Fuyōna hadn't been able to get much sleep that night, feeling his mind run wild with possible outcomes and decisions that he would have to make.
He knew how badly he had already upset the original timeline and that he wouldn't be able to count on certain events happening now, knowing that from here on out, everything that was yet to happen was foreign territory that he could only react to.
However, that also gave him more room to act, knowing that if the timeline was already so distorted, then anything that he did wouldn't have as large an effect as he had first thought. Almost everything he had done had been planned out, acting accordingly from his knowledge of the Naruto verse. But now that, that had changed, everything was fair game in his vision for the future.
"Daddy! Wake up, daddy!" Both Shōto and Asami shouted as they ran into the room, jumping on the bed and waking him up.
"Arrghh! What is this, I'm under attack!" He yelled, playing along with his children as he wrestled with them, causing them to giggle with excitement.
"Good morning, honey," Suiren said as she walked into the room, placing a mug of coffee down on the table for him.
"Thanks," Fuyōna said, sitting up as both of the children sat to either side of him.
"Did I sleep in?" He asked, not knowing what time it was.
"Only a little, but me and Mei thought it best to let you sleep." She said with a smile.
Fuyōna also smiled, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Thank you." He said, also smiling before he placed the coffee back down.
"Alright you two, how about we get some breakfast!" He said to the kids, watching both of their faces light up.
"But daddy, we already had breakfast," Asami said, causing Fuyōna to laugh.
"Well, how about a second breakfast!" He then said, picking her up and tickling her belly, causing her to laugh and squirm around trying to get free of his grasp.
"Alright kids, let your father get up," Suiren said after a moment, watching as Fuyōna put Asami down.
"Ok mummy." They both said, hopping off the bed and following her out of the room, leaving Fuyōna alone for a moment to get up.
Fuyōna watched them walk out of the room, smiling as he did.
"No matter what, I will make this world a safer place for them." He thought, knowing he would do anything he could to keep them safe.
With that Fuyōna got up and dressed before heading downstairs into the kitchen, still holding his coffee mug in his hand.
"Good morning father," Haku said, greeting him from the kitchen table.
Fuyōna could see both Haku and Kimimaro sitting also drinking some tea, while Mei was cooking and Asami played with the children.
"Good morning, everyone." He said, greeting them all as he walked over to Suiren and gave her a kiss on the cheek before doing the same to Mei.
"Good morning sleepy head," Mei said, returning his kiss causing Fuyōna to laugh a little.
"Here grab a seat dear, food will be ready for you in a moment." Mei then said, turning her attention back to the cooking.
Fuyōna nodded and sat down, joining Kimimaro and Haku.
"Good morning boys, how are we both?" He asked, knowing that they had begun their training with the others.
"Good thank you father," Kimimaro said, taking a sip of his tea.
"And how is your training going?" He then asked.
Both Kimimaro and Haku looked at each other before looking back to Fuyōna, seeming a little nervous as they remembered the events from the previous day.
-The previous day-
Haku, Kimimaro, Koyuki and the others had all reported to one of the training grounds as they had been instructed to do so in order to continue their training while Fuyōna was away on business.
"I wonder who will be training with us?" Haku said as the three of them waited.
"It doesn't matter who it is, my goal is to get stronger no matter what," Hattori said, causing the others to remain quiet as they thought about their own goals.
"If your goal is to become stronger, then you must be willing to work for it." A voice suddenly said, giving off a killing aura before Hattori quickly drew his sword, only just stopping an attack from none other than Ganryu.
"Not bad, but how will you handle this," Ganryu said, allowing his Shibuki to ignite some of its paper bombs, causing Hattori's eyes to open wide in shock before the sword exploded.
Haku and the others also jumped back out of the way as the sword exploded, causing Ganryu to flip back into the air from the force of the attack before landing on the ground.
"Hattori!" Yuri yelled, getting ready to attack Ganryu if she needed to.
"Not bad kid." He said as he placed his blade onto his shoulder, watching as the dust settled.
Hattori had activated his steel release, being able to tank the explosion from the attack from the Shibuki, only taking a small amount of damage.
"That jutsu is certainly strong." Another voice said, revealing Kaga and Mei who had been watching from the sidelines.
"Kaga sensei, and lady Mei." Koyuki said, surprised that they had arrived without being able to detect them.
"What the hell, that could have killed me!" Hattori suddenly shouted, not impressed by the sudden surprise attack.
"Yeah, I was hoping it would have too. But you surprised me, kid." Ganryu said, not seeming bothered in the slightest.
"Now, now, everyone just settle down," Mei said, trying to calm the situation.
"We are here because Fuyōna asked us here to help with your training." She then said, getting a surprised reaction from them.
"You will be training us, lady Mei?" Koyuki asked, seeming to like the idea.
"Some of you yes," Mei said, flashing her a smile.
"As agreed, I'll take Koyuki and Yuri." Kaga said, looking at the others.
Mei nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Make sure to do your best girls." She said, watching as they both slowly walked over towards Kaga.
"You. You're with me." Ganryu suddenly said, pointing his blast sword at Hattori.
"Fine with me," Hattori said, not complaining about the match-up.
"And that leaves the two of you with me." Mei then said, looking at both Haku and Kimimaro, getting a slow nod from both of them.
"Each of you will undergo training specific to what we believe your strengths are, as well as to improve upon what you are lacking in." Mei then said, getting everyone's attention before they all followed their new teachers to where they would start their training.
Once everyone had left, both Haku and Kimimaro were left standing with Mei in the middle of the training ground.
"Very well then boys, why don't you start by showing me what you've got," Mei said, keeping her arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh, and make sure to give it everything you have, otherwise, you might die." She then added.
Both of the boys quickly took a fighting stance as they knew Mei was being serious, already knowing how strong she was.
"Here I come. Water style, water dragon bullet!" Mei suddenly said, quickly creating the hand signs before she shot two dragon bullets out from her mouth.
"Look out!" Haku said, quickly dashing in front of Kimimaro, quickly forming his own hand signs and creating an ice wall in front of them.
Both of the water dragon bullets smashed into the ice wall, freezing on impact and bursting into ice.
"Now Kimimaro!" Haku shouted, quickly creating more hand signs as the ice in front of him burst into thousands of tiny ice needles.
"I got it!" Kimimaro shouted as he quickly charged forwards, allowing bones to cover his body as he prepared to attack.
"Not bad, but will you be able to get past this!" Mei said, creating more hand signs and slapping her hand down onto the ground, creating a large earth pillar trap around Kimimaro, stopping him in his tracks.
"What is this?" He asked, trying to escape the jutsu, but to no avail.
"Hah!" Haku yelled, commanding the ice needles to fly forwards, targeting the earth pillars, doing enough damage to them to free Kimimaro, who burst out towards Mei, spinning through the air and shooting out bones from all over his body.
Mei was surprised at their teamwork, feeling impressed as she quickly flipped back to get clear of the bones. However, Kimimaro was on her faster than she had predicted and slammed his heel down onto her head, smashing her into the ground.
"Look out!" Haku yelled, seeing that it was a water clone.
"Substitution!" Kimimaro shouted, feeling a sudden jolt come from behind him.
"Water style, water wall!" Mei yelled, unleashing a large blast of water that crashed into Kimimaro, knocking him back and dragging him to the ground.
"Now, lightning style," Mei said, clapping her hands together as she was about to combine both of the chakra natures together.
"Ice style, ice pillar jutsu," Haku said, creating a large ice pillar that suddenly burst up from Mei's feet, almost trapping her in it as she jumped out of the way.
Mei was quick to jump back, watching as another ice pillar shot out from the water trying to trap her inside this time catching her foot.
"Got you," Haku said, raising his hand as he allowed the ice to suddenly spread up her leg and around her body, trapping her.
"Wow... He actually got me." Mei thought, looking at the ice that encased her body.
"We did it!" Both Haku and Kimimaro shouted, seeming pleased that they had managed to trap her.
"Hmm... I guess I should try from here on out." Mei then thought, smiling before she opened her eyes.
"Oh, boys." She said, getting their attention.
"This fight isn't over yet." She then said, blowing some acid mist onto the ice around her body, melting it with ease.
"No way..." Haku said, not understanding how she was able to melt his ice.
"What is that jutsu?" Kimimaro asked, also not knowing what it was.
"Vapour style... And now, lava style." Mei said, forming the hand signs as she suddenly expelled a large wave of lava from her mouth, creating a large sheet that threatened to cover both of them.
"Look out!" Haku yelled, quickly putting up a large dome of ice to try and block the jutsu.
The ice and lava mixed and connected, trying to repel one another as it formed a kind of molten crystal material. However, Mei wasn't finished with only that attack, quickly appearing behind both of them from under the ground using her earth style.
"In a real battle, one must use everything they have to win!" Mei said, clapping her hands together as she raised a large earth-style dome around them, trapping all of them inside together.
"What is she doing?" Haku thought as he placed his own hands together, preparing a jutsu.
"It's over... Vapour style." Mei said, simply blowing out the acid air from her mouth.
"Andddd that's pretty much how that day ended..." Haku said, finishing telling his father the story.
Fuyōna couldn't help but laugh as he looked at the expression on both of their faces.
"Oh boy, it sounds as if you have both had a pretty rough time. After all, I know just how scary Mei can be." He then said, winking at the two of them.
"I heard that..." Mei suddenly said, appearing behind him holding the frying pan in her hand, causing all three of them to panic.
"Quick run for it!!!"
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Alright that's the end of this chapter.
I hope you enjoyed it!
Have a great day and see you soon!