A strange new life. [Naruto]

okashihime · Sunday at 1:13 PM

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

"The mist is getting thicker!!" Naruto yelled the obvious.

"Which one should I go after?" Zabuza crooned.

It was all theatrics, but effective. The pressure from his chakra doubled up. It felt like I had a sword at my neck, and I'd die any moment. Was that killing intent? Naruto and Sasuke weren't doing any better. Sweat poured from Sasuke's face. He held a kunai, but he trembled like a leaf in the wind. His eyes were wide and unfocused.

"Sasuke." Kakashi called out. "Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He looked back at us. Smiled. "I don't let my comrades die."

Damn that man! Why now of all times to trigger my fan-girl side? I kinda wanted to cheer, even if the moment wasn't appropriate. It helped calm down the boys and the client, at least for a moment.

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

I reacted, but not fast enough.

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

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

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

"Don't move. It's over." Kakashi-sensei declared.

"Hehe. It's over? You don't—"

I tapped my foot urgently. Hurried coded message to sensei. Clone, enemy behind. It might not have been my best plan. Both Zabuza and Kakashi's head snapped to me.

Kakashi thrust the kunai on the clone's neck, then ducked, just in time to avoid the horizontal sword attack. Zabuza's sword completed the arc, embedding itself into the ground behind him. The missing-nin used the momentum and sword handle to pivot and kick Kakashi away. Kakashi flew across the field, and splashed onto the river across the clearing.

Zabuza disappeared. Body flicker or just speed? I couldn't tell. His chakra was by sensei's side. A water bubble grew from the river and trapped Kakashi inside it.

I had just watched things happen because those were sensei orders. Protect the client, don't interfere with the fight. I could have helped, maybe prevented this outcome. Should I have interfered or obeyed the orders? It was now a moot point.

"You tried to escape through the water. Big mistake." Zabuza chuckled. "Now I have you in my inescapable prison." With one hand stuck inside the water bubble, the man looked at us. "We can finish things later Kakashi, first I'll take care of them."

With a single hand, still keeping the bubble prison, the man used a jutsu. "Mizu Bushin no jutsu." Two clones formed from the mist and plashed water in front of us. Each a perfect copy of Zabuza, each hunched forward, arms dangling with his creepy stare fixed on us.

"Wearing those headbands and acting like ninjas. A real ninja is someone who survived numerous brushes with death." One of the clones charged, and kicked a still stunned Naruto. "You are not ninjas," the clone said, stomping on the forehead protector that had fallen to the ground. "Just brats." The real Zabuza said from the water.

I was impressed. And juuust a bit scared. Holding an active jutsu, summoning two clones with just one hand seal. That took control, a lot of it. But I didn't have time to think about that.

"Take Tazuna-san and run!" Kakashi yelled from his prison. "You have no chance of beating him. As long as he keeps me here, he can't move. Just run away now!"

While all of this happened, the second water clone had stepped inside the mists and disappeared. Naruto stood, glaring at the clone. He dashed forward, a wordless scream on his mouth.

"No! Don't!" Kakashi yelled, but it was too late.

Zabuza kicked Naruto again, hard. The brat flew off, crashed nearby Sasuke. I noticed he had recovered his protector. A hazy memory of the manga surfaced in my mind. A cool speech, a wild plan, cooperation between the boys. I moved in front of the client. Naruto had decided for us. Wouldn't flee and leave Kakashi behind. Couldn't let the client get hurt.

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

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

The clone kept walking around me and Tazuna. I couldn't let the ninja get behind my back. That was asking for trouble. I moved as well, kunai in hand, circling around Tazuna to avoid any attack. The chakra flared, appeared behind Tazuna. I flickered too, Kunai held in both hands. The silent attack came, it hit my kunai. Stopped. I grunted, pushed the sword back. The clone wasn't physically stronger than me.

Zabuza stared me down. "You can sense chakra. Who are you?"

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

"Who are you?" The clone demanded again. "Why don't you speak? Scared?"

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

"If you won't talk, I'll just need to make you." The clone mocked.

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

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

"Suiton: Mizutama." Zabuza's voice echoed. I panicked. Didn't have time for hand seals. Didn't need them. With a puff of smoke, I swapped places with Tazuna. The water projectile meant for his stomach pierced my shoulder, blood splattering on the other side. I yelled, wordlessly. A hand covering the injury.

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

okashihime · Sunday at 1:14 PM

"You did well, little ninja. You can die—"

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

Naruto washed into the clearings pushed by the waves. Was that Kakashi-sensei's doing? I still couldn't rest. I shambled toward Tazuna, stood in front of the man. Put the pain out of my mind. Had to protect the client. He didn't even seem to notice me, so captivated by the battle.

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

Mid cast one jutsu, Zabuza stopped, surprised, on the last seal. Kakashi didn't. A huge whirlwind of water exploded around him. It hit the surprised Zabuza. Caught unaware, the man couldn't defend himself. The water threw him back into the clearing. The missing-nin slammed against a tree. I didn't see when sensei did it, but kunais pierced Zabuza's arms, legs. Kakashi stood on the same tree, on a branch, looking down on the enemy.

"It's over." Kakashi-sensei declared.

"How?" Zabuza demanded. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed. "You're going to die."

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

"You're right." A soft, melodic voice echoed. "He's dead."

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

"Thank you very much." The surprise attacker bowed. "I've been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"You are a Kirigakure hunter-nin." Sensei stated.

"Impressive. You are indeed correct. It's my duty to hunt down missing-nins."

Naruto had his teeth gritted. Face a storm. He looked at Zabuza's body, Kakashi-sensei, and Haku. I was pretty sure it was Haku. "What the hell!" Naruto hollered. Pointed at the masked ninja. "Who are you?"

Sensei's chakra had tanked. He barely had anything left after his fight. Even so, he stood strong. My legs wobbled a bit. I ignored the pain, wooziness, and darkness creeping on my vision. Pressed harder on the wound. Shinobi rules, couldn't show weakness in front of the enemy. Haku was strong. I didn't even try to send a coded message to Kakashi. Not after Zabuza noticed my last. Couldn't risk another fight now.

Naruto kept his hollering, still not believing a young ninja could be strong. He looked put out by Haku's apparent age.

Haku flickered from the tree branch to where Zabuza's body was. Draped Zabuza's over one shoulder. "The battle is over, and I must dispose of this body." Performed a one handed seal in front of the mask. "Farewell." Haku's voice echoed, in a puff of leaves, they disappeared.

That was good. Enemies were gone. Team was safe.

Kakashi pulled his forehead protector down, hiding his eye again. "Now we have to—"

I clicked my kunai against my protector. The tinkling sound cut off Kakashi's speech. Enemy alive, enemy gone. Darkness had started to creep around my vision, but I had to alert Kakashi before he was taken by surprise again.

Naruto gasped. "Hinata-chan!" Tazuna yelled. The world toppled over. Last thing I remember was hitting the ground at the same time as Kakashi. The wide look of surprise on his contorted face.

Hehe. He looked so uncool.

I woke up to a lady talking to Kakashi. "Are you alright, sensei?"

Kakashi's voice sounded resigned. "Yeah, but I can't move for a week or so."

"And what about Hinata?" The woman demanded.

I stirred at my name. Sat up. Pain flared on my shoulder. Looked around. I was on a futon. Kakashi was on the other side of the room. Someone, I hoped the lady, had bandaged my whole chest and shoulder. My shirt was nowhere in sight. My right arm didn't move right. Pain flared when I tried to move it.

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

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

"That's it." The woman yelled. "Out, everyone out!"

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

I tilted my head. Wasn't sure why she was treating me like a wild puppy. I looked around, Kakashi was looking at me too.

"You lost a lot of blood," Sensei said, probably understanding my confusion. "We didn't expect you to be awake for a few days, at least."

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

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

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

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

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

"We'll protect you without fail!" I wrote. "Meanwhile, please enjoy these pastries."

Kakashi-sensei stared for a moment, broke out chuckling, burst out in a full laughter. Oka-san sighed. Muttered under her breath. It sounded a lot like "these damn crazy ninjas". It couldn't have been. I wasn't crazy. I just introduced myself.

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

Kenji Kage · Sunday at 2:10 PM

Right this was good please give us More

also I think you mislabeled one of the chapters we have 2.9 then 2.9 and then 2.11 currently perhaps you could change that

okashihime · Sunday at 2:16 PM

Kenji Kage said:
Right this was good please give us More

also I think you mislabeled one of the chapters we have 2.9 then 2.9 and then 2.11 currently perhaps you could change that

you're right, thank you. <3

okashihime · Sunday at 2:17 PM

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

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

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

"I'll wash them for you," Tsunami said.

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

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

"Can you explain your last message, Hinata-chan?" Kakashi sensei broke the silence.

"What message?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at me suspiciously.

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

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

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

Sasuke glared at me. Naruto tilted his head. Gasped in surprise. Pointed at me. Hollered. "That's how you always win the hide and seek games!"

I stuck my tongue out at him. Naruto gaped. I erased my board, wrote the rest of the message. "Even after the hunter-nin killed Zabuza, he still had chakra, which shouldn't be possible."

Kakashi-sensei nodded. "I should have realized that." The man admitted. "Hunter-nin disposes of the body immediately, they don't take it away. And a senbon is a strange choice for a killing weapon."

"What do you mean, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Like Hinata-chan said, most likely Zabuza is alive, and that second ninja was his accomplice."

Naruto's face changed. He had determined eyes and a grin spread across his face.

"You guys needed training. You are improving fast. Especially you, Naruto. You've improved the most."

"But if Zabuza is alive, couldn't he attack at any moment?" Sasuke finally broke his silence.

"I don't think so." Kakashi said, "Inducing temporary death has consequences. Zabuza shouldn't be fit to fight for a while. We train until then."

We had arrived at Tazuna's house in the afternoon; now was the crack of dawn of the following day. My shoulder still hurt, but it wasn't bad. Didn't feel that serious. Maybe the attack hadn't been as dangerous as it looked? Kakashi-sensei walked in front of us with his crutches, and we followed him out of the house, into the nearby fields and forest. By sensei's own words, we needed training.

"We'll start with the training." Sensei said.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled.

"But before that, I want to talk about chakra."

Naruto tilted his head. "Chakra, what's that?"

I blinked. Even Sasuke looked surprised. Kakashi-sensei slumped. Looked about a decade older.

I gave Naruto the rundown. Physical and spiritual energy combine to create chakra. The use of hand seals to force the chakra into jutsu.

"Hey, hey." Naruto scratched his head. "I didn't understand that complicated explanation, but isn't that something you learn with your body?"

For once, Sasuke agreed with Naruto. "Naruto is right. We can already use jutsu."

"Nope!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "You are not using chakra properly."

"What?!!" Naruto yelled.

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

"What are we going to do, then?" Naruto asked.

"Tree climbing." Sensei delivered.

I wanted to face palm. I had forgotten Naruto and Sasuke were still newbies. Things I've been doing for years, they were just starting. Yet, they were still strong enough on their own. Was that the power of the protagonist? A spike of sadness punctured my heart. I thought I was strong. But I couldn't even beat a simple water clone.

"We learned that in the academy!" Naruto whined.

"This isn't normal tree climbing. You'll climb without using your hands." That caught the boy's attention. "Watch well," Sensei said. He did a hand seal, his small bundle of chakra stirred. The man walked over to the tree and kept walking.

I nodded. That would have been cool if I didn't know about it as well.

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

"This training is nothing to me!" Naruto hollered. "I could do it before breakfast, 'cause I'm the most improved!"

"Why don't you stop bragging, pick a tree and hurry up to climb it?" Sensei said.

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

okashihime · Sunday at 2:19 PM

I sat down on the grass, looking at the boys trying to climb the tree. Sasuke had a good advantage on Naruto. Naruto looked at the tree, then at me sitting on the grass. I had climbed as well when Naruto complained I wasn't training. It shut him right up, and lit a fire under his feet.

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

I considered popping the brat's bubble. Tell him it took me almost a month of daily training to get it right. I didn't. That was petty, because I was feeling petty. I took my board, wrote on it. "Call Sasuke-kun over as well?" Naruto looked conflicted. I added a new line. "We're a team, Naruto-kun."

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

I kinda wanted to hug Naruto? It was awesome how he could put out any perceived competition and be the better person. I didn't think I could do it. Instead of hugging him, I did the next best thing. Popped a cupcake, presented it to him. The blinding smile he gave me back was so worth it.

Sasuke joined us, after Naruto hollered three more times. "What is it? Don't you see I'm busy with training?"

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

Sasuke scoffed. I couldn't fault him. The way Naruto said it was like I was better than Kakashi-sensei. I wrote on my board. "There isn't any shortcut I can teach you guys, but I can tell you how I trained myself. It might help."

"What, but, Hinata-chan…" Naruto looked devastated. Sasuke, finally, looked interested.

I patted Naruto's head. Decided to be cheesy just for a moment. I wrote another message. "There's no shortcut to power Naruto-kun. Only focused practice and improvement." That, I knew, was a blatant lie. Naruto had his power cheat in the form of Kyuubi. Sasuke had his Sharingan. But what mattered was the mood and conviction. Couldn't have Naruto thinking he didn't need to work hard.

I got up, pointed at my feet, concentrated chakra on them. Took a step–a chunk of the ground came up when I lifted my feet. I wrote on my board. "I started, instead of climbing a tree, trying to glue myself to the ground. The concepts are the same, but I didn't need to worry about climbing and falling at the same time."

I put the chunk of earth back on its original place. Walked to a tree, motioned the boys to follow. "I also started climbing like this. Watch." I coated my hand with chakra. Made it visible to drive home my point. I stuck my hand to the bark, palm open so they knew I wasn't grabbing. Pulled myself up. To this demonstration, I placed my knee on the tree for support, released my hand, and slapped it higher. I looked at the boys. Dropped down.

"Again, the concept is the same, but pushing chakra out of your hands is easier, because you've been doing it for a while when practicing jutsu and hand-seals, this serves to get you used to the amount of chakra needed to keep stuck."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you." He said. Then he walked away, and started running up the tree again. The fucker!

I decided I wanted to be petty. I scribbled for Naruto. "Naruto-kun, you can use your shadow clones to help you train."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"Just trust me. Create a bunch of clones. Have some try climbing the trees the way Kakashi-sensei said, others try walking the way I showed, some others climbing the tree by sticking their hand on it." When I was sure Naruto had read the message I erased it and wrote another, along with my secret weapon. "After 30 minutes, unsummon all your clones, then do it all over again. I'll give you one of my special series if you do. Will and Fire."

Naruto nodded. Eyes fierce. Out popped a bunch of clones, each went about doing their own thing. I smiled a very evil smile. I couldn't wait to see Emosuke's face when Naruto beat him to the tree top.

But the distraction lasted just a while. I got tired and sat down again.

"Good idea with the alternative ways of training." Sensei said, patting me on the head. I stood quiet, wasn't in the mood for conversation. "What's eating you, my cute genin?" Kakashi-sensei asked, sat by my side.

I didn't even blush at the obvious teasing. I sighed, still felt down. At least with sensei, I didn't need to hold back. My chakra threads picked up the eraser, wiped the words on my board. Another set of threads held the pen, wrote the message. All the while, I still looked down. "I want to train. I thought I was strong. I couldn't defeat a single clone."

"What happened?" Sensei asked. "How did you get hurt?"

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

I threw away the grass I obsessively plucked. The frustration from the last few years bubbled out. I couldn't contain it anymore. "I thought I was strong. It feels like I barely improved the last few years. I don't know how else to practice my control, my taijutsu is a mess, I don't know any jutsu, I'm stuck at my seals. I don't know what to do."

Tears spilled from my eyes. I grabbed my injured shoulder. Pressed hard on it. The pain felt something I deserved, even if that was a dumb sentiment. I knew I had done my best. I wasn't some kid genius S-rank ninja at the age of 7. I would climb through hard work. But nothing felt like hard work anymore. I only saw walls I couldn't climb.

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

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

Sensei didn't seem to have any other words of wisdom. I got up, bowed. Turned around and returned back to Tazuna's house. Better help Tsunami with breakfast, and the house chores. That felt like a better use of my time.

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

okashihime · Sunday at 6:25 PM

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Look here old man." The biggest of the lot declared. "Gato-sama—"

I didn't let him finish. That was more than enough confirmation they were sent by the enemy. I moved, ninja speed fast. I punched the man on the stomach. I might have used a bit more strength than appropriate. I didn't care, really. My fist sunk into the man's stomach. His eyes bugged out. He went flying away, crashed against the bridge railing, toppled over and fell into the river.

The other two thugs stared at me scared shitless. I popped my board. Wrote a message. "Better go save him or he will drown."

The thugs bolted. I wasn't sure if they were going to rescue their comrade. For a moment I debated just leaving it at that. The other workers' stares made me feel uncomfortable.

Tazuna approached, whispered to me. "Can you make sure he doesn't die? The boy is just being used by Gato, he doesn't deserve to die."

I nodded. That was fine. Even more so now that it was a client request. I walked to the bridge railing. Jumped out, fell on the water, feet covered in chakra so I wouldn't get wet. My threads dug inside the river, pulled the man out. I made sure to poke him in the correct places to wake him up. The man spluttered, coughed a lot of water. I walked to the river bank, deposited the man there. Noticed the other thugs were there as well, trying to prepare a boat. They looked pretty freaked out to see me walking on water.

I threw the moaning man at them. Turned away, walked up one of the bridge pillars, then into the bridge itself.

That was pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I had to contain a bit of my joyful squirming. Being a ninja was so cool.

Second day of guard duty went about the same. In the morning, I did my katas, reflected on the battle with the water clone. Thought what I could have done better. If Kakashi-sensei wouldn't help, I just needed to improve on my own. The inner fan-girl had taken over for a while, and convinced me that Kakashi-sensei, the coolest ninja in the whole story, would teach me lots. Hold my hand and gift me all the secrets of power.

Now that I think about it, for the past two years I've been basically waiting until Kurenai-sensei taught me how to become strong. That was when the trouble started, when I unconsciously decided other people were responsible to teach me stuff. No one would hold my hand and guide me to become stronger. I had to take power by the horns, and dominate it myself, so to speak.

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

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

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

A bundle of chakra, a bonfire, one I often felt on trained shinobi. I didn't sense any other shinobi yesterday or this morning. Just some thugs with a bit more chakra than the average person. I packed my lunch. Looked at Tazuna still eating with his boys. Walked outside. If this was a shinobi casing the joint, so to speak, I needed to know who they were.

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

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

It didn't take long. The bundle of chakra moved closer to the wooden door, and out of the store came the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Soft delicate features, long black silky hair, simple make-up around the eyes, soft pink lips. The girl was dressed in a pink kimono with red spiral details. My ears burned a bit. She was so pretty. I was pretty sure I blushed.

Then reality hit me like a truck. I was struck speechless. I was struck dumb. Was that fucking Haku? A fucking strong shinobi disguised as a pretty girl. A literal trap, and not in a fun way. And how in the seven hells was he so pretty?

https://i.ibb.co/MpnqYgh/image.png

okashihime · Sunday at 6:27 PM

I thought for a moment what to do. No, that's a lie. I didn't think. Without seals, or any puff of smoke, out popped a shadow clone. I stared myself in the eyes. I looked so dumb right now. Rosy cheeks and ears. Wild eyes. Damn Haku. Why? Oh god, why?

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

Original me looked so dumb right now. I had to stifle a silent laughter. Wouldn't do to mock myself. I used henge no jutsu to fit in with the crowd, saluted. It was time to start the mission. Being a clone was strange. I had done some experimenting the prior weeks, and learned a few interesting facts. All I had in me when I made a clone got duplicated as well. Clothes, weapons, seals. They were, however, all chakra constructs.

I could use a kunai if it was on my body, but I couldn't activate any of the fuinjutsu to summon more. Any strong impact would disrupt the chakra flow and turn the thing into smoke. Clone-me was weaker, since I didn't have my arsenal of exploding weapons at hand. But that was fine, this was a stealth and recon mission.

Haku's path led her, err, him — gawdammit — they across the desolated town. Their pretty robes and manicured appearance drew attention, the wrong sort of attention. Even so, no one bothered them. Which I found strange. Before I had kicked the shit out of those thugs, I had to contend with some low level of annoyance, mostly with people trying to steal things from my backpack while they thought I hadn't been looking. It took beating the crap of Gato's thugs to scare most of them off.

I didn't pay attention yesterday, but the town was poor, more like a slum than town, really. Almost empty stores, high prices, broken windows. Places uncared for, trash piled around alleys, and beggars. The amount of beggars begged belief. Old, young, adults, teenagers. Everywhere I looked I saw more and more people that needed a good meal. Their skin sallow, and cheeks sunk. Clothes that were more straps than actual garments.

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

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

Their path led them outside town. I debated following, decided I shouldn't. Felt too much like a trap. I turned back, scurried inside, dove into an alley. When I was sure no one had seen me, or were coming for me, I released the jutsu.

I was at the bridge again, keeping an eye on Tazuna, training my chakra control when the clone's memories and impressions flooded my mind. I nodded. Clone-chan did the right thing. Following a possible enemy into an unknown location without informing the team was dumb. My primary job was to guard Tazuna, not find enemy ninjas. The rest of the day dragged on.

Sending out a clone to explore gave me a few ideas. Training opportunities I hadn't considered. When I learned the technique from Naruto, my goal had always been to use it as some sort of training cheat. To let me learn things faster, train better, experiment with stuff without hurting myself. But after the first night experimentation… I didn't really use the jutsu. Almost forgot I had it. Mostly because Naruto wasn't supposed to teach me, and I didn't want to get him in trouble.

We returned to Tazuna's house at the end of the day's work. I had ideas. So many ideas.

Late that night, after the boys ate like pigs and passed out, I sat down to talk with sensei. "I have news to report." I wrote on the board, using my threads.

"What is it, Hinata-chan?" Sensei asked.

"An unknown ninja entered the town today," I wrote, "No direct contact with the client. The unknown ninja visited a number of herb and flower shops, before leaving the city again. I thought best not to follow at that point."

"What else can you tell me about this ninja?"

"Young, a few years older than me. Pretty. Can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. Don't know how strong. I think I was spotted and led outside the town on a possible trap." In my mind, that old Bowie song started.

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

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

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

Crack of dawn we left for training again. Naruto had a huge smile on his face, walked with hands behind his head. Sasuke looked sullen, more than usual. It didn't really make me feel better like I thought it would. Kakashi-sensei followed the boys to their training ground. I waved them away and went to do my own thing.

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

"Now, shoo." I wrote, waving my clones away. We nodded at each other, Clones-chan paired, each duo moving into a different direction. It didn't matter what they did, as long as they didn't use too much chakra. What I wanted was the experience of moving without my seals.

I popped my koto out, adjusted the bridges. I couldn't use my right hand to pluck the strings, my shoulder recovered fast, too fast now that I thought about it, but I still couldn't move my arm. That's when my new training exercise came in. I had been focusing on the strength and amount of threads. Maybe best now if I trained finesse? I realized when trying to use the threads to manipulate the pen to write. Small, delicate movements with them were difficult. I didn't know if this was a valid or even useful type of exercise, but at least it was something else I could improve. That was what really mattered to me.

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

okashihime · Monday at 9:08 AM

The first clone's memory popped inside my head just a few minutes after training started. I blinked at the deluge of information, then laughed. That was so dumb. Clone-chan decided she wanted to sprint as fast as she could. Clone-chan couldn't dodge the unmoving tree. She crashed and the clone dispersed.

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

About one hour later, Clone-three and four popped out at the same time. That duo decided they wanted to fight each other. Which turned into a game of tag, then tickling, then just cuddling under the morning sun. They fell asleep, dispersed. Was I so lonely my clones couldn't even train like they were supposed to? Koto playing hadn't gone well. My dreams of Rebel Rebel were squashed, although I had improved. Now instead of sounding like a kid slapping the instrument, I sounded like a kid who just started playing. Progress!

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

The third day of guarding duty went about the same: boring. Haku didn't case the joint again. No other thugs attacked. I kept inventing ever more strange things to do with my threads.

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

The fourth day started with me creating two clones this time. One went and explored the island. The other sat down and practiced the koto. I needed practice doing normal things without the weight seals.

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

Kakashi-sensei was a lot more mobile, doing small exercises around the house to regain his body constitution. Could already walk with just one clutch.

Guard duty went about the same. Another band of thugs decided to try their luck with spooking the workers. I objected to that. I had also calmed down since the first day. Which meant I only poked them a bit, then threw the offending pests in the water. A long swim to the shore looked a lot like good punishment and character growing exercise. Tazuna approved. Even thanked me for going easy on them.

Naruto, to my surprise and delight, managed to climb the tree on the fourth day. Sasuke was still stuck near the ending. And looked possessed. I had expected Naruto to slap that achievement on Sasuke's face, but proving again to be the better person, Naruto instead went about trying to help Sasuke to climb higher.

Start of the next day I kept with my routine of sending clones to train in my stead. Today was the last day I would do that. My chakra reserves hadn't recovered to full, and I didn't want to be caught by the enemy without chakra. We were getting closer to the time Kakashi-sensei deduced Zabuza could attack again.

Before the boys went to do their thing, I called Naruto over.

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

"Did my training method work?" I wrote.

"Yes! I beat Sasuke!" He whisper-yelled. "But don't rub it in too much, he gets real angry."

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

Naruto tilted his head. "Tree climbing?"

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

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

Naruto looked confused. "We already learned that in the academy, Hinata-chan." He whined.

I nodded. Showed him the board again, with the same words. Then, still keeping the leaf on my forehead, I walked to the tree, and kept walking up. I held my skirt and hair in place with chakra, but I don't think Naruto noticed that. His eyes bugged out, looking at the leaf still on my forehead.

I erased my board, wrote again. "Try it?"

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

okashihime · Monday at 9:10 AM

How do you teach someone something that can't be taught? I had no trick or tips for Sasuke. Chakra control was repetitive, exhausting work, however, Sasuke was hailed as a genius. What we did was talk. I told him about all the issues I had when I started, how it felt to move the chakra, my experiences, what type of exercises I tried and what exercises I still practiced. I even pulled up my shirt and showed him the row of coins stuck to my stomach. I never stopped that.

Sasuke had a faraway look on his face. I wasn't sure if I helped at all.

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

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

"He probably thinks you just told him clan secret training methods." Kakashi-sensei was by my side. How did he keep doing that when he could barely walk? I looked at the man, shrugged. It wasn't any secret. Just no one ever asked. "You realize some of those could be considered clan secrets, right?"

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

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

It was, again, another boring day of guard duty.

In the evening, the mood was tense. Tsunami looked stressed. Inari, even more sullen. That night, Naruto and Sasuke didn't return from training. Kakashi-sensei didn't look worried. I didn't either.

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

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

Which music was appropriate for this moment? A Thousand Miles? Party In The U.S.A? Or maybe some classics by Queen Taylor?

No, I knew exactly which song I wanted.

I plucked the strings. The koto wasn't the best instrument to play pop songs, but I liked it. With the number of strings, it was easy to play the bass part, and pluck notes to simulate the singing I couldn't do. I even used my threads to knock on the koto's wood, just to pretend there was some percussion as well.

The notes of Goddess Katy Perry California Gurls resonated on the clearing. Of course I mouthed the lyrics. It was a classic.

California gurls we're undeniable. Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock.
West coast represent, now put your hand up.
California, California, California gurls.

I plucked the last string. It hadn't been perfect. I didn't remember all the lyrics, and it was more of an exercise in improvisation than a real rendition, but it felt good to play, fun. Which one next?

"I've never heard a song like that," the sweet voice said, just in front of me. My mind came to a halt. "I liked it."

I looked up. Thoughts of Call Me Maybe forgotten. Haku crouched just by the side of my picnic blanket. Dressed in the same pink kimono from the second day. They held a basket with herbs inside. They looked at my setup, then at me again. I opened my mouth, closed, opened it again. Couldn't speak even if I wanted to. Closed my eyes, took a deep breath. They were pretty, but that was just mind games. Don't get tempted, it's a trap for unaware shinobis. I popped my board, Haku's perfectly manicured eyebrow went up. I wrote. "Want to join me?"

Haku looked around, nodded. Daintily, sat seiza across from me.

I did the host thing, glad for the kunoichi classes telling me what to do. I got up from behind my koto, also sat seiza. Took the thermos, filled the cup, observed the customary movements. Once I had served the tea, I offered the cupcake. It wasn't the traditional offering, but it was what I had. I wrote more. "Please, help yourself." I waved my hand over the tea, pastries and finger sandwiches. They looked interested in my confections.

Haku took the cup, sipped the tea, nibbled the pastry, eyes widening. That one was for my own consumption, might have put a tad more sugar than needed. Don't judge me, girls and sweets, I wasn't immune.

Customs observed, I returned to my place behind the koto. I was in a pinch right now. Traditionally, the cumbersome zither was seen as a romantic instrument, given the soft sounds and playing style. I didn't play the traditional way. Well, nothing for it I guess. Since I was in a Katy Perry mood, I went with another: Wide Awake. That song always had me in a strange mood, which this one certainly counted for.

I plucked the strings, tried to get into the groove again. I couldn't. Haku sitting across from me set my teeth on edge. It showed in the song. It was more tense than the original music already was. The song ended, and it hadn't felt good.

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

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

"Hi, I'm Hinata," I wrote on my board. "It's nice to meet you."

Haku smiled. Looked down, pushed a strand of hair behind the ear. Damn they were beautiful. So unfair. "I'm Haku."

I wrote again. "Do you want to listen to more music?"

They nodded. I nodded.

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

Crista20 · Monday at 9:26 AM

Oh you really did come here author, Nice!

okashihime · Monday at 10:03 AM

Crista20 said:
Oh you really did come here author, Nice!

Popokoropis? I mean, that was the user on SB that suggested me this platform.
Also, thank you for commenting. <3

okashihime · Monday at 10:04 AM

"That headband, are you a ninja?"

The question came out of nowhere. I guess the novelty of music ended and it was ninja business time. Time to see who learned more about the other. I didn't deny it. I had used seals already. I nodded.

"Isn't it too early to be out?" They asked.

I wrote: "I was trying to relax before the day began." When Haku read, I flipped the board with the second part of the message. "Aren't you working early as well?"

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

That was an interesting tidbit. It was the first time I heard that, but I wasn't sure if I was just being led on.

"Why are you a ninja? Is that for yourself? Or someone else?"

That was a simple question to answer. I was a ninja because I knew things, horrible, terrible things, and didn't want to be at mercy of those stronger than me. I puffed my chest with my non-existent pride. I wrote. "For myself!"

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

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

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

Haku was talking about Zabuza, right? They had this weird master-disciple relationship. I remember how it made me uncomfortable the first time I read the story. Haku was willing to die for Zabuza. At the time, I thought it was unrequited love: Haku was a boy, Zabuza was a man. Forbidden love and all. But this Haku in front of me didn't sound like they were enamored with Zabuza, Haku sounded like a religious fanatic. It fascinated me, just a bit.

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

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

And wasn't that the sadness of the shinobi world? Children thinking they were tools, to be used and discarded. Not that I could say anything about that, I hadn't escaped a spot of indoctrination myself. Not with how readily I put myself in danger to protect the client in the fight against Zabuza, not with how I just exploded the enemy and all I thought about was how I had done a good job protecting the client.

"Thank you for the tea and music." Haku got up, bowed. "Let's meet again somewhere." They said, walked away from the clearing.

I plucked a few strings.

You've got your mother in a whirl
She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl

That meeting with Haku got me thinking. How could we avoid fighting Zabuza? Another tidbit of info filled my brain: Never get to know your enemy. I understood it now. I didn't want to fight Haku, I didn't want them to die, and I knew that was the direction events would lead to.

Tension was high inside the house, with expected incoming attack any day. I approached Kakashi-sensei during breakfast. We had this talk a few days back, about how Zabuza didn't have anything against us personally, that he was just a ninja on a mission, much to Naruto's consternation. "Sensei, what would it take to make Zabuza not fight us?"

Sasuke read the words, scoffed. "What, are you afraid?" The jerk!

I ignored him, focused on Kakashi. The man considered my words. "Zabuza has a reputation of never abandoning a contract once he accepts it." I nodded. That was fair. "It would need Gato to somehow make the contract invalid to stop Zabuza."

"What if we kill Gato, wouldn't that make the contract invalid?"

"W-what are you asking? Hinata-chan?" Naruto gasped. The rest of the room went quiet.

"Not really," Kakashi-sensei answered without skipping a beat. "We don't know the terms of the contract. And besides, that is not our mission. We are here to protect Tazuna-san and his family."

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

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

Kakashi-sensei nodded. Smiled. "Very good. Starting from tomorrow, you'll also help protect Tazuna-san."

Finally, I could share the boredom.

"I'm also tired from all the day's hard work," Tazuna said, "anyway, the bridge is almost complete."

"Father, Naruto-kun, don't overdo it, okay?" Tsunami engaged Oka-san mode and fussed over the workaholics.

That should have been the end, but there was family drama abound. Brat Inari didn't seem happy that Naruto looked satisfied with his progress and training, and their hard work. No one had seen the boy's tears until the yelling started.

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

That triggered Naruto something fierce, who to my surprise didn't also start yelling. He waited until the boy had spilled his grievances out. Inari had stopped to take a breath when Naruto's voice hung out.

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

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

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

okashihime · Monday at 10:05 AM

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

That didn't sparkle my fan-girl like I thought it would. I still thought Kakashi-sensei was train-blocking me. But a mission was a mission. I would do as asked. I nodded.

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

My ears burned. Couldn't very well tell him the idea was his, could I? I was pretty sure Kakashi had been the one to suggest this training method in the original story. I also didn't fail to notice he kept tabs on me. Was it just to make sure I was safe or something else? Nor did I miss the fact he knew I had convinced Naruto to teach me the jutsu.

"If things happen how I think they will, Zabuza will attack us today. You're on guard duty. Your mission is to protect Tazuna-san and your teammates, but let Sasuke and Naruto fight otherwise."

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

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

"What did you guys do yesterday? How did Naruto get so tired?"

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

Oh yea, that would do it. I got taken out by five clones. Couldn't imagine the mental fatigue of hundreds of the buggers. Still, Sasuke was strangely polite today. I bowed back. No need to antagonize him.

Sasuke, Kakashi and I followed Tazuna to the bridge. The more we walked, the clearer something was wrong. Where on the previous day the bridge had been bustling with workers, we didn't see anyone. I told sensei just that.

"Good job." Sensei said, "Keep your guard up."

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

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

"A monster!" The man gasped.

We didn't need more than that warning. Mist billowed out, covering everything. It was thick, cloying and uncomfortable. We hounded around Tazuna and the surviving worker. I held my kunai, not the exploding one. Unfortunately, I couldn't risk damaging the bridge. Sasuke held one kunai in each hand. He was buzzing. Was it fear? I didn't think so.

"Long time no see Kakashi." Zabuza's voice echoed from within the mists. "I see you're still with those brats. He's shaking again. Poor kid."

Zabuza's clones popped out of the mist. Surrounded us. I counted six.

"Do it, Sasuke." Sensei called out.

Sasuke and the clones moved at the same time. Sasuke was faster. He dashed between the enemies, kunai at work. A moment later he was back at his previous place, and the clones burst out like punctured water balloons, liquid splashing around us. I held my own attack. Kakashi-sensei glance telling me to not intervene.

The mist cleared some. Blocking out way out of the bridge, out walked Zabuza, followed by the same masked hunter-nin who took his body in the previous battle.

"The brat has grown. Looks like a rival has appeared, eh Haku?"

Haku had been staring at me, but changed targets. They looked at Sasuke. Nodded. "It has indeed."

"I'll fight him." Sasuke said. "Tricking us with that stupid act. I hate bastards like that the most."

Couldn't Sasuke admit he just wanted to fight Haku? Why did he need to come up with such absurd excuses?

"Impressive," Haku said, their voice melodious, "even though the water clones have only 1/10 the strength of the original. Still very impressive."

Zabuza interjected. "We've gained the first advantage. Go!"

"Yes!" Haku said, before exploding into a leaf whirlwind.

We had seen that jutsu before. A variant of shushin no jutsu. Haku had used it when we first met. I grabbed Tazuna, Kakashi grabbed the still alive worker. We jumped back, clearing the area a moment before Sasuke and Haku engaged in their duel. I was all for it. The more time we wasted, the better. If Gato behaved the same as in the main story, he would try to kill us after the fight. At that point, Zabuza wouldn't have reason to fight us anymore. Or so I hoped.

Both Sasuke and Haku moved fast. They attacked, countered and parried. None with obvious advantage over the other. Sasuke pushed with his kunai, Haku held back the attack with a senbon.

"I don't want to have to kill you, but you won't stand down, will you?" Haku asked.

"Don't be foolish." Was Sasuke's scoffing answer.

"Very well."

Still keeping Sasuke's kunai at bay, Haku brought a hand up, with dizzying speed, he went through a gamut of one handed seals, ended up by slapping his feet against the ground. The water around both flew up, transformed into needles, surrounded Sasuke on all sides. The water crashed where Sasuke just was. The boy pumped his legs full of chakra, and escaped by jumping up. A rain of shuriken followed Haku's retreating form. Distracted by the attack, Haku didn't see Sasuke moving behind them.

Both jounin observed the duel. Not interfering.

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

"You can't underestimate my team by calling them brats." Sensei threw back the retort.

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

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

Like a switch had been flipped, Haku stood straight. "Yeah, we can't let that happen." Chakra built visibly around him. The temperature dropped. Sasuke, even knowing the water had been used against him one time already, hadn't left the area splashed by the water clones. Water turned to ice, and ice turned to mirror, mirrors formed a prison.

"Hijutsu: Makyo Hyosho." Haku said before they stepped inside the ice mirror.

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

In the ice mirror prison, things changed. Haku's movement had accelerated beyond belief. Sasuke couldn't keep up and with each pass from one mirror to the other, a new senbon puncture wound appeared on him.

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

Haku noticed. Popped out of the ice to catch the attack. Naruto didn't let the chance go. He dashed in, punched Haku out of the mirror. Then, instead of pressing his advantage, the dumb brat took a pose.

"Uzumaki Naruto has finally arrived!!" He hollered.

I wanted to punch him myself.

Crista20 · Monday at 10:08 AM

okashihime said:
Popokoropis? I mean, that was the user on SB that suggested me this platform.
Also, thank you for commenting. <3

That's me, and it's going to be super easy to follow you now

okashihime · Monday at 1:41 PM

"I'm here to sa—"

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

Kakashi-sensei hadn't been in a position to stop Zabuza. Nor did I think Naruto could evade the attack. But I had been watching. Like Kakashi asked. I didn't miss the man drawing the weapons from the hidden pockets of his clothing. I did the same. My own shuriken intercepted Zabuza's mid-flight.

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

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

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

I couldn't pay attention to the unfolding drama and idiocy over the ice prison. The mist thickened, blocking my vision. I couldn't even see in front of me.

"I've seen through your tricks, Sharingan Kakashi. You can't copy what you can't see. You can't use a genjutsu on me if I keep my eyes closed."

Kakashi growled. "But you can't see anything either, why?"

"Hehe, you'll never know. Farewell, Sharingan Kakashi."

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

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

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

I also flickered. I was behind Zabuza, who had started his swing. The man noticed. Of course he noticed. Don't know what I expected. I aborted my attack, flickered back toward Tazuna. Clone-chan moved back as well, and the two of us faced the mist, ready for any other attack.

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

The stalemate broke with Naruto agonized yell. "I'm gonna kill you!!"

Dense, evil, violent, and angry chakra like I've never felt before pushed against me. It felt like I was inside a volcano and its intent hadn't even been directed at me. Wind billowed, the mist moved. There was a sound of breaking glass.

Kakashi and Zabuza moved at the same time. Several other bundles of chakra appeared out of nowhere, surrounded the missing-nin.

The billowing wind from where Naruto was pushed the mist away. There was a small rolled up scroll nearby Kakashi. A bit further away, Zabuza stood trapped between several of Kakashi's ninken.

Back at the ice prison, Haku stood, mask broken, eyes vacant. Naruto with his fist trembling just shy of hitting Haku. The ice mirror prison had broken. Sasuke lay in the middle of the bridge, in a pool of blood, pierced by countless senbon. Was he dead? Shit.

"You're just a kid." Naruto muttered. The oppressive chakra dispersed like it had never been there. His eyes, which were red, returned to baby blue.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked. "I murdered your friend, and you still spare me?"

Naruto seemed to realize the issue, finished his punch. It was nowhere near strong enough to take out Haku.

Both Naruto and Haku got into an argument. I looked around. Zabuza was trapped, there was no more mist. I looked at Clone-chan, nodded at her. She flickered toward Naruto's battlefield. Kakashi-sensei had ordered me to keep the boys safe, this felt like a failure.

The sound of thousand chirping birds filled the air. My head snapped toward Kakashi. His right hand sparkled with lightning. Wait, wasn't that chidori?

"I shall say this once more, give up, your future is death." Zabuza looked defiant, not willing to back down. Kakashi dashed forward.

There it was, the moment I had been waiting for.

The argument between Naruto and Haku escalated, they looked about to trade blows again, but Haku disappeared. Nearby Kakashi, a mirror formed out of water, from the mirror popped Haku. I moved. Pushed as much chakra as I could in my legs. The world blurred, the wind stung.

Haku stepped out of the mirror at the same time I tackled them out of the way. Haku held several senbon, threw them at the rolled scroll nearby Kakashi. I moved my arm in the path of the needles, couldn't catch all of them. We crashed on the ground. I punched down, hard. Had to take Haku out of the fight. The ninken holding Zabuza disappeared in a puff of smoke, the missing-nin twisted his body. Kakashi's chidori attack, instead of piercing Zabuza's heart, cut the man's shoulder, cleaving the left arm off.

I flickered again, leaving Haku on the ground. Their eyes had lost all semblance of fight. Zabuza, chad shinobi, even after losing an arm didn't miss the opportunity to attack. The man was a true ninja. With his remaining arm he swung his Guts sword.

Before the weapon could build momentum, I flickered by his side, punched him. I put everything in that one attack. I felt the bones in my hand break, the pain lacing my hand and arm. It did what it was supposed to do. Zabuza never expected my attack. The man toppled over, sword clattered onto the bridge.

I flicked back toward Haku soon after. Their eyes were still vacant. I could hear the murmured whispers, the pain in the voice, and see the tears. "I'm sorry Zabuza-sama, I failed you, I'm sorry—" Over and over again. Damn, that was sad.

Meanwhile, Naruto had come to checkout on Sasuke. Clone-chan gave him a thumbs up. Sasuke was alive, even if he looked more dead than alive.

Kakashi looked at me strangely. I wasn't sure why, so I also gave him a thumbs up. He just shook his head. Walked to Zabuza, tied the man up. He slapped some sort of seal on the man's injury. Was that to prevent blood loss? I needed that one for myself.

I did the same with Haku. I tied them down. Haku was insensate, didn't even put up a fight. Naruto started crying, happy his boy friend was alive? Zabuza didn't stay unconscious for long. After waking up, the man glared at me from the place Kakashi kept him tied up.

"It's over Zabuza. There's no way you can beat me now."

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

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

There on the bridge, stood a short man with spiky hair and black sunglasses, dressed in black formal clothes. Huh, I knew my own ninja uniform wasn't that strange.

"Well, he's certainly made a fine mess out of you. What a pity Zabuza." The midget said.

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

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

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

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

"No."

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

Haku stirred under me. Their eyes regained a bit of their focus. I kept them pinned and tied. I didn't think Haku was in any condition to join Zabuza. I hadn't gone through all this stress to let them die at the end. No, Haku could stay put. There were no ninjas among the crowd.

"We're tools, and we die as tools." The missing-nin said. He picked up his sword, let it fall against his one good shoulder. With one hand seal, mist billowed out again. "But even tools have their pride." Chad Zabuza didn't even seem to notice his missing arm. Trippy.

I always thought Zabuza hadn't fought us with real intent to kill. That moment I realized how right I was. It was a massacre.

Thank you for reading.

This is the last one on this ARC, we start with Chunin exams next. I mean, not immediately, but here seems a good ending point to the arc.

I'll admit that I debated a lot whether to keep this ending. I was conflicted about just killing Zabuza, but in the end, I do have some plans for him in the future. So yeah, we'll see if it pays off or not.

okashihime · Monday at 1:43 PM

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

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

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

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

Zabuza, contrary to my expectation, hadn't killed the whole of Gato's gang. After decapitating the midget gang boss, he killed about half of the present thugs, before scaring the rest away. I still thought the town would have been served best by killing them all, but as Kakashi-sensei said, we weren't here on a assassination mission.

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

"Is that…"

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

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

"But if I'm not, then what am I?"

"I can't tell you that," I wrote, "but you have the rest of your life to find out, maybe together with Zabuza?" Haku's emotionless and defeated face after I had prevented them from sacrificing themselves haunted my dreams for the past weeks.

"Can't you?" They asked.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? Naruto tells me he's been asking about you since the battle of the bridge."

"What if I'm not useful to him anymore?" The desperation was so thick in their voice I wanted to slap them. I was also getting a bit fed up with their depression. Yeah, I was a horrible human being.

"Then you come and find me. I'll put you to use, even if it's to taste test my cupcakes." I boldly wrote.

That got me a small smile, better than the last two weeks combined.

Haku got up. I did the same. I didn't play music today, the mood didn't seem right. Haku bowed. I was tired of the formality. I stepped closer and hugged the depressed teen. They didn't hug me back, which was a shame, but baby steps, baby steps. We didn't say anything else. Haku turned around and left. No idea what Zabuza would do next. He had recovered, and was leaving today.

It was a bit creepy, but I had sealed the man's arm with a fuinjutsu storage seal, gave it back to him after the battle. I don't know what I had expected. His strange stare wasn't it. I bowed, fled as fast as I could. Was he still involved with that civil mess that was Kirigakure? Time would tell.

I had time to think about the battle of the bridge. My self sabotage revelation sparked many ideas I wanted to follow up.

Weight Seals: That was a good training idea, and I do think there was worth in them, but not in their current form. I needed a way to disabled them without removing them. Also a way to control how much weight they induced. I had ideas already. Had sketched a few prototypes over the past days. Wouldn't have the necessary tools to craft it until I was back home. I even had a name for it: The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi. Maybe I could sell the idea to the village?

Clone training: I had gone to great lengths to acquire this cheat, and promptly didn't use it. My excuse of not wanting to alert Kakashi was as laughable as it was dumb. No more holding back.

Fuinjutsu: Still stuck on that one, with no idea how to proceed. Who did I know was a seal master I could seek out to help me? The Uzumaki clan had dispersed, and even if there were still survivors, I didn't know anyone aside from Naruto. The only ones I could think of that I could potentially meet were the Third, mostly because he was railed as the man who mastered all jutsu, Jiraiya, who some also railed as a seal master, and… Orochimaru. Yeah, nope, that last one was out. No sir, thank you sir.

Summoned creatures: Another avenue I hadn't considered. Another thing that was super clan secret related. Maybe I could corrupt Naruto to teach me the summoning jutsu as well? If nothing else, that is the prime space-time jutsu out there. It should help me with my dreams of Konoha's Black Flash.

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

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

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

Rotation. My chakra surged, rotated wildly. Power. I didn't have a rubber ball, but I had been using my chakra to manipulate things for years. The fine lines of chakra glowed, I pumped chakra into them, making it as dense as possible. It looked like a forest of thin shiny tentacles sprouting from my hand. Containment. I kept my chakra spinning, I kept the density. Compressed it in as much as I could, pressing it into a ball.

The chakra resisted, I pushed harder, put all my focus and will behind it. The world dissolved away, there was only the chakra in my hand. It felt almost like a popping sensation, like something gave way. I blinked, checked my hand. There was a ball of visible chakra there, the size of a small marble ball. It was nowhere near the size a Rasengan should be. It didn't feel as strong as it should have.

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

Thank you for reading.

In chapter 3 we delve a bit more in what happened with Hinata after being kidnapped. There's also new jutsu to learn and practice. And Hinata finally starts to realized most of her shortcomings are of her own making, or self imposed.

okashihime · Monday at 3:55 PM

"Will you be careful? Don't let any boys talk you into anything strange. When in doubt, talk with your sensei." Tsunami told me, for the nth time.

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

"Will you come to visit?" Tsunami asked, eyes full of tears.

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

I hugged the silliest woman. Might have cried a bit. You can't blame me, girls and emotions, you know how that is. There was some more hollering around. Something about being a hero or stuff. Naruto was a crying mess, Inari was a crying mess. Lots of town's folk had come to see us off. Bridge was named after Naruto.

Fate reasserting itself.

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

Naruto and Sasuke started to behave strangely ever since the bridge's battle. Whenever they crossed their eyes, they looked away, annoyed. Was that teenager's love finally? I hoped not. They were annoying as they were, no need for love drama added.

We were back at Konoha. After reporting and explaining the situation, our C-rank mission had been reclassified as A-rank, but without A-rank pay, at least in ryo. If I understood the whole logic, it was because we decided to continue with the mission even after it was clear it wasn't a C-rank anymore. That was fine. We still got mission points credit, which was the important part for me.

We gathered to celebrate another completed mission. No one complained when Naruto insisted we visit his favorite ramen restaurant. The food there was tasty.

What little team camaraderie we had built before the mission had vanished, Sasuke glared at me and Naruto, who glared back. I wanted to put a stop to that. We had a few days off to rest from the mission, I planned otherwise.

"We're training tomorrow at six, training ground three." I showed them my board.

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

"You read her. Training tomorrow, six." Kakashi-sensei agreed cheerfully. I was pretty sure he wouldn't show up. The cool lazy ninja. But that settled it.

Naruto shambled into the training field with a big yawl. I had set a small breakfast spread for us. There was a bit of talking involved before we started. I don't know when the Chunin exams would start, but I knew we were not ready for it yet, at least not like we were right now. I mean, it would probably be fine? But I didn't want fine, I wanted to kick ass and take names, so to speak. For that, I needed my team in top shape.

Dummy Naruto hadn't realized his shadow clones could be used for a lot more than just help in a fight. They were good for training, infiltration, recon and information gathering, and so much more. I would try to open his eyes to that. I even had prepared a surprise already.

Sasuke walked in a few minutes after Naruto. Still sullen.

Both boys were already used to my antics. They sat down, grabbed the food, poured tea.

"The battle of the bridge could have ended badly for us." I started. Like I had guessed, Naruto was the first to complain.

"We won, Hinata-chan, we saved the town!"

I nodded, it was a fair assessment. "We did, but Haku was stronger than we thought, and if it wasn't for whatever you did there at the end, you guys could have been killed."

Naruto, closed up, sulked. I knew he didn't want to talk about the nine tails. Sasuke scowled at the reminder. Was this the crux of their disagreement?

"I've been holding out on you guys, which is my fault. I'm strong, and I never let the team know about it."

"What, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked. Sasuke, of course, just scoffed, the prick.

I looked at Sasuke. Time to rock his world? Kakashi already knew I knew the jutsu. I didn't write anything. A dozen Clones-chan appeared around us. I hadn't moved a single finger or created any seal. Naruto gaped, Sasuke just narrowed his eyes.

Clone-chans proceeded to do stuff. Had to prove it wasn't just a bushin no jutsu, but a kage bushin no jutsu. Four of my clones zero'ed on Naruto, and started taking turns into pinching his cheeks. I wanted to face palm. Why clones, why? Another half dozen just sat down and pretended to be sullen Emosuke. Even the glare was the same. Two others decided this was too boring, and went to play tag.

I salvaged all that I could from my dignity. I wrote. "I'm good at jutsu, I just don't know any jutsu."

"How?" Sasuke asked, still eying my clones.

"Ow, ow, ow, stop, stop Hinata-chan." Naruto protested, but looked a lot like those toddlers pretending they don't want you to catch them. The tips of his ears were red. What a brat.

"I've been training my control since I was five." I wrote to Sasuke. "There's no trick, I just have years of training ahead of you."

Naruto started giggling. Oh god, what now? But I didn't let that distract me. I trusted myself.

"What else?" Sasuke asked, finally taking me seriously.

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

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

"Since when?" The boy gasped.

I shrugged. "Seven?" I showed him my board, tilted my head. I didn't really remember when I started with that.

Clones-chan army decided they wanted to crowd pile Naruto. And given Naruto's laugh, he didn't mind it. I really wanted to know what my clones were thinking. I guess I would learn now. I unpopped all my clones. Had to face-palm. Really, I just wanted to fan-girl in front of the story protagonists? And since the clones knew they didn't need to deal with any of the fallout… Was fan-girl-sama a masochist or something?

"Why now?" Sasuke pressed.

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

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

Naruto took the weapon, swished it up and down, threw it in the air, picked it up. "It's a kunai?" He asked, confused.

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

"What? How?" Naruto gaped again.

I really wanted to face-palm again. Hadn't he done that in the battle with Zabuza? I had to hear an exaggerated account of that battle for days. "Didn't you do the same in the First battle with Zabuza?" I asked.

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

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

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

"Did you understand now, Naruto? When your clone disappears, you learn the same things it did." I showed him the board.

Naruto's mouth, who he had opened, probably to deny again, closed with an audible click. Dummy hadn't realized it.

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

This one is from the same time I tried images for the cover:

This forum doesn't like my images, so I'll just add the links:

https://i.ibb.co/jV84HN9/00047-3141345627.png

Batch2:

There are with a new model, using a LoRa, which was supposed to make it look like naruto manga. Didn't really work.

https://i.ibb.co/t3hnXgS/00035-3999206740.png

https://i.ibb.co/YWkW4Xn/00031-990042471.png

https://i.ibb.co/ngHcw2Q/00023-4064566547.png

https://i.ibb.co/Ks00QDw/00026-4245571116.png

okashihime · Monday at 4:00 PM

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

With this new version, instead of always working, I could deactivate using chakra. What I hadn't yet been able to figure out was how to make it so I could raise or lower the weight at any time. Until now, every time I wanted it to be more heavy, I had to re-create the whole thing. I wanted a "one version solves all" solution. The on/off switch was easy, the variable output wasn't.

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

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

That and the mission points. Given the mission reward ratio to cost of Jutsu, it wasn't enough to get that many jutsu, but when combined with the rewards for the A-rank one. Yeah.

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

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

Other than that, for physical training I decided to focus on speed. I had my goal: Black Flash. Couldn't very well be a slow flash. I did bug Kakashi-sensei to give me pointers about speed training. I expected him to bail out on me, but to my surprise, he didn't.

"Let's see your training plans." The man said.

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

"These and these you should remove." He pointed to some of my routines. "They won't work like you expect them to." I nodded. "I'll prepare a few others for you. I'll give you tomorrow."

I cheered a bit. I was considering going to look for Gai-sensei to get some tips, but if Kakashi was willing to help, I wouldn't say no. I tackle-hugged the cool guy, to his immense discomfort. Gave him a prepared slice of lemon cake. Fled before he could retaliate.

The feeling of being home wouldn't be complete without visiting Secretary-chan. I popped by the Hokage tower, gave the woman a hug. We couldn't talk much, since it was working hours. I didn't want to cause trouble. I offered her my new confection: Mango Mousse.

I fled. Not ashamed to admit. Secretary-chan let out a lewd squeal of joy that attracted a lot of attention. That day, I realized mango was her favorite fruit, and maybe I should catch her out of working hours if I planned to deliver any other mango flavored pastries.

But the day wasn't over yet. I had a few more people to see and deliveries to make. I abused Konoha's highway express. Jumped roof to roof until I found my destination. I looked over myself just to make sure, before I knocked on the door. I already had my board ready.

The door opened, an older woman with blonde hair and green eyes stepped out, greeted me. "Hello Hinata-chan, it's been a while. How are you?"

I nodded, wrote. "Hello Haruno-san, I was out on a mission. Is Sakura-chan home?"

"Sakura is also out on a mission with her team. She won't return for a few days yet."

That was fair. I popped a container of pastries, placed an unused seal over the container. Offered the woman. "Please accept these, and give the seal to Sakura when she's back?"

Mebuki took the container. Smiled. "It's almost time for tea, won't you come in?"

I shook my head, still had other places to visit. "Next time?" I wrote.

Haruno-san patted my head, not sure why people liked doing that. "Of course. I'll tell Sakura you came by."

I bowed, took the Konoha highway again. My next destination wasn't a residential area, but the Yamanaka Flowers Shop. I dropped in front of the place. Took a deep breath. I loved the smells. I was sure the Yamanaka ninja'd their flowers somehow. They smelled super nice. I stepped inside, went for the counter deep inside. Like I hoped, Ino was here, working her part-time job.

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

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

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

Ino didn't wait for her mother's response. I was already used to the treatment. The few times I visited weren't that different. She dragged me up stairs and across doors to a sparsely decorated living room. To no one's surprise, most of the decorations were flower themed. Ino pushed me on a couch, then fled in the other direction.

I got comfortable, sat over one crossed leg. Looked a my collection of pastries. I wasn't confident enough in the mango mousse yet, despite Secretary-chan's reaction. Decided to go with the usual assortment of cupcakes.

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

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

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

"Really? What is it?" Ino asked, eyes sparkling.

I gave her a cheeky grin. "A surprise. I'll have it ready for the next time I see you."

"You better!" Ino demanded.

Rime Ice · Monday at 5:31 PM

I love the story. Are you releasing a build up of chapters or are you just hammering out all these words at once?

Also the weight seals kind off remind me of the dragon ball gravity chamber? (It's been so long that I forgot what it was called) Do you plan on having mc try to weaponize her weights? I imagine throwing a knife that makes anyone holding it/touching it experience 4x gravity would do wonders for making an opening.

okashihime · Monday at 5:44 PM

Rime Ice said:
I love the story. Are you releasing a build up of chapters or are you just hammering out all these words at once?

Thank you for checking out the story.

Right now, I'm releasing build up chapters. My current backlog is on 6.15, while elsewhere we are on 6.3 already released.

Rime Ice said:
Also the weight seals kind off remind me of the dragon ball gravity chamber? (It's been so long that I forgot what it was called) Do you plan on having mc try to weaponize her weights? I imagine throwing a knife that makes anyone holding it/touching it experience 4x gravity would do wonders for making an opening.

Yes and no. She does create a "trap" with weight seals using barriers (and never uses it, lol), but mostly, the MC suffers of not thinking outside the box too much. I do plan to add variety in the things she can do as the story goes along, but I don't want her to be super OP from the start, which is why some ideas are out there, but MC doesn't use/abuse them.

okashihime · Monday at 5:46 PM

In the mornings, team seven — sans sensei — always met for training. Sasuke had been holding out on us, but when it turned out he couldn't keep up with my speed, he thought his sharingan would be the answer. I was still faster than he could react even when he used his cheat dojutsu. Sucks to be him. Dare I hope I was faster than Rock Lee? I had no idea.

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

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

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

I mastered the normal application of the barrier jutsu, and soon modified it to use weight seals: Weight would serve as a phenomenal way to disable someone without lethal means. I might have also, just for fun, you know, created an exploding version of the barrier trap. I mean, come on. Trap someone and explode them? That is ninjutsu 101, I mean, explosive ninjutsu 101. Whatever, I wanted to explode stuff. The barrier just made sure I wouldn't explode the wrong stuff. Win-win, right? Don't judge me.

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

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

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

We walked down the streets of Konoha, Naruto with his hands behind his head. Today's mission wasn't bad. A wild boar was terrorizing a small village. Hunting the animal had been fun, in a 'I never hunted wild animals before' way. Better than babysitting. Or taking care of Tora. Madam Shifmi had requested us to care for her pet Tora four times already. Always our team. I was starting to think it was because of the post mission client pastries. Her eyes gleamed every time the mission ended.

The village noises filled my ears: people talking, dogs barking, a hawk screaming overhead. I heard it all, but dismissed it. It was only when Kakashi-sensei looked up, that I did as well. The hawk flight path told the message: Jounin, assemble, tower, important, not emergency.

Kakashi-sensei glanced my way. "Well, that's it. I've got to hand in my report on today's mission."

"Then I'm going home." Sasuke said, turned around, walked away without leaving any chance for anyone to say something.

Kakashi didn't comment on that, or say anything else. He flickered away. Left me alone with Naruto.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto yelled, "we can train together!"

I considered my options. I hadn't finished my weight variant bracelets. It was taking more effort than I expected. I learned the two new jutsu, and deconstructing the barrier had been fun. I had ideas for new ways to apply my seals. My current focus was on a simple one sided barrier to use as an impromptu shield. I guess training with Naruto wouldn't be a waste. We usually did multiple clone training at my own request. I nodded. Naruto tried to blind me with his smile. Ugh.

We changed directions and went toward our usual training field. At some point, a cardboard painted like a rock started to follow us, with three chakra candles inside. Naruto didn't take long to notice it too.

"Faked you out, rock!" He hollered, pointing at the cardboard. "Little hint. No rock has perfect angles and perfect corners and certainly no eye holes!"

The box was thrown away. Out from under it popped three brats, wearing the same goggles Naruto used to wear. One was a chubby kid with a running nose, glasses and sleepy eyes. The other a rosy faced girl, with hair tied up like two points of a star. At the front was Konohamaru. I was pretty sure it was Konohamaru.

"Leave it to the man I have acknowledged as being almost my equal! Your skills rival my own." Konohamaru had his arms crossed, expression fierce.

"Oh, it's you guys." Naruto said, unimpressed. "What's up with the goggles?"

"He he he, you're our idol right? We're copying the style you used to wear." Konohamaru said, grinning.

I watched in amusement Naruto talking with the kids. Didn't even got mad when Konohamaru asked Naruto if I was his girlfriend and Naruto didn't deny immediately. Of course he did so after I had slapped the back of his head. Don't know why the bugger didn't take the hint. No marrying Naruto in my future. No way, I refuse!

"But… but you promised to play ninja with us!" Konohamaru whined.

Naruto looked at me pleadingly. I shrugged, I didn't mind, really. Worse came to worse, we could always send a clone to keep the children company while we trained. I nodded.

"Let's go then!" Naruto yelled, pointing down the road. "The last to arrive have to throw a hundred kunai!"

Konohamaru and the girl I still didn't know the name fled down the road. The chubby kid with glasses and running nose shambled after. Naruto pretended to chase the kids.

Konohamaru turned a corner. "Yipe." Cried out.

I dashed forward. Naruto did too. Kankuro and Temari stood looking down on the fallen kid. "That's gotta smart." Kankuro said.

okashihime · Monday at 5:47 PM

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

Temari rolled her eyes. "Knock it off. You know why we are here."

"Put him down, you big ape!" Naruto yelled.

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

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

I popped my board. That got me a raised eyebrow from the two Sunagakure shinobi. I wrote. "You two are shinobi from Sunagakure, right? Is it wise to attack a civilian kid in the middle of Konoha?" I didn't tell them they were threatening the Third Hokage's grandson. That was a can of worms I wanted no part of.

Kankuro didn't seem willing to back down. He shook the boy again. "What, afraid?" He taunted. He looked at Naruto and grinned.

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

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

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

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

"Shut up or I'll kill you." Gaara dead-paned.

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

"I know we are early, but we didn't come to play around." Gaara said. "Let's go." He ordered, turned around. Kankuro and Temari followed him. They had disappeared from view when Naruto couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Who are those assholes?"

Absent-mindedly, I took my board. Midway Gaara speech, three other bundles of chakras, hidden among the tree, had stopped to observe. Were they Konoha shinobi? I couldn't tell. "Sunagakure ninjas." I wrote for Naruto.

"Why are they here?" Naruto complained again.

Why are they here indeed? Was it time for the chunin exams already? I wanted more time to prepare. "I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will tell us if it's something important." I wrote back, then snapped out of it. The kids were spooked, and Konohamaru looked about to cry. I popped cupcakes for them. Children and sweets. Couldn't go wrong with that.

Life went on, with no other information about the visiting ninja. We did more D-rank missions, training our teamwork. About a week later we met up to wait for sensei. As usual, Kakashi-sensei was late, just one and half hours today. There was the mandatory "You're late!" from Naruto, and the usually silly excuse from Kakashi.

"I know it's sudden, but I've nominated you guys for the chunin selection exams."

Naruto was quiet for a moment, before he scoffed. "Good one sensei, almost had us."

Kakashi-sensei produced three cards. Handed it over to us. "Here is your application."

This time, it was Naruto who hug-tackled the man. "Kakashi-sensei I love you!"

Kakashi disentangled himself from a grinning Naruto, looked at me and Sasuke. "Anyway, it's just a nomination, whether to take the exam or not, it's entirely up to each of you." He looked at the three of us. "If you want to participate, sign the form and turn them in tomorrow at 4pm, in the academy. Room 301." Sensei nodded. "That's all." The man flickered away.

Naruto glanced at us and started giggling. I didn't even want to know what the brat was thinking now. Sasuke looked eager. Battle freak. We parted soon after for our preparation. No mission today.

The academy was bustling with Ninja. I had to stop paying too much attention to my chakra perception because it became a bit overwhelming. I had never considered that it could actually be a problem, but it was also the first time I was in a place with so many ninjas gathered. Something to consider later on.

We walked past the mass of bodies, climbed the first and second floor. The markings in the wall that told the numbers had been blocked or covered. Part of the deception I guessed. The genjutsu tried to invade my mind as soon as we stepped inside the second floor. It didn't work. It never worked.

There was a crowd of people in front of room 201, or 301 if someone hadn't been able to shrug off the genjutsu. A boy with a bowl cut, green leotard and huge eyebrows made a scene out of himself confronting the two guys guarding the wrong door. I wanted to cheer a bit. Rock Lee was cool. The two disguised ninjas went on about sparing us, because we would all die yada yada.

Sasuke, for all his combat potential, proved he was just an attention seeking boy. I think secretly he liked all those fan-girls chasing after him all the time. Instead of just walking past the obvious trap, he stopped. I wanted to slap him.

"You better drop this genjutsu. I'm going to the third floor."

There was a small hubbub of conversation at his declaration. I mean, really, and I thought Naruto was an attention whore.

"So you've noticed." One of the distraction ninjas said.

"Heh, you had no chance of ever fooling us." He smirked. "Even more with Hinata here." He pointed at me. People looked at me at the obvious call out. Dafuq was his problem now? I rolled my eyes. My ears burned a bit. Was I an attention whore as well? Bummer.

The sign above the room distorted, the genjutsu dispelled. "Not bad." One of the distraction said. "But seeing through isn't—" midway through the speech he dashed forward, sweeping a kick aimed at Sasuke's head. "—enough!"

The past months of training hadn't been in vain. Sasuke reacted fast, aimed a counter kick. To my surprise, Naruto also reacted. He kicked low, on a sweeping attack. The distraction noticed. He was dressed as a genin, but I was sure it was at least a chunin behind the facade. He retreated, scowled. "You'll pay for that." He said, before skedaddling.

Without Sakura-chan around, I guess Rock Lee had no motive to intervene. There was a bit of drama between Neji and Sasuke. The Hyuga heir had finally stopped staring at me. For a while I had forgotten it: Sasuke was considered a prodigy, even by Uchiha standards, even if Itachi had been a precocious little ninja. It was hard to not notice when every time we were near other clan ninja, everyone wanted a piece of the boy.

They huffed at each other, Neji glared at me again for some reason, then we parted ways.

okashihime · Monday at 7:06 PM

Without Sakura-chan in team seven, Rock Lee didn't follow us to challenge Sasuke. I guess the impetus behind that decision was probably teenage hormones. Which was a shame, I wanted to see the second coolest ninja, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey: Maito Gai. Soon, I hoped. We kept pace, climbed to the next floor. Kakashi-sensei stood before door 301.

Naruto squinted, scratched his head. "Why are you here, sensei?"

Cool guy Kakashi, leaning against the wall, gave us a small wave. "From the start, only a three man squad can participate on the exam."

Naruto tilted his head. "But sensei, you said we could decide for ourselves, were you lying?"

Sensei smiled. Eye turned into a crescent. "If I had told the truth, and one of you didn't feel ready to participate, the others might have pressured that person into participating. That wouldn't do. Half attempts at this exam will only get you killed. But you guys came on your own will and I'm very proud of you guys. You are a team that I'm proud of. Now, go on."

The boys smirked. My ears burned. With head held high, chest puffed up — to no visible difference — I crossed the fated door.

Glares, all manner of glares and scowls greeted us on the other side.

The room was packed full of people. Most were from Konoha, almost all of them a lot older than us. I caught movement from the corner of my eye: a dash of yellow hair coming our direction. I ducked around Naruto, waiting for the perfect moment.

"You're late Sa—" I didn't let Ino finish. She had her arms open ready to hug Emosuke. The boy didn't need any more attention, and I wanted that hug for myself. I tackled the blonde instead of letting her finish, cutting off her remark.

"— oof." Ino grunted, hugged me back. Her eyes glinted, face opened with a smile. "Did you bring it?" She asked, as if hugging me had been her intention all along.

I nodded, serious.

Ino threw herself into the hug fully. "Yes!"

I held onto the hug for a while longer, noticed the intricate scent of flowers from the blonde girl. Released her waist. She looked at me expectantly. I dug into one of the hidden pockets in my skirt waistband. Took a miniature seal. Offered it.

Ino took the seal with trembling hands. Stored it in a pocket. Threw her arms around my neck on another hug. Ino's reaction reminded me of food addicts. Had I hooked the girl on sweets addiction and was now her fixer? No, that was silly. I pushed that idea away.

All the while, the whole room watched, and the mood got even heavier. Shikamaru and Choji arrived soon after.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru complained. Choji nodded, but didn't stop eating his chips. Ino still had her arms draped around my neck, when team eight arrived.

Shino, with his high collar and black glasses looked inscrutable as always. Kiba looked wild and arrogant, but it was the puppy on top of his head that stole the limelight. Akamaru was so cute! Sakura looked confident, smiled. Her eyes passed over all of us, lingered a moment on Sasuke, but focused on Ino.

I guess Sakura just needed time and distance to get over Emosuke.

"Your forehead is still wide and you're ugly as usual." Ino teased.

"Go to hell, Ino-pig!" Sakura called back. Ino just stuck her tongue at Sakura.

"You guys are taking this exam too?" Shikamaru asked the obvious question once the rookie nine had gathered.

There was a bit of banter. Kiba provoked Sasuke, Naruto called out the whole of Team Eight. All the other eight kids were loud as kids wont to do. I was tempted to summon finger food to celebrate the reunion, but I didn't want to give away that information to the enemy. Maybe I could invite them all for a get-together later?

"Hey, you guys." A soft voice called from behind us. "You should all be a little quieter." I twisted a bit, peered over Ino's arm at the newcomer. Tall, with glasses and gray hair, he wore his protector on his forehead and a dark blue vest over a white shirt. The usual half-shin trouser and blue opentoed ninja shoes.

Another fucker that needed to die. Real fast. Real hard. I glared at Kabuto.

"You guys must be the nine rookies, acting like this is a field trip."

Ino, who still had her arms draped around my shoulders, shot back. "Who are you? Acting all haughty!"

He returned my glare and Ino question with a smile. "I'm Kabuto, anyway take a look around you."

I didn't. I had never stopped paying attention to the room chockfull of people glaring at us, but it seems, the others had. Ino looked around, removed her arms. Sakura also looked tense now. Some of the boys looked intimidated, others serious. I wanted to strangulate Kabuto even more now. I had been enjoying the prolonged contact with another human being.

"Everyone is already on edge because of the exam." Kabuto engaged the rest of the rookies in conversation. Pulled out his ninja cards. Everyone gathered around him to check out the details. Kabuto talked about the villages participating. "Everyone here is at the top of their village, everyone is strong. Some even literal monsters."

This fucker needed to die. Fast. Decisively, and permanently. But how? He might be pretending to be a genin still, but Kabuto was strong. Jounin like strong. At this point in time, how many body modifications had he already performed? Could he even be killed?

Kabuto glanced at me, flashed a smile. I looked away. Gotta be careful.

Naruto started trembling. Sasuke noticed. Looked worried.

Naruto took a pose, pointed his fingers at the room at large. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I won't lose to any of you bastards!" He hollered. Put hands behind his head. "Ah, that felt great!"

"Hey, what's what with him?" Ino grabbed my arm, demanding. I just flashed her a smile. Might have passed a new seal with more pastries.

Sasuke smirked.

We were in a room full of ninja, people who should know how to control their reactions. The glares, the tense jaws, clenched fists and cursing, told otherwise. I could grab at the tension in the air. Otogakure ninjas moved. The trio dashed forward, attacked their disguised pal, Kabuto. Was this planned as well? It made no sense why the ninjas would go for Kabuto when the rookies were an easier target. Was that planned to make us sympathize with the traitor?

Kabuto dodged, but suffered the consequences of the sound attack, barfing all over the place. Naruto rilled up, ready to cause another commotion to defend Kabuto. Smoke exploded at the far end on the other side from where we were. "Quiet down, you worthless bastards!" The voice bellowed. Out of the smoke popped the scary Intelligence Department Squad, or at least I thought they were.

A ninja stood in front of the group. He was dressed in a black duster, his protector worn like a bandanna. He smiled. It did nothing to warm his scarred face. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first test of the Chunin exam." Ibiki's voice, a low growl that echoed through the room, silenced the chatter instantly. His eyes, cold and piercing, scanned the crowd, lingering on each face as if daring anyone to challenge him.

It was pretty interesting seeing the man work. The glare, the stare, the scars. Yep, I wouldn't want to be alone with that guy. He listed the rules, threatened to disqualify anyone who didn't obey.

"Turn in your written application, take one of these seating assignment cards." Ibiki showed a small card with a number. "Report directly to the seat indicated. When Everyone is seated, we'll pass out the written part of the exam."

Naruto grabbed his hair. Soul leaving his body. "A written test?" He yelled.

okashihime · Monday at 7:07 PM

I want to say I kicked ass and took names in this first exam, but that would be a lie. The seating arrangement made no sense to me. Some tables had only one person, others had three side by side. The exam rules didn't trigger any alarm bells in my mind. I was pretty sure it was the exact same as the original story, even if I didn't remember the rules word by word.

Chunin proctors sat one per roll by the walls. There were a lot of proctors here. I would have been intimidated if I hadn't known what this was all about. I hoped all our training and talk would help Naruto realize the nature of the test.

"You have one hour," Ibiki growled, "starting now!"

I turned to my test, read the questions. Question ten would only be revealed fifteen minutes before the test ended. Yep, damn fate.

I turned back to the first question: Decode the following cipher and summarize its meaning. No way Naruto could answer this one. Although, the code looked fun. I tilted my head. I remember seeing a similar code while studying that myself. That made me remember I never re-coded my story book. I shook my head, not time to get distracted. I ran the cipher in my head, tested possibilities, wrote down the answer.

All around me chakra flared, crowding my perception even with me trying to ignore it. People had started to cheat in earnest.

I turned to the second question. It was an integrated problem based on predictions of uncertain conditions and dynamic energy analysis application. I nodded. No way Naruto could answer this one as well, I wasn't even sure if Sasuke could. I ran the scenario in my head, trying to visualize the problem. Wrote a few possible equations, crossed them, tested others.

A shinobi ahead of me stood up, both hands on the table. "The one thing I'm wondering is how many top ranking teams they intend to pass?"

From the front, Ibiki laughed. "Haha. Knowing that wouldn't help would it? Unless you're planning on failing the exam."

The shinobi sat down. "Sorry."

The movement of chakra intensified. Some people were subtle, others cheated blatantly. A chakra infused bug landed on my desk, near the question I just finished answering. Way to go Shino! I left the bug alone. Focused on going through the test questions.

A kunai flew from one of the proctors, pierced a test paper just behind Naruto.

The test taker barked out. "What was this about?"

Cool guy proctor, with the fabric crossing his face and square goatee mocked. "You're out. That was your fifth strike."

"No way!"

Ibiki had no mercy. "His two buddies, both get out of the classroom. Right now!"

There were some protests, people got dragged. I kept my head down. By the corner of my eyes, I saw sneaky Naruto use the commotion to replace someone else's eraser with one of his clones. The proctor took notice of it, wrote something down. I guess Naruto wasn't subtle enough, but I'm guessing he at least learned something.

The test went on, and more and more teams got thrown out. I had just finished answering the seventh question. After the second one, the questions got even more complicated, with multiple scenarios and possibilities to consider. I had been focused, forgot to pay attention to the room.

"Get ready for the tenth question!" Ibiki barked out.

I jumped a bit. Blinked in confusion. Had it been 45 minutes already? I looked at my test again. Midway answering question eight, which was an analysis and discussion about relative political repercussions of the third shinobi war.

"And before we get to the question itself, I'm adding a new rule. This rule is absolute." Ibiki glared at the room. "First you must choose whether to accept or reject the tenth question."

"Choose?" Temari asked from her seat across the room. "What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?"

"If you reject the question and don't even try, you'll lose all your points and fail. Both you and your teammates."

"What?" a random genin barked. "Why would someone reject the question then?"

Ibiki spoke softly, but his voice carried. "Because of the other rule. If you try to answer and get it wrong, you'll never be permitted to apply for chunin exams, ever again."

The classroom half full of shinobi exploded in complaints, alright. Loudmouth Kiba yelled louder than everyone else. Ibiki just glared the boy down. It was nuts. Tension in the room skyrocketed. I wanted to applaud the guy. All the pose and theater and subtle threats. How he manipulated a room full of already nervous people into considering the consequence as something that could actually happen.

In a way, it was a lot like Kakashi-sensei's bell test, just with direr consequences. I think if Sasuke had not been affected by the mood, he'd notice the similarities. I put my pen down. For all intents and purposes the test was done.

Ibiki pressed. One genin gave up. Like floodgates open, more and more people opted out of the test. Until Naruto happened.

The brat raised his hand, slapped it on the table hard. Hollered. "Never underestimate me!! I won't quit and I won't run! I'll accept your stupid question. Even if I risk being a genin forever, I'll still become the Hokage, even if by pure stubbornness, I don't care!" He stepped on the table, pointed at Ibiki's scarred face. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Yeah, I could see why Hinata liked the brat. I even felt a bit moved by his hollering. Still not marrying him. No sir, thank you sir.

Ibiki growled again. "I'll ask one more time, this is a decision that could affect the rest of your life, quit now while you still have the chance." The scary jounin tried, but the mood in the room had shifted. The remaining shinobi looked confident, inspired.

"I never go back on my word!" Naruto declared.

Ibiki smirked. "Good call. Everyone who is still here, you've just passed the first exam!"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"There's no tenth question, beyond the whole accept or reject thing." Ibiki said with a nice smile.

Others reacted. Temari got angry. "Why waste our time like this?"

Ibiki went on to explain the whole point of the exam. Naruto sat down, arms crossed. Nodded like he understood everything. The brat. He looked back, I gave him a big smile, a thumbs up. He tried to blind me again.

Midway through a question, Ibiki removed his protector. The man's head was a scarred mess of cuts, burns, claw marks, slashes, and punctures—a horrifying sight that killed the mood. Despite this, the jounin smiled as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Still smiling like he was the nicest guy around, Ibiki answered questions, explained the purpose of the exam, which was to cull out people who couldn't gather information, or didn't have enough resolve.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto hollered. "Bring it on!" He cheered.

Something, or someone crashed through the window. The blur moved midair. Kunai shot out from the new arrival, sticking to the ceiling and floor. A banner opened behind the woman. The banner coincidentally hid Ibiki, revealing a woman who wore a single wire mesh clothing piece, a dark orange skirt, and a brown duster. She had purple hair, wore shin protectors. Oh man, that's Anko right?

"None of you are in any position to celebrate." The purple haired woman slapped the fabric behind her. It had words written on it: Newly arrived second chief command officer, which was a bit unneeded, because Anko introduced herself soon after.

"I'm the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin' people, let's go! Follow me!"

okashihime · Monday at 7:08 PM

No one moved. Anko's face darkened. Ibiki poked his head from behind the cloth. "Can't you sense the mood in here?"

"Seventy eight?" Anko turned to the scary jounin commander. "You obviously went easy on them."

Ibiki shrugged. "We have," he paused, just for a moment, "exceptional applicants this year."

"Right, right," Anko dismissed, "I'll cut that number by half before the next test is done. Come on people, follow me. I'll explain things at our next location."

We followed Anko out of the building, around the less frequented parts of the village, until we stood out of a fenced area. Huge rooty and contorted trees filled the field in front of us. The atmosphere was heavy on the other side of the fence, not helped by Anko's introduction of the place.

"This is the arena for the second exam: training ground 44, also known as Forest of Death."

Anko did the song and dance of scaring people. I thought I would fangirl over her. Anko had been one of my favorites, even if she didn't have much screen time in the original show. But not here, not now. She creeped me out. It might have been because she smiled while she cut Naruto's face with a thrown kunai, only to appear behind the brat, grab his head and lick the blood. It made all my innards churn. Worse still when what I really hoped wouldn't happen, happened.

The tall, pale lady with long black hair and longer tongue provoking Anko. That was Orochimaru, wasn't it? I looked away. Started trembling. Wasn't even sure why I was scared.

Anko continued with her piece. Handed out consent forms. Did that mean we were adults already? I guess so. Explained the two scrolls, each team had a random one, Heaven and Earth, we needed the second of the pair. Five days to reach the tower at the center. Forty four entrances. If any of your team dies, you're out. You need all three members of the team alive and with two scrolls to enter the tower. Do not open the scrolls until you are at the tower. Under no circumstances could you leave the forest before the five days ran out. There would be no jounin interference, with no exceptions. Not once did she say we couldn't maim or kill the opponents. The kid gloves were off, it seemed.

"That's all the explanation you'll get. When you've got your scroll, a proctor will take you to the gate you'll start from. Everyone will start at the same time." Anko looked serious. "And one final piece of advice. Stay alive!"

Teams were called inside a cabin with red curtains. Soon we were called out. The proctor handed me a heaven scroll. I handed it over to Naruto. "Keep it hidden Naruto-kun, don't ever tell anyone you have it. They'll expect Sasuke-kun to be the one holding it, you're our secret weapon."

It was a bit cheesy, but it did the job. Naruto smiled wide, before schooling his expression. We left the cabin to wait until all teams had their scroll. I hoped the proctor wouldn't complain about the pebble-clone-chan I left inside the place to scout the remaining teams. We're ninja after all, we needed information.

A proctor led us toward gate 12. I checked my seals. Kakashi hadn't told us to pack, so I had my essential stuff bag. Which was basically everything. It was just paper. Naruto and Sasuke had only a small bag with their tools. We had to survive five days. I knew the test would be dangerous. I didn't want to fight Orochimaru. It could always be a coincidence, right? That tall lady was a genuine contender, bent on killing us and taking our scrolls, not some S-rank murder hobo disguised bent on killing us for the funz of it.

"Are you okay, Hinata-chan?" Naruto came over, crowded around me.

My own logic didn't make things easier. I nodded, shook my head. I opened my bag, took one of my storage scroll rolls, much to the proctor amusement. Out popped my special exploding kunais. I handed each of the boys a few. I wrote. "Take care with those, they are extra." Just because, popped a few cupcakes, offered some to the proctor. No need to break my good impression policy just because I was scared.

I might have stress eaten one or ten cupcakes myself. Don't judge me.

The proctor checked his watch. Turned around. Opened the locked gate. Waved us in. I had expected more fanfare. We crossed, the man closed the gate with a final clang. I raised my hand, popped my board. Unpopped pebble-clone-chan. Details flooded my mind. I organized my findings.

"Gate 15, 18, 9, 6. Those are the closest teams with Earth scroll, which one should we target?"

"How do you know, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Left a clone disguised as a pebble in the cabin." I wrote back. Sasuke nodded, Naruto smiled.

"By distribution, shouldn't we have more teams near us with Earth Scrolls?" Sasuke asked.

I nodded, wrote again. "Didn't catch all the teams."

"Nine," Naruto pointed out. I nodded. We dashed inside the place, angled our movements toward that direction. We'd have to cross the path of three other gates, but that was fine. I stopped gimping my perception. Now it was a weapon I needed to wield, not something hindering me. We hopped branch by branch.

A scream sounded in the distance. We stopped, looked in that direction.

"Did you guys hear someone scream?" Naruto asked, looking toward where the sound came from. "This place is creepy." He added.

Mid Naruto speech, three bundles of chakra entered my perception, then, like they knew where we were, circled around us. I tapped my foot, like I was impatient. Enemy, north, east, west, trees. To my immense surprise, it was Naruto who answered.

He scratched his head, fingers spelling the code. Understood, received. Out loud he said something else. "Urgh, I gotta take a leak." He walked toward a bush, which placed him on the path of the east enemy.

"Don't take too long." Sasuke growled, then turned around and walked west. That settled, I took a knee, pretending to check something on my bag.

Things kicked off when the bush Naruto walked behind exploded. I'd recognize those explosions anywhere, it was my extra spicy seal. I used the c-rank doton jutsu to hide under earth, left a normal clone in my place as a decoy. Sasuke also moved, he threw another exploding kunai toward a particular branch, forced the hidden enemy to flee, gave chase.

The enemy in the north fell for my trap. With my clone being left behind and looking scared, the shinobi from Amegakure with the strange breathing mask and cloth covering both eyes attacked. I activated the perimeter barrier once he got close, then the exploding tags I hid there. It wasn't one of my best, just a normal explosion, but the explosion in the confined space did its job. I left my hiding place, went to my enemy. The shinobi was burned and battered, but still alive. I tied him down. He wasn't in any condition to fight, but that wasn't my problem. I patted him down for the scroll, found none.

There were a few yelling from Naruto's side, a few explosions — not from my seals — from Sasuke's side, and soon after both boys returned. Naruto was a bit banged up, dragging another unconscious ninja and a large metal crossbow. He had a cut on his arm and hand. Sasuke looked fresh and unhurt. He dragged the third shinobi. The only way I could differentiate these guys was by the number of eyes on display. I remember this team. Wasn't they some sort of genjutsu user or something? My guess is that we looked weak enough to not warrant any serious attack from a perceived ambush. We turned things up pretty easily.

I looked at Naruto and Sasuke. Gave them a thumbs up. Once the enemies were gathered, I searched them for the scroll. They had earth. Lucky! I stored it on one of my miniature seals. Hid it in my skirt waistband pocket. Then we ran, deeper inside the forest. I couldn't believe how easy that had been. Would we break the exam record?

Unfortunately, I thought too soon. Cursed myself, cursed our team. The huge blaze of chakra, dwarfed only by Naruto's own, entered my perception. I didn't stop. I had a feeling I knew who that was. My body agreed with me.

With trembling hands I took my special kunai, ten of them. Clinked one against my forehead. Enemy, strong, run. I calculated the distance, the speed and what I thought the explosion range would be. A dark part of my mind remembered question two. Heh, I could calculate. I threw all of them in an area around and behind us, ran faster.

"What, Hinat—" Naruto didn't finish. We had left the trap area, but we were still too close. The blaze of chakra entered the trap area, the kunais exploded. Couldn't waste that opportunity. It felt like I detonated a nuke, the explosion impact and devastation way bigger than I thought it would have been. It would have been beautiful if I wasn't so scared.

okashihime · Monday at 7:11 PM

The funny thing about explosions, they don't really care who triggered them. My precious babies exploded and almost took us out. The blast was stronger than I could have dreamed of. Naruto hadn't braced himself. He flew away from us, fell somewhere I couldn't see. I crashed against a tree, felt my shoulder crack. I didn't see what happened to Sasuke, but his chakra presence was nearby, I hoped he was alright.

And in the end, it was all for nothing.

The shinobi chasing us hid under the earth. Moved underneath, crossed over past where we fell, blocking our path forward. I got up, moved toward Sasuke. When I got there, he was already up, standing straight, kunai in hand, facing the tall long tongued lady from the start of the exam. Shit, shit, shit. What should I do? My legs refused to move when I set my eyes on the enemy.

Tall Lady looked at me. "What gave me away?" The raspy voice asked. My trembling got worse. Move, dammit, move. I took a kunai. Held it in front of me with a white death grip. The lady didn't seem bothered by my lack of answers. She took a scroll. Another earth one. "I suppose you'd like to get my Earth scroll, wouldn't you?" She opened her mouth, tongue came out, snaked around the scroll. Gulped it down like it was candy.

My trembling got out of control. I wanted to run. Sasuke looked at me, worry written on his face. He moved closer, stood by my side. I could have kissed him right now. A chaste one, on the cheek, but a kiss nonetheless.

"Now, shall we see who will steal from who?" The Tall Lady glared at us. "We'll fight to the death."

Chakra full of killing intent washed over me. I don't know what Sasuke felt, how it affected him. For me? I remembered. Memories flashed too fast in my mind.

Strapped to a table, the sterile walls, pain, yelling. The same scratchy voice. "We can't have you yelling like that," the voice said, a finger burned my throat, "there, that will keep you quiet."

There was more, a lot more.

My thorax cut open, my bones dug out, my guts hung in the open. All the while, the pale man chuckled or scribed something away. Not even when he took out my eyes it ended. It just turned worse.

The killing intent infused chakra abated. I was on the ground. Water leaked from everywhere. My pores, my eyes, my mouth, between my legs. My mouth was open in a horrifying scream that created no sound. What was that? A genjutsu? I thought those couldn't affect me. Was it a memory? It didn't feel like one, It didn't feel like I was Hinata strapped to that table. I felt like my old self, I was Camilla.

By my side, Sasuke had spilled his lunch. He looked at me. Still trembling. Called out. "Hinata?"

I couldn't take my eyes from the lady, man, snake. Whatever.

Tall Lady ninja smirked. Threw kunai at me. I saw them, calculated their path: Neck and heart. I couldn't move. My body refused to obey. The world blurred and we were elsewhere.

Sasuke had somehow dragged me out of the clearing, hiding behind the trunk of one of the biggest trees. He held both of my trembling hands with one of his. The boy looked at me, eyes full of worry. Looked out from the corner of the trunk, searching for the enemy. Silly boy wasn't paying attention to the snake sneaking up on him from above.

I bit my own tongue. Pain flared, iron filled my mouth, but whatever shit Orochimaru did to me lessened. I wrenched my hands from Sasuke's. Grabbed a kunai, a normal exploding one, threw it. The weapon hit the branch above us, detonated. The explosion pushed the snake away.

Sasuke finally noticed the enemy. Whirled, attacked. Threw shuriken, jumped to another branch. The snake chased him. While in midair, Sasuke unloaded a rain of kunai and shuriken. It hit the open mouth of the snake. The creature fell, flopped down, still half coiled around a branch.

But there was no relief. The body of the serpent bulged and distorted, burst open and out came the disguised shinobi, covered in gore and bile. "You make this so much fun. Keep running prey." The sibilant voice hissed. Then, like a snake, it crawled up the branch, toward the still panting Sasuke.

Kunai and shuriken hit the branch, cutting off the half-snake path. Naruto — covered in blood and guts — stood above us. "Naruto is here for the rescue!"

Sasuke called out. "Be careful Naruto, they are way above our league."

"Good job escaping the snake, Naruto-kun." Disguised Orochimaru complimented. There was a bit more back and forth. Orochimaru didn't seem hurried to continue his attacks.

Naruto lost his patience first, attacked.

Orochimaru pulled his sleeve up, smeared blood on the summoning seal tattooed to his arm. Summoned a giant snake. The snake moved fast, tail-slapping Naruto away. Sasuke attacked. His eyes red, tomoe spinning. I forced myself up. My knees trembled, but I had to fight. Couldn't just give up. Sasuke was also slapped away, and my hands moved. I threw a kunai, blocking the snake follow up attack.

Naruto was back in the fight, eyes red and raging, evil chakra gushing out of him. Somehow, evil Kyuubi chakra actually helped. It terrorized me in a different way; pushed away all remaining influence from whatever Orochimaru did. Naruto punched the snake down. It felt like the punch of god. The snake retaliation was interrupted by Sasuke's flame jutsu. I threw even more explosive weapons at the giant snake. Hope sparked in my chest. We're driving the snake off.

Like always, I cursed fate by daring to have hope.

The snake recoiled, then lashed out, faster than before. A wave of dread and killing intent blasted me, froze me in place. The snake open maw promised horrible death. Then Naruto was there, somehow he stopped the snake, diverted the attack and the creature snout hit the branch. Naruto held it there like he held the weight of the whole world.

The brat's eyes burned red, evil chakra visible around him. He grinned, a bloodied, nasty thing. "I'll protect you, Hinata-chan." I was speechless for more than one reason. Naruto decided to play cool and flirt mid fight? The gall of that brat!

Orochimaru, who had been content to watch, moved. His tongue extended, wrapped around Naruto, took him to the air. I attacked, I flickered behind Orochimaru, stabbed with my kunai. Or I tried to. The man had turned his head 180, with a movement too fast for me to see, slapped me away.

"Get off me!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke moved, not to help Naruto, but to catch my fall. He grabbed my hand, we landed on a lower branch. What was wrong with me? When did I turn from a ninja to damsel in distress?

Orochimaru's turned back to Naruto. The tip of his tongue raised up Naruto's shirt, revealing the seal on the boy's stomach. Orochimaru's fingers burned with purple chakra. He hit the seal. Like pressing an off button on one of those jolly chimp toys, Naruto flopped off, unconscious. Orochimaru tossed Naruto away. Sasuke threw a kunai, pinned Naruto to the tree by his jacket.

The snake man turned to Sasuke then to me. His next words chilled me to the bone. "How curious, I'm sure you were dead." I didn't think he was talking about this fight.

Pressed beyond what was reasonable, we fought. Sasuke feinted, attacked, dodged. I kept moving, kept flickering, threw kunai, shuriken, placed explosive trap barriers. My lack of jutsu rearing its ugly head. Sasuke used my own attacks, capitalized on any chance. Used a wire trick with the sharingan and shuriken to trap Orochimaru. Spewed flames all over the enemy face.

For a normal enemy, it would have been more than enough. I dare say even some weaker jounin wouldn't come unscathed from that. Not that Orochimaru wasn't hit. The fire melted away half of the skin the man wore, revealing even paler flesh beneath. I had expected to see the snake pupils. I didn't. Instead the eye was white on white. Hyuga byakugan eyes.

Was that my fucking eye?

"I'm Orochimaru," the man introduced himself to Sasuke. Took the earth scroll from inside his mouth. "If you'd ever like to become strong, pass this exam and come find me." Orochimaru burned the Earth scroll. "I'll give you a taste of true power."

Sasuke held his ground, another kunai in hand. "What are you babbling about?"

The snake sannin neck elongated, faster than the eye could move, bit down on Sasuke's neck. Sasuke screamed. For a moment, the selfish part of me dared believe it was over. The man had done what he wanted. Marked Sasuke with this seal. Now please just leave. He didn't. He turned to me. His white eye glowed, filling all my vision. My body burned. I fell down like a puppet with its strings cut.

What just happened.

Orochimaru walked closer. Picked me up by the hair. Like I was a piece of rare furniture, inspected me. Looked at my arms, pried open my eyes. Stuck a finger inside my throat. All the while, the white eye stared at me. He took my pouch, checked my seals. "They haven't taught you." Orochimaru said. "Dangling bits in front of your face and never giving you real power. I can teach you." Orochimaru grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "No matter how much you beg, Konoha won't help you, they can't. Not even the third can remove those seals."

What seals? I had no idea what he was talking about. Was this a recruitment pitch? In the background, Sasuke had stopped screaming after a hoarse grunt.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Think about it, I can teach you things they never even dreamed about." He looked away, to the far horizon, beyond the trees. The man pushed a glowing finger onto my forehead.

Agony invaded my mind. I felt dirty, violated, unclean, my bones burned, my blood boiled.

The man took his finger away. "My offer is the same. Come and find me when you get tired of them denying you. But first, you have to prove you're worth it." Orochimaru released me. I crumpled on the branch. The man turned, left without looking back.

okashihime · Monday at 10:48 PM

Pain like I had never felt before burned me from the inside. It was agony on a whole new level. It felt like every cell of my body was on fire, that they had a will of their own, and that the will was to destroy me, inflict as much pain as possible.

It went on I don't know for how long, until it stopped. Night had fallen in the Forest of Death.

I still couldn't move. Whatever Orochimaru did removed my ability to control my own body. I was pretty sure it was related to the seals he mentioned, but I didn't have the time to analyze that now. The agony would return, I could already feel the onset of pain starting again. I couldn't move, and the solution seemed so obvious I wanted to slap myself.

For years, I've used chakra threads, manipulating things close and far. I never gave much thought to which branch of techniques used threads: puppet techniques. I even saw Kankuro manipulating threads near him, trying to trip Naruto.

I pushed my threads out, wrapped them around my arms, legs, waist, head. Like a shambling corpse, my body rose up from where I had fallen. With that same shambling movement, I collected the boys. Naruto wasn't hurt, Kyuubi regeneration already healed the injuries. Sasuke burned hot with fever. I crawled down the tree, dragged the boys away from the site of the battle, not too far, time was running out. I found a nook in the base of one great tree. Placed Naruto and Sasuke there. I laid traps around the place. Barriers, explosives, tripwire. All manner of things I could think of.

I would have done more. But I didn't have the time. I barely managed to return to our hidden place when pain took me, and the world went hazy again.

Obviously, Orochimaru had done something to me. A diagram populated my mind. It described a fuinjutsu work, one meant to be inscribed on one person's bones. Foreign knowledge, implanted directly in my brain. From that, I learned what seals Orochimaru had talked about. That diagram described the seals in my bones. It was used to restrain, to reinforce, to control, and so much more.

The man's parting words finally made sense. Orochimaru had given me a blueprint of a door. Gave me the key I needed to open it. But the door had no lock to fit the key. He also put a timer on my bones that would kill me if I didn't open the lock. I just had to break the fuinjutsu code and craft a lock for the door. Something I had been trying for years without success.

I couldn't say how much time passed. Between the pain, agony and desperation, I was barely coherent enough to notice my surroundings. There were some moments of lucidity between all the pain. I remember checking on Sasuke and Naruto, adding more traps. I remember something triggered one of my traps, the explosion deafening me for a moment. Mostly, I was focused on breaking the code.

Time and time again I tried. But it was just re-hashing previous attempts, trying to fit squares to circles. My mind got ever more entangled with trying to find which wire to pluck between an infinite number of them.

I think, for a time, I might have gone feral. Or maybe my mind retreated and the body took over. I couldn't say. I had impressions of things, of events, but no real memory of anything. It was an unending nightmare. I was trapped inside a genjutsu. I could find no other explanation for it.

Three things stood out from that period.

I woke up with hands around my neck. My vision was hazy. There was a girl sitting on top of me squeezing the life out of me, not in a good way. Long hair, manic eyes, army camouflage-ish pants. A distorted musical sound on her forehead protector. From the corner of my eyes, I saw the other Otogakure-nin hold an insensate Sasuke up by the throat. I don't know what happened after. Something inside of me broke. I yelled. For the first time ever there was sound. Hoarse, guttural and not at all like human. It felt like the whole forest answered my call. I still couldn't move, but I lashed out, pierced, perforated, ripped the enemies to bits. I only stopped when I felt warm blood dripping on my face. I gathered my allies, huddled again inside my hiding nook. The world returned to pain.

That moment taught me something I should have realized years ago. There was another seal in my throat. One that I cracked by sheer willpower alone. I had always taken fuinjutsu as route memorization and building blocks. My assumption was that I was just missing the blocks I needed to make my own seals work. The part I missed all this time — and I knew it had been intentional like Orochimaru said — was the will component. Different seals looked like different languages and logic because they were. Each seal master created their own function through sheer willpower. That revelation spurred me into another hazy period of trying to break the lock.

I remember others arrived. A green blob tried to approach. I lashed out. The green blob was fast, but I was the forest. It tried to flee, I didn't let it, or I tried not to. I managed one stab before more blobs joined. A pink blob, a white blob. I lashed harder. Things exploded. The three blobs retreated.

I was so close now. I cobbled together a cumbersome thing of a lock. Big, ugly, inefficient when compared to the pristine door. I tried the key. It fit, but still the lock wouldn't turn. But I knew the problem now. It wouldn't be long until I finished it. But again, the world wouldn't leave me alone.

Another blob, yellow and purple, approached. It was slow, nonthreatening, almost like it was afraid. The frustration of being interrupted so close to freeing myself showed up. I yelled, or better say I howled. It didn't sound like a person. The yellow and purple retreated. I heard a sound. The wind turned, bringing new smells, a particular mix of flowers. Wait. I knew that scent.

My head turned into the blob's direction, my hands pushed out, questing for the source of the fragrance. The blob approached. It had a fuzzy shape of a person. Someone I knew. Fingers treaded around my extended hands. The world held still for a moment. I plugged the last building block of the lock, fit in the key, opened the door.

The haziness vanished. The dream became clear.

Ino knelt in front of me. Held my hand. The place around didn't look like anything I remembered. Roots, branches and all manner of wood created something that looked like a demented madman's dream. Body parts dangled from the suspended wood: a head here, three arms there, a foot on the other side of the clearing.

But the nightmare was over. I solved the lock. I was free. A smile broke on my face. Ino shuddered, but didn't let go. But then again, this was a genjutsu induced nightmare. Ino could be excused. A devilish idea came to mind. I was all for it. When else would I have the chance to snog my favorite female cast if not in a dream?

"You were always my favorite in the entire show, Ino-chan," I croaked out, blood falling out of my mouth with my words. "So pretty. You're just too good for Sai." I pushed forward, hugged a freaked out Ino. Her spooked face looked cute. "I'm going to wake up from this nightmare now. I'm glad I saw you at the end." I pushed up, pecked her lips. I chickened out and went for a peck instead of a full snog. Left a bloody smear there. Nightmare Ino could deal, I was sure. I rested my head on her shoulder and let go. Darkness took me. It was time to wake up.

okashihime · Monday at 10:50 PM

Like usual, Shikamaru had a plan for this exam. Like usual, it involved the least amount of effort, which somehow meant going after team seven, and taking their scroll. Team seven were the easiest opponents in this forest, according to Shikamaru's analysis.

Ino didn't mind messing with Naruto, he was annoying, weak and not really anything to worry about. Sasuke would be harder to deal with, and the idea of making him fail left a bad taste in her mouth. He had been her crush for as long as she remembered, even if the scales fell from her eyes recently. Time and distance, like her mother always said.

No, the problem was Hinata. For all of Shikamaru's brain, he dismissed the girl as someone easy to deal with. Had counter arguments for everything: Hinata was physically strong, but her taijutsu was laughable. She had no way of escaping his shadow-bind. Choji could thump her out cold if necessary. Her seals could be ignored, she hadn't used them for anything else than storing sweets. She didn't know any dangerous jutsu. The excuses went on and on.

He didn't know all the things Hinata talked of her missions, and the little tidbits Ino learned over the years. Ino had never managed to put Hinata into a genjutsu, not even her family jutsu — Ino would never admit to using it on her classmates — worked on the girl. Hinata never outright admitted to it, but Ino could read behind the words. She killed on her mission, and aside from an A-Rank jounin, none other shinobi they faced had been a danger to her.

No, Shikamaru was focused on Sasuke. In his plan, if they took Sasuke out, they'd win. Naruto was just plain bad, didn't really factor in. Choji never questioned Shikamaru's decisions. Ino tried to hint — without telling them the things both girls talked about — that Hinata was stronger than she let on. Neither of the boys took Ino seriously. Ino didn't push too hard. She had no proof, just a gut feeling.

The team set out. Moving slowly to avoid other attackers. Like right now, when they hid behind a bush to avoid Neji. Team Gai was off limits. No way Ino wanted to fight those monsters.

"Come out of hiding, unless you're cowards."

Ino scowled. How did Neji noticed them so fast? She looked at Shikamaru, who sighed and nodded. It was time for plan B. They stepped out of the bush.

"Wow, can I have your autograph?" Shikamaru asked in the poorest imitation of someone amazed.

Ino untied her hair, swished it seductively, gave Neji doe eyes. "What an honor Lord Hyuga Neji, I can't tell how long I've dreamt of meeting you."

"Oh, it's you three." Neji turned away from them, talked with his back toward team ten. "Get lost. I'll be a laughing stock if I take the scroll from you weaklings."

Neji walked away. The whole team sighed in relief after the Hyuga heir disappeared among the trees. The plan worked, sort of. Team ten kept their path, sneaked, hid. Until the explosions. Out in the distance, the world shook. A plume of smoke and fire billowed into the air.

"What was that?" Ino asked. It was in the same direction they've been moving. Shikamaru scowled, Choji just pumped his mouth full of chips. Where the boy kept getting those was a mystery even to his team.

"Be careful," Shikamaru warned, but they didn't change paths.

Hours dragged, the team stopped for the night, hiding among the trees. It was a tense, disturbing night. Every small sound jolted the team awake. The morning sunlight just crested through the canopy when yet more explosions, closer, shook the world a second time.

Team ten looked at each other. Retreat? Find another target. Shikamaru opened his mouth. Ino shook her head. It wasn't even about the scroll anymore. Ino was worried about team seven. The slow silent march continued. Team ten passed through a devastated patch of forest, the first explosion site, followed by the obvious site of a battle. More explosion marks, broken branches, huge craters on the ground, ginormous dead serpents. It didn't look like anything any of the other rookies could do.

They met Neji for a second time, along with the rest of team Gai. Rock Lee had a bloody gash on his arm, and scratches all over his body. He helped an injured Neji walk. The Hyuga heir's leg pierced by something. Tenten looked spooked out of her mind, but unharmed.

Both teams looked at each other. Tenten was the one who spoke. "It's no use, don't go. You'll die."

That sparked a furious debate after team Gai left.

Shikamaru scowled, looking at where team Gai came from. "This is too troublesome." He complained. "If even they can't, we need to find a new target."

Choji pumped even more chips into his mouth, nodding all the while.

Somehow, Ino knew she needed to continue. Not because of a silly crush. What filled her mind was her own dumb fight with Sakura over the Uchiha heir and how that cost her a friend. What if Hinata was in danger there? Would she turn back now and lose yet another friend? This time permanently?

"You wait here," Ino said. She walked forward.

"Ino, wait!" Shikamaru called out, followed, even if from a distance.

Ino pushed into what was a nightmare. Roots, branches and all other manner of wood waved and warbled and coiled and lashed out. It was like the forest was alive, and it was a feral animal. She saw bodies, at least two, by the number of dismemberments stuck to vines and roots. In the middle of that hell, cradling an unconscious Naruto and Sasuke, was Hinata.

Ino never understood all that happened with the girl. When Ino asked her dad, he refused to explain what happened. One thing was certain: Hinata had been taken when she was just three. She was found years later, and ever since then not uttered a single sound, and unlike all other Hyuga, her eyes were black. The girl in the middle of that nightmare moved strangely, like her body wasn't her own. Hinata's black eyes were dilated and she didn't blink. Ino didn't know if Hinata was even up there.

"Hinata?" Ino called out, but there was no response. She stepped closer. The whole forest moved. Every manner of wood and branch and root pointing at Ino. Hinata screamed, raw, intense, unsettling. Hinata could talk? Ino stepped back. Raised her hands in surrender. The wood didn't stop moving, but it retreated a little. Ino looked back at her team, Shikamaru waved her to come back, but didn't dare make a sound.

Ino ignored him, called out again, louder. "Hinata?"

Hinata's head snapped toward Ino. A clumsy hand raised, like trying to grab something.

Ino knew this was a terrible idea, but she stepped closer. The wood followed her every step, but didn't attack. She knelt in front of Hinata, took the girl's extended hand. Life and lucidity returned to Hinata's eyes. She smiled. It was a bloody, feral thing. Hinata looked around for a moment, before her eyes settled on Ino again.

"You were always my favorite in the entire show, Ino-chan." The girl rasped. Her voice hoarse and scratchy, but not unpleasant. Blood fell from Hinata's mouth, she didn't seem to notice it. "So pretty. You're just too good for Sai." Hinata moved forward, threw her arms around Ino's neck in a hug.

The whole situation scared the crap out of Ino.

After a brief moment, Hinata moved back, with her arms still around Ino's neck. "I'm going to wake up from this nightmare now. I'm glad I saw you at the end." Her voice was eerily cheerful, with a hint of mischief. Hinata leaned forward, kissed Ino's lips with her own bloody ones. She sighed, placed her head on Ino's shoulder. Closed her eyes. Fell unconscious.

The forest stopped moving, like it had just lost its life. Ino had no idea what to do now. Hinata still held strong to the hug. A finger to the girl's neck confirmed she was still alive.

"What the hell happened here?" Shikamaru complained, pointedly not commenting on the bloody smear on Ino's lips.

Ino — with Choji's help — managed to pry open Hinata's arms. How was the girl this strong? While Ino held the unconscious Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji scoured the battlefield: three confirmed dead, the Otogakure team. Among the body parts they found an earth scroll.

On team seven, Naruto held a heaven scroll, same as team ten.

"What should we do with this?" Choji asked, holding the earth scroll. They put Naruto's scroll back in his pocket.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's our payment for helping them, now let's get out of here, this place creeps me out."

Choji took Naruto. Shikamaru carried Sasuke. Ino was left with Hinata.

No one said anything while they moved deeper into the forest. They had two scrolls already, and didn't even need to fight for it.

"At least, your plan worked." Ino said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Troublesome."

Choji guffawed.

Ino took one last look at the hellscape behind them: the branches, roots, body parts, blood, and viscera. A shudder ran through her. She looked over her shoulder, at Hinata's innocent face resting like she had nothing to do with the carnage back there. She remembered the words: 'favorite in the entire show'. What was Hinata talking about? And that kiss. Ino was just so confused.

okashihime · Tuesday at 9:14 AM

I woke up to the sounds of battle, with several blazes of chakra around me. I didn't even have time to curse my bad luck, or even process what happened in the past how many hours or days. I sprang up, tossing away the cloth covering me. I was inside some sort of improvised tent. My hands went to my pouches. They weren't at my waist. I steeled myself, ran out.

Outside was chaos.

Ino-Shika-Cho stood together guarding the entrance to the improvised shelter. On the other side of the clearing, a group of shinobi from Amegakure fought Sasuke. Or better yet, were being toyed with by Sasuke. Emosuke's face and arm was almost all covered by the cursed seal mark. Sasuke's chakra had grown exponentially. He moved faster, his attacks sharper and crueler. That was bad. I couldn't let Sasuke use the cursed seal for long.

I burst from behind team ten, much to their surprise. Had my nightmare included Ino at the end because she was nearby? I tossed that question out of my mind. Not the time. I didn't have kunai, Sasuke was too close for my exploding shuriken. My weight seals were already disabled. I flickered forward. Faster than anyone could react I punched, kicked and broke bones. In the blink of an eye, only me and Sasuke were left standing. I faced him, didn't lower my guard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sasuke growled. His eyes reminded me of Orochimaru. "They were trying to attack you and Naruto." Sasuke's sharingan kept track of every single of my movements. The cursed seal covered most of his face already and I could see it already creeping toward his right hand.

I didn't take my eyes off him. I slapped my foot to the ground. One of our coded messages. Enemy disabled, stop, safe.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to my feet. He growled. "No." The boy attacked, not me, I noticed. He was fast, faster than anything he could have done before. I flooded my body with chakra again. Time seemed to slow down. Sasuke was fast, but so was I.

Sasuke tried to push past me, I grabbed his arm. Emosuke hadn't expected it. I turned around, threw him down, twisted his arm, my knee pushing against the center of his back. Sasuke struggled. I was running out of options other than to hurt him. "Stop." I croaked out. My throat stung, felt like something tearing. I tasted iron.

The sound surprised me. Surprised Sasuke. The Uchiha heir stopped struggling. After a moment of silence he asked. "Hinata?" I got up, released him. Looked around, bewildered. The cursed seal receded, and Sasuke's eyes turned back to normal. He held his left arm. Looked more lost than I. "What happened to me?"

I scratched my head. I could ask the same. Where are we? It looked nothing like the maze of roots and tall trees we fought Orochimaru in. I cast my gaze about. Ino-Shika-Cho still regarded us with guarded eyes. I waved at them. Naruto was asleep just behind team ten. I popped my board. Took a step toward them, Choji and Shikamaru retreated. I stopped. Wrote. "Hi guys. Where are we? What happened?"

Ino's eyes widened, "You… don't remember?"

I thought about the last things I remembered. Orochimaru attacked, we got defeated, he put me on a genjutsu. I shook my head. "We fought someone strong. He defeated us, put me inside a genjutsu. That's the last I remember."

The trio looked at each other. Ino nodded. Stepped forward, smiled. It looked just a bit forced. "We found you guys passed out," She looked at her team again, "We decided to help you out and carried you with us." She pointed at the moaning shinobi behind us. "We stopped to rest when they attacked. Sasuke woke up first, he didn't say anything before attacking those guy. You woke up soon after and ended the fight."

That made sense. And now we owed them a big one. Could I pay with the efforts of my labor? I turned around, walked to the Amegakure team. Searched the unconscious shinobi. They had a heaven scroll. I considered for a moment, better start repaying that debt now. I held the scroll up, showed it to team ten. "Do you guys need it?"

It was Shikamaru who answered. "We got a pair already."

I nodded. Walked over to Sasuke, handed him the scroll. Wrote just for his eyes. "How are you holding up?"

He looked away, brooding. "I don't know."

"Want to talk about it later?" I wrote. The boy hesitated, shook his head. Sasuke walked away, brooding even more. He did need someone to talk to, just didn't want to admit it. I wasn't sure if I was the best person to deal with this. For now, I just watched him walk away. That left me to deal with Naruto. I approached team ten. I could see they were afraid of me for some reason. I knew how to solve that. I took one of my emergency seals from the skirt waistband. Popped out a full spread of pastries. This one was the 'I'm sorry and please enjoy' series.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Muttered. "Troublesome."

Choji cheered. Rushed over to sample some. Ino gave me a smile, one that wasn't tinged with fear. I gave her a thumbs up.

Ino approached. "Which scroll do you need?"

"We already have a pair." I wrote for her, much to the girl's surprise. I stopped in front of Naruto. He wasn't unconscious anymore, just sleeping. The mumbling and drool confirmed it. I did remember this part in the original show, Choji hit Naruto's head to wake him up. I wasn't going to be mean to the sunshine brat just because he was annoying. I knelt by his side. Shook his shoulder until he woke up.

Naruto's eyes glued to me for a second. He looked around, fast, panicky. He jumped up, hollered. "Everybody get down! No telling where she is!" Naruto threw himself to the ground again, after just getting up.

I sighed. Naruto was still Naruto. "Battle is over Naruto-kun, you were awesome."

That calmed him down and cheered him up at the same time. He had that dumb, bright smile on his face.

"You still have the scroll?" I wrote.

Naruto searched his pockets. Took out the heaven scroll. I nodded. Took it from him. Now we just needed to reach the tower at the center.

I turned to Ino, she looked back questioningly. I shook my head. "You know which direction the tower is?" I wrote back.

It turned out, we weren't that far. Ino-Shika-Cho had dragged our unconscious behind close, but they didn't enter the tower because of us. I owed them a big one. We didn't delay. After tying up the enemy shinobi, we rushed the last stretch. The big metal door was closed when we arrived.

Naruto pushed it open, the six of us entered. There was no one inside. On the wall opposite to us, a poem painted by the old man Third.

"The scrolls." Shikamaru said after reading the poem. "How troublesome."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"We need to open the scrolls." Sasuke said, to the rest's agreement. After an exchange of nods I took both scrolls. Handed it over to Sasuke and Naruto. On the other side, Shikamaru and Ino held theirs.

At the same time, we opened it. It contained a seal. Smoke puffed out of the two seals. Naruto and Sasuke threw it away. Out of the smoke popped Iruka-sensei.

On the other side, pretty, glorious, awesome Yuhi Kurenai popped out to greet Ino's team. Damn, even now lazy man Kakashi let me down. Even if his indifference was cool.

"Hey kids, it's been a while." Iruka-sensei greeted us. "You three look like you've been through the wringer."

On the other side, I heard Kurenai's cheerful voice. "You made it!"

A strange new life. [Naruto]

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Getting sticky.

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Friendship and Rainbows!

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Friendship and Rainbows!

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Winter connoisseur

I like sweets.

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