Kakashi Hatake, jonin ninja, former ANBU.
"Ahhhh," said Kakashi after downing the cup. "That DID help. You know herbcraft then?"
Naruto nodded. "I've had to study a lot of subjects. I'm not really a great expert at herbcraft, but I know the basic medicinal ones. I can make a few salves, poultices, teas, and the like. There's one for chakra exhaustion that's fairly handy in my line of work."
"I... see," said Kakashi as he considered the young boy. The young boy who was his OWN jonin-sensei's child. Who wanted to go off out into the world and make his own way without ever having been a ninja.
"Well, if you've recovered," said Naruto, rolling to his feet in a quick movement. "I'll take a walk around Konoha here, see if anything looks familiar to Hinata."
"I'll come with you. That might deflect some hostility. Hinata is the name of your sword?" asked Kakashi. He thought he'd heard that before.
"Hinata was a spirit I met out in the woods near here, whoever she used to be died here and was unable to pass on," said Naruto, touching the hilt of his sword. "I bound her spirit to this sword to give her a measure of safety. There's things out there which can prey upon spirits that linger in this world, warping them to darker things."
Kakashi hadn't ever heard of any of this, and was wondering how much credit to give such a statement.
That looks familiar, said the girl's voice from the sword.
"The mountain?" asked Naruto.
"Oh, those are the four Hokage, they were leaders and protectors of this village," explained Kakashi.
Don't you think that far one looks a little like Naruto-kun? asked the sword.
Kakashi's visible eye bugged for a moment, then he coughed to cover it. "Uhm. No, not really."
"Nah, if I looked at all like that guy, they wouldn't treat me like garbage around here," replied Naruto.
Kakashi frowned a bit at that reminder, though his mask mostly concealed it. "So where are you going after here?"
"Well, if Hinata remembers any of her past, I may have business to address here," said Naruto. "Then I think we'll go on the journeyman trip."
"Journeyman?" asked Kakashi.
"While I'm technically still an apprentice, they made a move to bump me up to journeyman within my school in order to justify my leaving the temple," explained Naruto. "As a 'journeyman' - I wander around and slay monsters, fight bandits, that sort of thing. Perfecting my craft. When I return to the temple, unless it's to report stuff or get messages, there'll be a big fight where I have to prove I'm ready to graduate to master-level."
"Ah," said Kakashi, figuring that it was something like chunin stage for a ninja. After you'd proven you could handle yourself, there were hidden tests to see if one made jonin or special jonin.
What if I want to stay with you? asked Hinata.
"Eh?" asked Naruto. "Huh. Well, eventually I would have to make a metal sword. I'd have to transfer you to that."
"Well," said Kakashi, remembering something that had happened years ago. "This is one of the most prestigious clans of Konoha."
I... feel bad, said Hinata. I don't want to go closer.
"Ah," said Kakashi, nodding at something as they came to a stop.
"You know something?" asked Naruto.
"I think I know something about the ghost in your seal," said Kakashi, with a nod towards the wooden sword was resting in a loop at Naruto's belt. "I'll have to double check as I only heard a bit about it."
I don't think I died happily, muttered the sword.
"Well," said Kakashi, "that IS the usual way things go."
Naruto sat atop the rooftop in "tailor-fashion" - Hinata's wooden length in front of him. As the first sliver of the sun's disc crested the forest surrounding the village, he moved, the wooden sword coming to his hands automatically as he began his sword-kata.
We have an audience, advised Hinata in a bare whisper.
Just as quietly, Naruto replied. "Let them."
At some point Hinata's wood quivered and a faint glow erupted from the tip, allowing the kata to become a dance which left elaborate trails in the air that slowly faded thereafter.
After a few minutes, the ANBU stepped out of the shadows. "I am not familiar with the style."
Naruto didn't lose the flow of motion or so much as twitch at her appearance. "Shinmei Ryu. 'The Leaf Dances On The Breeze.'"
"I am 'Cat'," said the ANBU.
"Naruto Uzumaki, and this is Hinata," said Naruto, knowing the ANBU knew all this but he might as well be polite as long as politeness were given him.
The ANBU inclined her head. "I would like to spar against you, sometime in the future."
Naruto inclined his head in reply, but didn't stop his motion.
The ANBU vanished a moment later, using a rapid movement technique.
Naruto continued for another two minutes before he broke his silence. "You might as well come out."
There was a slight sound of agreement before the last watcher stepped out of concealment.
(Posted Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:34)
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