The mock battle I.

When Dix woke up he felt bad. It seemed like the surgery went fine, and he was back at square one.. or more like three, with his lower grade sharingan. With the new chakra-transformation seals he believed the process will finish in a few months.

The transplantation, like the last time, required a bit of rest to let the body adjust properly. This time it was done in a few hours, then Dix was able to restart his training right away. He summoned 600 clones once again to continue the Flying Thunder God Technique training. He also summoned 40 to handle the formula embedding into his kunais. That was the exact number of weapons he had, so he expected the clones to finish quickly.

All the while, instead of training, the original opted to create a special storage unit for his kunais. He was inspired by the idea of adult Sasuke when he had small seals on his hands stacked full of shurikens. Dix decided to do the same, but instead of putting it on his palm, like Sasuke will do, he needed it on his fingers, considering the kunais' special design. They had no handle whatsoever, the only way to hold them was by the small ring at the end of the blade. Because of this he had to modify a small weapon sealing construct to fit on his fingers and hold 10-10 kunais each. He wanted to put them on his index and middle finger, those which he can throw with.

This took the rest of his training time. By the end of his training session both the seals and the kunais were ready, so he was able to store them. Learning from his past mistakes, instead of working until he dies of exhaustion, he decided to move out in the afternoon to look for the others and chat or something. He found Hinata quite fast, and invited her to check on the others. Everyone was together at the throwing range outside, but still really close to the village. They had fun racing against each other to see who can aim the best. Hinata cheated a bit with her Byakugan, but nobody minded, as it was part of her abilities, and nobody was willing to hold back.

Time flew by and soon everyone had to go home. Shikamaru was the first to leave, as usual, while Dix left with Hinata a bit early too so he can see her home. They had fun on the way chatting and Dix telling jokes. Before arriving Hinata confirmed she would like to hold a mock battle. She said she would go with him right after school to the Hyuga Clan's building.

Dix was quite surprised at this, but Hinata gave an explanation that her father noticed her change of behavior and wanted to know how it happened. She told her father the truth, who in the end asked for a meeting.

"S-so, will you come?" she asked with some remnant timidness in her voice.

"Well... I'm not really sure this is a good idea..." Dix said, scratching the back of his head. He thought of at least 4 different problems in a second that could come up if he were to meet her father and train there. This is a serious dilemma.

He wanted to refuse Hinata, but he was already exposed. If he was to refuse his father would start suspecting things, or maybe even get the wrong impression of him. On the other hand if he were to train there the Hyuga-clan's head would probably check him out with his Byakugan. There are many problems with that. He would see many of his secrets. For example his sharingans. The many seals he placed in his body. Also the huge construct on his body that is supposed to contain his chakra when he uses the Eight Gates. All of these would probably be plain to see for the strongest living Byakugan user.

"Ah... Don't worry about my father, he isn't scary most of the time. If you are polite then he will most likely will treat you well too..." she answered as she tilted her head down a bit.

"Well... The problem is that your father can see right trough me, and I have a few secrets I want to keep for myself. But I suppose I don't have any other choice by now. I should've told you not to talk about me to anyone." Dix said with a resigning sigh.

"Secrets...?" Hinata asked with wide eyes and her voice trailing off at the end.

"Yes, some things that people shouldn't know about just yet. But I suppose I slipped up a bit." Hearing this the last strands of Hinata's enthusiasm withered. She was feeling awful that she brought her friend into a tight spot for no reason at all.

"I'm really sorry Naruto..." she said with her eyes tearing up. Dix noticed the change in her voice and patted her head with a bit of laughter.

"Don't worry now, its alright, its my fault, so I suppose I should bear the responsibilities. I'll go now. We'll meet tomorrow!" he said with a big grin on his face and rushed away. Inside he was cursing and grinding his teeth. He had to think of something really fast.

When he got home he jumped on his bed and quickly descended into his subconscious to talk with his aide.

"So what will you do?" came the roaring voice of the Fox Beast, Kurama. After some contemplating Dix looked at him firmly.

"I think I can mask the sharingan if you help me. I will need to use your chakra to hide both the sharingans and the seals connected to them. I will try to feed something to the clan-head about the seals on my body. I don't think we can do anything to hide those. The sharingans existence can't be leaked. If I were to get discovered so soon I will be in huge trouble. I might have to kill whoever has knowledge about it." he said with worry written all over his face.

"Wow, kill them? Really? That's a bit too much isn't it?" Kurama said with a snort.

"Don't come to me with killing is too much, mister 'Natural Disaster'!" Dix retorted with a frown. At this Kurama could only laugh and leaned a bit closer to him.

"Haha, you are right you caught me. But still, is there really no other way? Think hard, even if I'm not a human I can tell your little girlfriend will be sad to see you kill his father and their clan." he said as he looked firmly into Dix's eyes.

"Yes, obviously you are right. That's kind of out of my options too... Well I could try genjutsu if all hell breaks loose, but I'm not too confident with a simple sharingan against the head of the Hyugas. Maybe simply running away would be best. Or I could try to pull out Hiruzen's name and rely on his status to shield me from whatever the Hyuga clan would demand from me. Yes that last one seems okay, let's go with that if necessary." he said, with a roller coaster of emotions throughout the whole monologue.

"Eh... now as you mention it, killing them might be easier..." said Kurama with an annoyed and bored tone. His rumbling voice in this manner sounded like boulders were being moved. This put a smile on Dix's face, so he just giggled a bit and thanked Kurama for listening to him. After their farewells he resurfaced and started working on getting a bit of Kurama's chakra trough the seal.

The next morning he went to school and had a good day before his trial at the Hyugas began.

After school he was escorted back to the Main House's building together with Hinata. There they both changed to training clothes. Dix didn't actually need to change because he barely sweats anymore if he doesn't use the Eight Gates, but he was still provided with a set, and he accepted it just as a formality.

When both of them were ready they next moved to the training hall where the clan-head Hiashi Hyuga was waiting for them. Upon entering Dix waited for Hinata to approach her father first, then he went to greet his superior and introduce himself.

"Sir, I am Naruto Uzumaki. I was asked for a meeting from you, I am at your service." he gave his introductions as politely as possible.

"Good, at least you know manners, kid. You are the same one who was around my daughter two years ago. Tell me honestly. What is your intentions with my daughter?!" he asked. He was obviously pissed.