The next two months passed surprisingly quickly. Which was fair because every single day felt exactly the same.
Wake up, train, fail at infusing lightning chakra with the rasengan, dump the rest of my chakra into the seal.
Then teach Yahiko and Konan to be ninja and sleep.
Next day? Well, we just up and repeat!
Oh, and occasionally eat of course.
Sometimes.
And this happened again, and again, and again.
Concerning the seal, honestly at first I thought I would immediately notice some grand change as it slowly filled up. Some dramatic feeling. Some not like an overwhelming increase in power, but that I'd feel the change. Instead, it was like filling a lake with a bucket. Slow and tedious. Almost impossible to measure since the seal didn't get bigger and It didn't glow. It really didn't do anything impressive in the beginning. It just sat there patiently waiting. Mocking me.
Lady Tsunade called it an investment, and I guess that was the right way to call it. Whenever I focused on it, it kinda felt that every day it grew a little heavier. A little denser. Like an ocean slowly being born behind my forehead.
A thing to note, the more I did it, the easier it became to do, which made my ability to control chakra in the finest ways even better. It got easier to form the Rasengan as well, and even when performing other Jutsu, I noticed myself becoming even more efficient at using chakra, which certainly helped a ton as there was none wasted in the air.
Another thing I noticed during my normal training was that after a certain point, I could actually channel a bit of chakra from the seal directly without activating it, essentially granting me an extra battery in a dire situation without the need of releasing the seal completely. I had to put a mental lock on that so I only use it when it's truly needed. Can't be wasting chakra on training after all.
And while the seal drank most of my chakra... The rest went toward another project. One that was significantly more explosive.
...
A Shadow Clone appeared beside me and we looked at each other. Honestly, neither of us looked particularly optimistic.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No."
"Fair."
At first I began by forming a Rasengan, and the sphere stabilized quickly now. That part wasn't difficult anymore, even though just a little while ago it would've been. Now it felt almost natural. The clone then immediately started feeding Lightning Release chakra into it from the side and the result was immediate.
And terrible.
The Rasengan exploded.
The clone vanished.
I caught on fire somehow.
"SON OF A—"
Soon after, once I wasn't on fire anymore, I rubbed my face in annoyance. Another failure. Wonderful. It seemed like adding Lightning Release wasn't the problem, since the chakra entered the Rasengan just fine, but the issue was keeping it in there without a catastrophe unfolding.
The lightning wanted to escape.
The Rasengan wanted to spin.
Both techniques seemed determined to murder each other.
And me.
Mostly me.
The next attempt lasted three seconds. The one after lasted five. The one after that burned my eyebrows off. Again.
I was beginning to suspect Lightning Release had something personal against me.
I wasn't entirely sure what I could do to fix this issue since the lightning just refused to follow the Rasengan's rotation. Every time I got close, the technique destabilized. The chakra sphere collapsed. The lightning scattered, and everything exploded after a few seconds. Usually in my face.
Adding more clones for better control of the Rasengan wouldn't fix the issue either, I tried with all three, but it didn't seem to be a problem related to my chakra control. Heck, that I was rather confident in at this point. Rather, it was something else I wasn't quite getting...
I see now the impossibility of the formula. And honestly, it made sense why it took Naruto so long to get it right despite using a thousand clones. But despite the failures, progress did happen. Slowly, mainly painfully, and most of all annoyingly. But progress happened. After all the amount of time I could keep it in equilibrium was increasing, so at least I enjoyed the improvements because every failed attempt meant I was getting closer to getting it right.
Plus, while I couldn't get how to create the lightning style rasengan yet, I was able to do something else with it... Honestly, it's a little unstable and feels like cheating, but it works so I'm happy with it! I'll be able to one up Minato next time I see him now, hehe!
...
Not all of my time was spent training, though. Some of it belonged to letters between me and Yukino.
The first letter arrived three days after Minato nearly destroyed Konoha's balloon economy. The second arrived two days later. Then another. And another. And another. Some of them were here daily life at the estate and recovery, some were complaints, some were things she wished she could do, and some were complaints aimed at me for not visiting.
I unfolded the newest one. Yukino's handwriting remained annoyingly neat. Even while recovering from near-death.
"Dear Shiro."
"Physical therapy remains terrible."
"The nurses continue being unreasonable."
"Apparently complaining every five minutes is 'not constructive.'"
"I disagree."
I snorted.
Second page.
"How is your training?"
"Please don't blow yourself up."
"Again."
The audacity.
I immediately wrote back.
"Dear Yukino."
"The training is going well."
"I have only blown myself up nine times this week."
"Which is a significant improvement."
"Please praise me appropriately."
A day later her response arrived.
"Nine times is not an improvement."
Cruel.
Absolutely cruel.
The letters continued.
Day after day.
Week after week.
Small stories.
Small conversations.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing important.
And somehow...
They became the part of the day I looked forward to most.
...
I visited occasionally too, of course, I also wanted to see her. I mean, yeah, of course I wanted to. Not often, since she was mostly confined to the estate in order to heal, and I wasn't the most welcome fellow there given my past with her brothers. Plus the attendants argued she needed to rest and not get overly excited or it could slow down her recovery.
Sounded like bullshit to me, especially since I'm a better medical nin than all of them and I always checked up on her condition when I did visit. She was improving smoothly and Tsunade's occasional visits only improved her more.
I've no idea what that woman does, surely she's still hiding something from me... Either that or it's a matter of innate talent, I don't know. Regardless, I did go over to see Yukino more than a few times.
...
The first visit was admittedly awkward.
"Hi."
"Hello."
"..."
"..."
"What's with... The mark on your forehead?"
I touched it. "Ah, this...? Lady Tsunade's Jutsu..."
"Ah..." Yukino said. "I see..."
"..."
"..."
Ten seconds passed.
Twenty.
Thirty.
We barely talked, the kiss on the cheek kept flashing in my head the entire time.
...
The second visit went better.
Mostly because Yukino asked about training.
Which, in hindsight, was probably a mistake.
"So then the issue becomes adding Lightning Release without destabilizing the rotational structure."
Yukino blinked.
"The what?"
"The rotational structure."
"..."
"..."
"Right. Demonstration."
I raised my hand and chakra gathered, rotated and compressed. A familiar sphere of blue chakra formed above my palm. The Rasengan spun steadily.
Yukino's pale eyes widened immediately. "Oh, wow."
I couldn't help feeling a little smug. "Pretty cool, right?"
"It's beautiful."
The answer came so quickly that it caught me off guard. For a second, I forgot what I was talking about. Then I coughed. Professionally. Very professionally.
"Anyway, this is the completed version of the base technique."
Yukino leaned forward slightly in her bed, studying the spinning sphere. "So that's the jutsu?"
"Yep."
"The one you've been training to do for four years?"
Silence.
Yukino froze.
I froze.
She froze harder and both hands immediately flew to her mouth.
"..."
"..."
"...Yuki."
Muffled noises emerged from behind her fingers.
I narrowed my eyes. "...How... How exactly do you know I've been training to do it for four years?"
"I don't."
"You do."
"I don't."
"You absolutely do. You just said it and added a specific number."
Her cheeks immediately turned pink. She looked away suspiciously fast.
I pointed. "Have you been spying on me?"
"What?! No!"
"That wasn't a denial."
"It literally was!"
"You somehow knew I'd been training this for four years."
"I didn't know what it was!"
"Not helping your case!"
Yukino let out a tiny squeak as she hid her face in her pillow, which honestly wasn't helping her case either.
I leaned back, my cheeks felt hot as I scratched them and looked to the side. "...Have you... Maybe, actually been watching me train all these years?"
"...Maybe." Yukino groaned into her pillow.
"That's... Uh..." I couldn't get the words out. "Mmm..."
Silence filled the room again.
I had to change the subject. "...Well, uh anyway! So yeah, Rasengan! I was talking about that... I mentioned this was the base technique, right?"
"Yeah..." she shyly peeked from behind the pillow.
I nodded seriously. "So yeah, the current problem is improving it further."
"...Improving it?"
I pointed at the spot where the Rasengan had been on my palm. "Well, as you saw it's basically pure chakra with-without any nature release added... Uh... I'm currently trying to add lightning release to it."
Yukino blinked. "...Can you do that?"
"No."
"..."
"..."
"Yet."
"Oh."
"At the moment, it mostly explodes."
"That sounds bad."
"It is."
"Should I be concerned?"
"Probably."
"Shiro."
"I'm joking."
She stared.
I stared back. "...Mostly joking."
"Shiro."
"Fine. It exploded five times yesterday."
Yukino shouted. "Five!?"
"Only five."
"Only?!"
"That's an improvement."
Her expression immediately told me she disagreed. Strongly.
I laughed then looked toward the training field outside. "Still." I couldn't help smiling. "I'll succeed. I'm getting closer."
"I know." Yukino said all too readily.
"Hm?"
She looked away. A faint pink tint touching her cheeks. "Uh, I mean, you always succeed."
...
The third visit happened because Yahiko and Konan wanted to see Yukino, and it involved Konan bringing tea.
Yahiko trying to steal said tea.
Konan threatening murder.
And Yukino laughing hard enough that she nearly spilled her cup.
That one was probably my favorite.
...
The weeks continued.
Training.
Letters.
Visits.
Seal cultivation.
Training.
Letters.
Visits.
Seal cultivation.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until eventually...
Two months passed.
A message arrived. Official, simple and brief.
Hyūga Yukino and Shirokumo have been cleared for active duty, you will be summoned in a week.
"...About time."
I shoved the letter into my pocket and immediately headed for the Hyūga Estate.
The guards spotted me before I reached the gate.
One of them sighed.
The other laughed.
"Back again?"
"I wasn't here yesterday."
"You were here the day before."
"That still counts as not yesterday."
The guard rubbed his forehead. "We've started taking bets."
"...On what?"
"Whether you'll show up before or after lunch."
I felt mildly offended. "I'm not your gambling game..."
They just laughed and opened the gates as usual, I'd gotten well acquainted with the gate guards in the last two months so this much was normal.
I stepped inside.
A few servants greeted me as I passed as most of them had grown used to seeing me around. Some still gave me strange looks, but most were friendly.
A few minutes later I reached the courtyard and stopped as Yukino was walking toward me. Not slowly nor carefully. Not leaning on anything, but walking completely normally.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees above her. Dark hair swayed with each step. The flower ornament on the side of her head shimmered faintly and the familiar twirled strand bounced lightly near her face.
Healthy.
Strong.
Beautiful.
The thought appeared before I could stop it, unfortunately and my mouth was faster. "...You're beautiful."
Silence.
Yukino stopped walking, her eyes widened and my brain caught up approximately three seconds later.
Oh.
I said that out loud.
Wonderful.
Excellent work, Shiro.
Yukino's face immediately turned pink, then red, then somehow redder. For several seconds neither of us spoke and then she looked away.
She mumbled while playing with her twirl. "Minato and Kushina are waiting."
What?
That was her response?
"They've been waiting for a while."
"...Yuki."
"We should go."
"Yuki."
"The weather is nice."
"Yuki."
She turned even redder, which I hadn't known was physically possible.
Then she pointed toward the exit. "We should go."
I stared, then laughed.
Yukino looked scandalized. "Don't laugh!"
"You changed the subject."
"I did not."
"You absolutely did."
She looked away. Again. "Minato said we'd be late."
"Minato can survive five more minutes."
"Shiro."
"Yukino."
Her cheeks somehow became even redder and then she started walking past me.
Fast.
Very fast.
I immediately followed.
Trying not to grin.
Failing completely.
She's adorable whenever I manage to tease her without resistance.
But yeah, the four of us planned this outing days ago. One final day together before returning to the front lines. Just us. No missions or war. No responsibilities. Just fun. So as we left the Hyūga Estate together, I really couldn't help but find myself smiling, as today would be a good day.
And perhaps, I'd get to show off a little too.
...