The headbands stayed on my mind, they kind of had to, because what the hell was I supposed to do with that?
My parents were civilians.
At least... officially.
That was the only story I had ever known. They weren't shinobi. They weren't clan members. They weren't famous. They were just... normal people. Or at least as normal as anyone living in Konoha could really be.
And yet, two scratched forehead protectors sat hidden away in their room. Not one. Two. Completely defaced. Village symbols carved out so deeply the metal had practically bent inward.
They were known outsiders... It's what made my time in the academy miserable. Could they have been from another village? One of the other four great ninja villages, or perhaps a smaller one? Rogue-nin? What the hell... Why did I never know?
I packed the headbands away. Carefully. Quietly. Because the truth was simple. I couldn't investigate it right now. Even if there was something there—some hidden past, some secret I never knew—I wasn't ready for it. Not yet. If my parents had truly hidden something like this from me, then whatever answers existed weren't going anywhere.
The main issue was that even for this...
I was probably still too weak.
That thought annoyed me.
So naturally I trained.
A lot.
The next week passed faster than I expected. Life settled into something dangerously close to routine. Strange routine. But routine nonetheless. Turns out Yahiko and Konan adapted frighteningly fast once they realized they weren't in immediate danger of starving to death. Konan especially. I wasn't entirely sure when she silently declared herself the manager of my house, but apparently it happened. Because every morning I'd wake up and somehow the place looked cleaner.
Swept floors.
Organized shelves.
Dust gone.
Windows opened.
I hadn't realized how neglected the place had gotten until she started fixing it. It was a little embarrassing.
"You live like an animal," she'd told me once while reorganizing my kitchen.
I was twelve.
I had no defense.
Yahiko, meanwhile, somehow became responsible for laundry. Not voluntarily. Mostly because Konan bullied him into it.
"Why do I have to do it!?" he'd complained while carrying a basket nearly his size.
"Because you complain the most," Konan had answered without even looking up.
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"It does to me."
"…You're evil."
"You're lazy."
Somehow they worked and the house felt... alive again.
Louder.
Messier.
Warmer.
It felt strange hearing footsteps upstairs again. Hearing voices in rooms that had stayed quiet for years. Living together with people reminded me again of when they were alive, but I couldn't dwell on more of the past right now.
Thus, training became my outlet.
Every day.
Every chance I got.
Minato had pulled me from the frontlines?
Fine.
Didn't mean I had to stop improving. If anything, I trained harder since the Rasengan continued to elude me.
Every single day.
Every single damn day.
I stood in the backyard, three shadow clones around me as we worked through the third step again and again. Air balloons. Chakra control. Containment and stability.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
"DAMN IT!"
Another one exploded in my hand.
A clone beside me groaned. "This stupid thing sucks."
"You are literally me."
"Yeah, and I still think it sucks."
Fair.
Hours.
Days.
Nothing.
Every time I got close, the chakra destabilized. Every time I almost had it... Failure.
Again.
And again.
And again.
At some point, during one of my increasingly hostile staring contests with an air balloon, Yahiko wandered into the yard. He stood there for a second, watching me fail spectacularly.
Then he suddenly said, "Teach me."
I blinked at him repeatedly. "…What?"
He crossed his arms. "Ninjutsu. Teach me."
"You wanna learn?"
"Obviously." He frowned like I'd asked something stupid. "You think I wanna stay weak forever?"
That one landed harder than he probably meant it to.
Weak.
Yeah. I knew that feeling.
Konan appeared beside him a second later. Quiet as always. "I want to learn too," she said softly.
Yahiko immediately pointed at her. "She only wants in because I asked."
Konan folded her arms. "No. I just don't want to die."
"…Okay, that's fair," I admitted.
Truthfully? I didn't really have a reason to say no. If they wanted to survive in this world, learning wasn't optional. Especially not after everything they'd lived through already.
Jiraiya had once also taught them during the original timeline, so I guess I could sort of take on part of that role in this one. Though, admittedly I'm still not at his level, so I'll have to see what I can do for these kids. I've never taught anyone anything before.
Given the fact they're here in Konoha now, it should be fine to teach them. If they plan on going back to the Rain country in the future to establish the Akatsuki... Well, they can do that once I've killed Hanzo.
So...
I started with the basics.
Chakra.
What it was.
How it worked.
Meditation and chakra molding.
Leaf balancing.
The most boring foundational exercises imaginable.
Yahiko hated it instantly.
"This is stupid," he groaned, glaring at the leaf falling off his forehead. "When do we learn fireballs!?"
"You don't."
"What!?"
"You learn how to not trip over your own feet first."
"That's lame!"
"You're lame."
Konan quietly sat beside us, focused and completely silent. And somehow way better at chakra control already.
Which Yahiko absolutely hated. "How is she better already!?"
Konan didn't even look up. "I listened."
Eventually, I decided something.
If they were serious?
Then I'd help them properly. Help them catch up. Get them ready and eventually enroll them in the Academy as I would need to head out to the frontlines at one point or another again. At that point, it'd be best if they were learning in an institution instead of just me giving them homework.
If I can make it happen, and that's a big if considering they're outsiders too, they'll be able to become official Leaf shinobi like me and take care of themselves. At that point, they might also decide to stay in the Leaf, but we'll have to wait and see what these midgets decide on.
Either way, it might take a while.
The week passed quickly after that.
Somewhere along the way, a thought kept creeping back into my mind.
Yukino.
She'd probably recovered a little by now.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
I stared up at the ceiling one night, hands folded behind my head.
…It's probably about time I visited her, huh?
Ugh... Will the Hyuga estate even let me in...?