Child of the sea (Neji X OC story)

Chapter Eight ~ Things are getting interesting

~Umiko~

I just stayed at the side 'protecting' Tazuna and watched as the villagers, Naruto and Kakashi scared off the rest of the thugs, then Kakashi went over to Zabuza and laid him next to Haku and as he said his goodbyes snow started to fall, i guess i felt just a little sad watching my uncle die but i knew he'd be watching over me.

Anyway after that we buried Zabuza and Haku, Naruto promised to always follow his own ninja way, i sealed Zabuza's sword the Kubikiribocho in a scroll for the time being and we rested up for the rest of the day, it took a week for the bridge to finish up and as it did we mostly rotated guards/helpers while the others trained, i made sure to get the most out of my training time and train with the sword.

Anyway after the bridge finished up we promptly went back to the leaf, thank god because i am never doing an escort mission again, i don't care what the old man says i am not doing one of those ever again, anyway we reached the village in no time at all and we had the rest of the day off.

Naruto and Sasuke went off to do their own thing and i went to find Neji, i actually found him with his team training i hesitated a bit not wanting to interrupt them but Neji spotted me "What are you doing here?"he asked, i giggled a bit and walked over "Oh nothing just finished a mission and wanted to see you"i told him "Neji is this your girlfriend?"the boy in spandex asked.

"No"Neji simply said looking right at me, i wasn't really hurt, we hadn't really even started to like each other, not in that way at least, right? "Then who is she?"the girl with her hair in buns asked "I'm Umiko, i've trained with Neji but that's about it"i shrugged a bit.

"I know you, you're Kakashi's little girl, remember me? I'm Might Guy"the sensei of the group said giving me a ridiculous grin and a thumbs up "Nope, Kakashi never mentioned you"i told him and he got angry "What?! Kakashi never mentioned his greatest rival?!"he asked "Nope"i simply said and he slumped over depressed.

The spandex boy who looked an awful lot like the sensei went over and cheered him up in one of the weirdest yet funniest things i've scene "Ignore them i'm Tenten, you obviously know Neji, the spandex kid is Rock Lee"the buns girl said and i smiled nodding to her "Nice to meet you"i said.

We chatted for a while and i ended up getting roped in their insane training, it was intense but at the end of the day i can at least say my Taijutsu was getting better, Guy offered to train me with his team if i wanted to and i didn't hesitate to agree, sure it was crazy intense training but the results spoke for themselves.

After that Kakashi came over and took me to the hokage, once there we went to an empty training ground and then they released my chakra limiters, there was a burst of high intensity chakra blowing everything back, it felt like i was being ripped apart.

"Just keep calm Umiko, you know how to control it focus!"Kakashi called, i sat down crossing my legs and took deep breaths and focused on controlling my chakra, eventually i got it under control, i did a few jutsu and noticed i can do even more complex jutsu with little effort, with this i'll be able to do even Flying Raijin multiple times without tiring.

I thanked both the hokage and Kakashi and also hugged them before spending the rest of the day testing new limits, i decided to shrug off my earlier questions and head home after training.

~skip~

A week later, i've been training with Guy and his team every day and with Neji, even though i shrugged off my questions about how i felt towards Neji, this week i paid attention to how being around him made me feel, i felt calm around him, maybe it's because i started paying attention to it but my heart leaped every time i saw him.

I determined i did like him and it wasn't just superficial, but now was the time to focus on something else, the Chunin Exams, i knew it was around the corner since Guy brought it up recently and even just today i've seen a flood of ninja and lords from other lands coming in, then i saw a clear memory of lame ass D-rank missions which i had sent a shadow clone to do in my place.

I shook my head seeing every screw up Naruto did from the memories of my clone, i sighed a bit and decided to go look for him, i found him in an alley with Konohamaru who was about to be punched by this boy wearing a cat hood with a girl that had four pigtails, interesting fashion choice.

Anyway i was about to step in when a pebble hit the cat boy, i looked across from me to the tree and saw Sasuke and another boy with red hair, i decided to stay back but got close enough to hear what they were saying "You're a long way from home and way out of your league"Sasuke said just casually sitting in the tree, i guess he didn't notice the other boy.

"How come your not that cool?"Konohamaru asked Naruto and he just got angry, i wonder what's going through his head, "Hey punk get down here"the cat boy called to Sasuke, none of them have seem to notice me either, i wasn't even really hiding my chakra, anyway cat boy went to grab the thing on his back, i figured it to be a puppet since they seem to be from the sand judging by their headbands and puppetry is one of the sand villages specialties, or so i've read.

Anyway the red head decided to announce himself "Kankuro back off"he said "You're an embarrassment to our village"he continued after a bit of silence "Uh hey Gaara"cat boy i'm assuming named Kankuro said clearly more nervous now that the red head i'm assuming Gaara had decided to show himself.

"Have you forgotten the reason why we came here?"Gaara asked "I know i mean they challenged us, here's what happened"Kankuro went to say but Gaara cut him off with a sharp "Shut up or i'll kill you" i got the feeling he really meant it, but i wasn't scared unlike Kankuro.

"I'm sorry for any trouble we've caused"Gaara said turning to Sasuke, a silence fell as i watched Gaara moved himself to the ground with sand, interesting, "Let's go we didn't come here to play games"Gaara said turning to Kankuro and the girl, i watched them walk away before they were stopped by Sasuke "Hey wait, what's your name?"he asked the girl turned blushing, i rolled my eyes "You mean me?"she asked eagerly "No the one with the gourd"Sasuke said.

"My name is Gaara no Subaku, i'd like to know your name too"he said "I am Sasuke Uchiha"he said, a wind blew but then Naruto blurted "Hi there, i bet you're dying to know my name"he said "I couldn't care less"Gaara said and the three of them left, i have a feeling things are about to get interesting, with that i left too.