2.5
Kakashi hadn’t wanted to take a team of genin to train. He was fully prepared to fail them, even if Naruto was his sensei’s son. The team spelled trouble; a jinchuriki, an revenge obsessed Uchiha, a possible plant by Orochimaru. All of them were trouble in their own way. But Hinata was still a mystery.
Danzo had claimed the girl was a Orochimaru spy when they first found her. All but demanded the girl be given to him. The third had refused. The clans already knew of her rescue. Antagonizing the Hyuga even more wouldn’t do. It was one thing to keep the girl alive. It was another have her disappear into Konoha’s darkness. It would have meant civil war.
Imagine Kakashi surprise when the girl provoked the old traitor, and delivery a secret code via a food gift. He admired the girl’s creativity. Even if her coded message left much to be desired. He had read the girl’s diary and storybook. He was sure the little chef story was some sort of code. Kakashi just couldn’t find the cipher anywhere. None of the patterns he used worked. It was still a mystery.
Kakashi only learned later about the other concerns regarding the girl. The seals in her body. Those behind her eyes, in her heart, around her bones. No one knew what they did. Speculation said Orochimaru might be able to see through the girls eyes, or maybe even take control over her body.
The other can of worms was her befriending Naruto as soon the academy started. That raised more than a few hackles.
Plant or not, her ‘dreams’ led to one of Konoha’s most recent crisis. Shimura fucking Danzo, bloodline thief, traitor, assassin. Even years after the man escaped, a few horrors turned up every now and then. It was Orochimaru all over again. A few good things came from that debacle, however. The Uchiha clan was appeased, their budding plan of rebellion squashed. It helped the most verbal person about it had died just a few years later. Killed by Danzo. Who stole Fugaku’s eyes.
The council decided it was too risky to have the Hokage meeting with the girl. He still gave her control exercises, which it seems the girl had mastered all. Impressive for a children.
Kakashi’s belief was the girl was an unwilling and unknowing plant. The dreams, fabricated memories implanted by Orochimaru to implicate Danzo and this other group Akatsuki. Another surprise when Jiraiya-sama came back with news of the group, years later than Hinata’s warning.
Hinata academy records were strange. She did well in mental tasks. Poor physical results in the beginning with surprising results in later years. There was a note from traitor Mizuki the girl was holding back, hiding her strength. Kakashi could see it now. How she wrangled both brats into going with her plan. How she tried to play their emotions. He had been surprised at their group attack. The girl was strong, too strong for a small girl like she was. The exploding tags he had accounted for, they were in her academy records. The girl always smiled when exploding things.
What he didn’t expect was Hinata asking for spar. And the weight seals. They were not the standard issue seals, the girl had modified them. From the looks of it, they were active all the time, but the bracelet itself wasn’t heavy, it was the seal effect that induced the heaviness. He wasn’t aware Hinata had learned this much. The Third had given her incomplete theory. She shouldn’t have the ability to modify seals. Still, it was hard to believe each of those bracelet induced around a thousand kilograms. How was she moving still moving about?
Kakashi’s followed Hinata, sharingan examining her posture, her stance. She wasn’t a specialist in taijutsu. Her stance was sloppy, full of openings.
Hinata nodded. Kakashi nodded back. An explosion propelled the girl forward. Earth, dust, stone thrown about by her acceleration. Kakashi didn’t move away. He didn’t need to. A small adjustment to his posture and the girl flew past him. She had no control over her movement. Overshot her mark. Crashed on the other side of the clearing. Kakashi had to hold back a nervous chuckle. Thank god Gai wasn’t the girl’s teacher. He had to make sure the two never met.
I crashed into the ground. I couldn’t control my momentum, or movement. I was too excited to go all out that I forgot I never really gone all out. I had no idea what would happen. Case in point, I missed the target. Kakashi hadn’t even needed to dodge my attack. Worse? I might be fast and strong, but I wasn’t durable. My arms and legs hurt where I hit the ground.
I groaned. Even if no sound left my throat. I unstuck myself. Got up. It was going to bruise tomorrow. I turned around. Kakashi-sensei was crouched down, sharingan hidden beneath his forehead protector. Really? I sigh. I did that bad?
“You, my cute genin, need some lessons in taijutsu.”
I blushed. I don’t even like guys, but Kakashi-sensei calling me cute was just too much.
He threw the bracelets to me. I caught them up. “Put them again. We’ll start with those, and ease you off them slowly.”
I nodded. That made sense. I guess fan-girl me forgot to take it easy. I left the crater, legs still hurting a bit. I circulated my chakra to ease the pain. I wore my bracelets and necklace. I popped out my board. Sat down. Now the fan-girl dumbness had passed, I better explain things.
“Aside the basic fuinjutsu I learned from the scrolls the old man gave me, I know only the tree basic academy jutsu. I’m stuck. I don’t know where and which jutsu to learn. I can’t progress with my fuinjutsu. I ran out of chakra control exercises.” It came all tumbling in a single sentence. I might have been a bit too frustrated with my lack of progress.
Kakashi-sensei crouched in front of me. “How is your control?”
I did the basic three jutsu with one hand seals. Did them again with no seals. Then, just to make a point, I used my chakra threads to erase the message on board, write a new message, flip the board so Kakashi-sensei could read it.
Kakashi-sensei nodded. “Very good.”
I sighed. Yeah, damn. I had expected to surprise Kakashi-sensei. But guess my control was just normal. I mean, I knew I was better than any other academy students in my year, but that’s because they didn’t train it as much as I did. I just have years ahead of training on them.
“What type of ninja you want to be?” Kakashi-sensei asked.
I perked up. Since I was showing up, I did my best. I jumped. Made a heroic pose. My threads kept writing. “Yondaime Hokage! I wanna be Konoha’s next Black Flash!”
Kakashi-sensei chuckled. Eye turning into a crescent again. “We better get to work then!” He said, standing up and dusting his trousers. “Let’s start with Shushin no Jutsu.” He flickered two steps back. “Did you know? Yondaime was hailed as the fastest ninja alive.”
Ohmygawd. I can’t. I jumped. I danced. I cheered. So freaking cool!