A Growing Affection

Chapter 63: Jonin Trials, Day 2

"Good morning, Yugao," Kakashi said in surprise, when his girlfriend opened the door to her apartment before he could knock.

"Am  I late?" he pondered aloud, glancing at the skyline before he stepped  inside. The sun was still low; he had made it before their six AM  appointment. He observed her anxious features, growing nervous in turn.

"No,  I was waiting," she said quickly, closing the door behind him, and  invoking an advanced privacy jutsu. He raised his uncovered eyebrow.

"I  learned something yesterday," she told him, striding back to her  kitchenette, pouring him a cup of coffee, "And the more I think about  it, the more it leads me to a certain conclusion."

"Well," he said carefully, taking the mug she offered him, "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

"The beginning?" she took a deep breath, and continued more slowly, "Fine."

"The  beginning is that Naruto Uzumaki knows the Tiger & Heron Taijutsu  style," she informed him, "In fact, more than 'knows', it was probably  his best style. Definitely A-Rank, easily bordering on S-Rank."

Kakashi exhaled at that bit of information, but otherwise kept his cool.

"And what difference does that make?" he asked innocently.

"Setting  aside for the moment that it was the Fourth Hokage's primary style, and  it basically vanished when he died," she said that pointedly, indicated  she would be using it later, "When I asked Naruto where he learned the  style, he said he learned it from the scrolls his mother left behind  when she designed the technique."

"And?" he asked in a blasé tone.

"And?"  she was too familiar with him to rise to his teasing, "And how did  Minato Namikaze learn a fighting style created by Yukihana Uzumaki? Why  would he make it his primary style? The two of them barely ever crossed  paths, at least officially."

"She could have asked him for  advice," he suggested evenly, "Or he could have noticed her practicing  and asked her to teach him. Minato-sensei was always looking for new  techniques to learn, he had hoped to surpass Sarutobi in terms of raw  knowledge."

"But that would mean they had to spend a decent amount  of time together with no one knowing about it," she countered, "And  then there is Lady Tsunade's reaction when I brought back the duplicate  of the Syphon. Why would she be worried about his axe appearing, unless there was something she thought might draw him back to the village?"

"Yugao,  stop," he said gently, "If I knew anything about what you were  suggesting, it would be killing me not to talk to you about it. But not  as much as it would kill me to talk to you about it. And it would be safer for you if you forgot this."

He tapped his heart with his right hand as he said the last part, and her eyes widened in recognition. She nodded slowly.

"It's  just random speculation anyway," she offered, "I just got to excited  over finding out that lost technique was being revived."

"Well, don't get to carried away," he advised, "We've both got a long day ahead of us."

Despite being a few minutes early for a change, Naruto was already waiting outside the Forest of Death when Kakashi arrived.

"Sensei!"  Naruto shouted, waving at the elder Shinobi. Kakashi rolled his eyes  and shook his head, but walked over to the Chunin.

"Good morning, Naruto," the Copy Ninja said simply.

"Ready?"  Naruto asked without greeting or preamble, crossing his fingers for the  Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. But Kakashi raised his hand to forestall his  eager student.