I visited the tower before I went home. After a quick hug to Secretary-chan and a dash toward the Hokage's office, I sat before Shisui.
"Thank you for coming, Hinata-san," he said.
I dipped my head.
"Like we assumed, Hiashi wants to talk with you. He's requested a meeting in the Hyuga compound." I gave him a nod. "He wanted to meet today, and I hope you'll forgive me for taking the liberty, but I pushed it to the day after dinner to give you time to rest, at least for a bit."
That was more than fine to me. Now calmer and rested, I did a complete report to the Hokage. I told him most of the details I remembered from the mission. I even admitted why I had burned the clone's corpses. Once I was done with my report, I left. It still felt like Shisui wanted to tell me something else, but he didn't. I bowed to him, hugged and pecked Secretary-chan at the exit, dashed toward home.
I landed in front of my apartment, my head still full of dreadful thoughts and warm feelings bubbling in my chest. It was a bit paradoxical, but that was my current state of being. I wanted to dance, maybe cheer, and I certainly wasn't able to contain the smile.
Nothing had happened between Ino and me except talking, hugging, and hanging out, but man, I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole Narutoverse. Was there something more on Ino's side of things? No idea. I hoped so, though probably not. Despite her outgoing personality, Ino put a lot of importance on her friends. That she also classified me as one of those friends was enough for now.
I didn't mind a spot of friendzone for the moment.
Before I could enter, the door swung open. Karin stood on the other side, wearing some of my day-to-day clothes. At some point, while I was gone, the redhead had even found glasses.
I took one look at her face, the impish smile, the gleam in her eyes.
"Nope!" I declared, spun around, fled.
"Hinata-chan, wait!" Karin called out. But yeah, nope.
I had important things to do—totally justified, completely reasonable things—that just so happened to involve avoiding Karin. Nope, I wasn't fleeing her. I just… remembered I had other stuff to do.
Karin called a few more times but, thankfully, didn't follow.
My destination was a small store that sold a few bobs and ends, and I needed them for this next part of the plan. What plan? Well, training with Best Girl Ino, of course.
I was more than willing to help the blonde get stronger. And I'd do my best to make her stronger. That meant sharing some of my training aids. That also meant a copy of the The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi. With an extra the, because that was part of the name.
My weight seals were never found, and it had been over a month since I had dedicated effort to my personal training. I needed to get back into weighted exercises and chakra control. And since I was about to make a set of the weight seals for myself, might as well make one for Ino, right?
But I couldn't just slap a collar and goth bracelets on Ino, even if the idea did appeal to me. Ino wouldn't wear something that clashed that much with her sense of aesthetics. And unfortunately, goth phase was over. I liked black; I still wanted some black in my life, but maybe not all black anymore? A few spots of color here and there, maybe pink? I liked pink.
This was the same shop where I got the leather for my old bulky-weight seals, and the owner had a few other materials I could use. My goal? Small wrist and ankle bracelets, a pretty necklace that could be tucked under clothing so it wouldn't get yanked mid-fight.
I landed in front of my apartment, my head full of plans for the weight seals and pretty things to gift Ino with. Warm feelings bubbled in my chest. I wanted to dance, maybe cheer, and I couldn't contain the smile. It was going to be great!
Before I could enter, the door swung open. Karin stood on the other side, wearing some of my day-to-day clothes. Her face was placid, emotionless, like she was trying her hardest not to emote anything.
I nodded at the redhead, walked past her, stepped inside. While I was at the store, I also got materials to craft a set of training aids for Karin. I didn't know if she wanted help with training, but if she did, I wouldn't need to go out and buy another set.
Karin followed me deeper into the house.
I went straight to my room, put the materials on the desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a set of leather working tools, needles, and the other things I had used in my previous work. From the pack I got from the store, I pulled the parts I needed and got to work.
A chair scraped nearby. I looked to the side, saw Karin had sat there, looking at my mess of tools.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
I turned back to the desk; my threads wrote the answer. "Re-creating some of my training aids. Do you want a set as well?"
I heard movement; Karin got closer, looking over my shoulder. "What is it?"
"The Ultimate Variable Weight Distribution System For The Discerning Shinobi." I wrote.
"The what?" She asked.
"…Weight seals to help with training."
"Is that why you're so strong?"
I waved my hands in the usual so-so gesture. "Part of the reason."
"Does it hurt?"
"Only if you abuse it."
Karin sat back, pulled the chair closer. "You didn't tell me you were a fuinjutsu master."
I stopped. Turned and looked at the redhead. "I'm not."
Karin gave me a skeptical look, but just nodded. I turned back to my desk and started working again.
Motivated as I was, it didn't take long to remake the seal to be more compact and efficient. I looked at the finished products: three sets of bracelets, three sets of ankle bracelets, and three necklaces. Mine was decorated with black-and-white details, Ino's had purple hints, and Karin's had shades of red. They looked nice, pretty even.
I adjusted the seals so that they could be calibrated by infusing chakra with a touch instead of threads since, as far as I knew, Ino and Karin couldn't manifest threads.
Karin had not left my side for the hours I worked on. I had even forgotten she was there. I picked her set, turned toward her.
"Come closer and stand still," wrote and waved for her to approach.
She did, looking at the stuff in my hand.
I knelt in front of her, and tied the ankle bracelets. Tested the clasping mechanism. Worked like the guy said it would. I got up, clasped the bracelets on her arms. Karin observed without comment. Finally, I walked behind the redhead and tied the necklace around her neck. I popped my threads out. I wasn't sure how strong Karin was. I set the weights on a very low setting. Just fifty kilograms on each.
Karin groaned, bucked over, and I had to catch her to prevent her from falling face first. Err. Well.
I adjusted the seals to twenty kilograms each. That was low enough, right?
"Ow, so heavy." Karin complained, straightening her back. She lifted one leg, then the other. She raised and lowered both arms a few times.
"Am I heavier now?"
I shook my head, wrote words. "The seals just make your muscles think you're carrying that much weight."
"Have you created other things like this?" She asked, looking at the weight seals.
I shrugged. "Better explosions, better storage, still working on the teleport jutsu. A few different types of barriers."
"And you aren't a fuinjutsu master?" She asked.
I shook my head.
"What is this then?" She waved her arms, showing the bracelets.
I tilted my head. Shrugged. "Any one fuinjutsu user could have done the same." I wrote.
Karin opened her mouth, like she wanted to argue, then closed it. "Can you teach me?" She asked instead.
Wasn't the Uzumaki famous for their seals? I wasn't sure I could actually teach her, but I could try. It cost me nothing, really.
"Okay." I wrote, head already full of teaching ideas and training methods. That also reminded me I had to come up with a training schedule for Ino. I don't think she would accept something like hell month, but some of the steps there were good. The meditation helped more than I liked to admit.
Arms sneaked around me from behind, grabbing and keeping me from moving.
"Where did you sleep last night?"
Karin's face was a mix of angry and amused.
"You abandoned me on the second night of living together? I even had to fend off a lot of people looking for you."
Err, really? That's how she wanted to deal with this?
"Right," I wrote, rolled my eyes. "You think I didn't see you checking out Rock Lee and Sakura-chan's chakra?"
Karin squeaked, let go of me. Her face built a pretty shade of burgundy.
Yeah, take that. Two can play this game.