My little minions!"
Obito-sensei appeared out of nowhere and purposely ruffled our hair in a dramatic manner before we can even react to it. The three of us scowled. We don't appreciate having our hair getting messed up.
"You are making your sensei sooo proud, you know that? You three are the only full team that advanced to the last stage of the exams with all the members intact!"
Oh yeah, that. I didn't realise it until Obito-sensei said it himself.
"So are we getting anything as our reward?" Hanabi said cheekily as she crossed her arms and rhythmically tapped a foot on the ground.
"How about a hug from your dear sensei?"
"Pass."
"Well, jokes aside, I'm glad that you guys survived Orochimaru." Obito-sensei got straight to the point and got into a more serious persona. "Don't worry too much, we will do something about him. I will make sure that he will never harm you guys again. Also, I want to check if you guys have any prior plans for the last stage of the exam. I know all of your abilities are unique and that I can't help much with most of them, but I am still your sensei. I will teach you what you need as long as you ask me."
"I don't mean to sound offensive, sensei, but grandfather wants to train me personally. I don't think we will be seeing each other all that much until the exams are finally over."
"Fair enough. Nabi-chan?"
Hanabi paused for a moment in thought.
"Actually…" Hanabi started out slow before stating her thoughts. "There's something I want to try and I may need your help for it, sensei. But I have to run it through Otou-sama first. I need to check if my idea is even possible."
"Sounds good."
"And me?" I asked dryly.
"I have already found someone for you, Haku. The person that will be training you is probably best suited for helping you find ways to survive the Suna kid."
The three of us look at our sensei in an incredulous manner. The preliminaries had only just concluded half an hour ago and he already found me a teacher? We all know how lazy he can be sometimes; Rin always complains about it to us.
"No, really. You need all the help you can, Haku. You are the only genin that can probably stop the crazy kid. Prepare yourself for a long training session outside Konoha's walls and pack everything you think you might need. Your training will start the day after tomorrow so you will have a one day break before that. Just be at the village gate at sunrise, you will know what to do when you reach there."
"So the pairings really was rigged."
"Duh, we are shinobis." Obito-sensei shrugged. "Do you rather if Sai or Hanabi faced him instead?"
Got me there.
"Anyway, go take a much-needed break. I know you guys are tired." Obito-sensei said as he pushed us along from our back. "Remember, if you need help, I am always here." He said the last part at us, and his gaze lingered on me a little longer than what is needed.
He had probably found out about my past somehow.
"Got it, Tobi-sensei." Sai said as he gave a tired yawn. "I mean, Obito-sensei. Sorry, too tired. My tongue got tied up and I spoke too fast."
I give a knowing grin.
"You know, if you speak sensei's name repeatedly and at a fast enough speed, you end up saying it as Tobi. Try it."
"Obitoobitoobitoobitoobitoobitoobitoobi- Hey, it works!" Hanabi exclaimed as she immediately tried what I just said. "How did you find that out?"
"I think we just found a suitable nickname for sensei." Sai nodded in agreement.
"Wait, what? This is lame! I want a cooler nickname!"
"Sorry, Tobi-sensei."
"No can do, Tobi-sensei."
"This is a cool nickname, Tobi-sensei."
"Change it! CHANGE IT!"
"Minato-shishou?"
Minato-shishou gave me a gentle smile as I walked over to him. I looked around the area where Obito-sensei had told me to report at. There's no one else here so early in the morning other than the two of us and the gate guards. Minato-shishou is also carrying a backpack on him and is in his full jonin gear.
"You are the one Obito-sensei said who will be training me?" I asked in disbelief. Isn't shishou an extremely busy man? And he will be training me for the entire month until the third stage commences?
"Yep." Minato-shishou confirmed my guess as he guided me over to the gate guards. A quick registration later, he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hang on."
There's no other way to describe the sensation of experiencing the Flying Thunder God Technique other than extreme motion sickness. The feeling is just that indescribable.
"Ugh…" I wheezed and cough as I bent down and put my hands on my knees to support myself, holding in the urge to puke the moment we teleported to who-knows-where.
"A little warning next time, shishou?"
"Sorry about that, but from experience, the reaction is usually worse if the passenger is expecting it. It will get better once you get used to the sensation, or I can teach you a jutsu that I used in conjunction with my Flying Thunder God Technique to help prevent motion sickness."
I looked up in bafflement.
"A jutsu to prevent motion sickness?"
"Invented it myself. I don't know how the Niidaime endured using his version of the Flying Thunder God Technique without a jutsu like that, even I need the jutsu to be able to use the Flying Thunder God Technique repeatedly without rest. Maybe the Niidame could do it because he is a Senju, they do have better vitality than most."
Ok, now that makes some sense.
"Not that I am complaining, shishou, but why are you training me? You are a very busy man and Naruto is competing in the last segment of the exams too." I asked as we set up camp in an isolated clearing that shishou had teleported us to.
"Kushina will be taking over Naruto's training, they have very similar fighting styles so she is better suited to teaching her. I had already taught the basics of the Rasengan to Naruto anyway, now all she has to do is to practise until she got it down. If she is good enough, maybe she can use it at the last stage of the exams. If not, she definitely will be able to do so after a few months. She is not book smart like me, but she does have her own talent as well. She just learns differently as compared to most of us."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
"You are smart, Haku. Take a guess. The only clue I am giving you is that this is an arrangement that was made right after the preliminaries ended."
"Orochimaru and Gaara." I replied immediately. "Orochimaru had shown interest in both me and Sasuke and you guys want to protect us from them. Obito-sensei had said that I needed help for my match against Gaara at the last stage of the exams. You are the help although I have no idea what you are going to teach me."
Minato put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair in endearment. I think I now know where Obito-sensei got the same habit from.
"Got it in one. Sasuke is well-protected. Even if Orochimaru is a Sannin, he cannot take on the entire Uchiha clan by himself. They are the Uchihas. Itachi alone is able to match him and that is not considering how strong Fugaku really is. Sasuke will be safe with his clan. You, on the other hand, not so much."
I give Minato-shishou an inquisitive look. That sounds as if he is belittling the Hyuga clan.
"I am not downplaying the might of the Hyuga clan." Minato-shishou said after he saw the look I am giving him. "But you have to admit that currently, no Hyuga has what it takes to stand up against Orochimaru. The strength of their dojutsu is also not one that is wholly built for combat unlike the Uchiha. To deter an S-Rank threat, you need someone on the same level as well. I know you don't really like Konoha or shinobi villages in general, but some of us do care for you. I volunteered to protect you until the last stage of the exams and to train you at the same time. Kizashi and Hiashi agreed immediately. I know you don't like Kizashi, but trust me when I say that he treats you no less than any other shinobis in Konoha. He did what he did because he is the Hokage and your bloodline is just that valuable to anyone. He had to make many tough decisions as a Hokage. Try to understand him, even if it is just a little."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it." I shot back a little harshly. "Even if I had accepted it and understood what he did, it wasn't a nice feeling being treated that way."
"We know. That's why we try to help you make your life in Konoha as enjoyable as possible."
Minato-shishou knelt down a little to look at me at eye-level as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I… I had heard from Naruto what you told her and her friends back at the Forest of Death." He stated a little hesitantly. "I…"
"Look, shishou. I don't need pity." I cut him off before he can continue. "I know I sound rude but I have enough of it. If you are worried that this will sour my friendship with Naruto, then don't. She is not the one I am angry at. I'm not even that mad at Orochimaru even if I am pissed at him for doing it. If anything, the person that I am the angriest at is myself."
"That does take some load off my mind." Minato-shishou admitted as he stood up straight again. "And don't be angry at yourself, it is unhealthy. I know it might not seem like it, but Naruto had a tough childhood as well due to circumstances beyond her control. If it wasn't for me and Kushina around her, she might not even have made a single friend. I cannot tell you what the exact-"
"I knew a long time ago that Naruto is a jinchuuriki, so you don't need to go around avoiding that topic when it is just us alone. I also know that Kushina-shishou is the previous host to the Kyubi. It is obvious."
This time, Minato-shishou seemed genuinely shocked.
"You look kind of stupid with that look on your face, shishou." I replied with the driest tone I can manage. Having one of the most dangerous man alive looking at you like that is really making me want to laugh out loud for unexplainable reasons.
"How? And who else did you tell?"
"No one, not even Hanabi. I know when to keep my mouth shut and I am not telling anyone unless given permission. This is her secret and only she has the right to decide who she wants to tell. To answer your first question, you and Kushina-shishou are the ones teaching me about seals. You expect me to not find out about this secret? Naruto's birthday and the date of the Kyubi attack falling on the same day is also too much of a coincidence. There are also many other clues, but I don't think you want to listen to them. Don't underestimate the power of observation, shishou. You taught me that yourself."
Minato-shishou placed a hand on his face and gave a heavy sigh as he shook his head.
"You are just too smart, Haku. But thank you, for befriending Naruto. It means a lot to me and Kushina."
"It should be the other way round, she is the one doing the befriending. I was, and still am an antisocial person."
"Still, thank you."
Minato-sensei took out a few sealing tags.
"Alright, let's start training proper. Since we are on the topic of jinchuuriki, do you know about the existence of the mindscape?"
Of course I do. Canon Naruto visits it a lot in the series to talk to the fox, but I shouldn't have that kind of knowledge as Yuki Haku. I will need to dumb myself a little if I don't want to raise unneeded suspicion. I had already given Minato-shishou a huge surprise by blurting out Naruto's status as Konoha's jinchuuriki.
"Heard about it a little from the Yamanakas."
"In a mindscape, time flows differently." Minato-shishou went off to explain something that seems completely unrelated to training but I still listen patiently. There must be a reason to what he is doing. "What you experience in the mindscape can be as long as hours or days or maybe even months, but only a few seconds in reality. I had heard that there are some Uchihas who are capable of using genjutsu to trick their target's mind in experiencing three days of torture in their mindscape when only a few seconds had passed. Fugaku is capable of this."
Must be referring to the Tsukuyomi.
"Actually, this is still in the experimental stage. This is a method that I only just managed to invent a few days ago after two years of trial and error. I don't know if it will have any serious backlash, but Kushina and I both agree that it should be safe enough for you to try it out. I got this idea after hearing Kushina and Naruto talking about the difference in their mindscape all the time at home and this is also inspired from the Shadow Clone's ability to transfer memories since the both of them use it so often."
I gave a slow nod of my head to prompt Minato-shishou to continue.
"However, most people don't have the ability to enter their own mindscape. Even I cannot do that. So I start to wonder: Is it possible to artificially induce a state in a person to help them enter their own mindscape? Seconds can become days in there. What if those artificial days are used for training? Sure, the training is done in your mind and it will have no visible results on the body, but what if, other than training, you used the extra time to think of ways to improve yourself and come up with new jutsus? The time you spent in reality is now not wasted in thinking of ways to further improve yourself, but instead you can now wholeheartedly use it for training. Shinobis usually spent days, weeks, months, and even years to even come up with a single jutsu. Coming up with the Rasengan took me three years. What if those three years are not spent thinking about coming up with the Rasengan and I used it for training instead? How much stronger can I become? What about coming up with new design for seals? Coming up with new seals takes up a lot of time. Can the process be shortened?"
Oh.
OH.
This.
Is genius.
This time, it is shishou who is giving me the smug look.
"I see you understand where I am getting at. This one month will not just be a month for you, Haku. It can be years depending on how time flows in your mindscape. Years of training for you packed into a single month. In some ways, it is better than the Shadow Clone method Kakashi and I devised for Naruto. Both methods have their pros and cons. Take note, I am not aiming to make you chunin level by the time our training is over. I am aiming to make you so strong that you will be at least a solid jonin in strength. What we require from our jonins is not just strength alone, there are many other factors as well. That is why some of our chunins are overpowered. They are strong when it comes to combat but they don't have the mentality of a jonin. However, we also cannot deny that strength is an important factor in choosing our jonins. You have what it takes to be an S-Rank shinobi, Haku. I am just giving you the help you need. I am sure you can flourish on your own from here even if I don't help you any further than this. By the time the exams are over, I want to make sure that no one can argue with us even if we promote you into a jonin straightaway. I want you to be that strong by the time the month is up."
"Why?" I asked even before I could filter my words. I think my vision is getting a little blurry as well. "Why go so far just for me?"
"Because I am your shishou and you are my student." Minato-shishou replied as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. "You are like the son me and Kushina never had. You are not related to us by blood, but we still view you like our son. I am also your shishou. Kushina did most of the teaching when it comes to seals and you only learn the bare basics from me since I am always so busy. It is time for me to do something as your shishou. If there is one thing all shinobis respect, it is strength. From Kushina's experience, your outsider status can make your life very difficult for you in Konoha, but if you can show everyone that you can make it to jonin even when others didn't make the cut despite them being so much older than you, it will be easier for you to be accepted by the shinobi populace."
Minato-shishou took a pause before continuing.
"Maybe it is because Kushina sees herself in you when you first arrived, but if it wasn't for Hiashi, we would have adopted you into our family the moment you found yourself in Konoha. I know you had a very harsh childhood and an even harder time back at the Forest of Death, Haku, but please, don't lose faith in life. There are people who cares about you. I was watching the first stage of the exam. I saw how you tried to listen to my advice when you defended Kiba and I can only imagine how much it had hurt you when you finally broke down in the Forest of Death. Still, I stand by what I said. Trust is a two-way street. Right now, I am showing you my trust by showing you what is probably one of the most broken training methods in the Elemental Nations. I am trusting that you will use it responsibly and not use it to harm Konoha in any way or form even if you don't like the village. I am trusting you that you will keep the secret of this training method to yourself and not share it with anyone else without my permission, even if it is Hanabi."
"You are placing too much trust in me."
"Like I said, trust is a two-way street. You can be ruthless, but all shinobis are or we might as well quit our jobs. I am the boogeyman of Iwa that had killed thousands even if my colleagues all called me the kindest shinobi alive. Beneath that icy exterior of yours is a kind heart, Haku, no matter how much you deny it. You wouldn't have risked your life to return Hanabi to us otherwise. You could have just left her in Kiri to fend for herself. I know you are still trying to trust others, I am just making the process easier for you."
It was only when Minato-shishou gently used his thumb to rub away the tears flowing down my cheeks that I realised that I am actually crying.
"Take a break and think through what I just said. We are not in a rush for time since we will have plenty of it. Remember, there will always be people who cares about you. If you need help, just ask. There's no need to keep everything to yourself."
Like Minato-shishou said, his training method is still in the experimental stage, but it is enough for training purposes.
I don't know what I expect my mindscape to be, but my mindscape is just a flatland full of snow with no end in sight. Minato-shishou is not able to enter into my mindscape just as I am not able to enter his simply because he had not managed to find a way to do that yet. In my mindscape, I am able to use my jutsus, similar to how canon Naruto does it when he fought with Kurama for dominance when he tried to take its chakra for his own use.
Heck, I even tried materialising a leaf in my mindscape and attempted the leaf-cutting exercise like what Naruto did in canon. It actually worked even if I don't know how. Minato-shishou looked as if he struck gold when I told him about it.
I will be looking forward to the early creation of the Rasenshuriken. Shishou does have wind-natured chakra, right?
Still, this is all I need. Minato-shishou really knows what I needed most to prepare myself to face Gaara.
Time. What I urgently need to face Gaara in battle during the third stage is time to prepare against him. I know what he can possibly do but I just need the time to find ways to counter all his known techniques and then more. Minato-shishou gave me the time I need.
This training method is extremely broken in some aspects but there are backlashes to it that is just as great. Nothing is perfect in this world, that includes jutsus and seals as well.
For one, I have to spend at least a day to recover every single time I exited my mindscape. My body just cannot keep up with my mind's activity and I will collapse in mental exhaustion the moment I came back to reality. I need to wait for my body to finally sync with the time my mind experienced and vice versa. According to Minato-shishou, Kushina is starting Naruto on the Shadow Clone method similar to what was used in canon, and while she is not yet good enough to sustain it for long unlike her canon counterpart due to her current young age, she is an Uzumaki and a jinchuuriki. She has a way faster regeneration.
I don't have that luxury.
After the recovery phase, I will then use the time in reality to train my body and execute the various ways I have thought of in my mindscape in utilising my Ice Release. There's no point in creating ideas for millions of jutsus if your body is unable to handle the physical strain. Minato-shishou sparred with me regularly and pointed out the flaws that I have to improve on in my creations.
The most surprising thing was that Minato-shishou taught me the Rasengan. I know the concept behind it thanks to my prior knowledge, but I had never attempted to learn it before this due to my respect for the man.
For shinobis, family and clan techniques are viewed very differently from the commonly known ones. For a family or a clan technique to be taught to an outsider, it goes to say that the one doing the teaching has a lot of trust in the person who is being taught. Shinobis are secretive by nature and they guard the jutsus passed down to them by their ancestors zealously. By teaching me the Rasengan, people will know that Minato-shishou has a lot of trust in me for him to even teach me this famed jutsu of his in the first place. He is really trying to do his best to help me gain acceptance in Konoha.
Words cannot express how much gratitude I have for him and Kushina-shishou. No one else had treated me with so much kindness since I was in Konoha with the exception of the Hyuga family I am adopted into. I have no doubt that Hiashi and Hizashi cares a lot about me, but they are very reserved people when it comes to showing their emotions. The Hyuga upbringing that they experienced made them that way. Actually, Hanabi is the only Hyuga I know who is so open in showing her emotions. The rest of them are either shy or stoic people, sometimes a combination of both.
Minato-shishou and I discussed about seals as well. We both know that while I am born with a smart enough brain to understand most seals, I am not a natural in it. I am not born for it. That is fine. I just want to know enough about seals since I think it is useful knowledge to have. The fact that the learning process is fun is a plus as well. However, sometime in during the training sessions, I suddenly had another perspective.
If I am never going to be as talented as both my shishous in creating seals, how about breaking them?
Creating new seals requires the creator to have full and complete understanding of the knowledge required to even attempt to create the seal. Destroying seals? No, you don't need to possess the full knowledge required to destroy them, although you need to know enough to ensure that it doesn't blow up in your face and accidentally kill you as a result. It is like dealing with exploding tags. Not everyone knows how to create one, but many shinobis worth their salt would know how to stop one from exploding, block the damage, or even defuse it if they can see it coming. The same logic applies to any other seals.
And so, Minato-shishou added that into my curriculum. He agrees with me. If I cannot be a Seals Master, then I might as well change my route and aim for being a skillful Seals Breaker instead. I may or may not reach the goal I set for myself, but at least it is a goal that is a lot easier to reach than becoming a Seals Master.
It is weird not having Hanabi by my side for the entire month and I do feel a little empty without her around me. It is suddenly a lot quieter since her chattering is non-existent now. This training trip just made me realise how much time we actually spend together without us even realising it.
But this is also the most relaxing month I had in a long time. No expectations. No judging eyes. No wagging tongues. No hostile words and hidden jabs. For once in eight years, I actually felt relaxed.
This might actually be good for me and Hanabi. We are too close and we need to learn to deal with being separated from each other. We cannot possibly be together for every mission the moment we became chunin since we will all have to lead our own squad, depending where the higher-ups slot us to after our eventual promotion even if some of us do not pass this chunin exam. Not all genin teams stay together after the genin stage simply because of manpower issues. People do die on missions and chunins are often shuffled around to fill up vacant spots. This is a well-known fact.
I am actually glad that I had a month-long break from being cooped up in the village. The fact that the person watching over me is someone I trust helps too.
I am not sure if the invasion will still happen and I don't like the idea of a war. I won't bat an eye if the shinobis want to cut each other's throats since I simply don't care about most of them, but innocents may die. It is always the innocents that suffer. Orochimaru will either be very foolish, or extremely confident in taking Konoha on his lonesome if he does go through with the invasion. I also have no idea how to warn Minato-shishou of it without alerting him to my reincarnated status, so all I can do is to pray for the best.
At least Konoha is a lot stronger than in canon right now. We should be alright. The few that I care about should be alright.
Or at least that is what I hope it will be.
If not, I can always bring about an ice age to help protect those that kept me sane. I am definitely way above chunin level by now like Gaara is. I am not a jinchuuriki, but I have the experience and plagiarised ideas of many others from my previous world. I have their creativity and their ideas. Strength comes in many different forms, not just by having a legendary beast sealed in your gut even if that is a terrifying strength to have.
Ice is a popular power for fictional characters to have and many of these characters have their own ways to utilise their powers. I am able to perform most of what I remembered about the applications of ice in the few fictional stories that I had read about in my previous life. The only thing I am lacking now is raw power since that is the only thing that cannot be hastened, but I do have the versatility part down. Stamina is also an issue since no matter how much I trained, I am not a chakra monster like Naruto, Kushina-shishou, or Kisame. There is a limit to how much ice I can create before I fall into a state of exhaustion and the only thing I can do is to try and increase the limit as much as possible. I don't have plot armour to help me too. If anything, the original plot worked against me. Many fictions about the Naruto verse talked about attaining Sage Mode, but in reality, you need to have very large reserves of chakra to even attempt to learn it. I don't have that natural advantage, Minato-shishou had told me so when I asked him about natural energy.
I have to find my own way to overcome my own physical restrictions.
Water and air are what created ice and it is also what creates life. I have the power to control the fundamental elements that supports life itself. It is an overpowered and broken ability if you can use it properly. I don't have full control of my bloodline yet and I still lack raw power, but when I do achieve it, I can stop even life in its tracks as long as I have the power to back it up.
I will bring these fictional abilities to life. It is the only thing I can do that will enable me to survive what is to come.
Plot or no plot, canon or no canon, I will survive. I have a reason to try and carry on living now. I don't want to kick the bucket the second time without at least trying my best to keep myself alive. I am not letting the hard work and sacrifices of those who had tried to help me go to waste. If I cannot live for myself, maybe I can try to live for the sake of others and do something meaningful for once in my life. I don't want my second attempt at life to be meaningless no matter how short or long it may be.
Maybe I can even find a goal to strive for along the way, if I am lucky enough.
Hmm… To live to protect those that cares for me sounds like a noble goal. I like the sound of it.
Will Mum be proud of me if she knows about this?
I hope she does.
"Hanabi-sama. There are visitors looking for you."
Hanabi gave a polite thanks to the branch member that passed her the message as she walked to the gates of the Hyuga compound. Who will want to find her?
She put on the ugliest scowl on her face when she finally saw who it is that is waiting outside the gates of the Hyuga compound.
"What. Are. You. Doing here. Yamanaka."
"Um… I…" Ino gulped as Hanabi activated her byakugan. The entire of Team 10 is here together with Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke are missing. Not a surprise, no one actually saw Naruto and Sasuke after the preliminaries were over like no one saw Haku. The three of them disappeared into thin air.
Anyone with a brain and with access to what happened in the Forest of Death will figure out that Sasuke and Haku are being protected from Orochimaru even if they don't know how it is being done. She isn't so sure about Naruto, but maybe she is keeping Sasuke company. The two of them are childhood friends and they are close.
"Taiga, Shu, see them out. I don't want to see them. They are not welcomed here."
Upon the command from their heiress, the two Hyuga guards that man the gates of the clan compound moved towards the quartet as Hanabi turned to leave.
"You heard Hanabi-sama. Please leave."
"We just want to apologise to Haku." Shikamaru explained on the group's behalf as he called after Hanabi's retreating form. "We were insensitive to Haku's feelings. Ino herself has been beating herself up over it and she wants a chance to correct her mistakes. We feel the same as well. Naruto and Sasuke are unable to come, so we are also here on their behalf. However, we cannot find Haku anywhere. We asked Sai and he said that you would know."
Sai popped up from around the corner just at that moment.
"Crackers-chan."
"Sai." Hanabi greeted her teammate as she finally stopped and turned around. "Why did you bring them here?"
"I think they deserve at least one chance to make things right again." Sai gave a nonchalant shrug as he said this. "At least the book I read about mentioned that everyone makes mistakes, but they should at least have one chance to remedy whatever they had done wrong. I don't think the book is entirely right, but I don't think it is entirely wrong either."
He had a point there.
"They even brought the poisons girly-kun has been wanting to get for ages as a way to show their sincerity. I think that is thoughtful of them." Sai continued as he pointed to a small box that Ino is clutching in her hands. "However, I really don't know where he went since I had been training in my clan compound this entire time. I thought that you might know, so I directed them to you."
Hanabi crossed her arms as she deactivated her byakugan. If they can really get Haku to forgive them, then he might have more friends that he can count on. He really needs to get a social life and stop training like a madman to escape from his problems.
Also, she doesn't think that Haku is truly mad at them, even if he probably has no intentions to repair the friendship between him and the two teams. It is like trying to repair broken glass. Once you break it, the cracks will always be there no matter how you tried to glue it back together.
Still, that is Haku's decision to make, not hers. Haku had changed after the happenings in the Forest of Death. Even she cannot tell what his opinions on things are right now. He had left a little too soon for his training for her to figure him out.
"One chance, so don't screw it up. Also, if Haku says no, then it means no."
"We understand."
"Still, even I don't know where he went." Hanabi admitted. "All I know is that he is outside the village right now. He sends a letter to me and Otou-sama about once every few days through Minato-san's toad summons to inform us that he is alright and we will respond in kind. He is currently being watched by Minato-san and I think you all know why. All I can do for you guys is to help you send a letter to him. Whatever you want to say and give to him, write it down and I will send it to him for you when the toad messenger makes its next appearance."
"That is fine by us." Ino said as she visibly tried to steel her nerves. "We… We just want a chance. I know I screwed things up, but…"
"Save the apologies for Haku, not me. He is the one that you had hurt."
Ino looked down in guilt at Hanabi's words. Sai eased the mood as he said his next sentence.
"Crackers-chan, I have been thinking about it recently. From what I can see, girly-kun seems to be very close to his mother when she was alive, is that true?"
"Yeah, it is." Hanabi blinked in mild confusion at the sudden change in topic. "He always talks about her even without him realising it. He has a pendant that used to belong to her that he wears around his neck and I hardly see him taking it off. When he does, it is usually because he doesn't want it to get damaged or dirtied for whatever reasons."
"And he doesn't have a picture of her?"
"No, he doesn't. He had said that he had left his village as soon as possible after it happened. He was afraid of getting caught. Or maybe there wasn't a picture for him to bring along in the first place. Unlike Konoha, most villagers out there in the Elemental Nations are too poor to afford having someone paint a portrait for them, much less take a photograph. Especially so for Kiri. I had seen how bad the poverty is when I was there. It was so bad that I still remember about it even after so long."
"Do you know how his mother look like?"
"I never met her, but I can remember how Haku described her. I can memorise it by heart now since he always repeats the same thing whenever he talks about how she looks like. Why are you even asking?"
"Crackers-chan, you are looking at an artist here." Sai gave his best impression of a deadpan as he gestured to himself. "Why do you think I am asking?"
Hanabi's eyes widened in realisation and she can see the quartet doing the same as well.
"Sai." Hanabi breathed out. "You are brilliant. You are finally not a social idiot."
"Problem is, we don't know if we can really recreate the image of girly-kun's mother even with the description he provided you with." Sai continued as he ignored Hanabi's mixture of compliment of his idea and jab at his social awkwardness. "Saying she has 'almond-shaped eyes', for example, can lead to at least ten different variations of almond-shaped eyes if we really want to get technical. Still, we can try."
"Let's just do it. I think Haku will want to have a drawing of his mother to remember her by. He did say that his memory of how she looked like is fading as the days pass. Even if it is not as accurate as we like it to be, he will appreciate it."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get started."
"It seems you have more letters than usual today. You even have a little box and a scroll."
Minato-shishou passed me the letters, box, and scroll. There are two letters. Strange, usually the Hyuga family will just compile into a single letter what they want to write to me about. Why are there two today? And what's with the box and the scroll?
I opened up the first letter and read through it quickly. This one is from the Hyuga family. Nothing out of the ordinary is written in this letter although Hanabi had mentioned that she wasn't sure if I would like the contents in the scroll. She said it is a combined effort of her, Sai, and both Team 10 and 7, even if Team 7 is now one person since like me, Naruto and Sasuke are both hidden somewhere due to the threat of Orochimaru. Orochimaru had never expressed an interest in Naruto even back at the Forest of Death, but she is the host of the Kyubi and Orochimaru definitely has ways to break the seal forcefully if he gets his hands on her. Konoha cannot afford the risk.
But since when is Hanabi on speaking terms with Team 10 and Team 7? And why is she so unsure whether I will like what she gave me in that scroll? It's not like I will throw her gift away no matter how bad it is. I still remember the girly-looking pink polka dot ribbon she picked out for me when she was six and although I never wore it, it is still somewhere in my drawer. I will get to the scroll later. I want to know who sent me the second letter.
I opened up the second letter.
This one is from both Team 10 and Team 7. They are asking for my forgiveness. It seems the box contains the poison that I was pining for, the one that would be my prize if I won the bet I made with Ino back at the first stage of the exams.
I am not exactly mad at them. To an extent, I can understand why Ino reacted that way. She was only trying to protect her teammates the best she knows how, although she should have first tried to understand the full story before jumping to conclusions.
Hanabi would want me to make more friends as well. If she had decided to help them send their letter of apology to me, she must have thought that they are at least being sincere in it. I don't know if my friendship with both teams will go back to what it once was, but it never hurts to try. If it doesn't work out, then I will just move on.
Still, I am curious at just what Hanabi sent me in that scroll. Is it a storage scroll, or just a normal scroll? She usually just shoves her presents to me without much care whether I like it or not since she knows I will accept it anyway. I kind of just do the same thing back at her. I had bought her a hairclip that she had thought to be atrocious looking, but she still wears it from time to time when she is at the clan compound. She just never wears it outside of the house because according to her, it is just that ugly.
"Why are you staring at the scroll like it is a bomb?"
"Shishou, if even Hanabi is unsure whether I will like what is in that scroll, then I think it is a huge cause for concern. Worse still, Sai is involved. Team 10 and Sakura are in it as well even if I don't know why. For all we know, it may be a bomb."
"That bad?"
"This is Hanabi we are talking about; her presents can be really unpredictable. I don't know how she found or made one, but she once gave me an exploding kunai on my birthday without telling me what it really is. The only thing she said was that she was sure I will love it. I nearly died that day. My birthday nearly became the day I passed away at the ripe old age of ten."
"…Should we set up a barrier?"
"… Probably…. Never mind, I will just open it. She is a genin now, she will know what is dangerous and what is not."
"Do you want to first write a will before opening it?"
"Kushina-shishou always said that you make bad jokes, she is right."
I slowly untie the string that wrapped around the scroll and start to slowly unroll the scroll. It seems to be just a normal scroll.
Good. No explosions.
Yet
I continue to unroll the scroll and what is drawn on it stumped me into silence. I shook my head and blink my eyes. No, I am not dreaming. I am seeing what I am seeing.
"Haku?"
I slowly raised my left hand to carefully touch the face of the person that is drawn on the scroll. There are a few small differences to what I remember about her looks, but there is no mistaking the person which was drawn on the scroll.
Mum
"Haku? Are you alright?" Minato-shishou asked in concern as he walked up to me. He saw the drawing and he made the connection straightaway. Mum and I do look alike since I take after her looks.
"Is that…"
"My Mum. They had somehow recreated an image of my Mum. This has to be Sai's work; I recognise his brushstrokes. Only Hanabi knows how my Mum would look like since she is the only person who I described her looks to. Team 10 and Sakura had probably helped as well even if I don't know what they did."
I held back my tears as I slowly rolled the scroll back and pocketed it. Minato-shishou didn't say anything, but he gave me a comforting pat on the back as a show of support.
This is really the best present ever.