Chapter 8, Tenderized meat

Hikaru opened his eyes and was met with a dark ceiling. It appears he had slept until nightfall. Ignoring that he felt like tenderized meat, he looked at the side of his bed and was surprised.

He realized he was in a hospital but that was to be expected in these circumstances. What he saw was four little people sleeping on chairs right next to him with their heads resting on the side of his bed.

He smiled as he recognized them as his three best friends and his rival for the top spot in class and class president. Hikaru struggled to, but managed to, place his hand on Mirai's cheek "Now who do we have here?" He barely got the words out, and had an even harder time giving her the cheeky smile he had in plan.

His endeavor was proven to be worth it when he saw the look on her face when she woke up. She was completely red and straightened her back. "Uh, Um.. I figured that as class president I should check up on you." Hikaru held in a laugh at how much Mirai struggled with her words.

It was at this point Mirai shook her head and got back to her usual cheerful attitude. "I also wanted to be the first to congratulate you!" Hikaru followed the direction he saw her finger pointing in and noticed the sign which proved his plan was successful.

A tear ran down Hikaru's left cheek, he was now a ninja! He had succeeded with what his parents sent him here to do. One day he will return to his old village and show them how much he had grown! Show them how he created a clan in their honor.

Mirai's gratulations woke the rest of the room up and Tsukune jumped on him. "Congrats my man! I knew you could make it as well" Hikaru was sure Tsukune didn't mean to harm him but right now he could barely hear his friend's voice.

His entire body was healed as well as Sakura and co. could, but it still had a lot of sore spots and a lot of recovery to do. Mibuna realized his pained expression and threw Tsukune to the other side of the room "Are you an Idiot?! You saw what he looked like just eight hours ago and now you jump him?!"

Tsukune looked at the floor and apologized but Hikaru started chuckling. He couldn't wait to be paired up with any of them. He was sure that if he could stay friends with them, his life as a ninja wouldn't grow boring. "Thank you!"

He looked each of the in the eyes, ending with Mirai and added "All of you. Thank you for staying with me here but you really should go home now. I'll make sure to be back on my feet tomorrow so I don't miss the announcement of the groups."

Seeing him smile at them all, was a relief sent straight to their hearts. After the sight of him they got today, it was like they needed to see him smile before they could try to move on. They had to know he was actually fine.

Mirai was the first to stand up "I guess so. I'll see you tomorrow then! Don't be late, for any reason" She stuck her tongue out and jumped out the window. The other three refilled his water bottle and then left quietly, hoping Hikaru would go back to sleep soon.

*******

Hikari woke up again just 4 hours later at the break of dawn. The announcement wasn't for quite a while but he needed that time to just get over there. His body had never been this stiff before. It was as if his body was inside a basin of almost solid cement, he could barely move. Somehow, he still got permission by the nurse to leave at least for the day.

As soon as he left the hospital he was met with a familiar face. There was no way he'd forget those eyebrows in his life "Guy-sensei, what are you doing here?"

Guy shone up at the sight of him "I was here to pick up you of course! I think you're in need of some recovery training! REFILL SOME OF THAT YOUTHLY POWER! Ha ha ha!" Hikaru looked hesitantly at Guy flexing his muscles and yelling "Ehh..but I can barely move from the pain!" To this Guy-sensei only laughed.

"I'm joking my dear boy, I'm bringing you to the spa for an hour before I'm taking you to academy to see who your team captain will be!" Hikaru almost fell to the floor with relief. He didn't think Guy-sensei joked about training but was happy for that being the case today.

Hikaru sat down on Guy-sensei's lap and was driven all the way over to the nearest spa where they both got in as quickly as possible. He needed this, but then Guy started talking.

"So, now that you can use chakra you might as well start practising something when you're in the bath!" Hikaru glared at Guy's grin with disdain.

"Oh come on boy. It's nothing physical. Just place your hand on top of the water and try to release the exact right amount of chakra so that you're able to pull yourself up out of the water. Not too much or you won't keep steady but not too little or your hand will fall into the water."

Hikaru looked at his hand. This was a new kind of training he hadn't had to do before. Maybe it's just the physical stuff that's hard right now. He quickly noticed that, chakra control was just as painful at this moment The only saving grace was that the water was doing wonders for his chakra nodes, there must be something in the water.

For the entire hour he sat there trying to pull himself up using the trick Guy had told him about but wasn't able to make it. He made up his mind to put this kind of exercises on his schedule in the future as well. For now it was time to go meet the rest.

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Mirai had been waiting by the academy for quite some time. She made sure to show up first as their old class president. But now everyone was here except for Hikaru. Maybe he was having issues getting here, should she go and get him?

And then she heard Guy laughing, louder and louder. She only realized that it was because he was getting closer and closer when she actually saw him drift into the lawn with his wheelchair, a tired Hikaru on his lap

"Here you go my lad! Hope you get a good one!" Guy was giving Hikaru a massive thumbs up and Mirai noticed how Hikaru's state got the few Konoha clanpeeps who made it though talking.

"They chose someone like that but not Konaru? Not even Kimita made it!" Just as Mirai was about to go over there and give a certain Yamanaka a big fat slap on his cheeks, which ones will stay unnamed, Iruka interrupted her thoughts.

"I'm happy to present the three Juunin who'll be leading your groups. I'm certain they'll all do an equally good job so it doesn't matter which one you get."

Out of nowhere, three figures appeared. One highly enthusiastic man with a striking resemblance to Might Guy, Mirai almost thought that was him standing up there.

One was obviously a Hyuuga with his all white eyes and dark purple fair. He had a very smug face and seemed to completely avoid looking at any of the four commoners.

And lastly there was the palest man Mirai had ever seen. He didn't look like much with his emotionless face and skinny body but surely there was a reason for him being there.

One of these three would be her mentor for years to come, and two of the eight around her would become her companions to place all of her faith in. Wonder who it will be.