𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗳|| ʙᴏʀᴜᴛᴏ: ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ ɴᴇxᴛ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

«22» ANOTHER RESOLVE

©Masashi Kishimoto

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"RISE AND SHINE, DAMSEL IN DISTRESS." Inomi chuckled when she saw the Boy rose up from the hospital bed. Observing his reaction, his breathing state, and body state- she knew he had a nightmare.

"Where..." He started.

"Don't worry." Naruto spoke up - his cheeky smile painted right on his face. "You're somewhere safe."

"Welcome to Konoha!" Inomi exclaimed- just as she saw his eyes landed on her.

....

"KONOHA VILLAGE?!"

"That's right." Konohamaru concluded. "We couldn't just leave you there after you used up your energy and passed out."

Then the Sarutobi suddenly smirked. "Now we can talk at length."

Kawaki didn't seem to like his expression- all of the sudden, he jumped out of the bed and headed straight to the open window.

Unfortunately for him, An eyeful Nara casted one of his jutsus to stop him from moving.

"Relax, we won't harm you." Shikamaru stated. "If we were gonna eat you, we'd have done it already."

Well he does have a point.

~

"Would you like to eat, for once?" Inomi started the conversation between the both of them. They've been silent for over thirty minutes- Kawaki wasn't the type to do his first move.

He grunted in response- much more like of a no, but his grumbling stomach said otherwise.

"Come on, Kawaki-San. It wouldn't hurt to eat just one Onigiri right?" She chuckled as she handed him two- much to his confusion, he took both of them and started to eat furiously.

"You don't know what's an Onigiri, don't you?"

"Humph."

The Yamanaka smiled to herself, no matter how much she hated his attitude right now, she misses how she treated him back then.

"So.." He murmured, catching Inomi's attention. "That guy is the Hokage, right?"

"Mhm, Naruto-Sama is one of the greatest in fact." She said enthusiastically, earning a small scoff from him.

"So he's a.. leader. Here?" He asked more- due to his curiosity.

Inomi nodded, eating one more Onigiri.

Kawaki then furrowed his eyebrows - he then began tackling Inomi to the ground, and held her wrists tight.

Much to her surprise - he became stronger than before, but he didn't looked the same as usual.

"How do you know about the Kara huh? I haven't even heard of you since." He interrogated her. "Garo, Ao, even Him."

"Woah, hey chill." She calmed him- but he didn't dare to budge.

Something caught him off guard though.

The diamond mark on her forehead.

The diamond mark on her forehead...

The mark.

"Karma." He gasped. "How'd you get that? Did Jigen have another Vessel than me? Why did he chose me instead of you?"

"Look, Kawaki.. you may not remember me but I'm Hikari. Well not anymore... I'm technically uh, Inomi." She said hesitantly, as she yelped in pain when he held her tighter. "Ah right! I'm Inomi Yamanaka. The Hikari that used to take care of your body.."