Hello readers and welcome to my second attempt at fan-fic. I have not abandoned the other one I am just taking a short creative rest while I work out exactly what I want in the first one. This new fan fiction, is nothing like it. It was a 'hey I think it would be a cool idea.' so I went with it.
This will probably not be a harem but more of a straight relationship between Naruto and Hinata. Focussing largely on Hinata's point of view, for the beginning at-least. Naruto is more intelligent, technically less powerful but still powerful in my story, and probably just as clueless to social cues.
Aside from that this is basically throwing all original timeline and plot to the wind, If you've read my authors notes before each chapter from my other story 'A Storm from the West' I believe I go on about how much I wanted to avoid repeating the manga's plot line. But I might nab a few ideas and similar plot-lines, just to get my creative juices flowing. I'll also try to keep up the characters personality despite being a different gender (Sasuke will always be Sasuke). I certainly have a few story arcs to go over and I'll try to keep each chapter to reasonable length (3,000-5,000 words).
Jutsu and chakra is also massively played down, it still exists but a far-cry from the original content (see it like a forgotten art) Beyakugan can still see chakra but no-where near the clarity usually mentioned or the range. Sharingan still allows the user to perceive and react quickly, genjutsu is only for 'intimidation' but cannot distort reality.
Second thing you will notice very early on is every character is female (girls will remain girls, not a total gender swap per say) Obviously few rare exceptions, I.E. Naruto is still going to be male, possibly others I don't know. If you have good idea for female names of male character I don't mind if you message me name ideas and if I like them I will change them accordingly. Just as of writing first editions I was lazy and just used original names.
Kurama is not a demon of demons but instead fills in Naruto's shoes in team seven. Though she still hates the world.
As with everything I trust reviews to be constructive and informative and please, no flames. But please enjoy, I am open to ideas and plot arcs but I still have my own bag of ideas.
Second edition notes:
Some changes have been made about the names, I said I had not renamed some of the genders but I have now resolved that issue and renamed them as such:
Sasuke as Sasuki
Kiba as Kanna
Shino as Chiho
Kakashi as Kashina (not to be confused with Kushina)
Lee as Leann
Neji as Hanabi (it's a shame because I like Neji, might include him (yes a him) later though but Hanabi made more sense)
Shikamaru as Shigeko
Choji as Cho
Sai as Sai still (I think names are less important to Sai seeing as it was given by Danzo.)
Kotetsu as Kota
Izumo as Itsumi
Orochimaru as Orochimaru still (I doubt Orochimaru would care much that and he/she/whatever would have likely experimented and been either or neither girl or boy.)
Hiruzen as Biwako (His wife essentially but similar in personality)
Danzo as Damariss (struggled to find a good name but I hope this works out.)
elders have name changes but they are less important and other names that are 'missing' from the list I have not written about between now and chapter VI.
Disclaimers, for now and future chapters:
I do not own Naruto, its story, or its characters, and all rights go to the creator.
Any opinions stressed in this story do not reflect my own personal opinion on certain subject matters.
Rated M for safety (violence, language, adult themes etc maybe lemons (who knows))
Hinata was a shy girl. A short description, one that would describe her with reasonable accuracy but as with all sweeping statements; it does not tell you her full story. She was at the age of sixteen. Had long straight, dark navy-blue hair. In some lights, her hair would be purple and in others almost black but her hair was not her most striking feature. The title was placed on her pale eyes. Her Iris was coloured as a crystal-clear white with the smallest specks of silver while her pupil was not of the customary black, but instead the same light silver as her iris. This gave her a usual distant look which was rare, but not unique. She knew of many sisters with the same trait, one of which lived with her at her home. She wore a baggie light violet jacket with a number of pockets made of scratch proof materials. In a pinch, her coat was even slightly waterproof and could keep the weather off from ruining her day. She also wore baggy pants which as far as utility was concerned was a useful item of clothing with more pockets and the weather proof material. Rarely, but on very hot days, she would undo her jacket to reveal a simple light-coloured T-shirt. Ranging in colours from pale green through to pitch black. Hinata chose loose-fitting clothes to try and hide her very feminine body. She was self-conscious since people started to admire her beauty as soon as her body had begun to develop. It was the first step to defining her as shy. She hated being compared to everyone she knew and it always dragged her into the spotlight during social interactions. Unfortunately, fate would not leave it there. Once she was known to be avoiding certain people, the loudest people, then people started to whisper behind her back. Whispers of the truth quickly got distorted and corrupted much like a real-life game of Chinese whispers. Rumours circulated and put people off approaching Hinata. The same rumours slashed at her confidence like a savage blade and soon Hinata found she was pushing people away as much as they pushed her away. Thus, the situation came in full circle and more rumours were created.
The shy girls' home was none other than Konoha. A very small village in the middle of the wilderness that was once known as the land of fire. One of the first settlements, or more accurately, colonies that had sprouted since the purge that occurred nearly one hundred years ago. The village only consisted of a handful of civic buildings and 'workshops' while the rest were houses and dormitories. Typically, four people who lived in each house and worked like a team. The idea being for each team to be self-sustaining with one teacher and three girls. The girls were around the same age and carried out various tasks in order to survive. However, theory and practice are two very different concepts. Hinata almost always worked alone and' self-sustaining' to survive was nigh on impossible. Before each girl moved here at the age of twelve they received an education at the capital city but this was an intense regime of culture, etiquette, and how to live as a civilised and productive member of society. All of which were so far removed from living in a colony such as Konoha it was almost laughable. Hinata knew how to eat like a noble but it was pointless when there was rarely anything to eat. Their 'teachers' did nothing to rectify the situation as they also did not know how to farm, hunt, or keep animals. As such they relied heavily on food aid from the capital, a very basic meal ration that tasted like plain porridge but at least prevented starvation. Alternatively, a member of the colony could forage, a very dangerous task as the years of leaving the world to its own devices had brought back many creatures previously thought to be extinct in the area and defence was another thing missed off their curriculum.
Konoha as a village was nestled in the ruins of a much older village. A larger space considered far more secure than the complete wilderness outside. Hinata's village may have its own walls to keep out anything lurking but old Konoha, the ruins of which their village's name was copied from, had great walls which still stood largely intact despite the years not being so kind on its façade. No one had the knowledge or strength to close the four great entrances and in a couple of places the wooden pillars had been crumbled by some forgotten event and so old Konoha was still a risky place to wonder from. More importantly, a fruitless place to forage. Being the safest meant most of the citizens of Konoha stuck to the decaying buildings and so never got anywhere. However, inside the great walls of old Konoha were not where you could find Hinata. She frequently strayed into the wilderness beyond. Large swathes of land were covered by a dense forest but if you were like Hinata, it was possible to navigate and find yet more abandoned settlements, hamlets, and farms. Each crumbling away to the mists of time and quickly overgrown by pioneering saplings and shrubs. Hinata much preferred it out here, with no one around and the quiet sounds of distant critters and the occasional gust of a light breeze to shake the leaves seemed to calm the girl down. She found a balance between curiosity and beauty from the landscape around her. Frequently she would allow herself to climb into a ruined house and explore. If she was lucky she could find something useful to bring back to her home and trade in for some food. Be it some tools, metals, or an assortment of tinkering items that had managed to survive. If she found something too large to move she would mark it on her hand drawn map and tell her 'teacher' about it when she returned just before sunset.
Hinata was never completely defenceless. She carried an old knife, kept sharp by rubbing the edge against a whetstone whenever she had grown bored waiting at home. Although, she had another trait that she found out as she explored the wilderness. If Hinata stood still and concentrated hard enough she found she could 'sense' if there were someone or something close by. She couldn't quite see the target in question but they seem to light up with some strange white pulse even if they were behind solid objects like walls or trees, betraying their position. She thought that this had something to do with chakra, a lifeforce which resides in every living thing. She had been taught about it before she had left the capital city and in what few books she was able to read had mentioned it, but as far as she knew, no one was able to use it in the way it was described in the books. Unfortunately, she chose to only use it in the wilderness. When Hinata found out she could 'sense' others she quickly realised the price of being different and so she accidently sealed the deal and she was officially socially ostracised from her own community. The shy girl had not realised what concentrating in such a way had done to her face until it was painfully pointed out to her by everyone in the room. As it turned out it strained the veins around her face and made her look like she was giving an ugly scowl that offended some and scared others. In the wilderness, she ended up using it fairly frequently as she did not have a huge range to her sight. At a push, and after about five minutes of concentration, she could just manage to make out the chakra across the size of a standard sports pitch. Which was good enough for most for the clearings she explored but meant she had to be patient when moving from area to area knowing full well if she made a mistake she could very well be killed.
At this very moment Hinata was currently exploring a large watermill. She was busy staring out of a collapsed wall onto the waterway that deemed to be cut out of the very rock. There was not enough water to push the large wooden wheel running down the shoot which Hinata had to admit it disappointed her somewhat. The wheel itself was just out of sight but she had given it a good long look at. Mostly intact but the wood was coated in a green moss and a few peddles had already fallen off into the shallow trickle of a stream. The building smelled of mould as damp had ruined virtually everything within the interior. Strapped to Hinata's back was a basket filled with some wild grains, mushrooms and berries that she found just before coming here. It was autumn and already the days felt like they were never hot enough to dry the constant feeling of dampness in the forest air. The girl sighed heavily and dragged her thoughts back to reality. The sun had long since passed the highest point of the day and she needed to return to the village before dark. This was often when she would collect and carry wood. On a bad day for collecting food she could use her basket but today the raven-haired girl was lucky enough to find enough food for a day or two. She looked through the dim interior of the watermill. The outside wheel seemed to be connected to a few cogs which connected to a pair of large circular stones. One laid on top of the other with a small rim to catch the ground flour up once it fell from in between the stones. They had one just like this in her village only the 'wheel' was wind powered and consisted of large sails to catch the wind in such a way they could turn the gears and by extension turn the quern stones. Hinata walked around and grabbed the wood off one bench that still stood by it felt solid enough still to be used as firewood but Hinata had no means to cut or carry the bench so instead she turned to a pair of barrels next to her. The wood felt damp to the touch but she quickly realised that had worked to her advantage. The nailed that held said barrels together had rusted through. Grabbing one plank and holding another she tugged with all her might. The material groaned and a loud snap echoed from the barrel. Another tug and it came loose. The mulch inside was too sticky and damp to fall from the newly formed gap. Hinata sighed and proceeded to dismember each plant from the barrel until she held as much wood as she could carry. Her hands were sore and filthy, she could see a small cut on one of her fingers that stung lightly in the hair she whipped off the sweat from her brow as now she was hot from the effort she had put in. Her last job of the day was to mark the building on her map. She could only carry the wood that two thirds of one barrel provided. The rest were good for another day. Fortunately, she was not far outside the towering walls of old Konoha and so was not in a rush to get back. Taking out a piece of paper from one of her pockets she opened it up on the bench that was handily there for her. The map consisted of places she had been over the past two years. Small drawing of landmarks and features which helped her navigate in case she got lost some buildings had notes and some were crossed out. Indicating what was there and whether or not she had cleared out the building. Typically, anything that a knife could get at and what she could carry was hers for the taking. The other girls would only dare venture out once she told them about a certain place and left them to pull the building down for anything remotely useful for the village. An effort that she surely could not do by herself.
Hinata quickly packed everything up and quickly concentrated on her senses. After she had concluded that there was nothing that would pose a threat. Perhaps a snake that she had spied would be from a venomous species but it was an easy task to avoid it. The girl hopped over the stream that was cut from the rock and continued into the forest. If it weren't for the trees she could probably easily see the walls themselves. It took her just under an hour before she could enter the old city. She gazed over the archway. Easily taller than a two-story building and arching over the entrance. The two-solid iron doors were permanently stuck open and slowly rusting away to nothing. In the middle of the arch once held presumably a large metal symbol of the village. Hinata mused it had been long since robbed out from the wooden archway leaving a clear space where it once was. Her eyes drifted down to five women waiting for her. A Stone must have sunk in her stomach. Any hint that she was enjoying herself quickly vanished as she approached the figures illuminated by the now low sun. It took her a while before she could recognise that two of them were from her team and the other three were from her sisters' team. This made it easy to name each one. On her team, she had Chiho and Kanna. Two girls selected because she could find them bearable. Chiho was shy like her and often wore clothes to cover her figure which Hinata knew to be thinner and more elegant than herself. Chiho usually kept herself to herself and often wondered away to find some bugs. Hinata was actually good friends with the girl behind the dark glasses as they usually talked with things they found together. The only issue about Chiho is she was a fan of her own company, always politely excusing herself from sustained social interaction to wonder off elsewhere by herself. Kanna, on the other hand, was a wild card and that reflected in much of her personality. Often enough she would try to include Hinata whenever possible but more often than not she would forget her when in certain company. She had shorter unkept hair that seemed to be roughly forced down into the position it sat in now. In addition, and much unlike her teammates she wore relatively little, a tank top which was usually stained by something she got up to during the day and would constantly reveal a small portion of her bra, either a loose strap or her top couldn't quite stretch far enough. She had smaller breasts than Hinata but because of the tighter fitting clothes they were more prominent. On Hinata's sisters team was Hanabi, her sister, Leann, and Tenten. Hanabi was one of the more serious members of her community. The lessons from the capital were taken to heart and she would uphold every rule under the sun. Her 'prim and proper' demeanour was matched by her neat white kimono, jet black hair, matched by the sash around her waist and eyes identical to Hinata. Only where Hinata caved in and withdrew herself from the community. Hanabi turned the same discrimination of his eyes into fierce determination. Taking her gift with an air of superiority. A 'she was different therefore better' mentality. A philosophy of which Hinata never shared. Leann was by far the most energetic woman Hinata knew. Wore tight green jumpsuit that allowed her for speedy movement, although Hinata half expected her to put on a tutu and complete the appearance. Leann was often the member of the team that actually was excited to do something physical. Usually with Hanabi at the reins. Leann was the only other girl with shorter hair as she complained if it was any longer it would get in her eyes. Tenten constantly felt like she was embarrassed by her team. Leann was often loud and obnoxious often dragging them into trouble and Hanabi was often anal enough to follow him and try to boss people about, usually being just as obnoxious. This left Tenten to be the mediator between these two and reality. Tenten was also dressing a formal white Kinono just like Hanabi and had her hair tied up into two tight buns. If allowed to flow free he would look just like Hanabi only without the pale eyes. She would have been just as nice to Hinata as Chiho or Kanna had her two teammates not keep her constantly occupied.
Hinata could guess why they were waiting for her. Hanabi recently clued in that she was venturing into the wilderness and collecting some valuable items. Hanabi usually bullied with her status towards the elders of the village. She must have 'persuaded' her teammates into telling her which entrance Hinata had left earlier that day. Hinata could only sigh and mentally prepare herself for Hanabi.
"Good evening dear sister." Hanabi greeted first, if it wasn't for her fecade of neutrality worn by only the most well-behaved women in the community she would have been sneering.
"N-Hanabi, h-how did you f-find me?" Hinata stuttered, she looked away, clearly already uncomfortable standing under her sisters' gaze of authority.
"Under normal circumstances I would be forced to tell the elders you were leaving the village without permission." Hinata looked down at her bundle of wood that was clearly man made planks. "But seeing as you've got something of worth I guess I could overlook you breaking the rules."
"B-but isn't the b-blackmail?"
"Think of it as sisters helping each other out, and I bet you have found some edible berries in that basket of yours. We haven't found anything all day."
"Hanabi just leave her alone we have found enough for a meal." Tenten piped up.
"But we might get something actually tasty for once, or maybe something to help me catch the elders attention. Besides I know that she would prefer her freedom." Hanabi had always felt that people were stuck in their fate. Only he saw himself to be on top while Hinata was fated to be the lesser of the two sisters as she was the less perfect of the two.
"She is a bit weird but nothing to deserve…."
"I-I'll pay you…" Hinata interrupted. If she was found out she knew the elders would keep her inside the village or worse yet…. Re-educate her by sending her away to the capital.
"Excellent, at least you still have your wits from venturing out so far." Hanabi subtlety reminded her that there was a current populistic theme that the wilderness sapped away your intelligence as well as your ability to be civilized something which seriously put most people off from venturing further than necessary. Of course, this lead to more flak for Hinata. She carefully lay down her firewood and pulled herself out of the straps that held the basket and handed it over to Hanabi. She did not even glance at the content and just emptied it out into his own basket and made it look like he collected the berries and mushrooms for himself.
"Hanabi, this is surely unyouthful of you!" Leann called out in a louder-than-necessary voice.
"I think it's more 'unyouthful' about breaking the elders' rules." Hanabi retorted and Leann thought to herself for a moment.
"I can see what you mean. In that case. Hinata! I thoroughly advise you to not break such rules again. You can't let your youth shine through if you end up hurt. Might I suggest accompanying me at doing some chorus tomorrow?"
Hinata simply shook her head and nervously took a step away as if she was wanting to run. Fortunately, Chiho was able to pick up on her behaviour. After all, she felt the same way.
"Might I suggest we head back to the village now? It is getting dark after all." Her voice was smooth and low. She rarely spoke but she always had a tone of conviction like what she said was fact and nothing less. Hanabi turned and gazed into Chiho's dark glasses with a blank expression. It appeared as if they were having a contest to see who was the least emotional of the pair. After a few seconds, they turned from each other. Hinata's team walked away to the right while her sister and her team walked to the left. She glanced both ways before picking up her wood and followed Chiho and Kanna.
"Damn what's her problem?" Kanna asked once they were out of ear shot. As her ruck sack began to move on its own accord. A small white puppy's head soon poked out of the opening and gave a small yip to announce his freedom. "Yeah sorry Akamaru, you know she hates dogs." Akamaru was a large part of why Kanna liked Hinata, because Akamaru also liked the white eyed girl. In turn Hinata was always kind to the small creature who sought refuge one stormy night a year ago. Officially the dog was not allowed into the village so the trio worked together to keep him a secret. One that only Kanna's trusted friends know about. Although the rumours were starting to pile against the dog lover.
"She believes she is entitled." Chiho responded. She was looking elsewhere at this moment but her attire made all but the most obvious movements unreadable.
"I-I am s-so sorry that I lost the f-food." Hinata squeaked a little. To Akamaru who was looking directly at her from behind Kanna saw she was feeling down and jumped out to her arms. Hinata let out a surprised gasp as the wood she was carrying now had additional weight to it. Akamaru was being less than useful as now Hinata couldn't see where she was going and promptly tripped on a stone. She ended up throwing the bundle of planks in front of where she was and landed on the broken road with an 'eep' and a heavy thump. Akamaru simply gracefully jumped away at the last moment but quickly assumed position by Hinata's face and sniffed at her.
"Akamaru, was that necessary? Hinata are you alright?" Kanna was holding back a giggle but she managed to swallow it and bend down to start picking up the planks that Hinata had dropped. Hinata nodded and allowed Akamaru to lick her face briefly as if he was saying sorry to her. She got up and dusted herself down before giving a smile.
"I'm fine t-thanks."
"We will help carry the wood don't worry." Kanna gave a warming smile.
The day's end was fast approaching now but the trio of women decided to play with Akamaru for a short time. Hinata needed to unwind before they returned after losing half of their findings to her sister. Upon reaching the walls of their village Akamaru dutifully hit himself into Kanna bag. Being well accustomed to how terrifying other women where here. The gateway into Konoha was less impressive than the one into old Konohagakure being made of wooden steaks reaching to around the height of an average person. Two watch towers flanked the entrance, not really extending much higher than the palisade. There were only two women guarding the entrance. One lazily hung over the rail of the watch tower and she had a bandaged nose and held a long spear in on hand. The said spear dangled just above the ground and threatened to fall from her grasp. She hardly acknowledged the trio of women now approaching. On the other hand, her partner who was below her was quickly flicking through paperwork before being ready to sign in Hinata's team. She looked somewhat livelier if only just and had her hair over one eye. She kept it together under a hat. Aside from their facial appearances the two had almost identical uniform. A short Kimono with an additional thick jacket which was supposedly stab proof but no one had bothered to test such a theory. The Kimono was a dark grey while the jacket provided a dark green colour to their attire. In the height of summer Hinata would often hear how uncomfortable the uniform became but now autumn has settled in at least the mornings provided the coolness they had been yearning for.
Past the gates housed the village. Many of the buildings being a muddle of tinkering and 'cheap' repairs. No one in the village had full carpentry skills or masonry skills. Often with the notion of 'good enough' when it came to construction. As a result, many buildings had ended up cramped. Leaked in the rain and grew smoky when a fire was lit for warmth. The wood was gnarled, the stonework never quite fitted together. The pointing was crumby, nails bent, tiles loose. In short it looked like there were too many chefs on the design and no one could agree on one idea. The village was so small that in a minute Hinata and her team found herself in the centre. A comparatively wide-open space with a large red-walled building looming over them. By far this building was the tallest and stretched out to four stories high. This was where the elders controlled the colony with a tight fist. They were by far the strictest women in the village and would constantly terrorise the younger generation with tales of creatures so vile and violent that they will do worse things than simply kill you. Even Hinata shuddered at the thought of what these creatures were. It was by far the least desirable subject to talk about but Hinata has heard of many stories where they were responsible for destroying the old world. The tower was far from its original glory but had the most time spent repairing it. The large gash that had destroyed its side had carefully cut timber to cover the gaping hole and sealing it from the outside elements. For many years the building itself was the entire colony but they had since then spread into the small village Hinata was standing in. Of course, calling the building red-like was not entirely true. Few parts were red granted but there was clear evidence of a raging fire that has burnt the very stone around every window and doorway. Windows were boarded up and the only glass left was on the top floor where they were carefully replaced for the elders to enjoy some comfort. Hinata was knocked almost to her feat.
"Watch where you're going ugly!" Came a disgruntled voice. With wild red hair flowing past Hinata's vision It was long and impressive and matched her temper to a T. Kurama seemingly walked through her and carried on to wherever she was heading. Hinata heard a 'tch' from Kurama team mater. Sasuki, he looked and acted a lot like Hanabi only where Hanabi is willing to give some rope to Hinata, Sasuki was always in a mood with everyone. She felt that Hinata did not even deserve her abilities, hell, probably not even her life. Sasuki was greedy, selfish, and would easily trample on anyone that was in her way.
Hinata sighed heavily. She knew her luck was running out for today. "We've already got our food rations, want to just go home?" Kanna asked, also not wanting to be near those two any longer than necessary. Where Sasuki lusted for power, Kurama just wanted to watch the world burn. For now, she stood by the gothic girl as their two plans coincided.
This left the third member of their team. Right on que Hinata was pushed again but this time by a pinkette. She gave out a smirk but the whole event appeared to be a copy of what her teammates did. Sakura was a leacher at best. Following the other two in hopes that she could become popular. Her actions were devoid of creativity or initiative but that still meant hating on Hinata, who was considered the least popular. Her distaste for Hinata was completely unjustified but nonetheless was still apparent. She would have said some remark but she had to catch up to her team who seemed to never really notice her. Hinata decided to walk the other way, seeing as now they only had firewood she did not need to see the elders of the village.
