Chapter 36 Date

Arata: " Mother... you are pregnant?"

Isamu: " Ah, Arata, you just got here? And Yes I am pregnant. You will have a baby brother next month."

Arata: " A brother.... I'm going to be an older brother?!"

Arata was shaking in excitement. He always wanted a younger sibling. Thankfully, his parents were still middle aged and had strong vitality so she shouldn't have trouble with a birth despite their age.

Riki: " Yes son. Come sit down while your mother prepares supper."

Arata nodded his head and sighed with relief, he was thankful that the matter was life threatening. As he sat down by the dinner table, he looked to his father, " Father, from your message, you made it seem like someone was dying. You had me worried."

Riki laughed, " haha. Sorry about that son. I just thought that you should know. How's your journey been."

Arata smiled and then thought back and remembered his father's strength. Even now, with his strength, he wouldn't be able to completely beat his father. However, he was also confident that it wouldn't be a one sided fight with his preta path that allowed him to absorb chakra and his father won't be able to fight him using any long distance jutsu.

Since he was back though, he could use this time to visit Hinata and perhaps train some more. He began talking with his family about his adventure outside the village. He talked about his encounter with the numerous rogue ninjas that he fought against that earned him the title lightning god. He also talked about his encounter with the two tailed jinchuriki Yugito, emitting the details about the last test.

Riki, " Impressive Arata. Facing off against a jinchuriki and living to tell the story. I know that village has advance technology and knowledge on how to control the tailed beast."

Arata, " Yeah, but our encounter was always short and we never actually fought for an extended point of time, so I don't know the full extent of her power."

Karin, " Even so, You already have the power to be a threat to them. I guess I still need more training." She looked a little sad as she realized that she won't be able to join Arata as she is still training. " What are you going to do now?"

Arata, " Hmm, I think I'm going to visit a friend in the village, and I'll probably relax for a bit and develop more jutsu."

Although when using the rinnegan he could exhibit a lot of power but there is so much more he could do with the ability that the rinnegan gives him, such as mastery in all five chakra natures. It would be a waste if he only focuses on the rinnegan paths. From his battles, he knew that he should try to create strong jutsu because he only has pure speed at the moment and wants to create a stronger jutsu. He saw Naruto's rasengan and thought that that move would be stronger if Naruto was able to add chakra nature into it. He knew Kakashi's chidori was based off of rasengan and instead of a swirling ball of chakra, he converted it into lightning chakra nature making it strong and unique.

Thinking about it more, he may also be hunted by the country of lightning because he had exposed his eyes if Yugito had reported it. He is becoming to high profile and needs to grow his strength.

After Isamu finished cooking, Karin helped her set up the table and the four ate supper while talking about how their year went. After eating dinner, Arata went to his room and slept.

The next morning, he wanted to go catch up with Naruto and went to places where he will most likely be. He went to his room, but got no response after he knocked and didn't sense anyone inside the room. He then went to Ichiraku ramen place and saw that Kakashi and Guy talking and eating.

Arata, " Hey, Kakashi-sensei, where's Naruto, I noticed that he wasn't home and I don't sense him anywhere in the village."

Kakashi, " Oh Arata, you're back?"

Arata, " Just for a bit, my parents had news to tell me."

Kakashi, " I see. Well, you won't find Naruto in the village. He left with Jiraiya-sama to train."

Arata, "Jiraiya? He's one of the three legendary sanin isn't he? When did he meet him?"

Kakashi, " He met him some time ago. I believe you were training by the time he met him. He's the one who taught Naruto the rasengan."

Arata, " Ah, I see. Well since he's not here then, I'll be on my own way then. Good to see you again, and you too Guy-sensei."

Guy: " Haha. Good to see you too. I see that you have grown stronger since the last time we last saw you."

Arata, " Yeah, I've been through quite some fights. Well, I'll be going now."

Kakashi, " Yeah, I may need you for some stuff now that you are temporary back."

Arata, " okay, I should be free for some time."

Since Sasuke and Naruto left, Kakashi must be being used for higher ranked missions now. He doesn't know what Sakura is up to be he was never that close with Sakura so he began to make his way to the Hinata's house.

He was just outside the entrance when he heard sounds of training and when he entered, he saw than Neji and Hinata were sparring. With their sparring session, the two were exchanging moves and swaying as they continued to speed up from each exchange, it wasn't until Arata stepped into the entrance did Neji notice Arata and jumped back stopping the sparring session with Hinata still a little lost as to why Neji suddenly stopped.

Seeing that Hinata was still a little lost, he laughed inside and instantly appeared in front of Hinata and said, " Hinata. I'm back."

Seeing the sudden appearance, Hinata jumped in fright and looked at who Arata who suddenly appeared in front of her with her face getting slightly red from remembering her last encounter with Arata.

Hinata, " Ara- Arata? You're back?"

Arata laughed as he nodded his head, " Yeah, I got back yesterday evening. How have you been?"

Hinata took a deep breath as she calmed herself down. Arata used to do tease her like this when she was lost in thought. " I've been good Arata. Why did you come so suddenly, I thought you said you may be gone for a long time?"

Arata, " I know, but my parents had some news to tell me so I came back sooner." He then looked at Neji, " Hello Neji. I see that you've already noticed me."

Neji, " Just barely. I guess I still need to train harder."

Hinata was slightly embarrassed as she didn't notice Arata when he came in. " Me too..."

Arata, " Yeah, don't worry you'll get there."

Hinata nodded her head, " Hm. I'll catch up to Neji and you soon enough."

Neji, " Take your time Hinata. We all still have room for improvement. Is there something you need Arata?"

Arata, " Hmm not really. Since I was nearby, I decided to drop in and see how you guys were doing." He then looked at Hinata, " Hinata, if you aren't too busy, I was wondering if you wanted to go grab something to eat."

She hesitated as she looked at Neji. Neji nodded his head and said, " We were just about done training. Go ahead Hinata-sama."

Hearing Neji say that, She looked at Arata and said, " I'll go wash up first and tell father. You should tell father that you are back too."

Arata nodded as he headed towards the main room before telling Neji, " We should spar sometime too."

Neji nodded, " Yeah, I've been wanting to spar against you for some time now. I've heard that the family head gave you the approval of learning our gentle fist. I look forward to it."

After about half an hour of talking to Hinata's dad, Hinata came through the door and told Arata that she was ready.

Hinata wore a dark blue pants that went halfway down to half of her leg with a purple sleeveless sweater and a white long sleeve shirt under. " I-I'm ready."

Arata smiled and said, " You look really cute. Let's go then. I'll be on my way Hisashi-sama."

Hisashi nodded his head with a smile, " Enjoy your time. "

Arata and Hinata walked out as Hinata kept her head down still thinking about how Arata complimented her and walked beside Arata still a little shy since it's been awhile when it was just the two of them.

Arata, " Is there something you want to eat?"

Hinata thought for a bit and shook her head, " I don't know. I'll just eat whatever you want to eat."

Arata thought for a minute and said, " Hmm. I've been eating a lot of wild animals in the forest so I've been craving some red bean soup."

Hinata's face lit up as she has also been wanting to eat that but didn't know what Arata wanted to eat. " Okay, let's go then."

Seeing her face light up, Arata was happy and excited as he suddenly grabbed her hand and ran towards the restaurant that served that.

After a few minutes, they arrived and Arata quickly ordered a them the red bean soup. During this time, Arata and Hinata began talking about what happened during the year. Hinata started talking about several missions and how after, the chunin exams, Neji has changed and has truly started help Hinata get stronger and no longer look at her with anger. Arata told her about finding Karin and several other things about some stuff he has scene in other villages.

After finishing their food, Arata took Hinata to where they usually train and laid on the grass while they stargazed and continued to talk about their future plans. Hinata talked about a move she is starting to create that is similar to the advance technique of eight trigrams sixty-four palms since she isn't able to use it yet. Arata talked about fusing two different chakra nature to make a stronger jutsu instead of applying them together like his lightning water dragon style jutsu. He wanted to mold the two chakra nature's together but he hasn't fully gotten the chance to really develop it a lot since he's been traveling and focusing on gathering information.

Since it was getting late, the two started to head back to Hinata's house before it would get too late and she won't be able to get up early in the morning to train again.

Outside of her house, Arata held her hands and said, " Thank you for spending the day with me. "

Hinata shyly nodded her head as she was about to head inside to hide her shyness until Arata pulled her in quickly and kissed her forehead and quickly vanished as he left and was still a little embarrassed by his own boldness.

Seeing Hinata and spending the day with her made Arata extremely happy as he got to catch up. This was his first crush so he doesn't really know what to do and was scared that he may get rejected. He doesn't want to go through the 'pain' [ ;)] if Hinata still has a crush on Naruto. But he couldn't bottle up his feelings for her forever while not giving himself a chance to express himself.

With her heart beating fast and hard, Hinata stood outside her house not knowing what to do when Arata kissed her forehead for a good minute until Hiashi noticed her standing out and called out to her making her jump and become embarrassed as she rushed into her room.