Naruto : Hidden Cloud

The next day, while Sato and Hinata were packing their stuff, Fu was sitting on her bed with dangling legs, happily humming a tone.

"Sato kun, I am ready; I have everything here. I also kept the hero water in a sealed container."

Hinata said while wiping her sweat, she was tired from all the packing. Shibuki gave them a lot of stuff as thanks, hero water included.

"Great, I am almost done as well. I already said goodbye to Shibuki Sama; we can leave right away."

Sato packed his stuff into his scroll and got back up. Fu took this opportunity to climb down and quickly hug Sato.

She ignored Hinata's dark eyes and smiled happily.

"I'll visit you, Sato; I will come find you in the chunin exams. Don't forget about me."

Fu stepped back with a smile. The wings behind her buzzed happily, making Sato wonder why she kept her wings active all the time.

Fu never took her wings back since the day she regained consciousness. Whatever, Sato shrugged. It's probably nothing.

"We will meet again, we are your friends after all. And the next time we meet, I will definitely be much stronger."

"Thanks to you and your village's hero water, I have found a solution to my chakra problem."

Sato's eyes went past her shimmering wings again before he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Although it's not my place to talk, I would suggest you don't use that water so hastily."

Sato, Fu, and Hinata all looked at Fu's shoulder; there was a small-tailed beast sitting there. It was Chomie's chakra protection. 

Chomie spoke and brought everyone's attention to himself. He felt a bit uncomfortable, so he quickly finished what he wanted to say.

"I feel you are close to Matatabi; you have her smell all over you. I almost mistook you for her jinchuriki."

"This is the only reason I am warning you. I don't think hastily using that water is a good idea. Bye."

*Whooosh*

Chomie vanished immediately after telling Sato about his thoughts; he was a shy-tailed beast, and he didn't feel like talking to people too much.

"What did he mean by that? What's so scary about the water? Hey, at least tell me what the problem is!"

Sato exclaimed speechlessly, and Fu rubbed the back of her head and laughed in an embarrassed way.

"Chomie is pretending to sleep. Sorry, he is shy; he doesn't like talking to people."

Sato rubbed his temple; why warn him if he wasn't going to tell him everything? Whatever, he was still going to drink the hero water.

"There aren't many ways someone like me can gain more chakra. Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine."

Sato waved his hands. Hinata could see that Sato wasn't overly worried, but she was feeling a bit uneasy about whether they should really ignore Chomie's warning.

"Hmm, Chomie isn't saying anything. He probably agrees."

Fu shrugged and smiled casually; she didn't feel there was anything wrong with her at least, and she had drank the hero water.

"That's the spirit! Alright, thanks, Fu; we will meet again at the chunin exams."

Sato waved at Fu, who went ahead and gave Sato another big hug. This time, she didn't ignore Hinata; she smiled and hugged her as well.

"Thanks, Hinata; you are one of my best friends. Bye."

Hinata pursed her lips, sighed, and hugged Fu back. Fu also sighed with relief that Hinata wasn't angry at her. She hugged her tightly one last time and stepped back.

'What is that?'

Hinata suspiciously stared at Fu's eyes. When Fu was stepping back, Hinata felt as if her eyes were different.

It was as if there were thousands of tiny eyes within her eyes..?

"Hinata, let's go."

Sato called out to Hinata, which broke her out of her thoughts. She frowned and looked into Fu's eyes again. They seemed fine this time.

'I saw it wrong? It was probably the lights reflecting off her eyes.'

Hinata thought before taking her scroll and quickly running behind Sato.

Fu silently watched them leave; she kept watching until both of them had gone out of her sight.

"I will definitely tell you how I feel at the chunin exams, Sato."

Fu murmured and went back into her house. She was going to sleep, she felt awfully tired right now.

*Swish*

Hinata and Sato kept flickering at full speed. It didn't take long for Sato and Hinata to cover the entire distance by themselves.

Once upon a time, Sato was carried by Yugito to his village at supersonic speeds, and now Sato could do that himself.

He had truly grown strong over the years; everything in his life showed his progress.

*Swish*

"Sato sama, Hinata sama. Welcome back."

The guard welcomed Sato and Hinata back; ironically, this was the same guard who once asked if Sato was the hyuga girl whom they wanted to kidnap.

"We are back; thanks for your hard work."

Sato and Hinata went inside after a causal check; they were walking through the roads while wondering if anything had changed in the village. 

"It's pretty much the same as I remembered. Nothing much has changed."

Sato commented on the village's economy while walking around; the environment was stable, and that's a good sign. It meant the economy he controlled was stable.

"Sato sama."

A man in a guard uniform bowed to Sato and kept walking. Sato watched the man go. That was an Uchiha.

The Uchiha's had taken over their old duties as village law and order. Raikage A allowed them to do so.

"The Uchiha have really integrated into our village. It's a shame Fugaku's family had to move out and live in Konoha."

Sato felt it was a pity to do this, but Fugaku had to go; there was no better option.

The third Hokage wouldn't trust anyone from the hidden cloud, yet someone had to manage Sato's shops. In the end, Fugaku's family had to be the ones to take on the job.

"I wonder how Sasuke is doing. Last time, he didn't want to leave his older brother alone."

Hinata wondered, and Sato smiled. He was probably fighting with Naruto back in Konoha. Those two were reincarnated brothers; they hated each other instinctively.

"We will meet him soon; anyway, he will be at the chunin exams. We need Fugaku's family's help in the upcoming exams."

"I have a suspicion that this exam isn't going to be a normal one. I have reliable news that hidden sand wants to take action against Konoha."

Sato casually dropped a terrible piece of news, making Hinata almost question why they were going to such a dangerous exam.

"Are you wondering why I am thinking of going to that exam, even if it's so dangerous? That's because it's a great opportunity, Hinata; don't forget we are enimes with Konoha."

"Beating them when they are at their weakest is what we should do. There are too many important things I want from Konoha. This time I have a specific target in mind; I want that person to work for me."

Sato narrowed his eyes and told Hinata some of his plans. Before Hinata could ask who he wanted to recruit, they had reached Sato's house.

"Sister, Matatabi, you are back! I almost never see you guys nowadays."

Sato waved at Yugito, who was taking care of plants in their garden.

"You are back, Sato; what's up with that giant scroll behind you?"

Yugito asked and Matatabi came out of her body, as a small chakra beast.

Patting the scroll behind him, Sato said proudly.

"This is the solution to my lack of talent—something that will increase my chakra reserves beyond normal. Although it needs life span to work I have a solution for that."

"Matatabi, you are immortal. I have a favor to ask: Can you connect your chakra network with mine and help me digest this water?"

"That way, your regeneration will take care of the lifespan problem, and I'll gain the chakra increase. It's very painful though, so you can refuse if you want."

Sato showed Yugito the hero water, and she felt speechless. Sato brought back a crazy thing this time. And it seems dangerous, too.

Matatabi in particular felt as if Sato shouldn't do this; for some reason, she felt like them doing this would be a bad idea. But she couldn't say no to Sato.

"Is it safe?"

Matatabi asked Sato, who nodded thoughtfully.

"It should be; Chomie's jinchuriki already drank it, and she seemed alright. The tests showed that she didn't lose her lifespan."

Matatabi sighed. It should be alright then. Sato must have checked everything before suggesting this. She was just a tailed beast, her feelings were probably wrong.