Dinner and a Tree-walk

Bum-bum-bum-Bum!

Level Up!

Level 10.

Well, my furlough passed quickly enough. I put a grand total of 16 points into Ninjutsu, bringing it up to 55, since I've realized that every single check was a multiple of five. A grand total of 18 points into Melee Weapons, bringing it up to 35 in preparation for the Ninja perk. 10 points into Fuinjutsu at level 9 and 2 points into it at level 10, bringing it up to 52.

I also took Chakra Seals, which allow me to make seals without ink and use them without blood. It's broken, as far as I'm concerned.

I've stopped keeping track of all the jutsu I've invented. Enough for 6250 EXP points. This just shows something that frankly baffles my mind: I can do almost whatever the heck I want as far as jutsu is concerned. My only limit is skills, and that's not much of a limit.

I acquired some explosive notes and storage scrolls over the past two weeks and managed to reverse engineer them to make my own. Turns out that explosive notes only work by, and it's hurting my brain to think of it like this, but they work by sealing explosions for later use. Specifically, a C-rank suicide technique, into the seal. I guess it makes sense considering what I know now, but it's dashed my hopes and dreams.

So on the plus side, I know the jutsu and figured out how to make a better one. Also, the ability to make my own storage scrolls is rapidly turning out to be priceless, since as long as I have the storage scroll on my person, the scroll and the items inside count as being in my inventory, and can be accessed through my black book.

However, my dreams of 'seals as reality warping computers' have nearly come to a screeching halt and so, I'm going to have to rethink my 'chakra missiles' from the ground up. I'm mostly just trying to bring a bit of my childhood…well, the first one… to the game.

Replicating Isaac's Greater Missile Storm is something of a pet project. I'm starting to think I can use the Rasengan as the basis for the missiles, but I need to make them seek out their targets. Maybe an overlay of chakra over the ball that propels it forward? I still need to figure out how the chakra manages to hold its shape without hand seals telling it to do so. That's the biggest innovation about that ball of power, really.

But as far as triumphs of my childhood are concerned, I can do Sith Lightning now. Because Star Wars.

I don't need any other reason.

Still trying to figure out how to turn it into Force Storm but when I do, I think it'll be worth it.

I haven't seen either of my teammates over the past few weeks, but then I haven't really been looking for them either. I think Hisako might be over my sucker punch to the team-building exercise two weeks ago, but maybe that's just me hoping. I have no clue what Nichiren's doing.

Today we were supposed to meet up again in the morning at training ground 1, as opposed to number 3 which I think may be so Kakashi-sensei can be late like he normally is. I can respect that, since judging people's quirks is the last thing that I, of all people, should be doing.

I was leaning against one of the training posts, still going over my options in the perk-list in my notebook. The breeze was fairly pleasant against my face and I saw the grass shift around me in the wind. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it otherwise seemed…peaceful.

This meant that I was bored, sadly. To wait, or not to wait? I…I guess I'm not waiting, as Hisako just entered the training ground.

Her head was hanging, her face looking downcast. Her long black hair was tied up in its usual ponytail, with a pair of locks framing the sides of her face. I could see from the insides of her dark jacket that she was loaded up on senbon and shuriken. She wore boots that went up to her shins, but they were un-armored.

…wait, I didn't know she could use senbon. Huh. Someone has been training. I approve.

Hisako looked up at me as she approached and offered a half-hearted smile and wave as greeting.

I waved back with a smile of my own.

We sat there for a couple awkward moments, before I went back to my book. Huh, Unstoppable is a thing? Oh, but it's a level 50 perk. A chance to avoid all damage from an attack that scales-

Hisako sighed and sat down to my left.

-with luck. Really cool, but I'd need to sacrifice Will of Fire for that. It'd be pretty awesome if I could conceivably go into fight by myself with no teammates, but going into as many fights with teammates as I can will ensure that I'm there to keep everyone alive with our enemies dead.

"So," Hisako paused. "Daisuke."

"What?" I looked at her quizzically.

Hisako looked at me back, taking a breath before continuing. "You have a right to be angry."

She lost me.

"And I'm sorry about trying to hit you," Hisako let out the breath she was holding. "For not…respecting…that you don't want to talk about what happened back at the house."

Oh, That. Right. Should I be mad at that? I should not be mad at that. She didn't actually hit me for one, and I was the one who tanked the group-bonding exercise. That and the house part was technically my fault since that Root Agent was targeting me specifically.

…though I do have reservations about the 'Root and Danzo evulz' being the entire explanation, to be perfectly honest. I'm betting on human error also playing a factor…

"So…I just…yeah," Hisako finished lamely, turning on the ground to not face me. "…I'm sorry."

I blinked and went back to my book. Then I closed it and stuck it in my back pocket. "I'm not mad."

"Yes you are," Hisako frowned, looking back at me. "I can hear it in your voice, Daisuke. It's called a tone of voice."

"I think you're confusing angry for confused," I replied, getting a little irate for real. Stupid 4 Charisma. It's still better than 1 but I still have terrible issues with my social skills. It makes me feel that the Henge only increases my appearance some days.

"Well, I don't think so," Hisako's increasing frustration pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," I shrugged, pulling my book out with a plan in case she tried to hit me again.

"I-You-Grrr…" Her frustration started to spike and…she stood up and walked away, kicking a training post on the way before sitting behind it. Then she groaned in irritation with a twinge of regret.

Well, that was weird. Smoother than I hoped, though. Any other perks I could find a use for. Ninja, I'm actually wondering about. On the one hand, it'll help my Taijutsu a lot. On the other hand, it needs melee weapons as a requirement. I'm literally never going to use melee weapons, meaning I'm dumping 80 some-odd skill points into a skill I'll never otherwise use except for some specific situations.

So maybe there's a better perk I can use? I…ugh…I need to fix things up with Hisako. My gut's not going to stop bothering me until I do.

So let's be careful with my voice modulation here. "So…I'm really not mad, Hisako."

"You don't need to lie to make me feel better," Hisako called back from behind her stump. "I know I screwed up."

"That doesn't mean I'm mad," I replied with a frown. "You didn't hit me, I tanked a team-bonding moment…seriously. All is forgiven, if that's what you want to hear."

"It's not about what I want to hear," Hisako argued back. "It's about making things right for a teammate I disrespected."

C'mon, let's try to use my speech skill here… "I don't feel disrespected, though. Really. Nichiren, Kakashi-sensei and yourself were all having a really healthy group-therapy session. One that I opted out of in a really bad way. Emotions were high and I recognize that. I don't fault you for any of that. I might've wanted to hit me in your shoes."

Hisako was quiet. Until she offered a single, barked-out laugh. "I swear, even when you're saying the right things, it sounds forced."

Is that her anger talking or my crappy charisma talking? "Sorry."

"Ah no," Hisako sounded startled. "That's not what I meant. I'm trying to apologize to you."

"Apology accepted?" I said, wanting this to be over and for us to be friends again already.

Hisako sighed, sounding a little miserable. "Just forget it."

Oh, great. This was going to haunt me for the next few days, I could tell. It's times like this that I think I really screwed up going for a natural 1 charisma. This just makes me ache more for Almost Perfect, which is tens of thousands of EXP away for me. There's only so much jutsu I can pull out of my rear before I run out of ideas. Or into problems.

Nichiren came into view a few minutes later. His own black hair was cut short and his glasses were thick and square. He seemed hunched over and nervous, more so than usual. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his baggy pants. The kunai holster on his leg was filled, obviously, and he carried some slightly worn storage scrolls on the back of his belt.

Huh, seems like he's been training more too. Nice. Also, I just noticed that I'm the only one on my team with brown hair. Odd, because brown hair was one of the most common in my old life. Now I'm the only one I know with it out of the people I know.

…the things you notice with bigger perception score.

I like it, actually.

"Hey, Hisako. Daisuke," Nichiren waved to each of us in turn.

"Hey Nichiren," Hisako replied.

"Hello," I said in return.

Nichiren swallowed. "So…my mom wanted to invite you guys over for dinner tonight. Do you guys have any plans? She said she'd love to have the both of you. She even invited Sensei."

"Sure, I can come," Hisako agreed immediately.

"I…don't know," I confessed with a shrug.

"Oh. You have plans?" Nichiren asked.

"No, I just seriously doubt I'm the type of person you'd invite over for dinner," I answered truthfully. "I have no idea what table manners are involved, how to act and even if I did, it'd probably look forced or something."

Hisako made a noise of discomfort. I craned my neck to see if she was okay. She looked fine.

"My mom knows you have trouble talking to people," Nichiren said. Then he looked mortified at having let that slip. "I mean, she knows you're an amazing shinobi and how you helped save our lives so I thought it'd be fair to let her know that you have…difficulty socializing. She said she wants to have you over anyway."

I blinked. Once. Twice.

"You know, if you don't want me around you can just say so," I said with a frown. "I know I scare you half to death, no need to suffer on my account."

"No, no! That's not it," Nichiren started to back pedal. "I-I just didn't know how you'd react to an…invitation from someone that you've never met before. I wasn't sure if you'd say yes since you don't really act like a normal person."

Hisako hissed in alarm and a little bit of anger. Nichiren's eyes went wide as he inserted his foot into his mouth with all the force of a train.

For my part, I simply snorted and went back to my book. "Ain't that the truth."

Everything simple fell into an awkward silence. I could have sworn I felt the inklings of Killing Intent coming from Hisako aimed at Nichiren for his slip-up. Poor guy. I wish I knew how I could stop scaring the heck out of him. Or at very least help him man-up and not let me get to him so bad.

After about a half an hour, Nichiren impressed me by coming back around for a second try. "Sorry, Daisuke. I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's okay," I replied, looking at him.

"I am sorry and I wasn't kidding about my Mom wanting you over for dinner," Nichiren continued. "Could you…think the offer over, at least?"

"I think it'd be good to have you there," Hisako added, still behind the training post. "She invited the whole team, you know."

I guess it'll give me enough time to think about how to let them down gently before the time comes and I act like a slobbering caveman in a glass house. "I'll think about it."

"Thank you," Nichiren actually sounded relieved.

Huh. I misread that situation entirely. Whoops. "Sorry for being harsh, earlier."

Nichiren looked taken aback. "It's okay, Daisuke-san. I kn-uh, yeah. It's okay."

Nice save.

Things went back to a decidedly more comfortable silence. Hisako sounded like she was sharpening her kunai. Nichiren was actually painting a seal…what looked like an explosive tag.

"Careful you don't blow yourself up," I said to Nichiren.

"I know," Nichiren said, stopping what he was doing to look at me. "Kakashi-sensei was very thorough when explaining how to make these."

"Kakashi-sensei taught you how to make explosive tags?" Hisako sounded a little hurt. "When do I get to learn how to make these?"

"I think soon," Nichiren replied. "Yesterday, he said I've caught up on everything I missed in the academy plus a little."

"That's awesome," Hisako replied. "So does that mean I get some personal, super awesome training soon, or do I have to wait in line behind Daisuke?"

"I can just pull jutsu out of the air," I said in affront to that. "I don't think I need special attention any time soon." Or ever.

"Right," Hisako actually sounded annoyed at that, which didn't make sense to me.

Eventually, our sensei actually showed up, one hand in pocket, his face deeply engrossed in his erotica. Like usual, I felt a spike of irritation at the sight of the book. All the changes I've gone through and I'm still a horrible prude.

"Ah, my lovely little Genin," Kakashi eye-smiled, closing his book. "How was your furlough?"

"Pretty good, actually," I responded with a nod. "No real complaints."

Kakashi looked at me like I grew a second head for some reason. He only stopped when I think he understood that I was actually me. Weird. Maybe it's about the lack of missions?

"I got some good training in," Hisako stood up, shrugging her shoulders. "It was nice to get a break, though."

"It was great, Kakashi-sensei," Nichiren smiled. "Thanks for training me through it anyway."

"It was nothing," Kakashi eye-smiled. "I'm just happy to see how far you've come."

"So when's my super special training," Hisako asked with an expectant look.

"Probably soon," Kakashi said. Then he sighed, looking at Hisako and myself. "I'm sorry if it feels like I've been neglecting the two of you. Training up Nichiren's been taking up most of my time."

"It's fine," Hisako said, waving off his concerns. "I'm just ready to learn something new is all."

"Well you'll get that today," Kakashi straightened out. "You know the tree-walking technique already, right?"

"Yup!" Hisako looked really happy.

"So today, I'm going to teach you the water-walking technique," Kakashi looked indifferent. "There's a pond out in the back of the training course. And before I forget…"

Kakashi turned to Nichiren as Hisako bolted for the aforementioned pond. "Nichiren, do you know the tree-walking technique?"

"No Sensei," Nichiren replied with an embarrassed smile. "Am I supposed too?"

"No, that's usually a technique reserved for Jounin to teach their Genin," Kakashi explained. "Hisako already learned it from her parents and Daisuke's…"

"I'm me," I supplied.

"Yes," Kakashi sounded a little exasperated. "You're you. Which is why you're going to be teaching Nichiren the tree-walking technique while I'm helping Hisako."

"What."

"Don't 'what' me," Kakashi sounded unusually tired. "With the way you pull jutsu out of the air, I'd have thought that you'd have a very in-depth understanding of how the Jutsus work. Am I wrong?"

"…not really," I muttered to myself. "I do know jutsu pretty well, yes."

"Well then you shouldn't have any trouble at all," Kakashi eye smiled and I got the distinct impression that he may have been trolling me. Or worse; trying to train me. "Have fun, you two!"

He disappeared in a flurry of leaves and I saw him materialize over by the thicket that housed the pond, already giving Hisako the specialized instruction she craved.

I looked at Nichiren, who was looking at me with a mix of apprehension and maybe a little acceptance. "So, how do I do the technique?"

"It's actually pretty simple," I said, gesturing to the nearest tree and we started walking. "You send chakra through your limb of choice and anchor it to the surface you want to stick to. In the case of Konoha, a tree."

We arrived at the base of the tree. I was looking up at it and it seemed reasonably high. But I didn't want high right now.

"So how do I actually do that?" Nichiren asked, adjusting his glasses.

I explaining that from scratch doesn't seem like it would help…Oh, what's a good example…uh…oh. Yeah. "Remember the leaf-sticking exercise they had us all do in the academy?"

"You mean the one where you made the leaf dance across your arm for your own amusement?" Nichiren asked in turn.

"Oh yeah, I remember that," I reminisced, lost in a memory or two. "Anyway, that's what you want to do. Just scaled up."

"Wait, really?" Nichiren asked with a frown. "That's all there is to it?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, basically."

"I can do that," Nichiren smiled, putting a foot on the trunk. "Okay, now what?"

"Test the grip by trying to lift yourself up?" I offered, scratching the side of my head. "Gently, though. No jumping."

Nichiren nodded and his brow knitted together in concentration. The muscles in his leg tightened and…his leg slid right off the bark.

"Not enough chakra," I said.

"Okay," Nichiren pursed his lips into a thin line and stuck is leg on the trunk again. After a few seconds, he tried to lift himself up again and this time actually succeeded in sticking to the trunk. With a nervous laugh, Nichiren slowly brought his other leg up to the tree and fell from the trunk. I caught him before he landed on the dirt and stood him back up.

"You alright?" I asked, letting him go.

"Yeah," Nichiren nodded. "I'm fine."

"Good," I nodded. "Try again."

Nichiren nodded and took a deep breath, sticking his foot on the trunk.

This process repeated itself for several minutes. He would put his foot on, lift his foot other foot up, would almost get said foot on the trunk, or succeed in getting it on the trunk, only to slide off. I tried my best to remain quiet to avoid venting my frustration and making him feel bad. I mean, I am the adult here. Even if I don't look it.

Eventually, after I caught him, he just glared at the tree. "What am I doing wrong?"

I shrugged. "If you keep slipping off, that's a sign you aren't putting enough chakra into it."

"I'm not putting enough chakra into it?" Nichiren looked flabbergasted.

"Well, you can stick just fine until you start thinking about something else," I was partially thinking to myself here. "So you're probably just forgetting to pump chakra through the foot that's sticking while you're trying to do something else. You need a constant flow of chakra to stick, after all."

Nichiren blinked, frowned and nodded. He stuck one foot on the tree, and with his face screwed up in concentration, managed to stick the other one on the trunk.

The speech skill was a fantastic investment.

"I did it!" Nichiren threw both hands into the air then stopped himself from dropping onto the ground.

"That's awesome," I nodded in approval. "Now, can you walk up the tree?"

"…up the tree?" Nichiren sounded worried again.

"You can't say you've learned tree-walking until you can walk up the tree," I informed him, walking up the tree casually to demonstrate. "Just keep doing what you're doing and practice from there."

You know, this makes me wonder. From what I remember of the anime, the only person to get tree walking right off the bat was Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke both needed to do a parkour run up their trees during Wave Arc, if I recall. Was that kind of training more effective than what I'm doing? Does the fact that Nichiren's doing this rather successfully mean I'm a better teacher? Doubt it. It probably means that Nichiren's control is actually really good.

He still hasn't moved though. Maybe I should've had him do the parkour-run instead?

I slid down next to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Nichiren answered. "Just…psyching myself up."

He's scared of something. Is he afraid of heights? I was afraid of heights in my old life. So I can understand that completely. "I'll head back down to catch you when you fall."

"Uh…" Nichiren stopped. Was that not it? "Thanks, I might need thaaaaa-"

I got down there first and caught him.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem."

Nichiren stood up.

"Maybe we should change tactics here," I replied. "You think you can run up this tree?"

"Run up it?" Nichiren squawked, looking up the tree. "No."

You know, I'd thought that running up it would be harder to do; much more strenuous, difficult and probably better for training chakra control. Probably why Kakashi had Naruto and Sasuke do that the first time around. But…wait, Kakashi didn't do that. He simply taught them the jutsu and Naruto and Sasuke made it a competition. That's right. I think.

You know, the only thing that's stopped me from writing down what I remember is the fact that I live in a village of spies and that I'd have to burn anything I wrote when I was done. Writing the future would get me in trouble and writing in English would raise eyebrows at my non-existent cryptography training and would get me in the same kind of trouble. Actually, worse.

"It was just an idea," I shrugged. "I mean, you'd only have to have chakra in your foot as long as you were stepping off and it would accustom you to moving around while using the jutsu faster."

"Maybe," Nichiren allowed. "But I'd rather just be able to stick and learn to move first."

I shrugged. I actually would prefer that method myself if I were him. "Alright, go ahead."

It took a while. Nichiren would make a step or two, before falling off. I caught him every time-

--3 HP-

-sometimes at my own expense, but eventually, as the sun rose to high noon, he got it. He started walking around the tree trunk, cheering louder with each passing step. I was pretty grateful I was able to circumvent my low Charisma by not saying a lot and letting him teach himself for the majority of this.

I munched on a candy-bar to bring back my lost health. "Nice work up there!"

"So, how's the tree walking jutsu?" Kakashi appeared right next to me.

"Nichiren's great," I replied, swallowing my candy. "His chakra control is pretty good."

"Well," Kakashi eye-smiled at me. "I'm pleasantly surprised by this turn of events."

I shrugged. "I didn't have to say much, which is probably for the best. I just gave him an example and he taught himself."

"He is fairly intelligent," Kakashi nodded. "So, are you going to dinner with the Nakamura's?"

"I was thinking not," I replied, a cold shiver going down my spine. "Again, I work best when I don't have to say much."

"Well we might want to start working on that," Kakashi eye smiled. "I think you should come with us."

"Why?" I asked with a deep frown. "I don't see why this is something I need to work on."

"Because as a shinobi, you might be hired to escort someone like a merchant or even the Diamyo," Kakashi answered, becoming much more serious. "We can't have a shinobi as socially inept as you messing things up for clients."

"So I just won't take any escort missions," I shrugged. No love lost there, really. Escort missions were the worst and it didn't matter what game it was. Reverse escort missions, naturally, were the best thing ever. Nearly every mission involving Liberty Prime was a reverse escort mission. They were glorious. "I don't see the big deal."

"Okay," Kakashi started switching tactics in his head, I can tell. "But you're also going to be a future clan leader with your bloodline. You don't want to mess up your posterities chances because you never trained to be a better diplomat, right?"

He had me. I knew it and I think he knew it. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight. "The Aburame's seem to be doing fine."

"They are also a fully established and respected clan," Kakashi replied. I could hear him getting exasperated. "You, by yourself, are not."

I didn't want to go. Nichiren was scared of me and I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of his folks. I mostly tried to avoid socializing for a reason, after all. And I respected what Kakashi was trying to do. The question was if I was really willing to humor him and my team and spend a few hours trying to pointlessly increase my social skills. Especially since I can be inventing jutsu or looking for skill-checks to pass to increase my level and actually improve my social skills with my scaling Charisma.

…my life is really weird right now.

"Think of it this way," Kakashi said. "You'll be showing support for your teammate."

Why did I hear a bit of doubt in his voice? Whatever. "Fine, I'll go."

"You will?" Kakashi blinked in disbelief. Then he eye-smiled. "That's good to hear! I look forward to seeing you there."

I made sure to buy new clothes. Biggest charisma bonus I could find, which was +4. So, I was currently rocking an 8 charisma with no armor, with my belt sticking around my waist like the irremovable pip-boys of yore. I considered bringing them with me on missions, but whether changing into them manually or fishing through my book, switching would take time.

The new suit should, at least, make this dinner bearable for all involved. Hisako, Nichiren, Kakashi, Nichiren's parents. I'll admit that I only brought it along because…well, it might be fun to actually make a good first impression and have a couple people like me without being compelled to spend time with me. Even if they will just go back to ignoring me once I revert back to my armor. I was still mad about being strongly encouraged to come.

It was a simple set with a black tunic and grey pants. I seriously doubted this was a black-tie occasion, so the kimono was out. I was kind of proud of myself for figuring that out, but I figured that mostly came from my knowledge from before.

I, of course, was early. I wasn't expected until 8:00 so I got here at 7:30. Punctuality is one of the things I'm an absolute stickler for and I guess it helps counter balance Kakashi-sensei's lateness. Or it simply causes my temper to come to a boil.

Much like coming to this dinner. I mean, I may be humoring my team here, but that doesn't mean I like it. Actually, I really should keep quiet during this dinner. Things like raging frustration came out really strongly in my voice and mannerisms in my old life, and I can only assume it's going to be worse now.

And like clockwork, Hisako showed up about twenty minutes later. She was dressed how she always dressed, since her outfit was acceptable by civilian standards, as opposed to my 'armored and ready for battle' look.

"Hey Hisako," I waved at her, putting on my best smile to avoid showing how much I didn't want to be here.

She looked at me in disbelief. "Daisuke? Is that you?"

"Afraid so," I replied with a nod. "Kakashi-sensei roped me into coming, so here I am."

"Wow," She tilted her head to get a better look at me. "I barely recognized you."

Bonus charisma can do that. "Must be the outfit."

"Yeah," Hisako then frowned. "Okay, so what'd you do?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"You don't just look good, you sound good," Hisako frowned, giving me a once-over. "Like you're socially competent. What gives?"

Ooh. That's right, inexplicable rises in competence gets eyeballed. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered with the suit. "Oh, uh...I can be socially competent. It's just difficult. Very, very difficult."

It's better than the actual explanation; that I'm only competent when I'm wearing expensive clothing.

"Oh-kay," Hisako frowned. "How is it difficult?"

Crap. "It's like a super-charged Henge. I use the Henge to make me not look like a statue and give the appearance of not being a quirky, social mess. This one just goes several steps further. I just can't maintain it all the time."

Hisako smirked, but I could feel just a twinge of annoyance in her words, "Well, it makes sense that you pull a jutsu out of nowhere to solve your problem."

Thank you, 8 Charisma. Seriously, if this is what I have to look forward to when I have an actually high charisma, then Almost Perfect can't come soon enough. You know, it just occurred to me that she may be slightly over appreciative of my ability to invent jutsu.

As in downright envious.

It would make sense, considering what I know of her.

…I'm digging the high charisma.

Maybe I can help her learn some extra jutsu? Smooth things over? Would be a good idea. Though I might need to find an alternative other than this outfit in order to do it right since I just told her my bonus charisma was incredibly difficult to hold, so…maybe I really will pull a jutsu out of nowhere to do so?

"Yeah, I guess it does," I replied with a small smile. "Do you know if Kakashi's already here or if he's going to be late?"

"Probably will be late," Hisako said with a frown. "You want to go knock on the door now?"

"I think maybe we should wait a few more minutes," I looked down the street for any sign of our Sensei. The street was bare of any ninja cyclops. "Just to say we actually waited for him."

"Good point," Hisako said. "I like the outfit by the way."

"Thanks," I replied, looking at the sleeves. "I figured that the armored look was a little much for civilians."

"Right," Hisako blinked. "I didn't think you could be so thoughtful."

"I can be considerate," I countered. "It just takes a lot of work. Like, I'm seriously wondering if tonight's going to kill me or not."

Hisako snickered. "Who knows, it might not."

"I hope not," I frowned. Sadly, this outfit was actually too bulky to be worn with everything else I owned, so no permanent CHA bonus for me. I need it, though.

The minutes passed and we made idle chatter until it was exactly 8:00. I did the knocking and not even a second later, Nichiren answered the door. "Hey, you're just in…Daisuke, is that you?"

I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's me."

"You look good," Nichiren said. "How'd that happen?"

I almost said that I pulled out some extra stops, but that saying is actually a reference to the pipe organ, an instrument I don't think exists in this world. So, instead I said; "I came up with a super-charged Henge. Can't maintain it for long but I…didn't want to embarrass myself tonight."

"Hey it's okay," Nichiren said with a frown. "My parents know you have some trouble normally. They're completely fine with it. You didn't need to invent a new jutsu just for this occasion."

Being able to lie is actually really nice, now that I think about it. "That's okay. I wanted to invent a new jutsu anyway."

"Well if you're sure," Nichiren frowned, moving aside so we could see in. "Come on in."

We entered. The house was really nice. There was a table, a kitchen, a place where my shoes came off for safe keeping and...ah. Two adults, late thirties at least. They both had glasses, and they were the same height, at least a couple of inches shorter than Kakashi-sensei, though that might Kakashi's hair talking. They both had glasses and black hair. While Mrs. Nakamura had let her hair down for the occasion, Mr. Nakamura's hair was cut short. Dark eyes, dark hair. They were so clearly Nichiren's parents I might've actually picked them out from a crowd if I cared for that sort of thing.

They were standing, ready to greet us as we walked in. I went for a bow, of course. "Yamada-otachisan, thank you for inviting me."

"We really appreciate it," Hisako bowed beside me.

"Mom, Dad," Nichiren took the lead. "These are my teammates Shimoda Daisuke and Yamada Hisako."

"It's so great to meet you both," Mrs. Nakamura said with cheer as Hisako and I came back up. "Nichiren's told us both a lot about you."

"Welcome to your home," Mr. Nakamura said. "Nichiren, do you know if your sensei is running late."

I just barely avoided answering this alongside Nichiren. Don't want to talk over him, I'm in his house. "Yes, he's probably running late. I told him the dinner was at six to try and counter act it, but…"

"I think he knew you were lying," Hisako spoke up with folded arms. "Good try though, I should've thought of that."

"Ah no," Nichiren frowned, his eyes going to his mother.

"You lied to your sensei?" Mrs. Nakamura got very stern. "What have we said about lying and cheating?"

"Don't do it unless I'm on a mission?" Nichiren put on his best innocent smile.

"Yes," Mrs. Nakamura said. "Why lie this time?"

"Because I was on a mission to invite my friends to dinner," Nichiren nodded sagely. "Yes indeed."

"That doesn't count!" Mrs. Nakamura had a horrible temper. "We talked about this-"

"Ai, Ai," Mr. Nakamura rose and hand and calmed down his wife, who was actually starting to get scary. "We can talk about this later. Not in front of guests."

"Yes, I suppose you're right Hiro," Nakamura Ai had calmed down with a sigh. "Anyway, please have a seat. Nichiren, you were going to help me in the kitchen."

"Uh…yes, Mother," Nichiren's shoulders sagged.

"If it makes any difference," I spoke up. "Our Sensei is always late. Infuriatingly so."

"Yes," Nakamura Hiro nodded. "But we've raised our son to be honest…within reason, anyway. Being a shinobi often requires deceit I'm told."

"It can be life or death," Hisako confirmed with a nod.

"But your sensei being late is not a matter of life or death," Hiro explained. "It's merely a matter of convenience."

Well, Ma and Pa Kent clearly had their moral center's in the right spot. With the kind of ninja the world has, they might even be in the right genre, too. I still feel bad Nichiren got in trouble over it though. Hopefully it's no too severe. Actually, he's technically an adult now by Konoha law, so they can't really do a thing to him.

…Konoha Law suddenly became a little infuriating.

"Please, sit down," Hiro motioned for us to sit at the table. "I didn't invite you here to lecture you, I apologize. Dinner will be here soon."

We did so, Hisako sitting across from me.

"So," Hisako started, looking at me. "What'd you do over the past two weeks?"

"Mostly working on my jutsu," I replied, shrugging. "You?"

"My parents came home for a week," Hisako smiled thinking about it. "Mom taught me a little about how to use senbon. I've been working on it whenever I got the chance."

"That's awesome," I nodded. "So, throwing senbon has got to be a lot harder than just throwing a shuriken. Right?"

Hisako smiled. "Definitely. First, the way you hold them is completely different…"

She went on about how to hold senbon and throw senbon, to which I nodded and maybe asked a question or two to keep the ball rolling, which was much easier with a higher charisma. Eventually, the Nakamura's brought out the main course, which was Chicken Katsu with Tonkatsu sauce on the side.

They each took a seat and then there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Nichiren quickly stood, running toward the door. "Kakashi-sensei, come in."

"Thank you," Kakashi said from the door, walking inside, sans shoes.

"Come in, Kakashi-san," Mr. Nakamura called after our Sensei as he arrived. "We were just about to eat. Please have a seat."

Kakashi approached the table, but stopped for a second. "Oh, hello Daisuke! I'm glad to see you here."

He didn't recognize me for a second and now he's saving face. I'm okay with this. "I'm glad to see you."

He took a seat right across from Mrs. Nakamura. I'm trying my best to remember that Mr. and Mrs. aren't a thing in this world, and only how I'm differentiating them in my head. Don't want to let something slip on my tongue, after all.

"Itadakimasu," We said as a group, breaking our chop-sticks and digging in.

I tried to keep quiet, let everyone else talk around themselves. Hisako's parents were home for a week before heading out on other long-term assignments. What kind of relationship is that? Are they Anbu and can't see their daughter often? Or do they really go outside of the Village for whatever reason?

Of course, I should've known I couldn't just stay quiet, now could I?

"So Daisuke," Hisako happily involved me in the conversation. "What exactly did you do for your two weeks besides training?"

I shrugged. "Mostly just working on my jutsu. But I also worked out how to make explosive seals."

Kakashi started choking. I didn't even see him move his mask, but his meal was almost gone.

"Breathe, Kakashi-sensei," Resisting the grin tugging at my lips. "Breathe."

"You," Kakashi-sensei coughed out with his lung. "You worked out how to make explosive tags? How?"

"I bought an explosive tag," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Analyzed it and figured out how it works. I know they can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, but I know what I'm doing."

Now Kakashi-sensei really was looking at me like a grew a second head. Well, maybe like I had grown three. I don't know, but he seemed shocked that…I had been messing with a suicide-jutsu. Well, that would explain his reaction.

Eventually he came to. "I was hoping you simply made your own jutsu. So you know everything about the jutsu used to make explosive notes?"

"Yeah. I was somewhat surprised to learn about it, actually," Upon seeing Kakashi-sensei's eye-expression, I quickly back-tracked. "I didn't get hurt if that's what you're wondering."

"Okay good," Kakashi sighed in relief. "Do you think you could…not mess with seals until we've had a chance to talk about it later?"

"Sure," I shrugged. I was going to need to re-think what I wanted to do with them anyway. Focusing on Ninjutsu seemed to be much more profitable right now.

Mrs. Nakamura frowned. "So how long have you three been a team now?"

I looked at Hisako.

"About 4 or 5 weeks?" Hisako guessed.

"I thought it was closer to six," I countered.

"Five weeks and three days," Kakashi came in with the exact number. "It's been great teaching them."

"We're so glad you have you teaching our son," Ai smiled. "Thank you for all your hard work."

Kakashi just waved it off. "It's nothing. I was happy to do it."

Of course, the parents would mostly care about how they're little boy was doing. Just like how my parents would've cared were they here.

…home. I hadn't really thought about it for a while. Mom and Dad were awesome. I still remember how Mom was trying to get her 'all natural skin-care' business off of the ground and she'd come to me to proofread her labels. Then I'd go to her for some advice…I was such a mama's boy back then.

Dad and I got into Skyrim together. I don't think he ever touched Fallout 4, though. He and I would talk for hours about various quests we'd do. He's brag about being able to down a dragon with a dagger and sneak attack damage, and I'd tell him about that one quest where I went on a drunken rampage across all of Skyrim and had to retrace my steps to find out how I wound up naked in the temple of Dibella, and married a Hagraven.

Good times. I miss them.

Then I had a brother who was crazy about League-

"Daisuke?" Nichiren asked.

I snapped back to reality. "Sorry, I zoned out for a second."

"It's okay," Nichiren said. "We were just talking about how to taught me the tree-walking jutsu."

"I didn't do a lot of teaching," I replied. "I just put you on the tree and you learned on your own."

"How many times did you catch him?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile.

"Kakashi-sensei," Nichiren moaned in annoyance.

"Six," I replied. "How did teaching Hisako water-walking go?"

"You can walk on water?" Hiro asked with some awe in his voice.

Oh, Civilian. That's right. "It's a mid-rank chakra control exercise. Not everyone can do it…Kakashi-sensei can do it."

"So can you," Nichiren reminded.

"That's mostly due to my bloodline," I shrugged. "As such it is cheating and doesn't count."

Hisako laughed out loud and got herself back under control relatively quickly with a light blush. "Excuse me."

"So, Water-walking?" I asked again.

She looked at me with her lips in a firm line and fire in her eyes. "I can do it now. Thanks for asking."

"How many-" I began.

"Eight," Kakashi sensei answered without missing a beat.

Nichiren started chuckling and Hisako gave him a dirty look, folding her arms and looking away, muttering with that blush still on her cheeks.

"Eh, the fact that she can it at all is impressive," I said with a frown. "Right?"

"That's very true," Kakashi eye-smiled. "Very few learn it while they're this early in training."

"Thanks sensei," Hisako muttered as she came back up.

"So Nichiren will be able to learn it himself?" Ai asked with a wide smile.

"Absolutely," Kakashi replied. "Not for a while still, but absolutely."

"That's amazing," Hiro smiled wide. "Truly, our son is fortunate to have such a team."

After the surprisingly entertaining dinner party, we all went our separate ways. I thanked the Nakamura's profusely for the meal, ensuring they knew that I appreciated their cooking. The fact that it was delicious only helped that particular case. Kakashi disappeared a few minutes ago, and Hisako and bid her farewells before leaving.

"Have a good night!" I waved goodbye to my teammates family and walked off.

…in the distance I saw Hisako walking away. She doesn't really have anyone waiting for her at home, does she? Maybe I should walk her home. Since I'm her teammate. But what if she takes it the wrong way? Well, then I can correct it later. Besides, I seriously doubt she could take it the wrong way. I'm just her teammate, right?

I shunshin'd and caught up to her. "Hey."

Hisako turned to me and blinked. "Hey."

"Mind if I walk you home?" I asked with a shrug. "I mean, I heard you say your parents were gone, I thought you might appreciate the company."

Hisako blinked and, much like Kakashi had done, looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Daisuke?"

She was partially being sarcastic, but something in my gut twisted wrong regardless. "I am Daisuke. Really. We can go to the hospital, they've taken my blood around half a dozen times, they can confirm it."

"I was mostly kidding," Hisako smirked, but there was something else in her eyes. "But you've been acting different all evening."

"Must be the outfit," I repeated the line for the second time tonight. "Makes me more comfortable."

"Yeah," She said, sounding distracted as she looked at said outfit. "Must be. But yeah, I'd love the company."

"Awesome," I said, putting my hands in my pockets. We started walking. "So, you can walk on water."

"I know," Hisako said excitedly. "It's awesome, I can't wait to tell my parents when they get back."

"They go on a lot of long-term assignments, huh?" I asked with a thoughtful frown.

"Yeah," Hisako looked down cast. "It's not really that big of a deal. They've been gone constantly since I could go to the Academy."

"I'm sorry," I replied.

"Like I said, it's not that bad," Hisako shrugged. "I don't know what I would do without them."

"Must be nice," I replied, thinking of how my parents were, to me, nothing more than a memory. "Knowing that you can see them sometimes."

"I guess it is," Hisako said. "Sorry, I know you're an orphan. It slipped my mind."

"It's fine," I shrugged, the line bothering me a little bit more than I wanted it to. "It's just something I've had to live with."

We were quiet for a few minutes, just walking in silence.

"So," I broke the new layer of ice. "Got any plans for training?"

"I want to keep training with senbon," Hisako replied. "They're great for delivering poison and other nasty stuff."

"You know a lot about poison?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"No," Hisako admitted. "But my Mom does. I'll have to figure out how to throw them properly, though. I've always preferred getting up close and personal with Kunai."

"Have you thought about poisoning the Kunai?" I offered. "I mean, learn to run real fast, cut them with a poisoned kunai and get out of there before they even know what hit them?"

Hisako looked up in thought. "That's…an idea."

"I'm full of them," I replied as we came to a stop in front of a three story house with a reasonably large house. Two shinobi parents meant wealth. Especially if they were Anbu, I got to say. "My jutsu collection can prove it."

She snickered and brushed one of her locks behind her ear. "Thanks for walking me home."

"No problem," I answered. "Have a good night!"

"You too," She bade me and I shunshin'd away.

I made it to my apartment took off the outfit, and dispelled my Henge. I collapsed on my bed with a sigh. The Nakamura's were great. Upstanding people, I really like them. It was good to spend the evening with a family. Get a reminder of the good times from before. Before the car crash. Before I died.

…I miss my family.

Chapter 14: Dinner and a Tree-walk

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Chapter 14: Dinner and a Tree-walk

CREATORS' THOUGHTS Leylin_Farlier

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Leylin_Farlier