Chapter 19

Naruko had finally separated from me and was watching over her students as they tried their best to master tree walking. We only had two more days until we left for Waves, which means the kids would need to learn tree walking while we were gone.

I was quite a ways away, training lightning release. It was much more taxing than using any of my natural affinities, but I had chakra reserves that I was quite proud of, so it wasn't too tiring.

The Senju library has jutsu of all different ranks, and I knew more than a few A and B rank jutsu for each element, hell I was even working on a few S rank jutsu for water release, plenty came to mind, but how to actually apply them was much harder.

Apparently mastering elements that you weren't born with is very difficult but also very doable, it requires a great level of control over the element, and if I can gain the same control that I currently have for my other two elements, then I can have the others under my domain as well.

So here I was, naturally letting lightning chakra dance around me. It wasn't like the lightning cloak, instead of making me faster, it weighed me down. It was a troublesome process, but maintaining and controlling the lightning around me should speed up my mastery of the element.

Satsuki had developed this method when she was trying to master lightning release, and when we went to Hiruzen for pointers, he had hid it well, but I could tell he was surprised by Satsuki's genius, and who wouldn't be. Who would think of purposely nerfing yourself in order to increase control?

Now that I say it like that, it seems pretty obvious. People with low chakra usually tend to have chakra control simply because they have less to control. People training their bodies use weights in order to purposely nerf their abilities for the tradeoff of greater abilities when they remove the weights.

This concept is quite similar to those examples. Perhaps training freaks like Might Guy or Rock Lee could have figured it out?

Regardless, Satsuki, the glorious Uchiha Queen that she is, figured it out, and now I'm using it.

So hours passed, Naruko training her students and working on seals, and myself working on my lightning manipulation.

My reserves were pretty low by the time Hinata and Satsuki finally entered the compound.

"Wonder what took you two so long." I sent the two girls a tired smile which grew when Hinata giggled. She sat down beside me and gave me a light kiss on the cheek.

"We were training." She answered which got me to raise an eyebrow. We almost always train here, so why would they train away from us?

"Oh?" I asked, looking at Satsuki who was averting my gaze, light pink dusting her cheeks.

Ah. I see now.

"Learn anything new?" I questioned my Hyuga girlfriend who gave me a knowing smile. A simple look in her eyes told me they did but she wasn't gonna tell me.

I huffed in amusement before looking towards the kids, who were having little to no progress making it up the tree. Right now Konohamaru and Udon were lying down catching their breath, while Moegi was making an attempt. She made it five steps up before marking her progress and dropping down, instantly falling to her knees in exhaustion.

"Oh, who are they?" Hinata asked.

"The kid there." I pointed at Konohamaru. "Is Lord Third's Grandson, Konohamaru. The other boy is Udon and the girl is Moegi. Naruko took them in as students."

Hinata's eyes widened for a moment before a mischievous smile formed on her supple lips. "Ara, Naruko has decided to become a sensei? I'm curious how long they'll last."

I smirked at the slight shot Hinata sent Naruko. Obviously there was no heat in her words, we just know how Naruko is. A hyperactive, knuckleheaded, powerful ninja. If the kids couldn't keep up to her training she'd grow tired of training them and tell them to get lost.

"Eh, they all seem to have potential, call me a fool if you wish, but I think they're here to stay." I gave her a knowing smirk, which she eyed carefully before giving me a gentle smile of her own.

"If you say so." She hummed, laying her head against my shoulder.

Satsuki huffed in annoyance and made her way to the compound's library. Naruko finally looked up from her seals and noticed that Hinata was here.

"Hinata!" Naruko rushed over at full speed and embraced the Hyuga girl.

"Naruko. Why so happy? We just saw each other the day before yesterday." Hinata giggled at Naruko's closeness.

"Ah, you don't know yet." Naruko hummed, her eyes trailing over to me. "You didn't tell her?"

I raised an eyebrow, I had planned on letting Hinata see the shift in Naruko and I's relationship naturally instead of forcing the matter.

"No, I didn't."

Naruko frowned as she stared at me, then confidently, she detached from Hinata and settled herself in my lap, facing me. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she pressed her lips against mine with passion.

I was surprised by her abrupt behavior, but quickly caught on and returned the kiss. My hands wrapped around her back and I enjoyed the softness of her lips.

Eventually she pulled away from me and turned to Hinata. "That's payback for all the lovey dovey stuff Satsuki and I had to watch." Naruko teased.

Hinata smiled at Naruko, only it was a dangerous smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. Naruko immediately lost all of her confidence as she averted her gaze from Hinata's eyes that promised pain. Her arms wrapped tighter around me.

"Congratulations, Naruko, I'll be sure to reward you with extra taijutsu spars." Hinata chuckled darkly.

I felt Naruko flinch, or was that me? As strong as we were, we weren't Hinata's level with taijutsu. Sure I was faster, but considering my main fighting style relied on me taking hits to fight, and hers being able to kill someone with a single hit, I wasn't exactly a good match up for her.

"Good luck with that." I lightly pushed Naruko off me and got the fuck out of there.

"Wait! Lei! Don't leave me!" Naruko shouted, but If anyone asked me, I didn't hear shit. She dug this hole now she'd have to shit in it.

Is that how the saying goes? Oh well, I can ponder that question anywhere but here.

I made my cunning escape to the library where I saw Satsuki going through a scroll. A small frown worked its way on my lips as I approached her.

She was the last girl in the world who held my affections, at least at the moment, and I honestly didn't know how to establish our relationship. I liked her, and I knew she liked me, but her personality…isn't the easiest to appeal to with this type of topic.

"Satsuki." I greeted, taking a seat beside her.

"Lei." She hummed back, not taking her eyes off the scroll.

"So…you ready for our mission?"

Her eyes locked with my own and a cocky smile split her lips. "I've never been more ready for anything in my life. We finally get to test ourselves with something more difficult."

I nodded along, the only ways we could test ourselves before was when we sparred against each other, and when we had the bell test against Kakashi. So we knew where we stood, but it wouldn't hurt to see how that applies in an actual mission.

"Experience makes the shinobi, or at least that's what Gramps says."

Satsuki nodded noncommittally at my words before resuming her studying of the scroll. Just like that we fell into silence again and I realized forcing anything with her was definitely not the way to go about things, so I got up and made my way towards the lightning jutsu section. I had been training all day and my chakra reserves were lower than I would like, but that doesn't mean I can't study some higher rank lightning jutsu.

—

"So, you want to use your coupon for the free ramen bowls now?" Teuchi asked slowly.

"That's exactly what I just said, yes." I nodded.

"On the same exact ramen bowl." He repeated what I said again.

"The pork miso ramen bowl with extra pork, yes."

"And you both want the same thing?" He asked the two girls sitting at my left. Naruko, who was sitting immediately to my left nodded eagerly while Satsuki just shrugged her shoulders. Hinata, who was sitting to my right, giggled at our antics.

Teuchi, god bless his heart, sighed tiredly. "Coming right up." He shuffled his way over to his pots and lit the fire of the stove.

"So how are we doing this?" I asked, turning to the girls on my left. "There are fifteen ramen bowls amongst the three of us, so do we each give Hinata one so she has three, then buy another for her?"

"Sounds like a plan." Satsuki agreed easily. Naruko however looked more reluctant.

"Naruko?" I gave the blonde girl a questioning look.

"...I'm hungry." She groaned.

"It's fine, Lei. I have more than enough money to buy my own bowls." Hinata shrugged easily before leaning over and giving me a soft peck on the cheeks. "Thanks though."

"Nah, if you're gonna eat with us, I'm paying. I won't accept no for an answer." I crossed my arms and nodded sagely.

Hinata was absolutely loaded being the next Head of the Hyuga and all that, but I was also pretty loaded with the Senju's treasury being my own pocket money if I willed it.

"You sure?" She asked, though I could tell she knew the answer to her question.

"Yup." I grinned, which grew when she wrapped her arms around mine and leaned into my shoulder.

"Ufufu, if you insist."

Naruko eyed us for a moment before deciding to wrap herself around my left arm, sending Hinata challenging stares which Hinata returned with no real heat in either of their eyes.

Satsuki's eyes widened as she saw Naruko so close to me, I could see the gears in her head turning as realization lit her face up. Followed by a deep grimace.

Now I feel bad.

"Four bowls of pork miso ramen with extra pork." Teuchi handed out each bowl skillfully before going back to work.

The moment Naruko and Hinata saw their bowls, they let go of my arms instantly and started vacuuming the noodles down their throats like well oiled machines. I was mesmerized by the sight, but eventually decided to join in.

Round after round we finished our bowls. Eventually making it to the fourth and final round and killing our bowls just as quickly.

"Nothing like some good ol ramen to finish off the day." Naruko patted her full stomach happily.

"Agreed." I sent a silent prayer to Teuchi for such a wonderful meal, hoping our next visit would be filled with delicious bowls as well.

"Kid, stop praying to me!" Teuchi grumbled, already knowing of my antics.

"Ah, I almost forgot!" Naruko clapped her hands twice. "Oh Heavenly God of Ramen, Hallowed be thy name, thy ramen come, thy noodles be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven, thank you for giving us this day, our daily ramen, and forgive us for any bit of ramen that may have been wasted, as we forgive those who may have wasted any, and lead us not into overindulgence, but deliver us from ramen comas, ramen!"

"""Ramen!""" We all finished the prayer with her.

"Leave." Teuchi ordered, although the amusement on his face was clear.

"As you command, God of Bowls." I got up and bowed and the others followed along before giving waves to the magnificent chef and heading out.

We started walking down the streets of Konoha, no clear destination in mind, we wanted to spend as much time together. Satsuki was at the front, so we were following her as we went.

"Hey, Lei?" Naruko tapped me, earning my attention. "Weren't you training Sakura? What happened there?"

I raised an eyebrow at her sudden concern there. From what I could tell, all three of these girls disliked Sakura for her fangirl attitude towards me.

"I still am, but she went and bragged about it so I essentially gave her a time out. I told her to master tree walking, she shouldn't need me around for that, and I'll write up more things for her to do while we're in waves. Why do you ask?"

Naruko frowned deeply at my answer. "No reason." That's a fucking lie if I ever heard one, but I wouldn't press her if she didn't want to tell me. They'd get along, I'd make sure of that myself.

I noticed we had entered the Uchiha compound and raised an eyebrow as we made our way towards the main house. Satsuki almost never brought us here. Not that we weren't welcome, more so since we had my place to train and do whatever at. We walked all the way to the front porch before stopping.

"Since we'll be gone for a month at least, I thought we should have a sleepover." Satsuki said turning to us, and judging by how beet red her face was, she knew how childish she sounded.

"Well we still have tomorrow." I reminded her, but her quick nod told me she already knew that.

"Yes, but since Hinata isn't a part of her team, I thought you'd want to spend most of the day with her, if this goes well, we can have a repeat tomorrow night, maybe?" Satsuki finished before speed walking into the house.

Naruko looked over to Hinata and I and gave us a knowing grin that we returned. It was honestly adorable how shy Satsuki was when it came to conveying her feelings.

We made our way inside, and were greeted by the sight of Satsuki setting up a monopoly board. Recreating board games was one of my greatest accomplishments, and I couldn't wait to recreate the mass of anime whenever Boruto's time came around. I already had started writing some of the manga from my memory, but I hadn't shown anyone yet.

"I call the cat!" Naruko rushed over to the table.

"Of course you do." I rolled my eyes as Hinata and Satsuki both laughed. I cherished these types of moments. I knew they wouldn't last forever, not with the clusterfuck of shit that is bound to happen in the coming years, but I vow to hold onto these times, and ensure we can have this after all of that.

Hours went by as we played, eventually deciding to turn in for the night.

"HAHA, can't beat the Unbeatable Uzumaki!" Naruko cheered, chugging down a glass of water.

"You won once, just now." Satsuki deadpanned and Naruko giggled, wagging her finger at the Uchiha girl.

"That's all that matters, that was the last game which means I ended on a win."

That…makes sense I guess.

"Games of luck always suck." I groaned, knocking back a cup of watered down sake. If I was old enough to fight and die for my village, I was old enough to drink and smoke, even if I still haven't done the latter. Bite me.

"You made it though." Hinata gave me a sly smile which was contagious and got my own lips to betray how I felt internally.

"Yeah, but I'm not the god of luck or something like that. It's fun, but there's no real skill involved."

Hinata hummed at my words and didn't say anything else, although judging by her look, she intended to tease me lots later.

"Guess we should call it a night then?" Satsuki asked, and we all nodded. It was well past midnight after all.

"Well, I'll take the guest room, you three have a good night." I stood up and waved at the three girls before walking away.

"You're not slipping away that easily." Naruko said behind me. Her arms grabbed me by my shoulders and turned me around, immediately her lips pressed against mine. Her hands gently rested on my chest.

There was silence as the kiss ended which was interrupted by Hinata's heavy strides. Her glare was strong as she closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my neck and gently pulling me down. I could tell she was a bit hesitant by the look in her eye, being raised properly would do that to a girl, so I eased my head down to hers until our lips softly pressed against one another.

It was a chaste kiss, and didn't last longer than five seconds, but as gentle as it was, we managed to get our feelings across through it. As she pulled away, I delighted in her warm smile and rosy cheeks.

"Good night." Satsuki said abruptly, pulling Hinata and Naruko away from me. Both girl's gave me dreamy looks that did great things to my confidence. It felt good to be wanted, even better than it feels to want someone.