A strange new life

7.7

I took one of the bags from the shelf and compared it with the one in my basket. The shop lady said good things about this flour, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to abandon my tried and true supplier. I put one small bag in with the other things. I guess experimenting wouldn’t hurt.

What else did I need? I went over the list in my mind. Baking powder?

I rummaged through the items I had already collected, found it.

Sugar, then?

I looked inside the basket again: Granulated, brown, powdered, and honey. No, I had what I needed already.

What about flavorings? Vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom, dried fruits, nuts, and even chocolate. I found everything already. That was enough. I would need to order more, but that would be later.

Doing grocery shopping and worrying about ingredients wasn’t how I imagined the rest of my day. Not that I had anything planned before meeting Ino. I didn’t know how she would react. After meeting her, I got a new mission. S-Tier Mission: Cuddle with Best Girl Ino until she woke up.

That mission went into the drain when the Aburame clan decided to pay a visit—and died an even worse death when Hug-chan took Ino back to the Yamanaka residence. No, I wasn’t jelly of my clone. No, I wasn’t bitter either.

…

And yes, I knew I would experience everything when she unpopped. But I mean, I wanted to cuddle with Ino-chan, too. I wanted it so bad.

I couldn’t even blame my clone. I'd have done the same had she gone to meet the Aburames instead. I planned to do the same if she had gone to meet the Aburames. I guess I have only myself to blame here.

But now that I no longer had the Ino excuse, thoughts kept coming.

The first problem: A lack of Tsunade.

The slug princess was my hope of getting the seal under control. In the past weeks, the amount I managed to suppress kept worsening. The more I used my chakra, the faster the suppression deteriorated.

I had been confident that if she couldn’t help me, she’d be at least able to point me in the right direction. Now, I needed to decide whether I wanted to trust Shisui or not.

Along the same lines, my promise now reared its head. My meddling thwarted Rock Lee’s chance of recovery. I wasn’t going to leave him without help. Maybe I could convince Shisui to send me after Tsunade? I still needed to extract what happened from Naruto, but without Orochimaru to push Tsunade with the promise of bringing her loved ones back, she wanted nothing with Konoha.

But before I could leave the village, two problems needed to be addressed.

The council: Shisui’s intervention was enough to push them back for now.

The two codgers of the council had somehow managed to entrench themselves in every pie available. Merchants, trading partners, noble families, and even a few allied minor villages. They controlled or influenced most of the village’s non-military infrastructure by this point.

That was enough to put a lot of pressure on the Hokage position.

I suspected they had been preparing for years, waiting until the third was out of the picture. I also suspected they might be just figureheads for a third party, someone who loved to dwell in darkness and shady deals.

That man spent decades building spy networks, implanting sleeper agents, and pushing things from behind the scenes. Not even the other great villages escaped his meddling. Why would his “exile” from Konoha change anything? It just meant he didn’t need to worry about appearances anymore.

Danzo had a hard-on hatred for the Uchiha. Would he leave the clan’s political power intact? I doubt it.

Shisui had military power, and I’m sure he could just genjutsu his way into winning. And while the Uchiha clan was powerful, they might face years of entrenched schemes and bureaucratic manipulations.

On the other hand, Shisui had a penchant for diplomacy and vying for peace. Did this play a part in why he was selected as the Hokage? Someone who wouldn’t jump to when presented with years of carefully curated obstructions?

I also needed to gather my allies to resist their influence. Shisui did hint that the Uchiha clan might be willing to help, but that would be best discussed with the clan’s head, Itachi.

I wanted to get rid of those old codgers. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?

No, that was a bad turn of phrase. I don’t think killing them would help my case. This would be a battle won with words. It was a damn shame I had no words.

The question was, what allies did I have? I was a social outcast.

Then there was the Hyuga. The clan head, my father, was also marshaling allies, the council included, to take me out of the picture. Hiashi was convinced I wasn’t his daughter but an impostor taking her place.

…

That hurt, even if he wasn’t entirely wrong. I wasn’t just Hinata anymore, but I still was Hinata. I had her feelings and memories tempered by memories of another world and life.

Ah, yes, butter. I knew I was forgetting something.

I walked past an oba-san and her little boy; a few more steps further, I picked the butter. I think I was set. Now, to pay and return home.

Having my stuff stolen was also a big blow to my plans. All the research documents I gathered hadn’t been found at the prison. My only hope now was that the new chakra-locking measures I added to my seals held. I didn’t want to deal with an army of Hinata clones in a few years.

“Miss?”

The cashier’s voice interrupted my musings. I looked at the man, nodded, and placed the basket in front of him.

He calculated the price. I paid, then left.

I coated my feet in chakra and walked up the walls until I was at the highway; it was time to go home and bake.

Maybe Jiraiya could help? The sannin didn’t strike me as someone dependable, but Naruto seemed fond of the old man. From what I remembered, Jiraiya wasn’t willing to get involved in political matters, but if not with the council, maybe with the seals?

Head full of thoughts and possibilities, I arrived at my apartment.

There were more people there besides Karin. Maybe I should have expected that. Today was a day to put my social tolerance to the test.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

“Hinata-chan!”

A mop of pink hair glomped on me as soon as I entered. I held my arms out so my grocer didn’t hit Sakura-chan. From between her hugs, I cast a glance at the second visitor. The bags fell from my trembling fingers.

In my living room, sitting on my couch, no one other than Konoha’s Beautiful Green Wild Beast, The Handsome Devil of the Hidden Leaf: Rock Lee in the flesh.

“Watch out!” Rock Lee cried out.

Sakura let go of me and tried to pick up my bags. It slipped through her fingers, fell, and caused a huge mess.

More details filtered in.

Rock Lee wore his iconic green leotard, orange leg warmers, and red forehead protector as a belt. His hands were covered in bandages, and crutches were propped against the couch.

Karin was also in the room. After almost a month of forced proximity with the redhead, it was easy to pick on her habits. She kept sneaking glances— when she thought no one was looking — at Rock Lee’s stomach, no, not stomach, his navel. She was totally checking out his chakra, wasn’t she?

I could see it. I could even make a good guess about what was happening. Karin wasn’t someone to be attracted by appearance but by chakra. How would Rock Lee’s chakra feel to her?

A smile crept into my face. I was totally in favor. Karin and Rock Lee’s ship? Heck yeah! The Beautiful Green Beast Got game!

Then I caught a second glance—this time toward Sakura.

Oh my. Karin was on fire!