Hikari; Cataclysm

Chapter 3

The night came without me noticing, Hitori woke me up just so I was able to call for my best friend. As expected, he was still at Ichiraku's conversing animatedly with Iruka-sensei and Teuchi-san. When I invited Naruto home, he was way too excited to be invited to someone's home. I pitied my friend for living alone all these years, never being invited home for dinner in fear of the stigma. Well, I am here to break that.

We were having a good dinner that night. Naruto surprisingly was eating the healthy food so well. Perhaps he did change for the most part. I knew better since Torune and Fu reports had been immensely comprehensive. His behavior, demeanor, and trademark knuckle headedness seemed to be toned down now. Though his appetite didn't but never mind that since Hitori would always love an excuse to cook food. She was happily chirping in the kitchen doing dishes while letting us have a serious talk. The house had been well sealed by Hitori's barrier jutsu so, I guess that it's okay to talk.

'Naruto-kun, now that you know my secret job, I am curious as to what extent your current level is?' I inquired. The blond seemed to be a bit taken aback but he recovered nonetheless.

‘Seriously, I was surprised to know that, y' know? Let's see, by the time that I finished with that scroll, Torune-Nii, and Fu-Nii along with Ero Sennin pretty much taught me all they can--ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and fuinjutsu, under explicit order of the director of the Foundation Anbu, they said. Stamina training on every other day, shinobi history once in a while, not that I like it anyway. But, yeah, it seems that studying wasn't that hard after all. Don't ask me to do the genjutsu though, I suck at it,’ he explained in a serious tone. It was pretty much what the report had said and had not said. My blonde, knuckleheaded best friend had grown up and he was consciously trying to speak properly too despite the unconscious outbursts.

‘Eh, man, I missed the old you,’ I droned out while smiling indulgently.

‘We promised, didn't we?’ the atmosphere seemed to go dark for a brief moment before he changed the subject. ‘What about you? How did you get these muscles?’

‘Oh? Well, let's see. I’ve trained with Tsunade-senpai along with Sakura. Though I don't get the medical ninjutsu so well, I can say that the woman was a physical training sadist. If I remember it well, I would always be left half dead every time I trained with her,’ I shivered along with Naruto. ‘The Foundation Anbu members had also taught me the classified stuff. You know, the usual humdrum of a shinobi's life in the shadows. I trust that you know some of the Foundation Anbu techniques too?’

‘Yeah, that Shichu Shibari no Jutsu was a huge pain in the ass to learn because it wasn't my natural chakra affinity, it was harder than my dad's Hiraishin. I remembered when Fu-nii used it on me during my training to use the idiot fox chakra. Damn, even remembering about it...’ Naruto shuddered as he said that. My eyebrows raised at that fact.

‘They taught you to utilize Kyuubi's chakra? Then, you must know who your parents are,’ I questioned. He rubbed the back of his head and grinned.

‘Well yeah, it was Ero-sennin that told me by the way. He believed that the Yondaime had hoped that I would one day wield the fox's powers. I kind of annoyed him in the first place about why am I learning so much about Yondaime's jutsus and he told me everything,’ he smiled after he finished, and naturally, his smile was infectious.

‘My best friend, the son of Yondaime Hokage. Should I call you “Naruto-sama” now?’ I joked knowing he would outright retort it seeing his newfound self.

‘No, Hikari-kun. It would make the worst,’ he hung his head as he said that. Well, this is different.

‘Before, it was that bad, huh? Sorry that I arrived late in this village. Otherwise, I would slice them up and drink their blood for old times' sake,’ I said sullenly.