Raito was in the hospital. The low white lights seared his eyes as he opened them. Standing above him were medical ninjas, with clear concern on their faces. Trying to sit up, his body was racked with intense pain. The medic ninja shook their head no, telling him to stay down.
Within a few minutes, he was out again. Then he returned to consciousness, and the same thing happened. Pain rippled through his body; however, each time it intensified until it reached a point where he screamed. That pain was the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his life, like needles poking every single delicate body part at the same time. From then on, the pain slowly subsided, going from his entire body to his brain.
Without his knowledge, an entire month passed over him. While he was out cold, Karasu and Aoi trained together. Aoi realized she had a lot of catching up to do in terms of keeping up with her teammates. Karasu had been the only one to actually help Raito in their fight against the A-rank, while she fended off literal civilians. However, Karasu did not hold it over her; instead, they practiced expanding her water techniques. They went on another mission, which was C-rank, but otherwise, they dedicated every day to improving their technique.
On the day they were meant to set out for Konoha, Raito awoke, his headache completely cured. However, there was a slight lull of soreness in his eyes. As he came to, a doctor with glasses smiled and began to speak. He pointed to the screen and looked at his clipboard.
"I'm glad to see you've finally come to the world. I'd like to give you a brief summary of what we've observed."
Raito nodded, looking towards the screen near the doctor.
"We made a scan of your chakra systems, and it seems over the last month, they went through a drastic change. Not only did your chakra pool expand dramatically, but chakra is now steadily flowing to your eyes. It seems you can shut it off, but if chakra is going to your eyes, that suggests a dojutsu. I was not aware of Arashi having a dojutsu, were you?"
Raito nodded in agreement and replied, "No, we don't, but I made one."
The doctor's clipboard fell out of his hands.
"You are… you're joking, right?"
Raito looked at the doctor and replied, "No. I've been working on it for years at this point. It seems it's worked perfectly as planned. Though I hadn't expected to fall asleep for such a long time."
The doctor nodded, picking up his clipboard and replied, "Okay, well then that settles it. Whatever your dojutsu does, you cannot be considered Arashi anymore as your dojutsu sets you genetically apart. I'm sure you'll come up with a clan name, but your team is leaving."
Raito cursed under his breath and rushed out of his hospital gown and into his clothes. He thanked the doctor before running out. As he did, he felt his eyes burn with the light of the hospital and so lowered his headband over his eyes.
He found his team, and they departed along with four other genin squads.
Raito and his group of Dato genin arrived in Konoha within a month. Raito was actually quite glad to be back in Konoha. It was a much larger village and yielded many more places to buy things that Dato did not yet have.
He and the Dato Genin were checked into an embassy for all incoming genin. As they walked, Raito spotted a boy with a gourd on his back and red hair. The kanji for love was written upon his head, which Raito raised an eyebrow at.
When they'd settled in their room, Karasu said, "We should explore the city! There's bound to be places to do fun things at."
Aoi agreed enthusiastically, "Yes! I heard there is a great view from the Hokage monument!"
Raito replied, "Sounds good."
The genin left their room, leaving their clothes and other unnecessary equipment there. They walked the streets of Konoha talking, and the boys watched Aoi shop for clothes. She would then complain about how few clothes Dato had from the more fashionable brands.
As they were walking back to the embassy, they saw a confrontation between a boy in a cat suit manhandling a little kid. Raito was not going to do anything as he could feel other chakras approaching the area. However, Aoi whispered to him.
"Shouldn't we help the kid?"
Raito shook his head.
Karasu replied, "Nah, there's someone already dealing with it."
Aoi looked around the fence they were behind to see a kid in an orange jumpsuit alongside a kunoichi in a pink outfit. Aoi raised an eyebrow and dragged the two boys towards the encounter. This was their chance to meet kids from other villages, and she would not miss it for anything else.
Karasu could not escape her grasp, but Raito did, preferring to simply rush behind the catsuited man. Looking at the orange-clad shinobi, Raito realized who he was seeing. It was Naruto; the whiskers, blue eyes, and yellow hair gave it away with ease.
Raito put a kunai to the black clad shinobi and whispered for all to hear.
"Put the kid down or die."
The girl who'd been standing near the black clad shinobi panicked and jumped away, pulling out her fan. She'd given away exactly what kind of fighter she was, and Raito internally smirked. The black clad shinobi tossed the kid on the ground and backed away from Raito.
"Who are you?"
Karasu and Aoi grinned as they stood by Raito. Aoi was reaching into her back pouch for a kunai, and Karasu was simply standing with his hands in his pockets.
"Who are you, that is, to be beating on little children?"
The boy was a sight to Raito's eyes. He had purple face paint, and upon his back was a bundle of something. The boy's black catsuit kept his face visible, and it was evident with more than one look that the two teammates were siblings.
"Subaku no Kankuro. A proud shinobi of Sunagakure no sato. Need I say more?"
Raito turned around. He didn't want to stay there too long, otherwise Naruto might recognize him. Karasu realized exactly what his teammate wanted, and he too turned around to walk away from the scene.
Aoi had a question for the kunoichi next to Naruto, "What's your name?"
"Sakura Haruno… and what of yours?"
"Aoi Kento. I'll be glad to see you in the Chunin exams."
Then the girl slowly turned and walked away. They turned past the fence and rushed back to their embassy.