Chapter 24
Hitori was first to wake up the next morning and her fiancé was still sleeping soundlessly beside her. She snuggled closer to Hikari as she brushed her right palm over the boy's cheeks. The phoenix sage smiled fondly when she thought about her fiancé's antiques last night, the one that he was mentioning how neglectful to her he had become since the ROOT fiasco. She had never thought about it that way and the previous night had been spent to prove to him that she would stand by him no matter what. She had strongly hoped that the previous night would finally shut him up for good about it. The boy suddenly stirred in her hug and Hitori brushed Hikari's hair to soothe the boy back to sleep.
"Hmm, I could get used to this, having this kind of wake up call in the morning does has its perks," Hikari murmured as he hugged the girl tightly and m.u.f.fled her in his chest. Hitori let out a wordless incomprehensible scream before she had decided to yank her fiancé's hair to shred. The boy naturally winced loudly before he gave up and released the girl.
"Heh heh! That's what you get for doing that to your elderly, brat!" Hitori darkly said as she let out some murderous intent. Unaffected, Hikari jumped over her and started to tickle her to death.
"Elderly, my b.u.t.t! Last night was no elderly on top of me!" Hikari laughed maniacally as he continued his attacks. Hitori's face was red as she was laughing herself to tears.
"Stop it! Stop!" she screamed, pleading. "Stop it! I said!"
The air suddenly grew hot when Hitori sprouted wings on her back. Her face was that of an angry, annoyed predator and Hikari would get it now. The boy, noticing her, immediately released her and ran towards the nearest exit, not before stumbling down the bed. That had made Hitori burst out laughing. Hikari was naked at the time and with a bruise was rising on top of his head along with the story behind it, the girl couldn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes. The boy stood up pouting before he went to the kitchen to fix something up for breakfast that morning. After a few minutes of tinkering, they had a bowl of soba with miso soup each for breakfast before Hitori decided to take a bath before Hikari did. When it comes to the boy's turn, he had appreciated the warm inviting bath that his fiancé had fixed up for him. It had washed up all the fatigues from last night's escapades and also, his work.
Hikari wore a black jumpsuit for the day before he put on his Jukengi on top of all that. He still hadn't picked up a new Jounin vest from the Ninja Administration building yet and so he was indulgent to wear Hias.h.i.+'s gift for his graduation. The boy was walking all around the house until he had found his fiance who was standing at the porch peering at the sunrise. Her red sakurthemed black kimono was on her brought Hikari back to the memories when they were at Yuki no Yama. The boy slowly walked up behind her and hugged her softly. Hitori gasped before she leaned back onto the boy. The Hyuuga kid gave his fiance a soft kiss on the phoenix sage's bright, soft blonde hair.
"Hitori-san, what do you think of this village?" he asked as he brushed his fingers over hers.
"Oh, Hikari-kun, where do I start? This is by far the most peaceful village I'd seen in all my years. They cherished and willing to protect each other without hesitation. It has its perks and drawbacks but I managed by being friends with your sisters and Sakurchan. I guess by having more people in my life is good for me after all," Hitori fondly explained. The boy turned his fiancé to face him and planted a soft kiss on her forehead as he thanked Kami for her change of heart.
"How about we visit Hanabi-chan today? I am sure she missed us," Hikari suggested and Hitori was quick to nod enthusiastically. Afterwards, she immediately climbed onto Hikari's back.
"Onwards n.o.ble steed! My precious Imouto is waiting for me!" she happily announced earning a pout from the boy but he still fetched their sandals before he got out of the house.
"Hehehehe, hold tight, your majesty!" he said before he took off towards the compound in his speed. Hitori could only do nothing but scream the entire journey. Within no time at all, they had arrived at the entrance to the Hyuuga Estate before Hikari let her down and put her sandals on her feet. Hitori blushed at the boy's bravado in public. After a brief kiss, they got inside the house.
Hias.h.i.+ and Neji were at the familiar front porch when the bunch reached for them. Neji was warming up, getting ready for his training with Hias.h.i.+. After the mission three months ago, Neji had shown a remarkable recovery rate as the G.o.daime put it to Hikari a few days ago. Tsunade also added that the Hyuuga prodigy will be allowed to start training if he had been discharged from the Hospital. Neji understandably wanted to gain back his lost strength and stamina due to his critical injuries and wouldn't fell behind Naruto who would leave that day for a long period of training with one of the Sannin--Jiraiya. When the boy noticed the couple, he immediately paused his warm-up to greet them.
"My, my, what a pleasant surprise. Welcome home, lovebirds!" Hias.h.i.+ had beaten Neji to it. The said lovebirds bowed at the patriarch of the Hyuuga clan with respect.
"We're home," they collectively said. Hanabi suddenly burst out from the house and hastily grabbed Hitori's hand and then pulled her inside of the house.
"Oh, welcome home, Oni-chan!" she hollered before she disappeared with Hitori inside of the house. "Onee-chan! Hitori-nee is here!!"
Hanabi's enthusiasm brought a chuckle from Hikari's lips. Those two had formed quite a close bond together, well, they both did somewhat were alike to each other. The boy then shook Neji's hand before he sat down at the porch.
Hias.h.i.+ and Neji were sparring and he could saw and confirmed that the injuries had impaired his cousin to a degree. The latter on the other hand was slowly regaining his former strength and speed. Hikari recalled reading the full report on the
"Um, I brought tea," Hinata came out half an hour later with a tray of tea. Hikari had to help her set the heavy tray down while the other two Hyuugas were finis.h.i.+ng the current set.
"Neji, let's take a break," Hias.h.i.+ finally said. Both of them were sweating considerably due to spar. Then, they took their seats as Hinata served them the tea. Hinata had also prepared some pills that her cousin had to eat and so she had made sure that he swallowed it first.
"Hinatsama," Neji inquired. "I heard that Naruto is leaving today for his training but shouldn't you see him off?"
"It's okay," her reply was quick but her teammates had already arrived at the Estate.
"What, you didn't know?!" Kiba suddenly cut in. "Hinata had already gone out of concern for him!"
"But when she saw him all bandaged up, she almost fainted." s.h.i.+no continued his friend's words.
"That embarra.s.sed her so much that she didn't dare to show her face!" Kiba loudly teased her and the girl could only sigh in defeat. Couldn't be held back, the Inuzuka burst out laughing and Hinata could only yell his name in despair. The rest of the boys let out a small laugh at Kiba's antics before their fun was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of an ANBU.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Hias.h.i.+-sama," the ANBU said as he was kneeling at the clan head. "Hokage-sama requested for Hikari-sama's presence at her office.".
"Very well, thank you for your hard work, ANBU-san," Hikari replied before the ANBU disappeared as instantly as he arrived.
"Why did the ANBU called you 'sama'? I know you didn't like that," Neji immediately asked but Hikari shrug it off. The boy then looked at his uncle for some answer but seeing that Hias.h.i.+ was impa.s.sive, he remained puzzled. With those inquiries, the rest of the Genin narrowed their eyes at Hikari. The said boy stood up and bowed to dismiss himself before he shuns.h.i.+nned towards the Hokage Tower.
The G.o.daime Hokage, Senju Tsunade was sitting in her office lounge sipping some sake as she was mulling over the hards.h.i.+p of being a Hokage. She had wondered how her predecessors had done such a good job leading this village. The slug princess had already sent s.h.i.+zune to the hospital before she had a training session with Sakura and thus she had all the time she wanted to have some sake. Hikari who had arrived at the office through the window went directly to the lounge where he found his senpai sitting and mumbling drunkenly.
"Being a Hokage is hard isn't it?" she said as she raised a cup towards the pictures of the previous Hokage that was hung on top of the wall.
"Try living a double life as a jounin and a leader of the most notorious organization in Konoha whilst trying to keep it secret from one's teammates. Senpai, the sun is still rising..." the boy bugged in and chided his senpai.
"Ah, my favourite junior! Come, join me!" she happily yelled as she poured a cup for Hikari. The boy sat next to her but didn't touch the sake.
"Tsunade-senpai, I may be born millions of years ago, I am still a kid, you know," Hikari said in exasperation as he wouldn't ever sip a drop of alcohol because he won't break the promise he made three months ago; the promise of getting better and alcohol could make him lose control.
"How did Sakura do?" he asked.
"Sakura?! Ah, she is the best that one, progressed much, much, much faster than s.h.i.+zune did. Kid's got talent," she slurred and that brought a proud smile on Hikari's face.
"She going to be big someday, bigger than you," the boy commented indulgently.
"What?! These? I am blessed by the heavens! There's no..." Tsunade slurred before she saw Hikari slammed his hand on his face. "Hic! Hihihihi, She's still sloppy, clumsy. Huh! She got a long way to go, yeah!"
"So, mission reports?" Tsunade suddenly turned serious. Clearing his throat, Hikari began explaining his findings.
"Orochimaru, as you are well informed is one brilliant, paranoid and meticulous ninja. Every traces of Sasuke after the Valley of The End had either been erased or sealed somehow. Any signs of the snake's base still eluded my men," Hikari explained. "I wondered whether or not we should continue with the search. It is beginning to burden my already small unit. But, my teammate and I had promised to bring him back together so I mustn't give up. I do believe that we have no choice but to declare Sasuke a rogue-nin. As a teammate, I am strongly against it. I'm sure those two would agree with me."
"I wonder, did I made the right call back then?" the Hokage sighed before she said it. The ROOT Director had to chuckle at his senpai.
"I never knew that a strong woman like you had this much pessimism inside that heart of steel of yours," Hikari commented, earning a good laugh from the Slug Sannin.
"I have my moments, Hikari-kun!" she declared before she gulped down the kami-knows-how-many cups of sake she had had.
"Well, rest a.s.sured that I would do the same thing if I was in your place. More so in my case with the ROOT and all," Hikari softly said because he didn't miss that split second sad expression his senpai had before she immediately recovered.
"Oh, that perverted senpai of yours came by this morning saying that he would leave today with Naruto," she suddenly changed the topics.
"About that, I want a ROOT member shadowing him. Are you okay with that?" the boy suddenly remembered his idea months ago.
"I don't know if he liked being followed, he could take care of himself and Naruto. I'm okay with it because it wouldn't hurt if they had a backup but run this by him first," Tsunade said.
"Another thing, I got something in mind, do you think Jiraiysenpai could teach Naruto some more of his father's jutsu?" Hikari wondered.
"As expected of a ROOT Director, you knew, huh?! Well, I'm alright with it if the knucklehead could even manage to learn at all. But if he did, he will surpa.s.s his father in no time," Tsunade replied.
"Well, at such a young age he had mastered the Rasengan, the pinnacle of chakra manipulation. Who knew what else he is capable of, Fuinjutsu?" the boy wondered again. "It's such a mystery as to how he had flunked three times in the academy with that much potential."
"Well, he has his moments too. Are you going to see him off? He would be gone for a while," Tsunade inquired seeing that her junior went silent for a few moments with an indulgent expression on his face.
"Yes, I'm going to fetch something for Naruto and checked out who's available for this long term mission," Hikari announced before he shuns.h.i.+nned into his ROOT office to check the mission roaster and s.n.a.t.c.hed Naruto's gift from his vault. When he had found a suitable candidate, he sent Juzo to the said man to meet him at Ichiraku Ramen. Hikari was on his way to Ichiraku Ramen, the only place Naruto could be found apart from his house and on top of the Hokage stone faces. He ran into Jiraiya who was undoubtedly searching for the blonde boy too. They greeted each other when they stopped on top of a rooftop.
"Yo, Hikari-kun!" the Toad Sannin called. "Have you seen Naruto around?"
"No, but I know where he is and I am heading there now. Ichiraku Ramen," the boy explained. "Senpai, would you be averse if I had one of my ROOT shadowings you?"
"My junior the ROOT Director! The more the merrier!!" the Sannin answered in his extravagant fas.h.i.+on.
"One more thing," Hikari gave his senpai a black scroll, "this contains his father's Hirais.h.i.+n and some Fuinjutsu. Try to see if you could teach him all of these. He's a bit of a blockhead so be patient with him."
"Are you sure that he should learn all of these?", Jiraiya's face had changed after he had heard what Hikari had said.
"Yeah, he should. We wouldn't be around every time to protect him. Best we teach him what we could and let him do the rest. I trust him." Hikari slowly said. "Oh, come at Ichiraku Ramen in 45 minutes outside of the stall. That should give me ample time to bid him farewell."
"And that also gave me enough time for quick research!" the Sannin grinned before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hikari jumped down the roof after that and continued on foot towards the ramen shop.
The young ROOT Director was arriving at the ramen shop but from a distance, he could already hear Naruto that was inside the stall with the noise he was making. He was with Iruka who was buying the boy a bowl for the road. Naruto was explaining how he had landed an apprentices.h.i.+p with one of the Sannin. Hence, Hikari decided to wait outside for a bit so that the two of them could have a moment to themselves.
"So, you're going on a long trip then?" Iruka had to confirmed after Naruto had explained with a mouth full of noodles. The knucklehead said yes before he slurped down his second helping of his Miso Char Siu Ramen that was in the extrlarge bowl the shop had to offer.
"Hey, are you guys dating each other by any chance?" Hikari suddenly said as he decided to enter the shop at last. Teuchi and Ayame immediately blurted out laughing.
"No, idiot!" the two stood up and screamed at the loudmouth Hyuuga.
"Well, you guys seemed to be having ramen without me nowadays," the dark-haired jounin said as he sat down next to Naruto. "Old man, one s.h.i.+o Ramen, please?".
"One bowl of s.h.i.+o Ramen coming right up!" Teuchi replied.
"Make that extra large and put it on my tab," Iruka suddenly cut in as he rubbed the back of his head. The man was feeling guilty for not inviting Naruto's ramen partner along so he had to make up to the boy somehow. Naruto raised his hand at Hikari with glee.
"Oh, sweet! Thank you, Iruksensei!" Hikari said as he high-fived his blonde best friend. The ramen was quick to be served as expected and Hikari dug in without much hesitation.
"Now, seeing that Sakura was busy with her study with Tsunade-senpai, it is my job to give you a good set of nagging for the road. Uzumaki Naruto, we, your teammates want you to study diligently and become the strongest s.h.i.+n.o.bi that Konoha had seen!" Hikari said after he had finished his bowl. Naruto couldn't resist to grin and gave his best friend a thumbs up.
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"You can count on me, Dattebayyo!!" he declared and they had a good laugh together before Jiraiya suddenly burst in.
"Huh, you're are here. Let's get going, Naruto," Jiraiya said as Hikari excused himself for a moment from the soon to be a manly crying moment. Outside, a ROOT with a blank mask and familiar khaki robe was waiting for him.
"Are you ok with this mission, Fu? You can do it however you please but it's a long mission plus, all you have to do is shadow them and provide back up if necessary," the young Hyuuga asked as the said ROOT kneeled before him.
"This is easy, Director. I accept," the ROOT said.
"Well, you can switch out with Torune throughout the mission. Send me reports if there was a significant development," Hikari added before the said ROOT shuns.h.i.+nned away. Naruto and Jiraiya were going out of the stall after long dragging goodbye with Iruksensei.
"Well, I'm off! Take care of Sakurchan for me," the blonde said before they high-fived for the last time. Naruto glanced over the Hokage stone faces before he held out a fish at them.
"Watch me!"
"What're you doing? Let's go Naruto!" Jiraiya was getting annoyed but the blonde wisely obeyed that pervert Sannin. As Naruto walked out if the village, Hikari had sensed a familiar chakra signature before he shuns.h.i.+nned there immediately. It was Hinata who was watching them in secret.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your love interest???" Hikari blurted out behind her. She jumped for a bit before her face went profusely read and smokes could be seen going out of her eyes.
"You have exactly five seconds to run," Hinata monotonously said and when he turned back, veins were showing around her eyes. Hikari immediately backed up a bit, startled by the change of personality.
"Oh, h.e.l.l. I'm sorry, Hinata!" Hikari pleaded as she back away from her.
"Run," the girl simply said before a chase broke out in the town that leads to the Hyuuga compound.