Hisayo leaned up against the wall in the mission counter’s room waiting for her assigned team. Her thoughts hung heavily on the talk she and the Hokage had just had minutes ago. She knew that her choice earlier would have its good points and bad points, just like everything else had, but that wouldn‘t give her much trouble. The only thing she knew she would have trouble in was the socializing department. She would have to give more effort than what she had given before, which was near zero.
She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. If she were to survive any kind of mission no matter the difficulty, then she would have to interact better between her teammates.
Hisayo’s eyes shifted to the sound of the door being opened. In walked her team. The one she would be with for the rest of the year. It had been the Hokage’s decision on how long she would stay with the team.
“I still say it’s your fault I missed out on a perfectly good set of kunai!” Hisayo began preparing herself for what she was about to do after hearing the first voice.
“No, it was your fault! If you hadn’t been picking on Suzume again, then I wouldn’t have been yelling at you to apologize!” Akira’s red shirt moved past Hisayo’s gaze. She took in relaxed breaths of air through her nose and out her mouth.
“Akira it’s okay. Please stop arguing over it.” Suzume put her oversized sleeves together in front of her and looked to the ground as if expecting more yelling, which did soon follow.
“Yeah Akira, listen to Suzume so you don’t hurt her feelings.” Ken mocked. Hisayo pushed herself off the wall.
“Would you knock it off! It’s too early for this!” Jiro was about to knock Ken over the head for probably the hundredth time that week. His hand stopped short when Hisayo put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“It would be best… if you apologized and just…got over this.” All four’s actions came to a dead stop and their attention was slowly turned in her direction.
She had never once involved herself in any of their disputes nor had she talked to any of them this past week until now. It was very surprising to say the least.
“U-um…” Ken was at a loss for words. He didn’t quite know how to react to Hisayo’s change in behavior.
“Just…apologize.” Hisayo gently turned Ken to face Akira and Suzume.
“I’m…I’m sorry you guys.” Ken looked to the floor and scratched the back of his neck. What else could he do but follow her command without argument. He was just too astonished to do otherwise.
Jiro couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. He couldn’t ever get the two boys to stop fighting long enough to get any of them to apologize. He figured that it was only due to Hisayo’s surprising actions. Yup, they would all be bickering again soon and forget all about before he thought.
“Good. Now, we have a mission to handle.” Hisayo held up the mission scroll, that she had already taken the liberty of getting before the four had arrived, and started heading for the door.
The four stood there for a few moments, still affected by her actions. “Well? Are you coming or not?” Hisayo looked over her shoulder to her team.
Suzume was the first to react. “Yes. Coming, Hisayo-san.” She ran towards Hisayo.
The other three soon followed in silence with dumbfounded expressions. Hisayo turned her head back around and opened the door. Her thoughts went back over her talk with the Hokage as they all made their way through the door and out of the building.
“I’m giving you a choice to move up from where you are right now. I can tell from this past week that things aren’t going so well where you are at now. I can use you in a different area. Your skills will be used there more. What do you say?” again the Hokage patiently waited.
Hisayo thought for a moment. Was she really going to take the Hokage’s offer? She was indeed finding it difficult with Team Jiro and the constant air of awkwardness that surrounded everyone. She ended her thoughts there and began to speak.
“Lord Hokage, I wish to remain with Team Jiro. I must admit that it has been difficult, but that’s because I haven‘t been trying. I-I‘m not…” Hisayo swallowed and kept herself open. “I‘m not very social and…it‘s difficult to talk to others. I haven‘t…” Hisayo gritted her teeth. She was having to force her words yet again. The Hokage waited for her to continue. He did know how hard it was for her. He had taken notice from the start how unsocial she was when he first met her and Akio.
“I haven’t been fair to them and…if I continue not to try…if I continue as I have, then…I will be no different than the people from where I grew up were…” Hisayo’s memories of her childhood flooded her mind. No, she thought. She wouldn’t become like that. If she was going to bring about that change that Akio had wished, then she would be different.
“..and I will also be no different than the villagers are here towards Naruto.” There, she did it. She held herself together long enough to express what she felt. Akio would be very proud of her performance if he was there with her. He’d be very surprised, but all the same proud.
The Hokage smiled at her determination to be different. The young woman before him did indeed have a strong will. He saw the potential she carried that could one day help change this village’s view of Naruto. Naruto carried that same spark as well. He saw a change in Naruto ever since the boy first met Hisayo. Yes, those two would definitely bring on a change in their era.
“Very well then. If that is your decision, then I will have you assigned to the team for the rest of the year. After the year is out, I will move you up to the Chunin teams.” The Hokage took out her file and made the changes.
“Thank you Lord Hokage.” Hisayo began to leave the room to make her way to the mission counter to wait for her team.
“Hisayo.” She stopped before walking through the door and looked to the Hokage.
“I know you will do great things for this village. I will be looking forward to seeing you grow.” Sarutobi puffed on his pipe and smiled. Hisayo stood in the doorway a moment longer before leaving.
Hisayo looked up to the clear sky for a moment before continuing on with her team. Yes, this choice would have it’s good points and bad points, and her socializing skills would be one of the troubles she would continue to face, but if she made an effort, if she gave it a chance, then she would see a change. A change just like the one she made here. A ghost she would be no more, at least to her team anyways.
*******
The copy ninja was leisurely walking down the street with his book in hand. He had decided to make a trip to buy groceries after he discovered that he only had half a jar of pickles and a partially molded wedge of cheese in his frig at home. It wasn’t that he waited until he had nothing left to eat, it was just difficult to shop for food when he was always sent out on missions. Missions that would sometimes be more than a month long. In fact it had been a week since his return from a particularly long one.
“Kakashi! I have found you at last!” A man wearing a green spandex body suit and bowl cut hair appeared in front of the silver-haired Jounin.
“Oh. Hey Guy.” Kakashi continued walking with his nose in his book completely unaffected by Guy‘s sudden appearance.
Guy blocked Kakashi path again. “It has been so long since our last match! So whadda ya say Kakashi? I’ll even give you the choice of competition this time!” Guy shot out his trademark, toothpaste smile and thumbs up.
Kakashi thought for a minute after giving a small sigh. “Hmm…how about hide and seek. You hide and…I’ll be the one to seek you out. It’ll give me a chance to work on my tracking skills and for you to work on your stealth.” Kakashi spoke with his usual laidback tone.
“Alright you’re on Kakashi! And if you can find me before sundown, then I will do two thousand pushups and with one hand tied behind my back too!” Guy added to the challenge while giving another thumbs up and sparkling smile.
‘There he goes yet again’, thought Kakashi with a sweat drop. “Just start hiding and I’ll count.”
“Ha! Find me if you can, Kakashi!” Guy sped off in a cloud of dust.
“I don’t really plan to.” Kakashi said as he turned the opposite direction of where Guy ran and continued his task of grocery shopping.
Kakashi rounded the corner of a building to another street and saw something that was not quite normal, at least for the small group of people who stood a little ways in front of him. Instead of the usual yelling and arguing he heard every time he came within a hundred yards of the group, he heard absolutely nothing. He had only known the group’s personality and behavior for only a week, but he was still able to tell that something must be amiss.
“Yo.” Kakashi waved and came to a stop in front of the group.
“Ah, Kakashi-sempai, hello.” Jiro smiled and returned the greeting.
“I was just walking along and couldn’t help but notice how…quiet everyone is.” Kakashi turned his head to look at the three silent Genin. They all seemed a bit…surprised? He couldn’t really tell.
“Well you see…”Jiro pointed over to Hisayo who was across the street at a weapons vendor purchasing what looked like a set of new kunai.
“…this morning she stopped those two from fighting and made Ken apologize. And she has been speaking to us.” Jiro finished by pointing to the two boys who still remained silent as they looked over to the vendor.
“And?” Kakashi didn’t quite know what the deal was. She was a part of the team, so wouldn’t she involve herself if there was an argument?
“She has never interacted with this team. She hasn’t involved herself in anything we all do except in missions. So we were all taken by surprise by her sudden change in behavior.”
“So then, that’s good?”
“I don’t really know to be honest with you.”
“What is she doing?” The copy ninja changed the subject to Hisayo’s actions at the vendor.
“Well, it happened after our mission… ” Jiro began recalling.
The five were jumping through the trees and heading back to the village after handling their first C-ranked mission. It wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle really. A small village near Konoha had had a problem with some wild boars destroying their crops and need assistance setting up traps to capture and detour them.
“Earlier you were arguing over a set of kunai. Correct?” Hisayo broke the silence and startled the two boys jumping on both sides of her, nearly causing them to both miss their step.
Akira answered first. “Yeah. He was being mean to Suzume and I got mad at him. Then he started arguing, saying he didn’t have to apologize to her. Someone else got the kunai set and bought it while that all happened.”
“Hey don’t make it sound like it was all my fault. You started it! And I was angry because that was the last set they had in stock.” Ken frowned.
“But Ken, there are other weaponry stores and vendors. Why couldn’t you have just gone to another one?” Suzume asked as she jumped off from another branch.
“Because we were going to be late! Jiro-sensei would have clobbered me over the head like last time!” Ken pointed to Jiro who was jumping near enough to land a small whack on Ken’s head.
Yup, he thought, they’re at it again arguing, though not as intense as usual.
“Ow! See!” Ken held his head and glared at his sensei who just ‘hmphed’ in annoyance.
“Why do you need a new set?” Hisayo’s voice again spoke. The Genin and Jounin weren’t sure if they would ever get used to hearing her speak to them like that. Her voice was serious and calm. Not a drop of curiosity in her tone despite her question.
Ken hesitated before speaking. “I practice throwing my set a lot and well, they sort of have a lot of chips and scrapes.” He was a bit embarrassed admitting such a thing like that in front of his team, but it was true. He never really took care of his things and felt that it would be too much of a bother to try and fix them, so his easy option was to just buy a new set.
“Why can’t you just fix them? You too lazy or something?” Akira smirked.
“No way! I could fix them! It’s just…” Ken didn’t know how to lie out of that one. He was about to dart ahead away from his team and Akira’s criticism as he saw the gate come into view.
“A new set then.” Hisayo seemed to mumble to herself.
“Huh?” Ken tried to figure out what she was saying.
“I need to stop at a vendor before we report in.” The four looked at her curiously. What was she going to do?
“But why? Can’t you do that after?” Ken questioned with suspicion in his eyes.
“You need a new set don’t you?” Her question sounded more like a statement.
“Yeah but-”
“Then a new set you will get.” They all stopped their quick pace at the gate and walked to the nearest vendor.
“And here we are.” Jiro finished.
Hisayo walked back over to her team and stopped in front of Ken. “Here.” She handed over a sack with the set of kunai she had bought.
“Th-thank you Hisayo-san!” Ken smiled and bowed deeply.
“Don’t misunderstand. Your previous set of kunai…were useless and they would be no help to any of us should…we face a foe.” Hisayo held no emotion and turned away from the Genin.
“Um, right.” Ken hastily nodded.
Suzume and Akira looked over Ken’s shoulder at Hisayo in wonder. They were glad that she was finally speaking to them, but they had to wonder what brought on the change. Oh well, as long as there wouldn’t be any more frustration and awkwardness around her, they wouldn’t complain.
This peaked the copy ninja’s interest. When he first met her, everything about her seemed forced. He thought it must have been because she was new and trying to settle in to the village, but now…
Questions of who she was and where she was from before coming to the village began to form in his mind. More questions arose when he remembered a conversation that a few villagers were having just yesterday about the ’new arrival’ to the village. Naruto had been a part of that same conversation.
“I tell you that new arrival to our village has to be trouble.”A man whispered to a small group comprising of two women and one other man.
“What do you mean?” The first woman, wearing her hair up in a ponytail, had asked.
“I mean, that she’s been hanging around that monster of a child, Naruto.” The man whispered even lower. The two women gave a small gasp in surprise and the other man just shook his head.
“I heard she even came to the monster’s defense last week. Rose her hand against a villager.” The surprised gasps sounded again.
“Why would she do that? Is she a monster too then?” The second woman with loose hair questioned in fear.
“Why is she even in this village to begin with? What was the Third Hokage thinking letting someone like that live here?”
“Who knows? I just hope she doesn’t cause any trouble around here.”
Hisayo looked to Kakashi’s direction and their gazes locked—gold versus onyx—neither seeming intimidated by the other.
Could what those villagers have said been true? If so, then what could she be, and why did she have such an attachment to Naruto that she would defend him? Was she hiding something or was it just a case of the rumor mill running? He hoped to find out.
Hisayo looked away from the silver-haired ninja that had introduced himself to her last week and turned away towards the Hokage mansion. His gaze was strange, as though he was trying to see through her. She didn’t want to stick around anymore and began walking away.
“Alright time to report in.” Jiro announced as he waved goodbye to Kakashi and led his team back to the mansion.
Kakashi stood and watched the five depart. After they disappeared from sight, he went back to…what was he doing again? He forgot, as he continued down the street aimlessly. Whatever it had been before his encounter with Jiro and his team, he would remember, maybe.