Chapter 15, Catching Up

Team 2 went back to Konoha and decided to take two days off missions to rest up after a tough training camp. For Hikaru though, there was no such thing as rest. Guy-sensei didn't believe in it.

Even though he was going to have even tougher physical training these two days than usual, this would be a happy day. The four had decided to join up again and since no one had anything against it, both Mirai and Natsuhi came along as well to the BBQ shack.

The two teams took up one of the tables and ordered in everything they could think of. They were planning on staying all evening after all.

"I can't believe you got to leave the village already!" Mibuna exclaimed at the two boys who were beyond proud of themselves. "It was nothing really, the big news comes from Tsukune!" Hikaru gave the word to Tsukune who by now couldn't contain himself.

"Sai made me his personal apprentice! I'm going to be learning his style of jutsu so I can pass it down instead of him!" Team 1 were shocked at this piece of news.

Being chosen as one to pass down a style of jutsu was very honourable and that he was chosen almost instantly just made it even more surprising. Natsuhi was the first to ask curiously "Anything you can show us? What kind of jutsu is it?"

Tsukune smirked and with pride he took a piece of napkin and drew a quick little bird on it. It was a beautiful little sparrow. While he was finishing his drawing Hikaru and Mirai shared a look of amusement for what was to come.

Suddenly he made a strange seal and said "Choju giga" and the sparrow few off the page. Team 1 jumped out of shock when the bird flew towards them, but they soon noticed that the bird was, at most, slightly annoying. It circled their heads a couple of times before flying over to Tsukune's shoulder. "So, this is the basics but I can do a lot more and I know I'll improve quickly."

Hikaru for one was surprised every time he saw Tsukune's drawings. You could see his mood through them. Today he was happy as the sparrow was made with rounded edges and large eyes making it look very cute, but when he was in a fighting spirit Hikaru had saw the tigers he drew.

If you were afraid of tigers, Tsukune's tigers are what will haunt your nightmares. They are spiky with large fangs and completely black eyes. They look like feral monsters really.

Mirai coughed a bit to stop everyone from staring at the bird "But enough about us, what have you three been up to?"

Sansho leaned back and raising his shoulders. "Not as much as you really. We're mainly stuck doing laundry or lifting rocks." This made Hikaru wonder why they got so little done "Have you had any special training then? Figuring out a combat style could be good you know."

To this Natsuhi almost laughed right out. "Combat styles? All we've been doing so far is heavy lifting and endurance training. I swear to god if I have to run around the village on my hands again I will figure out a way to swap teams with one of you."

Team 2 laughed at her complaining. Hikaru had explained to them what kind of sensei Rock Lee probably was and it seems like his thoughts were correct. But Mibuna quickly interjected "It's not all bad though. Rock Lee is incredible at keeping morale up. I don't think I've ever been able to push myself as hard as I am with him around."

'It seems like both teams will turn out well after a while. It just a rough start for us all' Hikaru thought. Sansho also reminded Natsuhi to calm her down "Don't forget that we'll have some help from Tenten with our jutsu tomorrow as well. Rock Lee-sensei is just making sure our bodies are ready."

The two teams spent a couple more hours chatting and eating. Tsukune and Hikaru made several digs as Mirai, for which they got slapped repeatedly. Sansho had a couple of teases aimed at Natsuhi as well but when she got mad it took them all to calm her down.

Eventually though, night came. The six went out of the restaurant after thoroughly thanking the staff and paying for themselves. When they got outside, Mibuna was knocked to the ground by a passer-by 'accidentally' walking into her.

Hikaru instantly bent down to help her up but seeing as the other person didn't even say sorry, he took a look to see if it was someone he knew. It was.

He saw Yamanaka Inosuke snickering at them and walking away. "Hey! Why did you do that?!" Hikaru and Mirai exclaimed at the same time. This caused team 3 to turn around.

Inosuke just looked at them as if they told a joke. He was about to take a step towards them but he was stopped by his teammate. Inari Yua walked past Hikaru as if he didn't exist and bowed to Mirai "I'm sorry for his behaviour."

Mirai and Hikaru shared a look before Mirai responded "Why are YOU apologising? And why to ME?" This seemed like yet another joke to Inosuke "What? Do you expect me to apologise to that?" He pointed at Mibuna. That was the last straw for Hikaru.

He raised his fist and flicked to right in front of Inosuke. There was no gust of air coming from him or anything so if his fist wasn't just a centimetre away from Inosuke's nose, he wouldn't have noticed Hikaru moved at all.

"If you talk to my friends like that again, I don't think I'd be able to stop my fist from destroying that pretty little face of yours" He glared at Inosuke and without intending to, released chakra from all around his body.

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Just a few second ago everything was happy and funny to Inosuke. He couldn't believe that trash was so obnoxious. How did it get to this?

Aside from the fist filling most of his view, Inosuke saw what he'd describe as a beast. The glare, combined with the wild chakra being released, gave him a hefty chill down his spine. Was this murderous intent?

Inosuke waved Yua back and started backing up, away from Hikaru. "I'll let you off today Commoners. But next time when I'm ready for it, you'll pay for this." When Yua came back to his side. Team 3 quickly went their separate ways away from this scene.

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Hikaru was pleased to see them leave. He had also performed the body flicker without really having to think about it today, maybe he could master it eventually?

Once he was sure they were gone he looked back at his friends. They all looked confused and Sansho was the first to ask "What was that!? I could feel it from here. You have a lot of intent man! Impressive!"

Hikaru scratched the back for his head and smiled. He wasn't sure it was something great but it was probably meant as a compliment, so he took it. "Have they been doing that a lot to you three?"

Team 1 shook their heads "I don't know what's gone into them really. Maybe they got mad when they heard that you got to leave the village before them?" Mibuna said. This was a likely reason, jealousy.

Mirai decided to break the mood "Oh well, they're all talk anyway so it doesn't matter really!" This didn't have the desired effect. Mirai didn't know that making enemies of clans as a commoner was an easy way to get banned from shops and certain services.

Mirai seemed confused when the commoners went silent and Hikaru put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll talk about this tomorrow but I think it's time we all went back home and got some sleep! I'm at least going up at the break of dawn to follow my new schedule from Guy-sensei."

The group nodded and went their separate ways after a few sombre goodbyes. Mirai was still confused. She'd have to ask Shikamaru about this!