1 Chapter 16

I stepped into a tea house, leaning my walking stick against the inside of the door and finding a seat without waiting for someone to help me. I would have put my feet up on the chair across from mine if my legs were long enough.

"Hello, do you know what you'd...oh, Haru-chan," she said as I pulled off my hood. "I didn't recognize you in your, um, new clothes. The usual?"

"Yes, please, Hikari-san," I said more brusquely than I should have. I knew it was her by her voice. She was always nice to me whenever I would stop by after work. But I was so stressed that a simple smile was beyond me right now. "It's weird to think that people actually know me here, that this is not just a dream. I'm actually sitting here, waiting for my tea."

"Thank you, Hikari-san." I did my best to give her a happy smile, trying to be nicer.

She laughed. "You're welcome, Haru-chan!" I slipped her the ryo to pay for my green tea before she walked away to wait on other customers.

My hands were so cold, even with the hot mug of tea cradled in my fingers. They were shaking so much, I couldn't bring the tea to my lips. I gulped, feeling the dryness in my mouth, as I put down the tea cup without drinking.

"That was Danzo. And he wanted me in Root. How am I still alive?" Danzo was not someone I ever wanted to go against, much less meet. I knew he had at least one Sharingan already. Judging from his clothes, he hadn't experimented with Hashirama's cells yet. And I was pretty sure the Uchihas would be around until after Sasuke joined the academy. "Is there anything I can do about that? Should I do anything?" As much as it rankled me to consider it, maybe Neji was right for once. I didn't want to accept that the Uchiha Clan was fated to die, but I didn't know what I could do.

What can I do? All I had was some wonky genjutsu, make-believe taijutsu and an incomplete A-rank jutsu that I stole from Naruto's future. "How do I even know what happens in the first place? What kind of life did I have before this?" Some days, I could almost believe that I was simply the precocious child that people thought of me as. But I was always finding myself knowing how to do things subconsciously, instinctively, as if I had done them a thousand times before. Habits like how I held my tea cup, or how I cleaned up after myself at the orphanage dining area, or how calming it was to sweep and clean at Yamanaka Flowers, or how natural it was to hold something in my hand as I walked.

Why could I remember so much, but not even know who I was? It felt like something had been stolen away from me, like something was missing, but I couldn't even remember what was lost. I could maybe remember the shape of my window, but I couldn't remember what the view was like. I had a map in my mind of the area where I lived. But I couldn't remember any of the names of places, nor much beyond simply the layout of the streets and generic memories of houses and buildings. There was no sense of time in any of my memories, no order, just a lot of facts and fleeting images.

I sipped on my warm tea.

When I finally came home in the evening, as much as the orphanage could be called home, Naruto was nowhere to be found. It was strange not to hear his voice calling my name. I didn't think much of it as I got ready for bed. I had to be at work in the morning.

It was the same after I had gone to bed and woken up. After donning my work kimono and making sure I had the right training weights for that week, I went to check on Naruto. He wasn't in his bed, despite the early morning hour. But I didn't have the time to look for him. It was bad enough that his room was on the opposite end of the orphanage. I grabbed some rice cakes for myself and ate them on the way to the flower shop.

When I arrived, there was someone waiting outside the flower shop. "Oh, god, not him. Please don't let it be true." But those sunglasses and that serious expression were unmistakable. I ignored him as I walked inside.

Momoka Yamanaka was behind the counter, along with Ino on the stool next to her. Upon seeing me, Ino became wide-eyed and stared at me before slowly sinking down behind the counter. "Why does she always do that?" I wondered.

"Haru-chan, there's someone here to meet you," said Ino's mother.

Before I could say anything, I heard Ebisu speaking behind me. "Hello, Haru. I am Ebisu. The Hokage has asked me to provide you with instruction in the ninja arts."

I desperately looked to the smiling Momoka. But all she said was, "Don't worry. It's about time for Ino to start learning the family business anyways." And then she said the cruelest part of all, "Ebisu-san has already explained everything. I'm sad to see you go but I know you can't pass up an opportunity like this. You will work hard and become a fine ninja, won't you, Haru-chan?"

Automatically, I answered, "Yes, Yamanaka-san."

"Well, shall we go, Haru?" I hung my head and started to leave with Ebisu.

"Ino-chan, don't be rude. Say goodbye to Haru-chan," Ino's mother insisted.

I turned around to see a blushing Ino staring at her feet. Ino squeaked out, "Goodbye, Haru-kun."

I smiled and waved to her as I left, "Farewell, Ino-san!" She blushed even harder. "Huh. I know Ino becomes really confident when she's older. Even so, it's weird to see Ino being so shy. I guess she changes when she meets Sasuke or something."

"Alright, Haru. Let's start with a review of what you know." Ebisu had taken us to the many training grounds within Konoha. This one was mostly empty with some trees around the edges.

"Um, Ebisu-sensei, the only thing I know how to do for sure is a few chakra control exercises." It was mostly true.

"Demonstrate," my new teacher commanded as he pushed up his glasses.

I walked a short distance to the nearest tree and walked up the trunk to collect some leaves. Still standing parallel to the ground, I counted out ten leaves and stuck one on each finger.

"Impressive," Ebisu commented.

Then, I extended the chakra from my fingertips, suspending each leaf in the air, with strings of chakra. Just because I couldn't do hand seals didn't mean I hadn't taught myself anything else in the past year. From floating a single leaf above my hand, this was the natural evolution of that exercise. It definitely helped out at the flower shop. I made the leaves spin slowly in a circle between me and Ebisu.

While I had his attention on my trick with the chakra threads. I collected my chakra for a genjutsu. Ebisu would probably appreciate this one. I could tell it had worked when he flew backwards, propelled by a sudden nosebleed. "He should be getting to the good part just about now." Ebisu screamed out a "Kai!" while still on the ground. "Harem no Jutsu isn't quite so sexy when the girls are suddenly rotting zombies."

By now, I had dismissed the chakra threads to focus on crafting the genjutsu. The second layer was an illusionary world of black and white, with nonsensical stairs straight out of an M.C. Escher painting. Next would be a copy of the training grounds, a copy of reality, only with sexy zombie girls erupting from the ground. I figured three layers ought to be sufficient as a demonstration, although I still had plenty of chakra left.

I waited on the ground next to Ebisu's body for him to break out of the genjutsu. The second "Kai!" came out soon enough, but when it was time for the third, he just screamed, his semi-conscious body writhing on the ground as if he just couldn't wake up from a nightmare. I took pity on him and withdrew my chakra.

He woke with a start, gripping a kunai immediately as he sat up and scanned the training ground for danger.

"Did you enjoy your nap, Ebisu-sensei?" I asked, still seated calmly on the ground with my legs crossed.

"You." Ebisu checked himself for wounds, as if making sure it was just a dream. "Where did you learn genjutsu like that?" I could see Ebisu's eyes despite the dark tint of his sunglasses. They bored into me as if I had just threatened his life.

I wished I had my coat just then. I didn't feel like being polite. After all, I had just gotten fired today. "I figured it out by myself, Ebisu-sensei," I said, coldly and distantly, recalling the events of my short life here on this world.

Ebisu's breathing was just about normal now. "I guess that explains why the Hokage asked me to teach you. And the Shadow Clone Technique?"

"I couldn't figure it out." I wasn't going to tell Ebisu that I wanted to learn it more for Naruto's sake than mine.

"That is a very dangerous technique. Your chakra is split evenly between you and each of your clones, meaning that you could put your life in danger if your chakra reserves are too small or your chakra control is bad." His eyes grew serious again, but this time with concern more for me than himself.

"I thought as much, Ebisu-sensei."

"Do you know the normal Clone Technique?"

Embarassed, I hung my head and admitted, "No."

He gave me a strange look before bringing up his hands. "Look closely, these are the hand seals."

I interrupted him, "I already know the hand seals." I went through the motions with practiced speed. I could perform them fast enough that I was relatively sure that the hand seals weren't the problem. It killed me that I had wasted so much time on them in the past.

"Hm? So what's the problem then?"

"It doesn't work. Nothing I do that uses hand seals works."

"So your genjutsu...doesn't use hand seals?"

"No? Is it supposed to?"

Ebisu froze, staring at me like I truly was a demon child. I brought up three fingers, summoning a swirling storm of chakra between them. My Rasengan was smaller than Naruto's. I figured it was because I had less chakra than he did. For some reason, it was easier to make a smaller one just above the crook of my thumb and forefinger than to build it above the palm of my hand. I figured I'd try for a proper sized Rasengan when I had a bit more chakra. I still had to work on perfecting the sphere shape, however, as evidenced by the unstable chakra wobbling in my hand.

It looked impressive as hell, but it wasn't even strong enough to burst a rubber ball. I was a bit disappointed in myself, but I was sure I'd get it eventually. Now that I knew I had a fire nature, I wondered if I could make it burn with a nature transformation.

"What is that?" Ebisu asked, his eye twitching.

"Something I've been working on," I answered plainly as I summoned another mini-Rasengan in my other hand. I liked to play with them when I got bored.

"That is a very unique shape transformation," he stated in fascination.

I threw both balls of chakra toward the trees but they dissipated harmlessly as they left my hands. It would be a long time before I was flinging around flaming Rasengans.

"Like I said, I'm still working on it. So now what, Ebisu-sensei?"

"Why couldn't I have gotten a cute teacher like Kurenai? Or at the very least someone I could mess with like Kakashi? Anyone but Ebisu, the most boring teacher in the world."

Ebisu shrugged. "Do whatever you want for today."

"What?" I was not expecting that.

"I have to check on something. Just make sure you're here tomorrow morning. Understand, Haru?"

"Yes, Ebisu-sensei," I said as Ebisu shunshined away in a whirl of leaves.

I fell onto my back and stared up at the clouds. "I wonder where Naruto went."