Shiny black hair swinging, Orochimaru stepped out the front door, and Naruto watched him go with a strange feeling.
In his hands were the mysterious goggles with the power of the Byakugan. If the goggles allowed a person to master a kekkei genkai and an ocular jutsu on top of that, they would definitely be a powerful weapon.
Naruto, though, would be happy if it could compensate for the handicap of not being able to use chakra.
That night, sunk deep in the sofa cushions, Naruto stared at the TV without actually watching what was on. He would never let the kids see him looking so slovenly, but it was just him and Hinata in the living room at the moment, and he allowed himself to be a little lazy. He’d been practicing with the Byakugan goggles ever since Orochimaru left. He hadn’t trained that hard in a while, and he was completely wiped out.
“What a shock, though,” he muttered. “I mean, that guy drinking tea in my living room like any regular person.”
“Hee hee! I was definitely surprised when the doorbell rang and I opened the door to find Orochimaru.” Hinata handed him a warm mug from where she sat next to him. A café au lait made with freshly ground coffee beans and plenty of honey and milk. With a child’s sweet tooth, Naruto really liked drinking it this way. But in the Hokage office he and Shikamaru always raised cups of concentrated black coffee (energy drink added).
“Maybe you were surprised, but you seemed to get along with him just fine,” Naruto noted.
“He clearly wasn’t hostile,” Hinata said. “And he’s basically a mom friend. Our kids hang out together, after all.”
The Orochimaru, a mom friend …
Naruto cocked his head to one side as he drained his mug, and Hinata gently touched his wrist.
“I think you’ve gotten skinnier, Naruto. Your chakra’s still not up to its usual levels?”
“Oh … No, this is …” he tried to protest.
“You’re pushing yourself too hard at work again, hm?”
They lived together under the same roof, so of course Hinata would notice that he was not in the best shape, and it was obvious to her—a Byakugan user—that his chakra had dropped. He had explained his weariness as overwork from the busy season. He didn’t want to have an episode in front of his family, so he’d been sequestering himself up at his office lately, not coming home too often. Because of this, Hinata didn’t seem to suspect that his actual health was suffering.
“Anyway! I practiced using the Byakugan today with Orochimaru’s goggles!” Naruto quickly changed the subject. “It didn’t go too well. To be honest, it was super hard. It’s incredible you and old man Hiashi and Hanabi are such masters.”
Whatever else, there were just too many things to look at. His attention would get caught by something too far back in his field of vision, and he’d trip over things, hit his head on outstretched branches, and give himself a bunch of ugly scratches and bruises.
“Hinataaaa, isn’t there some kind of trick to it?” he asked, playing with the hair spilling over her shoulders.
“A trick …” Hinata put a finger to her chin as she considered the question. “You just sort of go like this, and then bam! Shff!”
“I don’t get iiiiiit!” Naruto threw his head back, and she shrugged and grinned.
“It’s hard to explain it in words. I feel like Hanabi could explain it better if you asked—Oh!” Hinata slipped out of Naruto’s arms and stood up. “Hang on a second?”
She went upstairs and came back down with a small box. A wicker box woven of cypress and colored with persimmon dye.
“Oh!” Naruto sat up straighter. “Your treasure box! I get to look inside it today?”
“Mm hmm. Special for today.”
The wicker box, normally set aside in a corner of the closet, was the treasure chest Hinata had cherished since childhood. She’d shown him what was inside just once before when they were first married. It had been full of memories she’d made with him—ticket stubs from date night movies they’d gone to, wrapping paper and ribbons from presents, leftover yarn from the scarf she knit him at some point.
It had been more than ten years since then.
When she opened the lid of the box that still gleamed with the same luster after all these years, he saw that its contents had noticeably increased. A paulownia-wood box containing the umbilical cords of their two children, the acorn necklace Boruto had made her, a portrait Himawari had drawn. A ticket stub for the live-action teen movie Make-Out Paradise, the dotted wrapping paper that had wrapped earrings Naruto picked out—they were all in there.
“Okay, so listen. I’m sure that this will help.” Ever so tenderly, Hinata pulled out an old notebook from the depths of the box. All four corners were thoroughly worn away, and the ribbon tying it shut was frayed to the point of snapping.
Naruto flipped through its pages, noting the neat rows of characters. “I feel like I’ve seen this handwriting before.”
“Well, you see.” Hinata smiled mischievously. “It’s Neji’s training log.”
“Neji’s?”
Right. This was Neji’s handwriting.
Instantly in that moment, memories came flooding back to him, like a tap had been turned on. The neat, honor-student cursive, as if perfectly tracing the examples Master Iruka gave them. Neji used to scowl every time he saw Naruto’s chicken scratches and say, “Chaotic characters make a chaotic mind.”
Naruto dropped his eyes to the page once more. Neji hadn’t skipped a single day in this record of training on his own. That’s who he was. He was a genius, but he also worked tirelessly and was harder on himself than anyone else. He absolutely refused to compromise.
Sunny
Be careful not to try and grasp all of the chakra flowing through the keirakukei network. More effective instead to turn gaze on whole and predict next chakra movement.
Goal for now is to see through all of Tenten’s secret tools.
Rainy
The usual pair was at it again today. The second I take my eyes off them, the teenage drama starts.
Wasn’t able to dodge the iron fan Tenten threw, cut my cheek. How to cover the Byakugan’s blind spot needs study.
Sunny
Lost in the first fight of final selection.
I don’t have that unpredictability he does—the imagination to upend expectations of others.