Chapter 19
Hitori-san was a shy person and she was giving out vicious aura and murderous vibes to keep people at arm's length. I could say she was struggling as she was only much calmer when it was just me and her around but she became restless whenever we were in the crowd. I had to somehow build a separate house for her.
After breakfast, the two girls were hanging out together and thus I had to go alone to the hospitals. I chuckled lightly to myself as I thought about how close those two shy girls had become. I wouldn't be so surprised if Hinata learned a few jutsu from Hitori-san. When I was arriving at the Hospital, I saw the familiar streak of pink and blonde ahead of me. I immediately shouted at Sakura and she jumped a bit before turning around.
"Hikari-kun?!" we high-fived each other. "What're you doing here so early?".
"I am visiting our friends, what else? Shall we?" I said as I gestured at the doors.
"I am surprised to see you without Hitori-chan," Ino commented and I let out a nervous chuckle.
"Ino, she is older than all of us combine, don't call her that in front of her not unless you want to face her wrath. Hitori and Hinata are hanging out together," I explained and both of them raised an eyebrow. I had to begin walking inside for our sake as we won't be getting anywhere if we just stood there outside the hospital. They had no choice but to follow me.
"Ehhhhhhh?!" Ino said and I had to laugh. Why did she found that surprising, I don't know?
"Stuff it, Ino-Pig. Hitori-san is his fiance, it made sense that she get along nicely with his sister," Sakura chided. There wasn't any hint of animosity anywhere and thus the nickname now was just a playful tease. There was a subtle difference in Sakura now, she held herself well and the fidgety self of hers was not as noticeable anymore. There must be something that had changed her during the exam and so, I was proud of her. We arrived at the first room of the day; Lee-Kun's.
Sakura was placing her lilies inside a vase by the window as I took my seat next to Lee's bed. He was still sleeping and we didn't have the heart to wake him up. I noticed that he had his hands and feet wrapped in heavy bandages and I had to feel curious about it.
"What happened to him?" I asked after a moment. I noticed that both of the girls turned sad at the question, seemingly unsure of what to say.
"I had lost to Gaarkun in the preliminary exam, Hikari-kun," Lee suddenly said and we all jumped and immediately apologized because we interrupted his rest. "The doctors said I couldn't be a ninja anymore."
The air of depression was heavy. My Byakugan was activated and I took a detailed look at his injuries. His bones in the forearm and legs had shattered in numerous places. I bit my tongue at the extent of the injury, Gaara had shown no mercy at all. Couldn't blame him though, with his fragile state of mind and all.
"But Gai-sensei said that Naruto-kun and Jiraiysama will bring home the strongest medic back to Konoha and I look forward to training again," the boy said. His enthusiasm never seemed to fade despite his injuries and I couldn't feel much prouder at him. Sakura suddenly bowed at Lee. All of us shot her a puzzled look.
"Thank you, Lee-kun for your help in the Chuunin exam. If it weren't for you, and Ino's team, of course, I would be dead along with Naruto and Sasuke-kun," she said and we turned to Lee only to saw him smile widely.
"It's not like I should leave a girl to fight alone when I can help it," Lee said. On cue, s.h.i.+vers ran down our spine.
"Well done, Lee!!!!! Your springtime of youth had mould you well, my lovely student!!!" Gai-sensei struck a pose while crying. When Lee started to cry along, we wisely made our way out of the room. We b.u.mped into the rest of Lee's team outside of his ward. We had some catching up to do as they weren't present during the memorial. Neji was telling me how did he and Hias.h.i.+-sama bury their differences.
"He had personally trained me more in the main clan's secret techniques now," Neji said. I doubt Neji would consider additional training would hurt him. After all, he was considered to be a Hyuuga taijutsu genius after learning some of the secret techniques on his own. His genius was pointed out by none other, Naruto himself and Neji were highly motivated to improve himself after his impossible defeat on the blonde boy. I smiled fondly on how my eccentric blonde teammate had been reeling people in his circle and with his strengths as well.
"I'll let you in on one thing, Hyuuga's and my Mother's Juken shared a common, I wouldn't call it weakness, but they do have some holes, I guess. I suggest that you focus only on defence when you spar with Hias.h.i.+-sama. I trust that you will find it interesting," I said and he was silent as he considered it. Ino and Sakura made their way towards Sasuke's ward ahead of me so I bid my farewell to Neji and Ten Ten before I headed towards Kakas.h.i.+-sensei's ward instead.
I noticed that some of the Jounins must have been taking turns to watch over him during the night judging by the trashbin that was filled with fast food containers and takeaways. I activated my Byakugan to inspect his condition and I found that his chakra network was immensely messed up but I couldn't get it to work right even when I tried to release the genjutsu. My best guess is
"Where's Ino?" I asked my sole female teammate that was peeling some oranges. She jumped a bit before she continued with her tasks on hand.
"She reached her time and had to get back to her shop," she said while she was engrossed with the task on hand. Satisfied with her answer, I checked on Sasuke with my Byakugan. He was showing the same symptoms as did Kakas.h.i.+-sensei. What intrigued me the most was the traces of a foreign chakra on his shoulder. I could see that it was drawing nature energy subtly. I made my way towards his left side of the bed and inspected it further. My gaze had to stumble upon some sort of a seal with a containment seal around it. My best guess was the containment seal was put by Kakas.h.i.+-sensei. Sakura had already stiffened when I saw the seal, she didn't know how to word it to me.
"What's this?" I inquired. She gulped for air a bit before answering.
"Sasuke had those when we encountered Orochimaru in the second round of the exam. That vile man also did something to Naruto. They had been knocked out cold. That's the reason I had to defend them alone and I was really lucky that day," she explained. I immediately flicked her forehead and she shot me an annoyed look.
"It was never luck, do you doubt yourself that much? Have you seen yourself in front of a mirror recently? You've changed Haruno, you looked more confident than ever," I chastised her. She grumbled some more before continuing.
"I am worried, Hikari-kun. He wouldn't tell anyone about this, especially Naruto. This cursed seal hindered his chakra control and somehow the man had shaken Sasuke's psyche," she said. I patted her head before considering this development. I should ask Hitori-san about this, this cursed seal was powered by nature energy, due to its invading and consuming nature, it disrupted the inflicted's chakra and mind.
"I'll see what I can do about this," I said before I took a bite of her oranges. We sat there conversing with each other for quite sometime before an ANBU showed up in the ward.
"Hyuuga Hikari, the Jounin Commander, s.h.i.+kaku-sama had requested your presence at the Hokage Tower," the ANBU said before he disappeared almost instantly. I solemnly obliged and made my way to the said place. When I arrived there, I stood in Sarutobi-sensei's office to remember my old memories there. It wasn't long though as I was interrupted by a dark presence filled with coldness in his thoughts.
"Do you know who I am?" a sharp, calculated voice rang behind me. On cue, my Byakugan sprang itself to action almost instinctively.
"Councilman Danzo. What brings you here?" I growled, barely even withholding my grudge. Before this moment, I had always presumed that this man had the natural protective instinct of Konoha as well as resources to help protect the village during the attack and yet he made no move at all. The dark man narrowed his eyes at me.
"I want you and your summoning animal in ROOT. Your skills would be very beneficial to Konoha," he said. I didn't know what to make of the man's allegedly strong feeling for Konoha's sake yet the air around him was malice and sneaky.
"I refuse. I have better things to do," I answered almost immediately.
"Better than the sake of Konoha itself?" the man pried.
"You and I have a clear difference in what would benefit Konoha. I am my sensei's disciple," I snapped. The man narrowed his eyes yet again.
"Clearly. You'll come to me eventually," he remarked in disdain. As my Byakugan took on the man, he had multiples Sharingan embedded in his right side. I could a.s.sume that this was why he had Itachi killed the Uchiha which led me to why he met me here, he was in a quest for power. All the more reason to avoid him, destroy him even. The latter seemed to make my blood boiled to insanity, how in the world would a man this conceited be a Konoha s.h.i.+n.o.bi.
"I wouldn't want to sully my hands with such a power-hungry, Uchiha wannabe like yourself. Tell me one thing, do you sleep well at night after all those innocent kids you slaughtered? Or maybe you felt comfortable that you weren't the one who delivered the killing blow?" I retorted and instinctively, the Rinne-Sharingan opened out of anger. The man immediately brought his hand to form some sort of seal. It was a s.p.a.ce-time technique to move us somewhere, I deduced, but it won't activate. My third eye could nullify any jutsu that was beneath its level that was performed by anyone in its peripheral and my choosing. The man was frantic that his biggest secret had been laid down by a kid and his jutsu was somehow failed.
"Don't underestimate me, Oldman. I am the strongest s.h.i.+n.o.bi inside this village even before I went under Sandaime-sama's tutelage. Enjoy your time while it lasts. Lucky for you, s.h.i.+kaku-sama is heading this way. Though your intention was presumably pure, it was marred by your greed and l.u.s.t for power. Leave, while I am still allowing you to," I growled while I was oozing out murderous intent. Danzo had disappeared just before s.h.i.+kaku-sama opened the door.
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"Hikari-kun! You got my message. As you now know, you are a jounin now. You need to come in and fill out some forms. Follow me," the man said. He was a guy who wouldn't take no for an answer and he looked a lot like s.h.i.+kamaru. Well, he was s.h.i.+kamaru's father and we met during one of the rounds I did with Sarutobi-Sensei. What the h.e.l.l am I rambling right now? Danzo was a poisonous thorn that lurked in the shadow of Konoha, I could see that he would retaliate after my so-called threat at him. Honestly, Hitori-san would do much better. I heaved out a sigh as I followed s.h.i.+kaku-sama towards the registry unit.
"You are in luck in this gloomy days, all high ranking mission is on hold right now, until a new Hokage is appointed, if you're wondering that is. This kind of situation is more troublesome compared to the normal days, I had to fill in as the leader," the man blew a sigh as he slouched on the office chair in front of me after he handed me the two-inch-thick paperwork.
"s.h.i.+kaku-sama, I would like to stay with my team for the moment, at least until all of them advance to a new rank," I requested and the man let out a chuckle.
"I completely understand, Hikari-kun. That's up to the new Hokage, I'm afraid. Though I doubt that one of Sandaime-sama's students would be a.s.signed to something simple or anything. Now, before you would even start your day as a jounin, you will have to subject yourself to a physiological and psychiatric evaluation. It's a standard procedure," he added and I winced at the last word.
"I can't get out of that, can't I?" I pleaded because the last thing I needed was someone to probe my mind.
"Come on, Hikari-kun. You'll have to sooner or later. Kurenai and Asuma came to me with this, Kakas.h.i.+ too, of course. I know it's troublesome but don't you want to get better?" s.h.i.+kaku-sama pressed and I blew yet another sigh that day.
"I do, s.h.i.+kaku-sama. Trust me, I do. I have to, for everyone's sake. But not right now, I got a lot on my plate right now. Worst, I had to build a house for my fiancé," I tried to evade the topic and the man in front of me chuckled.
"Changing the subject is a good move if I were someone else, Ino-chan's father will be in charge of your psychological evaluation. He and I had discussed this, we believed that you would be at ease with familiar faces," s.h.i.+kaku-sama added. My mind raced to think of a way out before I chose to utterly turn him down flatly.
"Whatever, I won't do it, even if h.e.l.l freezes over. As I said, I got a lot on my plate right now," I sternly said. s.h.i.+kaku-sama blew a heavy sigh.
"You're a troublesome kid, you know that. Just don't let this hinder your job as a s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Kurenai also mentioned an S-Cla.s.s secret to me. I would discuss that with you but I think we should wait for a new Hokage to be appointed. I promise you that you have the backing of the s.h.i.+n.o.bi clans of Konohagakure, even more, when you're a Hyuuga. Hias.h.i.+-sama is the current leader of the clan heads if you do not know it already. If you're done with your paperwork, leave it there," the man said as he made himself comfortable before closing his eyes. Naras were always the lazy ones but their brains were the most powerful in the village. They were a clan of geniuses. It took me a few hours but when I had finished, a familiar ANBU appeared next to me.
"Tenzou-san! It's been a while," I greeted him. The man was still on his knees.
"I believe that you wanted to build a house. I have just the jutsu for it," he said and I immediately stood up and beamed at him.
"Why didn't you teach me that sooner, Tenzou-san?" I pouted and the man rubbed the back of his head while he chuckled nervously.
"Maa, maa, it's an immensely tasking jutsu for me, Hikari-kun. Come, show me the land you wanted the house to be built," Tenzou said as he rose from his knees. I nodded at him and we immediately made our way to the Hyuuga's Forest. A few hours later, a wooden house that was perfectly sized for Hitori-san and I was building on the most scenic part in the Hyuuga forest. It was a two-story house where the top floor was entirely our bedroom and bathroom. The house also had jutsu induced hot-spring, a large dining room, and guest rooms just in case. I had a hunch that she would like the house. I bowed to thank Tenzou-san for his help who was flailing helplessly due to chakra depletion. The jutsu was immensely useful if we're out in the middle of nowhere with no shelter nearby. Afterwards, I made my way home with a smile on my face after I made sure that Tenzou-san was strong enough so that he could run away from the place.