The Cloud Over The Leaf

A few weeks have passed since the teams all came back.

*Swish Swish Swish*

Hii was slicing the air as he practiced his swordplay at the training grounds with a frown on his face.

'Hmmm. I guess I could incorporate my tail when I use the water armor into my swordplay. What would I call that though? Tail slash?'

{How about something like Hidden Fang?!}

'Hmmm...'

Hii contemplated on the name for a moment when he suddenly felt a presence.

"You're back. How did the meeting go?"

Hii saw Akumu come out of the shadow of the nearby trees, shaking his stiff body.

[Pretty well, I think. They'll have to prove some bits of information on their own, but you shouldn't have to worry about Sasori for a little while.]

Hii nodded his head slowly and sliced the air once again with his blade.

Akumu watched for a moment before tilting his head.

Hii's body seemed to glisten with sweat as he increased the speed of his slashes.

*Swish Swish Swish*

Hii held his breath as he slashed as many times as he could before he could no longer bear it.

"Huuuu~!"

Hii finally stopped and caught his breath.

[You've gotten a bit faster. You should be quite the scary opponent once you use your armors.]

Hii nodded his head and sheathed his sword.

"I will work on that and my lightning jutsu next as well. They still have more potential in them I haven't tapped into yet."

{Awesome! You can make them even better?!}

Hii nodded his head wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Hmmm?"

[What's wrong?]

"I was sweating?"

Hii was confused as he pulled his shirt.

He could feel the wet sensation on his fingers from his soaked shirt. This, however, made Hii even more confused.

"Why am I sweating so much from a light workout?"

[Wait a minute...]

Akumu jumped up from the ground and sniffed around Hii for a moment.

His expression hardened as he realized what was going on!

[Fuyuki! Get out of him now and follow me!]

{What?!}

[Do it now!]

"Urgh!"

Hii grimaced as Fuyuki quickly flew out of his stomach and landed in front of him.

Hii quickly recovered and noticed Fuyuki's golden markings on her fur were glowing brightly, changing from gold to orange and then red!

[Follow me and keep low!]

{R-Right!}

"Wait! I'm coming too!"

The two quickly darted away while Hii also followed behind!

*Shuu Shuu Shuu*

The three traveled in a strange pattern led by Akumu as they headed towards the Forest of Death.

Hii's hair spiked with lightning as he activated his armor to keep up with them!

'They can move so fast! Just more things to improve on in training. Should I tweak my armor more?'

Hii thought about the possibilities a bit as he kept up with them. After some time, they finally reached the Forest of Death.

The three jumped over the gate and made their way into the forest.

{Takashi...I feel really strange...}

[Hold it in! Don't unleash it right now! We're almost there!]

Hii followed Fuyuki and Akumu as the two followed up a familiar path.

They soon came to the area of the forest devoid of life that was slowly coming back to normal.

'This is where Akumu matured!'

Akumu brought Fuyuki up to the hill where the forest was still completely void of life and finally stopped.

[Okay! I'm gonna walk you through this. You feel the energy inside you start to bubble over, right? All you have to do is let it out! Don't fight it anymore and just let it wash over you.]

{O-Okay. Ugh!? Kuh!!}

Fuyuki started to buckle under the stress as she laid on the ground.

The lifeless dirt started to slowly turn from being pitch black to brown and fertile around her.

Akumu quickly darted towards Hii and bit him by the collar!

"Akumu?!"

[We have to get out of here! We have no idea what's going to happen when she matures!]

Akumu quickly dragged Hii back towards the edge of the dead forest and started to wait around the edge.

The two watched the hill from a distance and waited for something to happen.

"...Do you think it will be as dangerous as yours was?"

[I hope not. You've seen what happened here.]

*Awwooooooo*

A loud howl resounded through the forest as the hill began to glow with light!

*Fwooosh*

White flames suddenly spread across the hill at rapid speed, engulfing the nearby area in light and heat!

The black soil on the ground quickly turned brown, then rapidly filled with grass!

The trees covered in flames appeared to be growing bigger as the fire continued to burn.

Hii and Akumu continued to move back as the fire slowly came towards them.

"Is the forest growing while it's on fire?!"

[.....That's a bizarre power for sure.]

Hii tried to wrap his head around the concept when he noticed a snake in the trees close by was caught in the flames!

"Shaaa!"

The snake thrashed its body chaotically as the flames covered its whole body! It tried to get away, but fell from the trees with a thud and no longer moved.

Hii and Akumu both wordlessly backed further away from the flames as they continued to burn for a time.

After a while, the flames eventually lost their original strength and began to slowly fade away, leaving fresh grass and foliage where they burned.

[......]

Akumu curiously walked over to a nearby tree and tried to bite into it. He found it didn't immediately wither when he tried to absorb it!

Hii watched him test out the trees and was surprised to see the effects of the flame.

"They're full of life..."

Akumu let go of the trunk of the tree and shifted his gaze to the top of the hill.

[I think I'm starting to understand it. Bring that snake with us. It should be fine to touch now.]

Hii nodded his head and carefully stored the snake into a scroll as the two headed back up the hill.

The forest looked completely different as the trees here were now towering over the rest of the forest around them and the grass was flowing with the wind like a green ocean.

In the middle of it all, the two finally saw Fuyuki beginning to stand up.

"Fuyu-"

Hii started to call out to her when she suddenly flashed with white light!

{Hey! Are you guys okay?!}

"Woah!"

Hii jumped back from Fuyuki who appeared directly in front of him!

"H-How did you do that?!"

{What are you talking about?! Did those flames get to you?!}

Fuyuki didn't notice their shock as she scanned the two for burns. After a quick check, she breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down.

{That was pretty scary! I couldn't control myself at all! My power just went everywhere!}

[You'll get used to the power soon enough. Now we just need to study your new abilities. It should be helpful for the battles to come. You can finally help out more.]

Fuyuki's gaze grew determined as she nodded her head.

{Right! I don't want to be on the sidelines anymore! I can help out now too!}

Hii scratched his head as he looked at the new and lively forest surrounding them.

"First things first, we should probably figure out what you can do exactly. Only then can we move on to you fighting with us."

[Agreed.]

{Okay!}

****************

"Huh? This is rather odd..."

Hii looked over the snake with a confused expression.

He saw the snake get burned by the flames, but no burn marks were seen on its scales at all. In fact, it actually looked better than when he first saw it!

He pulled out a kunai and tried to cut into it. The problem was as soon as he cut it, black sludge came spilling out of it!

"Ugh!"

The smell was pretty bad as Hii backed away from the snake.

Akumu and Fuyuki whined as they backed up far away from the snake.

{Ahhh! The smell won't leave!}

[Haaa. The downsides of being canines...]

Hii quickly weaved handsigns and prepared a jutsu.

"Water Style: Waterball Jutsu!"

A ball of water quickly formed on Hii's hand and quickly wrapped the ball around the snake!

He began to rotate the ball and started to wash the snake thoroughly.

Once he washed the inside of all the gunk, he separated it into a smaller ball and chucked it as far as he could into the forest!

'Hope that doesn't land on someone...'

Hii sighed in relief and started to inspect the now clean snake.

As he finished his incision and spread open the snake, he slowly grew shocked at what he saw.

Akumu and Fuyuki also looked inside.

{What the?! Why does it look so weird?!}

[......]

The meat and organs in the snake were different colors! Parts of it looked normal while other parts looked cleansed and pure!

The three looked at the snake in silence for a moment, then Hii and Akumu slowly turned to look at Fuyuki.

{W-What?!}

[...Did your fire clean it to death?]

{.....Maybe?}

"Doesn't this look like....refinement?"

Hii looked down at the snake and nodded his head.

"Yeah. It's like when Grandpa chips the bad parts of metal away with a hammer. It's just...with fire."

[Hmmm. It looks like you might be on to something.]

Akumu turned to Fuyuki.

[We need to experiment more. Can you make more of those flames?]

Fuyuki's face grew serious as she looked at Hii.

{Who are we going to use them on?}

"Me?"

Fuyuki shook her head and backed up.

{No! I'm not hurting you guys again!}

"Eh?"

[You know we have to do this to figure out what those flames do.]

{We can find another way to figure that out!}

[It should be fine for him. He can take it.]

{No!}

*Boom*

Fuyuki's paw slapped the ground in protest, creating a web of cracks on the ground! Her figure became hard to see as heat started to fume off of her body!

"Wait! Calm down, Fuyuki! I won't be the one we use it on, okay?!"

Hii quickly tried to calm Fuyuki down as ue came between the two!

"There are some animals we can try it out on first nearby. Let's find a few and continue the experiments with them, okay?"

{.....Haaaa.}

Fuyuki's tense fur loosened as she calmed down. Her temperature also started to quickly die down as she looked at Hii.

{I can handle animals, but we have to figure out what my power can really do before we try it on people. Otherwise, I just won't use it!}

Hii nodded his head and put his hand over his chest.

"Don't worry! I promise we'll figure it out before I try to use it."

{...Good.}

[Haaa. You're always so stubborn at times.]

Fuyuki looked over at Akumu with a mean glare while Hii just backed away from the two. 

He was gonna stay out of it!

The three began to scour the forest and found random animals to use Fuyuki's fire on.

First was a giant leech that tried to attach itself to Hii. It shriveled up quickly as the white flame surrounded it.

Hii grabbed the body and put it in the scroll together with the snake.

Fuyuki refused to experiment on a nearby bunny, but immediately burned a giant spider they came across.

Hii and Akumu said nothing about the disparity as they continued to find more "volunteers".

Once the scroll had around 10 creatures, they headed out of the forest and back to the training fields.

Hii slowly took out each animal and cut into it to find out if their insides looked the same as the snake did.

Akumu watched him as he examined the bodies. He suddenly looked up from them and noticed a rustling bush nearby.

[......]

Hii carefully cut into the bodies of the beasts and was surprised. Just like the snake, the other animals all had gunk coming out of them. Hii made several water balls and chucked them out into the forest.

After washing his hands, he came back to the bodies and noticed they were actually different from the snake. Some had a higher percentage of their insides cleaner than the others while some looked like the process didn't even start before they perished.

'This sure is a strange power...'

*Rustle Rustle*

*Squeak!!*

"Hmm?!"

Hii looked up and noticed Akumu was gone.

{He went into that bush just now.}

Hii looked over and found the shaking bush. The bush shook violently as the sounds of a scuffle could be heard.

Akumu came out of the bush with a small rodent tail in his mouth and a smile on his face.

The rodent tried to get away, but Akumu nonchalantly chucked it over to Hii and Fuyuki.

Hii watched it plop on the ground and look up at him in fear.

It was light brown with black eyes, looking at Hii with a pitiful gaze. The two stared at each other for a moment until the mouse tried to get away. It couldn't get far, however, as Akumu blocked him.

[We can use this one for a more controlled experiment.]

Akumu crept up behind it and trapped its tail under his paw. 

"Chi! Chi!"

The mouse struggled, but couldn't get away.

"Ugh, are you sure we can do it with this one? I thought we would want something aggressive like the others."

[We have to take what we can get.]

Akumu looked over to where Fuyuki was and sighed.

[Please tell me you aren't still afraid of mice.]

Hii was confused until he turned around and saw Fuyuki.

She was suddenly all the way on the other side of the training field!

He didn't even notice her disappear!

{I-I'm not s-scared! I was just surprised!}

[...Uh-huh. Come closer then.]

Her fur began to rise up as she started shaking.

{N-No need! I can do it from here!}

Akumu tilted his head as he looked at her.

[What if you hit Hii? You are pretty far away and you can't control your power just yet.]

{.....}

Fuyuki didn't respond and slowly made her way towards the mouse.

"Huh. I didn't know she was scared of mice."

[That's because I usually handled them before she saw them. She's the worst with rodents.]

Akumu shook his head as he watched Fuyuki stalk cautiously towards the mouse. 

The closer she got to it, the slower she moved.

She eventually got closer to the mouse, but as soon as she did...

"Chi!!"

{Hyaa!!}

*Fwoosh*

Hii only saw a white blur disappear into the nearby bushes at high speed.

"......"

[........]

"Chi?"

Hii and Akumu looked at each other and sighed.

[Fuyuki. You need to come out of there.]

{.....}

The two waited patiently for Fuyuki to finally peek her head out from the bush and slowly make her way to them again.

[Just send us a small flame. That way you don't have to get too close.]

{F-Fine! It shouldn't be too hard. I'll send a slow flame then!}

Fuyuki nodded her head rapidly and began to form her flame.

*Fwoosh*

A small ball of white flame appeared in front of her mouth and slowly came towards the three.

"Chi! Chi!"

The mouse tried to get away from the slowly encroaching flame, but Akumu mercilessly flung it towards the flame!

'This feels....wrong.'

Hii made a difficult face as the mouse was engulfed in the flames.

"Chi! Chi!"

The mouse fell down, ran around, and struggled, but the flames wouldn't go out no matter what it did.

It quickly began to tire out, but still burned like the rest.

The three all watched the mouse slowly burn, waiting to see if anything strange would happen.

*Pssssshh*

The sound of something sizzling could be heard from the mouse as black steam began to flow out from the mouse. This continued for a short while before the sound eventually stopped altogether.

'That's a different reaction.'

After a minute passed, the flames began to slowly disappear, revealing the small brown mouse's body. It looked just like the other, except they could see it was still breathing.

[Hmm?!]

Akumu quickly rose to his feet and stared at the mouse in shock!

"What's wrong?"

Hii noticed his reaction and asked him, but he only stared at the mouse with a strange expression.

"Hii. I need you to slowly approach the mouse and get ready to catch it. I'll provoke him towards you."

"Uh?! Okay..."

Hii decided to get behind the mouse slowly as Akumu got into position.

"Uh oh!"

Hii grew surprised when he saw the mouse waking back up!

"Chi...?"

The mouse groggily woke up and looked around.

It noticed a shadow towering over it and looked up, finding only Akumu's pearly white fangs in front of it!

"Chiiii!!!!"

The mouse dashed away from Akumu, heading straight towards Hii!

"I got it!"

Hii grabbed towards the mouse when something bizarre happened!

"Chi!!'

The mouse seemed to double its speed and zipped right through Hii's fingers!

"Huh?!"

[Don't lose it! It's getting away!]

Hii turned his head and barely saw the mouse zipping away!

*Shuu Shuu Shuu*

Hii chased after the mouse at high speed!

"Chi! Squeak!"

The mouse tried to zip away as best as it could, moving in an erratic fashion to get away from Hii!

"How is it so fast?!"

[That's what we need to find out! Keep up with it!]

Fuyuki watched with amusement from her bush as Hii chased after the mouse.

{Ugh... I don't like rodents...}

Fuyuki laid down on the ground and decided she would just stay out of the chase.

{They should be fine anyway.}

**************

"Haaa! Haaa!"

*Bang Bang"

At a nearby training field, Hinata was striking a training log with pinpoint precision.

"Phew~."

Hinata grabbed a nearby towel and wiped off the sweat from her brow.

"I feel like I made some progress today."

A small smile appeared on her face as she looked up at the passing clouds.

'I hope I'll do well on my next mission.'

It was a good day to train.

"Chi! Chi!!"

"Huh?"

Hinata looked over to a nearby bush to find a brown blur flying out of it at high speed.

"Get back here!"

This was followed by a bigger white blur as Hii chased after the mouse.

"Hii-kun?!"

Hinata was shocked as she watched Hii try to grab the mouse, but it slipped just out of his reach everytime.

'This is ridiculous!'

Hii finally decided to make a leaping grab at the mouse, but it jumped onto his head and flew through the air towards Hinata!

Hii turned around to continue chasing the mouse, but his face paled as he saw where it was going.

"Hinata-chan!"

Hii yelled out hoarsely as Hinata watched the mouse come towards her in slow motion.

The mouse looked at Hinata, unaware of the situation it was running into.

Hinata's face grew stern.

Veins appeared around her eyes as her Byakugan focused on the mouse.

Her index finger pointed straight at the mouse in a split second!

"Don't kill it!"

*Tak*

"Chi?!"

Hinata struck a small point on the mouse and made it freeze in its tracks!

Hii dived and caught the mouse in his hands and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was still alive.

"Whew! Thanks, Hinata. I need this little guy for research."

Hinata slowly deactivated her Byakugan and softly smiled.

"I'm glad I could help. I thought you were trying to kill it. Good thing I held back."

"Hahaha......"

Hii couldn't help sweating as he remembered the first time he saw that bizarre activity of the Hyuga clan.

***********

Hii had gone over to the Hyuga estate to challenge Neji a few years ago, but he had to wait until he was done with his training to challenge him.

Hii decided that he would visit Haruka-san since he had free time and found Hinata there as well. While he waited for Neji to finish, he noticed Hinata staring at one of the walls with an intense stare.

He thought she was thinking of something important until he noticed Haruka also looking at the wall with an intense gaze.

Hii wanted to ask what was going on when it happened!

"Hmph!"

*Thump*

Hinata poked against the part of the wall she was staring at with force and stopped moving.

Haruka nodded her head slightly as she pulled out a scroll under her pillow.

Hii couldn't help looking over to see what was going on and was shocked!

Haruka had a list of pest kills under her pillow?!

There was even a ranking to the list and Hinata was pretty high on it?!

Haruka clapped her hands after she marked down the score, making two servants appear.

"Wow! It looks like Hinata-sama got another mouse today."

"Ah! Not bad! She's really doing her best! This means she's tied to Hanabi-sama now!"

"This season seems to be full of pests. I wonder who will win this year?"

"Neji was a strong champion last year! He'll probably claim it once again."

"I'm sure Hinata-sama won't make it that easy."

Hii heard two servants discussing about it as they went to clean up the mouse left in the wall.

"Good job, Hinata. You're catching up to Neji pretty quickly."

"I won't lose!"

Hinata pumped herself up as her mother smiled tenderly at her effort while Hii couldn't believe what he saw.

************

"Uhm, Hii-kun? What are you doing with that mouse anyway? You said it was for research?"

The two came over to a Dango shop after catching the mouse. Hii bought Hinata a few Dangos as thanks for her help and also for not killing the mouse.

He wouldn't know what to do if it died.

Hii nodded his head as he bit into his own stick of Dango and chewed it slowly.

"Mmm! That's right. I need him for an experiment with a technique. He's my luckiest test subject yet."

Hii tasted the sweetness and shook his head. He didn't mind sweets, but more than one set of these was a bit much for him.

He turned to look at Hinata and noticed she was already on her third stick of Dango while he still struggled on his first stick.

'I knew I should've just bought one...'

Hii wryly smiled and drank a sip of tea. He looked over at his plate and saw the other stick.

'Now what to do with this?'

"Chi!"

He looked over to his side and saw the brown mouse staring at him with angry gaze.

"Hehe. You sure are lucky. If I didn't say anything, you would've been dead."

"Chi!"

Hii chuckled as he tapped on the steel cage. He had managed to find one for the mouse at a nearby store before it could wake up. It would have to do for now.

He expected the mouse to be more aggressive when it woke up, but it seemed to have calmed down considerably from before.

"Hmm?"

Hii noticed the mouse gazing at his Dango with a feverish gaze and chuckled.

"You want it?"

Hii pulled off one of the dango balls with his fingers and placed it in the cage through a gap in the top.

"Chi~!"

The mouse quickly attacked the ball of Dango with vigor as Hii watched with a smile.

"Hehehe. You like these, huh? Enjoy the rest of it then."

Hii decided to give the mouse the rest of the mochi, which made it fly over the moon with happiness.

Hinata watched the two interact quietly as she finished her last Dango.

She was curious about the mouse and decided to peek at it with her Byakugan one more time.

"Eh?"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"This mouse..."

Hii noticed Hinata continued to stare at the mouse with her face gradually growing more and more shocked.

"It's chakra levels are high for a mouse! It's still increasing even now!"

Hinata couldn't believe it!

Hii looked at the mouse stuffing its cheeks with as much Dango as possible and fell deep into thought.

'It looks like Fuyuki's power really can refine the body. Even Hinata is surprised by the power the mouse has now.'

[I think all the impurities in the mouse was purified.]

'I wonder what the impurities are exactly?'

Hii stared at the mouse and noticed it had two large dango balls in its cheeks.

'I thought this was a mouse. Seems more like a squirrel or hamster now to me.'

[Maybe this is also a part of her power. It could be drawing out abilities from its bloodline. Less impurities can mean it can possibly do things normal mice can't do.]

Hii couldn't understand what her power was completely, but a basic idea had formed.

There was only one big problem now.

'Why did this mouse survive while the other animals didn't?'

Hii poked the little mouse in its cheek and pondered why it was the only one to live through the flames.

[ I think it was the will to live that pushed it to survive. None of the other animals had its tenacity to get away.]

Hii thought about it and nodded his head.

This mouse was definitely the most energetic of the captures they had made before. 

*Click*

Hii slowly unlocked the cage and left the door open.

'This place should be safe. I wonder if it's any smarter than what it was before.'

Hii planned to release it back into the city once the experiment was done, but he soon realized how smart the mouse could be.

The mouse looked at the open door with a complex look for a moment and continued to eat the dango in the cage.

Hii and Hinata both looked at each other, then back at the mouse. They thought it would dash out of the cage at the first notice of freedom. Neither of them expected it to be so brave.

Once the mouse had finished, it slowly crawled out of the cage. It didn't dart away, but merely hopped onto Hii's lap and looked at him.

The two stared at each other for a moment until Hii asked a strange question.

"You....want more?"

To their surprise, the mouse nodded its head and moved next to the cage for Hii to get up!

"Haha! This is really strange!"

Hii laughed and shook his head, but he still got up and went to the counter for four more sticks of Dango.

He came back and gave the mouse two and Hinata the other two.

The mouse was ecstatic while Hinata was grateful, but confused as to why Hii treated her again.

Hii shook his head and pointed at the mouse.

"I don't think I would've caught this mouse so easily without your help now. I think I was really lucky running into you, so I should thank you accordingly."

If this mouse was getting smarter as time went on, who knows how hard it would've been to catch him.

"I'm glad I could help."

Hinata smiled meekly and picked up one of her dango sticks.

"It's a bit sad though. I could've added it to my score if you weren't chasing after it."

""!!!""

Hii and the mouse both shivered at Hinata's whispers.

"I-I thought you just did that when you were smaller."

Hinata shook her head lightly and smiled.

"Old habits are hard to break."

The mouse quickly jumped close to Hii and hid behind him.

It could tell this meek looking girl had a scary side!

***************

"No!"

"Mom!"

"No~!"

Hii had a wry smile on his face as he looked up at the ceiling.

Kaya was plastered against the ceiling, as far away from Mochi as she could be.

Mochi ended up being what Hii called the mouse.

He decided he might as well bring it home with him, but he didn't expect the women in his family to be so scared of Mochi.

Kaya was on the ceiling, Riku had retreated to her room, and Moya was using a skillet to block her view of Mochi from the furthest wall away possible.

Henda and Di just sat on the couch nearby with a bit of amusement on their faces.

The one who really liked Mochi was surprisingly Yozora.

"Hii-nii! Can I hold it?!"

Yozora had a glimmer in his eyes that Hii couldn't refuse!

He let Yozora hold Mochi's cage and watched as Yozora and Mochi stared at each other.

Something seemed to click with the two as Yozora opened Mochi's cage after staring at it for nearly 30 seconds.

"Ahh!!"

"Why did you open it?!"

Kaya and Moya both screamed out as Mochi came out of the cage and quickly climbed up Yozora towards his shoulder.

"Chi!"

Mochi nuzzled close to Yozora's face and waved at Hii.

Hii laughed as he waved back at Mochi with a smile.

All was forgiven after about 5 Dango sticks.

[I'm surprised it's so friendly with you now.]

Akumu slowly climbed out of Hii's shadow and laid down on the ground.

"Kii!!!!"

Mochi immediately hissed at Akumu as soon as he saw him!

Akumu only turned to glance at it and proceeded to ignore it afterwards.

{I guess it really doesn't like us that much, huh?}

Fuyuki slowly revealed herself as well as she laid next to Akumu.

[Oh! You can turn invisible?]

{Not really. I think it's like.... um? I actually don't know how to explain it?}

Fuyuki tilted her head as she tried to explain it.

{It's like...whoosh! I just appear where I'm needed!}

[......]

Akumu decided to leave it alone. She wasn't the best at explaining things.

Mochi's fur stood on end as he looked at the two wolves.

Yozora took the moment to pat Mochi's head, calming him down a bit.

"It's okay. Those two won't hurt you."

Yozora's voice was calm and sure, letting Mochi relax a bit.

He wouldn't let his guard down yet. He had been through a lot today.

"So, who is going to take care of it?"

Di looked over his two grandsons and asked the question.

"I will!"

"No way! I don't want that in our room!"

Yozora wanted to claim responsibility, but Moya wouldn't have it!

"He can stay in my room then. You just have to pick him up and put him back. Deal?"

"Deal!"

"Hii-Nii!!!"

Yozora quickly agreed to Hii's condition, leaving Moya distraught.

"Mom!"

Kaya looked over at Moya, then at Yozora. She noticed the deep emotion in her son's eyes and faltered.

'Ugh! He really wants to keep it?!'

The two stared at each other for a moment until Kaya sighed.

"As long as you don't surprise me with it, I won't kill it! Just promise me you'll take care of everything dealing with it and keep it away from us!"

"I will!"

Yozora's determined face made Kaya reluctantly yield, much to Moya's shock!

"No way! There's a rodent in the house now?!"

Kaya came down and patted Moya's head. There was nothing she could do.

Hii watched Yozora talk and play with Mochi and laughed.

"I wonder how they would've reacted if the spider was the one we brought back?"

{The house would probably be gone by now.}

[Mmhmm.]

At least the mouse wasn't the worst option.

****************

*Clang Clang Clang Bam*

"Ungh!"

*Thud*

Maka hit the ground rolling as she tried to recover! 

*Swish Swish*

"Haa!"

*Clang Clang*

*Shuu*

"!!!"

*Clang*

Maka blocked Shisui's blade with her kunai as the two stared at each other.

"Good, but don't look too long! It's an opening with an Uchiha!"

*Shiiing*

"Crap!"

Maka quickly averted her eyes from his and tried to push him off to get some distance!

*Swish Swish*

Itachi threw several shurikens at Maka while she tried to push Shisui away!

"Tch!"

*Bam*

"Oooph!"

Maka kicked Shisui in the stomach and pushed off of him!

*Tak Tak Tak*

The shurikens all missed their target as Maka tried to catch her breath and keep the two in her sights.

"Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!"

Maka watched the two leisurely approach her and frowned.

'I didn't think Nii-san was holding back so much! Just him alone is a problem and I still have to deal with Itachi somehow!'

Her brow furrowed deeply as she thought as fast as she could.

'I can only go all out then!'

Maka quickly weaved handsigns and took in a deep breath!

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

*Fwoosh*

Maka spewed a giant ball of flame towards the two!

"You take care of it, Itachi! I'll get her!"

Itachi silently used the same technique and also shot out a fireball!

*Boom*

The two balls of flame exploded together as fire covered the area rapidly before disappearing.

*Clang Clang Clang*

Itachi turned to see Shisui flickering around Maka with four afterimages!

"Haaa!"

"Not bad! Keep it up!"

Itachi stood back as he watched the two clash with their weapons over and over.

He knew he was only here to apply additional pressure to Maka.

Shisui was being overbearing to force Maka's potential out!

'I should do this with Sasuke as well.'

*Clang Bam Thud*

Itachi came out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of somebody hitting the ground.

"Urgh!"

Shisui put his tanto back into his sheathe and stood above her.

He stretched his hand out and helped his sister up from the ground as he started to guide her.

"Maka. How come you haven't used your Sharingan during training yet?"

Maka got up and didn't say anything. She just looked at Shisui and shook her head.

Shisui frowned a bit before sighing.

"Maka. I'm gonna give you some advice. Hear me out."

Shisui looked at Maka and scanned her for a moment.

He could see the cuts and bruises on her skin from the training.

The dirt that collected in her curly hair.

The determination that gleamed in her eyes.

The tight grip on her kunai.

He could see it all, which was why he had to say something to her.

"It's okay to be stubborn, but don't be foolish."

Maka was surprised by this lesson and looked at her brother.

"What do you mean, Nii-san?"

"Haha! I'm your brother! I know a bit about how you think."

Shisui came forward and patted Maka's head.

"Even though the Sharingan is something from the Uchiha clan, it doesn't mean your eyes are the clan's. You should use them for yourself since they're yours."

Maka looked up to Shisui with a surprised look on her face.

Shisui smiled and moved over to Itachi.

"Besides, just because some brats have the Sharingan doesn't mean that they will become elites like Itachi and I. Right?"

Shisui nudged Itachi with his elbow. Itachi nodded his head with a smirk and looked at Maka.

"How many of the kids who bullied you before would have the guts to fight both of us right now?"

"....."

Maka lowered her head and thought about it. She didn't have to think long to come to a conclusion 

"None of them would."

Itachi nodded his head.

"That's right. This shows the difference between a regular Uchiha and one with actual talent. You haven't even used your eyes against us yet. Do you think people that can't do that deserves your attention?"

A smile slowly curled up on her face as she looked at her brother and cousin.

"No! They don't deserve my attention!"

*Shiiing*

Maka's Sharingan activated on its own as she gripped her kunai and got into her stance.

"Let's go again!"

Itachi and Shisui looked at each other and nodded.

"Hehe! Itachi may have stolen my spotlight for advice, but I'm taking the lead on her training!"

"Hmph. Do what you want."

Their Sharingans also activated as Shisui grabbed his short Tanto blade once more!

"Here I come!"

"Bring it, Nii-san!"

*Shuu Clang Clang Clang*

Shisui and Maka both started to clash as Itachi watched for any opening Maka needed to pay attention to.

"....."

Itachi looked behind him for a brief moment, then looked back at the fight.

Fugaku watched the three battle from a distance with a stoic expression. 

Itachi suddenly appeared beside him and stood in silence. The two watched from afar as the sounds of blades clashing rang in the air.

"How long has she had her Sharingan?"

Fugaku asked Itachi while he still kept his focus on Maka and Shisui's fight.

"It seems to be for quite some time now. Her activation of it seems pretty smooth."

"...."

Fugaku turned away from the fight and began to walk home.

"Help her keep it a secret until she wants to let the family know."

 Itachi watched his father's back and bowed slightly.

"How is Sasuke's training going?"

Fugaku stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky.

"He's getting progressively better. He still makes mistakes, but he's definitely improving."

Fugaku looked back down and smiled.

"He's not the same as you, but..."

Fugaku turned his head and glance at Itachi.

"He's also my son. Just like you."

Fugaku turned back and continued walking back home.

Itachi slowly turned his head away from his father and looked back at the fight.

A small smile appeared on his face as he raised his hands into a seal.

*Poof*

The clone disappeared into smoke as the real Itachi smiled while watching the two sibling continue to spar.

************

Shizuka frowned as she sat on the couch.

"I just don't get it."

In front of her was a scroll Minato gave her and told her to use to expand her sense of space. The seal in the middle of the scroll helped her get used to the feeling as she probed and maneuvered her sense. It was rather easy at first for her to use, but as the distance grew larger and wider, her control grew unsteady and weaker.

'How does Dad do it? I can barely sense outside of the house, but he can teleport from the Hokage office. There must be something I'm missing. I just don't know what it is. '

Shizuka looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

""Haaaaa~...""

Shizuka sighed in frustration, but quickly realized someone was nearby.

"Oh! Hey, little bro!"

"Hey, Nee-san."

Naruto walked over to the couch and sat down next to Shizuka, looking down.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment, but soon his face morphed into one of anger as he remembered what happened.

"Gaaah!! Kurama is way too much!!"

"Eh?!"

Shizuka was confused as Naruto continued to rant!

"He wants me to eat curry more than ramen!!"

"...Ehh?"

"The nerve of that guy! He kept telling me how curry has nutrients I don't get from ramen! That guy doesn't even eat!"

"Well, curry does have potatoes and carrots in it. It's pretty customizable when you think about it."

Naruto turned to Shizuka with an intense glare.

"You don't get it! Curry can't compare to ramen!"

Shizuka was surprised by Naruto's aggressive behavior, but she wasn't too surprised. Naruto had been eating ramen for years now. He would definitely be defensive of his favorite food.

"Ramen is so much-"

Naruto suddenly grew silent as his face became stern.

Shizuka was shocked again as Naruto had never shown a face like that.

"Wait! Nee-san can't hear you!"

Naruto quickly made a seal and unleashed his technique!

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

*Poof*

A clone of Naruto appeared and folded his arms at the original.

The Naruto sitting next to Shizuka suddenly had an oppresive presence! His eyes turned red and more pronounced "whiskers" appeared on his face!

<Hmph! You're wrong. Curry is obviously superior to ramen!>

"Gah! Who could believe that?! Also, introduce yourself, you grumpy fox!"

Shizuka couldn't wrap her head around what was going on and just looked between the two with a rising smile on her face.

<Hmph! I'm the big fox everyone is scared of! Happy?!>

"What kind of introduction is that?! Do it properly!"

<As if you can do it properly either!>

"At least I give my name dattebayo!"

<Tch!>

Shizuka was enjoying the show when the real Naruto looked over at her.

<My name is Kurama. Don't use it too often.>

"How is that suppose to work?! What's the point of giving her your name then?!"

<Shut up! You're annoying me!>

"You think I'm not annoyed with you spouting nonsense?!"

<What nonsense! Curry is the best! Sweet, spicy, or mild! All of the flavors have many different toppings to go with it! It's perfect!>

Shadow clone Naruto shook his head with a sneer on his face.

"You're wrong! Ramen may not have that many toppings, but it makes up for it with the broth! Curry can never have the same impact!"

<I've lived with you for 13 years now and I've never even seen you look in the direction of a curry shop! How can you know what impact curry could have?!>

"How could I when Ichiraku exists?!"

<If you had a better palate, you would try different things! There could be a curry version of Ichiraku and you wouldn't even know it!>

"Where did you even try curry at anyway?! Do they sell them Biju sized somewhere?!"

<You're not my first host, idiot!>

"What was that?!"

"Bwahahahahaha!!!"

The two turned to find Shizuka laughing hysterically!

"Aha! Aha! My stomach! Hehehehe!!"

She held her stomach and continued to laugh.

<Naruto, why is your sister laughing?>

Naruto shrugged as the two watched Shizuka slowly calm down from her laughter. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she tried to wipe them away.

"Haaa~! I needed that. Thanks, Naruto and Kurama, for the laugh."

The two looked at each other for a moment and looked back at Shizuka.

"<But which one is better?!>"

"Pfft!"

Shizuka couldn't hold it in and started laughing once more!

"We're serious! You gotta break the tie for us!"

<Your opinion can help me educate this brat on things other than ramen and pranks!>

"Hey! I know more than those two things!"

<I doubt that!>

"Sorry, you guys."

"<Huh?!>"

The two looked at her with confused expressions.

Shizuka gave them both a peace sign and a smile.

"I'm in the omelet rice faction."

"Ah!"

<Tch!>

The two gave up on asking her which was better and started to think.

"Wait! We can ask Dad! He shouldn't have a favorite!"

<Tsk! As much as I don't like seeing him, you may have a point.>

"Let's go settle this!"

<Fine! Don't cry when you find out your tastes are trash!>

The two ran out of the house towards the Hokage office as Shizuka saw them off.

"Hehehehehe! Hooo~! I haven't laughed like that in so long! I would've folded over and laughed on the floor if they continued arguing."

Shizuka continued to chuckle for a moment, then suddenly stopped still.

"Wait, folding?"

Her eyes started to brighten as she thought of a possibility!

"Can I do it that way?!"

Shizuka sat back down on the couch and began to activate the scroll and started to sense the space around her.

"It should be like this... I think?"

Shizuka carefully centered her sensing range and tried to shrink the distance. 

After fiddling with it for a few minutes, she started to sense the distance she could feel had increased!

"Alright! I did it!"

Shizuka had a happy smile on her face as she wiped the sweat away from her brow. Her hair was starting to stick to her face from her exertion.

'Once more should be the limit. Let's see how far I can reach with my chakra.'

Shizuka decided to send her sense of space in one straight line outside of the village. 

She folded her sense and reached out as far as she could in one bound!

Although it was in a straight line, she could reach a few miles out already! 

It was even still increasing!

'I'm almost at my limit!'

She reached out as far a she could strain and finally couldn't push it any further. She took a deep breath and sighed. 

She felt she almost reached into another country with this method!

'Still, I can only get a sense now. Dad can do this easily, teleport, and react to attacks at the same time! I've got a lot of training to do...'

Shizuka gave a wry smile as she thought about it, then shook her head of such thoughts.

'What am I thinking? Most people couldn't even sense space in the same room in a few weeks of training and I'm mad that I can't feel a country? Stop trying to be so awesome, Shizuka! Get a grip on your ego.'

Shizuka laughed a little at herself. She was happy, so she could give herself a little slack.

She started to retract her sense when she suddenly felt a violent shiver crawl down her spine!

'Huh?!'

"Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!"

She clutched her chest as she tried to catch her breath, but her heart started to beat at a faster pace!

"W-What is this?"

She tried to shake away the feeling when she suddenly sensed it.

A pair of gleaming red eyes were looking at her from an absurd distance away!

They came from an area near her limit of sensing space!

She could feel the eyes watching her curiously as she tried to retract her sense back as fast as she could!

'Hurry! Hurry!'

She had never panicked this much before! Not since when she first met that bastard that took her family!

Upon remembering that, she stopped.

'No! No more running!'

Shizuka clenched her teeth as her hands balled up into fists!

'I'm not scared of you!'

Courage from somewhere unknown to her welled up as she stopped her retreat and tried to sense the direction the eyes were coming from!

Though the sensation made her skin crawl, She located the direction of the source and tried to memorize any information she could to research later!

The eyes seemed to be surprised, but didn't let up the sinister aura that beared down on Shizuka!

"Ugh!"

Her nails pierced into her palm, bringing a clearing burst of pain to her mind! 

She was reaching her limit!

'That's enough!'

She quickly retracted her sense once again, rapidly shrinking it back to the Leaf!

She could still feel the eyes watch her as she went, but their presence began to diminish the closer she got to the Leaf.

The presence disappeared all together once her sense was back in the barrier of the Leaf village!

"Haaauuugh!!"

Shizuka exhaled loudly as she sank into the couch. She was covered in a cold sweat as she tried to recover. 

"What....was that?!"

Shizuka looked at her arms and found goosebumps all over.

She tried to close her eyes and relax, but she felt as if those eyes could still see her.

'I....used up all my chakra.'

Shizuka sat silently on the couch for a few minutes as she tried to recover from her exhaustion.

"....A quick shower should help me calm down. I should ask Dad about that too..."

Shizuka thought about the bizarre encounter once more before taking a deep breath and sighing.

"Nothing gets done worrying about it. I probably won't see it again."

Shizuka slowly stood up and checked her hands. Blood trickled from small cuts on her palm as she headed to the bath.

"At least I beat my old record! Yeah!"

Shizuka weakly pumped her fist in the air.

She had to take the small victories whenever she could.

**********

Near the border of the Land of Iron, a small forest existed silently among the land.

Everything in the forest looked normal, but the shadows in this forest where incomparably black and dark. Locals stayed away from the forest as stories of old gave the forest a sinister reputation that no one ever wanted to prove.

Inside the forest, a pair of red eyes gradually opened and looked out in a certain direction.

The eyes stared for a moment before slowly closing their red light.

"Not yet."

The eyes closed once more, bringing silence back to the forest.

Only the wind could be heard through the trees as it brushed past a sign placed by a local.

[Warning! This is the Forest of Rebirth. Stay away if you value your life!]