A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"Alright, we've been training rigorously for the past five days. We did intense close combat, and tai-jutsu to build up more of your stamina..."

"Yeah, no kidding," I interrupt.

Naria sensei smiles and continues. "And we also worked on more chakra control. Now I think you're ready to learn this new jutsu I want to teach you."

My eyes light up. "Really? What is it?"

She faces the waterfall in front of us and holds out her right hand, with her index finger pointing down at the big pond of water. A hollow green ball of chakra, the size of a golf ball, materializes on the top of her finger. She flicks the chakra lightly at the water, and it sends the water flying high into the air like an explosion. I out my arms over my face, shielding myself from the onslaught.

"Whoa..." I exclaim.

"This is why I wanted to meet you here today. This water is a perfect site, because I didn't want to change much of the terrain," she explains.

"I can see why." I step closer to Naria sensei. "How long did it take you to learn this?"

"About two months."

My eyes widen. "Two months! But, sensei, I only have a few weeks."

"True, but I believe you can learn it in that time. Because I know you have more determination than I had, and your healing power will come in handy. This jutsu uses up a lot of chakra, but since you can replenish it back up and your strength, you could practice this all day no problem. But today, I just want to start to get the feeling of it."

I nod.

"Right. Now, you want to really concentrate, and focus all of your chakra into the tip of your finger." She holds out her hand again and points her finger. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Visualize your chakra forming into a ball..." Her chakra takes on a circular shape, and grows more dense.

She opens her eyes and it disappears.

"Okay, I think I get the concept of it. Man, this is going to be awesome," I say.

Naria sensei smiles sweetly. "You know, honestly, I was really glad I was the one who became your sensei."

"Why is that?" I put my hands up. "I mean, I'm happy your my sensei too."

"No, I know. But do you know the person who taught me this jutsu?"

I shake my head.

"It was your father."

My mouth drops open in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yes. He also wanted to teach it to you when you got a little older, but... he didn't get the chance."

I frown.

"I was very pleased when I got you as a student, because then I could get the chance to teach it to you."

I feel tears well up in my eyes. "Thank you, Naria sensei," I say kindheartedly.

"Now, let's begin with the training."

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. "Right!"

I turn towards the pond of water, with my eyes closed, and hold out my finger. 'I have to try my hardest... for my dad!'

~~*~~

'Think I'll go for some Ichiraku ramen.' I smile to myself. "But I really need to get out of this forest first."

I finally come to the edge of the trees and step out onto a small dirt path. I was facing the back of the Leaf hospital.

I sigh. "I see I have a ways to go. Hmm?"

I see something out of the corner of my eye, but the blinding light made it hard for me to see. I put my hand over my eyes to block the sun, and I spot a figure drop from the fifth floor window.

"What the...?" I falter.

The body lands on one knee, but is a little slow to stand up. I could tell now that it was a guy. He begins walking towards me, into the sunlight.

I roll my eyes. "Seriously? You gotta' be kidding me?"

"What the heck are you doing here?" he questions me with an annoying look.

I grit my teeth."Last time I checked I didn't need a license to walk around my own backyard," I counter sarcastically. "So, your sneaking out of the hospital? I think they would want to know that a patient of theirs has gone missing."

He walks closer and gazes right at me. "Go right ahead. That's not going to do anything. Like they can stop me."

He then steps to the side of me, but I get back in front of him to block his path. His hand balls into a fist at his side, bur I obviously stand my ground, not a bit phased.

"Move," he spits. We were standing so close that I could practically feel his frustration rolling off from him.

"I don't think your quite in the position to give me orders." I cross my arms. "That wasn't exactly a perfect ten landing back there."

Sasuke smirks. "You should watch it, Kimina. We might get paired to battle against each other in these upcoming Final Rounds."

I smile back, mockingly of course. "There's nothing I wouldn't look forward to more, since we didn't get to finish our last fight..." I frown.

Silence engulfs us. The wind blows between us, whipping our hair over our faces.

I couldn't help but recall the reason why our fight ended early, and I involuntarily glance at Sasuke's neck.

“Think of this, Sasuke, as a little parting gift. Very soon, you will come and seek me out and you will desire the power I can offer you.” Orochimaru starts to sink slowly into the tree.

Sasuke leans his head over to me, and I see a black mark at the spot where Orochimaru had bit him. What the hell was that? I grit my teeth and force myself to my feet.

The next words just tumbled out of my mouth. “You bastard! What did you do to him?” I run out to Orochimaru, kunai in hand.

I could tell Sasuke was thinking of the same thing I was, because he narrowed and averted his eyes from mine, but there was something else there too that I couldn't quite make out.

I sigh and back out of his way. "Just go," I tell him.

He grits his teeth, and I thought he was going to say a snippy comment but he shakes it off and runs into the forest past me.

I shake my head. "Well, now since that delay is over with... time to get some Ichiraku ramen."