sunflower
There were many things that both Minato and Kushina taught her. Fuuinjutsu was one. Kushina, being the last Uzumaki, she was knowledgeable about seals, and was technically one of the seal masters of the Leaf besides Jiraiya and obviously her husband.
But her brother was a genius so he caught on quickly , and even formulated his own transportation jutsu which was a variation of a space time jutsu, which uses fuuinjutsu.
“Hana-chan do you want to learn sealing?”
“Eh? But Kushi-nee, I'm not a shinobi. Isn’t that inappropriate or banned?”
Kushina laughed “No sweetie, civilians use them too you know. Well technically modified ones, especially merchants when they transport goods that could rot or perishable. Quite expensive actually but a little sacrifice they have to make. You want to open a café in the future right dattebane?”
She nodded earnestly. Stars in her eyes as she was about to learn something new and helpful for her dreams.
She was only 10 when Kushina started to teach her fuuinjutsu, and she fortunately had the brains to do it.
Many ingredients need to be in low temperatures, such as dairy products that she’ll use for drinks. One of her most mastered seals were the ones made for preserving hot and cold—especially with ice so that it doesn’t melt.
It was truly helpful to her right now as she’s starting to make her dreams a reality—starting at a food stand in a market. She needs profit to buy or rent a place someday for her café. Soon, hopefully.
She knows the basics, the concepts but she isn’t that confident lately, with her shitty control of her evolved chakra in making complex seals. Ever since that night, apparently her chakra reserves have increased. Now it wasn’t entirely impossible to increase your chakra reserves, through training you could increase it after all—but chakra capacity is predetermined by genetics.
Problem is, she wasn’t a shinobi. Didn’t have prior training and while it was true that even before the awakening of her abilities(or was it a Kekkei Genkai?) she had decent chakra reserves that could allow her to activate and create low level seals—but when Inoichi and Shikaku practically barreled through her home to check up on her 3 days after the attack, there were noticeable changes from Hanako.
For one was the distinct marking on her right eye and the side of her face. She didn’t even notice it, but she knew something in her eye was stinging a bit but she blatantly ignored it because she'd been crying the whole time.
When her not so official godparents arrived, Inoichi immediately hugged her, making her cry over her shoulder. She was in pain, disbelief and grieving. She lost her entire family in one night. Her only family, —her nephew who was alive, was even taken away from her.
She probably cried and stared blankly at her backyard or at the ceiling of her house for the first three days, barely eating if it wasn’t for Kakashi who managed to force her to eat in the morning and at night.
Inoichi and Shikaku were absolutely concerned about Hanako. Alarmed even that they requested some ANBU who were available to guard her in case she decided to follow her brother—
Shikaku absolutely didn’t want to assume Hana would do that. Not when Naruto was alive, he knew that Hana treasured her little nephew but the Sandaime’s decision was logical to some degree. She was mentally unstable, she was only 14 then and she needed time to grieve, to heal and to process these emotions.
Both the Yamanaka and Nara clan heads didn’t notice it earlier as Inoichi practically hugged her immediately when she opened the door, but when they parted when she calmed down a bit, their eyes widened in surprise.
“Hanako your eye…”
“I know, I know, they’re puffy and red.”
But Inoichi and Shikaku weren’t looking at her exhaustion. Their gazes were fixated on something else.
“Not that,” Inoichi murmured, voice laced with concern. “Your eye—”
Shikaku took a slow step forward, arms crossing as he studied her with narrowed eyes. “And your face.”
Confused, Hanako frowned. “What?”
Inoichi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Come here.”
He guided her to a small mirror that hung near the entrance of her home. With hesitant steps, she approached, staring at her reflection with unfocused eyes.
The moment she registered the change, her breath hitched.
Her right eye—once a bright sky blue—was now blooming with intricate floral patterns. The petals stretched outward from her pupil, a purple and pink flower fractal-like design etched into her iris as if it had always belonged there. And trailing down the side of her face, starting just beneath her eye, were thin, vine-like markings that were also pink that had yellow little flowers blooming, curling along her skin.
She reached up with trembling fingers, tracing the delicate vines. She felt them, yet they weren’t raised like scars.
It was as if they had been woven into her being.
“What…” Hanako whispered, heart hammering in her chest.
Inoichi and Shikaku remained silent, watching her carefully.
“This wasn’t here before,” she murmured, eyes wide with disbelief.
“No,” Shikaku confirmed. “It wasn’t.”
A sick feeling coiled in her stomach. Her chakra reserves had changed that night, but she hadn’t thought much of it. Now, though, she was beginning to realize just how much.
“Your chakra reserves too. You can feel it can you? It changed as well.” Inoichi added.
The air in the room felt heavier, her own breathing shallow as her mind replayed the moment everything had fallen apart.
Her throat tightened.
“I—”
Memories surfaced. The pain. The grief. The utter anguish of watching Minato and Kushina die—of realizing Naruto had been ripped away from her.
She remembered the way her body felt wrong, like something inside her had cracked open. She remembered screaming. But what she didn’t remember…
Stopping.
Shikaku watched her, his tone slow and careful.
“Your chakra reacted that night.”
Hanako’s fingers twitched.
“The battlefield…” Inoichi began, voice softer than before. “It was covered in blue forget-me-nots.”
She froze.
“The bodies…” Shikaku continued. “Your vines wrapped around them the moment their chakra signatures faded.”
Her blood ran cold.
“You buried them, Hanako,” Inoichi said, watching her closely. “Not with your hands. With your abilities.”
A lump formed in her throat.
Her vines—her very chakra—had wrapped around Minato and Kushina’s lifeless forms, shielding them from the world.
And then—
“They wouldn’t let go,” Shikaku stated.
Hanako clenched her fists.
“The vines wouldn’t allow anyone to approach the graves,” Inoichi elaborated. “They acted as if they had their own will. Your will.”
She felt lightheaded.
Instinct. It had been instinct.
Her chakra had moved on its own, driven by her grief, her pain, her need to protect—even after death.
The realization shook her.
Shikaku studied her reaction before adding, “The bachelor’s buttons were the most unusual part.”
Hanako’s eyes flickered toward him in confusion.
“On the burial site,” he clarified, “bachelor’s buttons bloomed alongside the forget-me-nots.”
A flower symbolizing devotion.
Even in death, her heart had still clung to them.
Silence stretched between them. Hanako gripped the edge of the counter, her body trembling.
“…What’s happening to me?” she whispered.
Shikaku and Inoichi exchanged glances.
Neither had an answer.
It was certainly hard. She was at loss at her abilities, but she was glad to some degree that Shikaku and Inoichi were there for her, protecting her rights to remain as a civilian because they knew damn too well that a certain one-eyed elder was lurking to get a
hold of her power.
She shuddered.
Danzo Shimura is truly a horrible man. She didn’t know what he did but every time she felt that sinister grey chakra signature from miles away, she would flee and hide immediately.
She wanted to do nothing from that man that gives her the uncomfortable chills through her spine.
She especially hates it when she can feel his chakra when she’s in the market shopping for ingredients or running errands for the matriarchs of the Yamanaka and Nara clans who were great female figures that she loves and one the people who helped her cope with grief by teaching her about flowers and business.
She was glad that Yoshino—Shikaku’s wife and Ayame—Inoichi’s wife were quite supportive of her ideas of business. She sought their advice regarding her ideas and she was glad that they loved how innovative it was.
Her first step was obviously to introduce her drinks and baked goods. Then she would incorporate a flower + choice of drink to go, placed in a box carrier that she designed as a combo for people who wanted to give them as gifts. It was a no brainer, and she can already tell people would love it. It was fresh, new and cute.
It was a good thing that the Namikaze backyard was quite large, their family—well it was something that Minato took into account because she already had a green thumb ever since she was a kid and he also wanted to raise a child of his own someday with a backyard to run around.
Naruto would’ve loved playing around here like how he was meant to be.
She planted some fruit bearing trees ever since she was 7, like persimmon and peaches, a golden ginkgo tree, flowers like hydrangeas, sunflowers, and poppies and fruits and vegetables. And well since the awakening of her abilities, her plants were more vibrant and to some extent she can hear whispers m from the ginkgo tree at first whenever she reads a book beneath it, in a sort of high-pitched childish voice— “lady!”, “happy!!” ,“sad?”
It was cute in all honesty, her tree—Ginny she named it, was still young after all. All her plants had names even before she had the ability to sort of hear them sometimes. It was maddening, and she refused to tell anyone because she was quite skeptical of how they would respond.
(Also it was a good source of information gathering when she needed to know something.)
But with her flourishing garden, she practically had less cost with her ingredients which was what she was going for from the start. Her garden had fast regrowing abilities, every time she plucked out fruits or flowers it would grow almost immediately. She didn’t use her chakra consciously but somehow that just happened. It was certainly surprising the first time she did it and when she tried to distract herself 3 weeks after the incident.
And when she started to hear her plants just a month ago she immediately went down on her knees to apologize to her plants like some madwoman, and she could feel Cat, who was perched on Ginny the ginkgo tree, was visibly amused and was snickering at her antics. What an ass.
But her lovely plants were so nice, and even giggled at her actions saying it was okay and that it doesn’t really hurt anymore (she apologized again) because lady is stronger and happier. She choked on that and tears were threatening to spill because ugh her plants are so damn cute.
It was a Sunday today and was a rest day—no training and all that. It was an experimenting slash cooking day.The aroma of freshly brewed matcha latte filled Hanako’s cozy home, blending with the scent of baked dough with broccoli and sizzling beef along with garlic bread with spinach and cheese.
She hummed in satisfaction as she took a sip of the creamy, green-hued drink, eyes bright with delight.
“Perfect,” she murmured, pleased with her creation.
On the counter sat several experimental drinks—iced apricot Ceylon tea, strawberry latte, and a few other blends she had been testing for the upcoming market caravan.
She was just about to pull her freshly baked beef and broccoli pizza from the oven when—
A knock.
Hanako sighed, rolling her eyes.
Kakashi. That bluish purple electrifying chakra was something she couldn’t miss.
She wiped her hands on her apron before opening the door.
Sure enough, there he was.
Kakashi Hatake stood on her doorstep, leaning lazily against the frame, hands stuffed into his pockets.
“Yo.”
Hanako narrowed her eyes. “You disappeared again.”
His visible eye crinkled slightly. “Mission.”
She folded her arms. “You always say that.”
A small pause. Then, unexpectedly—
“…I know.”
Something about the way he said it made her pause.
A heavy silence settled between them before Kakashi exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck.
“…I’m sorry.”
Hanako blinked.
He had never apologized for it before.
Her annoyance wavered. She sighed, relenting.
“Fine. You’re forgiven.”
His eye glinted with amusement. “That easy?”
“I was going to make you be my taste tester anyway,” she muttered, already walking back inside.
Kakashi followed, watching her with quiet amusement.
She hadn’t seen him for a while, well technically months because the silver bastard was good at hiding his own chakra, he was ANBU after all—and yet she wondered if it was really that long that somehow Bakashi had a growth spurt again?
She was taller than average women in the Leaf, she was 5 '7 and this asshole somehow grew 2 inches taller than her already. And she used to tease him as a runt, but oh well, guess he would tease her about it some other time. He better or she’ll throw him out if he decides to joke with this timing. She was still upset with him after all.
Kakashi sat down at the dining table glancing at the garden. Hanako really had a green thumb, the garden was blooming and practically sparkling beneath the afternoon sun. He picked up the familiar subtle scent of the plants and flowers that he hadn’t smelled in months.
He snapped out of his reverie when she placed a plate of pizza in front of him, along with a glass of what seems to be matcha with ice. Huh.
“This is broccoli and beef pizza and a matcha latte. You better not complain,” she warned.
Kakashi hummed. “No promises.”
Interesting, broccoli and beef ‘pizza’ huh? A new word again it seems, he chuckled. She was always good with inventing new words. She was so much better than Minato-sensei who tried naming his new jutsus with long lame names honestly.
He pulled his mask down to take a bite.
(He didn’t mind showing her his face, he trusts her that much after all. She already accepted all his flaws and imperfections. And he too accepts her flaws and baggage she carries just as she did to him.)
A pause. Then another bite.
Hanako squinted. “Well?”
Kakashi took a slow sip of the latte.
Another pause.
Then—
“…I like it.”
Hanako blinked. “Really?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t lie about food.”
She rolled her eyes. “High praise coming from you.”
His smirk was barely noticeable, but it was there.
“You’re good at this,” he said simply.
Something warm flickered in her chest.
She scoffed, but the smile on her lips betrayed her. “Of course I am.”
Kakashi only watched her. She grinned from ear to ear and started yap her hear out.
“Anyways you know what I’ve heard about today?—“
She didn’t notice the way his gaze softened.
Didn’t notice how relieved he felt to see her like this—happy.
She started blabbering about the latest gossip, something along the lines of a civilian that got cheated on by a chunin apparently. He sort of tuned it out, enjoying the pizza and the bittersweet taste of the match latte. He’s sure that it would be a hit.
He liked that she was all cheery and was so bright again. That she went back on track with her dreams again.
He’s quite well aware of how kind she was and how much of a jerk he was. He didn’t mean to take advantage of her kindness but he needed time. He already settled it, well somehow anyways.
But right now, he was glad he reached out.
That smile, the comfort she brings and the scent of the familiar home was worth so much to him.
And yet, he still couldn’t understand why it mattered so much.