My second chapter is here!
Chapter 2
The time passed way too fast in Rahi’s opinion. Naruto was already looking eagerly at him before he had planned out exactly what I was going to teach him two days later.
“What do you mean? You said you would start training me today!” yelled Naruto
“I know, I know. I haven’t figured out what to start off with & if I’m going to bring Hinata along then I need to, not only figure out a training plan for her, but also I need to find someone else to train with her while I’m getting you up to scratch.”
“So! Then don’t bring Hinata along, not like I’ll miss her or anything!”
For a moment Rahi looked at Naruto with what looked like an angry face & Naruto could sense the killer intent coming from him. Then Rahi sighed & said, “by the time our training time is up, I’m sure that you will look back on what you just said & hate yourself for it. I think you’ll find that…” his voice trailed off.
I think you’ll find out that she has a huge crush on you? Or that she’s extremely unhappy with life & you’re like the light in it? Or that all she needs is some good encouragement & she’ll be more the worthy of being a training partner? Or that you’re lucky enough that she IS your training partner? He didn’t know what to say.
Naruto waited impatiently for him to continue. When he did not, Naruto said, “You think I’ll find what?”
Rahi shook his head, “forget it. I think that you’ll know a lot of things that would fit there before our training time is over.”
Naruto gave a frustrated groan; Rahi probably didn’t think he was worthy of knowing the important stuff either. Go figure, he was just like all the others.
“Come on. Until I figure this stuff out I won’t be training you. Instead I’ll be teaching rather simple justu until I can be sure that you can handle the hard stuff. We’ll start with the Kage Bunshin v1.”
“I already know Kage Bunshin! Try teaching me something that I don’t already know!” yelled Naruto
“No, you know Kage Bunshin v2, I’ll be teaching you Kage Bunshin v1. It’s not that different from Kage Bunshin v2 except that in v1, the clones aren’t really there, like in most other clone justu. The main difference though, is that v1 clones don’t disappear unless you want them to. There are three Kage Bunshin versions in all.”
After a moment of processing this information, Naruto said, “how come I’ve never heard of this before?”
“Because I’m probably the only one in leaf that knows it. Only Kage Bunshin v2 was actually taught to outsiders- I mean to say is that there was a village that developed all the Kage Bunshin & only taught v2 to others.”
“Then how come you know them?” asked Naruto suspiciously
Rahi sighed; he wished that Naruto had some common sense. “I was raised in the village. Leaf isn’t my home, it’s just the village that I serve.”
“How can you switch villages?” yelled Naruto
“I thought I told you to stop yelling all the time. Anyway, to answer your question my home village was destroyed when I was really young. Then I was raised by a different village &, because it wasn’t my real home, I was allowed to leave it without becoming a missing nin. Now will you let me explain how to use v1 or not?”
Naruto merely grunted before proceeding with the training.
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-Tenten -
Tenten kept on daring nervous glances at Neji. Their whole team was supposed to be taking a break & having some lunch on top of a small mountain overlooking their training field, but Neji had refused. Something was bothering him. Lee seemed oblivious to it, but Gai knew it wasn’t something they should bring up. She had followed his lead.
Whatever was going on, it somehow made having lunch quiet & uneasy, & it made Tenten worried to know that it was because something was bothering Neji.
She had tried to get him to let her in so she could help on countless occasions, never succeeding. Her reasons hadn’t really taken on a word form so she couldn’t explain it to her father, who didn’t think much of it. When they finished their lunch, Neji still hadn’t stopped looking overtop the mountain. It made her worry ever more.
“OK! Lee, Neji! First spar!” said Gai proudly
Neji responded by taking a fierce look at Gai & saying, “No disrespect, Gai-sensei, but I’m not in the mood for fighting. Lee would easily defeat me, it would be a waste of effort & time.” He then continued looking off the mountain.
Gai took one quick look at Tenten as if to say ‘try to find out what is going on’ before turning to Lee. “Looks like I’ll be sparring with you today Lee!” he said, letting out his usual proud & booming voice that all three of them had learned to respect.
“Oh! What an honor!” exclaimed Lee before getting into a fighting position, “I will come at you with my full strength & ability!” & their sparring begun.
Tenten walked hesitantly toward Neji before sitting down next to him. After another moments of hesitation she spoke up, “Looks like we’ll have nice weather for the next few days, not too humid, not too hot, not too cloudy-”
She silenced for a moment as the wind picked up briefly, sending a light breeze on them. When it came back down she continued, “but, the weather seems to be one of few things that are right today.” She sighed before looking over at Neji with worried eyes.
Neji merely glanced at her. He knew exactly what she was talking about he simply just- “I don’t want to talk about it.” He said firmly before getting up to watch the sparring.
Tenten stayed put for a few seconds, before following.
When the sparring was almost finished about twenty minuets later, she spoke again. “At least give me a chance to try to help.”
Neji looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. The only thing he said before they headed to their individual homes was, “Rahi’s here.”
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-Rahi-
“I’m telling you I need someone else!”
“And I’m telling you that we don’t have anyone else! What is here is what you’ve got! No one else can possibly even come close to Hinata’s level!”
Rahi was in Tsunade’s office, trying to find a suitable third ninja for the training mission. Tsunade had given him all the papers on all the ninja up to a year before & behind Hinata to try & find someone at her level.
There was none.
“What about a second year before her?”
“All of them are chuunin & above! She’s no where near that!”
“After?”
“Still at the academy!”
“This can’t be all of them! There has to be someone in this whole dang village that is equal level with Hinata.”
“Why are you so concerned about getting Hinata to go on this mission anyway? You’re obsessed by it.”
“I have multiple reasons, none of which I think I am required to tell you.”
Tsunade glared at him, sending shivers down his spine, “Fine, fine.”. After a moment’s silence she spoke again, “How about bringing someone from one of the other…places…that you’ve been to?”
Rahi looked at her, slightly shocked, “I’m not…entirely sure that is a good idea. Unless…” his voice trailed off as he started pacing & muttering to himself- or that’s what Tsunade thought.
After a moment Rahi suddenly let out a rough groaning sound, “I need direct answers, Neda! Stop giving me all that technical crap. By the way it would probably come clearer if you were actually here.” He said, emphasizing the last word with a fierce downward point from his hand.
And with a sudden blow of hot wind & light, standing about two paces away from the door was Neda.
The demon was about eight foot standing straight, but he was hunched over to keep his surface from scorching the roof. Neda was known as a powerful fire demon in other parts of the world, when he was completely free of human bonds. But now he was basically a very loyal friend (some would say ‘slave’ instead) to Rahi. His surface was actually a thick layer of hot air. But underneath, which is what was visible, there was cooled lava & magma. Despite this, Neda was extremely hard to track.
At the sudden sight of him, Tsunade tripped over her own chair & fell over, knocking down her chair & a few documents on the desk in the process. Both Rahi & Neda were seemingly oblivious to this.
“I think it would work,” came Neda’s dark, deep voice, “you saw Sareen with your own two eyes, she has undoubtedly been waiting for you. And knowing her, she has a few pupils that need some extra attention.”
“Are you sure? Aw, well. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. That’s just the way life goes.” He turned suddenly to a now re-seated Tsunade, “We think that’s a really good idea. We already have a few people in mind that might be good for it.”
Tsunade looked at him until she realized what he was talking about, “oh yeah, right. So when are you going to leave?”
“Huh?”
“To find your third pupil, when are you going to leave?”
“When Naruto & Hinata are ready.”
“Wait, so your NOT going to know who the third one will be until you’re already on the road?”
“Yup. Life isn’t any fun without a few surprises.”
Tsunade sighed in response & Neda had a thought- ‘perhaps I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand him’.
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“Hinata-sama, the Hokage requests your presence. I believe she has a mission for you.” Said Neji walking into the courtyard where Hinata was trying to relax for her evening training with Hiashi.
She looked up at her cousin, “B, but my evening training is soon to begin.”
“Hokage-sama requested you. I believe she outranks Hiashi-sama, as such it would be wise to obey her over your father.” He said it so unemotionally that Hinata was slightly hesitant, though she saw the curl of a smile on his face
Finally she responded, “Yes. Your right, Neji-nii-san. Goman.” & she lifted herself & walked to her room to change out of her training clothes.
After changing, she walked though the house to the gatehouse where her sandals & jacket were lying in wait for her. She put them on & walked out of the Hyuuga manor.
The whole way to the Hokages office, she wondered what she could have been called for. Is it really a mission? But at this time of day all the mission’s would have been taken. So then what was it?
When she was about thirty paces away from the Hokages office, she stopped. It wasn’t because that she just now spotted it, but it was because she noticed that Naruto had just walked into the building.
Her heart almost stopped. Was she going to be doing another mission with Naruto? She hoped so, & with that hope she urged her legs to continue moving toward the building. Once inside, she proceeded to the Hokages office, trying not to think about anything related to Naruto, yet failing miserably.
When she walked inside the office, she wasn’t entirely shocked to see Naruto was impatiently waiting in a seat across from the Hokage.
“There’s one of them, now we just got to wait for that **ed Rahi. Have a seat Hinata-chan.” Said Tsunade pleasantly. Hinata obeyed immediately, trying not to blush when Naruto looked at her.
After a few minutes, Tsunade seemed to grow as impatient as Naruto, & occasionally paced around the room. “WHAT is taking him so long?” exclaimed Tsunade, “he is rarely ever late & when he is he’s never more then five minutes overdue!”
Hinata looked over at Naruto. He seemed to be acting like Tsunade, just pouting instead of pacing & talking. She didn’t know what to do to calm them down.
About ten minutes later the door finally opened revealing Rahi.
“Sorry I’m late. Just got back from the stone village-”
“WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING IN THE STONE VILLAGE?” Tsunade roared.
With a small flinch he said “I was taking your advice, Tsunade-chan, & trying to decide before I got myself in a mess. If you don’t like it, then just remember I got it from you so don’t hate me for it.”
Tsunade looked like she was going to roar again but was able to calm herself enough to resist the urge
“As I was saying, I just got back from the stone village & received the word that you wanted me here from Kapa. I just got back one minute ago so don’t yell at me about it. So, what’s the mission?”
Tsunade spent another moment to calm herself before answering, “Seems how you’re going to take these two on the training mission in a week or so, I wanted you to get more acquainted with them so all three of you are going to spend the rest of the day with each other. No complaints!” she yelled at Naruto who had just opened his mouth to say something. “I will trust you to not get into any trouble, Rahi, & if you do…you know exactly what I’m going to do.”
Rahi responded with an amused look on his face, “You know me.”
“Before you ask, you will receive pay for this, Naruto & Hinata. It is a D rank mission because there is no danger.” She then sighed & said brightly, “Your all dismissed! Have fun spending some quality time with each other.”
“Come on, you two” said Rahi, Naruto, if a bit defiant, & Hinata obeying. They followed Rahi all the way up to a mountain near the Hokage Monument, but still overlooking the village.
“We’ll have a small picnic here. I got your favorites, Ichiraku’s best Ramen to go, some of the finest Oishii Cha tea, & my favorite, egg cheese sandwich.” Rahi said, handing the cuped Ramen to Naruto, the tea to Hinata, & opening a small package containing his sandwich. When Naruto & Hinata saw the sandwich, they looked at it, then at Rahi with very confused looks on their faces.
Rahi, noticing this, explained, “It’s from the land that I was in before I came back to Leaf. Somewhere in the far west, no actually east…aw well, on a map it would be the far west. You won’t see it anywhere around here.” After a moment of digging in to his sandwich, Rahi noticed that they were still looking confused. It took him another moment to realize what it was.
“I’m very good at knowing what is most likely going to happen when certain things occur. Because of this, I suspected that we would get an ‘at ease’ moment, I guess you could say, so I picked up a few things.”
Hinata sipped her tea politely before a question popped up in her mind, “If you’ve been to m-many lands, Rahi-sensei, then you must n-know many languages, right?”
Rahi smiled at the ‘Rahi-sensei’ & answered, “Not in all cases but in some yes. I know about ten different languages, but I’m only good with four of them. My nicknames for them are East, West, Far West, & Dragon.” He said counting them off, “Now when you’re done with those, I have real meals for you two. I’m not really good at cooking anything above the basics so I picked up a package.”
At this he turned to Hinata, “I understand you are exceptionally good at cooking, am I right?”
Naruto looked back & forth between them. He knew that the few times he had tasted food that Hinata had cooked it WAS exceptionally delicious, but he didn’t think she might actually be a really good cook. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think much about anything that had a relation to her. He wondered why.
“Ano…um, yes. I seem to b-be very good at preparing food, but…I don’t really know about cooking it.”
“Well that’s certainly good enough! I’ll have to get Sareen to teach you how to cook really huge meals with very little materials. I think you’ll find that she’s some-what similar to you.”
Hinata blushed at the comment, & continued sipping her tea. She was done a little after Naruto, who was surprised to see that Rahi’s sandwich was completely gone, including scraps, by the time he started sucking down the soup.
“All done? Good.” And he handed both of them a rather bland meal or plain rice balls, dumplings, a glass of water, some strange pills, - the usual stuff. “Now I’ll be looking for a good training spot for you guys. I’ll be back in about ten minutes max. By the way, the pills are unique training vitamins & I suggest you take them before eating the rest; it can leave a bad aftertaste” & he jumped away into the trees, going at top speed.
When they had finished their meals, they sat quietly waiting for Rahi to return. Naruto looked as impatient as he did earlier & sighed a few times, but never got up to start pacing.
He’s not as energetic as usual, Hinata realized. He must have used up a large amount of his energy if he was as…physically calm as he was now. She wondered how he did it & was about to ask before the words got caught up in her throat. She still didn’t make a noise, which she was thankful for, but was still too nervous to start up a conversation with him. If they were to talk before Rahi got back, it would have to be Naruto’s decision.
Luckily, it wasn’t long.
“What do you think of Rahi-sensei?” Naruto asked
Hinata was a little startled by the question, but answered as quickly as she could force herself to. “Ano, well…h-he seems to know what he’s talking about. He h-helped Kiba-kun with a justu that was supposed to have only been in his family. I think…we c, could learn a lot from him.” After saying this, she had to remind herself to breath. It was amazing that she didn’t just completely just shut down in the middle of the sentence.
Naruto looked like he was considering what she said. “If he knows about Kiba’s family then he’s sure to know many other justu that he could teach to me. So I guess your right, Hinata, we could learn a lot from him.” Her heart nearly stopped when he grinned at her, “It’s just a matter of getting him to teach it.”
“H, hai.” Hinata agreed
“Glad to see your talking finally. I thought I would have to stay in that tree for the whole ten minutes.”
Naruto & Hinata looked up in the tree above them, startled. There, Rahi was standing on one of the lower branches. He was holding two small purple crystals in his hand.
“By the way, I thought of a good idea that you guys should do” he said, jumping out of the tree & landing next his two seito, “it’s a tracking ability that revolves around these” he held up the crystals, “& it shouldn’t be all that hard to use. First you have to do a simple justu, then make the justu permanent, & you’ll always know where everyone of these” he held up the crystals again, “are.”
“You both are to wear them at all times. They have a special justu on them so they can’t be taken away by anyone, only freely given away.”
Naruto & Hinata just stared at him. After a few moments he responded with, “What?”
“Uh, why were you waiting for us to start talking to come out of the tree?” asked Naruto
“Because, I wanted to know what your…friendship status was. Anyway, I need you two to get this tracking thing done with so that I have a lot less to worry about.”
Naruto & Hinata shared a brief moment, in which Hinata blushed, of looking at each other before doing as they were told.
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“Good job, Hinata! I must say that I expected you to take an extra day to finish the first form of Kage Bunshin.” Said Rahi.
All three of them, Rahi, Hinata & Naruto, were training together. Rahi had decided that it would be good for Hinata to learn the Kage Bunshin’s as well, alongside Naruto who had still not mastered the first form.
“How is she doing it so fast? If she could learn this stupid thing so fast, then how did Neji beat her so badly in the chuunin exam?” he stopped to wrinkle his nose, “Its got to have something to do with being a Hyuuga right?” asked Naruto, expecting that he had figured it out.
“No. It’s more of natural talent & potential. Neji has barely a fraction of Hinata natural potential, though I’m sure he has that skill.” He turned to Hinata, “Your just too afraid that you’ll mess up. In fact, your so afraid that it’s the only thing you can do, you’ve got to loosen up, mistakes are part of the human nature.”
“Another thing that let her master the first form faster then you was because you taught yourself the Kage Bunshin with that scroll. But in my opinion, the thing that helped her the most was that she wasn’t used to summoning form two Kage Bunshin’s, like you are. That’s what is interfering with your progress.”
Naruto grumbled at this.
“Now it’s time to get you on the basics of form two. We should have enough time for you to get started on them before we have to split & go home. But first, let’s check up on you, Naruto.” Rahi said as he turned toward Naruto, “Show me.”
Naruto preformed the single seal for the Kage Bunshin, & yelled “Kage Bunshin no justu!” Instantly several Naruto bunshins, twelve to be exact, appeared in the area. Rahi began his process that determined which form the clones were in. It was called ‘the poke, stab, kick, kill’ method. If it was form one, none of these would actually hit it. Form two, it would disappear at the stab. Form three, it should survive all of them.
Unfortunately, if any were hit physically, then Naruto did not succeed in performing form one.
The first seven bunshins were, indeed, form one. However when he reached the eighth, it stepped back slightly at the poke; a sign that he had been hit physically. Rahi was about to say he had not succeeded again, but decided against it. He performed the ‘stab’, a quick launch of his hand into a sensitive pressure point near the rib.
It collided, sending the bunshin into a nearby tree. It got back up, slightly panting. Without hesitation, Rahi performed the ‘kick’, an easy kick to the head that would normally nock someone out if they didn’t put up a defense. It collided as well & sent the bunshin flying into another nearby tree.
It got up again. Without hesitating, Rahi performed his special four seals & activated his killer justu. It collided as well, in a flash of bright purple light Rahi had ran up to the clone & smacked it as hard as he could, sending it flying straight through several trees.
Naruto was amazed by how much his clone was withstanding, but mostly by how powerful the justu was. He could feel it. It was almost…inhuman.
After the slight amount of dust cleared, they could all see the bunshin slowly getting up, panting heavily. After a few moments, Rahi broke the silence.
“I don’t know how, but you seem to have created a form three clone. Form three can withstand up to three times as much as you can, & they remain solid until you dismiss them…even if they’re already dead.”
“Very helpful in many situations, they are capable of doing everything you can, however they never age & never grow stronger, though it may seem as though they have because they have the ability to learn.” He turned to Naruto, “And in your case especially, they can do even more.”
Naruto knew at once what he was talking about. The Kyuubi. His clones could also use the kyuubi chakra. But what else could they do with it? Everything he can? What if one of them were possessed by Kyuubi, would they then be able to do everything that the kyuubi could? Wait, how did Rahi know about the kyuubi? He would have to ask when no one else was around.
Hinata just looked back & forth between the two. She didn’t understand what Rahi meant. She gathered enough courage to break the new silence, “Um…shouldn’t you continue checking Naruto-kun’s clones?”
Rahi & Naruto looked at her, making her blush. “Yeah, we probably should. Arigato, Hinata.”
The rest of the clones were, indeed, untouchable illusions. Because of this, Rahi decided that Naruto had mastered form one, making him extremely happy.
Hinata was also secretly happy about it. Naruto saw her smiling happily in her usual pose of looking a little bit in front of her feet, her fore fingers gently pushing off from each other in a continues motion.
“Now, Naruto, I don’t want to teach you form three yet, I suggest you practice the form one until you can choose whether or not there’s a form three bunshin in the midst, ok? As for you Hinata we’d better teach you the basics of form two, quickly, as we only have about half an hour left.”
Naruto & Hinata simply nodded.
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“Ok, I think I’m going to go home.” Said Naruto
“Yeah, you probably should. See ya later, Naruto, & be sure to say goodbye to Hinata as well.”
“Huh, why? Can’t you say it for me?”
“No. And it wasn’t a request, Naruto. The more you two interact, the easier it’s going to be for you to help each other. In other words, your training will be easier. Now go say goodbye to her. She’s over by the river.”
Naruto wrinkled his nose & obeyed, extremely confused, though not bothering to stifle his grumbles.
When he arrived at the river that was only a few yards away from where they had been training, Naruto found Hinata washing her jacket, which had been dirtied in the dirt during their training.
“Hello, Hinata.” Said Naruto cheerfully, grinning at her & sitting down a few feet away from her, giving her room to continue her washing.
Hinata looked up at Naruto startled, “H, hello, Naruto-kun.” & with an effort continued washing her jacket.
“I was thinking of heading home, getting a bite to eat at Ichiraku’s first, & getting some sleep. Rahi told me to say goodbye to you first because, well he said something like the closer we got the easier our training would be or something like that. It didn’t make much since to me, though. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, Hinata.” & he grinned at her again making her blush.
“Um…goodbye, Naruto-kun. And…arigato…for today…” her voice trailed off, she wasn’t able to continue. The words got caught in her throat.
“Huh? What do you mean, Hinata?”
Hinata looked up, prepared to see the anger, or fury she was used to seeing from her father, but instead just got the confused look from Naruto. He just didn’t know what she meant, nothing else.
“Goman, Naruto-kun! It’s nothing…really.” She said quickly, bowing her head
Naruto just kept looking confused, then he shrugged. “Alright, bye.” & he turned & left.
After a few minutes, in which Hinata finished washing her jacket & hung it to dry, Rahi’s voice broke the silence that had settled after Naruto left.
“I wasn’t expecting him to say goodbye that way, but I guess it still has the same effect.” Hinata looked over at him, once again startled.
“Anyway, I was kinda hoping he would leave early so that I could talk to you.” He walked up to Hinata, & took a look at her jacket. He performed two seals & gently poked it, sending a burst of hot wind through it.
Hinata grabbed the jacket & realized that it was completely dry.
“I could teach you that as well. It’s simple really, but our time together is almost up, so I need to talk to you first. I realize that your father has his own way of teaching you things, however I have some rules that I want you to pass on to him regarding that. If he breaks these rules then he has to answer to me, if he doesn’t, then he has to answer to the Hokage.”
“First, he can not have any training sessions with you that start or last after ten o’ clock. Second, he will accept any methods I use, unless if you, & only you, ask for his advice and/ or aid. Third, if I receive any signs of mistreatment, or at least in my opinion, then I DO have the right to storm into his house, & kick his sorry butt all over Konoha and/ or demand to know what is going on. Fourth, if he doesn’t agree with something that I do, then he will answer to me, no acceptations. If he doesn’t agree with something that I do, that is not limited to you & me, then depending on what is, is depending on if he will answer to me or both me & the Hokage. Fifth, if he does anything that I don’t agree with, then I will take it up with him.”
“Now if he doesn’t receive these rules within the week, then I will personally give them to him, which considering how I hate him almost as much as he hates me, it won’t be a pleasant experience for anyone watching or listening. Here, they’re all written here,” he handed her a slip of paper folded in half, “any questions?”
“Um…ano, uh, why will me & N, Naruto-kun getting closer…um…make it easier for training?” she said uncertainly.
“Because, the closer you two are, the more you two know each other. The more you two know each other, the better that you can help each other. The better you can help each other, also means the faster you two learn what I’m teaching you. The faster you learn, the faster you become great shinobi. The faster you become great shinobi, well you know the rest.”
A few moments passed before Hinata said, “I should probably be going home know, Rahi-sensei. Arigato. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Hinata. Be sure to get that to your father.”
“I will, bye.”
She departed without another glance back at her new sensei. She was going to be able to skip all the challenges that her father kept on giving her, all the challenges that she always failed in. Or at least she hoped…
She quietly walked through Konoha, heading in the direction of the Hyuuga Manor. It only took her about eight minutes, before she was looking up at the huge house, knowing precisely what was inside. As she walked inside the gatehouse, taking off her sandals & hanging her jacket, her thoughts wondered to how Rahi & her father had met- & why they hated each other.
Rahi had said that he liked her because she was so different from her family. She wondered if that meant that he could tolerate her for that reason alone, what if he hated her for being a Hyuuga & that was why he even bothered?
No. He also had said that he hated the Hyuuga clan because of how they ran things; he didn’t hate Hyuuga clan exactly…
Absentmindedly, she walked to the courtyard, where she knew her father was, no doubt having prepared another challenge for her. On her way there she checked the clock- 9:49.
It was almost ten. There wouldn’t be much time for any of the challenges that her father usually had in store for her, so she was probably off the hook.
She gracefully sat down, neatly tucking her legs beneath her, in front of her father, waiting for him to speak.
“Ah, your back. Welcome home, Hinata-chan.” Said Hiashi, her father
“It is good to be home, Otou-san. Where is Hanabi-chan?” Hinata asked formally
“Hanabi is in bed, resting for her test at the academy tomorrow. As you know, this will leave more time for your training. You need a lot of work in Jyuuken, & I expect you to put forth that work.”
“Um, Otou-san…Rahi-sensei-”
“What did you say?” asked Hiashi, suddenly looking twice as serious as usual
“Rahi-sensei. H, he’s my new sensei. He gave me, um, rules to give to you.” She held out the slip of paper, still folded in half from when Rahi had given it to her
-Hiashi-
Hiashi took it without a word, & read it, his face reading more & more anger as he read each word.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing! Or reading…whatever.
Rahi had always wanted to damage the Hyuuga traditions & now he is at it’s most vital point, it’s heir!
Set of rules that Hiashi must obey by written word of Rahi & the fifth Hokage regarding Hinata’s training
1. Hinata will not undergo any training that lasts or starts after ten o’ clock without Rahi’s approval
2. If signs of heavier training within hours are seen, without Rahi’s approval, then you will be forced to cease it.
3. Any methods used by Hiashi, may, with the permission of the Hokage, be disallowed by Rahi
4. If Hiashi does not agree with the methods of Rahi, then he may discus it with him privately
5. If signs of mistreatment toward Hinata are seen by Rahi, then he maintains the right punish you for it
6. If these rules are broken, then one of two things will happen- One, Rahi will personally punish you for it. Or two, the Hokage will set a punishment accordingly
How Rahi had gotten on the Hokages good side he didn’t know, but because he did owe his allegiance to the Hokage, he would have to abide by these rules, no matter how much he didn’t want to. Then he noticed another thing on the paper, something that had been obscured by his fingers before
These rules may be crossed without punishment with the written AND verbal permission of both the Hokage & Rahi, and the supervision of Rahi.
Well, that would mean that he couldn’t object to the rules by saying it would hinder Hinata’s progress in her training. Rahi would always be willing to stay up all night for any one that he let through his personality barrier, & with him writing these rules, Hinata had already done that.
Hiashi sighed; he would just have to live with it for now.
“How did your training go with your team?”
“Um, the Hokage t-told me, Naruto-kun, & Rahi to train together for the evening.”
Hiashi winced at both of their names, although it was so tiny that you’d have to be close up & looking specifically for it to see it. Naruto, the boy who could very well be that vile beast. What was the Hokage thinking? And then Rahi…what use could they possibly serve for Hinata’s training?
Hiashi sighed again before speaking again, “then how did your training with Rahi & Naruto go?” he successfully hid his distaste for the two while speaking
“It was surprisingly s-successful, Otou-san. Although I didn’t learn much in the few hours that we trained, I did make good progress.”
Hiashi nodded, trying to look thoughtful, & succeeding as usual. “In what, did you make progress in?”
“The justu that Rahi-sensei was teaching both of us. It was very…unique.”
“Which justu was that?”
“Uh, Kage Bunshin.”
“I do not see what is so unique about that. Many in our village know Kage Bunshin. And, unless my information is faulty, Naruto-san knows it as well.”
“Ano, Rahi-sensei was teaching something a little b-bit…different then the Kage Bunshins I’ve seen, though I’m not s-sure about what you’ve seen.”
“Really? What was different about it?” asked Hiashi, slightly interested
“Well, as Rahi-sensei put it, ‘it’s supposed to be an untouchable illusion.’ It’s not affected in any way by, uh, physical m-measures.”
Hiashi spent a few moments to take in & digest what she said. An untouchable illusion? That was not the Kage Bunshin at all. Then what was it that he taught her? He checked the clock quickly to make sure it wasn’t ten yet.
“Show me.” He said simply & firmly
After a few seconds, Hinata bowed saying, “Yes, Otou-san.” She then stood, & began focusing her chakra. She formed the required seal & whispered, “Kage Bunshin no justu.”
Instantly four Hinata bunshins appeared, all standing & facing Hiashi.
He was a little surprised by what he saw, she had actually made some success. Buy what surprised him was that the clones looked solid, not like illusions at all.
He stood up & gently tapped one of the clones. Nothing. He didn’t feel I thing, it was as if it indeed was an illusion. He then slowly sent his arm all the way through it. Again nothing. It was if it was air. Here he was, his arm all the way through an illusion bunshin of his eldest daughter. He pulled his arm away.
“Very nicely done. I must admit, though, I haven’t seen this type of justu for. It is, as you said, unique. However I’m not entirely sure it is the kage bunshin. Probably a justu that mimics it.”
“Uh, Otou-san? Rahi-sensei said s-something about three different forms of the Kage Bunshin…& s-something about all three of them originating from the same village.”
Hiashi thought about this for a second, not even noticing Hinata de-summoning her clones. He never knew where the Kage Bunshin originated, he realized. And since Rahi had been raised in the Shadow village, it could make since if they created the Kage Bunshin. It would only be natural to have other versions of a useful justu, like Kage Bunshin, in their ranks if they had, indeed, created them.
“It makes sense.” Said Hiashi simply before, “Considering how we cannot get any training done, it would be wise for you to get some rest for tomorrow.” He waited a moment before adding, “you may need it.”
Hinata was still confused by what he meant when she left the courtyard for her room.
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The next day, Hinata underwent her usual mourning routine. Get dressed, do chores, eat breakfast, straiten up, get ready to meet team for today’s mission. The only difference was that she was told to go strait to the Hokage instead of meet her team by her father.
He had looked tired, as if he didn’t go to sleep at all that night. However that was the only difference. He was still the same person he always was as far as Hinata could remember.
When she opened the door to the Hokages office, she was surprised at what she saw. Rahi, Kuranai, Kiba, Sakura, and Shino were all there, standing in front of the Hokages desk where she was seated.
At the sound of the door closing, everyone turned in Hinata’s direction, “Ah Hinata-chan,” said Tsunade, “That’s almost all of you, just got to wait for Kakashi & Naruto now.”
“Um…what’s g-going on?” asked Hinata
Kiba was the one who answered, “We’re all going on a mission together. All details have been disclosed until the rest of us show up.”
“Two shinobi squads?”
“Yup. Apparently, that Rahi guy is taking the missing position on team seven. Though with our individual skills, I really wonder what kind of mission it is. Shino’s been working on possibility’s, but nothing very exciting yet- excluding if it’s an A rank mission. I think it makes sense but Shino doesn’t for some reason…ah, well.”
He made his signature, wolf grin at her, “If there’s going to be this many shinobi on it, then it’s got to be something important at least.”
Hinata gave her signature, shy smile in return
The door opened, revealing Kakashi, a few minutes later. The first thing said was by Tsunade, “I thought you were going to be the last one here!”
Kakashi looked surprised, “I’m not? Who else is supposed to be here?” he asked casually
“Naruto is. I never thought I’d actually say this out loud, but I’m getting tired of him not coming here first thing in the morning! Sure he annoyed me enough, but he’s become unpredictable even in what I thought he would always do the same thing.”
“Naruto won’t always be doing the same thing, of this I assure you.” Said Rahi suddenly
“Huh? How would you know?” asked Kiba
“Because I’m his…well, technically I’m his private sensei but he’s not the only one I teach.”
“Ha ha! I knew that baka would need extra help! Ha ha ha ha ha! Hilarious!” Kiba was laughing his head off. Hinata could hardly stand to let this humiliation of Naruto continue, but before she could get herself to do anything Rahi responded.
“In a few months, Naruto could make you eat those words blindfolded, without chakra, & both hands tied behind his back. Besides, its just a few bad habits that he has that you’ve seen that make you think he’s a baka. Some people actually look up to him, & his ability to always get back up. If my information is not faulty, then that is how he beat you in the chuunin exam.”
Kiba’s face went cold for a few seconds, then warmed back up. “That was a fluke! If he hadn’t of gotten lucky then he would have lost!”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Naruto’s awfully late. Someone should go look for him.” Cut in Kakashi
“I agree!” said Tsunade, “Rahi, why don’t you? You seem to have picked up on his habits rather quickly-”
“I was born with that trait. Anyway, I doubt it would take me any shorter to find Naruto then Kakashi, but why not?” He headed for the door, but when he opened it he turned toward Hinata, “why don’t you come with me?”
Kiba was about to object, when Hinata answered without hesitation, “Yes, Rahi-sensei” & hurried toward the door after him.
When the door shut, Kiba turned to Kurenai, “Rahi’s teaching Hinata?”
Kurenai looked a little uncomfortable in her present situation, “Yes. In about a week, she, Naruto, & Rahi will go on a training mission together.” She was barely able to get the last words out before Kiba yelled, “WHAT?!”
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-the Author-
I seem to be too far on top of things as it was the first of November (when I finished the chapter) and it is now a few weeks later. I have the third chapter done, & the forth chapter is about half finished.
Anyway, I need more critics so I know what I’m doing wrong so I can get rid of it somehow, & I need more compliments so I know what I’m doing right! Angel_Drake is doing a very good job of that, thank you.
That is all for now…except one thing I might as well tell you about. I’m planning on having bonus sections later on in the ff, I’m hoping they will either be humorous or will clear something up that I couldn’t say in the ff.
I wanted to write a bonus section that explained that Rahi was surprised that Naruto wasn’t exactly fighting back a whole lot, but it’s much easier just to tell you so I can start writing my other chapter’s. See ya!
The time passed way too fast in Rahi’s opinion. Naruto was already looking eagerly at him before he had planned out exactly what I was going to teach him two days later.
“What do you mean? You said you would start training me today!” yelled Naruto
“I know, I know. I haven’t figured out what to start off with & if I’m going to bring Hinata along then I need to, not only figure out a training plan for her, but also I need to find someone else to train with her while I’m getting you up to scratch.”
“So! Then don’t bring Hinata along, not like I’ll miss her or anything!”
For a moment Rahi looked at Naruto with what looked like an angry face & Naruto could sense the killer intent coming from him. Then Rahi sighed & said, “by the time our training time is up, I’m sure that you will look back on what you just said & hate yourself for it. I think you’ll find that…” his voice trailed off.
I think you’ll find out that she has a huge crush on you? Or that she’s extremely unhappy with life & you’re like the light in it? Or that all she needs is some good encouragement & she’ll be more the worthy of being a training partner? Or that you’re lucky enough that she IS your training partner? He didn’t know what to say.
Naruto waited impatiently for him to continue. When he did not, Naruto said, “You think I’ll find what?”
Rahi shook his head, “forget it. I think that you’ll know a lot of things that would fit there before our training time is over.”
Naruto gave a frustrated groan; Rahi probably didn’t think he was worthy of knowing the important stuff either. Go figure, he was just like all the others.
“Come on. Until I figure this stuff out I won’t be training you. Instead I’ll be teaching rather simple justu until I can be sure that you can handle the hard stuff. We’ll start with the Kage Bunshin v1.”
“I already know Kage Bunshin! Try teaching me something that I don’t already know!” yelled Naruto
“No, you know Kage Bunshin v2, I’ll be teaching you Kage Bunshin v1. It’s not that different from Kage Bunshin v2 except that in v1, the clones aren’t really there, like in most other clone justu. The main difference though, is that v1 clones don’t disappear unless you want them to. There are three Kage Bunshin versions in all.”
After a moment of processing this information, Naruto said, “how come I’ve never heard of this before?”
“Because I’m probably the only one in leaf that knows it. Only Kage Bunshin v2 was actually taught to outsiders- I mean to say is that there was a village that developed all the Kage Bunshin & only taught v2 to others.”
“Then how come you know them?” asked Naruto suspiciously
Rahi sighed; he wished that Naruto had some common sense. “I was raised in the village. Leaf isn’t my home, it’s just the village that I serve.”
“How can you switch villages?” yelled Naruto
“I thought I told you to stop yelling all the time. Anyway, to answer your question my home village was destroyed when I was really young. Then I was raised by a different village &, because it wasn’t my real home, I was allowed to leave it without becoming a missing nin. Now will you let me explain how to use v1 or not?”
Naruto merely grunted before proceeding with the training.
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-Tenten -
Tenten kept on daring nervous glances at Neji. Their whole team was supposed to be taking a break & having some lunch on top of a small mountain overlooking their training field, but Neji had refused. Something was bothering him. Lee seemed oblivious to it, but Gai knew it wasn’t something they should bring up. She had followed his lead.
Whatever was going on, it somehow made having lunch quiet & uneasy, & it made Tenten worried to know that it was because something was bothering Neji.
She had tried to get him to let her in so she could help on countless occasions, never succeeding. Her reasons hadn’t really taken on a word form so she couldn’t explain it to her father, who didn’t think much of it. When they finished their lunch, Neji still hadn’t stopped looking overtop the mountain. It made her worry ever more.
“OK! Lee, Neji! First spar!” said Gai proudly
Neji responded by taking a fierce look at Gai & saying, “No disrespect, Gai-sensei, but I’m not in the mood for fighting. Lee would easily defeat me, it would be a waste of effort & time.” He then continued looking off the mountain.
Gai took one quick look at Tenten as if to say ‘try to find out what is going on’ before turning to Lee. “Looks like I’ll be sparring with you today Lee!” he said, letting out his usual proud & booming voice that all three of them had learned to respect.
“Oh! What an honor!” exclaimed Lee before getting into a fighting position, “I will come at you with my full strength & ability!” & their sparring begun.
Tenten walked hesitantly toward Neji before sitting down next to him. After another moments of hesitation she spoke up, “Looks like we’ll have nice weather for the next few days, not too humid, not too hot, not too cloudy-”
She silenced for a moment as the wind picked up briefly, sending a light breeze on them. When it came back down she continued, “but, the weather seems to be one of few things that are right today.” She sighed before looking over at Neji with worried eyes.
Neji merely glanced at her. He knew exactly what she was talking about he simply just- “I don’t want to talk about it.” He said firmly before getting up to watch the sparring.
Tenten stayed put for a few seconds, before following.
When the sparring was almost finished about twenty minuets later, she spoke again. “At least give me a chance to try to help.”
Neji looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. The only thing he said before they headed to their individual homes was, “Rahi’s here.”
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-Rahi-
“I’m telling you I need someone else!”
“And I’m telling you that we don’t have anyone else! What is here is what you’ve got! No one else can possibly even come close to Hinata’s level!”
Rahi was in Tsunade’s office, trying to find a suitable third ninja for the training mission. Tsunade had given him all the papers on all the ninja up to a year before & behind Hinata to try & find someone at her level.
There was none.
“What about a second year before her?”
“All of them are chuunin & above! She’s no where near that!”
“After?”
“Still at the academy!”
“This can’t be all of them! There has to be someone in this whole dang village that is equal level with Hinata.”
“Why are you so concerned about getting Hinata to go on this mission anyway? You’re obsessed by it.”
“I have multiple reasons, none of which I think I am required to tell you.”
Tsunade glared at him, sending shivers down his spine, “Fine, fine.”. After a moment’s silence she spoke again, “How about bringing someone from one of the other…places…that you’ve been to?”
Rahi looked at her, slightly shocked, “I’m not…entirely sure that is a good idea. Unless…” his voice trailed off as he started pacing & muttering to himself- or that’s what Tsunade thought.
After a moment Rahi suddenly let out a rough groaning sound, “I need direct answers, Neda! Stop giving me all that technical crap. By the way it would probably come clearer if you were actually here.” He said, emphasizing the last word with a fierce downward point from his hand.
And with a sudden blow of hot wind & light, standing about two paces away from the door was Neda.
The demon was about eight foot standing straight, but he was hunched over to keep his surface from scorching the roof. Neda was known as a powerful fire demon in other parts of the world, when he was completely free of human bonds. But now he was basically a very loyal friend (some would say ‘slave’ instead) to Rahi. His surface was actually a thick layer of hot air. But underneath, which is what was visible, there was cooled lava & magma. Despite this, Neda was extremely hard to track.
At the sudden sight of him, Tsunade tripped over her own chair & fell over, knocking down her chair & a few documents on the desk in the process. Both Rahi & Neda were seemingly oblivious to this.
“I think it would work,” came Neda’s dark, deep voice, “you saw Sareen with your own two eyes, she has undoubtedly been waiting for you. And knowing her, she has a few pupils that need some extra attention.”
“Are you sure? Aw, well. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. That’s just the way life goes.” He turned suddenly to a now re-seated Tsunade, “We think that’s a really good idea. We already have a few people in mind that might be good for it.”
Tsunade looked at him until she realized what he was talking about, “oh yeah, right. So when are you going to leave?”
“Huh?”
“To find your third pupil, when are you going to leave?”
“When Naruto & Hinata are ready.”
“Wait, so your NOT going to know who the third one will be until you’re already on the road?”
“Yup. Life isn’t any fun without a few surprises.”
Tsunade sighed in response & Neda had a thought- ‘perhaps I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand him’.
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“Hinata-sama, the Hokage requests your presence. I believe she has a mission for you.” Said Neji walking into the courtyard where Hinata was trying to relax for her evening training with Hiashi.
She looked up at her cousin, “B, but my evening training is soon to begin.”
“Hokage-sama requested you. I believe she outranks Hiashi-sama, as such it would be wise to obey her over your father.” He said it so unemotionally that Hinata was slightly hesitant, though she saw the curl of a smile on his face
Finally she responded, “Yes. Your right, Neji-nii-san. Goman.” & she lifted herself & walked to her room to change out of her training clothes.
After changing, she walked though the house to the gatehouse where her sandals & jacket were lying in wait for her. She put them on & walked out of the Hyuuga manor.
The whole way to the Hokages office, she wondered what she could have been called for. Is it really a mission? But at this time of day all the mission’s would have been taken. So then what was it?
When she was about thirty paces away from the Hokages office, she stopped. It wasn’t because that she just now spotted it, but it was because she noticed that Naruto had just walked into the building.
Her heart almost stopped. Was she going to be doing another mission with Naruto? She hoped so, & with that hope she urged her legs to continue moving toward the building. Once inside, she proceeded to the Hokages office, trying not to think about anything related to Naruto, yet failing miserably.
When she walked inside the office, she wasn’t entirely shocked to see Naruto was impatiently waiting in a seat across from the Hokage.
“There’s one of them, now we just got to wait for that **ed Rahi. Have a seat Hinata-chan.” Said Tsunade pleasantly. Hinata obeyed immediately, trying not to blush when Naruto looked at her.
After a few minutes, Tsunade seemed to grow as impatient as Naruto, & occasionally paced around the room. “WHAT is taking him so long?” exclaimed Tsunade, “he is rarely ever late & when he is he’s never more then five minutes overdue!”
Hinata looked over at Naruto. He seemed to be acting like Tsunade, just pouting instead of pacing & talking. She didn’t know what to do to calm them down.
About ten minutes later the door finally opened revealing Rahi.
“Sorry I’m late. Just got back from the stone village-”
“WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING IN THE STONE VILLAGE?” Tsunade roared.
With a small flinch he said “I was taking your advice, Tsunade-chan, & trying to decide before I got myself in a mess. If you don’t like it, then just remember I got it from you so don’t hate me for it.”
Tsunade looked like she was going to roar again but was able to calm herself enough to resist the urge
“As I was saying, I just got back from the stone village & received the word that you wanted me here from Kapa. I just got back one minute ago so don’t yell at me about it. So, what’s the mission?”
Tsunade spent another moment to calm herself before answering, “Seems how you’re going to take these two on the training mission in a week or so, I wanted you to get more acquainted with them so all three of you are going to spend the rest of the day with each other. No complaints!” she yelled at Naruto who had just opened his mouth to say something. “I will trust you to not get into any trouble, Rahi, & if you do…you know exactly what I’m going to do.”
Rahi responded with an amused look on his face, “You know me.”
“Before you ask, you will receive pay for this, Naruto & Hinata. It is a D rank mission because there is no danger.” She then sighed & said brightly, “Your all dismissed! Have fun spending some quality time with each other.”
“Come on, you two” said Rahi, Naruto, if a bit defiant, & Hinata obeying. They followed Rahi all the way up to a mountain near the Hokage Monument, but still overlooking the village.
“We’ll have a small picnic here. I got your favorites, Ichiraku’s best Ramen to go, some of the finest Oishii Cha tea, & my favorite, egg cheese sandwich.” Rahi said, handing the cuped Ramen to Naruto, the tea to Hinata, & opening a small package containing his sandwich. When Naruto & Hinata saw the sandwich, they looked at it, then at Rahi with very confused looks on their faces.
Rahi, noticing this, explained, “It’s from the land that I was in before I came back to Leaf. Somewhere in the far west, no actually east…aw well, on a map it would be the far west. You won’t see it anywhere around here.” After a moment of digging in to his sandwich, Rahi noticed that they were still looking confused. It took him another moment to realize what it was.
“I’m very good at knowing what is most likely going to happen when certain things occur. Because of this, I suspected that we would get an ‘at ease’ moment, I guess you could say, so I picked up a few things.”
Hinata sipped her tea politely before a question popped up in her mind, “If you’ve been to m-many lands, Rahi-sensei, then you must n-know many languages, right?”
Rahi smiled at the ‘Rahi-sensei’ & answered, “Not in all cases but in some yes. I know about ten different languages, but I’m only good with four of them. My nicknames for them are East, West, Far West, & Dragon.” He said counting them off, “Now when you’re done with those, I have real meals for you two. I’m not really good at cooking anything above the basics so I picked up a package.”
At this he turned to Hinata, “I understand you are exceptionally good at cooking, am I right?”
Naruto looked back & forth between them. He knew that the few times he had tasted food that Hinata had cooked it WAS exceptionally delicious, but he didn’t think she might actually be a really good cook. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think much about anything that had a relation to her. He wondered why.
“Ano…um, yes. I seem to b-be very good at preparing food, but…I don’t really know about cooking it.”
“Well that’s certainly good enough! I’ll have to get Sareen to teach you how to cook really huge meals with very little materials. I think you’ll find that she’s some-what similar to you.”
Hinata blushed at the comment, & continued sipping her tea. She was done a little after Naruto, who was surprised to see that Rahi’s sandwich was completely gone, including scraps, by the time he started sucking down the soup.
“All done? Good.” And he handed both of them a rather bland meal or plain rice balls, dumplings, a glass of water, some strange pills, - the usual stuff. “Now I’ll be looking for a good training spot for you guys. I’ll be back in about ten minutes max. By the way, the pills are unique training vitamins & I suggest you take them before eating the rest; it can leave a bad aftertaste” & he jumped away into the trees, going at top speed.
When they had finished their meals, they sat quietly waiting for Rahi to return. Naruto looked as impatient as he did earlier & sighed a few times, but never got up to start pacing.
He’s not as energetic as usual, Hinata realized. He must have used up a large amount of his energy if he was as…physically calm as he was now. She wondered how he did it & was about to ask before the words got caught up in her throat. She still didn’t make a noise, which she was thankful for, but was still too nervous to start up a conversation with him. If they were to talk before Rahi got back, it would have to be Naruto’s decision.
Luckily, it wasn’t long.
“What do you think of Rahi-sensei?” Naruto asked
Hinata was a little startled by the question, but answered as quickly as she could force herself to. “Ano, well…h-he seems to know what he’s talking about. He h-helped Kiba-kun with a justu that was supposed to have only been in his family. I think…we c, could learn a lot from him.” After saying this, she had to remind herself to breath. It was amazing that she didn’t just completely just shut down in the middle of the sentence.
Naruto looked like he was considering what she said. “If he knows about Kiba’s family then he’s sure to know many other justu that he could teach to me. So I guess your right, Hinata, we could learn a lot from him.” Her heart nearly stopped when he grinned at her, “It’s just a matter of getting him to teach it.”
“H, hai.” Hinata agreed
“Glad to see your talking finally. I thought I would have to stay in that tree for the whole ten minutes.”
Naruto & Hinata looked up in the tree above them, startled. There, Rahi was standing on one of the lower branches. He was holding two small purple crystals in his hand.
“By the way, I thought of a good idea that you guys should do” he said, jumping out of the tree & landing next his two seito, “it’s a tracking ability that revolves around these” he held up the crystals, “& it shouldn’t be all that hard to use. First you have to do a simple justu, then make the justu permanent, & you’ll always know where everyone of these” he held up the crystals again, “are.”
“You both are to wear them at all times. They have a special justu on them so they can’t be taken away by anyone, only freely given away.”
Naruto & Hinata just stared at him. After a few moments he responded with, “What?”
“Uh, why were you waiting for us to start talking to come out of the tree?” asked Naruto
“Because, I wanted to know what your…friendship status was. Anyway, I need you two to get this tracking thing done with so that I have a lot less to worry about.”
Naruto & Hinata shared a brief moment, in which Hinata blushed, of looking at each other before doing as they were told.
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“Good job, Hinata! I must say that I expected you to take an extra day to finish the first form of Kage Bunshin.” Said Rahi.
All three of them, Rahi, Hinata & Naruto, were training together. Rahi had decided that it would be good for Hinata to learn the Kage Bunshin’s as well, alongside Naruto who had still not mastered the first form.
“How is she doing it so fast? If she could learn this stupid thing so fast, then how did Neji beat her so badly in the chuunin exam?” he stopped to wrinkle his nose, “Its got to have something to do with being a Hyuuga right?” asked Naruto, expecting that he had figured it out.
“No. It’s more of natural talent & potential. Neji has barely a fraction of Hinata natural potential, though I’m sure he has that skill.” He turned to Hinata, “Your just too afraid that you’ll mess up. In fact, your so afraid that it’s the only thing you can do, you’ve got to loosen up, mistakes are part of the human nature.”
“Another thing that let her master the first form faster then you was because you taught yourself the Kage Bunshin with that scroll. But in my opinion, the thing that helped her the most was that she wasn’t used to summoning form two Kage Bunshin’s, like you are. That’s what is interfering with your progress.”
Naruto grumbled at this.
“Now it’s time to get you on the basics of form two. We should have enough time for you to get started on them before we have to split & go home. But first, let’s check up on you, Naruto.” Rahi said as he turned toward Naruto, “Show me.”
Naruto preformed the single seal for the Kage Bunshin, & yelled “Kage Bunshin no justu!” Instantly several Naruto bunshins, twelve to be exact, appeared in the area. Rahi began his process that determined which form the clones were in. It was called ‘the poke, stab, kick, kill’ method. If it was form one, none of these would actually hit it. Form two, it would disappear at the stab. Form three, it should survive all of them.
Unfortunately, if any were hit physically, then Naruto did not succeed in performing form one.
The first seven bunshins were, indeed, form one. However when he reached the eighth, it stepped back slightly at the poke; a sign that he had been hit physically. Rahi was about to say he had not succeeded again, but decided against it. He performed the ‘stab’, a quick launch of his hand into a sensitive pressure point near the rib.
It collided, sending the bunshin into a nearby tree. It got back up, slightly panting. Without hesitation, Rahi performed the ‘kick’, an easy kick to the head that would normally nock someone out if they didn’t put up a defense. It collided as well & sent the bunshin flying into another nearby tree.
It got up again. Without hesitating, Rahi performed his special four seals & activated his killer justu. It collided as well, in a flash of bright purple light Rahi had ran up to the clone & smacked it as hard as he could, sending it flying straight through several trees.
Naruto was amazed by how much his clone was withstanding, but mostly by how powerful the justu was. He could feel it. It was almost…inhuman.
After the slight amount of dust cleared, they could all see the bunshin slowly getting up, panting heavily. After a few moments, Rahi broke the silence.
“I don’t know how, but you seem to have created a form three clone. Form three can withstand up to three times as much as you can, & they remain solid until you dismiss them…even if they’re already dead.”
“Very helpful in many situations, they are capable of doing everything you can, however they never age & never grow stronger, though it may seem as though they have because they have the ability to learn.” He turned to Naruto, “And in your case especially, they can do even more.”
Naruto knew at once what he was talking about. The Kyuubi. His clones could also use the kyuubi chakra. But what else could they do with it? Everything he can? What if one of them were possessed by Kyuubi, would they then be able to do everything that the kyuubi could? Wait, how did Rahi know about the kyuubi? He would have to ask when no one else was around.
Hinata just looked back & forth between the two. She didn’t understand what Rahi meant. She gathered enough courage to break the new silence, “Um…shouldn’t you continue checking Naruto-kun’s clones?”
Rahi & Naruto looked at her, making her blush. “Yeah, we probably should. Arigato, Hinata.”
The rest of the clones were, indeed, untouchable illusions. Because of this, Rahi decided that Naruto had mastered form one, making him extremely happy.
Hinata was also secretly happy about it. Naruto saw her smiling happily in her usual pose of looking a little bit in front of her feet, her fore fingers gently pushing off from each other in a continues motion.
“Now, Naruto, I don’t want to teach you form three yet, I suggest you practice the form one until you can choose whether or not there’s a form three bunshin in the midst, ok? As for you Hinata we’d better teach you the basics of form two, quickly, as we only have about half an hour left.”
Naruto & Hinata simply nodded.
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“Ok, I think I’m going to go home.” Said Naruto
“Yeah, you probably should. See ya later, Naruto, & be sure to say goodbye to Hinata as well.”
“Huh, why? Can’t you say it for me?”
“No. And it wasn’t a request, Naruto. The more you two interact, the easier it’s going to be for you to help each other. In other words, your training will be easier. Now go say goodbye to her. She’s over by the river.”
Naruto wrinkled his nose & obeyed, extremely confused, though not bothering to stifle his grumbles.
When he arrived at the river that was only a few yards away from where they had been training, Naruto found Hinata washing her jacket, which had been dirtied in the dirt during their training.
“Hello, Hinata.” Said Naruto cheerfully, grinning at her & sitting down a few feet away from her, giving her room to continue her washing.
Hinata looked up at Naruto startled, “H, hello, Naruto-kun.” & with an effort continued washing her jacket.
“I was thinking of heading home, getting a bite to eat at Ichiraku’s first, & getting some sleep. Rahi told me to say goodbye to you first because, well he said something like the closer we got the easier our training would be or something like that. It didn’t make much since to me, though. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, Hinata.” & he grinned at her again making her blush.
“Um…goodbye, Naruto-kun. And…arigato…for today…” her voice trailed off, she wasn’t able to continue. The words got caught in her throat.
“Huh? What do you mean, Hinata?”
Hinata looked up, prepared to see the anger, or fury she was used to seeing from her father, but instead just got the confused look from Naruto. He just didn’t know what she meant, nothing else.
“Goman, Naruto-kun! It’s nothing…really.” She said quickly, bowing her head
Naruto just kept looking confused, then he shrugged. “Alright, bye.” & he turned & left.
After a few minutes, in which Hinata finished washing her jacket & hung it to dry, Rahi’s voice broke the silence that had settled after Naruto left.
“I wasn’t expecting him to say goodbye that way, but I guess it still has the same effect.” Hinata looked over at him, once again startled.
“Anyway, I was kinda hoping he would leave early so that I could talk to you.” He walked up to Hinata, & took a look at her jacket. He performed two seals & gently poked it, sending a burst of hot wind through it.
Hinata grabbed the jacket & realized that it was completely dry.
“I could teach you that as well. It’s simple really, but our time together is almost up, so I need to talk to you first. I realize that your father has his own way of teaching you things, however I have some rules that I want you to pass on to him regarding that. If he breaks these rules then he has to answer to me, if he doesn’t, then he has to answer to the Hokage.”
“First, he can not have any training sessions with you that start or last after ten o’ clock. Second, he will accept any methods I use, unless if you, & only you, ask for his advice and/ or aid. Third, if I receive any signs of mistreatment, or at least in my opinion, then I DO have the right to storm into his house, & kick his sorry butt all over Konoha and/ or demand to know what is going on. Fourth, if he doesn’t agree with something that I do, then he will answer to me, no acceptations. If he doesn’t agree with something that I do, that is not limited to you & me, then depending on what is, is depending on if he will answer to me or both me & the Hokage. Fifth, if he does anything that I don’t agree with, then I will take it up with him.”
“Now if he doesn’t receive these rules within the week, then I will personally give them to him, which considering how I hate him almost as much as he hates me, it won’t be a pleasant experience for anyone watching or listening. Here, they’re all written here,” he handed her a slip of paper folded in half, “any questions?”
“Um…ano, uh, why will me & N, Naruto-kun getting closer…um…make it easier for training?” she said uncertainly.
“Because, the closer you two are, the more you two know each other. The more you two know each other, the better that you can help each other. The better you can help each other, also means the faster you two learn what I’m teaching you. The faster you learn, the faster you become great shinobi. The faster you become great shinobi, well you know the rest.”
A few moments passed before Hinata said, “I should probably be going home know, Rahi-sensei. Arigato. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Hinata. Be sure to get that to your father.”
“I will, bye.”
She departed without another glance back at her new sensei. She was going to be able to skip all the challenges that her father kept on giving her, all the challenges that she always failed in. Or at least she hoped…
She quietly walked through Konoha, heading in the direction of the Hyuuga Manor. It only took her about eight minutes, before she was looking up at the huge house, knowing precisely what was inside. As she walked inside the gatehouse, taking off her sandals & hanging her jacket, her thoughts wondered to how Rahi & her father had met- & why they hated each other.
Rahi had said that he liked her because she was so different from her family. She wondered if that meant that he could tolerate her for that reason alone, what if he hated her for being a Hyuuga & that was why he even bothered?
No. He also had said that he hated the Hyuuga clan because of how they ran things; he didn’t hate Hyuuga clan exactly…
Absentmindedly, she walked to the courtyard, where she knew her father was, no doubt having prepared another challenge for her. On her way there she checked the clock- 9:49.
It was almost ten. There wouldn’t be much time for any of the challenges that her father usually had in store for her, so she was probably off the hook.
She gracefully sat down, neatly tucking her legs beneath her, in front of her father, waiting for him to speak.
“Ah, your back. Welcome home, Hinata-chan.” Said Hiashi, her father
“It is good to be home, Otou-san. Where is Hanabi-chan?” Hinata asked formally
“Hanabi is in bed, resting for her test at the academy tomorrow. As you know, this will leave more time for your training. You need a lot of work in Jyuuken, & I expect you to put forth that work.”
“Um, Otou-san…Rahi-sensei-”
“What did you say?” asked Hiashi, suddenly looking twice as serious as usual
“Rahi-sensei. H, he’s my new sensei. He gave me, um, rules to give to you.” She held out the slip of paper, still folded in half from when Rahi had given it to her
-Hiashi-
Hiashi took it without a word, & read it, his face reading more & more anger as he read each word.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing! Or reading…whatever.
Rahi had always wanted to damage the Hyuuga traditions & now he is at it’s most vital point, it’s heir!
Set of rules that Hiashi must obey by written word of Rahi & the fifth Hokage regarding Hinata’s training
1. Hinata will not undergo any training that lasts or starts after ten o’ clock without Rahi’s approval
2. If signs of heavier training within hours are seen, without Rahi’s approval, then you will be forced to cease it.
3. Any methods used by Hiashi, may, with the permission of the Hokage, be disallowed by Rahi
4. If Hiashi does not agree with the methods of Rahi, then he may discus it with him privately
5. If signs of mistreatment toward Hinata are seen by Rahi, then he maintains the right punish you for it
6. If these rules are broken, then one of two things will happen- One, Rahi will personally punish you for it. Or two, the Hokage will set a punishment accordingly
How Rahi had gotten on the Hokages good side he didn’t know, but because he did owe his allegiance to the Hokage, he would have to abide by these rules, no matter how much he didn’t want to. Then he noticed another thing on the paper, something that had been obscured by his fingers before
These rules may be crossed without punishment with the written AND verbal permission of both the Hokage & Rahi, and the supervision of Rahi.
Well, that would mean that he couldn’t object to the rules by saying it would hinder Hinata’s progress in her training. Rahi would always be willing to stay up all night for any one that he let through his personality barrier, & with him writing these rules, Hinata had already done that.
Hiashi sighed; he would just have to live with it for now.
“How did your training go with your team?”
“Um, the Hokage t-told me, Naruto-kun, & Rahi to train together for the evening.”
Hiashi winced at both of their names, although it was so tiny that you’d have to be close up & looking specifically for it to see it. Naruto, the boy who could very well be that vile beast. What was the Hokage thinking? And then Rahi…what use could they possibly serve for Hinata’s training?
Hiashi sighed again before speaking again, “then how did your training with Rahi & Naruto go?” he successfully hid his distaste for the two while speaking
“It was surprisingly s-successful, Otou-san. Although I didn’t learn much in the few hours that we trained, I did make good progress.”
Hiashi nodded, trying to look thoughtful, & succeeding as usual. “In what, did you make progress in?”
“The justu that Rahi-sensei was teaching both of us. It was very…unique.”
“Which justu was that?”
“Uh, Kage Bunshin.”
“I do not see what is so unique about that. Many in our village know Kage Bunshin. And, unless my information is faulty, Naruto-san knows it as well.”
“Ano, Rahi-sensei was teaching something a little b-bit…different then the Kage Bunshins I’ve seen, though I’m not s-sure about what you’ve seen.”
“Really? What was different about it?” asked Hiashi, slightly interested
“Well, as Rahi-sensei put it, ‘it’s supposed to be an untouchable illusion.’ It’s not affected in any way by, uh, physical m-measures.”
Hiashi spent a few moments to take in & digest what she said. An untouchable illusion? That was not the Kage Bunshin at all. Then what was it that he taught her? He checked the clock quickly to make sure it wasn’t ten yet.
“Show me.” He said simply & firmly
After a few seconds, Hinata bowed saying, “Yes, Otou-san.” She then stood, & began focusing her chakra. She formed the required seal & whispered, “Kage Bunshin no justu.”
Instantly four Hinata bunshins appeared, all standing & facing Hiashi.
He was a little surprised by what he saw, she had actually made some success. Buy what surprised him was that the clones looked solid, not like illusions at all.
He stood up & gently tapped one of the clones. Nothing. He didn’t feel I thing, it was as if it indeed was an illusion. He then slowly sent his arm all the way through it. Again nothing. It was if it was air. Here he was, his arm all the way through an illusion bunshin of his eldest daughter. He pulled his arm away.
“Very nicely done. I must admit, though, I haven’t seen this type of justu for. It is, as you said, unique. However I’m not entirely sure it is the kage bunshin. Probably a justu that mimics it.”
“Uh, Otou-san? Rahi-sensei said s-something about three different forms of the Kage Bunshin…& s-something about all three of them originating from the same village.”
Hiashi thought about this for a second, not even noticing Hinata de-summoning her clones. He never knew where the Kage Bunshin originated, he realized. And since Rahi had been raised in the Shadow village, it could make since if they created the Kage Bunshin. It would only be natural to have other versions of a useful justu, like Kage Bunshin, in their ranks if they had, indeed, created them.
“It makes sense.” Said Hiashi simply before, “Considering how we cannot get any training done, it would be wise for you to get some rest for tomorrow.” He waited a moment before adding, “you may need it.”
Hinata was still confused by what he meant when she left the courtyard for her room.
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The next day, Hinata underwent her usual mourning routine. Get dressed, do chores, eat breakfast, straiten up, get ready to meet team for today’s mission. The only difference was that she was told to go strait to the Hokage instead of meet her team by her father.
He had looked tired, as if he didn’t go to sleep at all that night. However that was the only difference. He was still the same person he always was as far as Hinata could remember.
When she opened the door to the Hokages office, she was surprised at what she saw. Rahi, Kuranai, Kiba, Sakura, and Shino were all there, standing in front of the Hokages desk where she was seated.
At the sound of the door closing, everyone turned in Hinata’s direction, “Ah Hinata-chan,” said Tsunade, “That’s almost all of you, just got to wait for Kakashi & Naruto now.”
“Um…what’s g-going on?” asked Hinata
Kiba was the one who answered, “We’re all going on a mission together. All details have been disclosed until the rest of us show up.”
“Two shinobi squads?”
“Yup. Apparently, that Rahi guy is taking the missing position on team seven. Though with our individual skills, I really wonder what kind of mission it is. Shino’s been working on possibility’s, but nothing very exciting yet- excluding if it’s an A rank mission. I think it makes sense but Shino doesn’t for some reason…ah, well.”
He made his signature, wolf grin at her, “If there’s going to be this many shinobi on it, then it’s got to be something important at least.”
Hinata gave her signature, shy smile in return
The door opened, revealing Kakashi, a few minutes later. The first thing said was by Tsunade, “I thought you were going to be the last one here!”
Kakashi looked surprised, “I’m not? Who else is supposed to be here?” he asked casually
“Naruto is. I never thought I’d actually say this out loud, but I’m getting tired of him not coming here first thing in the morning! Sure he annoyed me enough, but he’s become unpredictable even in what I thought he would always do the same thing.”
“Naruto won’t always be doing the same thing, of this I assure you.” Said Rahi suddenly
“Huh? How would you know?” asked Kiba
“Because I’m his…well, technically I’m his private sensei but he’s not the only one I teach.”
“Ha ha! I knew that baka would need extra help! Ha ha ha ha ha! Hilarious!” Kiba was laughing his head off. Hinata could hardly stand to let this humiliation of Naruto continue, but before she could get herself to do anything Rahi responded.
“In a few months, Naruto could make you eat those words blindfolded, without chakra, & both hands tied behind his back. Besides, its just a few bad habits that he has that you’ve seen that make you think he’s a baka. Some people actually look up to him, & his ability to always get back up. If my information is not faulty, then that is how he beat you in the chuunin exam.”
Kiba’s face went cold for a few seconds, then warmed back up. “That was a fluke! If he hadn’t of gotten lucky then he would have lost!”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Naruto’s awfully late. Someone should go look for him.” Cut in Kakashi
“I agree!” said Tsunade, “Rahi, why don’t you? You seem to have picked up on his habits rather quickly-”
“I was born with that trait. Anyway, I doubt it would take me any shorter to find Naruto then Kakashi, but why not?” He headed for the door, but when he opened it he turned toward Hinata, “why don’t you come with me?”
Kiba was about to object, when Hinata answered without hesitation, “Yes, Rahi-sensei” & hurried toward the door after him.
When the door shut, Kiba turned to Kurenai, “Rahi’s teaching Hinata?”
Kurenai looked a little uncomfortable in her present situation, “Yes. In about a week, she, Naruto, & Rahi will go on a training mission together.” She was barely able to get the last words out before Kiba yelled, “WHAT?!”
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-the Author-
I seem to be too far on top of things as it was the first of November (when I finished the chapter) and it is now a few weeks later. I have the third chapter done, & the forth chapter is about half finished.
Anyway, I need more critics so I know what I’m doing wrong so I can get rid of it somehow, & I need more compliments so I know what I’m doing right! Angel_Drake is doing a very good job of that, thank you.
That is all for now…except one thing I might as well tell you about. I’m planning on having bonus sections later on in the ff, I’m hoping they will either be humorous or will clear something up that I couldn’t say in the ff.
I wanted to write a bonus section that explained that Rahi was surprised that Naruto wasn’t exactly fighting back a whole lot, but it’s much easier just to tell you so I can start writing my other chapter’s. See ya!