10 - Shadow Star

"Hokage-sama wants to see you."

Fuyuka was surprised at receiving this message from a nameless background character nobody cares about the next day as she went to confront the old man.

"Oh, okay. Now?" she asked. The nameless background character nodded his head. "Yes. I will escort you to the Hokage tower now."

Fuyuka's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. It wasn't as if she couldn't make her own way to the tower, it's like she's become some sort of wanted criminal or something. Outside, she just nodded stiffly. "Fine, whatever. Lead the way, nameless guy."

The nameless guy led Fuyuka to the Hokage's office, where he left her. The blue-haired girl turned to the old man. "Yo, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage pointed at the flower in her hair. "Where did you find that?"

Fuyuka frowned at the direct question. No good in lying to the Hokage, so she explained the second exam. "I found it in the forest of death, looked cool enough so I kept it, and then I began to be able to use this weird new move so I kept it."

The Hokage looked down, his huge hat shadowing his eyes. "I ordered the elimination of all of this plant 17 years ago in the wild, it should only be kept in containment. Somehow, we missed one..."

"Wait, wait, wait. What even is this thing?" Fuyuka asked, interrupting the Hokage. "And also, I want to ask about my family, there hasn't been a single proper search party sent out. What's up with that?"

The Hokage frowned slightly, but gave in to the genin's (soon to be chunin, hopefully!) incessant questioning. "These two things are connected. You aren't supposed to know, but you already found this plant, so hiding it will do no good."

"The Hoshino have a property in their blood, called Yamyaku. It appears as a trace of blue in blood." Fuyuka's eyes widened slightly at the familiar description. "It reacts to the plant Night Star, the flower you found, and grants them the ability to cast a special collection of jutsu unique to themselves, dubbed Shadow Star Jutsu."

Fuyuka nodded, tapping her feet impatiently. Thank goodness the Hokage was relatively patient, or she'd have been killed for disrespect several times by now.

"The Hoshino are 'recruited' by me when needed, to join a small group of ninja called Shadow Star, who are granted access to controlled Night Star and work in complete secrecy in times of danger. They are only given this information when recruited, and are not allowed to reveal any part of this. Technica-"

"So you're telling me my entire family is part of some super-secret ninja squad?" Fuyuka demanded, interrupting the Hokage once more. "And I can't see them?"

"Technically, you and any ninja apart from me and a few select individuals are not allowed to know the existence of Shadow Star at all. However, you are now granted this information. You must not reveal it to anyone, and you must not reveal the properties of the Night Star flower you have."

"Why?"

Even Hokage Sarutobi was losing his patience. Fuyuka may not have much presence, but once you're actively in a conversation with her, she begins to become the most annoying kid ever.

"The Hoshino's are direct descendants of the Tsuyoku Clan, who were the most popular among kidnappers by a massive margin. You know how strong clans like the Hyuga clan are often taken hostage for their powers, but the Tsuyoku Clan was easily ten times more often the target of attempted kidnapping," the Hokage explained, trying to keep his voice steady. "Due to simply how much danger they were in, the Tsuyoku Clan is mostly extinct by now, their powers living on in descendants. If anyone were to discover this, the Hoshino family will be pursued for generations to come."

"Okay, and if I don't say anything, can I see my family?" Fuyuka asked. She scowled when the Hokage shook his head. "No. Safety must come first in this situation, though... you may see them soon."

'In times of danger', he had said.

"Okay," was all Fuyuka said in response. She has the information, now she needed to get the Chunin exams over with so she could mentally process everything and do what she needs to do.

For now, training time.

Fuyuka learned that Naruto got a whole freaking sannin as a trainer. Sasuke was still hospitalized, while Sakura was relatively relaxed, often bringing flowers to the hospital for Sasuke and the badly beaten up Lee.

Usually, she'd spar with Kogane, except that's kind of out of the question. The girl strolled down the road, her Night Star flower tied in her loosely tied up hair. She had a cone of mint ice cream in her hand, looking for nothing in particular.

Her signature blue satchel was filled with exactly two kunai and six shuriken, and also five volumes of Bleach because this girl has her priorities straight.

Finishing up her ice cream, the blue-haired girl walked up a hill and took a seat, bringing out Bleach. 'Let's see... Byakuya versus Ichigo is Chapter... 152. Okay, and I'm on... 104.'

Yep, she definitely has her priorities straight. Because Byakuya Kuchiki.

"You again."

Fuyuka's eyes whipped upwards, her eyes narrowing. "You guys again. I already beat Mr. Death, what do you want?"

That's right, it's Naku and Mitsuka. The brown-haired boy frowned, his eyes twitching in the slightest amusement. "Mr. Death? He really lost all your respect by losing, huh?"

"Well, I'm going to see Terasu in the hospital. Mitsuka, you coming?" he asked. Ah, right, Terasu did get hit pretty hard, although his injuries were nowhere near the likes of Lee. Mitsuka, however, shook her head. "Nah, I already saw him this morning. While you were sleeping."

Sibling banter was funny, no?

"Hey, Fuyuka, want to go see Terasu anyways?" Mitsuka offered, turning back to the blue-haired girl. Fuyuka shrugged idly. "Eh, I guess I am kinda bored. You already did though, right?"

The hazel-haired girl chuckled. "Nah, I haven't. I just needed to get nii-san's dramatic ass off my tail for a moment."

Naku had left by the time they arrived, since they decided to walk quite slowly. As the two girls stepped into the lobby, though, they found a woman facing the front desk.

She was incredibly pale, with long hair colored dark olive, her misty but sharp green eyes appearing cloudy, almost white. She was dressed quite formally, with a black kimono with vibrant green patterns and an olive and brown obi.

Basically, she was super creepy.

"Show me to Terasu Shiomiru right now. I have the necessary authorization, you are not permitted to refuse me," she demanded, causing the lady at the front desk to shrink back. "I-I apologize, but he is currently recovering and is not seeing visitors."

"I said, you are not permitted to refu-," the olive-haired woman insisted. Mitsuka stepped forward, hearing the name of her teammate. "The lady said you can't see him now, so back off. Who even are you?"

The woman twitched, turning around to see the two young genin. Her misty green eyes landed on Mitsuka.

"I have the necessary permissions. And who are you to interrupt the head of the Shiomiru Clan?"