Naruto Karyuden

Chapter 8: Hidden Cloud Training III

CLOUD TRAINING III

Atsui's been looking forward to coming home for a while now. There's been a good number of missions lately, clean-up duty after the war ended, so he's been run pretty ragged. Now it's time for a break that he hopes to spend with his dear sister, his only remaining family.

He tries unlocking the door but the key doesn't fit. Maybe Samui left a key on the inside. That means she's home. Before he can grab the door handle, the door opens and... a little girl is standing in front of him?

"I'm sorry, you have the wrong domicile." and she closes the door.

Atsui remains still, blinking. He looks around to make sure he has the wrong place. Those are the same houses he remembers his neighbours having. He looks over the house in front of him. Yep, that's his and Samui's house.

He hears giggling inside.

"Hey!" He swings the door open only to see the girl laughing, and so is... his sister? She can laugh?

Samui looks to the girl. "I told you he'd react funny."

"Samui... since when do you have a sense of humour? And who's this kid?"

Now two other people enter the room. He looks around confused but is quickly brought up to speed and is very open to the idea of having guests over. He and Naruto seem to hit it off and quickly become friends in the following days. Although he bolts the moment studying is brought up. In hindsight, Samui regrets putting these two hotheads under the same roof.

The next week went on as normal. Kotori continued going to the Academy, the other kids continued to show interest in her and especially in her adoptive father.

Some of the kids that previously swarmed her stayed away since Takai seems to have permanently moved seats, and for some reason Kotori wanted to stay where she is.

Conversations with Takai went... quickly. When she gave answers in class, they were short and concise and didn't open much to follow-ups. Her other neighbour, Hayai, didn't seem to care that Takai's sitting on their desk so at least he seems chill, and he's more talkative so that helped.

Observing practice classes, Hayai is incredibly fast even among his peers. He fights using a very erratic taijutsu, relying mostly on kicks and sweeps. He rarely has both feet on the ground at the same time and even then, he has his hands on the ground more often than his feet. Takai on the other hand is among the slower kids in terms of speed but her reflexes are sharp. She relies more on heavy, precise punches and they are very heavy.

By the end of the week, she'd come somewhat close with the boy mostly because he didn't seem judgemental and didn't mind being around Takai. Others began distancing themselves from their desk because of the quieter girl but Kotori didn't care. She'd made up her mind.

The last day of the first week, she and Naruto wait outside for Takai. As every night, she leaves the Academy and goes home accompanied by a condor. This time, Kotori chases after them.

The condor turns around and spreads its massive wings, screeching.

Kotori stops, putting her hands in front of her. "Uhh hello?"

Takai pets it on the head. "It's okay, Moukinmaru." She looks questioningly to Kotori but then sees the man behind her classmate and recognizes him. Her eyes widen. "Ah..."

"Hey there. I'm Naruto. You're Kotori's classmate, right? Nice to meet you."

Takai looks down and bows. "I'm... Takai, sir."