The Ninja from Nowhere (Naruto fanfiction)

Chapter 21: New Lessons

Yukana thrashed and threw herself up against the concrete walls creating dents and cracks in the hard surface. She roared and growled, angry that there was a demon she couldn't get to kill. Her thrashing about formed bruises and cuts all around her body. The white haired girl felt no pain while she raged.

The door to Yukana's dark cell started to slide open and a bright stream of light caused her to shield her eyes.

"Yukana," a familiar, elderly voice addressed. "May I come in?"

Yukana's growls became louder as she got down on all fours into a defensive stance. The Hokage walked into the dark room and slowly approached the pale girl. Her breathing began to slow and she finally sat down. Hiruzen sensei? The white haired girl fought back her instincts as she saw her father figure come closer. "Stop!" she grabbed the sides of her head. "I don't wanna hurt you!" Tears started to stream down her cheeks and she hugged her arms to her chest to make herself still.

"You won't hurt me, Yukana." Hiruzen said in confidence. "Everything's ok. You can calm down now."

Yukana started to sob and she felt ashamed of herself for losing control in front of the man who saved her all those years ago. She bolted to the Hokage and embraced him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry!" The small girl cried. "I couldn't help it! Forgive me!" The Hokage hugged her back and comforted his student.

"Let's go home and get you cleaned up. You passed the preliminaries, remember? We should further your training for the final exam in a month." Hiruzen smiled and a relieved sigh escaped Yukana's lips. "But first, you should stay in isolation for a while until your instincts have fully subsided. Don't think I didn't notice you were feeding."

Yukana hung her head in shame. "I understand," she agreed to the isolation sentence. This will help her focus on coming back to humanity and burying her animalistic instincts so she wouldn't lose control again so easily.

Hiruzen transported back to his tower with his student in his arms and sat her down on a hospital bed in the tower's medical room. He gently cleaned her cuts while Yukana just stared off into space with eyes glazed over, reflecting on her poor actions.

"I thought you could handle the Chunin exams." Hiruzen started, drawing the girl's attention. "Perhaps, it was still too soon putting you into a wild situation such as that."

Yukana opened her mouth to protest, but she knew she had nothing to go against his statement. She lost control, attacked her friends, jeopardized her secret, and fell into old habits. The white haired girl only answered with a sharp, irritated exhale. Maybe, I wasn't ready for it after all.

"Alright now, take a shower and apply this ointment onto your cuts." Hiruzen held out a tube of disinfectant cream.

Yukana narrowed her eyes at the tube in his hands. "What's the point," she huffed, "It's not like I'm gonna look any worse with a few more scars."

"Yukana." Hiruzen said sternly. "That does not mean you shouldn't take care of yourself. Now, do as I say." A few seconds passed before the pale girl snatched the medicine from his palm and marched off to her room.

Yukana turned on the shower head and waited for the water to warm up. Due to her fear of drowning, she watched in paranoia as the clear liquid flowed down the drain for a while to make sure it was working properly before stepping in. The water stung when it hit her open wounds, but she ignored it with not so much as a flinch. She scrubbed the dirt and grime out of her white locks and gently rubbed soap all over her body, causing her cuts to sting a little more. After rinsing all the soap away, she looked down at her scars, recalling most of them. Not wanting to get out of the warm shower yet, she sat down on the floor and let the water rain down on her for a little while longer.