The Coming of the King

Chapter 14 - The Bell Test

"I'm mad at Danzo and at myself. I think that we need to work on expanding your chakra stores more,"

'How? When I'm full chakra, I have more than any reported ninja in a really long time. I don't know if my chakra can be increased,'

"I've got a theory that if you learn fuinjutsu, you could probably make a seal to store chakra. If you can do that, then you could just funnel a bunch of chakra into it and leave it. The chakra you gave the seal will regenerate and you'll be at max again and still have extra chakra,"

'If I learn fuinjutsu, that would be a great solution. But I'm not going to learn fuinjutsu. It would be a disgrace.'

"Kit, just because you're blind doesn't mean it would be a disgrace to learn sealing, it just means you would have to work a lot harder,"

'A blind person shouldn't bother. It's a disrespect to the art,'

"Naruto! It's what your parents would've wanted, blind or not!"

'Just shut up, would you?'

I get up off of my bed for the second time that morning and run a hand through my hair, messing it up. I already know that my parents would've wanted me to learn the art that they excelled at and loved, but they also wouldn't have wanted me to be a jinchuuriki. Sometimes, I have to believe that mother doesn't know best. If they were still alive, I wouldn't have lost my eyes, I'd be best friends with little Sasuke, and I wouldn't be in the ANBU, much less their commander.

I shrug out of the sleep shirt I'd been put in and move to my closet. I grab a fishnet and a hoodie that I know to be orange and red with yellow flame designs. I almost always wear something representing the colors that my parents were associated with. Once I figured out that orange was made by mixing their colors, I became enthralled with it.

'Ah, childhood. So sweet, so innocent,'

I put on some black ANBU pants with it and grab my black combat boots. The door to my bedroom slams open, startling me, as I'm keeping my Sensory range to the bare minimum as I dress, and preparing to stop using it altogether. Conserving chakra will be the name of the game today.

"Naru!" Anko's all-too familiar voice cries. "You're awake!" she shouts.

She certainly seems happy. I guess that I did kind of maybe pass out while standing up yesterday just because I have a cold. That maybe might have sort of worried her a little tiny bit. Whoopsie.

"Yeah. Kicked the cold an hour or so ago, or so says Kurama. Can't use Sensory full-time though." I reply blandly.

Anko dashes forward and wraps her arms around me.

'Happy, indeed,' I muse to myself.

"Sorry for worrying you," I apologize sheepishly, letting An-nee squish my cheeks.

"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better than yesterday," she sighs. "You were pretty bad," she chuckles, releasing me from her embrace and bending down to tie my remaining boot for me.

I thank her internally. Everyone who knows me well knows for a fact that I don't like being treated like an invalid or a cripple. She does stuff for me without making me feel like I'm not good enough, which is something that a lot of people can't manage. An-nee has similar self-esteem issues, though.

"I guess I overdid it a bit this past week," I grimace.

"You think?" Anko replies sarcastically.

I laugh. "Okay, okay! I definitely overdid it! Hopefully I'll be able to take a bit of a break and just focus on my undercover mission for a while," I sigh wistfully.