A strange new life

1.8

I won’t lie. I wanted to fan-girl a bit. I mean, can you blame me? It was Kakashi-sensei. He was so cool. Annoying, but sooo cool. I wanted to ask for his autograph. There were no others in the Naruto story I thought were cooler than Kakashi. Gai-sensei came a hard second, for the sheer thick skiness and disregard for what others thought about him. But Kakashi was the real deal. The only other one I thought had a winning chance was Minato. I mean, cool and op. But Minato was dead, so Kakashi it was.

I vibrated on my seat, doing my best to contain myself. Old man Hokage chuckled again. I threw caution to the wind. I mean, I had the chance, why not use it? Ignoring that tiny voice inside my head screaming at me to not do it, I threw my self at the man in a tackle-hug.

Not sure what I expected. A part of me thought Kakashi would dodge or something, he didn’t. I wrapped my arms around his legs. Kakashi was tall, or maybe I was short. He looked uncomfortable at the close proximity, and after a long moment, spurred by a still chuckling Hokage, he patted me on the head. Once. Damn, that was soo cool.

The fan-girl moment ended. I returned to my senses. Released the man’s legs. Bowed in apology, walked to my previous chair, sat again. I took a deep breath to dispel the rest of the fan-girl dumbness out of me. I took my board.

“Thank you Wolf-san, for saving me.” I showed him the message. Bowed deeply once he read it.

“You’re welcome?” Kakashi-sensei asked back. He sounded young, uncertain.

A wide smile broke on my face. Right, Kakashi was barely eighteen, basically still a teenager. I erased the text, wrote more on my board. “I have something for you, please accept it.”

I dug into my bag, took out the other part of my plan I had prepared. You see, the second part of my plan was how to get in contact with Kakashi without alerting Danzo, or the Hokage, who would certainly alert Danzo as well. I didn’t doubt the Hokage would listen to me, maybe even believe my words, what I doubt was the man would be able to do what needed to be done. Not when he let every evil missing-nin and traitor just walk away, when he could have stopped then. I wanted to bypass the old man, use Kakashi to alert Shisui to the fact Danzo had a sharingan.

In the canon story, Shisui only lost his eye because Danzo surprised him and broke free of the genjutsu with his stolen sharingan. I didn’t think Danzo could defeat Shisui otherwise. After meddling with that, I’d let story run it’s course. If the Uchiha clan still died, I could at least say I had tried.

I placed a wrapped sandwich and a candy in front of Wolf-san. It took some effort to make that. Fluffy bread wasn’t something common in the village. I think I did a good job. The bread wasn’t that fluffy, but the homemade mayo, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and chicken fillet tasted good. I mean, I ate two before stopping myself. I had made only a limited number of them.

The wolf mask hide Kakashi’s expression very well, but I saw bewilderment in his movement. I guess I could relate. Who gave away food and candy as thanks? Hesitantly, the man took my offering. I wanted to mute squeal in joy, but kept quiet. For the most part. You couldn’t blame me for buzzing in happiness.

“Thank you?” Kakashi-sensei asked.

I bowed again. Dug on my bag once more. Took another sandwich, another candy. Offered them to the old man Hokage. After he took it, I showed him the board with the same message I showed Kakashi. The Hokage might not have directly acted on my rescue from the lab, but he saved my life in the hospital.

“Oh, for me as well?” The man asked, picked up the sandwich. He unwrapped it, sniffed. Took a bite. “That’s an interesting flavor,” said after chewing. “What is this white sauce?” He asked, took another bite.

I scurried to wipe my board. Wrote more, after checking I got everything right, I showed the Hokage the board again. “It’s called mayo.” I used katakana to write the mayo part, since it wasn’t a native word. I wanted them to think it was something I came up with. “Eggs, vinegar, oil and salt. Mix it very thoroughly.”

Hiruzen took another bite of his chicken sandwich. “It has a distinct flavor. How did you come up with that?”

Yikes. Hadn’t expected him to ask that. I went with the excuse I planned for everything.

I erased the board, wrote on it: “I dreamed about it.”

Old man just hummed, said nothing. Well, that was a good time as any to skedaddle. I bowed once more. Packed everything, moved toward the door. The old man called from behind his desk.

“Thank you for the meal Hinata-chan. Wolf-san will walk you to the entrance.”

In the time I wasn’t looking, Kakashi sandwich had disappeared, so had the candy. The man moved behind me. I nodded to him, he nodded back.

Kakashi led me through the maze of corridors until I was out. He didn’t follow me outside, but that was okay. I could find my way from here. That went great, that went really well. I had been afraid somehow the Hokage would ask more stuff, which I didn’t want to answer. Or that Kakashi wouldn’t show up. Freaking Danzo there threw me out of the loop for a moment, but all is well when it ends well. As they say.

With a pep on my step, I ran home. I had more things to study, and a serious conversation to prepare for.

Kakashi looked at the girl running with abandon down the road. Hinata had the makings of a great kunoichi. Able to use chakra at the age of five, even more so fuinjutsu. The girl had surprised him with her seals. At the Hokage request, he had been keeping and eye on her, to make sure the Hyuga clan wouldn’t try anything untoward, among other things.

He walked inside the Hokage office again. Removed his mask. Slouched on the chair.

“What do you think?” The old man asked.

Kakashi noticed the old man had finished eating the meal, but hadn’t touched the candy. He also hadn’t missed the man sniffing it for poison. “She seems mature at times, but still a child in others.”

“Humm,” Hiruzen considered. “I thought the same.” He took some papers from the table, read it, before looking at Kakashi again. “The academy teachers tell me she’s falling behind in every physical activity, even if she is far ahead of any other in any mental task.”

Kakashi considered. “It’s surprising she can already control her chakra to this degree. She should be stronger, not weaker.”

“You think it’s something related to her circumstances?”

“I don’t know.” Kakashi admitted. It had been more than a surprise to find the girl there. He was raiding one of the many abandoned laboratories set up by Orochimaru. After they learned the truth about Yamato, ANBU cracked hard on any lead regarding those labs and experiments. Like many others, Kakashi believed the girl had been taken by the Third Raikage.

Two years ago, when she disappeared, the whole village mobilized in the search of the girl. The prime suspects, the head ninja delegation had left Konoha that same day. It didn’t take long to find them. All dead, just past Konoha’s borders, the girl missing. Kumogakure tried to accuse Konoha of killing the delegation, but there was no proof. Konoha couldn’t accuse Kumogakure, since the girl wasn’t among the dead, nor there was any lead regarding the girl whereabout. To think they would find her inside one of Orochimaru’s labs.

Kakashi looked again at the Hokage. “Did you learn what the seals on her body do?”

Hiruzen sighed, tired. “Only the one inside her throat. It’s been pretty obvious.”

“The girl’s voice, you mean?” Kakashi asked, and the old man nodded. If the reports were true, the girl had a number of strange seals hidden inside her body. Bones, heart, even behind her eyes. One of the many reasons the council and Danzo thought the girl a plant by Orochimaru.

Kakashi felt tired beyond his years. He got up, bowed to the old man, and left. The rest of his day went about the same. He kept an eye on Hinata, did his patrol, maintained his vigilance. Late at night, when he had returned to his home, Kakashi thought about making food, then he remembered the girl’s gift.

He unsealed the food and candy, a smile on his face at the whole situation. He unwrapped the stuffed bread. Noticed something strange within the wrappings. There was a small piece of paper there, hidden among the plastic.

It was a string of numbers. A simple substitution code. He deciphered it, read the message. “Wolf, need to talk, secret. Don’t tell anyone. Meet me?”

Kakashi destroyed the paper, took a bite of the offering. It tasted good. “Well, well, what are you planning, you clever girl.”

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