A strange new life

Kunoichi Secretary-chan led me up the stairs, past a number of busy looking shinobi, locked rooms, and a confusing maze of corridors. I wasn’t sure I would remember the path if I had to make my way out alone. Something to keep in mind. All around, the bonfires that were all the shinobi’s chakra painted a strange picture. I couldn’t see through walls, that was a byakugan ability I didn’t have, but I could at least know how many ninjas were around.

I was led to a room deep into the tower. Inside, I felt two, wasn’t bonfires anymore, but blazes of chakra, with a not small number of other bonfires scattered around.

Secretary-chan knocked at the door. “Hokage-sama,” she said, “Hinata is here to see you.”

“Let her in.” Old man Hokage said from inside.

Secretary-chan opened the door, I stepped inside. I froze.

The Hokage office was a mix of antiquated office and paper hell. Stacks of paper littered some of the corners, shelfs full of more paper, books and scrolls covered most of the walls. Old man sad behind his desk, Hokage hat deposited on the table in front of him. The problem wasn’t the Hokage. The problem was the other old man inside the room.

Dead fish eye stared at me, peering inside my soul. Half of the man’s face was covered with bandages, and for a moment I had to ask if the stolen sharingan hidden there could see through the fabric. An x scar on man’s chin screamed who that was, even if the bandaged head and dead eye didn’t.

Shimura fucking Danzo. Why was my luck so rotten?

“Hinata, you wanted to talk with me?” Hokage asked, eyes glinted with curiosity.

I couldn’t move. I needed to move. Fucking Danzo’s eye had changed. Before, he just dismissed me, now he looked interested. Move, fucking dammit, I needed to move.

“What’s it girl?” The man’s condescending voice demanded. “Cat got your tongue?” The prick asked. There was no way he didn’t knew I was a mute.

Like a mechanical, rusted robot, my hands moved. I felt the sweat forming on my back. My knees were unsteady. I felt two other bundle of chakra around the room. ANBU and ROOT if I had to guess.

My eyes still hadn’t left the enemy when I finished writing. I raised my board.

The Hokage chuckled. Danzo got up from his chair, face stormy.

“Leave it, Danzo, it’s only a child.”

Hypocrite Danzo fumed. He turned to the Hokage, glared. “Why you waste your time with this I’ll never understand.” Danzo turned around and left, not without glaring at me again. His chakra surged, like a tidal wave. It engulfed me, it promised death, it demanded obedience. It was evil, uncaring. It squeezed my heart, gouged my eyes, stabbed me a thousand times.

The door banged closed behind me and my legs gave up. I fell down, trembling. Tears fell from my eyes, I hadn’t noticed I started crying. I looked at the board. I don’t know why I had written that. The words there were my actual feelings when I entered the room.

It read: “Your ugly face scared me.”

Old man Hokage was by my side. Still chuckling. Didn’t seen aware of what had just happened. “The ugly man left,” he said with another chuckle, “It’s okay now.” He stopped, tilted his head. “Although, don’t make it a habit to insult those stronger than you. It’s a bad habit to have.” Was that tacit approval to insult those weaker than me?

I nodded frantically. That had been dumb, even if it had worked. Insulting the man to make him leave in a fit of anger. One of the other bonfires of chakra left as well. I guess now it was only the Hokage and the ANBU.

Hokage-sama helped me to my feet and sat me on the guest chair. Circle around, sat on his chair again. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” He asked.

Right, not time to woolgather. I had plans. Plans I might have just doomed by antagonizing the enemy. I took my board, erased the insult, wrote on it again. Presented it to the Hokage.

He read it, not commenting on me still not speaking. “Have you now?” He asked. “Show me.”

I did just that. I took the original scroll manual from my bag and placed on his desk. I picked the two seals I had created, one with the pebble, the other with the coin. Placed those on the desk as well. I picked the three other empty seals I prepared, placed them open for the old man to peruse.

Hiruzen took the seals I created, inspected them. He placed a finger on one, activated it. There was a puff of smoke. A coin popped out of the paper. He took one of the blank seals. Picked the coin and placed it on the center. He touched his finger to the seal. There was another puff of smoke, and the coin was gone.

He sat back, his mouth twisting into a smile. “I didn’t think I would hear from you this soon.” Hokage-sama started, eyes crinkling with amusement. “I expected it would take you a few years to manage the seal.”

I shrugged. I guess if I was a five year old kid that might have been true. Even with kids somehow maturing earlier here — something I was starting to think it was due to chakra — many of the other brats in the academy thought nothing about it aside from games and stuff. I had put effort on it. Almost four months of constant, rigorous training.

“Daikoku-Sensei told me he helped you sense your chakra.” I nodded. “But he also tells me you are falling behind your classmates in the morning games, even if you are years ahead of your peers on your letters.”

I scowled. I knew the old man was keeping tabs on me. At least he didn’t seem to know my poor physical results were intentional. I took my board again. Erased the previous message, wrote another.

“Hard to keep up, I get tired too fast.” I showed the old man the board. It was the truth, in a sense. I was getting tired faster because I wasn’t using chakra. But again, master plan. I wanted to hold my own without subconscious chakra enhancement, because when I did use it, I hoped the effects would be greater based on a higher baseline.

Old man Hokage nodded, got up from his chair. He moved to one of the many shelfs, picked up a new set of scrolls. My eyes landed on a big, very recognizable scroll roll. Wasn’t that the so called sealed scroll Naruto steals in a few years? Damn, these people were hardcore, leaving such dangerous thing on view of anyone. Now I know how Naruto managed to steal the damn thing. It was just there, unprotected, god knows for how many years.

Hokage-sama sat again, placed the scrolls in front of me. “Here’s more details about the sealing art. It has less jutsu, and more theory, which I think it is perfect for you.”

I nodded. I wanted to understand the topic, instead of just memorizing seals. I want to create my own seals, instead of just copying from others. I picked everything from the table and placed inside my bag. Part one of my plan complete, now for the second part. I took my board again, erased the text wrote more on it.

“Can I see Wolf-san again? I want to thank him for saving me.” I showed the board to the old man.

Old man Hokage laughed, a bellied sound that surprised me. “You read that, Wolf-san? The girl wants to see you again.”

The invisible bundle of chakra in one corner of the room flicked. There was puff of smoke and Kakashi stood there in the corner, ANBU uniform, mask and all. Looked between me and the Hokage. Even with his mask on, I could see the man rolling his eyes. That was Kakashi-sensei all right. So cool!