the Hyuga clan house to talk to Hiashi about training Hinata. Would this still happen here now that I wasn't Hyuga anymore? Iruka-sensei started calling names while I still daydreamed.

If I took into account my years before I ended up here, I was about twenty two. Kurenai just became a jounin. According to the fandom, she was what, twenty six? It was a shame she was into Asuma-sensei. I wouldn't mind the teacher crush trope. I mean, she was pretty, bad-ass, and had lovely red eyes. Or I assumed she did. Hadn't met the woman yet.

"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 the mention of his team up with Sasuke, Sakura also looked devastated.

"Iruka-sensei!! Why does 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 at 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.

 

[okashihime]

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 happen? 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 its 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 know 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?"

"How about your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and things like that?" Sensei asked.

I didn't derail the conversation. Too busy containing my joy. I knew how this would play. And Naruto played his part to perfection. He urged Kakashi to introduce himself first, which sensei did, but said nothing other than his name. Naruto was next.

"Yo! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I love instant ramen and Hinata-chan bento. I love it even more when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen, and when Hinata-chan gives me cupcakes." He looked at me, grinned brighter than the sun. What was with that introduction? "What I dislike is waiting three minutes for the ramen to cook, or when Hinata-chan doesn't come to the academy."

I blinked at Naruto. Was he stupid? We were done with the academy. Haven't he realized there was no more bento? Or did he just assume I would still cook for him? What a brat.

"And my dream," he said, face fierce. "Is to surpass the Hokage and then have the people of this village acknowledge my existence. Hobbies," he tilted his head. "Pranks I guess."

Emosuke's introduction was the same, down to a T, except instead for a small detail. "…revenge for my clan, and to kill a certain man."

I wanted to face-palm. Really, what bullshit was this? Who does he even want to kill now? Itachi was alive and happy. I saw him just a few days ago when Sasuke graduated. His mom and brother came to congratulate him. What the hell was he thinking now?

"Ok, and lastly the girl." Kakashi said, looking at me.

Wealp. It was my time. I pushed chakra into my seal. Popped the arm held, portable comms board. Took my pen and started writing. The boys were already used to the sight of my sealwork. I had been using this version for about a year now. Kakashi-sensei raised an eyebrow. I wanted to dance in happiness. Take that sensei. Surprise on the first day.

I wrote, turned my board toward the three boys. "My name is Hinata. I like cooking. My hobby is music. My dream for the future is to create the best cupcake in the world!"

Naruto laughed. I could always count on him to react appropriately. Sasuke face-palmed. Really Emosuke? After that edgy introduction you have the gall to be annoyed with me? Kakashi-sensei just nodded. He was that cool.

The rest was the same as my hazy memory remembered. Survival training. Bring all your stuff. Don't eat breakfast, chance of rauling. Two thirds chance of failure, back to the academy if you do.

Naruto looked freaked out after that. Sasuke was 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 know 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 on 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's side, he looked stressed. I took a seal. Out popped three chicken sandwiches, from another thermos and cups. I popped my board, wrote. 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 it 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.

 

[okashihime]

"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—"

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 to start yet." Kakashi-sensei said.

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 cheered. 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, letting 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 in my place.

Outside the trees, I heard the sounds of battle. Sasuke trying to get the bells. I circled around as silent as I could. I got to Naruto's tree, where he was tied up, before he saw me I clamped on his mouth. Held a finger over my own to keep him silent.

Thank god, Naruto nodded. I untied the rope, popped my board, wrote my instructions. "Create a clone. Leave it here in your place."

Naruto tilted his head. Then like he just realized something, he smiled. Nodded. Popped a clone. We tied the clone up, moved around. In the distance, I heard the explosion, saw the giant ball of fire. That was the end of Sasuke's battle with Kakashi.

I guided Naruto to the clearing. Had to clamp on his mouth again when he saw Sasuke trapped. I wrote while we approached. Showed Sasuke the board. "I have a plan. Will you listen? I'll help you even if you don't want to."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. I didn't wait. Grabbed him, pulled him free. Didn't have any doton jutsu. I had to brute force things. It might have hurt the boy. Served him right. Before he could say anything. I wrote another message. "Leave a clone, follow? I have a plan, you can have the bell."

It took ten agonizing seconds until Sasuke nodded. My heart beat fast, too fast. Damn Kakashi-sensei was hiding just by the trees, watching us. I guess it was too much to hope he would be fooled by clones. But the show must go on, and I needed to convince these brats to play nice.

A Sasuke clone popped up in existence inside the hole. We bolted away from Kakashi-sensei. The damn ninja followed. Still hidden. I had time. I think he wanted to see what we would do.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, who glared back. I wrote fast. Couldn't let them start bickering.

"A shinobi must see underneath the underneath. This isn't a competition, it's about teamwork." I showed them the board. I raised my fingers to my lips to stop both. I flipped my board, wrote on the other side. "If we attack together, we can get the bells. You guys can have it. If Kakashi-sensei fails me, I can go back to the academy, or maybe I'll try to become a medic-nin."

That shut up both. Sasuke looked stormy. I thought he would curse me and walk away, but he remained put. Naruto looked devastated.

"No, Hinata-chan, you can have my bell. I'm… Even if I fail, I'll still be the Hokage!" Naruto started whispering, and all but yelled at the end. Thank god Kakashi-sensei wanted to see this play out, otherwise Naruto would have just given the position away.

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 divvied 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 his view.

I ran in, pushed my legs as fast as I could. My movements were a little uncoordinated. I had never given 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, an open palm strike from beneath. A combination of the gentle fist and Konoha's style.

Kakashi-sensei's eyes were wide. He had, of course, blocked. But the force of my strike had thrown 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 where 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 thrown 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 chose Sasuke's side. Before the man had even finished his jutsu, Sasuke dove from his hiding spot, grabbed the two bells.

I knew Kakashi hadn't really tried. There was no way we could have taken the bells if the jounin really wanted us to fail. Even so, I cheered. I danced. I knew it, explosions are a girl's best friend!

 

[okashihime]

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 guilt 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 the 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 keep the bell, future Hokage-sama, if the worst happens. 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 guilt trip him into being a decent human being. What had happened? Why was he behaving like that?

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.

I wrote some more. "The mission takes priority. But sacrifices might be needed. We are a team, and should support one another, even if the mission result contradicts it."

Kakashi-sensei smiled. Eyes turned into a crescent. "A ninja must see underneath the underneath." He repeated what I had written. "The mission is important, but caring about your comrades is more important. Those who don't care about their comrades are lower than trash."

Hum, I thought his speech back in the story was because of breaking the rules or something like that. Had I remembered it wrong?

Sasuke looked uncomfortable, Naruto looked smitten. I'm pretty sure if Kakashi-sensei was a girl, Naruto would have just fallen in love right here, right now.

"That ends the training." Sensei said with a thumbs up. "You all pass! Starting tomorrow team seven will begin its duties!"

"I did it, I did it! Ninja!! Ninja!! Ninja!!" Naruto hollered. Danced, celebrated. I smiled at his exuberance. He was loud, obnoxious, rude, but it was hard not to like the brat. I joined his celebration. We have passed after all.

The boys turned to leave. I poked sensei's elbow. Showed him another message. "Can we talk, in private, please?"

Kakashi-sensei turned to the others. "You go ahead boys. Meet me at the mission center tomorrow at eight. I have to work out a few details with Hinata-chan."

Naruto waved. Sasuke looked suspicious, but both left. Kakashi-sensei turned to me. His gaze was calm, curious.

I took a deep breath. One of the reasons I never pushed too hard in the academy was because I didn't want to graduate early. Arrogance aside, I'm pretty sure I could have done it. By the fourth year, I already knew the whole curriculum, even if my marks were not a perfect score. Staying in the academy gave me much needed time to train. To get stronger, to prepare without being thrust into life and death missions. But now?

Now I needed Kakashi-sensei to know what I could do. He was my sensei. I wanted him to train me. Why would I hide what I could do from him? He didn't press. Waited until I formulated my thoughts.

"Can we spar? I'll stop holding back."

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 make 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 the boots back on 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 them. Years ago? I felt so light. I felt like I 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 seriously." 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.

 

[okashihime]

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 an 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 to have her disappear into Konoha's darkness. It would have meant civil war.

Imagine Kakashi's surprise when the girl provoked the old traitor, and delivered 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 girl's eyes, or maybe even take control over her body.

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

Plant or not, her 'dreams' led to one of Konoha's most recent crises. 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 that 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 child.

Kakashi's belief was that 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 with 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.

What he didn't expect was Hinata asking for spar. And the weight seals. They were not the standard issue seals, the girl had modified them. From the looks of it, they were active all the time, but the bracelet itself wasn't heavy, it was the seal effect that induced the heaviness. He wasn't aware Hinata had learned this much. The Third had given her incomplete theory. She shouldn't have the ability to modify seals. Still, it was hard to believe each bracelet induced around a thousand kilograms. How was she still moving about?

Kakashi followed Hinata, sharingan examining her posture, her stance. She wasn't a specialist in taijutsu. Her stance was sloppy, full of openings.

Hinata nodded. Kakashi nodded back. An explosion propelled the girl forward. Earth, dust, stone thrown about by her acceleration. Kakashi didn't move away. He didn't need to. A small adjustment to his posture and the girl flew past him. She had no control over her movement. Overshot her mark. Crashed on the other side of the clearing. Kakashi had to hold back a nervous chuckle. Thank god Gai wasn't the girl's teacher. He had to make sure the two never met.

---

I crashed into the ground. I couldn't control my momentum, or movement. I was too excited to go all out that I forgot I never really went all out. I had no idea what would happen. Case in point, I missed the target. Kakashi didn't even need to dodge my attack. Worse? I might be fast and strong, but I wasn't durable. My arms and legs hurt where I hit the ground.

I groaned. Even if no sound left my throat. I unstuck myself. Got up. It was going to bruise tomorrow. I turned around. Kakashi-sensei was crouched down, sharingan hidden beneath his forehead protector. Really? I sigh. Did I do that badly?

"You, my cute genin, need some lessons in taijutsu."

I blushed. I don't even like guys, but Kakashi-sensei calling me cute was just too much.

He threw the bracelets at me. I caught them up. "Put them on again. We'll start with those, and ease you off them slowly."

I nodded. That made sense. I guess fan-girl me forgot to take it easy. I left the crater, legs still hurting a bit. I circulated my chakra to ease the pain. I wore my bracelets and necklace. I popped out my board. Sat down. Now the fan-girl dumbness had passed, I better explain things.

"Aside from the basic fuinjutsu I learned from the scrolls the old man gave me, I know only the three 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 as much as I did. I just have years ahead of training on them.

"What type of ninja do 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!

 

[okashihime]

That night, head full of dreams of Konoha's Black Flash, I sought Naruto out. I was sore, it probably would bruise fiercely the next day, but I was happy. Excited. Talking 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, it made sense. Dug inside my bag, took my priority storage seal. Wrote another message on the board. "I'll give you my special cupcake series: Sunshine and Orange!" I popped 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 other 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. Clone-one closed her eyes. Sighed. I blinked. So weird.

As one. We moved. We stood in a circle. Each facing each other. We were in sync. Needed no words. We all knew the stakes. Our hands moved. Dog - Boar - Ram.

A plume of smoke filled the room. When it cleared, my mind blanked. The attack too strong for me to endure. I fell down, the last dregs of my consciousness had only one thing to say.

Naruto was a fucking genius. And Sexy no Jutsu was too dangerous.

---

I shambled my way toward the mission center to meet my teammates. My body hurt all over from yesterday's training. I was dizzy, weak. I blamed it all on the nosebleeds. Even now, I had to stop. Plug my nose. Look up.

Too dangerous. Naruto was a genius beyond comparison.

It felt like going to the academy again. The same path I took almost everyday for the past seven years. The only difference was the door I used when I arrived. My team was already there. Sasuke looked more grumpy than usual. He glared at me. Naruto smiled brighter than the sun. I guess he really liked my cupcakes.

Kakashi wasn't here yet, which was good. I took from my pocket the miniature seals I had prepared in the morning. Walked toward the chunin on the mission control desk. I bowed. I wrote on my board.

"Excuse-me, Chunin-san. May I use this desk, just for a moment?"

Chunin-san looked at me askance. Nodded. I placed the seals on an open space. Popped out my prepared snacks. Four containers of finger sandwiches, two thermos with tea, one big and one small. The chunin eyes popped wide open. I took one of the containers, and the small thermos. I placed in front of him. I wanted to make a good first impression.

"Please take good care of me!" I wrote on the board, bowed again.

The man had a bewildered expression, but took the offering. He opened the container. Sniffed the sandwich. Took one. Ate slowly. He blinked in surprise. Ate another. Took the thermos, opened it. Smelled the tea. Poured a small cup. Took a sip. Sighed in contentment.

I did a mental guts pose. Good impression get!

Naruto took one of the other containers. Sasuke pretended he didn't want to, 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 missions 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 an 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 I would spar. He pointed out the flaws in 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.

 

[okashihime]

Will Secretary-chan succumb to evil plans of world domination by cupcake? xD

 

[okashihime]

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 sunlight baked my head. I yawned. Idyllic and peaceful. Up ahead, Naruto bickered with Sasuke. Something about a competition, who plucked more weeds. Sasuke scowled — but didn't refuse, I noticed.

A smile broke on my face. Days of constant training, contact and forced cooperation had its way of changing people. Sasuke was still an arrogant jerk, but I could see why he became friends with Naruto. It was hard to keep disliking that ball of sunshine. And I 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 they hired 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 a genin's work. I didn't think it added anything other than team camaraderie, but that was fine. At the 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 and 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.

I clicked my prepared code into the communicator. "Ready."

We were hidden behind the trees around the target. Said target was hidden beneath a bush.

"Go!" Kakashi-sensei commanded.

I circled around, cutting the target path of retreat. Sasuke circled on the other side. Naruto dove toward the target. "Oraaaaa!" He yelled. He tumbled inside the bush. The target yowled. "Gotcha!" Naruto hollered. Tumbled out. He held the target, Tora the cat: brown fur, red ribbon on the left ear.

"Are you sure this is the target?" Kakashi-sensei asked from the comms.

"Yes, we are sure." Sasuke answered, all serious. Naruto still fought the cat, or maybe played with the cat. I wasn't sure.

"Good!" Kakashi said. "Lost pet Tora search mission complete!"

We took the cat back to the village and to the mission hall. Handed over the cat to VIP. Fat lady daimyo's wife hugged the cat, smashing her face against the poor animal. She manhandled the Tora with lots of love. I pitied it. I would have fled as well, if that was me.

I walked forward. Showed my board, offered my pastries. Bowed. "Thank you Shijmi-sama for hiring us!"

"Oh my, so these are the famous mission sweets I heard so much about?" Fat lady said something strange after she took my offerings.

I wrote another message. "Please hire us again soon!"

The fat lady approached. I could have dodged, she might have been a shinobi before, but right now, she was just a fat old lady. I didn't move. I didn't think I was in any danger. Not with the Hokage just on the other side of the room.

The woman glomped me on a hug. Smashing me against the cat she still held against her bosom. She pinched my cheeks, patted my hair. I looked at my team in desperation. Save me! I pleaded. The traitors ignored me. Kakashi-sensei had his back to me. Naruto had fallen down laughing. Emosuke turned his face, trying to hide his smirk.

I suffered the torture with all the dignity I could muster. At some point, the lady released me. Thanked us profusely for saving her baby. Thanked the Hokage-sama, moved away to pay for her mission. My pastries had disappeared at some point inside her big pink bag.

The team regrouped in front of the mission desk. Iruka-sensei was the one manning the desk today. To my surprise, old man Hokage sat by his side. That was my chance! I dug on my bag, popped the traditional offering to the desk worker, cupcakes and tea — had to keep good working relationships. I rooted inside the deepest parts of my bag, took one particular seal I had prepared months ago. I popped it up. A sole cupcake, with red frosting in the shape of flames. Wrote on my board, offered it to the old man.

"Please accept this one old man! I named this Will and Fire!" Behind me, Naruto gasped. He recognized it: one of my special cupcakes series. 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 helping 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?"

 

[okashihime]

"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 do 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 a bad-ass actress in an 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 claws.

"What?" Kakashi-sensei asked, surprised.

"One down." The shinobi with the forehead protector that looked like a super sentai helmet said. They pulled the chain. Blood splattered everywhere. Pieces of Kakashi-sensei fell down in a messy carnage.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled. Panicked.

I remember it now. Yeah. I might have panicked as well if it wasn't for the familiar bundle of chakra hidden nearby.

The ninjas moved again. Chains flying to envelop Naruto. "Two down." The duo said in unison.

I cursed. Naruto had frozen up. I Prepared to create a clone, but abandoned the idea when I saw Sasuke moving. I rushed in front of Tazuna, special explosive kunai in hand. Sasuke leaped, threw a kunai disrupting the chains, tying it to one of the nearby trees. His jump landed him on the ninjas' claws. He was a whirlwind of movement, feet hitting each of the ninjas' faces.

I had to admit. That was cool-ish. Even if he was still emo.

The enemy jerked black, but soon regained balance. Chain disconnected from their metal hands. The enemy with the super sentai protector went for Naruto. The second one, with the horn, went for Tazuna, who hid behind me. I knew Naruto would be fine, he was ninja Jesus after all.

Sasuke, dear emo Sasuke had moved in front of me, open arms to intercept the Ninja attack. Damn brat thought I needed his help. I flickered forward. Sasuke's eyes were wide when I appeared in front of him. Enemy ninja's eyes bugged out. I stabbed the kunai into the enemy's stomach, pivoted, used his momentum to throw him away. Sasuke still didn't seem to know what was happening. The enemy ninja screamed. My kunai exploded.

A rain of gore and body parts fell on us.

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 feel 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."

 

[okashihime]

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 his 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 guilt 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 cried when his boy died. Gato mob trying to kill everyone at the end.

Many of the Naruto fanfiction I read in the before, 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.

"We'll be there soon. Looks like we avoided detection so far. I'll take the route that has vegetation. The enemy won't be able to spot us." Boat guy said.

Tazuna nodded. "Thanks."

We passed through some tunnel, the vista opening to a water bound village. Wooden houses just barely water level. Strange, rooty trees grew up from the water. The boat sneaked around those, our passage hidden by the leaves. The small boat docked on a wooden platform attached to one of the houses.

"This is it for me. Good bye and good luck." Boat guy said.

"Thank you so much." Tazuna smiled. Boat guy turned on his engine, sailed away. Made no sense to me why he would bring attention like that. Guess he had a few loose screws.

"Ok! Get me home safely." Drunk Tazuna demanded.

We walked the tight corridor. It twisted around the house, leading to a dirt path, which we followed. The mist soon cleared. Naruto's head was on a swivel. Every small sound, imagined or not, he jumped at.

"There!" Naruto yelled, threw a shuriken. Silence followed his actions. "Heh, just a rat." He said, posing.

"Naruto, please stop using shuriken. It's dangerous." Kakashi-sensei all but whined.

Tazuna wasn't that gentle. "Hey, midget! Stop acting like a moron!"

I face-palmed, a loud smack to my own face. Sasuke and Kakashi glanced my way. My fingers taped over my forehead. The code flowed. Southwest, trees, one shinobi, strong.

Naruto was ahead of the pack, already looking for the next bush. "Hey, I think I see a shadow—" He turned abruptly, threw another shuriken. A white rabbit jumped out of the bush.

A swishing sound of air being cut resounded from southwest. Thank god Sasuke understood my code. I flickered ahead. Tackled Naruto to the ground. Sasuke tackled Tazuna. Kakashi crouched down.

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 was dark. "It's said some have the ability to read and defeat all types of genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu. The sharingan is one 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's 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 and surrounded Tazuna's drunken ass. Kakashi stood in front of us, facing the enemy.

"But it 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 blew 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.