Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 8 | Secrets

Tazuna looked up from the book he had been rereading to see that his family and guests had returned. He took in their new appearances before delving back into the pages. Sakura followed Tsunami over to the kitchen as she had asked about helping with the next meal on their way back. She had felt guilty for just showing up unannounced.

Sai had decided he needed to take his mind off of everything for a short time and went to gather his art supplies from Tazuna's room. The two younger boys followed behind him as they were headed in the same direction. Kakashi took a seat across from the old man, glancing at Kurama as he continued to stand in the doorway. After a few moments, Tazuna realized that there was an extra person and looked up at Kakashi before his eyes turned to the fox.

"Who are you?" he asked, Kakashi giving a chuckle at the fact that it took him so long to realize he had been there. Kurama didn't respond, however, and the jounin gave a sigh.

"This is Kurama," the other man at the table explained, "I'm actually surprised he was able to leave without you noticing him."

"Are you the one that scared me half to death!?" the old man demanded, slamming his hand on the table. Kakashi gave a laugh, covering his mouth to keep from laughing too loud. "I came inside from the deck and smoke just exploded! I almost shit my pants!"

"Father!" Tsunami scolded as she washed some vegetables. "Language!"

"Right, right..." he grumbled, waving his book in the air in a sign of dismissal.

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Kosai flipped through the pages of the academy textbook that Inari had pulled from his shelf. It was a different book than he had when he was in the academy, leading him to believe it must have been from a different village. He stopped on a page that was in the chapter covering the basics of chakra as he had noticed notes written in pencil covered the edges of the pages. He began to read over them while Inari continued to look for another book.

Finally having found the book he was looking for, Inari pulled it from his shelf and skimmed through the pages as he turned to sit down. He stopped, however, as his friend spoke.

"You've been having this much trouble with chakra?" he asked in surprise. Inari had told him about his struggle, but he had just imagined he had been having trouble with gathering chakra, not finding it. The other boy frowned and gave a sigh, placing the book he held upside down on the floor to keep his page.

"I told you, I can't find where it comes from. I've read the book hundreds of times, but I can never figure out how to summon any. Honestly, I've started to worry that I don't even have any... If that's possible..."

Kosai hummed, looking back down at the book.

"Well, I know that some people can't use it, but everyone has it..." He flipped through the pages of the chapter. "I think you could ask Big Sister Sakura if she could see if you have enough for ninjutsu. One of the girls that was in my academy class is one of the ones that can't use it. She went to the hospital to get checked, and that's how she found out."

"Did she still graduate?" he asked, worried.

"She didn't," Kosai started, looking up from the book, "but there's a few shinobi who are still powerful and they can't use chakra. I'm pretty sure that Teacher Kakashi knows one of them. They excel in taijutsu rather than a balance between ninjutsu and taijutsu."

"I'm not sure I could rely on taijutsu for everything..."

"Well..." Kosai paused to think about what to say. "I guess we could go ask Big Sister Sakura to take a look since she'd be able to tell. That way we'll know if you can or not."