The Tale of Ely Senju

Chapter 37

Ely POV

Two years have now passed since Naruto set off on his training journey and we have all been training as well. I often trained with Kakashi and Tsunade. Kakashi taught me his chidori during this time, which I then improved even further. During my training with Tsunade, I deepened the combination of my Sharingan and the strength I get from Tsunade's training, and I'm still working on improving it, because I'm just too much of a perfectionist for that. I also often trained with Sakura and together we learnt and invented a few tricks.

My time as ANBU captain has also been over for six months because I asked Tsunade to take me out of the unit. Now I can concentrate fully on my work as a jonin. I've also completed a few missions as a jonin since then, often together with Kakashi and Sakura. The success rate was always very high, and Tsunade always chose the three of us for more difficult missions. Sakura often acted more as our medic-nin. Kakashi and I infiltrated the area and took out our opponents.

I was just sitting on a tree trunk in my favourite clearing, watching the birds in the trees. 'Ely, here you are. I've been looking everywhere for you.' I turned to the voice. 'Oh, hello Hinata. Is everything all right?' 'Ehm... yeah, I just wanted to talk to you, or don't you have time?' Oh, I should probably mention that in the last two years I've spent a lot of time with Hinata, and we've become very good friends and yes, I'm shippin' her and Naruto. Hinata and I have also trained together a lot. 'You're definitely not interrupting anything, Hinata. Sit down next to me and talk about what's on your mind.' Hinata sat down next to me and also looked at the birds, which had made themselves comfortable in the tree. 'I'm a bit scared. The chunin exams are coming up soon and I'm afraid that something like what happened at the first ones will happen to me.' 'You don't need to worry. You've trained a lot and you're stronger than you were back then. You'll get through this. Unfortunately, I can't come with you, but rest assured I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you all.' Hinata looked at me with a slight smile on her lips. 'Thank you, Ely. Thank you for being my friend and always helping me. I really appreciate it. Can I ask you why you can't travel with us?' 'I've been given a mission by Tsunade, which apparently only I can do. I don't know exactly what the mission is about yet, but it seems to be very important to her that I do it.' 'Oh, that's such a shame. I'm sure we could have all had a good time after the exam.' Hinata and I sat together for a while until she said goodbye. She wanted to meet up with Kiba and Shino.

After Hinata had left, I also made my way to the Yamanaka family's flower shop. 'Hello Ely, your flowers are ready. I'm just going to get them.' 'Thank you, Mrs Yamanaka. I'll put the money on the counter.' It wasn't long before she came back with my flowers. 'Thank you very much, they are beautiful once again.' I said goodbye and walked to the graveyard. I laid a bunch of flowers on each of my parents' graves, which are next to each other. 'Hello mum, hello dad, thank goodness not so much has happened since my last visit. I try to enjoy every day and spend it with my friends. I train a lot. As I said, not much has happened, but I know one thing, I'll have more to tell you on my next visit. I love you guys. See you next time.' I stood up again and brushed my hand over both gravestones. Then I walked to the graves of Nao, Ryoko and my old sensei and laid a white lillie on each of them.

After my visit to the graveyard, I walked through the streets of Konoha and bought some things to have for dinner. What I should perhaps also mention is that I've been living in my own flat for a few weeks now and it's strange not living under the same roof as Kakashi anymore, but strangely enough he visits me very often. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he misses me. Well, since I'm pretty sure he'll be sitting there again tonight, I'll probably have to cook a bit more. Before I walked home, I looked at the Hokagestonefaces and thought about Naruto. I wonder how strong he's become now. I'm already looking forward to when he comes back to Konoha in a year's time.

When I got back to my appartment, I put some things away and something fell into my hands. Wait, I've never seen this necklace before. I did get one with the Uchiha symbol from Shisui, but I always wear it around my neck, like I'm doing right now. From whom is this necklace? Has anyone been to my appartment?

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