Finding Myself [Rewrite]

ch. 28: The Pervy Sennin [Naruto]

"Minaki, I said go home."

"I already told you, I'm not leaving. Sasuke is in danger, so is Lee, and Hinata... I have to be here in case something happens to them."

I went to the hospital to find Kakashi sensei to ask him for special training for the next part of the exam and ran into him and my best friend in the lobby.

I knew I might've run into Mina because she was treating Bushy Brow after his fight with that raccoon looking guy, but I didn't think she'd be done so fast. It seemed like his injuries were real serious, but that's Minaki for you. She's the best herbalist in the village, and her medical ninjutsu is the best I've ever seen. Then again, I haven't seen a lot of people using medical ninjutsu.

I've always healed really fast, some would say unnaturally fast, and I recently found out why... It's the same reason everyone hated me.

Mina told me that I'm a Jinchūriki, kind of like her. A Jinchūriki is a person who has one of the nine tailed beasts sealed in their bodies. Typically, they'll become the greatest weapons of the nine main villages and they aren't supposed to be treated like outcasts due to the nature of tailed beasts.

Mina tried to explain it to me, but like... It was hard for me to understand. People hated me, not for something I've done or ever have done, but because of something that was done to me against my will... That just isn't right, is it.

I'm not exactly sure what to do about my tailed beast. I never even knew about it, so it's not like it's affecting me in any way. Mina isn't exactly considered a Jinchūriki because she has a demon sealed within her, and not a tailed beast. They are completely different things, apparently.

So, demons are monsters with a hell of a lot of destructive power that are summoned to our world due to people being people, greedy and stupid. Not many can survive here without getting killed off by spirits, which are also a thing, or sealed in some way. Some people bring demons to this world with the full intention to seal them in people to make weapons similar to Jinchūriki out of 'em... I learned that from Shikamaru.

Yes, I learn things, it happens.

Anyway, with all that said, I think there's a lot more we don't know. As far as I'm aware, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and I are the only ones to know about Mina's... Situation. It's complicated.

Mina is my best friend. For a while she was my only friend, the only person I could stomach talking to without feeling as if I were a burden. Sasuke didn't treat me like a pest either but I can't say that he was really a friend until Mina came into our lives.

In a way, she brought us together. Shit, she brought the whole class together trying to keep her alive. The amount of times she nearly broke her neck falling down those stairs has been permanently recorded by way of tally marks under our desks. Iron deficiency is a bitch, she'll tell you. It's why she could pick off her nails so easily.

Still makes me shudder to this day, it was very disturbing.

She's come such a long way, and I couldn't be more proud of her. Other people see it too, her friends... Our friends... All of us are watching her come into her own and it is just... Beautiful.

"What's going on?"

I interrupted them, which Mina didn't seem too surprised about, she could probably tell I was around.

"Kakashi won't let me stay and watch Sasuke and Lee." She spoke in a quiet tone, her eyes narrowed so the red color of her eyes popped.

Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "And I have a good reason for that. Minaki, if you want to continue to participate in the exam, you're going to have to work on your temper."