The Cloud Over The Leaf

Months passed as life in the village flashed by rather quickly.

Hii grabbed his backpack after breakfast to head out to the Academy as usual.

"Wait, Hii-Nii! I'm almost done!"

"Hurry."

His siblings had finally made their way into the Academy, coming in to the class below his.

He waited out front for the twins to get ready as he looked up at the blue sky.

"Looks like it'll be a good day today."

"Don't you say that everyday, Hii-Nii?"

"Hehe. I guess I do."

"Ready?"

"Let's go!"

Hii and the twins started walking towards the Academy at a steady pace.

"Hii-Nii! Are we going to train today?"

Moya bounced in front of Hii in her new outfit.

Moya now wore a black kimono top with black spats. The family symbol on her back was outlined in white, making the symbol pop from a distance.

Hii nodded his head and looked over to Yozora who was wearing a similar outfit.

The only difference between the two was that Yozora's outfit had no sleeves, much like Hii's outfit.

Hii still had on his white top with a black cloud on his back and black pants. He now wore a sleeveless top as well, which was more comfortable for him. He remembered his Grandma shaking her head as all the men seemed to love this look.

"Yeah. I want to work on my techniques more."

"Yay! We'll beat Hii-Nii today!"

"Umu."

"Heh! I won't believe it until I see it."

The three made their way to the gate and headed inside the Academy.

"Bye, Hii-Nii! We'll head off to class."

"Bye."

The two headed over to their classroom while Hii went to Iruka's class.

Hii came to the door and felt an odd sensation as he was about to open the door.

'Hmmm?'

Hii looked up and found a board eraser lodged into the door.

It had to be Naruto.

'Nope.'

Hii decided to go through the other entrance and headed inside.

"Hey Hii! You made it just in time! I'm gonna get Iruka-sensei this time!"

Naruto jumped up from his seat and greeted Hii.

He had on his trademark orange and blue jumpsuit, much to Hii's confusion.

'Why that color, I wonder?'

Hii didn't think too much about it. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

"I can't wait to see what happens~."

Hii turned to see Shizuka in her brown and black top and black pants. 

"Hehehe! This'll be good."

Naruto waited with enthusiasm as he watched the door.

"Like he'd fall for that."

"Watch, Sasuke! It'll work!"

"Haaa. How many times have you tried this again?"

Sasuke and Maka watched on with some other students as they monitored the door.

Sasuke wore his dark blue top with white pants while Maka wore a purple top with black pants. Both of them had the Uchiha symbol on their backs.

She turned to look at Hii and smiled.

"Hey, Hii."

"Hey, Maka."

Hii headed down to his usual spot in the front and sat down.

*Tshhhh*

Hii heard the door sliding open and saw the eraser dropped to the floor, leaving a stern looking Iruka in front of it. It was a complete miss.

"Naruto!!!"

"Geh!!"

"Hahahahaha!!"

Iruka roared. 

Naruto yelped. 

Shizuka laughed. 

It had been this way nearly since the first day of school, yet none of them seemed to have changed at all.

Hii shook his head and opened another book he bought for his medical research. He also handed the old book over to Sakura to read, who was grateful for all the knowledge she was able to learn. Hii had given her pointers on how to use it, but she still needed more guidance.

Hii looked up at Iruka yelling at Naruto and smiled.

'I'll probably miss this place once we graduate. There's still alot of time though.'

He chuckled and continued to read his book, ignoring the yells and screams.

********

Hii headed out of his classroom to go to the training grounds.

"Hii! Wait up!"

"Hmm?"

Hii stopped in his tracks as Naruto came over to him.

"Hey! Are you gonna go training today?"

"Yep. Same as usual. The twins are coming with me this time though."

"Yosh! Nee-san and I are coming too!"

Hii was shocked!

"Your Mom is letting you stay out late now?!"

"Well, it's because toda-"

*Smack*

"Owww!"

"We'll be joining you as well."

Maka appeared behind Naruto and smacked him with Sasuke and Shizuka behind her.

"I think I finally can match you, Hii."

"Oooh~! How exciting! I can't wait to see if you can."

Hii looked around and smiled.

'Looks like we'll have group training today.'

"Hii-Nii!"

"Nii-san."

The twins came rushing down the hallway and straight into Hii. Hii opened his arms and caught both of them with a grunt.

"Hehehehe!"

Hii smiled and turned to the group.

"Is everybody here?"

"U-um...."

Hii looked towards the classroom door and saw Hinata fidgeting while looking at them.

Hii smiled when he noticed how she was mostly looking in Naruto's direction.

"Hey, Hinata! You want to come with us? We're gonna go train today!"

"Eh?! I-I can come?"

Hinata started to debate on if she should go, but Shizuka was a step ahead of her.

She reached over and grabbed Hinata's hand and dragged her to the group.

"Sorry~! You can't refuse today."

Hinata looked confused until Shizuka started to whispered in her ear. Hinata's face started to light up as she was told what was happening today.

"I-I would love to go!"

Hii looked a bit surprised to see her so motivated, but he thought it was fine this way.

"Great. We should start heading over."

"Let's go! I can't wait!"

"Shut up, idiot!"

The group soon made their way out of the Academy and arrived at the training grounds.

Naruto was giddy with excitement as he stretched his limbs.

"Hehehe!! You have to be referee today, Hii!"

"Eh?!"

Hii was surprised!

He wanted to deny it, but everyone else seemed to nod their heads at Naruto's suggestion as well.

Hii looked to Maka for some support, but she clapped her hands and apologized.

"Sorry, Hii! You are the only one who can stop some of the matches. There will probably be another incident again today, so we need you to be ready."

"Hii-Nii is really fast! He can make sure everyone's okay too!"

"Yep."

Hii looked around and saw that everyone was already set on him being the referee.

Hii sighed,disappointed in his skill set betraying him all the time.

'I wanted to fight too.'

He decided to just play along and hope he'd get a turn.

"Ok! Who is going first against me?"

Maka stepped out into the open area, waiting for her opponent to come.

"I'll go!"

Naruto jumped in front of her with an eager grin on hia face.

Everyone looked at Hii, telling him to get ready.

"Haaaa. Fine."

Hii came between the two and raised his hand.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah."

Maka and Naruto assumed their stance as they waited for the signal.

"Go!"

Hii's hand chopped down and the two ninjas shot towards each other!

"Haaaaah!!"

Naruto swung wildly at Maka, but she dodged all of his swings with ease.

"Haaa!"

Maka then began to counterattack, striking at Naruto's legs to make him lose his balance.

"Uwaaah!!"

Naruto tripped over on one of her attacks and slid a distance away from Maka.

"Grrr! Try this!"

Naruto made a cross handsign and churned his chakra!

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

*Poof Poof Poof*

7 other Narutos appeared and all got in their fighting stance.

""We'll show you!""

All 8 spoke in unison, bringing a smile to Maka's face.

"Hahaha! Bring it!"

"Haaaaah!!"

Maka beckoned Naruto with her finger, making them swarm toward her.

Maka suddenly shot toward them as the gang of Narutos were close.

 They tried to stop her, but she moved too quickly for them to grasp!

"Oww!"

"Hey!"

*Poof Poof Poof*

They instead ended up knocking each other out as they tried to surround Maka!

Maka easily reached the last two clones left and punched one in the chest, making the last Naruto clone disappear.

Naruto tried to strike her again from behind, but Maka grabbed his arm and tossed him onto the ground. She covered his eyes with her hand, sealing his defeat.

"Gah! Darn it!"

"That's it!"

Hii called the match while Maka reached over and helped Naruto get up.

"You did pretty good this time. You shouldn't yell so much though."

"I'll win next time for sure! Believe it!"

Maka just smiled as they both got out of the center for the next two to go.

"Who's next?"

"I'll go."

Sasuke walked out to the arena and waited for his opponent.

"I'll go then~!"

Sasuke stiffened as Shizuka made her way towards him.

His fists clenched slightly as she made appeared in front of him.

Hii sighed as he could guess how this fight was going to go. He warily watched both of them as hr started to raise his hand.

"Ready?"

"....."

"Yep~."

"Begin!"

Sasuke immediately jumped back from Shizuka while she only stood by waiting for him to attack.

Sasuke reached into his side holster and threw shurikens at her, but she dodged all of them with light movements.

"Don't use a fireball, okay~?! You remember what happened last time, right?"

"Tch!"

Sasuke clicked his tongue and shot towards Shizuka!

"Ooh! You're coming to me~?!"

The two began to exchange blows as Sasuke punched and kicked at her, but she blocked him at every attempt.

"You seem really irritated, Sasuke-kun~. What's wrong?"

"You're annoying!"

"Awww~! That hurts my feelings! You have to be nicer to girls, you know~?"

"Shut up already!"

'Why do I keep letting them fight each other?'

Hii and everyone else shook their heads as they watched the two fight.

Over time, everyone began to realize that despite Shizuka laughing at jokes and being pretty friendly, she had a very strange habit that comes out when she fights.

'She's a sadist. I'm certain of it every time I see it.'

Hii watched as she continued to tease Sasuke at close range. Hii started to get ready to interfere as he saw the rage building in Sasuke's eyes.

"Sasuke~! That kick was a little soft. You have to hit a biiiit harder to win~!"

"That's it!!"

Sasuke jumped back and started to weave hand signs and took a deep breath!

"Wait, Sasuke!"

Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!

Hii wanted to try to calm him down, but Sasuke was already too far gone.

Sasuke spewed out several fireballs that started to converge towards Shizuka!

"Oh no~! Not the fireballs~!"

Shizuka slapped the ground beneath her and jumped back!

A strange swirl symbol appeared where she slapped the ground, sucking in the wind and dirt near the area!

Sealing Jutsu: Wind Tunnel!

The fireballs were sucked into the kanji, as Shizuka raised her hands to Sasuke.

A reverse swirl was on her hand as she waved at Sasuke.

"Should I give it back~?"

"You shouldn't give it back!"

"Tch! I won't lose!"

"That pride will get you in trouble, Sasuke~!"

Shizuka palm with the swirl extended towards Sasuke.

"Last chance~."

Sasuke replied by weaving more handsigns, readying another jutsu.

"Can you guys just not do this?!"

Shizuka shrugged as she channeled chakra into the swirl on her palm.

The swirl on the ground stopped spinning while the swirl on her palm suddenly started to rotate!

*Fwoosh*

An enlarged, combined fireball came out of her palm, shooting towards Sasuke!

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

Sasuke fired back as he spewed a large fireball towards the giant one!

Hii weaved handsigns and prepped his Jutsu!

*Fwoosh*

The two fireballs made contact with each other, struggling for supremacy! Sasuke tried to fight but the reflected fireball began to slowly close in on Sasuke!

It became too powerful for him to stop!

The others all jumped back towards the forest once they saw how destructive the techniques were!

Hii darted over to Sasuke's side and took a deep breath.

Water Style: Engulfing Wave Jutsu!

Hii spewed water onto the ground, then shot up to tower over the fireballs!

*Ttttsssssshhhh*

Steam rose all around the training ground, raising the temperature rapidly.

Hii pulled Sasuke back with him as he continued to shoot water out to douse the fire.

When he was sure the fire was gone,Hii stopped his Jutsu and whacked Sasuke in the head!

"You can't keep falling for her taunts! You do this every time!"

"....Sorry."

"Haaaa. We're lucky no one was hu-"

"Aaaah! It's too hot!!"

".....Haaa."

Naruto didn't seem to get away from the blast in time, grabbing the back of his neck where the steam touched him.

"That explosion was huge!"

"Cool."

The twins were used to these explosions so they had long gotten out of the way.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?!"

Hinata looked over at Naruto with concern for his burn. She was brought along by the twins when they escaped.

"Here."

"Eh?"

Hinata turned around to find Yozora handing her a little jar of ointment.

"Help?"

Hinata saw Yozora pointing to Naruto and her face started to turn bright red.

Moya came from behind her and started to push her towards Naruto

"Hold still, Naruto! Hinata-san will put ointment on for you! You have to take off your jacket first!"

"Eeh!?"

Hinata was being pushed by the twins over to Naruto with the ointment somehow placed in her hand.

"Please! You gotta stop the stinging, Hinata!"

Naruto took off his orange coat and showed his back to Hinata.

"Hawawawa!!"

Hinata's face started to become redder and redder until...

""Huh?""

Hinata simply slumped down onto Naruto's back, aggravating the burn again.

"Aaaah! What happened?!"

"Oops. She fainted again! So close!"

"I'll help."

Moya started to fan Hinata while Yozora applied the ointment on Naruto's back.

Maka and Shizuka stood nearby with and shook their heads.

"She'll take forever to let him know if this keeps up."

"You're one to talk~."

Maka's face reddened a bit before she shot Shizuka a menacing look, which only got her a couple of giggles.

Hii came over with Sasuke in tow and looked at the mess. Steam was still lingering in the air, Naruto's back was nearly as red as a tomato, and Hinata was out cold.

"I think we should have a short break."

Being a referee was tough.

*************

The group continued to train the rest of the day with Taijutsu only .

Hinata ended up fighting Yozora while Moya wanted to fight Hii.

"Hii! I'm going to win this time!"

"Oh! Show me how strong you've gotten."

Moya took in a deep breath and shot towards Hii!

*Bam Swish Bam*

Moya and Hii traded blows while Hinata had a light spar with Yozora.

"Sorry. I'm weak."

"It's fine! Let's do our best to get stronger."

Yozora already knew he wasn't that good at Taijutsu, but he still tried his best to fight against her.

The others all sat down and watched the matches, each doing different things. 

Sasuke watched Hii and Hinata's movements while Shizuka applied the ointment on Naruto's back again.

"I-I'm fine, Nee-san! Really dattebayo!"

"Just let your sister give you one more coat of ointment, okay~?"

Shizuka rubbed the ointment on Naruto's back while looking around for her next "target".

She found her near Sasuke, propped up on one of the trees watching the fight.

Shizuka smiled and quickly finished her task.

"There! All done."

"Thanks, Nee-san!"

Naruto got up and put his jacket back on as Shizuka walked next to Maka.

"You shouldn't stare at him so intently. He'll notice."

"....Shut up."

Maka turned her head, but kept the fight in the corner of her eye.

"Hehehe. You're so silly."

Maka ignored Shizuka's teasing as she continued to watch. 

Hii kept dodging and blocking Moya's hits as she tried her best to hit him at least once this time.

Naruto started coming towards them, back to his normal self.

"Hey Hii! Can we go to your place today?!"

Hii looked at Naruto with a confused look while Moya's eyes glinted with mischief.

'A chance!' 

"Hiya!"

Moya tried to jump kick Hii in the face, but he caught her in mid-air and slung her over his shoulder.

"All of us?"

"Yeah! I wanna see Riku-san again!"

Hii didn't know why he was so interested in his Grandma, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Put me down, Hii-Nii~!"

"Sure."

He put Moya down and looked over at Yozora and Hinata who finished fighting.

"Let's call it a day. Naruto wants to go to my house first. Anyone else wants to go?"

Everyone raised their hands.

'Why does everyone want to go to my house today?'

Hii continued to think about it as the group made their way to the Kurokumo house. 

Little did he know, everyone was nervous to see him deep in thought.

They hoped he wouldn't figure it out before they got to his house.

The group made their way to the Kurokumo house while Hii was still thinking about what was so strange about today.

'We're almost there.'

The twins whispered to the group as Hii lead them silently.

After a short while, they all made it in front of the Kurokumo household.

"Nii-san! You should open the door."

"Huh?! Oh! We made it back already?"

Hii couldn't seem to figure it out as he opened the door to his home.

*Pop Pop Pop*

All of a sudden, Hii could only see confetti falling on to him!

"""Surprise!!!!"""

".....Eh?!"

Hii was caught completely off guard!

He could see his Di, Riku, and Henda all laughing.

He also saw Kaya, Kushina-san, Mikoto-san, and even Haruka-san around a cake at the table.

Hii felt his shoulders being grabbed as all of his friends yelled at once!

"""Happy Birthday!!"""

Hii could only stare blankly at everything.

"Pfft!"

Then he started laughing hysterically!

"I can't believe I forgot my birthday."

"Haaah. I knew you would probably forget. You did it last year too."

Kaya sighed as she rubbed her son's head.

"Happy 10th birthday, Hii."

"Thanks,Mom!"

Hii gave his thanks with a bright smile and he also promptly thanked everyone else for the surprise.

"Hehehe! It was pretty easy!"

"Even though I had to stop you from spilling the beans a few times?"

"Eh?! W-What are you saying, Maka-san? I didn't do that at all!"

Everyone laughed at their antics and brought out gifts for Hii they selected.

Kushina came first with a book in her hand.

"Our family got you this sealing book! You never know when you'll need it."

"Thanks, Kushina-san!"

Hii skimmed the book a bit and found all the seals were new ones he hadn't studied before.

Haruka came up next with her own book, which was much thicker than the sealing one.

"I brought you a botanical medical book! I'm sure you'll need this to be an effective medic."

Haruka could see Hii take the book with a gleam in his eyes.

The cover of the book was "Herbs,Poisons, and the effects on the Body."

"Thank you Haruka-san!"

Hii was very grateful to get another book

 He knew how expensive these could be.

"Don't mention it. It's the least I can do for your help."

Mikoto came up to Hii with an envelope and handed it over to him.

"Fugaku and I wanted to thank you for taking Sasuke and Maka out so much. Here's some birthday money to cover the costs."

"Thank you very much!"

Hii almost bowed to Mikoto for the gift! His wallet was usually pretty tight from treating the twins, and that was even before Naruto's stomach! He could use some extra cash!

Everyone laughed at his reaction, though Kushina had a wry smile on her face as she laughed. 

She knew how many bowls Naruto had received from Hii!

"Hii."

"Grandpa?"

Hii turned around and noticed his Grandfather standing in front of him with a rare smile on his face. Henda came next to him with grin as well.

"Do you guys have a gift for me or something? You guys look more excited than I am for my birthday."

"Haha! That's actually right, son! We might be more excited than you are right now!"

Di nodded his head and pulled out a hammer from behind his back.

"Huh? Why a hammer?! Hii uses swords, right?!"

Naruto looked around for an answer and noticed something was off.

The other families looked a bit confused as well, but the Kurokumos were excited.

Hii, in particular, was shaking with excitement with his gaze frozen on the hammer.

"Is it finally time?!"

Hii's voice cracked slightly as he looked at his father and grandfather.

Di nodded his head and patted Hii's shoulders.

"Yes, Hii. You're finally at the age for it. We will be making your real sword after today."