Return

(POV: Saigetsu Okita)

Since the day I left Konoha and went to war I always missed this place, missing my uncle Shin, and my friends but now when I came back to Konoha it felt weird I don't know why but I felt like I don't belong here, during the war I was always thinking of going back home but now when I reached my home, I was feeling weird from this peace. I was constantly on edge ready for any situation that might happen overall it was hard on me as I got to know that I have gotten PTSD from war.

I returned to Konoha five days after that day, I came along with Emi the ninken dog of Aika she didn't get any major injuries during the fight and was healed in two days but she refused to eat anything just sitting there like a statue, the Inuzuka vet said that if she doesn't eat anything for this long it would affect her health but only Aika was the one whom Emi would listen.

That day I went to meet Emi, as usual, she was sitting quietly so I joined her too and sat beside her doing nothing for hours remembering the memories about them thinking about how much we went through for the past two years after that day it became a routine for me to come and sit beside Emi eventually she started eating food and came for walks with me it was good to have her as a company so I thought to adopt her but for that I would have to talk with the Inuzuka clan, after all, I will be adopting one of the ninja dogs from their clan.

I attended Captain, Aika, and Ryuu's funerals many Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Inuzuka clan members were present too. Ryuu was a war orphan so he didn't have any family members some clan members from Yamanaka came to pay their respects, as for Aika her mother was a single mother she too died due to illness three years ago but Aika had an aunt and many Inuzuka members were present.

As for the Uchiha clan, Captain was quite famous in the clan he was an elite Jonin, and also captain's eyes getting stolen caught the interest of many Uchiha fanatics who wanted Hokage to investigate this situation I doubt they would find out anything about it, after all, that day out of twenty-eight mist shinobis that attacked captain and others amongst them many fled away from there once they saw captain Katashi killing their Jonin captains so naturally, they think that someone from the mist might have stolen the eyes anyways, I am not going to let Uchiha clan or Konoha authorities have Captain's Mangekyou Sharingan I will not use this eyes but will also not let someone else use it for their selfish intents.

I saw Captain Katashi's wife and son I wanted to go and talk to them but I decided against it as there were just too many eyes here and even I was not feeling well.

So after the funeral, I directly went to the Inuzuka clan to adopt Emi she was taken there for a full-body check-up of her health as for me I already asked the leader of the Inuzuka clan about adopting Emi to which she agreed.

As I entered the Inuzuka compound I was sent to the place where they keep their dogs, going there I saw many dogs resting and playing, there I met Inuzuka Tsume the current Inuzuka clan head.

"So, you came kid" she said as soon as she saw me.

"Yes Tsume-san as we agreed I came to take Emi"

"Hmm her health reports are all good she didn't have any problems but it's really amazing to see our clan's dog getting attached to you there were many situations like Aika's before but the dogs whose partners are dead, are taken care of by us as those dogs won't take any other partner but here Emi became quite close to you" she said

"Yeah, she is a good companion for me and I suppose we both wanted to grief together for our friend" I said

"Aika huh? It's sad the girl was too young to die can't say how much more lives this war will take" she said

"Well Emi is already there you can go and take her also I would like to warn you kid if we of the Inuzuka clan got to know that you didn't take proper care of Emi it will be bad for your health"

"I'll keep that in mind Tsume-san" I said and went towards Emi

As soon as she saw me, she came running towards me "Woof" as she jumped at me, I started patting her head.

"Glad you are okay Emi"

"Woof"

"Yeah, let's go to your new home"

It was evening as I returned home with Emi. Entering the house, I went to the kitchen to get something to drink for myself and Emi, there I saw uncle sitting in the living room

"Okita"

"Uncle you came early today" usually uncle would come home late at night due to the work in his restaurant

"Yeah…I thought I should be here to give company to my nephew, oh look is it the dog that you informed me about adopting"

"Yes"

"You met your friends?" he asked

"I asked about them they graduated and became a genin and now they are on a mission" it was good to know that those three were doing fine.

"Time sure flies you have also become strong"

"I don't think so" I said

"Trying to blame yourself for their deaths?" he asked

"I know it wasn't my fault I try to say that to myself but sometimes I think if only I would have been stronger then this would have never happened"

"If you were stronger then, you could have saved them or you would have been strongest then you could have stopped the war stop dreaming Okita come back to reality stop thinking about ifs and what think about the present think about how you can become stronger than your present self, grieving for them is fine but going in denial is not right," he said

I just listened to all of it and didn't say anything I just didn't know what to say.

"Sigh…you know what let's spar just like the old times when you were in your academy" he said, I was not expecting him to say that but well I too wanted to fight him I mean he may be a retired chunin but my gut feeling was saying that there was more to him and it would be good to blow off some steam so I agreed and we moved to the backyard for the spar.

At first, I was overwhelming him as the fight continued, I always had an upper hand so I thought maybe I was just thinking too much uncle was just a retired chunin nothing special.

Boy, was I wrong suddenly his moves became too fast I had to use acceleration to keep up with him his fighting style was reminding me of those mist bastards fighting like an assassin always attacking the weak points and distracting you, and just like that I lost, I could have used time skip or Ninjutsu against him to win the fight but it was just hand-to-hand combat so I didn't have to go that far.

"I know your expertise lies in Ninjutsu but you are very fast and also your hand-to-hand combat techniques are good" he said

"Thanks for the praise uncle but are you sure that you really are a retired chunin"

"Of course, I am"

I just stared at him silently

"Fine there is something about me that you don't know but I won't tell you that for now" he said

"So, when will you tell me?"

"When you will become a Jonin"

"Jonin? well I have a lot of contributions in the war and I am sure I am already a jonin level but I am still not promoted"

"Yeah, I was the one who stopped your promotion, I will be the one to decide if you are qualified to become a jonin or not" he said

"What?! How? And the Hokage agreed to that? How is that even possible?" I asked the questions but instead of giving me answers he just grinned at me.

"Fine…I will make sure to know your secret uncle" it was of no use asking him but still my uncle should have been surely an important figure for the Hokage to agree to his conditions.

"So how can I get your approval for giving me my promotion"

"Say why did you lose to me, Okita?"

"You are stronger than me and have more experience I guess"

"True but I am sure you will gain this both in the next few years what you lack the most is preciseness and also your movements are crude, speed type ninjas like us need to have great reaction speed and should perceive our surroundings you have to improve that and also if you are so talented in ninjutsu then why don't you learn nature transformation and shape transformation it will help you" listening to uncle I got to know where I was lacking so I decide to work on those things.

"So that's why from now on we will be doing training every day for the next one year then only I will agree for you to be promoted to Jonin level and also from now on you will be coming with me to the restaurant and working there as a part-time job"

"I get about the training part but why do I have to work in the restaurant" I said

"For you to socialize, a ninja has to adapt to many things and one of them is to socialize and know how to blend in the surrounding it would be helpful for infiltration missions, and also I don't want you to become an edgy kid" he said

"I won't become edgy I know how to talk but if you want me to work there then fine as I too would get bored of just training"

"Great then we'll go to the restaurant together don't worry I will make sure to teach you how to cook and serve your customers it will be useful to know another profession if you ever decide to retire from your ninja life" he said

"Sure"

That night he gave me lots of tips about how to run a restaurant.