A strange new life

3.18

Kakashi-sensei let me have my emotional breakdown without comment. I just broke a lot of shinobi rules, but who cared? I didn't, really. Not long after, we left the room. Kakashi-sensei waved me goodbye, flickered away. He probably had to report stuff, and I had lots on my mind. With the second phase of the chunin exam done, it was time to prepare for . Don’t judge me, celeb crush Hayley haunted me enough already.

I was in a bit of a pinch. Kakashi would help Sasuke, I was sure of that, even if I wasn’t sure to what extent, now that most of Sasuke’s family was still alive. Naruto would end up with Jiraiya. Who could I ask to train me? One particular shinobi came to mind. It would help with my dreams of Black Flash. I guess it costs nothing to ask.

I meandered my way through the tower in search of my target. I had an idea where I would find the man. His three students had been beaten pretty badly, and given the man's exuberance, I was sure he would be with them. I didn’t actually know where the infirmary was in the tower, but a small bit of questioning later –  because I also had a teammate there – landed me with directions to follow, only they weren’t here in the tower, but taken back to Konoha’s hospital. That made sense, not sure why I thought they would still be here.

Leaving the forest was a strange affair. There was a transport system set up that let people come and go, only it wasn’t used for the contestants. It didn’t take long until I was back in Konoha proper. Since I was going to visit people at the hospital, I needed to prepare stuff. Fresh fruits and flowers and all that jazz.

At the hospital reception desk, I confirmed the rooms my targets were in. First I went to visit Sasuke. I knocked on the door.

“Come in.” 

I didn’t recognize the voice, or the two chakra bundles aside from Sasuke’s inside. I steeled myself, walked inside. Sasuke was out cold, but didn’t seem to be in any danger. I guess whatever Kakashi-sensei did to contain the cursed seal took a lot out of Sasuke. Sat by his bed, was a beautiful fair-skinned woman with long, straight black hair and bangs hanging on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She wore a simple dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt, and looked nothing more than a mother and housewife, but I wasn’t fooled.

By the bed’s side was another person. I won’t lie here. My heart raced and I had to suppress my trembling. He was a tall man of fair complexion. Had black eyes, under which were long, pronounced tear-troughs. Jet-black hair pulled back in a low ponytail and center-parted bangs that extended to his chin, framed his face. He wore the traditional Uchiha attire. Dark Blue with the symbol on the back. Itachi nodded at me. Black eyes following my every movement.

How much did he know? Was he still part of ANBU? After his father died, Itachi became the clan leader, but that was the last I heard about him.

I bowed to both. Popped out my board. “Hello. I’m Hinata, Sasuke’s teammate.”

The reaction wasn’t what I expected. The woman chuckled, Itachi just shook his head, smiling.

“Hello Hinata-san, I’m Uchiha Itachi, and this is my mother Mikoto.”

Mikoto nodded, still smiling. I handed her the fruit basket. 

Mikoto took it with grace. “Thank you Hinata-chan for the fruits, and thank you for looking after Sasuke. He speaks often about you.”

I tilted my head, not sure what was happening. They were talking like they knew me.

Itachi actually rolled his eyes, a fond smile on his face. “Itachi-nii, Itachi-nii,” he said, in a clear imitation of a child’s voice. “Hinata scored higher than me on tactics again! Can you help me read the war scrolls?”

Mikoto chuckled but also added her piece. “Okaachan!” she said, and while her voice was still her own, it was clear she was paraphrasing a kid, given her inflection and way of speaking. “Can we study the village story again? I need to score higher than Hinata in this next exam!”

I blushed. I felt my neck, face and ears burn. Oh god, why? Woodenly, I wrote on my board. “I didn’t know.”

Mikoto nodded, looked back at the sleeping Sasuke. “He can be a handful, and I’m not surprised he doesn’t show it, but I think he likes you.”

The world ground to a halt. No, she didn’t say that. No way. I just couldn’t deal with this right now. I bowed again. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Wrote some parting words, fled as soon as I could, to chuckles from both shinobi inside the room.

What the hell. What was that? I refused to believe it. No way. I paced, lost in my head. After a while, I managed to push that out of my mind. No, those two were just messing with me. Delete, delete, delete all those memories. Better that way.

There was nothing much to do after I calmed down and managed to somewhat sort my thoughts. I wasn’t here to be dragged in drama over the playboy. No, I refused.

I went to Rock Lee’s room after. Which was near Neji’s room. Yeah, that would be embarrassing. I knocked. Waited for a moment until the gentle ‘come in’ sounded from inside, the voice was one I didn’t recognize. I opened the door, stepped in.

Tenten had recovered enough to be walking about. Bandaged and a bit banged up, but already better. Rock Lee was out cold. Gai sensei was there as well, like I thought he would. Tenten glared at me, then looked away.

I bowed. “Hello,” I wrote.

“What do you want?” Tenten demanded. Glare at full force.

I didn’t have any reason to lie. Even if I didn’t tell the whole truth. I handed the flowers I bought to Tenten, she was tense, but took it. I placed one of the fresh fruit baskets by the bed. Finally I handed the last one to Gai. The look he gave me told me it had been a good idea not to visit Neji.

“I wanted to see how Rock Lee was.” I admitted.

“What is it to you?” Tenten demanded. “You don’t even know him!”

I stopped. That was fair. I knew of Rock Lee, not the boy himself. I gushed about him being third coolest, but I never actually talked to him. I nodded. “You’re right.” I admitted. “I’m sorry.” I wrote soon after. I turned and left under Tenten’s glare. I still hadn’t done what I came here to do. I sat down in the corridor and settled in to wait. I didn’t mind giving them time if needed.

It didn’t take long. Gai sensei left the room a few minutes after. I got up, the man motioned me to follow. 

He led me up a flight of stairs to an open terrace or roof. It was a pretty view of the village, with a premium vista of the Hokage mountain. By one of the corners, I saw two familiar shapes. It was some sort of water tank. But try as I might, I couldn’t recall why they seemed familiar.

Gai was the first to break the silence. “You were looking for me.” It wasn’t a question.

I knew exuberance was the name of the game. I didn’t hold back. I raised my hand. Raised my board as high as my arms would let me. “Gai-sensei, please help me train for the third phase of the chunin exam!”

Gai stare was cold, unmoved. “You humiliate my student, beat him to an inch of death, and now you want me to train you?”

I didn’t hold back nor did I back down. I also wasn’t against throwing some truths around. With more time to think, Neji was up to no good when trying to fight me. I remembered his glare. In my mind, it somehow overlapped with Orochimaru’s. I suppressed a shudder. “Yes sensei!” I wrote. “He would have done worse to me had I not been stronger! I had to make sure he understood I was not to be messed with!”

Gai stared at me for a long while. I expected him to pose and yell and be the boisterous self I knew from the story. The man in front of me didn’t look like that. “Why not Kakashi?”

“Kakashi will have his hands full with Sasuke and Naruto, and what I want and need is speed and taijutsu. There’s no one better to train with than you in that regard.”

For a moment, I considered if it had been wise to seek out the man. I was acutely aware now that I didn’t know him. I was just going by half remembered stories from my past life. Acting like I knew everything.

“No.” Gai-sensei said finally. His tone left no room to argue. 

It was again, another slap to the face. Once more, I took my knowledge from the show and other stories as gospel. In my mind, Gai was supposed to be boisterous: to pose, to yell his youth mantra, gladly take me under his wing. Almost all the things I remember from the second coolest ninja was that he always wanted to make people train more, train harder.

I bowed. Wrote after. “Thank you for hearing me out sensei!” I turned, left the Gai to his contemplations. I didn’t look back. My dreams of Black Flash took a hit, but it meant I’d just need to do it myself. I had one month to train and prepare before the invasion. I didn’t think it was enough, but I would try my best. It was time to change the world once again.