Chapter: 13

The week following the mid-term exams was an… interesting one, to say the least.

First of all, was the weekend. Naruto and I spent it half at Shika's and half at Chouji's, only going back home to sleep. Shino also informed us that his father gave us permission to visit if we wanted to. We would have gone there, but considering how Shino was and what little he had told us about his family, we decided against it for the weekend. We were all celebrating our results after all, no need to bother the quiet family with our celebrations.

After Naruto got over his surprise, he had been happy to shout his fifth place to anyone that listened, and also those who didn't. Chouji had been quite happy with his progress too even if he hadn't made it to the general top five. Even Shikamaru and Shino seemed happy, in their own way. The former by smiling instead of smirking from time to time, and Shino, the most difficult to tell, was much more proactive in his interactions.

Even the parents were showing their excitement. Shikamaru's and Chouji's mothers both pulled me aside to thank me for getting their sons to train more seriously. It had been an awkward conversation for me and I could only scratch the back of my head as I told them it was nothing. Moments like that made me feel like the child I was supposed to be. Even Shikaku and Chouza showed their appreciation, even if I was treated to a beating at Shogi by the former while they were at it.

Outside of our little group, I even got to see even more excitement from Ino at the gathering of the three clans that Saturday. Hilariously, she was as enthusiastic about her first place as my blond brother in all but blood was with his fifth. And it was funny too, that the one embarrassed by me pointing that out was the Yamanaka instead of the Uzumaki.

It was after those two happy days that the first surprise came my way. I was simply sitting at our table with a cup of tea while Naruto slept early, for once. I had a smile on my face considering everything that would change from then on. I would start working with the Yamanaka, probably gaining one more skill at the very least. And Iruka-sensei would start my chakra training early. That was what I had been looking forward to ever since I woke up in this world. Even if I tried to avoid it to escape unnecessary attention. Attention that I had gotten either way, apparently.

A knock on the door made me narrow my eyes. Our friends wouldn't come at this hour. And nobody else visited us. Danzo, or whoever left the note with Kobu's name wouldn't knock either. I considered simply leaving it and act as if I was asleep too, just to be on the safe side. In the end, I sighed, telling myself that I was being overly paranoid for no reason. What had someone to gain for attacking us? I had gained attention but no so much and certainly not negative, besides associating with Naruto. I did pause for a second as a certain Inuzuka's face flashed through my mind before shaking my head.

"Hokage-sama." I breathed out as my eyes widened.

"Good evening, Eiji-kun. I do believe I've told you before to relax." The leader of the village said good-naturedly and I gave a wry smile at that.

"I'll do my best, Sarutobi-sama." I replied nervously while inviting him inside. The elder man let out a chuckle with an amused expression in his face.

"If I may ask, why do you find it so difficult to just call me Hiruzen?" He asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"I'm just an Academy Student." I said while I 'guided' him to the table. "And a clanless orphan too. And you are the Hokage on top of being the Head of an important clan. I think it's pretty obvious, Sarutobi-sama. Can I get you some tea or something else?" I asked as he took a seat.

"Tea would be nice, thanks." I turned and checked that the water I had used for my tea was still hot and prepared another cup. "Thank you. I would have thought that Naruto would have rubbed off on you to help with that… problem." He added referring to the blonde's ability to be informal with anyone and getting away with it. I gave a wry smile at that.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but he hasn't." I deadpanned at him and he chuckled once more.

"Talking about him, where is the ball of energy?" He asked looking around.

"It was a… wild weekend. Even he got tired of celebrating." I said with a fond smile as I took a sip of my tea. He nodded with a similar smile of his own.

"Well, on that note. Congratulations, Eiji-kun." He said raising his cup. "It's quite the accomplishment for someone with so little resources to achieve first place in the whole exams, even if they weren't the ones of the end of the year." He praised and I let a pleased smile appear on my face.

"I had good incentive." I shrugged, still grinning.

"Yes, your extra training." He nodded. "It'll be approved tomorrow morning, by the way. Iruka will probably give you a scroll on the topic for you to read before starting with the practical side." He informed me and I nodded, not the least disappointed. I had no rush, any advantage I could get would be good.

"I look forward to it." And after that followed a silence that I couldn't quite decide if it was comfortable or not before it was broken.

"It's good that I got to meet you alone." He started and I looked at him curiously. "I wanted to know if there have been any… problems since the last time. I know now that Naruto would try to keep them a secret if there were." He said, his expression turning serious and mine followed suit. I took a second to consider the question before answering.

"Everything's been fine. Without us having to restock the kitchen, there's very little to be bought, so I can't accurately say how troublesome things would be on that front." I replied with a grimace. "And the… attention we receive on the streets is still the same. I should be able to tell you more in a month at most though." At his raised eyebrow I smiled. "I'll go out to buy Naruto some clothes for his birthday. With some luck, it'll stop him from using that… monstrosity. I'm sure he uses it because it was one of the few things, he could get himself."

"A likely reason, as much as it pains me to admit it." He nodded grimly.

"There's little else to say. We aren't alone for the most part, usually hanging with our friends. So, there's little time for someone to be overly antagonistic. I believe that the… incident was a one-time thing. I hope so, at least."

"We can only hope." He nodded once again while sighing. "Once more, thank you for taking care of him."

"It's what family does." I gave him a small smirk before explaining as he raised an eyebrow. "He calls me Eiji-nii from time to time." He chuckled before looking to the stairs with a fond smile.

"He does tend to come up with terms of endearment for those that acknowledge him." He agreed. "I suppose that makes us family too, doesn't it? As he calls me Jiji, maybe you should call me that too." My only answer was a wan smile. "I shall keep trying, I guess."

"I'm sorry." I said instantly before he waved it off.

"Don't worry. I understand that for some it's difficult to see past the titles." He smiled good-naturedly. "It comes as a breath of fresh air, when someone treats people like me as if we were anyone else. Although, it may be a quirk of my own." He mused. "Either way, it's quite late. I shall make time to visit you and Naruto some other day." And after that he stood up and we walked towards the door together. "Good night, Eiji-kun." He said and I took a deep breath in.

"Good night, Hiruzen." I forced out with a smile. It felt really awkward to call him that, but it was still better than trying to go for Jiji or something of the sort. He smiled at me and I felt some of my nervousness leave me.

'What a way to finish the weekend.' I thought to myself as I closed the door behind me with a sigh. It would be some time before I got used to having the attention of the Hokage on me, that was for sure.

[}-o-{]

"Are you sure?" I asked with a confused frown.

"Yes!" Screamed my blond teacher exasperatedly. "I'm sure they are different plants. I've been working here for years for Kami's sake. Can you stop asking questions like that?" She let out a shuddering breath before throwing her hands up. "I need a rest. This is too much." And she stormed off.

Meanwhile, I chuckled to myself as I watched Ino leave the store.

"I have to wonder, why are you annoying her?" The Yamanaka matriarch asked while peeking from behind a shelf, an amused expression on her face.

"She's explaining everything as if I'm a special kind of idiot." I answered awkwardly scratching the back of my head. I hadn't meant to anger her that much, but it really annoyed me to be treated like an idiot. I wouldn't be that bothered if it was an adult. But to be treated so by a child? I had some pride. "I'm no botanist but there's no need to go that far." I tried to defend myself before sighing. "I'm sorry." To my relief, she waved it off.

"Don't worry, I was going to call her on it before you started your little payback." She smirked at me. "Besides, I could be teaching you that. But I also wanted to punish her some. She really should take her work more seriously than she does."

"Good to be of assistance… I think." I replied and she giggled.

"Now, how about I explain while she calms down." She said pointing at the shelves of plants. And at my nod, I continued my 'class'.

Ino's attitude aside, I had found that the plants of this world were really interesting. Or maybe plants were interesting in general but I had never paid them enough attention to notice. They didn't sound as outlandish as everything else seemed to be, after all, even if there were some that seemed to be world exclusive. Like the trees that had a more chakra receptive wood. Those were used to create chakra paper for fuinjutsu as well as buildings that had seals used on them for several reasons. Or the flower that could disturb the chakra usage of a person if it was burned and the smoke was breathed.

I had expected the Yamanaka store to have plants that could be used in poisons and medicines, even if that wasn't mentioned on the show or manga. It was, after all, a somewhat frequent troupe of fanfictions. However, I hadn't expected for it to be a mixture of both.

Turns out that the more combat-oriented part of the shop was a somewhat open secret. It seemed to be a kind of unspoken rule that only shinobi could know about that. Probably due to the fact that only shinobi had access to those plants.

It was halfway through the woman's explanations and instructions that I got the skill that I had been expecting ever since I started 'working'.

[New Skill Acquired: Gardening Lvl 1]

[Gardening – Lvl 1

Improves the user's ability to take care of plants according to skill level.]

'Nice.' I thought to myself containing a smile. I could already see myself with a small garden for poisons and medicines in the future. It would be a nice addition to my arsenal, of that I had no doubt. It had been the whole reason for me taking the that job over a restaurant or something like that. 'Well, almost the whole reason.' I thought suppressing a smirk.

"Oh, Ino. Can you continue teaching Eiji-kun? I have to check some things at the back." The woman said with a pleasant smile that just told her daughter that it wasn't really a question. I would have been apologetic for bringing trouble to the girl. But honestly, I had put up with her attitude for far too long. I didn't even know what her problem was, really.

"Of course, mother." Ino said with an almost convincing smile. Almost. I rolled my eyes behind the Yamanaka matriarch.

"Are you going to teach me for real this time or will I have to continue annoying you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as the woman left. If glares could kill, I would have been but a pile of ash on the floor.

"I hate you so much." She muttered through gritted teeth. I rolled my eyes again.

"Just think of it like this." I said taking a deep breath in to help my patience. "If you teach me everything I need to know quickly, you'll get me out of your hair faster." I could almost see the gears turning in her head as she blinked.

"Fine." That she still seemed reluctant made me deadpan at her.

'This is going to be a long day.' I sighed to myself.

[}-o-{]

It was an amused me that sat at the house on one of those rare days where everyone but me was busy. Naruto had gone out with Chouji to visit some new Akimichi restaurant, Shikamaru was helping his family with the deer that they took care of and Shino was spending some time with his parents.

So, there was I, amusing myself by reading the scroll Iruka-sensei had given me to get me started on my chakra training. And I said amusing because I had already done all that it mentioned months ago. It described how I should meditate to become aware of my chakra and get a feeling of it. Obviously, it also talked about some other things I wasn't aware of. But the main point, I already knew. I couldn't wait to see his face when I told him that I had already done that part. It was a good thing that meditating wouldn't look too suspicious.

It was at that moment that I once more heard someone knocking at the door. 'Wow, I thought it would take more time for the Hokage to clear his schedule.' I thought. After all, it wasn't often that the man got to visit, precisely because of how busy he was with his duties. It would be a shame to tell him that Naruto was, once more, not available.

As I opened the door, I blinked in surprise.

"Err, hello, Inuzuka-san." I greeted awkwardly.

"Hello, Eiji-kun." Hana replied cheerfully before looking at me with a mock-stern expression. "And I told you to call me Hana."

"Of course, come in." I added quickly realizing that my surprise had gotten to me. "Hello, Hai, Ma, Lu." I said slowly taking a moment to differentiate them. Even if it was noticeable, I just couldn't do so instantly. "Do you want something to drink?" I asked, confused about her visit. She shook her head before speaking.

"Well, I just thought you would like to know, we investigated about that ninken you mentioned." She said and my eyebrows rose. What I said guaranteed an investigation?

"Did something happen?" I frowned and she petted one of the brothers with a sad smile.

"She was being abused." I made an effort to keep from showing too much anger. If I hadn't already hated the man before, I would hate him then. There was no excuse for abusing an animal. Much less for an Inuzuka to abuse their partner, I guessed. It was extra bad because it was a dog. I liked dogs, sue me. "It's one of the worst things someone in our clan can do." She nodded, as if pleased by my reaction, what little I showed that is. "And we are currently prosecuting him." The glint in her eyes made me feel vindicated, whatever the Inuzuka did to him, he deserved it, in my eyes at least. "Our clan also wanted to thank you, for informing it. We are even looking into her partner's friends. They couldn't have missed the signs, especially if you noticed. No offense."

"Don't worry. It's true." I waved her off. "Is she going to be ok?" I asked, keeping myself from asking questions about the man.

"She'll be, eventually. For now, she is staying with me. I work as a veterinary medic-nin, by the way. And also, with other recovering and handicapped ninken." She explained before smiling softly. "You are welcome to visit. If anyone should be able to, it should be you." Her smile widened some.

I didn't know how good an idea that was. She hadambushed me together with her partner, after all, I thought wryly. On the other hand, it wasn't really her fault.

"I'll go." I decided. "Where is the place?" I asked with a small grin. "Also… is there something I can prepare to bring there? Food, I mean. To brighten the mood a bit, you know." I explained trying not to sound too awkward and failing. I really liked cooking and, most of all, seeing people enjoy my food. Dogs would have the same effect, if not better, I guessed. All three dogs turned to me and I swear their eyes turned into stars. It was a bit scary, to be honest. Hana simply giggled, whether it was at her ninken or at me, I didn't know.

"Do you have something for me to write on? I'll give you the address and an easy recipe. I would tell you that you don't need to bring anything but…" She pointed at the scandalized looking dogs and giggled once more. I chuckled too, with a grin.

As she wrote, petted the dogs with a relaxed smile. Maybe I would get a normal dog for myself when I was older. If I wasn't too busy doing missions that is. Although…

"Are ninken Inuzuka exclusive?" I asked curiously. And she turned to me with raised eyebrows before an understanding expression took over.

"They aren't, not really." She answered looking uncomfortable before continuing when I rose an eyebrow. "It's just… it's rare. They, are the ones to choose partners, after all." She signaled the dogs around me. "And we Inuzuka are much more compatible with them than normal people are." I nodded at her explanation. I wondered how had Kakashi gotten not one but a small pack of ninken for himself if that was the case. He didn't seem particularly similar to an Inuzuka.

"I see. You are a picky bunch, huh?" I said teasingly while scratching Ma's belly as his rear leg kicked the air. "I'll have to make sure that the food is up to your standards, I guess." At that Hai broke his impassive look with an approving bark.

"They will eat anything if its edible. They are gluttons." Hana said drawing annoyed barks from all three ninken and a chuckle from me. "Let's go, we've bothered Eiji-kun enough as it us."

"It's no bother. I like dogs." I reassured her while petting Lu. "You can bring Lu, anytime. The others though…" I have a side-glance at the male dogs. "they aren't as cute." Hai looked away while Ma growled. I smiled at them. "Just joking, you can visit anytime, guys." All three barked happily at me. Really, I should have interacted with Inuzuka earlier. The smarter dogs were just the too cute.

"See you, Eiji-kun."

"See you."

[}-o-{]

Besides all that, I finally got my answer as to why I had gotten the new Perk.

[Leader

The user's stats increase by 10% when fighting for or together with a subordinate or ally.]

Hinata had joined our group on that week's Wednesday. Although, she explained, her father had actually given her permission to join after the exams. We all guessed that it had taken her the other days to gather the courage to approach us about that. All but Naruto, that is. He was clueless like that. It was both amusing and slightly exasperating to watch them interact with each other. What with the way that Hinata's mind seemed to turn off when he came too close or spoke to her too much and the way Naruto couldn't understand just why she acted like that.

Back to the Perk though, my best guess was that the Game considered my little group subordinates or allies, as uncomfortable as thinking with those words made me feel. And my theory was that I had reached some kind of goal to unlock it when Hinata had decided to join, even if she hadn't officially done so. It was either that or something to do with the Inuzuka. But the later made a lot less sense to me, so I went with my theory.

"I knew it would be troublesome." Shika muttered as he made his move before sighing.

"Give it time." I said with a grimace, pointedly avoiding looking at Naruto who was attempting to get Hinata to spar with him. "She'll get over it… eventually."

"Like you getting Naruto to stop wearing orange?" The Nara countered with the smallest of smirks. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"It'll happen." I replied stubbornly.

"Like you winning a match against Shikamaru?" I gave Shino a betrayed look.

"I'll admit, it'll take some time…" I deflated at the stares they gave me. "A long time…" I corrected with a grumble. "But it'll happen. Just you wait."

"Actually, I think you aren't that far from getting your first victory." Shikamaru said while moving another piece. "Although, it won't be today." He smirked as I groaned. He had me in five moves max.

"I don't feel any closer than I was when we started." I grimaced setting the pieces again.

[Shogi has gone up a level.]

I ignored the screen. Those had stopped cheering me up a long time ago.

"Fainted." Shino said making us turn to the pair with surprised expressions. I had thought that the fainting was fanfic exaggeration…

"Wow… this'll take longer than I thought." I muttered and received two affirmative hums in response.

"Hinata's thing too."

"Oh, shut up, Shika!" I threw one of the wooden pieces at my smirking friend.

[}-o-{]

Hana PoV

"What is he doing here?" I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my brother's question and tone.

"He wanted to visit. We told you about what we found after what he told us, didn't we?" I asked, mostly to make him remember our conversation from earlier that week. It still made her blood boil.

An Inuzuka abusing his partner. Just as bad as a husband abusing his wife or a parent abusing their child in their eyes. The man, term I used loosely in this case, even had the gall to try to justify his actions. Blaming his partner, saying that she was lazy and that she rebelled against him too often. Lies, pure lies those had been.

We had found the truth easily enough. He was bitter. Extremely bitter about losing his last partner during the Kyuubi attack together with several members of his family. That had quickly led to finding that he had been the one to attack the Uzumaki's apartment some time ago. He had been smart enough to erase anything that would point to him from the scene. He had been stupid enough to take a trophy from the kid's home though.

Disgusting, that's what he was. Nothing else.

He would never have a ninken partner ever again, for all intents and purposes, he wasn't an Inuzuka anymore. The clan would regard him with more hostility than they would an Iwa-nin. He was a pariah to the clan, forever disgraced.

And that wasn't even mentioning the charges from the attack. Targeting the villages Jinchuriki wasn't a small matter. That's why no one had actually done anything despite their hatred until now. Nobody wanted to face that punishment. He wouldn't get any mercy though nor would he get support from the clan, considering everything else.

It was poetic that the one to bring all that to light was the Uzumaki's best friend. Several people had narrowed their eyes at that part, but there was just no way for the kid to know about his involvement in the attack on his friend's apartment.

"Right…" Kiba grudgingly accepted her explanation. She ignored his mood in favor of looking as the dogs all but buried the poor red-eyed boy trying to get to his food. She loved her brother, but he had started to get the alpha-syndrome as the Inuzuka called it. His case was especially bad as he was to be Head of the clan.

It would have been her and, for all intents and purposes, it should have been her. However, she had found her calling at the veterinary, looking after the injured ninken and those that simply couldn't go back to the field. And thus, the position of heir had been passed to her brother.

To add fuel to the fire, he had held onto a pretty good position at the Academy, only behind the last Uchiha and only competing with the Aburame heir for second place, on the males' side, at least. That had gone to his head and ended up with him dismissing their mother's training, believing that he could do well by himself at the start of the year.

It was a good thing that he had received a slap of reality soon while he was still at the village and not later while outside on a mission.

"You gave him an Inuzuka recipe?" Her little brother asked incredulously, almost making her roll her eyes again.

"They aren't clan secrets, you know?" She replied dismissively. "It's not like I told him how to make ninken soldier pills."

"But… still…" He sputtered.

"Wow," the new voice broke them from their conversation as they turned to the guest, that was still surrounded by dogs. One was even perching himself on his shoulder. "I thought I had made quite a bit." Eiji commented with a wry expression.

"These rascals never have enough." I reassured him. "You could have brought two or three time as much and it wouldn't make a difference." Several ninken barked in protest. It would have made a difference. They would have enjoyed themselves more. She rolled her eyes at them.

"I'll try to bring more next time." He told the dogs apologetically. Receiving several tongues to the face as a response. I giggled at the sight. It was always nice to see them being cheerful. Not many came to visit, I thought suppressing a sad smile.

"You are going to make my job more difficult." I said sternly, not meaning a word of it. "It's difficult enough to keep them in line as it is, you know?"

"Sorry?" He apologized scratching the back of his neck.

"Wait, next time?" Kiba interrupted scandalized.

"Yeah… err… I can visit again, can't I?" He asked a few of the dogs jumped on top of him affectionately while some others growled at Kiba. Yeah, the boy wasn't doing himself any favors. I shook my head, he had been really bitter, especially with the Satou as he was the one that crashed his delusion the most.

"Of course, you can. As long as you don't cause any trouble, I can let you see them." I reassured with a smile. Having someone to cheer the ninken up a bit would be a boon. Not to mention the food. They were really bottomless pits, the whole lot of them.

"You hear that, guys." He said cheerfully while petting the ninken that was the reason for his visit in the first place. Their meeting had been a bit rocky at the start. She had been even more nervous than normal around him but after a few whispered words from the boy she had been more open than she was with anyone else. It had baffled me, really.

"I can't believe this." Kiba grumbled before making his way out. I sighed as the door closed before turning and giggling as the cubs tried to drag Eiji away from the older dogs to play. All the while, the poor boy tried to calm them down and failed miserably.

It seemed that things would be much livelier from now on.

[}-o-{]

Eiji's PoV

The last surprise of the week came as I arrived home from my visit to Yuki, Kobu's ex-ninken. It had been a nice day, if a tiring one. I should have known that a bunch of ninja dogs would be tireless, especially considering that several of them couldn't leave the place after being rendered unable to go to the field. It was a really sad realization, that one. I would make sure to visit as much as possible. Even if it would kill my wallet to try and cook enough for them. I had a job now and didn't need to worry about my food anyway.

I paused and blinked at the stack of papers on the table.

"Naruto? What did I tell you about leaving your homework around?" I exclaimed annoyed. There was no response. "Put all this away so we can eat, will you? I'm making ramen." I blinked again as he didn't immediately come down running. I had already used that to get his attention several times and never seemed to lose effect even if I didn't cook ramen in the end. There was only one explanation.

Naruto wasn't home yet.

Warily, I walked to the papers and looked at them. The words on the topmost sheet made me take a deep breath in.

Good job.

Picking them up nervously, I started reading. The first pages talked about what I had done, analyzing, criticizing and even grading all our plans for revenge. From our first decisions to how we started biding our time, improving, and preparing. Shikamaru's decision of having me continue my mapping hobby away from the Inuzuka clan so that I had an alibi, even if a weak one, and my decision of starting my job at the Yamanaka to know some poisons seemed to get the best comments.

However, the thing that was praised the most was how everything had been resolved. Improvising and, most importantly, making someone else deal with Kobu.

I felt so very weird reading the… report.

After that came information on Kobu. Everything that had been found out, the prosecution and results. Even what had happened to his friends was there. I felt a satisfied grin form on my face as I read his punishment.

And then I arrived to the last sheet and my eyebrows rose. There was a reward, apparently, for a job well done. I couldn't even begin to know what to think about that. But it was there. It told me about a shop, where I could go and buy whatever and however much I wanted free of charge, up to a maximum, of course.

'Well, Danzo,' I thought to myself. Setting the papers down and seeing how they crumbled to dust instantly. 'I don't know what you are playing at. But, for now, …'

"Thank you."