A Hero All Along (A Kakashi Story)

Chapter 14.

Learning a new jutsu was held back for a few days, but Yuuki wasn't particularly bothered.

After all, spending a while learning control of her chakra was better than it blowing up in her face.

So Yuuki didn't protest with what followed; if anything, tried with more enthusiasm now. This had been a big obstacle in her way in terms of becoming a ninja-and now Kakashi was giving her the means to not only get over it, but to destroy it completely. Once she mastered control of her chakra, then everything would fall into place with her training. Things would be easier, and she could truly consider herself a ninja. A low-level one, maybe, but a ninja all the same. The training method itself wasn't exactly difficult, after all. A lot of it was spent mediating and learning basic abilities like walking up trees and walking on water. But controlling her chakra to allow that was harder than it might have been with other people. There was so much of her chakra to subdue and tame that it took longer learning it than if she had been able to if her chakra and been of normal strength.

But Yuuki didn't care.

She was just going to keep going anyway.

And slowly, day after day, her control increased, and she could feel it within herself. Yuuki began to notice things along the way; her strength started to increase along with her speed and endurance. Her healing capabilities also speeded up; having sliced herself on a kunai, Yuuki had gone indoors to get a bandage, only to find that it was pretty much healed once she was inside. Her mind felt calmer, and the more her chakra became under control, the more her life in general felt more controlled. Things didn't seem so out of place and uncertain. She could focus; and just generally felt better in herself-something Kakashi noticed, too. Before Yuuki had kept to the shadows, never letting herself be appreciated for what she could do. But slowly she was developing her own sense of identity in a way she had never been able to have before.

So as he said goodbye and headed off to meet his team; he left with a smile.

Yuuki was left alone, and went inside to finish off the weapon she'd been assigned to make as he would be coming to pick it up in a few hours. Her good mood extended onto her work, however, and she found herself working harder and faster without having noticed doing it in the first place. Moriko came and chatted with her for a while, glad to see how Yuuki was doing. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Yuuki this happy; and moving on with her life. Of all people to deserve this, Moriko couldn't help but feel it was Yuuki who deserved it the most, and she was humming to herself as she said goodbye to Yuuki.

When Yuuki finally stopped and took a step back to look over at the finished weapon, satisfied with her work; she glanced up at the clock, only to blink in surprise. She'd managed to finish a lot quicker than she'd estimated she would, and knowing she still had a while before he was coming to pick up the weapon; Yuuki couldn't stop herself from glancing at the clearing outside. She forced herself to clean up and make sure everything was put away, but eventually Yuuki couldn't take it anymore and headed straight outside. What harm would it do? She'd stop before he got here, and she needed to keep up to scratch with her abilities. The sooner she learnt control of her chakra, the sooner she could learn all the jutsus Kakashi himself had copied from all those ninjas.

Kakashi had seemingly come out of nowhere into her life; but Yuuki couldn't imagine it any other way. She knew she was going to have to do something to repay him-to say thank you-but what it would be, she didn't know. After all he had done it would have to be something very big, and Yuuki would no doubt end up being indebted towards him for the rest of her life. But somehow, that didn't matter. Kakashi was a good friend to her, and he had given her so much. It was a small price to pay for all that he had taught and shown Yuuki. Sometimes she didn't understand why he had done-and still did-it, but her determination for her ninja training took over, and she pushed it aside-a similar situation to the present moment, as she ran up a tree, hanging upside down and going from tree to tree in the same way. A sudden urge to try the transformation jutsu came over her, and though she hesitated, Yuuki eventually smirked, closing her eyes and giving in. She didn't have much to lose, and as such brought her hands up and performed the handsigns, and although nervous, she felt herself change instead of it blowing up in her face, and smiled to herself at her triumph, releasing the jutsu a second later.

"What the hell are you doing, Yuuki?"

Instantly flashing her eyes open, Yuuki saw Haro standing there, glaring up at her, and paling, she quickly jumped down, walking to stand in front of him and greeting him as she bowed. Once she straightened, she saw he already had the sword in his hands, and cursed herself for forgetting the time while she had been training. She couldn't say a word; not knowing how to make things right, and as such there was silent until he continued.

"I should have known, shouldn't I? You're a disgrace to the village-and to Konoha. We told you to keep out of it; so don't forget it! What use has Kakashi for training someone like you?"

Though nothing showed on her face, Yuuki couldn't get rid of the churning in her stomach; wincing inwardly at his words. The mention of Kakashi only heightened this, and suddenly Yuuki couldn't dismiss his words. Suddenly they stuck in her mind and wormed their way into her confidence. She had thought she was protected against that, and she couldn't make them go away. Nothing she could do allowed her to shake the thoughts off, meaning she was still silent as Haro added viciously,

"You really are pathetic-I guess Kakashi has to agree with me, though, if he's training you."

Once again the words hit Yuuki like a punch to the stomach, and although she tried to convince herself he was just doing it to make her upset, she still blurted,

"W-what?"

"Come on, Yuuki. You're always alone, you don't fit in anywhere in this world. You try to be a ninja and fail every single time. You're an outcast and an outsider. Let me guess-he saw you upset and then said he'd like to train you? The only reason Kakashi would have started training you, Yuuki...is because he pities you. He has a kind heart, and he wanted to help. But he doesn't really think you can be a ninja-he's just saying it to make you feel better! Surely you should have realised that by now." He snapped in reply.

Yuuki could only stand and stare in horror. She'd been thinking of Kakashi a little while ago-she'd been questioning why he had chosen to train her back then, but the answer had been pushed away when she continued with her training. She had never allowed herself to truly come up with an answer, and although she didn't want to believe Haro in the slightest, Yuuki couldn't help but see that it all fit. It had been when she had been crying that night that Kakashi had come over and spoken to her; told her she had talent to be a ninja and he'd be happy to train her a little. He'd always tried to make her feel better-that had been his motive all along. All of it just pointed to the idea that Haro...was right. Yuuki was all but defeated by this thought, staring at the ground as he came closer and said darkly,

"Don't bother trying anything like this again, Yuuki. Or you might have to face some of the other villagers."

With that, he disappeared, leaving Yuuki standing and staring at the ground in front of her. She didn't want to believe it-she didn't want it to hurt. She might have thought that lately with her training she had been protected against it, but that was a lie. Her increase in outward strength had led her to believe it was inward, as well. But she had been wrong. There was nothing she could do to deny it. And as such she turned back to the clearing, starting to train once more, except this time harder and stronger.

After all, it needed to be...when she was going to be training herself all over again.