And so the group found themselves gathered in a clearing early the next morning. Haruka was standing across from Sasuke. Kurenai was looking on suddenly feeling unsure of this idea. What if it fails and Haruka gets horribly burned? No. She had to have faith it would work. "You two can begin whenever you're ready, Hinata and I will not interfere." The two nod and Sasuke flies through the hand seals once more using Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique). It heads straight for Haruka.
Absorb the chakra. Don't think about how to do it just do it. She reaches out with her hands to try and do so only to wince as the fireball passes over her. She's singed all over and has light burns. "Sasuke, don't hold back, if my instincts aren't going to tell me I'm in danger this won't work." Sasuke looks at her and with some hesitance he nods. He didn't want to hurt her, if this fails he would sear the flesh straight from her bones. With a deep breath he flies through the jutsu and sends it out at full power. He has to try and kill her if he wants her to succeed.
Haruka gulps, this was it. If she failed she would either die or be horribly injured. She reaches out her hand once more as it approaches. It was ten meters away and nothing was happening. It was five meters away and she was trembling. Then it was 1 meter away and she could feel the heat. She couldn't help it, she squeezed her eyes shut, her powers weren't working and this was going to hurt. " Foolish child. Instinct does not mean panic. "Didn't she want her dead? Why is she giving her advice now? What did she say before, maybe that would work. The flames were licking at her fingers now. There's no more time to think.
The fire disappears into the girl's fingers. Haruka looks down at her slightly burned fingers. She had done it, Kaguya actually had left her a hint. Haruka had breathed just like always. But instead of using her lungs she used her own chakra core and as a result instead of inhaling air, she had inhaled the chakra. To her surprise Hinata wasn't the only one to run up. Sasuke did too and actually used the healing Jutsu Kurenai-sensei taught him the day before. She immediately felt relief flood her as the burns were being healed.
Hinata was relieved, she had been forced to watch as her girlfriend nearly died but it ultimately worked out. She was ready to beat the shit out of Sasuke but then the boy started healing the redhead and she decided not to. He clearly didn't want her to get hurt. So just this once she'd let him off the hook.
"Sasuke let's do it again, I want to see if I can manage to call it at will, now that I have the feeling for it." Hinata looked like she wanted to protest but one look from her girlfriend was enough to make her sigh and retreat back to Kurenai. Sasuke moves back to his previous position. With a nod from Haruka he goes through the hand seals again.
Haruka is able to do it faster this time. Once more she inhales through her chakra core and finds the fireball being sucked in through her hands. She didn't even get burned this time. She smiles at her teammates. She had learned to use her kekkei genkai! Maybe she could even take the chakra straight out of people. That isn't something she can test on her teammates though not until she is positive she can stop herself from giving them chakra exhaustion. This is all assuming she can even drain people directly.
"Excellent work you two, I'm incredibly proud of both of you. Sasuke take a break for now so that you can regain some of the spent chakra. Haruka I can't really tell you how to properly practice this, so for now just try and recall the feeling of using the kekkei genkai. With something like this it's best if you can use it instantly." The redhead nods. It would be hard to practice without exhausting her teammates for the upcoming battle. But she can at least practice making the feeling instinctual on her own. "Haruka, do you think you can give Hinata your resistance seals for the week?"
"Kurenai-sensei would it be alright if I try and make the seals for her instead?" Haruka had been studying seals a lot in her free time and while she had only learned to make storage scrolls and exploding tags, she had also learned the basic mechanics of Fuinjutsu. She thinks she might be able to apply that to making them.
"Okay, but I'm going to have a Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) test it to make sure there are no faults."
"What type of clone is that?"
"It's mostly used for recon due to its ability to transmit information. However it has a high chakra cost and is unusable to most people outside of elite jounin and up." The genin nod, it seems useful but dangerous.
"So then we'll still be able to know what went wrong even if it dies. Is what you're saying?" Kurenai gives a nod towards her male student, he was exactly right. "When we have enough chakra to handle it will you teach us this jutsu?"
"Sure, once I think you'll be able to handle it and still fight at full strength for at least an hour then I'll let you learn it. And Sasuke, I know you'll likely just copy the hand seals anyways, but I'm serious, do not attempt this Jutsu until I give you permission." The boy nods, he respects his sensei enough to trust her word. "So how long do you think it will take you to make the seals Haruka?"
"Give me half an hour." Haruka still had to take some time to decipher her own seals. "Oh Hina-chan what do you want me to put the seal on?"
"Do you mind putting it on the left glove you gave me?" Haruka nods and Hina-chan hands the glove over.
"Alright Haruka, we're going to let you focus on that for now. Hinata, I want you running sprints from here to the river while we wait. Sasuke I'll be focusing on you for now so that we can try unlocking your next tomoe."
And so thirty minutes go by with Haruka spending about half of it just looking at her resistance seal and the other half actually drawing an imitation. She just seemed to naturally understand seals. It was like the matrix just naturally unraveled in her mind. And now that she knew what each aspect meant that unraveling was actually legible. She had just finished drawing the last character on the gloves when the rest of her team returned. It wasn't entirely on the gloves, the matrix overflowed onto a piece of paper she had gotten out. "Kurenai-sensei, this is a two step seal. The first one will compress the greater matrix onto the metal chakra plate. Then when you channel chakra into the plate the seal will activate." The woman nods, understanding what she needs to do. She forms her fingers into a cross shape and with a puff of smoke a second Kurenai appears.
The clone walks over to the seal, swapping places with Haruka in the process, and does as instructed. Things work without issue and the seal compresses into the shape of the Uzumaki swirl. Then the clone puts the glove on and activates it. It doesn't explode and she finds the difficulty in walking (which was minimal because it's meant to feel like walking through mud for a genin). "It worked. You can come take it Hinata."
Haruka was distracted again. She had ignored it while making the seal but once more she finds herself drawn to the north-east. Just what is over there that she keeps feeling like she needs to go? It actually seemed to have gotten worse since she started making the seal. "Kurenai-sensei can I please go check out the north-east? I can always do my practice over there."
Kurenai didn't want to allow it. Not only because there are bandits crawling all over the island, but also because the girl had been considering leaving with that Ame nin, Konan, and she was at risk. But she also wanted to let Haruka find what she needed to. She didn't want to hold her back. "Tell you what. Tonight you and I can go together, and if it seems safe for you to practice there then I'll let you go on your own tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay." While they had been having their conversation Hinata had put on the glove and was currently struggling to walk around.
"Haru-chan, how do you deal with this?"
"You just get used to it." Kurenai disagreed. Most ninja set any resistance seals they use to make it feel like they are just wading through water, not mud. Gai had given Haruka the more advanced resistance seals because of her weights. So for the untrained Hinata this must be extremely difficult.
"Alright Hinata, now that you have the seals on I want you to run laps around the clearing. You can take a break once you finish fifty." Hinata gulps at that. She could do that normally but this was more than a little difficult. She slowly starts to stumble around the clearing. "Now then as for you Sasuke, you better run because if you can't gain the next tomoe by the time I find you then you're going to have another hole through your hand." She had drawn her sword to prove the point. The boy goes wide eyed and stock still. She takes a step forward and he snaps out of it. He turns away from her and immediately takes off in the other direction. She turned to her clone and said, "Alright you're going after him, I'm going to head to the bridge." The clone nods and takes off after Sasuke.
Haruka noticed the child, Inari, was staring at the group again. He seemed to scoff and run off. She shrugs. She reactivates her own resistance seals figuring she should have them on regardless now that she has the time.
The rest of the day simply goes by with her trying to make the feeling of inhaling with her chakra core natural. She needs it to be just as natural as breathing. Hina-chan had practically collapsed in her arms by the time she finished running laps. Haruka had to admit the image of her sweaty girlfriend in her arms had a weird appeal to it that she couldn't quite place.
When they arrived back at the house they found Sasuke trying his hardest to keep an apologetic Kurenai away. With a sigh of frustration she said, "I'm sorry alright! I wasn't actually going to stab you through the hand again, I just needed you to think I was. The good news is it worked and you have two tomoe in each eye now. Starting tomorrow I want you to keep your Sharingan active at all times, it'll help bolster both your chakra reserves and the strain will make getting the third tomoe easier in the future." At least that's what Hana had told her (The perks of having friends who were close to Itachi).
The group had settled in for dinner once more and it was at this point that Haruka noticed the picture framed on the wall. It had four people, three of which were the residents of this house, but the fourth person had his face torn out. "Hey Tazuna-san, who is that in the picture?"
Inari goes still and tenses up. Guess he's the one who tore the picture. "He was the hero of our village." Inari quickly jumps to his feet and runs out of the room.
"Tou-san! I told you not to bring him up in front of Inari." Tsunami had a pained expression but she masked it under one of anger at her father.
"So who was he?"
With a sigh Tazuna continues. "He was my son in law. He was Inari's hero and had saved both his life and the village." The country of Wave only had a single village but it didn't feel right to call him hero of the country. Probably because the Daimyo had never acknowledged him. Their Daimyo was a good man, but he was a blue blood and they were peasants.
"So then why does Inari-kun not like him?" It was Hinata who asked.
"He loves the man. But when Gato arrived he wanted to break our spirits. So he killed our hero to do so. He publicly executed him after having his arms, which he always used to protect, cut off. You can imagine how that would affect Inari. He's grown to think there is no such thing as heroes."
Haruka couldn't help but agree. At least in regards to the ninja world. There are no real heroes. Because a hero would save everybody without anyone suffering. Many of the villagers in Konoha would argue that Yondaime is a hero, but he still sacrificed a child to save the village. A war hero is only heroic in their home village. No, for ninjas, heroes don't exist. But civilians could always use a hero. And it's a shame for the child to think that. Haruka had never lost anyone she cared for before, so she didn't know what the boy was feeling. But her male teammate did, to an even stronger degree really. Maybe he could help the boy.
The group eats the rest of their meal in silence and once they're finished Kurenai stands and gestures to Haruka. "Well let's get going."
"Okay." The redhead gives Hina-chan a quick kiss and sets out with Kurenai-sensei.
The two women decide to run over and seeing as they aren't traveling at a civilian pace they're able to make it in an hour. They didn't run at top speed in case something happened. When they arrive all they see is a beach. Haruka still felt the pull but it was out at sea. Whatever it was, she couldn't see it.
"What you're sensing is probably the ruins of Uzushio."
"The Uzumaki homeland?"
"Yeah. I'm actually surprised you know about it."
"Hina-chan found records in the Hyuuga archives."
"I see. Well the land of Whirlpools is where your mother hails from. She came to Konoha after escaping the destruction at six years old."
"Do you think we can go there one day?" Haruka was feeling an even more intense longing the closer she got. She needed to go.
"I can request a training trip there in a few months." She pauses for a moment and looks at Haruka. "Were you really considering leaving with Konan?"
"Yes." Haruka says it without hesitation.
"You do realize I'm going to have to report this to the Hokage, right?"
"Yes." Haruka figured as much. "Hey Kurenai-sensei, what's the deal with the lullaby?"
Kurenai sighs, guess she can't put it off forever. She was just afraid the girl would hate her. "Haruka… I, well I raised you until you were three." Kurenai wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and look away. But she couldn't, she had to look the girl in the eye.
"Oh, so then I guess you taught it to me?" It was worded as a statement but spoken as a question.
"Yes, I used to sing it to you every night. It was your favorite."
"I'm sorry, Kurenai-sensei, I don't remember you. Or anything from before I was four really… Wait, that's not really true. I remember one thing, only vaguely. I remember looking up at a teen with red eyes. I guess that's you. I had always figured it was an Uchiha." It's not like Kurenai didn't match the description of most Uchiha.
Kurenai didn't remember a specific time that happened. But Haruka as a child had always been fond of tugging on the bottom of her dress and looking up at her. So she was probably remembering one of those times. Kurenai couldn't help it, so she pulled the girl into a hug. Haruka didn't know what to think about this. She's only been hugged a few times in her life, Hina-chan didn't count cause that's different, so she was a little weirded out. Also she felt like she was betraying Hina-chan because her face was buried in the other woman's rack. She wonders if Hina-chan would let her do this with her.
Kurenai was at first concerned she was taking things too far but then she looked at the redhead's expression and realized the girl was having trouble using common sense. Something she'll likely always have a problem with. Kurenai can't help but smile, the girl hadn't changed at heart since she was little. "Come on, I'm sure Hinata is going catatonic without you."
"I hope not. I don't think we could arrive on time to help her." Yep the girl would need help.