120 Chapter 120
'Oh… do you think I could,' Naruto cautiously asks, hesitantly fantasizing about being part of a clan in Konoha—just like the other clans—so he'd never be alone again.
'I hope so, Little-Me,' Naru-nii asserts. 'I'd definitely like to know more about Kaa-chan's people.'
'Now I definitely have to be a Fūinjutsu master,' Naruto exclaims. 'So I can help the rest of our clan!'
'Hell yeah!' Naru-nii calls. 'And to be a Fūinjutsu master, you have to know how incredibly flexible it is. The thing I think a lot of practitioners get hung up on—besides how much easier it is compared to the other levels—is Fūinjutsu means sealing arts, so they just think in terms of containing something, when they should be thinking in terms of extreme chakra programming. Sealing is a task. It's a simple framework for chakra to perform. If you create other tasks and frame them properly, Fūinjutsu will do those tasks just as easily as sealing. Like I said before, with enough time and chakra, I could've used Fūinjutsu to go back in time but that wasn't an option.'
It's why Naruto pushed himself so much harder; training all afternoon and even using more of Kurama's chakra than normal. He was so close to cutting a leaf with chakra alone, it felt hours away from happening, making his bones hum deliciously with anticipation. He even created another three clones to help the one he created for Kurenai to study Fūinjutsu in Iruka-sensei's home. Pushing himself with so many clones training and studying, it left him half-dead on Kurenai's couch and useless to help Hinata and Kurenai.
Near dinner time, Naruto hops in the shower. The blond genin was surprised he remembered everything he read on Fūinjutsu as clear as if he had been told. Kurenai had his clone copy the text repeatedly on Sealing Lore in order to help him memorize it but Naruto felt like that was completely unnecessary; he just took to Fūinjutsu like a fish in water. Simply put, his brain felt naturally engaged by the knowledge and he wanted to soak up every bit of information he could get his hands on. Honestly, it shocked as much as surprised him.
After his shower, a refreshed Naruto walks down to the dining table with a mild headache that'll likely be gone in the next thirty minutes and to his surprise, Asuma-nii is sitting at the dinner table while Hinata and Kurenai are setting the table with a nice spread. At the sight of them, Naruto is even further startled when his throat clogs up and his eyes heat with prickling moisture. The three people he'll be having dinner with is such a nice scene to not only see, but be a part of…
'Dinner in a nice home, at a clean table, with three people who don't hate me!' Naruto felt choked up and wondered how much longer Haku's going to be to further complete his happy home. It's been two days and he's missing his friend very much.
KURENAI
"Have a seat Naruto," Kurenai curtly states, feeling odd by the company.
The blond ball of energy hops into his seat across a shy Hinata, and though pink-cheeked, looking away from Naruto every once in a while, she's smiling the entire time. Asuma casually nods at Naruto with his bearded chin to which Naruto returns, "what's up Asuma-nii?"
"Since we're both Fūton users and Kakashi asked me to help your training out, so, I thought I'd come over," Asuma informs him. Kurenai walks over from the stove top to place a medium-done steak on Naruto's plate before finally taking her own seat across from her fellow, yet, curious, Jōnin.
"Are we training after dinner," Naruto asks, smiling at Kurenai for the perfectly delicious looking steak. Turning to Asuma's plate Naruto then asks a more important question. "Don't you like steak?"
"As I had no prior knowledge he would be here at this time, yours was the only one I made Naruto," Kurenai answers as she and Hinata load their plate with salad, nuts, and fruit.
Crestfallen, Naruto painfully offers Asuma, "um… I guess… you can- we can split mine… if you want."
"It's okay, Naruto," Asuma states with a mild chuckle, and Naruto heaves an exhale of relief. "Salad's good to have at least once a day."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto mutters as he starts cutting up his thick cut of well-cooked meat. Naruto moans in delight when that sweet cut of juicy meat aggressively delights his taste-buds, disqualifying him from proper dinner manners. "So, good."
Hinata laughs a pretty joyful sound, happily telling Naruto, "Naruto-kun, that's bad manners."
"Ah," Naruto hollers, turning to Kurenai. "It's really good Kurenai-chan. Thanks."
Considering how easy of a slip it is, Kurenai smiles and thanks Kami every time he doesn't say, 'Nai-chan.' Kurenai shakes her head good-natured, responding, "thank you and you're welcome."
"We won't have a full training session," Asuma starts telling Naruto as he assaults his steak. "I'd like to see where you're at in your training so I can know how to direct you from there."
"Sweet," Naruto says between bites. "With your help, I'm sure I'll be using Fūton jutsu in no time."
"Hey, now, I wouldn't say quite that fast," Asuma says eating his salad easily enough. "But I promise we'll make some headway before Kakashi's return."
"What? I want to be done before Kakashi-sensei gets back," a worried Naruto tells Asuma, feeling like he's making too much progress to slow down now.
"Naruto, you should know this isn't so simple," Asuma asserts. "It wouldn't be good for you to rush. You could end up making a costly mistake when you're in the field. Proper training in Fūton chakra is so you don't get yourself killed, and proper training takes time."
Finding the exchange curious, Kurenai wonders aloud, "has Kakashi mentioned the rate by which he learns?"
"Just said he's a Fūton user starting nature manip and could use some pointers," Asuma answers.
"And that's it," Kurenai sharply asks. While she's big enough to admit Naruto could benefit from a Fūton user's one-on-one instruction, she can tell—due to Kakashi's help—Asuma will likely split his attention between Naruto and using this as a legitimate opportunity for them to talk more.
She'll admit a part of her wants to go back to the way it was when it was just them, when it was simple. At the time, being a ninja was what a strong female did before marriage, after which a life at home taking care of the children was always where the path led to and Kurenai was happy to have that with him. But that's no longer the case. Since their last separation, she became the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha and a Jōnin-sensei. Not to say her achievements completely derail where she thought her life would end up—she cared too much about the future of the village to not have little shinobi of her own—but with two very important pupils sitting on either side of her, and her genin team to guide, she's not ready to settle down just yet.
'Maybe in time,' she mentally asserts.'But definitely not now.'
When Asuma answers, "unless it's a mission, you know he's not much on details," Kurenai gets up, walks outside to grab a leaf and returns to the dinner table. She hands Naruto the leaf, asking, "how close are you?"
Naruto smiles broadly, super excited to show Kurenai the fruits of his labor. He takes the leaf and places it between his palms and at the errant thought Kurenai might reward him in some ultra-amazing mind-blowing way, Naruto concentrates as he's done hundreds of thousands of times, converting his chakra into his elemental nature and cuts completely through the leaf. He's a little more tired than he usually is but there's still plenty of steak to nourish him, so he grabs his fork as he casually hands Kurenai the cut leaf.
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