Lost in the Whirlwind (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 29

I only had Mamoru, Hayashi and Nanami to thank for that, I myself hadn't done anything at all. And, if Mamoru's reports were anything to go by, Sunagakure's jinchuriki had quite a sweet tooth too. I shuddered at the thought of the mountain of paperwork I would need to fill in in order to enter Suna as a merchant, the last time I had to sign those documents had taken over three hours.

Because I had forgotten to reply, Shisui continued. "He actually thought I had helped you with the bakery too because I coincidentally was undercover in Sunagakure during that time, so that was how I knew."

"Will I be punished?" I asked, even though I fully knew the answer.

"You get a lot of leeway being the hokage's daughter." That was all he needed to say.

I hummed in response before speaking up. "So, you're an infiltration specialist?"

"I specialize in many things, but yes, infiltration is one of my skills I hold in high regard."

"Show off." I coughed into my hand.

The curly haired adult pushed me lightly with his shoulder. "Feeling a little bit cheeky, aren't we?"

I shrugged, feeling a little bit comfortable with a friend of almost a decade as my teacher. "You mentioned before that the apprentice would work where the mentor works. So what do you do, exactly?"

"I'm an ANBU."

I tripped over the rock I definitely had seen two seconds ago but had forgotten about it in the midst of incredulity.

"What."

"Don't worry, Naka, what we're doing right now is not tossing you into the ranks of ANBU. You suck too much for that."

"I know." I answered. But ANBU? It was not something I had considered as a possibility before. At most, I planned on becoming a jounin by 22, maybe retiring by 28 and settle down with my bakery franchise.

"What we're going to do right now is to train you some genin routines and infiltration basics. Any missions we have would be catered towards that. You probably won't be going into ANBU training for another two to three years."

"I'm pretty sure with your skill set, you're an ANBU captain. What are you doing mentoring me?"

"I kind of want a break." He shrugged, as if this was a normal occurrence for ninja of his caliber. "Spend time with my family and friends more than missions. Things are tough physically and mentally right now."

"Ah." I responded, but didn't push for an explanation. I turned my face away from Shisui, gazing into the ceaseless flow of the river.

"This is kind of therapeutic." I commented, bending down to stick my hand into the cool water.

"I come here with Itachi whenever the both of us are feeling down." Shisui said, amusement lighting his eyes. "This is the Naka River."

Oh, of course.

Of course I would be named after a river that the canon Shisui had drowned himself in.

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"Hey, Asuma." I greeted my brother as I stepped into the training field, watching as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio tried to catch their breath on the ground, with whatever routine their teacher had given them tiring them out.

"Oh, Naka, what are you doing here?" He responded through the cigarette, warily looking behind me for any signs of a certain bubbly Uchiha.

I held up my chakra blades, the ones that I had grown into ever since Yamada-sensei had given them to me as a child. "I need you to give me some more tips."

He jerked his head to the lump of my friends. "Can't you see I'm busy teaching them?"

A small smile appeared on my face. "Please, we both know you purposely exhaust them to the point where they are unable to stand for the next twenty minutes so you can have more free time."

"Alright," he conceded with no real resistance, "but where's your mentor?"

"He gives me a day off every week. It's already been a month of non-stop weight training and chakra control, so I'd like to practice my weaponry skills."

Shisui hadn't been lying when he said that he still had a lot more to teach me.

Turns out Shisui's secondary affinity was lightning, so he was able to teach me some C and D-rank lightning techniques that may have ensued unknowing birds to be electrocuted. But that was probably the most eventful thing that happened last month, because weeding and babysitting weren't exactly joyous.

I blinked up to him, holding my chakra blades up even higher. "Please?"

Heaving out a sigh, he looked back at his students, before looking back at me. "Fine. What do you want to ask?"

"Can I use these to fight in long ranges?" I've been practicing short-range fighting stances for the past year, and it had paid off when I was able to cut through the Sarutobi residence wall (accidentally). Shori had been furious when he had found out, but I managed to escape his wrath by babysitting Konohamaru, that little demon.

"Hm, in a sense, yes." Asuma nodded. "But it will sap your chakra faster than short-distanced techniques so most people prefer using it for close up fighting."

"Ah."

"Now that you manage to enhance the blades' sharpness with your chakra, you can move on to the next lesson: using the blades to enhance your chakra. The chakra blades are special in the way that they will be able to absorb the owner's affinity and create something new."

Asuma had demonstrated the use of his chakra blades when sparring with Shisui before. Possessing a wind affinity, his chakra-infused blades were able to cut through trees that looked like they had been there ever since the coalition of the Uchiha and Senju clan.

"What can I do with my water and lightning chakra?"

"That's something you have to experiment for yourself." He said. "Most people in Konoha have the wind or fire affinity." He admitted. "So I've only met those people with chakra blades."

It took me some time to absorb the information, before nodding. "Alright, I got it. Thanks, Asuma."

I guess it was time to hit the library for some records.

Before I was able to shunshin myself to the library (a skill Shisui had insisted I perfect before learning the body flicker technique), a familiar voice called out.

"Naka!"

I turned around to see that Shikamaru and Ino had recovered a little from their fatigue, and Chouji looking like he still can't move a limb.

"Hey Shika." I replied, before addressing the blonde next to him. "Hey, Ino. Long time no see."

"I haven't seen you in three weeks." He noted, looking at the massive weights on my legs and arms and the bandage covering the entirety of my right arm as a result of being unable to dodge Shisui's fireball in the midst of reflex training. "You look... well."

"You look dashing yourself," I responded, slightly amused at his usually tight ponytail was slightly undone and how prominent his eye bags were. It appears that Asuma wore them out more often than not.

"Do you want to hang out today? We could play chess."

"I would love to," I cracked a smile, "but I have some research to do before my first mission outside of Konoha borders tomorrow. Some other time, maybe?" I offered.

The first time we played chess together five years back, I had won. But the other times? Shikamaru proved himself to be the genius of our generation.

"I'll take your word for it." Shikamaru smiled back.

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Author's Note:

Fun fact: I considered Ibiki or Anko being her mentor, but then I thought meh... Naka was probably too much of a wimp to handle them lol

Kono