Alright everyone sorry for the delays in this chapter being posted, if you are following me on twitter you will be aware that I had finished this chapter a week ago but that my co-author got sick and so I had to wait for him to recover before he was able to beta read, I only just woke up an hour ago to find this in my inbox and this is the soonest I could get it up, hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 14

It was with a soft croaky groan that Kenta began to wake up, his head groggy as his consciousness slowly began to come back to him. The first thing he noticed was the feeling of a soft comfortable mattress underneath him and soft sheets covering him from the chest down.

He swallowed as he began to pull himself up to a sitting position as his left eye opened to take in his surroundings, but immediately regretted it as his eye felt like it was burning. His hand immediately went up to rub the pain away as he tried to squint to see. That was when he felt it, the bandages and padding over his right eye and he froze as the memories of his fight with Raiga came back to him.

He frowned as he tried to look around again, the last thing he remembered was passing out in the forest and the worried voices of Anko and Sayaka as they found him. He realized what must have happened as he finally looked around.

He was in a hotel room, one that looked to be rather well set up, with two beds, a small living area and a small kitchen unit off to the side, the kind that he had been told about that Shinobi often used when they stopped in a village when they were out on mission.

So his team had found him and taken him to the nearest town to treat his injuries, it either wasn't a very big town or his injuries weren't that severe if he wasn't in a local hospital for treatment, but he assumed that Sayaka would have been able to patch him up.

He sighed as he rubbed his brow as he remembered the mission, the trap that they had walked into like fools and his fight. He clenched his fists, he was an idiot. He had been foolish and reckless, and it had cost him.

He punched the bed as he lay back down and frowned up at the ceiling. This wasn't how he wanted things to be. 'I need to be stronger than this. That fight was a joke, there was no way I should have been able to survive that. He should have easily been able to kill me, it's just because of sheer dumb luck that I'm still breathing. Any one of those lightning strikes could have ended me, and the only reason I won was because I pulled that Jutsu out of thin air, and even then it was a miracle that my own Jutsu didn't kill me' he mentally raged at his own stupid actions.

Taking several deep breaths Kenta began to calm himself down, 'I can't dwell on this now, I'm alive that's all that's important. What matters now is that this never happens again, I need to get stronger so that I don't end up like that again when I'm separated from my team, this cannot be my limit, I know I'm stronger than this.'

With that thought in mind Kenta pulled himself back up into a sitting position and clenched his fists as he thought about the past and reflected on his actions, he didn't like what he remembered. 'I was so sure of myself back in the village, we all were. So sure that I was strong, and so settled in my abilities I couldn't see how weak I really was. I was in a bubble, and thought it was the world, kami I was arrogant.' he realized as he gripped the sheets in his fists, 'well that ends now, as soon as we get back to the village I'm going to train, harder than ever before, new Jutsus every day, I'm going to utilize my Kage Bunshin to their fullest. I'll figure out this Raiton chakra and utilize my speed to become stronger. This will not happen to me again, I will not allow it'

Just as he was coming to that conclusion he heard the click of the front door of the hotel door and looked over as it began to open and he could hear Anko and Sayaka's voices from the hallway.

"I'm telling you kid, the Gaki will be-" Anko spoke as they came in before both fell silent as they saw him, their eyes wide in obvious shock.

Midnight who came in with them gave a loud bard and ran in past them and hopped up onto the bed and began to lick Kenta obviously pleased to see his master awake again.

"Alright boy, alright, yes I'm happy to see you too." Kenta said as he tried to push the large Ninken off him and keep him from drowning him via dog slobber.

That seemed to snap both Anko and Sayaka out of their shock as both quickly rushed over to him.

"Kenta-kun." Sayaka said as she hugged him from his right, "I'm so glad you're finally awake." sounding very relieved to see him conscious.

"See what did I tell ya Sayaka, he's fine." Anko commented as she slapped his shoulder giving him a shake, "But damn gaki, don't worry us like that, you've been out for two days. You trying to give me grey hairs or something?"

That made Kenta internally wince, two days, damn he hadn't been out cold like that for a long time, the last time… he mentally shook himself out of those thoughts not wanting to dwell on those memories, they were in the past and the past is where they would stay.

"Sorry Sayaka-chan, Anko, I didn't mean to worry you both like that." Kenta began to apologize only to get a smack to the back of the head, courtesy of Anko.

"Don't apologize gaki it doesn't suit you," Anko berated him with a smirk, "all that matters is you're awake now. You survived that bastard and you're as good as new now." she grinned.

Kenta gave a sigh and nodded, "Yeah." he said before pointing to his bandaged eye as Sayaka released him from her hug, "Well almost anyway, I will be when we get back to Konoha. I don't know how long the waiting list is for eye transplants, but I guess I'm going to be off missions for a while. That's if the nerves weren't too damaged." he added, referring to his injury.

That was when Anko snorted and Sayaka gave a bright smile before she shook her head, "You don't have to worry about that Kenta-kun,. Your eye was far too damaged to be saved, even if you hadn't tried to heal yourself in the field." she explained. "Though it's impressive you were able to do what you did." she added as an afterthought, "But the damage to the nerves, by the Raiton chakra was just superficial, and easy enough to repair. I finished your transplant within three hours of getting you here, everything ran smoothly. The bandages are just to keep light from getting into your eye to give it time to adjust. But given how long you've been out, you should be safe in taking it off now."

Kenta just stared at her for several seconds as he took in what she was saying until it finally clicked with him what it meant, "That's great." he said as a smile came to his face before another thought came to him that was rather troubling, "But where did you get a replacement eye on such short notice?" he asked before his thoughts got even darker, 'please don't tell me that they got it from one of those slavers' he thought worried, while he was happy that he wasn't a Cyclops, he did not want to think about having the eye of one of those sick fucks in his head.

Seeing his confusion and guessing what he was thinking Sayaka was quick to reply, "Oh no, it's nothing like what you're thinking." she told him to ease his worry, "It was something that I brought with me, something my mother gave me that belonged to out clan that she give me strict guidelines on when I was allowed to use it and as far as I'm concerned you met all the criteria."

Kenta let out a sigh as Sayaka told him that it wasn't like what he was thinking, though how she knew what he was thinking he didn't want to know. But after she was finished explaining where she got the eye, Kenta sat staring at her once again as the implications of what she was saying settled in his mind and he swallowed hard before speaking.

"Y-You mean, you gave me a Sharingan eye?" Kenta asked not sure how to take the news. On one hand it was great. He was wanting to get stronger, and the Sharingan was the ultimate tool when it came to learning Jutsu fast, but he wasn't sure about how he felt about her just giving him something so valuable to both her and her clan.

Sayaka smiled as she reached over and began to undo the bandages from the right side of his face, "See for yourself." she said as she undid the last of the bandages before taking a mirror from the bedside table and holding it up for him to see.

Before he even opened his right eye, Kenta was able to see the vertical scar running down the middle of his right eye cutting into the upper half of his right cheek. It looked to have healed a bit better. He had half expected it to be a dark angry red but he figured that two days out cold would have given it time to settle, it was still red, but just several shades lighter.

After a moment Kenta slowly began to open his right eye, finding his vision blurring slightly as his new eye adjusted to the light, it was a strange sensation. But after a moment his vision cleared once more and he blinked three times as he took in his reflection.

There in his right eye socket, staring back at him, was a coal black iris, the genetic trait that all Uchiha shared along with their black hair. It looked rather strange alongside his left eye, which was still Cerulean blue. He couldn't help but find it rather a strange sight, with his two miss matched eyes and his messy red hair and scars, he was quite a sight.

Swallowing again Kenta began to focus his chakra into his right eye and watched in awe and amazement as his eye began to change, the black of his iris fading away as three tomoes appeared, signifying that his Sharingan was fully mature. He could feel his vision become sharper as everything became clearer, but there was indeed something very unique about the Sharingan in his right eye.

"Um, Sayaka-chan, aren't all Sharingan's meant to be red?" Kenta asked in confusion as he stared at the dark blue of the Sharingan in his right eye.

Both Sayaka and Anko were staring at the single Sharingan as if formed in awe themselves. They had never seen anything like it before.

Slowly Sayaka nodded in response to Kenta's question, "T-They are." she replied swallowing slightly as she handed the mirror to him to let him see his eye close up, "As far as I'm aware the Sharingan in your eye is only something that has ever turned up once in my entire clans history, which is why it was considered a clan treasure. The way my kaa-san spoke about it that day when she gave it to me…." she said as she began recounting that day four years prior.

Flashback

"Sayaka-chan, can you come into the tea room for a moment? There is something that I want to talk to you about." Mikoto called from the hallway.

"Hai Kaa-chan." Sayaka called back as she opened the door of her room and began to go to her mother. It was only a few weeks after the clan massacre, it had been difficult to adjust to things with only the three of them, her, her Kaa-chan and Sasuke left of the clan, but they had managed so far, and with the academy starting up in a few weeks Sayaka hoped that it would provide a distraction from her thoughts. Anko had even offered to take her out shopping the week before hand to pick out her Shinobi outfit, though she suspected it was her way to help distract her and get her out of the house.

It had just been her and her Kaa-chan most days, Kenta and Naruto were keeping their distance out of respect to give them time to mourn their clan members, and with Sasuke out training so much, more than before, the house was eerily silent most days.

Reaching the tea room she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Her Kaa-chan was already kneeling on one of the pillows facing the door with another pillow in front of her for her to kneel on, and beside her to her left was a small red mahogany box with the clan crest carved on the top of the lid.

Sayaka paused for a moment eyeing the box, she had never seen it in the house before and wondered what was inside. Before snapping back to herself as she walked over to the second pillow and kneeled facing her kaa-chan.

"Sayaka-chan, there is something that I need to talk with you about. I am going to entrust you with something." Mikoto began as she placed her hand on the box by her side, "But first I need to impress upon you how important this is. What is in this box is something that is very valuable to our clan and I need you to understand the responsibility that you are being given."

Sayaka swallowed as she realized how serious her Kaa-chan was and nodded her head in response, "Hai, Kaa-sama." using the most respectful honorific as she had been trained to do in circumstances like this, clan matters, it had been something she had been taught as soon as she was old enough to speak.

Mikoto nodded, relieved to see that her daughter was taking things seriously. "As you know, our clan possesses a very powerful and versatile Dōjutsu, the Sharingan." she said as her own blazed to life in her eyes for but a moment before fading, "These eyes affords us a visual prowess that is unmatched by other Shinobi, and what many train their whole lives to attain. As well as offering us various other abilities, one of such is the ability to copy out enemies Jutsu to utilize against them." she explained patiently, knowing much of this her daughter was already aware of but she wanted to impress on just how serious this matter was.

"The visual prowess of the Sharingan allows us to see and track objects, weapons and enemies moving at speeds that many other Shinobi need years of training to do so and, once fully developed, offers us some amount of predictive capabilities: through the slightest of movements, we are capable of predicting out enemies next move and react accordingly in order to dodge or intercept." she continued.

All this time Sayaka knelt and nodded as her Kaa-chan explained about the Sharingan and its capabilities, something that she had learned years before and remembered well, curious as to where this was going.

"This is the norm for our clan's Dōjutsu. However, in all of our clans history there has been one that has stood out from the others with abilities far exceeding that of its brothers." Mikoto stated calmly but with an air of seriousness that made Sayaka sit up straighter, "Our ancestor, Ren Uchiha. Ren's Sharingan appeared differently to all other Sharingan and strangely only awakened in his right eye. But what was different about it was not only its abilities but its appearance. Instead of red as the norm are, it was dark blue in color, something that has not been seen in our clan since." she explained

Sayaka swallowed as she pondered her Kaa-chan's words, a blue Sharingan. She couldn't even think of what that would mean and what abilities it would have possessed, not to mention why was her Kaa-chan telling her about this. Her eyes drifted to the box by her Kaa-chans side for a split second before going back as her Kaa-chan began speaking again.

"Ren's Sharingan was said to have surpassed its brothers precognitive abilities by a large margin and was said to be the most advanced in our clan's history. He was said to always seem to know exactly where his enemies were and track them with ease. So large was the margin of difference in fact that many began to speculated that he could actually see some level into the future," Mikoto stated seriously, her tone leaving no air for joking of any kind.

Sayaka's eyes were wide, see into the future, that couldn't be possible, could it? She thought, now beginning to see why her Kaa-chan was so serious about this matter, though she was still wondering just why she was telling her. Once more her eyes flickered to the box as a thought came up in her mind and her eyes widened even further at the possibility, before looking back to her Kaa-chan as she began to begin the end of her tale.

"Towards the end of his life, Ren feared what would happen should his treasured Sharingan fall into the wrong hands when he died and so when the day came that he believed his death was close he removed his own eye and put it in a clear liquid capsule so it wouldn't decay and to further preserve it he sealed it in a scroll." Mikoto said as she brought the box from her side to between them and opened it, revealing the black scroll within, "This scroll. It has been kept safe in our clan for a number of generations. Passed down my family's side of the clan, Ren's descendants, from parent to child until it was needed and now it is your responsibility."

Sayaka stared down at the scroll in the box, her throat running dry as she swallowed hard before looking to her Kaa-chan again one question now on her mind, "Why me?" she asked, "Why give it to me? Why didn't you try to give it to Sasuke or even Itachi-nii before…" she said stalling as she went to bring up the massacre but couldn't bring herself to do so, the memories were still, very much, too painful.

Sensing her daughter's inner struggle Mikoto sighed and shook her head, "I did and it was a number of weeks before that night. I told him just as I told you and asked him to take up the same responsibility I am giving you now. But he refused stating reasons that he did not elaborate on and I did not push." she explained, "As for Sasuke I knew I could never have given it to him. Before that night he was always trying to please your Tou-san and gain his approval. Had I given it to him then, I feared he would have taken our ancestors Sharingan and presented it to him and I do not want to think of how he would have abused the power of Ren's eye." she stated with a frown, "And now I fear that your brother would cease the eye for his own power and desire for revenge on Itachi for what he has done." she sighed shaking her head, as the days past she worried more and more for her son, she just didn't know how to get through to him, he was just set on his path for revenge and she couldn't find anyway to pull him from it.

After a moment she continued, "You are not only the last, but most logical option, as the next guardian of our clans most precious treasure. You have shown great strides in your studies as a future Iryō-nin and I suspect before long that you will have the skills necessary to perform a transplant if one is ever needed." she stated, "But should such a situation arise, I must stress upon you that it should only be done under strict circumstances, such as if you or Sasuke ever lose an eye, or if someone you care deeply for does." she stated, "But it will ultimately be your decision to make as the guardian of our ancestors eye." she said as she lifted it as she stood up.

Sayaka swallowed hard as she stood up as well, as she realizes the seriousness of the burden that was being placed on her shoulders.

Mikoto closed the box and the latch before holding it out towards the young Sayaka, "It's your responsibility now. When the time comes, you'll know when it's time to be used." she said still with a proud look in her eyes.

Sayaka hesitantly took the box and ran her fingers over the carved crest in wonder as she slowly nodded.

Flashback ends

After listening intently to Sayaka explain how her Kaa-san had given her this eye, along with its history and suspected capabilities, he swallowed hard, "A-are you sure that it's really okay for you to give me this Sayaka-chan if its so special to your clan and Kaa-san?" he said as his mind still processed all the information he had just been given. Looking into the mirror in his hand as he stared at the of a kind Sharingan eye.

Sayaka smiled and nodded, "It is. Kaa-chan left the responsibilities of guarding my ancestors Sharingan to me. As well as the responsibility to choose who deserved and needed to receive it and I chose you Kenta-kun. I know she'll support my decision."

Anko laughed loudly at Kenta's look, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth gaki. Most Shinobi would give their limbs for just the chance at getting a Sharingan of their own. You're the first one I actually seen do it and you even got a rare one out of it. Plus a kick ass new scar to match, both that make you look even more like a badass."

Kenta started to smirk and nodded as he cut the chakra flow to his new eye and the Sharingan faded as his iris returned to the charcoal black shade it had been, before he turned his attention to Sayaka and bowed his head to her, "Thank you Sayaka-chan. I will treasure this gift you have given me and use it well. Thank you."

Before Sayaka could respond Anko gave a snort, "Just make sure you don't start acting like Kakashi now. If you start turning up late to our missions and meetings or if you are walking around with a facemask and reading smut in public I'll damn well set every last one of my snakes on you." she grinned sadistically.

Kenta couldn't help but shiver and nodded his head rapidly as Sayaka giggled at the misfortune that she had brought upon her teammate. "Don't worry Anko-Sensei. I'm sure that between the two of us we can keep him from turning too much into Kakashi." she giggled.

Her amusement was cut off however, when Kenta's stomach began to growl. Kenta rubbed the back of his head, "Guess I'm hungry." he said rather sheepishly as both Anko and Sayaka nodded.

"Not surprising really seeing as you technically haven't eaten in two days. I'm surprised you aren't keeled over with hunger pains." Sayaka suggested.

Kenta snorted and shook his head, "It'd take a lot more than just two days without food to make me keel over." he said as his mind flashed back to his and Naruto's time at the orphanage and the miniscule portions of food he and Naruto were given. Him giving Naruto his portion to help him, going maybe four days with only drinking before finally eating when Sarutobi came around to treat them out to Ichiraku ramen.

Anko smirked, "Well if you can wait a bit longer, you'll have food in a bit." she said as she walked over to the kitchen, "I'll see about getting us some proper food on the go"

Kenta moved to get up, "Here let me help." he said as he pulled the covers off him and went to stand, only to get pushed back down onto the bed by Sayaka.

"Oh no you don't, you're staying in bed at least until tomorrow morning." Sayaka said sternly, "You just woke up from a two day coma. You need to eat first and get your strength back before you even think about getting out of bed. Medics orders."

Anko laughed, "Better listen to her gaki, it's never wise to cross an Iryō-nin. Remember they know some mean Iryō-ninjutsu that can leave you twitching in your bed if you don't." she grinned as she began to put some water on to boil.

Kenta laughed as he raised his hands to them both in mock surrender and let Sayaka pull the covers back over him, "Hai-hai, Alright Sayaka-chan, I'll stay in bed." he smiled.

Sayaka nodded as she stood back up, "Good." she said her expression rather sad, "You really took a beating in that fight you had us all worried. We arrived just as you collapsed"

Kenta frowned and sighed as he lowered his hands, "I know and I'm sorry for worrying you both like that, I didn't mean to."

Anko snorted, "What did I say about apologizes Gaki? You're alive, that's all that matters. But I wouldn't mind hearing about that fight of yours, it must have really been something to push you to your limit and leave you in a mess like that. Then again, with who your opponent was, I can't say I'm surprised."

Kenta nodded his head lightly, "It was definitely the toughest fight I've ever had. Raiga was at a totally different level than me. He turned up moments after you both were trapped and after speaking for a bit he started dropping lightning bolts on me. If I hadn't released my gravity and weight seals after the first attack I wouldn't have been fast enough to dodge the second. Hell, the only reason I'm likely still alive was because of his desire to face me head on. Had he attacked without announcing himself first I wouldn't have seen the attack coming."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Gaki." Anko said as she began to add the noodles to the water, "You were facing a former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist), a former Kiri ANBU and Jonin, and came out of it alive. And you're just a fresh out of the academy Genin, a ridiculously strong one, but still a Genin out on your first C-rank mission. There'd be no way you'd have been capable of surviving that encounter if you weren't you."

Kenta nodded his head at her words, the same thoughts having crossed his own mind not that long ago, but still it wouldn't mean that he wouldn't do everything in his power to get stronger to prevent himself being pushed so far again.

It was then that the mention of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū that he remembered the Kiba blades and his own.

"Oh crap. Did anyone retrieve his blades and mine? My sword was broken up in the fight and Raiga's blades should have been near his body." Kenta began to say before seeing Anko's smirk.

"Relax gaki, you'd think we'd really leave behind your winnings." Anko smirked, "Both the body and the blades are sealed up for you to be able to claim the bounty on Raiga's ugly mug and do with whatever you want with the blades." she explained.

Sayaka then placed a scroll down on the bedside table, "The other squad came by yesterday with your swords parts. We didn't exactly have time to retrieve them ourselves when we were out, but they should all be there. They were rather impressed with the state that you left the forest. I don't think they expected a Genin to be able to cause so much destruction." she smiled.

Anko smirked, "Yeah, you almost caught the pair of us in that last Jutsu of yours. What was that all about anyway? I didn't think you knew a futon Jutsu that powerful, I didn't even recognize it." she queried curiously.

Kenta sighed as he saw Sayaka place the scroll down, grateful that his sword had been retrieved, though he wasn't looking forward to having to piece it all back together again, that was always a pain after training with the smaller parts.

When he heard Anko's question he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Until then, I kinda didn't." he stated getting a pair of inquisitive looks from both Kunoichi, "You see, I was on my last legs and he had just caught me in a powerful Raiton Jutsu. Then I lost my eye protecting midnight when Raiga was about to strike him down with his blades." he explained as Midnight gave a whimper at the memory, only for Kenta to scratch him behind the ear.

"I knew I wasn't going to last much longer, blood loss or not. I was low on energy and I barely keeping myself conscious. I knew I only had one shot left to win, but I knew that none of my Futon Jutsu would be able to get the job done." Kenta continued, "So I did what I had to, I released the weakest yin seal of my set to give me the chakra I would need and then did what I do best, something foolish and reckless. I combined my two futon Jutsu into one and forced my chakra out to over power the Jutsu, it was a last ditch move to win."

Sayaka looked at him with wide eyes and Anko was actually gaping at his explanation before she burst out laughing, "Ha, leave it to you to suddenly just combine two Jutsu and then pull a completely new one out of your ass in the heat of battle. That was about the riskiest thing you could have done, but of course you just had to go and pull it off." Anko laughed.

Kenta waved her off, "I was aware of how risky it was Anko, but in my defense I was suffering from major blood loss, had just lost an eye, had been hit with an overpowered Raiton Jutsu, been thrown through about twenty trees, and I'm pretty sure I had a concussion as well. So you'll have to forgive me for not being able to think straight at the time." he said with a deadpan tone.

Sayaka nodded her head, "You were concussed and had multiple hairline fractures on your limbs, a broken rib and multiple bruised ones as well as multiple torn and strained muscles. But your concussion was what had us worried the most when you didn't wake up after the first day. We didn't know if you were going to wake up or not." she said before swallowing hard and giving him a pleading look, "Please Kenta-kun, don't worry us like that again, you were so badly injured…" she said as her fists clenched by her sides.

Kenta let out a small sigh as he looked down at the bed, "I won't if I can help it Sayaka-chan." he said before his fists tightened and he clenched the covers tightly, "That fight, it really opened my eyes to just how underprepared I've really been. By all rights I shouldn't have survived that encounter. I should have died ten times over in that fight, I was so out of my league."

"Kenta-kun." Sayaka voiced with a sad tone, seeing her friend being so hard on himself, she could see that the fight had really affected him. She remembered stories that her Kaa-chan had told her about Shinobi's changing after near death encounters. She'd seen some of those herself in Shinobi she helped treat while doing her rounds, helping, at the hospital, sometimes it broke their will to fight, other times it made them want to get stronger, she hoped it was the latter in this case. Kenta had always been so confident, she didn't want to think that this encounter had broken his spirit.

Anko frowned, "Don't be so hard on yourself Gaki. Raiga was an A-rank Nuke-nin with a hell-of-a-lot more experience than you. You should never have had to fight someone like him solo, right out of the academy." she said fearing the same as Sayaka, she didn't want to think that her student was giving up after all the work that he'd put into becoming a Shinobi, if he did, by kami she'd find a way to bring Raiga back just so that she could kill him herself.

"That's just my point!" Kenta said back forcefully as he glared down at the bed covers, "I thought I was ready, I thought I was skilled enough to take on any opponent that I could face to protect the people I care for the most." he said through gritted teeth, "But that fight showed me how wrong I was, how outclassed I really am. That no matter how hard or long I train, no matter how strong I may seem in comparison to those my own age. When you compare me to someone like Raiga, someone with years of experience over me. I'm still only a kid playing at being a Shinobi…." he said as he looked up the look in his eyes as hard as steel, "I have to get stronger. I have to become stronger no matter how long it takes, no matter how much I have to train, I will become stronger. So that this doesn't happen again."

Both Anko and Sayaka let out silent sighs of relief when they saw the look in his eyes, and the passion and determination in his voice. That was the Kenta they knew, the one who wouldn't take any excuse and would go to any length to protect his friends. The fight hadn't broken him, it had just made him more determined to become stronger.

Sayaka smiled and nodded, "We'll both become stronger together, now that my Sharingan's awake my training will really pick up a gear as soon as we get back to the village, and with your Sharingan as well, you'll become stronger in no time, just wait and see."

Anko smirked, "Now just hold on you two. There will be plenty of time for all that later, you both have your entire careers as Shinobi ahead of you." she said as she began to plate the food, "How about we eat now. Take a couple of the days Hokage-sama has given us to relax and worry about all that training when we're back in the village." she smirked as she brought over the plates for them to eat much to the gratitude of the two hungry Genin.

Scene break

It was bright and early the next morning in Kenta's hotel room. Just coming to the early hours of the morning, though one red-headed Uzumaki had been up for hours before that, and could be found hunched over his deck with ink brush in hand and one stick of pocky in his mouth as he moved the brush like an artist, drawing intricate and detailed designs on a large sheet of paper spread over the length of the desk.

On the bed behind him his partner Midnight lay flat on the bed, the ninkens eyes watching his master as the redhead continued his work, never really having understood why his master did such things, but could tell that he enjoyed doing so.

As Kenta continued to work there was a knock at his room door. Midnight gave a bark, but Kenta didn't look up, knowing that if it was either Sayaka or Anko that either one would just come in.

And sure enough two seconds later the door opened to reveal Sayaka as she walked into the room and gave a sigh.

"Now just how did I know I'd find you like this." She said with amusement in her tone, "Did you even stay in bed after Anko-sensei and I left last night."

Kenta gave a side smirked as he munched on his pocky stick, "Yes I did." he said as he moved the brush on the paper once more as he added another piece to the arrays he was creating, "Though it might not have been much more than a few hours." he confessed as he moved to dip the brush into his pot of ink, "I went to sleep after you and Anko left, but I woke up around four this morning when an idea came to me in my sleep for two seals and how they could both be really useful for me now." he explained as he began to add more lines and marks to the arrays.

Sayaka arched an eyebrow, "How so?" she asked as she walked over to the desk and gazed over his shoulders as a look of confusion came to her face when she saw the arrays, "What are those arrays? I don't recognize either of them," she asked completely at a loss for whatever Kenta was doing.

Kenta shook his head as he added yet another line, "You wouldn't, they are completely new arrays that I've been working on the calculations for the past hour. They aren't extremely complex arrays, but they don't really need to be for their two purposes. I just need to interlink them here and that shouldn't take too long." he mused as he continued his work munching on his pocky stick as he did so.

"Well what are they for?" Sayaka asked curious as she tried to use what knowledge she had of Fuinjutsu to figure out the arrays, but to no success.

Kenta smirked and shook his head again, "Wait and see." he said with a gesture of his head to the bed for her to take a seat on.

Sayaka gave a huff and then sighed, "Fine, if you're going to be that way." she said as she walked over and took a seat on the bed beside Midnight and began to pet the large ninken, "Sometimes I don't think I'll ever understand his obsession with Fuinjutsu, Midnight."

Midnight just gave a snort as if to say, "Welcome to the club."

Kenta just ignored them as he continued to work on the array, it was ten minutes and two packets of 20 pocky later that Kenta finally put down the ink brush as he finally declared, "Done." before he fished out a small piece of black cloth from his pocket and placed it in the center of the array and began to run through a series of hand signs before he placed his hand on the array as he spoke again, "Fuin."

Sayaka got up off the bed to watch and she wasn't disappointed. As soon as he spoke the final word the arrays glowed and began to shrink in on themselves, all the lines moving and following one another as they shrunk in size and all began to gather onto the small piece of fabric in the middle of the sheet of paper the arrays were placed on.

Sayaka watched with fascination as the arrays finished shrinking and forming on the small piece of fabric before glowing brightly before fading completely from sight. She blinked, "Where did they go?"

Kenta smirked, "For the purpose of these arrays I added a piece that made them transparent so that no one can tell that there is anything special about this piece of fabric unless they take if off me and check it. Of course they would have to know what they were looking for to even have a hope to do so" he said before taking up the fabric.

"And what will they do?" Sayaka asked hoping to get a straight answer this time.

Kenta smirked, "This~" he said as he raised the piece of cloth to his right eye and placed it over it, the next second the cloth began to move and molded itself, and as Kenta took his hand away the cloth remained, now in the perfect shape of an eye patch over his right eye, showing the top and bottom of his scar, giving the impression to anyone who looked like he had lost that eye, "How do I look?" he asked with a grin.

Sayaka blinked, "All that for an eye patch?" she asked incredulously.

Kenta smirked, "Not exactly. The two seals that I added to it just now were only the last two that I added to it. I've spent all morning working on various seals all for this." he said gesturing to the patch over his eye, "The first was to mold it to give it the look it has now, the second was a strengthening array so that it would take something major to cut through this in order to protect your gift to me, on top of that there's a fire proof array that will mean that the cloth won't burn to keep it from catching fire. The last two however were a sticking array that uses the minimum amount of chakra needed to keep it in place, and finally the most important seal, a one-way transparency array. This will allow me to utilize my eye even with the eye patch on for perfect vision at all times." he said with a grin, "And I can tell you it works because I am seeing you perfectly right now, through both eyes."

Sayaka began to smile as he explained about the other seals that he had added to the eye patch, feeling happiness flood in her chest when she realized he had added seals to protect the eye she had given to him. As he got to the end though a look of realization dawned on her face as she gasped, "But that would mean…"

Kenta smirked and nodded, "Exactly, not only is my Sharingan completely protected but I can now use it completely undetected." he said sounding very pleased with himself, "To anyone outside of the know. I look like a normal Genin who got in over their head and lost my eye in a fight with a stronger opponent, they will underestimate me and seek to abuse my "weakness". Only it won't be a weakness, it will be my greatest trump card. They'll try to stick to my right side thinking it's my blind spot and when they get close thinking they have me, that's when I'll get them." he grinned, "It will also allow me to completely throw them off guard in battle when I use my Sharingan to track their movements and copy their own Jutsu to use against them."

Sayaka had to laugh for a moment as she shook her head, "Leave it to you Kenta-kun, to get a new tool to use and less than a day later come up with several strategies to use it to your advantage," she mused before smiling, "I'm glad that you're going to be using the gift I gave you so well, it only proves that I made the right choice in giving it to you."

Kenta smiled, "Of course. I'm not just going to let this eye go to waste, you gave me something incredible Sayaka-chan. I'd be a fool not to use it in the best way I know how." he explained before his smile grew, "And speaking of giving something incredible, I have a gift for you." he said before he reached down and plucked one of the scrolls from his sash on his hip and tossed it to her.

Catching the scroll it only took a glance for her to recognize it and Sayaka's eyes bulged, "K-Kenta, t-this is, you c-can't be giving me…" she said in disbelief. It was the scroll that Anko had sealed the Kiba blades into, he was giving her a set of legendary swords as a gift, "I-I can't accept these, you killed their last owner they're yours."

Kenta shook his head, "I can give them to you and I am." he told her with a smile, "They are mine to do with as I want and I choose to give them to you." he said before he shrugged, "I have no use for them. I already have my own sword and as much as the kick they give with seal-less Raiton Jutsu I don't need them." he explained, "Besides, I remember during our academy years that you mentioned that you wanted to take up a kenjutsu style like your Kaa-san. What better blades than these to learn a style with." he grinned, "If it helps, think of it as me repaying you for this," he said as he gestured to his Sharingan eye under his eye patch.

Sayaka blinked and had to fight down a blush, she can't believe he actually remembered that. She had said it so many years ago and it was completely true, she wanted to take up a Kenjutsu style. She had seen her Kaa-chan with her own blade and she was a master with it and she knew just how deadly a master of Kenjutsu could be and she thought it a perfect skill for her to have to allow herself to fight on the field while still performing her duties as an Iryō-nin.

Looking down at the scroll again Sayaka slowly began to nod, this was still a huge thing to just gift someone, but then again so was a Dōjutsu, so she guessed she really had no choice, "Alright." she said as she looked back to Kenta and gave him a bow, "Thank you for these, I promise I will learn to use them as soon as we get back to Konoha. I'm sure my Kaa-chan will have plenty of helpful tips for me and some clan scrolls to help me learn"

Kenta nodded but waved off her thanks, "Don't mention it, besides I'm already going to be collecting Raiga's bounty as soon as we get back to Konoha. This way I don't have to return the blades to Kiri and I can honestly say I don't have them in my possession." he grinned.

Sayaka giggled as she shook her head, "Speaking of going back to Konoha. Seeing as Hokage-sama has given us a couple of extra grace days and Anko is set on us relaxing for the maximum amount of time allowed before we start back, I was wondering…" she said as her cheeks began to gain a slight blush, "... there's a festival in town tonight, and I was wondering…. If you'd like to go with me?" she asked, her blush getting a bit deeper as she did.

Kenta paused at the invitation, he knew that Anko was planning for them to stay at least until noon the next day before they started the journey back to Konoha, he already suspected why she wanted them to take as much time to recover as they were. Their first kills, he hadn't really thought much more about it, and he hadn't had any nightmares about it, though he had no expectations of that lasting forever. He'd heard tales about other Shinobi having nightmares after their first kills, and he didn't think that he'd be the exception.

But the sudden invitation to go with her to the festival wasn't something that he'd been expecting, he hadn't exactly heard about it before now, but he supposed it would be a good idea to go. Though he had been so deep in thought by the time he replied, he had completely missed her blush.

"Sure thing." Kenta replied smiling, "It'd be nice just to go out and relax for a while, take our minds off the mission and just take in the town before we go back to Konoha."

Sayaka's smile beamed when he replied, "Great it's a date then~" she replied before she instantly realized what she said, and her eyes went wide as her hands went to cover her mouth, "I mean…. I didn't…" she said as she began to go red from the implications of her words, before she ran from the room.

Kenta stood there in the wake of her rather abrupt departure, blinking slowly, as her words and their meaning finally registered with him, and the faintest of blushes came to his own cheeks.

'She didn't mean… did she really…. Is this really going to be a…. Date?' he thought to himself as he tried to wrap his head around the words, she had asked him to go out with her, it was at night, 'but isn't it the guy that normally asks the girl out…. It couldn't possibly be a…. Date….. But what if it is' he began to think, 'do I really want to date Sayaka….. She is nice, and skilled, and very pretty, the way she moves, and her body….' he began to think before shaking his head fast, 'No bad thoughts bad thoughts, I shouldn't be thinking that way about her, she's my teammate, my very pretty teammate with a nice….' again he shook his head and groaned as he turned and fell onto the bed before turning over and looking up at the ceiling with a groan as he held his head in his hands, "What have I gotten myself into!?"

Scene break

It was approaching the starting time of the festivities in the town and Kenta was just leaving his room to go and meet with Sayaka. He had done some reconnaissance earlier and had learned that the festival was more of a celebration that the village was having to celebrate the return of a number of women and young girls returning from having been captured, some of those that had been rescued from other slave camps in the operation that his squad had been a part of.

Kenta couldn't keep the smile from his face when he heard that. Their first mission and he and Sayaka has already touched so many people's lives. This was one of the reasons he had wanted to become a Shinobi to help people and to really make a difference in things and now he was. How many women had they saved in all? He didn't know, but that fact alone made him smile. Just the fact that he was making a difference was enough for him, and had kept him smiling all day since he had found out.

It was because of that fact that he was dressed in civilian clothing that he had brought with him, and had left his Hitai-ate back in his room in a storage scroll with his other belongings hidden away for him to retrieve when he got back.

He wasn't wearing anything special or formal, though he suspected he'd have to go and buy some such clothing in the future, just a grey shirt with a white swirl pattern on the back and some navy blue cargo pants and Shinobi sandals, he still wore the eye patch that he had made, deciding to keep wearing it all day so that he would grow used to it.

He paused outside of the door leading to Anko and Sayaka's shared room and took a deep breath, 'Just relax, it's just Sayaka-chan, nothing to be nervous about' he thought to himself as he reached forward and knocked on the door.

A couple of moments passed before Sayaka opened the door and Kenta found himself doing his best not to gape at her. He had never exactly seen her wearing civilian clothing before, or at least not in the past four years as she had… matured. She had always been in some form of Shinobi attire, and seeing her as she was now, Kenta couldn't help but think, if he thought she was pretty before, now he thought she was beautiful.

Like him she wasn't really wearing anything special, a pair of form fitting black pants that, Kenta noticed, seemed to hug her legs very well, and a rather overly large hooded lavender jumper that went down past her hips, wearing it like it was a short dress. Her long black hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and Kenta could make out the subtle application of makeup on her face, some dark eye shadow and some light blush on her cheeks.

It was only after a moment that he realized that it wasn't blush and that she actually was blushing, and that he had been practically staring at her for several long seconds and he wanted to slap himself for being an idiot.

Kenta cleared his throat before he spoke, and tried to salvage the moment, "Um you look wonderful, Sayaka-chan." he complimented her as he just barely managed to keep from stuttering with his nerves, he didn't know how it was that he was able to charge into battle against enemy Shinobi, completely calm and collected, but right here and now he was barely holding himself together.

Kenta watched her smile as her blush depend slightly, "Thank you Kenta-kun, you look good as well, I see we both decided that civilian attire was best for this…" she said just stopping herself before she said the "D" word and her blush deepened again.

It was at that when Anko grinning at the pair of them, "Awe, don't you two just look precious~." she teased, "Going out on your first date, oh I can't wait to tell Mikoto-sama about this when we get back~."

It was at that moment that Kenta was sure that Sayaka was attempting to do a Hinata impression with how red she blushed as she began to stutter, "I-I-It's n-not a-a-a d-date…." she said before putting her face in her hands and shaking it, "Anko-sensie!"

Kenta for his part swallowed and bore with the storm that was Anko, he had dealt with her antics and teasing for multiple years and was used to it. Though he still couldn't help the small blush that came to his own cheeks towards the end.

Anko simply grinned at the pairs embarrassment, "Sure it's not." she commented before glancing to Kenta, "Where's that mutt of yours at?" she asked not seeing the ninken, that was usually at his side.

Kenta shook his head as his small blush faded, "He's back in the room, he didn't want to come, I think he's still recovering from the fight." he said feeling bad for his partner, he had taken the full force brunt of two of Raiga's Raiton Jutsu. So it was understandable that he wasn't feeling up to going about much, "Would you mind checking in on him every couple of hours if you're staying?"

Anko smirked, "Sure, no problem." she said before giving Sayaka a swat on her backside making the young girl yelp and jump out the doorway as Anko went to close the door, "You two kids have fun now and don't do anything I wouldn't do~." and closed the door.

Sayaka stood stock still her hands on her backside as she did yet another Hinata impression as she blushed red from forehead to neck, "I can't believe she just…" she started to say before throwing her hands in the air and letting out a half yelling half huff before she grabbed Kenta's hand and started to drag him down the hallway.

Kenta, not sure how exactly he was meant to react in this situation simply went with the flow and let himself get half dragged down the hall, not sure why a small part of him was jealous of Anko for what she had just done.

Scene break

Luckily for Kenta, Sayaka seemed to have calmed down when they reached the front doors of the hotel they were staying in and got out onto the street.

Sayaka sighed as she shook her head, "Ooooh, that Anko. I swear she can't just leave well enough alone." she said still a little annoyed and embarrassed by what had happened back in the hallway, as they began to walk down the street towards where the festival was being held.

Kenta shook his head, "That's Anko for you, sometimes I think she let Sarutobi-sensei make her a Jonin-sensei just so that she could tease us endlessly." he said amused.

"Well I guess we're stuck with her." Sayaka sighed before looking to Kenta with a small smile, "Thanks for agreeing to come with me tonight, it would have been awkward going to this alone."

Kenta gave his own smile back, "It's my pleasure. Besides, I think we could both do with a night off to relax and unwind after everything that's happened on this mission." he said as he put his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky, the sun was still a few hours from setting as it began to turn the sky a beautiful light orange shade.

It didn't take them long to reach the entrance to the festival, they could see the crowds forming already as they approach the entrance.

As they do an old man standing outside a mask stall sees them and smiled, "Hello, youngsters, attending the festivities." he calls to them, "Come and have some masks, they're free and all are encouraged to wear them."

Both Kenta and Sayaka smiled as they began to look over the rather large selection of animal masks that were offered and selected ones for themselves.

In the end they walked away with a mask on their face each as they went to join the fun in the festival, Sayaka with a snake mask and Kenta with a Raven mask.

The streets were full of people going around having fun, they could hear the laughter of children's at many of the stalls that had been set up earlier that evening, games and food for sale at them.

Kenta was thankful for his forethought and had made sure to take a substantial amount of his money out of one of his storage seals and had it on him ahead of time, as they didn't want to give away the fact that they were Shinobi due to the fact that many of the stall vendors didn't like Shinobi taking part in the games their stalls had because of their reflexes and training resulting in them taking all the big prizes easily. Kenta could suppose he could understand that, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from having a good time out with Sayaka.

Looking around for a moment Kenta mentally plotted the layout of everything before looking to Sayaka as he smiled, "So where do you want to do first?"

Sayaka was smiling as well as she looked over the crowds of people, before looking to one of the gaming stalls, "Lets go try that one." she said gesturing to it, it was a hoop toss game.

Kenta smirked and nodded as they walked over and so their night began as they started to go from stall to stall trying the many games that had to offer while keeping their skills hidden so as not to draw attention to themselves.

It was a couple of hours into the evening as the two Genin were having fun when one particular stall caught Kenta's eye. The stall was large with a wall filled with multiple balloons of different colors and Kenta could see the sign above it reads, "Kunai toss".

Gesturing to Sayaka they went over to see what it was all about as they both lifted their masks up to the tops of their heads. When the vendor of the stall noticed them, He was a skinny man with a weasel like face and a thin pencil mustache, and he had a slimy grin on his face that only grew when he saw Kenta and his eye patch.

"Well hello there, care to try your luck and win a prize for your lovely little lady~" the man said with a sickly sweet tone, "Score in the groups and win a prize of that category." he said gesturing to the sign off to the side of the stall.

Small prize five to twenty points

Medium prize twenty one to thirty points

Large prize thirty one to forty points

Extra large prize forty one to fifty points

Regular balloons one point

Bronze balloons two points

Silver balloons five points

Gold balloons ten points

"You get five throws for two hundred ryo, but the points don't carry over if you buy another set. So what do you say young man, want to prove to your little lady how good a shot you are?" the man said his voice going sweeter by the moment.

Kenta kept his face cool and didn't show any emotion other than interest, though inside he was getting a little annoyed with the guy, he could tell that he was targeting him because he thought he wouldn't be any good because of his eye patch, and he was hoping to squeeze out an easy payday from him. Well he'd show him why he shouldn't judge someone based on looks alone.

"Alright, I'm game~" Kenta said with a smirk, he was going to enjoy this.

Sayaka noticed the smirk and gave him a nudge, "Kenta, remember we're not trying to draw attention." she told him in a hushed whisper.

Kenta smirked, "I know, but I can't stand guys like this, I'll make it up to you by getting you all the food you want." he told her with a smirk.

Sayaka gave a small huff, "Fine, but if we're ousted you better be ready to pay up." she told him somewhat modified.

Kenta smirked as he turned back to the vendor and placed the notes on the bench for the kunai to through and the man smirked as he lifted up a tray of five wooden kunai for him.

Kenta lifted the first kunai and weighed it in his hand, it was certainly a lot lighter than what he was used to throwing and he mentally adjusted his strength so as not to risk putting the kunai through the wall with his throws, he wanted to keep the sleazy vendor suspicious after all and not give the game away until the end if at all.

With another smirk Kenta sighted up on his first target and made a show about taking aim as he did so before throwing the kunai a bit harder than what was necessarily needed. He suspected that the game was somewhat rigged with the higher score balloons being tougher to pop than the others and he was right.

His first kunai hit one of the golden balloons dead center and instead of popping the balloon let out a hiss as it went down, showing that the rubber it was made of was much thicker than a regular balloon.

Watching through his eye patch Kenta could see the look on the vendors face sour as he his the first balloon and scored ten points just like that. But before the man could say anything Kenta had his next kunai in hand and was sighting up on the next golden balloon and once more hit dead center.

And so it went, and three more dead center hits for a score of fifty points in all Kenta was grinning, while the vendor looked like someone had just kicked him in the groin.

"Wow, that was easy." Kenta said with his grin on his face, before looking to Sayaka, "So which prize to you want little lady~?" he asked her.

Sayaka was doing her best not to giggle at Kenta's tone, while she wasn't happy at him risking their cover she had to admit there was some enjoyment in putting a sleaze ball like this vendor in his place.

"I'd love that one," Sayaka said as she pointed up to the largest teddy bear in the prize display at the back.

And it was to both their great enjoyment and the vendor's displeasure that he handed over the large bear and watched as they began to walk away with smiles before he turned back to his store grumbling to himself.

As soon as they were outside of hearing range Sayaka burst out in a fit of giggles, "Did you see the look on his face when I pointed to the bear?" she said as she hugged the large bear close to her, it was almost as big as she was.

Kenta smirked, "Yep, but did you see the way his expression just soured worse and worse with every one of my throws? Damn that was good." he said with his own grin.

Sayaka giggled, "Yeah I did, but I think so did the other vendors. I don't think there'll be any more games for us this evening." she said with a small sigh.

Kenta shrugged, "Well I promised you all the food you wanted didn't I. come on lets go get some food and find somewhere nice to eat before we head back."

Sayaka smirked, "Okay~" she said with a glint in her eye, and something told Kenta that he was going to be hurting in his coin purse soon.

Scene break

And he had been right, Sayaka had dragged him to over ten different food stalls as they collected their banquet before they walked up to one of the town rooftops to eat. And that was why they were now sitting with all the empty food trays out in front of them that had once had held everything from Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Yakitori and Taiyaki, to Chocolate Bananas, Donguri Ame and Nikumaki Onigiri.

"I'm stuffed." Kenta said as he lay back on the slanted roof, using chakra in his feet to keep him from slipping off.

Sayaka giggled, "You should be you ate most of the food even though I was the one to pick it all."

Kenta laughed, "True. But I was the one paying, I wasn't about to let all that go to waste."

Sayaka giggled as she joined him lying against the roof as she held her new bear close to her other side with one arm and sighed contently. The festivities had been coming to a close for the last twenty minutes so they would probably be going back soon.

That was when the noise caught their attention, the high pitched whistling before the loud bang up in the sky before they were greeted with the dazzling display of fireworks going off.

"Oh wow." Sayaka said eyes wide as she looked up, "Their beautiful"

Kenta smirked, "Yeah," he said allowed as he looked over to Sayaka as her face was illuminated by the fireworks, 'you are' he silently thought to himself as he turned his attention back to the fireworks as the two of them smile watching the spectacular display bring the festivities to a final close, neither noticing how their hands rested on the others during the display, too relaxed and at peace in the moment.

Scene break

It wasn't long after the fireworks ended that the pair of them found themselves walking back to their hotel in comfortable silence, the great evening they had shared still fresh in their minds as they walked inside and up to their rooms.

As they stopped outside of Sayaka and Anko's room, Sayaka's cheeks blushed slightly as she turned to Kenta with a small smile, "Thank you for coming with me tonight, Kenta-kun. I had a wonderful night."

Kenta smiled back and nodded, "It's alright Sayaka-chan you don't have to thank me. I had a wonderful time as well. It was nice just to relax and be a normal guy for once and not have to think about our duties or training, just unwinding from it all.

Sayaka nodded as her blush began to deepen, "I-I want to give you something to thank you…. I-I've been thinking about it all night." she said as her blush threatened to go to Hinata level again.

Kenta blinked and shook his head, "You don't have to give me anything Sayaka-chan, we're friends after…" he started to say only to be brought to a dead stop mid sentence.

Whatever else he was going to say was blanked from his mind as all of a sudden his lips was otherwise occupied with the soft smooth feeling of Sayaka's own lips against his.

The kiss was short, sweet and so innocent. All the still Kenta couldn't help but wish that it had lasted longer than it did. As after only a couple of seconds Sayaka pulled away, her cheeks blushing a dark red as she turned back to the door, "Good night, Kenta-kun." and then she was gone, the door shut behind her leaving Kenta standing in the hallway while he waited for his brain to reboot from the shock of what Sayaka had just done.

When it eventually did, after about thirty seconds, Kenta brought his hand up to his lips, his one visible eye wide as everything that had happened registered with him.

Sayaka had kissed him.

He couldn't help it. The biggest, goofiest grin came to Kenta's face as walked back to his room, and it stayed there for the rest of the night and even as he slept. This had been a good day.