Kaito Chapter 109

Kaito put away the scroll and sighed. He told her everything, how he overheard a Kusa shinobi talking about a red-haired woman with the healing bite ability, how he infiltrated Kusa, and how he found Karin and her mother.

By the end of the story, Kushina looked angry at how her clansman had been treated. She also bonked Kaito on the head.

Rubbing his head, Kaito complained, "Hey, that hurt, ya know."

Kushina huffed. "That was for infiltrating a hidden village. What were you thinking, you Baka?" Then she hugged him. "But I'm glad that you did."

Kaito sighed in relief and returned the hug. "I couldn't just leave her there."

Kushina smiled softly, her eyes filled with warmth. "You did the right thing, Kai-kun. We'll take care of her."

….

The early noon sun shone brightly over the Hidden Leaf Village, casting a warm glow over the bustling streets filled with villagers going about their daily lives. In a training ground close to the Uzumaki residence, Kaito could be seen panting heavily, crouched over a tri-pronged kunai in the middle of a circle formed by six similar kunai.

A bit further from him, a group of shadow clones were doing the training assigned to them. Four of the shadow clones were focused on mastering the second step of earth nature transformation, kaito had a hard time mastering earth nature transformation since earth release was not one of his natural affinities. Despite having four shadow clones helping him, it was taking longer to master than his other elements.

Two other clones worked on improving his medical ninjutsu, specifically trying to incorporate his heal bite kekkei genkai into his Healing Jutsu. Nearby, another two clones sat meditating on top of earth spikes trying to maintain balance as to not fall off, mimicking Naruto's training for Sage Mode. Kaito aimed to master sitting still and meditating, knowing it would make learning Sage Mode easier in the future. He recalled how it had taken Jiraiya years to sense nature energy, while Naruto had to use a shortcut by using toad oil to let him sense nature energy.

Kaito had six shadow clones working on improving his Rasengan. Three of these clones focused on creating a larger elemental Rasengan, akin to Naruto's Chōōdama Rasengan. Currently, Kaito's regular Rasengan matched the destructive power of Minato's, surpassing what he remembered Naruto's regular Rasengan was capable of.

The other three clones concentrated on adding nature transformation to his Rasendan. This task was proving more difficult than expected. Compressing a full-sized Rasengan to the size of a small pebble and then adding nature transformation made the Rasendan unstable, often causing it to explode during the process. Despite the challenges, Kaito had managed to recreate the Vanishing Rasengan in Rasendan form, though perfecting it remained a work in progress.

Kaito stood back up, gripping a tri-pronged kunai tightly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, centering himself. Then, with a sharp exhale, he opened his eyes and disappeared from the middle of the circle of kunai, reappearing at one of the tri-pronged kunai. He slashed before disappearing again, then reappeared at another kunai, slashing and vanishing once more.

He repeated this three more times before losing his balance and crashing face-first onto the ground. Groaning, Kaito flipped onto his back, panting heavily.

"Five times," he muttered to himself, his chest heaving as he lay on the ground.

One of his clones walked over and said, "Boss, you managed to use the Hiraishin five times consecutively. That's your personal best so far."

Kaito, still catching his breath, looked at his clone. "Yeah, but it still takes a lot of concentration and a ton of chakra," he replied.

Looking up at the sky, Kaito closed his eyes to rest. "I think I'm done for today."

He dispelled his clones one by one, gaining back their experience and knowledge. As the memories and fatigue from their tasks flooded back to him, Kaito felt both the strain and the small victories of the day's training.

It had been a few months since Kaito saved Karin and brought her back to Konoha.

The next day, they had a small funeral for her mother. Kaito, Kushina, and Naruto also visited Minato's grave, bringing him flowers. After the funeral, Kushina decided to take them shopping for clothes, since Karin didn't have any, and to cheer her up.

It had taken some time for Karin to open up to them, but she grew very close to Kushina, seeing her as a mother figure. Kushina, in turn, loved having Karin in the house, as she had always wanted to have a girl.

Kaito tagged along when Kushina brought Naruto and Karin to the park. Naruto introduced Karin to his friends Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino, and Hinata. Karin quickly became close friends with Hinata and Ino, as they were the only girls in the group.

Kushina also started teaching Karin fuinjutsu, since it was what the Uzumaki clan was famous for. Karin excelled in it, unlike Naruto, who couldn't focus and often fell asleep during lessons.

After a few weeks of her staying with them, Kaito decided to train Karin along with Naruto. Kaito knew that Karin had immense potential due to her having all three of the Uzumaki kekkei genkai. It was better for her to get stronger to protect herself; she couldn't count on someone to save her every time she was in trouble. Kaito's mother, Kushina, agreed with him on this.

When Kaito told Karin that she would also be training to be a shinobi, Karin readily agreed, having already lost her mother due to their lack of strength.

For now, he only focused on improving her physical strength and building stamina. Unlike Naruto, she wouldn't have a hard time controlling her chakra.

Other than that, things had been going smoothly until yesterday.

Team 11 had returned to the village after a week-long B-ranked mission. Kaito and Hotaru had noticed that Itachi looked sad when they met up for the mission. Both Hotaru and Kaito also noted that Itachi was a bit absent-minded during the mission. He was quieter than usual and seemed to be in deep thought.

They arrived back and handed in the mission report. As they were leaving the Hokage Tower and walking down the streets, Kaito saw that Itachi was still lost in his thoughts.

Kaito suggested, "Hey, why don't we go out and eat something?" Both Itachi and Hotaru nodded in agreement.

After ordering their food, Kaito asked while waiting, "So, what's gotten you so upset, Itachi?"

Hearing Kaito's question, Itachi sighed and said, "I was offered to join the ANBU."

Hotaru looked shocked but quickly congratulated him, "Wow, congratulations, Itachi-kun! You will be the youngest to be recruited by ANBU. When do you join?"

Itachi nodded and said with a sigh, "Yeah, I have a test soon, and if I pass, I'll be joining them immediately."

Hotaru's smile faded as she realized, "That means you won't be part of Team 11 anymore."

Itachi nodded sadly. Hotaru frowned and turned to Kaito, asking, "Does that mean our team will be disbanded?"

Kaito nodded and said, "Yeah, most probably. Or someone new might be assigned to Team 11." Noticing the sad look on Hotaru's face, Kaito added, "We already knew this would happen, Hotaru-chan, the day we got promoted to chunin. But even without Itachi, we should be able to take on missions, ya know."

Hotaru sighed, looking down, "Well, even if you aren't part of Team 11 anymore, we should meet up at least every few weeks."

Itachi and Kaito nodded. Kaito then turned to Itachi and asked, "But that isn't what's really troubling you, is it, Itachi?"

Itachi sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder if you have some sort of mind-reading ability like the Yamanaka."

Kaito looked at Itachi and said, "We've been best friends for years, Itachi. I know you'd be happy to join the ANBU because you'll be able to take on higher-ranked missions. And while you'd be sad about leaving us behind, I don't think it would cause you to be this distracted during a mission."

Itachi sighed and nodded. "Hai, there is something else that is bothering me." He looked at both Kaito and Hotaru and explained, "It's just that there hasn't been any Uchiha in the ANBU, and the village higher-ups and the Uchiha clan aren't in the best situation right now."

Kaito's expression grew serious. "So you're worried this might be a ploy by the village higher-ups for something?"

Itachi nodded.

Kaito thought to himself, "So Danzo is still influencing the old monkey. He's still planning a massacre." He knew Danzo was behind the push for Itachi's ANBU placement.

The three of them fell silent, finishing their meal. Afterward, they parted ways, promising to meet up every few weeks to keep in touch.

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