Naruto Karyuden

Chapter 7: Hidden Cloud Training II

CLOUD TRAINING II

The following morning, Kotori is the last to wake up, the adults having let her rest since these first few days will be dedicated to getting acclimated. There's no rush yet.

"Morning, Kotori!" Naruto chimes in from his spot.

"Did you sleep well?" Hinata brushes the girl's hair as she takes a seat.

The girl manages a nod and a yawn. "Slept a bit weird, but good."

"You're still unused to being in a foreign place. You'll grow accustomed." Samui offers her a portion of breakfast.

"I'm sorry, Kotori. We went ahead and dragged you along with us, but it'll be some time before we actually go home. We'll spend a lot of time in lands foreign even to us."

"That's fine! I get to see a whole bunch of places I've only read about! It's like a dream come true!" She turns to Hinata with a wide grin.

Naruto gives a sagely nod. "See, I told you there's nothing to worry about. And she'll have a head start over the other kids when she joins the Academy cause she'll have seen all this cool stuff already."

Samui has already eaten her breakfast and begins cleaning away the plates. "At noon, you'll need to stop by the Raikage's office so they can decide how to proceed with your future missions given your... new circumstances."

Once breakfast is finished, the group begins their morning ritual. A morning ritual that was mostly started to help Kotori get used to training.

The first part consists of Kotori practicing the breathing exercise that Omoi showed her. He was right, breathing here is really more difficult, heavier. Much easier to get tired and it feels like she's doing less here than back in Kusatsu. She's sitting in the seiza style with her eyes closed, doing her best to focus.

Focusing proves a bit more of a challenge given that Naruto and Hinata are sparring nearby. The two are taking the time to practice their respective Frog Kata and Gentle Fist techniques. Naruto hasn't really used it as much as he could and having an expert taijutsu user is great practice, and Hinata is able to refine her own form against a fighting style that's surprisingly good at countering the Gentle Fist.

Once the 30 minutes pass, Kotori opens her eyes to see Samui sitting near her.

"That breathing technique is of the Hidden Cloud. Where did you learn it?" Samui looks with her usual stoic expression.

Kotori looks slightly nervous under her gaze. "Uh, Mr. Omoi taught me. Was he not supposed to?"

"Well, it's a technique passed along Cloud shinobi, it's not conventional to teach it to outsiders."

She springs to her feet. "Did he do a bad thing? Is he gonna be in trouble?"

"Ah, no, I'm sure it's... fine?" Even though she offered her home, she's not exactly the best at dealing with kids. She's barely able to deal with Karui and Omoi. "If he taught you, then it's fine."

The next bit of training involves Kotori learning more basic taijutsu from Naruto and Hinata. They're not teaching her their own forms as they're more advanced but they're not needed for now. She still has much of the basics left to learn.

After that, Kotori trains her chakra and summons as many feathers as she can. She was told to stop once she feels tired. She didn't get the full details, but apparently chakra exhaustion isn't fun.

At noon, the trio are in the Raikage's office for their scheduled meeting. A himself is busy elsewhere, but C is present to speak to them. They're sitting at a side table, rather than the main desk.