Not a Ninja

by VaingloriousHound

Naruto didn't graduate from the academy. He didn't become a ninja, so what now? He walks a different path, lives a different life only to be drawn back into the ninja world just when he thought to have found a place of his own. NaruHina, SasuSaku(later chapters)

1. Chapter 1

Not a Ninja

A Naruto fanfiction

A/N: I dare say that the title makes it pretty clear what the story is about. The idea came from someone who is no longer with us, the same person who game me the ideas for Blind Light. Anyhow, tell me how you liked it, will you?

Prologue

He had failed.

Utterly so. And he had been sure he could do it, so sure he could prove himself but no, it shouldn't be. Now he sat there, on the swing before the academy and watched the other graduates laughing happily with family and friends. But Naruto was alone, as he always was. Iruka, his teacher, stood there with the students and looked sadly at him. Disgusting. He had failed him. How dared he pity him now, now that he had destroyed the path he had pushed himself on?! Naruto was no longer allowed to attend the academy. According to the school, he had proven unable to be a ninja too many times and they could not see him improve in the future. Apparently, the decision was final. And that meant, he couldn't try again. Now he couldn't become Hokage. Now his dream for the future were forever out of his reach.

He wasn't going to cry. Don't cry, don't cry, don't let them see that they got to you! Naruto couldn't take it anymore and fled the academy's yard. Out of the gate and across the street. For some reason, the glares and mumbles of "demon" and "monster" hurt so much more. Like knives tearing at his very core, stabbing at the fragile thing he truly was. So he ran faster, he wouldn't go back to the apartment, dealing with the landlord was the last he wanted to do now, so he ran into the forest, breaking through bushes and the high grass until he had to halt in front of the pond on some training ground. In the water he saw a boy with messy blonde hair looking back at him, tear tracks marred his face, eyes red and still brimming with tears.

"I told you not to cry!" he screamed at his reflection as he threw himself into it. The water was ice cold despite the relatively warm weather, taking his breath away, but that didn't matter. With the water around him, no one would be able to see his tears, right? So Naruto floated there in the icy pond, slowly loosing the feeling in his limbs. Strange, he thought, Why am I getting so tired? His eyes were so heavy, so incredibly, unbearably heavy. Just for a few seconds..., he thought as he drifted into sleep. The dream was strange. It wasn't feeling like one, felt so real instead. More like... memories. There weren't that many, he was only twelve after all. But even so, none of these memories were nice, none of them seemed to draw him, all of them were just... there and nothing more. Even the memories of old man Teuchi and his daughter at their ramen stand, of Iruka telling him he could do it and of the Hokage talking with him, it all seemed so distant.

The rest was miserable. His life had been miserable. What had he done up until now that had improved his situation? He knew the people despised him, so he wanted to prove himself. Looking back, that was the most stupid thing he could have come up with. People hated him for his very existence for reasons beyond him. What difference would it make to them if he became stronger? Surely it frighten them more than anything if the "demon" suddenly was a powerful ninja.

He had to laugh at himself. It was pitiful, watching as he painted buildings, tripped people that pissed him of and how he just grinned like an idiot all day so they wouldn't see how hurt he really was. And then he came to this day, saw himself running, crying and ultimately jumping into the icy waters. So were was he now? Was he dead? At the bottom of the lake? Idly, Naruto wondered how long it would take till someone would find him, but then he remembered that no one would search in the first place. Maybe, just maybe, it was better this way. He couldn't be a ninja, he was rubbish at everything else and no one would take him in or give him work anyways. So he was now going to die, in this lake on a day in fall all alone.

But it didn't come like that. Naruto opened his eyes and the pain he felt assured him that he wasn't dead. At least not yet. His limbs hurt, they felt as if they were outright burning. He wanted so scream but he was so weak, he couldn't even move his lips. He could hear his heartbeat and it was so slow, so weak, Naruto feared it might stop. Air. He needed more air so his heart would keep beating. All of sudden the prospect of dying was a thousandfold more scary than it had been in the water. So he breathed. Faster and faster. Air! He needed Air! There was a sudden noise somewhere nearby but Naruto didn't bother reacting, he needed to breath, he didn't want to die!

His half lidded eyes registered movement above him and suddenly something pressed onto his chest. But why? He needed to breath more! "No-!" he croaked out," I need-" The pressure lessened a bit but was still there, hindering him to intake the full volume of oxygen into his lungs.

"Easy, boy, you will be alright." The deep voice of a man, probably the one who pressed on his chest. "You are hyperventilating. You'll hurt yourself even more at this rate. Don't make me knock you out. You will be fine. There's enough air going around for the both of us so calm down."

If Naruto wanted or not, he was forced to take smaller breaths and after a long period of silence only broken by Naruto's harsh breathing, he calmed down. He blinked, turned his head and looked at the room around him and the man that sat besides him. The room was lit by a single lamp on the ceiling which didn't really provide enough to illuminate the whole room properly. There was a fire going in an old hearth across the room and through a window Naruto could see that it was already dark outside. The man sitting besides him was... well, big and old, Naruto would have said. Not as old as the Hokage but his black hair started to gray already. He had a bushy, also graying, full beard and a nasty looking scar between his eyes that stretched up into his hairline and nearly touched his left eye. And his eyes were... nice. They held something Naruto hadn't really seen in the eyes of someone else. Caring and warm they were a green so bright and full like a wide meadow of the greenest grass Naruto could imagine.

"Better?" the man asked him and Naruto managed to nod. The man stood and handed him a glass of water from a table Naruto hadn't seen before. "Drink, it will help."

Naruto downed the glass in one go, nearly chocking on it. He coughed once and asked "Where am I? And who are you? How did I-" The man place a big, and also very scarred, hand on his small shoulder.

"You are in the back of my workshop, kid. And I am Mosu, the owner of this forge. And I'm also the one who fished you out of the water. Boy, you were drifting down the stream that feeds my water wheel. Got you out before you got in it though. Lucky you." He stood up, nearly having to bow his head so he wouldn't hit the ceiling, and threw a fresh log into the fire. "Want to tell me why you were in the water?"

Naruto shook his head. He didn't want to think and much less talk about it. Mosu sighed and opened the window to let some air into the room. "Aren't your parents missing you? If so, kid, I gotta get you home. People don't like me much, so me having a child here for hours isn't going to help that."

"I don't have any parents... I... I live alone." When he did not say anything further, Mosu looked at him intently. Naruto knew he was going to remember that he was that boy and throw him out. But none of that happened.

"Stay as long as you need to, kid. Aye, I know who you are but I do not share whatever grudge they have with you. As long as you behave, I don't see why you couldn't get some more rest." With that said, Mosu got up and left the room and Naruto just stared after him. The man hadn't glared at him. Didn't he hate him? Wasn't he going to yell or something? If anything, Naruto was confused. He was scared. What would an adult do to him if not hate? Something worse? But he was too weak, how could he stop the man? And right now, he couldn't even move. He resigned himself to sleep, because nothing else he could do. Because he was not strong enough.

The Forge master

When Naruto woke up again, he didn't feel much better at all. He could move, but his body protested against the slightest twitch in his muscles. Still, he nearly jumped out of the bed when Mosu entered.

"I see you're awake, boy. Here is something to eat because I don't really think you have recovered yet." He placed a a bowl of steaming noodles on the little nightstand besides Naruto and set a fork besides it. The blonde looked at the food, and even more so at the fork, and wondered who exactly the man was. A fork? Here in Konoha? It wasn't like metal grew on trees. Having metal cutlery was reserved for the rich and famous. And the man looked not exactly like a noble man. "It's not poisoned boy, unless you're allergic to ramen, that is." The word ramen mellowed him. It was the only food he could ever go and buy and with the ramen stand of old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, he also had some kind of social contact. Sure, it tasted awesome and all,but in the back of his mind Naruto suspected that it had to do with the fact that he liked the old man and his daughter. Hunger overcame pain and he took the bowl and the offered fork and dug in. The warmth of the broth was a wonderful thing as it had been many times before. While he was eating, he still watched Muso. It was not like he had no bad experiences if he didn't watch his back. He was ninja- No... he wasn't. He had tried to be one. But he wasn't and would never be. The tears returned and he focused his eyes on his meal, praying that his weakness wouldn't show. But if Muso had seen, he didn't acknowledge it. He sat at the desk beneath the window, fiddling with some metallic thing. Naruto couldn't tell what it was.

"It's an armor plate," Muso said without looking away. "Got to finish this before noon. These Anbu guys don't like delays."

Naruto wiped the tears away after he placed the empty bowl back onto the nightstand and looked curiously at the blackened metal. "You... you are a smith?" He didn't ask about the Anbu. He didn't have anything to do with ninjas anymore.

Muso laughed. "Aye, lad. That and much more. Forge master, they call me, but that's just a title." He held the armor plate up into the light. "Shoulder piece. Light and durable. Gotta make about ten more, eleven maybe? Hmm..." He rummaged through a stack of papers that sat on the far end of the desk. "Nah, twelve even," he sighed and put the piece of metal into a wooded box underneath the working table he sat on. Standing up, he headed for the door and halted in front of it. "Want to watch, boy?"

The question surprised him. Did he want to watch? He shrugged and said "Sure." But getting out of bed was painful. Still, even when he nearly fell down once, Muso made no move to acknowledged his struggle. And for once, Naruto was glad to be ignored, he didn't like being weak and knowing it. The first thing Naruto recognized when he and Muso entered the next room was the heat. It was incredibly hot in here. It was a big circular room with an enormous oven of some kind in the middle. Attached to it were truly enormous bellows. They moved on their own, Naruto didn't see anyone working them.

"They are moved by the water wheel. The one you nearly got in yesterday, kid." He sat down by an anvil, the pit of glowing, hot red coal right besides him. He didn't seem to mind the heat. Out of a shelf with many, many drawers he pulled out a square piece of metal not unlike the armor plate from before. But it looked rough and way thicker and smaller than the plate piece was. And so Naruto sat there and watched Muso work. Heating, hammering, cooling and heating again. More hammering. Naruto was fascinated by Muso's work. Out of the metal piece he had formed an armor plate that would later serve to protect a ninja from harm.

"Want to try, kid?" Muso asked, pausing his hammering at the anvil. He held out the hammer to Naruto who, after some hesitation, took it. The hammer was heavier than it looked and Naruto's arm shivered under the strain as he raised the hammer to strike. "You wanna make it as flat as possible, the curve we add later," Muso told him, showing him an already finished piece. Naruto nodded and began his work. It was even harder than it had looked. Where Muso had to heat the metal once, Naruto's needed to go into the hot coals for three times but the old man was patient and led him through the process until it was finished.

"Not bad, now we need to fit these inside the vests and we may actually make it on time." After Naruto made another two, with Muso's guidance of course, he took over again and finished the other pieces. Far away from the heat of the forge on the other side of the room besides a big window were a lot of mannequin torsos. Each and every one wore the standard Anbu vest. Muso began to fiddle with needle and thread while Naruto was told to put the plate piece into the shoulder padding. That was easier said than done because he had to hop and jump a few times before he got it in. Having more than once already used needle and thread to flick his clothes, Naruto also sewed some of the vests shut, this time standing on a stool. Muso was surprisingly fast at sewing with his truly enormous hands. After some Anbu with a dog mask and silver hair collected the vests while Naruto stayed in the backroom, Muso continued to work and Naruto watched and occasionally helped. It was strange, they worked as if it had to be like that. Naruto stayed and Muso let him. Secretly he was glad to have some help in the forge. Demands for steel were rising and he, as the only Forge master going around these days, got the bulk of it and no matter how good he was, it was hard to do alone. Naruto was attentive and did not shy away from hard work but that and the fact that he was an orphan was all he knew about him. The name he got just so because he didn't want to be called kid or boy all the time. And time went by fast.

The Apprentice

"Oi! Old man! Where's the tong at?"

"At the chakra metal shelves, boy!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Once you stop calling me old, maybe, kid."

"Dammit old man!"

"Suck it up and get to work! These blades aren't forging themselves!"

"Do it yourself, you old goat! I have plates to finish!"

"What! Kid, don't tell me you are still working on the order from three weeks ago?!"

"Like you're one to talk! All you did was make these knives for Asuma!"

"Oh? Kid, if you would stop forging the long sword for Hayate you would be finished ages ago!"

"Eh, excuse me?"

""What!?""

Startled, the young woman who had just entered the forge dropped the wrapped piece of metal she had carried. It hit the wooden threshold with a loud thump as the woman jumped back, a kunai drawn. Mosu and Naruto looked sheepishly at each other before Naruto headed to get the tong and Muso approached the newcomer.

"Sorry for that, Miss. How can the forge help you today?" he asked as he picked up the dropped bundle and held it out to her.

"Don't worry. I was more surprised to see you had an apprentice. It has been years since I last was here after all...," she said and accepted the bundle. Muso looked at her intently for a second before he remembered.

"Ah, little Miss Kurenai! Indeed, years upon years it has been! How did he like the knives?" he asked as he beckoned her inside. Kureni turned as red as her eyes were and looked out of the window.

"How did... you knew they were for him?" she asked.

Muso laughed as loud as his bellows blew. "Miss, he requests the same ones every month!" Kurenai smiled before she could stop it. She coughed a few times and shook her head.

"Anyhow, I'm here for my charge this time. She has... difficulties settling for a new fighting style and I had hoped you could help her with that." She placed the lump of metal on a nearby table and unfolded the rags. Muso gave a low hum as he looked it over. Naruto had also spied it and sat himself at the table, looking at it just as intently as Muso, also humming. Both didn't say anything for a while and Kurenai wondered what this was about.

"Miss," Naruto asked suddenly, "Is that oricalcum by any chance?" Before she could answer, Muso hit him over the head.

"Of course it is! Brat, did I teach you anything at all? Look at the structure! The color! The shine! It's obvious! Sheesh, kid, you better go back to the books..."

Naruto jumped of the table and jabbed a finger at the Forge master. "Screw you old man! I knew what it was! I just asked to be certain!"

"Go back to finishing the blade! It's been in the heat long enough!" Mosu told him and dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Naruto pouted. "I'll have you know that it has a minute more in there!" Still, he walked back to the oven." Stupid old man," he grumbled just loud enough for Muso to hear.

"I heard that, kid!"

"I know!"

"Ahem! My request?" Kurnai was amused but didn't let it show.

The old smith laughed just as loud as before. "Of course, of course! Now, what exactly is it I can help you with? For whom did you get us a lump of oricalcum as big as my hand?"

"Right. It's been a while, really, but I do lead a team of genin and one of them is not comfortable with the style her clan taught her. We tried teaching her different styles but none of them worked for her so far." Kurenai glanced out of the store for a second and then back at Muso with a slightly angry expression. "She's not the most confident soul and after she got evicted from her clan, we thought it might be best if she moves away from their techniques for good and try something entirely different." Muso just nodded along, waiting for her to continue as she schooled her face back into a more neutral expression. "She's very handy with knives and we found she was a good shot when it came to using a bow-" Muso raised one of his enormous hands and Kurneai fell silent. The man smiled broadly at her,

"I see where you're coming from," he told her. "A multi functional bow. How exciting! Kid! Make room in the workshop! We have a special order!" When Naruto heard special order, he sprang into action and retrieved the long, straight blade from the oven and thrust it into a tub filled with oil. Not at all impressed by the flame that erupted from it, he pulled it out, laid it on the anvil and rushed out through the door into the workshop where shortly after a loud tumult ensued. Muso seemed not at all concerned about the sound and inspected the blade instead. It was already as good as finished, much to the man's surprise. Only the handle had to be made and the edge needed further grinding but beyond that, it was a damn good sword.

Kurenai also eyed the sword. It reminded her distinctively of Hayate's. It had the same sheen to it and was about as long. "So," she began, "Since when did you have an apprentice?"

Muso laid the blade back down and smiled. "Three years. Good years. Never thought he would catch on that fast or that he would become my pupil in the first place. Hell, I pulled him out of the stream behind the forge." He shook his head, not noticing Kurenai's frown. "Little brat grew on me..." He whipped his head around to her. "Don't tell him I said that!" he pleaded, "He won't let me hear the end of it!"

Kurenai had to laugh, she couldn't help it. "No, I won't tell him," she promised.

"All set! Would you clean up after yourself one day, old man?" Naruto called from the door.

"Shut up and speak for yourself! You have to finish your armor requests, kid!" Muso shot back. Naruto said nothing in return and moved to work instead. After all it was true, the plates needed to be finished before the end of the week. So when Muso sat down at his drawing board the sound of Naruto hammering away at his work rang dimly through the workshop. Kurenai looked around the room that was wallpapered with sketches and drawings of various blades, spears, knifes and other weapons.

"So, any chance we might meet our client?" Muso asked as he began drawing at a frightening speed. "Weapons like this should be constructed with the person who will use them."

"Ah, yes, that can be arranged, of course." Kurenai watched as the enormous hand with the tiny pencil moved so fast over the paper she could barely follow it with her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been watching but at some point Naruto must have entered because when she looked around for once she saw him at the smaller table at the opposite side of the room, also sketching at an incredible pace. She looked him over the shoulder and saw that he seemed to be drawing arrows and something that looked like a shield. One of the arrowheads she could make out from beneath his arms was long enough too be used as a knife while another was attached to some kind of chain instead of the arrow shaft. Before long, Muso clapped his hands, producing a sound far louder than one would expect, and stood up with multiple sheets of paper in hands.

"Well, we seem to have some rough sketches, Miss." He turned and gestured to the many sketches in his hand. "If you could return with your charge in about a week, we will have some prototypes to test and fit for her."

Kurenai nodded. "Of course. In a week then. Thank you, Forge master, Naruto." She bowed and left the workshop with the rag she had brought the metal in.

"So... for whom exactly are we making a...," he looked at one of Muso's sketches, "mechanical bow with retractable blades and amplyfied a string with wind seals?"

"Well, a girl your age, I reckon." He looked at one of Naruto's sketches. "Apparently she will have arrows which double as knifes and... are those runes for electric charges?" When did the boy study his book on runes?

Naruto shrugged. "Well, if it works, good or us and more so her."

Muso sighed. He shouldn't let his stuff lying out in the open like that. "So, if you're here sketching, I suppose you finished the plates?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Eh, yeah, sure... let me just clean up for a second." And with that he slipped out into the forge, leaving Muso behind who shook his head.

"How do we ever finish anything, I wonder..."

Memories of past dreams

The week went by faster than Muso had thought and before he knew it, Kurenai knocked at their door. Because he was currently drawing the string on one of the prototypes and couldn't really let go, it was Naruto who opened the door.

"Yeah? Oh, Miss Kurenai! Please come in we were-!" Naruto lost any words when he saw the girl besides Kurneai but picked his jaw up from the floor quick enough so it wasn't really noticed. "Ehem! We were just about finished. Please, do come in!" And with that, he hastily retreated into the shop. He didn't hear whatever the girl had said.

"Damn! It just had to be- Oh man! What am I-! Gramps! What am I gonna do?!"

Muso placed the bow back down onto the desk and looked at his distressed apprentice. "What are you gonna do why, boy?"

Naruto had both hands in his hair, spinning in circles because there was no room to pace. "I know her! It's- I saw her the day I-I- She was one of the last people I talked to before I met you!"

Mosu sighed. Naruto had never really told him what he had left or what he was doing to get himself into the pond that fed the stream but by now he had a pretty good idea. "Naruto." The boy stopped. When he was addressed by his name by Muso, he knew that the man was serious. "Is it bad to see her again?"

"I... don't know... I didn't even know her that well and..."

"So find out. You didn't tell anyone you left and from what you told me, no one cared enough to search for you. For now, just stay polite and do your job, see where that leads you. It has been three years after all, Naruto. Maybe she doesn't even remember you." Muso walked to the door in order to let Kurenai and the girl inside the back of the store.

"I'm sure she does! She was always very observant! Oh kami, what am I going to do?!" Naruto wailed.

"Your job, kid. You left behind whatever you did before. You do what you do now and you do it good." He laughed, albeit not as loudly as it was norm. "Take pride in that and don't mess this up. Come on, Naruto, you'll be fine."

Naruto nodded to himself and collected the arrows he had made in the past week. He had steeled himself for whatever reaction to come, but he dropped the arrows when he came to face the crying Hinata Hyuuga. She walked up to him and Naruto closed his eyes, bracing himself for one hard hit and maybe some foul names but instead he was outright knocked off his feet when she threw herself at him. Naruto was very much confused. Looking around he saw Muso smiling?! and Kurenai looked somewhat impassive, having her eyes anywhere but on them. Hinata cried into his shirt, clinging to it as if her life depended on it.

"I missed you!" she pressed out, "I thought you were-... I-... When you didn't come back the next day I-" The rest of her words she just chocked on and cried even harder. Awkwardly Naruto patted her back and then winced slightly when her realized that he had landed on one of his arrows. It just had to be the one with the spikes.

"Hinata." He didn't really know how to continue from there but she looked up at him, eyes still teary and red. "I'm... I'm sorry, I guess. I just..." Naruto struggled not willing to even explain how he had nearly drowned himself. "I'm okay and... Its nice to see you again." It was lame really, Muso would tease him about that mercilessly for the next month, but he couldn't come up with anything better to say. Kurenai took pity and pulled Hinata off him and on her feet again.

She laughed to herself. She had kind of expected Hinata to react like that. "So, I remember us having business to attend. Shall we then?" Muso nodded and led her with Hinata in tow out back leaving a quite stunned Naruto behind.

"Oi, kid! The arrows!" came the shout and Naruto scrambled to his feet, collecting the dropped arrows and hurrying out back.

Behind the forge besides the stream was a wide open field. Right besides the river were some logs, looking very, very worn and farthest away from the house were multiple targets in the trees. Muso and Naruto used this field to test weapons for their customers. Hurtling out of the door and trying not to look at Hinata he put the various arrows into a quiver that was fixed to the table that stood at the wall of the workshop. On said table were the prototypes of the bows Naruto and Muso had made over the past few days, three in total and all of them ready to be tested.

"Now, my apprentice will show you each bow and you will decide which one to test further." Naruto glared at Muso but he looked away, seemingly unaware of the death glare.

Grumbling about stupid old goats, Naruto picked up the first bow. Well, it didn't exactly look like a bow, more like a small kite shield that Naruto strapped to his forearm with the pointed end at his hand. He took a shuddering breath and schooled his features.

"Well, this also doubles as shield or," he pressed a button at the grip in his hand and a blade as long as the shield slid out, aligned with his arm, "a katar. Of course it is also a bow. The mechanism that keeps it compact can be released while the blade is extended but it is out of balance this way." With another push the mechanism retracted the blade. Then, after a soft clicking sound was heard, the shield seemingly broke apart, revealing the bow string and the retracted blade. "It is a short bow, quickly to fire but with less power and range than a common long bow. The arms of the bow are strong enough to withstand powerful blows so they can still be used to block. The retracted blade acts as guide rail to the arrow you draw back and can still be extended while the bow is in use." He looked at Kurenai and also risked glancing at Hinata. The girl seemed to watch him more than the bow but she nodded along anyways. It made him smile despite himself.

Taking a deep breath, he picked up a regular arrow and without beating around the bush he fired at one of the targets. Much to Kurenai's surprise, it hit dead center. Not really acknowledging his display of marksmanship, Naruto picked up the next bow, this time also looking like one. A long bow to be precise.

"That's the fairly normal bow. A long bow, perfect for long range shooting and amplified by chakra it can fire an arrow hard enough to drill a hole into solid, common steel." To prove his point, he nocked another arrow. Briefly as he drew back, his fingers on both hands glowed, and when he let the arrow fly, a powerful gust of wind accompanied it. The arrow drilled straight through the tree he had fired at. Kurenai was speechless. She knew that Mosu made incredible weapons, Asuma's trench knifes were masterpieces after all, but this bow was scary.

"You can fold the bow by pressing a button on the grip." When Naruto did just that, the string was sucked into one end of the bow while the other retracted down halfway to the handle until it revealed a curved blade that had apparently been hidden inside the bow from the very beginning. And after about a second, Naruto held a long curved dagger in his right hand. "And there you have a knife. It isn't as heavy as it should be but otherwise the bow would be heavier than it should. Extending it to a bow again also takes a bit longer unless you can speed the mechanism up with chakra." Hinata had by now come to focus on the truly amazing weapon she may soon use. Naruto placed the now-dagger onto the desk and reached for the last bow but hesitated. He shook his head and took the weird mess of metal anyways.

"Well, to be honest, I don't really know what this is supposed to do because I didn't make this one, but I'll give it a try." Naruto inspected the prototype and while he did that, Kurenai frowned. Did he just admit to constructing the other two bows? How in all seven blazes did someone like that not make it as a ninja? With a loud clack a long bow sprang forth in Naruto's hands. Along the grip ran two long blades which could obviously be taken of. Sure enough, Naruto took one of and looked at the space that had occupied it for a second before he looked at the handle of the dagger. Smirking, he let go of it, but before the dagger could fall to the ground, it was sucked back into it's original holding. With another button push, the arms retracted in under a second and left Naruto with the two sharp daggers connected at the handle. He twirled them a few times in his hand at amazing speed before extending it to a bow again. "Well, let's see what the rune does when I fire one...," he said more to himself than Hinata or Kurenai.

The arrow flew and as it impacted with the tree, it sliced it in half and left a deep slash in the rock behind it. Naruto blinked, retracted the bow again and placed it on the desk to the others. "Well, that had more power than I expected... So... H-Hinata? Would you like to try them as well..?"

And while Naruto struggled with himself to talk to Hinata and Hinata did likewise with him, Kurenai walked over to talk to Muso who was sharpening a few knifes. "You let him make the bows?"

Muso didn't look up from his work when he answered. "Yeah, he also makes Hayate's swords and most of the armor for the Anbu. That and the usual repairs. This is the first time he had do do something that specific but I think he did good. His mechanism react a bit slow, but I didn't show him how to circumvent that yet." He looked over at Naruto who showed Hinata the buttons on the grip of the shield. "Say, Kurenai... You knew who he was, right? How come the Hokage hasn't picked him up yet?"

She didn't answer immediately, looking at Naruto and Hinata. "The Hokage thinks he's dead."

Muso nearly dropped his whetstone. "What? His son got his knifes from him. Why didn't anyone tell him?"

"Not everyone agreed with how he was treated," Kurenai said. "Asuma told me about him a few months back. Lord Hokage may have passed laws to keep him from harm but they were simply ineffective. Those who knew had to keep their distance and those who cared... grieve still."

"Lady," Muso told her, "I came here a year or so after the whole mess with the nine tails and even without any prior information, I know when his birthday is, I see the whisker marks in his face, the damn seal on his stomach and I see how other people look at him and hear what they call him. I am well aware of what he is to this village, so I don't buy it when you tell me that the Hokage thinks he's dead." Kurenai didn't answer so Muso stood up. "I don't know what your Hokage is planning with him, but try to hurt him and you and everyone else with him will regret ever setting a foot in my forge." And with that, the Forge master returned into the forge. Kurenai followed some time later with a thoughtful frown.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I'm sorry that I disappeared so suddenly, but it just needed to... I was... tired of it all, I guess." Testing the bows, including arrows, was through with but neither Kurenai nor Muso were in sight. Naruto had since decided to at least talk to Hinata properly.

Hinata rapidly shook her head, long hair swishing through the air. "No! I-I shouldn't have overreacted like that! I'm sorry!" She bowed deep and Naruto got distinctively uncomfortable, so he pulled her up again on her shoulders.

"It's fine, really." They were silent for a minute and Naruto racked his brain for something to say to her. "Ehm... Oh, I might be a little late by now, but congrats on passing the test. I told you you could do it." He managed a small smile to her which she returned just as small. Hinata looked like she wanted to talk about that but bit her tongue. If anything had changed with Naruto over the years, it was that he finally paid attention. To people more so than ever.

"Hinata, it doesn't bother me to talk about it. I failed the test and I was told I had wasted my chances. Well, so I ended up here after I could no longer be a ninja or become Hokage and all that..." Still, he sighed with a somewhat wistful expression that didn't go unnoticed by Hinata.

In a bout of unrivaled self confidence, she took his hand. Her face reddened as she spoke. "I'm sure you could have been a great ninja, Naruto... I-I know that you couldn't make a clone but... that alone wouldn't make you a bad ninja, but I can see that you're also a great... well, I don't know what to call your profession. Smith? Armorer? Bowyer?"

Naruto had stared at the hand that held his when she spoke but he had managed to listen anyways. "Ah.. well, the old man is a Forge master and makes every kind of weapon and armor you can think of and I'm his apprentice so... Yeah I don't have a name for it either," Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Anyhow, how have you been doing since graduation?"

Naruto know that his question made her uncomfortable but before he could take it back she answered anyways. "I was sorted into team 8 with Kiba and Shino and with Kurenai as our sensei. A tracking team using my eyes, Kiba's sense of smell and Shino's bugs." She got a far way look when she continued. "We did D-rank missions for about a year before we were forced to go as backup on a C-rank mission with team 7. That's the team Sasuke and Sakura are on. We arrived and... they were already fighting on the bridge and... we- we were told to take away the client and hide him. I.. I killed that day for the first time...Nearly got myself killed along the way. I was sick for a week or so after and... and then... father and..."

"Hinata." Her name snapped her out of it and she looked at Naruto's blue eyes that were glued to hers. "It's okay, Hinata. I think I know what happened then, you don't need to talk about that." He gave her hand a squeeze and they continued to sit at the desk in silence.

Naruto wasn't stupid, not as stupid as he had been in the academy at least. He knew that Hinata was the heiress of her clan, that much he remembered. That, as far as he was informed, meant that she wouldn't wear a headband, so to show that she belonged to the main family. But Hinata was wearing a headband and Naruto could see the cloth of bandages beneath. So she had been sealed and thrown out, that much wasn't hard to guess, after all Kurenai had introduced her as her charge and said she had been evicted. His jaw clenched in anger but he wasn't about to snap with Hinata here. The girl took a shaky breath and continued to talk.

"After... after all that, I was taken in by Sensei and.. well, life continued. We got some escort missions, searching for missing people, retrieving information an informant had left behind, that kind of thing, nothing too dangerous. But I... can no longer train my f-... the techniques, sensei said we could try something else and because I'm not all that strong I wanted to do what I can to get stronger... And now I'm uh, here, yes..." Hinata released a breath she had been holding and let her head fall back as she looked at the by now orange tinted sky.

It was strange looking at Hinata like that. He hadn't really done it before and when he did, she would turn away from him as fast as possible, face bright red. Back then, she was that weird girl with these beautiful eyes and probably the only girl that was no running after Sasuke all day. He knew for a fact that she had followed him more than once when he set of to train but he never acknowledged it nor mentioned it to her. He just wasn't sure how to talk about it. And because he liked talking to her, he decided to talk about just that.

"You know... I still remember when you followed me after the academy when I snuck away to train." Hinata nearly jumped a foot into the air and made a sound that sounded like "meep!". It was cute really, so he continued. "I don't really know why you did that and I never asked you either because I wasn't sure what to say. You were the only one who was some kind of nice to me and you weren't running after Sasuke all day and I didn't want to freak you out by accusing you of something like that..." He laughed and shook his head. "You know, Hinata, maybe, just maybe, it's better this way, better that I didn't become a ninja. I'm not strong like you are, I couldn't do what you do." He looked her in the eye and her protest died i her throat. "I mean it. Maybe, just maybe, I could have become a ninja but in what way exactly would I have carried on? The Hokage needs to be strong, not only the strongest ninja but also a strong person, and that's not me. I didn't want to see that back then, I just wanted to be recognized as... well, as something else than what they hated me for. I have decided that I didn't need that anymore. I have gramps, I have my work and today I even met you again so that decision wasn't all bad, huh?"

She looked at him for a long time as she mulled over the words in her head. Finally she nodded and smiled. "Yeah, maybe not."

"See?" Naruto smiled back. "Still... I can't help but think what could have been.. You know, I think it you'd have been fun with you on my team!"

"Definitely!" Hinata said and smiled back.

Picking up the shield prototype, he snapped it into the bow. "Say," he began, "How long have you been doing archery?"

For some reason, she looked quite embarrassed. "Oh... not all that long, a bit over a month perhaps so I'm not all that good yet. I don't think I could have hit the targets like you did, Naruto..."

"Don't worry about that," he told her, "It's my job to make weapons and the old man told me, to make them perfect, I need to know how to use them. So it's safe to say that this wasn't the first time I used a bow. You know, I can help you train. With knifes too..." Now it was Naruto's turn to be embarrassed.

"I- I would ... like... that..." Hinata's voice was barely above a whisper but Naruto picked it up anyways and hopped of the desk.

"Great! That's great! I mean, ah, when would you like us to... meet up then?" he asked her, not managing to keep the smile of his face.

Hinata smiled too, albeit blushed even more so. "Sensei and me will return in three days to talk about finalizing our order. Well and actually deciding on what I should choose... And I think I would have time afterwards so..."

"In three days it is then!" Naruto hand a bounce in his step, Hinata had never seen before when he was still in the academy. "Come, let's talk to the old man! Have you already thought about what you want?"

Rendezvous

"He, hey calm down, lover boy!" The remark caught Naruto of guard and the hammer missed it's original target. The howl of pain was heard all through the outer district of Konoha followed by the bellowing laugh of Muso.

"You- I-...Shit!" Naruto hopped through the forge until he found the tub full of water and thrust his abused hand in. "Aw damn! I think I broke my damn hand!"

"Probably, lover boy. But we both know it'll heal in an hour or so," Muso said offhandedly and continued to fit a vest with armor plates.

"That doesn't make it hurt any less!" Naruto growled back and watched as the back off his left hand turned purple.

Muso reached over to a desk, grabbing for more plate pieces but found none. "Boy, aren't there any more plates?"

Naruto kicked open a chest and peered inside. His features grew quite solemn. "No, none left."

"Are the shelves empty?" the Forge master asked.

The blonde grit his teeth. "Yeah."

Muso stood up from his workplace. "Time to close shop, Naruto. We need to get supplies."

"Aye, on it." And without any fuss, the two of them shut down the storefront, both of them grabbed a rucksack and a pick axe, and locked the doors.

"Come on," Muso said, shouldering the pick axe.

"Yeah, minerals ain't gonna mine themselves," Naruto replied and fell into step behind the bigger man.

And for two days the forge was closed.

For two days no one saw the Forge master and his apprentice.

Hinata and Kurenai came by but only found a sign on the door reading "Out for supplies" and nothing more. Hinata was saddened not to be able to surprise Naruto with her earlier visit but thought nothing of it. When they returned, the other merchants in the street took a fearful step aside when they passed. Loaded with crates on their backs, stacked to over twice their height, they looked like soldiers returning from a war. Dirty, bloody and most likely wounded they were a fearful sight with their pick axes across their neck. Their load hit the ground in front of the forge hard enough to make the occupants of the weaver's store jump.

"You did well, Naruto," Muso told him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Stretching his sore back from carrying the crates he gave a humorless laugh. "I really wonder how you did that on your own before..."

"Was harder then, boy. Come one, lets wash up and open shop. Wouldn't want you to miss your rendezvous." Muso laughed when the shadows vanished out of his apprentice's face and were replaced by a blush.

"It's not- I help her with her archery!" he shouted loudly, the pain in his shoulders and the blood on his hands already forgotten. And Muso was glad that Naruto was strong enough to do that. He told him what he needed to do to get the metal they needed to forge and Naruto had accepted that.

The stream was cool but that didn't matter to Naruto. Ripping of his dirty clothes, he jumped right in. At least he left his boxers on this time. Muso could swear that the lady from the sawmill at the other side of the stream still looked at him like he had done something wrong since she saw Naruto running nude through the field and into the water one day. The old lady really ought to mind her own business which, mind you, wasn't going all that well.

Naruto always stayed longer in the water than necessary, so Muso was the first one back inside. They had stowed away the goods and Muso was opening the windows and the door when Kurenai, dragged by Hinata, stood before him. "Ah yes! Come inside, come! Some have been all too eagerly awaiting your visit! Naruto's out back so feel free to go see him." And while he had addressed both of them, Hinata nodded enthusiastically before turning red, offering a meek apology and left through the door that led into the field behind the forge.

Lighting a lamp on a desk further away from the heat of the oven, the Forge master offered Kurenai a seat. "Hinata is a lot livelier than she was before. Meeting him really helped her."

"It did?" Muso asked though the answer was obvious.

"Yes, very," Kurenai told him. "She confessed one day that it was him who had made her hope, urged her to push herself beyond. When he vanished as soon as she graduated, well, she took quite the hit. But she told me she'd stay strong and push on because it's what Naruto would have done."

Muso frowned ever so slightly but caught himself before Kurenai noticed. "Well, we have changed the bow a bit. If she likes that one, we'll make it with the good materials and the oricalcum of course." A loud scream was heard from outside and Kurenai immediately jumped up but Muso held her back. "Calm down, it's nothing really. An... accident at worst."

"What? What is!?" Kurenai was genuinely worried now. With surprising force, Muso pulled her into the chair.

"Your charge may or may not have stumbled over my apprentice as he was bathing in the stream. No, you need not kill him, he's decent," he quickly added when a kunai appeared in Kurenai's hand. He sighed in relief when he put it away again but he could see that she was not pleased. Woah there Asuma, you better watch out for yourself... he thought to himself with a chuckle.

Outside, Naruto had submerged himself in the stream while Hinata had just frozen in place. It may have been her to scream but that had been the surprise. The shock was what froze her. The wounds on Naruto's body, she couldn't imagine were they would come from. Naruto used her shock and flew out of the water and crossed the distance from the stream to the house in a single, ungraceful leap. He managed to throw on a pair of pants before Hinata came inside.

"Ah... this is... well... I'm sorry?" Naruto had his back to her so she wouldn't see the seal. It always appeared when he was wounded, even if it was just a scratch. His most recent wounds were now only scraps that would be gone before the sun went down with the exception of the one stab wound on his back which was still bleeding from being freshly washed out. It had been rather deep but didn't hit anything vital in his lower back. With a deep frown that Naruto hadn't imagined possible for Hinata she walked up to him and made a few hand signs before letting her softly green glowing palm hover over the wound.

Naruto was absolutely still while Hinata healed him. When the feeling of her palm vanished, so did the seal on his stomach and he sighed in relief. "Thank you, Hinata... It would have healed anyways but... thank you."

Hinata meanwhile frowned, looking at her palm. She knew she had practiced medical jutsu bit a wound like that wasn't supposed to heal that fast and without a scar left behind. And didn't he have bruises and other little cuts just a minute ago? "How... How did that happen?" she asked and immediately apologized for it. "No, I'm sorry! I shouldn't... I'm sorry for being intrusive!"

Naruto turned around, shaking his head. "No, no you aren't!" he told her. "It's... it was an accident when we were... mining these past two days. You see, we can't buy the special metal we need, merchants don't trade it, so we have to go and get it ourselves and the mines in the north aren't exactly safe." He didn't mention that the roads were even more dangerous. "Anyhow, now that I'm patched up, want to start our uh..." Muso's remark about his 'rendezvous' crept back into his head and he nearly said just that. Boy, that would have been embarrassing. "..our training?"

"Yes!" Hinata exclaimed enthusiastically only to turn bright red and say, "Yes... I'd like that..." It made him smile and he nearly forgot that he was still shirtless. A chill ran down his spine and when he looked back the the door to the forge, red eyes gave him a death stare, kunai glinting in the light of the fire. Faster than ever before Naruto was fully dressed, gloves for good measure and led Hinata outside. Kurenai was damn scary, he decided.

It seemed to Naruto that he had been a natural when it came to handling weapons, especially blades. He knew Hinata wasn't stupid or anything, but he picked up handling any weapon at a frightening speed, sucking it up like a sponge. Still, after they finished working with the bow, he asked Hinata to attack him with the katar of the kite -bow, as Naruto called it. She had long since decided to use the other bow, the one with the blade hidden inside, still it was good training. But she hesitated.

"Hinata, I'm not made out of glass you know, come on. Cut a man some slack!" He twirled a long straight dagger with double edge in his right, occasionally throwing it up into the air and catching it again without looking. "But you're not... I-" she said and hesitated still. He grit his teeth as an old hurt bubbled up and because she had the shield already strapped to her arm, Naruto moved first. And he moved fast. Hinata didn't manage to even raise her arm enough before the tip of the dagger was pointing at her throat.

"I know I'm not a ninja, Hinata. But that doesn't make me weak," he said in a dangerously low voice. He stepped back nearly as quick as he had approached and Hinata managed to nod before she took a ready stance.

She didn't stand a chance.

Naruto was fast, his blade in constant motions as he assaulted her crumbling defenses with more power than she believed Sakura to have in these earth shattering punches of hers. Finally, he slipped his foot in between legs and jerked it back, causing her to fall backwards. Still, with an impromptu cartwheel, she regained her footing and readied herself for another attack. But Naruto stood relaxed and so she followed his example.

"That was good," he told her, "To be honest, I didn't expect you to hold yourself that long. I'm really impressed." He smiled at her and Hinata's heart speed up even more than it had from the physical exertion. But shouldn't see be ashamed? She was a ninja, even though only a genin, and had lost to an artisan. Was she really that weak? No, no, no, no. She didn't allow herself to think like that. Naruto had been strong back then and he was strong now. He had told her he was impressed with her, and he wouldn't lie to her, he never did. She smiled brightly, so, so brightly that Naruto dropped his knife instead of catching it. The tip of the blade embedded itself between Naruto's toes but he didn't even notice the close call, so mesmerizing was her smile.

"You better close your mouth, else you'll catch a fly with it."

With an audible clack Naruto snapped his mouth shut and spun around to see Muso at the grinding stone grinning at him. Naruto wanted to say something but the grin on his master's face was different. It wasn't teasing, wasn't offensive but relayed genuine happiness for what he saw and that threw Naruto off track.

So instead, he bowed slightly to the man and said, "Yes, master." Muso's grin became even wider as he continued to sharpen some arrow heads.

"Okay, what about the payment?" Kurenai and Hinata sat inside the workshop at a desk, all three prototypes lay before them.

"It depends," Muso said, smirking lightly, "Choose first, we will see to the rest afterwards."

Hinata nodded and pointed out the long boy with the long dagger hidden inside. Muso and Naruto still looked at her expectantly. "Uhm, I like this one the most," she offered, not sure what they wanted.

"Only this one?" Naruto asked her and Kurenai frowned at him.

"There is no way we can come up with the money for two master crafted weapons, even less so three," she said.

"Miss," Muso said," We have no need for the money." Kurenai blinked in confusion so Muso continued. "You have brought us a limp of oricalcum. Do you even know just how rare that metal is? What you brought us would justify you taking all three of these and we'd guarantee you a life time supply for special arrows."

Hinata looked stricken. "But I can't carry three bows... and I couldn't accept..."

Naruto smiled at her and instantly both of them turned red. Coughing, he resumed what he wanted to say. "Yes, uhm... you could take the kite-bow and the one you wanted. That and all of these arrows I have yet to finish. That's easy to carry and you'd be more versatile."

Smiling gratefully she was about to reply when Muso jumped up. "You mean to tell me they aren't finished yet? What about the armors? Hayate's blade?"

Following his master, Naruto jumped up as well. "And what about the Hokage's helmet? The enchanted trench knifes? The scythes this one girl asked for? Or even this weird great sword we both have to lift cause it's too damn heavy?"

"If you would just finish these damn armor plates, I could-"

"And if you would stop hardening that damn helmet all day I could have long since-"

"Well excuse me, apprentice of mine! Quality takes time!"

"That's exactly what I thought too!"

Kurenai and Hinata glanced at each other before bursting out laughing.

"Whats so funny?" both man asked at the same time before they also started to laugh.

Muso wiped a tear away from his green eyes. "Seriously though, go finish the armors." Naruto instantly stopped laughing.

Chunin Exams

Naruto didn't like the forest of death, the named seemed to be program, but since he would get to see Hinata once she would arrive at the tower, it may be worth it. He was their to repair and supply all the other ninjas participating in the exams and also to perform maintenance on special weapons, such as Hinata's bows or Tenten's... well, most of the stuff Tenten carried. And while he was still somewhat anxious to see all of those who had graduated when he hadn't, Naruto told himself that he would have come across them anyways at some pint in the future, so he decided to get over with it. That and nothing could have kept him from cheering on Hinata. Not that he told that anyone.

He was in a room close to the arena so the participants could have their weapons repaired or replaced if needed. Who knew what would happen in the forest after all? Forcing down the worries for Hinata, he left the work shop and walked down the halls towards the entrance of the tower. Many others also stood there, waiting for someone to arrive. One of them was Kurenai and a man who had the same hairstyle as the anbu with the dog mask that always came to pick up the armors. Always two hours late.

Anyhow, Naruto stood besides Kurenai, who looked very nervous for once.

Hinata wasn't here yet. Naruto sighed loud enough for Kurenai to notice him.

"Ah, Naruto. You're here already! I suppose you're all set up then?"

He nodded in response. "Have any others arrived already?"

A small frown found its way into Kurenai's features. "Yes, but no team from Konoha yet."

"I see." Afraid he'd worry even more, Naruto returned to the small workshop.

Once he turned into the hallway, Naruto nearly crashed into a ninja clad in a black velvet jumpsuit and wrapped shape as big as the teen himself on his back. Mumbling an apology, Naruto passed by without waiting for a response. The blonde girl with the big fan on her back, that stood behind the other ninja, seized him up and apparently decided that he wasn't worth talking to. But the boy with the blood red hair and the gourd on his back didn't seem to feel like letting him pass.

"You," he said, his voice flat and cold, "Mother wants your blood."

Naruto frowned. The presence of this boy made his stomach twist, he could feel the seal burning on his skin. Whoever that was, he was bad news. According to the headband of jumpsuit-boy, he also was a ninja from Suna. They traded fine steel and rare gems, Muso and Naruto often went out of their way to find a merchant that sold them.

"Unless you have weapons that need be taken care of, I have nothing else to give you." Deeming his words were enough, Naruto brushed past the red head. Intending to enter the room at the end of the hallway, were his current workshop was, he kept walking despite the feeling of a pair of eyes burning a hole into the back of his skull. The farther away from the boy he got, the less he could feel the damn seal, so Naruto increased his pace.

"I will have your blood! Mother will have it!" the boy shouted but made no attempt to follow him and the three Suna nin kept walking down the hallway.

Inside of his workshop, he found a familiar face, well, what he could see of it anyways. The guy who had waited in the entrance hall with Kurenai stood at the counter, nose buried in a book, one eye and lower face hidden behind headband and mask. Wondering how he got in her so fast but then chalking it up to ninja stuff, Naruto took a seat behind the counter and waited for the man to say something. But the man said nothing. After while, Naruto sighed. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Without looking up from the book he answered, "No. I'm quite fine," and continued reading.

Naruto nearly gaped at him. What the hell was this guy doing here? Before he could shout at the man to bugger off, the door opened. A girl Naruto knew, Tenten, strode inside, her clothes having seen better days and the twin buns on her head never were messier. Without a word of greeting she walked up to him and slammed several scrolls onto the counter.

"Repair, please!"

Naruto smirked. She had always placed her weapons higher on her priority list than most other things. "Sure Tenten. But you do need to unseal them. Can't do that, I'm an artisan not a ninja." Naruto noticed them silver haired man twitch but ignored it. While Naruto could very well unseal them on his own, it was somewhat illegal for civilians to be able to use combat related scrolls. Even if it were just storage scrolls.

She huffed and swiped several scrolls open, unsealing a myriad of weapons onto the counter. The wood groaned under the weight of a good dozen of heavy steel weapons and Naruto had jumped back in order not to be run through by a stray blade. "There, now please?" Tenten gave him puppy eyes and let her lips tremble.

Lifting the remains of what once must have been a scythe, he raised an eyebrow at the melted blade. "What did you do out there with all these weapons?"

Tenten crossed her arms before he chest. "Well excuse me but someone had to kill the acid leech!"

"Ah," was all the response Naruto made. Thinking about all the seriously deadly stuff out in the forest made him worry even more about Hinata. Shaking his head, he went to work, hoping to forget his worries.

He didn't notice when Tenten left, so engrossed he was, repairing the good dozen of weapons. But it didn't have the desired effect on him. His mind circled around the singular fear that something would happen to Hinata. Naruto knew that they had about two or three days to reach the tower and the first day wasn't even halfway over yet, but that didn't help his distressed mind. He knew that people died in these exams. The thought made him shudder.

The first day ended without Hinata arriving, and Naruto found himself unable to sleep that night. After tossing and turning for about and hour, he had enough and sneaked though the hallways of the quarters towards the mess hall. He was only mildly surprised to find Kurenai there as well.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked before he even walked into her field of vision.

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose you couldn't either, ya know..." Naruto frowned. When did the verbal tic return?

Kurenai shook her head. "No, not at all." She sighed and dropped the chopsticks back onto the tablet. "I have faith in them, I really do, and after Hinata got as good as she is now with your weapons I'm a hundred percent certain they can make it but..."

"That doesn't make the waiting any easier, does it?" Naruto said, sitting down besides her. Kurenai could hum in agreement.

The second day was very uneventful until Kakashi briskly walked past Naruto in the direction of the entrance. After he had stood inside the workshop for an hour, Naruto got annoyed and demanded his name, which he actually gave him. Curious and not having anything better to do, he followed the ninja.

Two familiar and dirty faces greeted him there.

The weird black mop of hair upon the boys head clearly indicated him as one Sasuke Uchiha, who looked like hell, clutching his neck with on hand just above the shoulder. The pink hair and overly loud voice identified the girl as Sakura Haruno, whose arms were covered in bandages as she limped behind Sasuke. The third member of the team, Naruto didn't recognize and he didn't bother taking a closer look at the brown haired boy. He saw Kakashi talking with Sasuke, looking at something at the boys neck before his head snapped into his direction, a thoughtful look on his face. He strode over to him, dragging Sasuke after him.

"Naruto, I need you to seal something for me," Kakashi said.

The boy blinked. How could he know about that? He and Muso didn't really keep it a secret but they also didn't broadcast it. That meant that, either Kakashi knew someone who owned a weapon of the forge master or he had one himself.

"Seal what?" he asked eventually. It wouldn't do a civilian any good to lie to a ninja. That too was an offense in Konoha.

With a head motion, he beckoned Naruto to follow him. Shrugging, he followed Kakashi and Sasuke, who still seemed very much out of it. They arrived in a big circular room with a circle of seals in the middle. From what Naruto could see they acted as a suppressor for whatever you intended to seal and amplified the seal used. Kakashi pushed Sasuke into the circle were he heavily sat down. The jonin motioned for Naruto to come closer.

"This," he said, pointing at the seal on Sasuke's neck," is a curse mark. It floods the body with foreign chakra, nature chakra, whenever they get agitated to a certain degree. It also messes with you mind. Therefore I need you to seal it."

Naruto studied the small black seal for a moment before looking back at Kakashi. "You want him to keep that? I could just remove it, ya know?"

The silver haired man gaped at him, it even was visible though the mask. "You... you can remove that?" he questioned.

Naruto shrugged and reached into his gray jacket. He pulled a circular piece of metal out, about as big as his palm and resembled a big metal stamp, and a long metal pin that could be mistaken for a pencil. Kakashi watched as Naruto engraved the metal piece with symbols that he wasn't familiar with. They were incredibly tiny and together they formed one big symbol. It vaguely resembled 'freedom' but then again, it seemed to be a different language all together and could mean just about anything.

Apparently, Naruto was finished. He placed a hand above the symbol and hummed lowly and melodically albeit tunelessly. His hand glowed ever so slightly, Kakashi had nearly missed it, and without further ado, he slammed the metal piece like a stamp into Sasuke's exposed neck. The boy yelped in surprise, the yelp turned into a scream of pain as the metal burned into his skin. It was over after about one second, leaving Sasuke panting on his hands and knees but the curse mark was gone, only smooth skin was left behind.

"What... was that?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Again, Naruto shrugged. "Trade secret." With that, he moved to leave the room, but halted in the doorway.

He may have really messed up there. While Muso never hid that he used advanced seals in his craft, he did hide the fact that he used runes, the ancient symbols that had long since been forgotten. Muso had brought them along from his home far to the north. A family heirloom, he had told Naruto. It wasn't as if he couldn't have removed the mark with regular seals, but it may have killed Sasuke, and he really didn't want the village elders on his case.

"I ask you to tell anybody who asked that I used a complex 78 letter seal to undo the mark. Please."

Kakashi was silent for a while and looked at the unconscious Sasuke. "I will," he said and picked up his student. He left without glancing back, as if Naruto had never been there in the first place. The blonde sighed and returned to his workshop.

Naruto met Sasuke and his team later that day in the mess hall. Because there weren't anymore tables free, Naruto sat down in front of Sasuke. His eyes widened slightly, he had recognized him, but he didn't do anything but give a curt nod which Naruto returned. Their strange understanding still seemed to exist.

"Oh my god! Naruto!" Naruto winced, Sakura was as loud as ever.

"Yeah, hi there," he said lamely and continued eating his meal.

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted at him. Naruto sighed. She didn't change at all, it seemed but Naruto wouldn't judge by first impressions. After all, she had made it through the forest.

Putting down his chopsticks, he said, "I am here as arms mender and artisan. I repair your weapons and supply you with kunai, basic clothes and stuff." To tell the truth, he did not want to talk to the girl, but he couldn't exactly run away at the sight of her. Or could he? Wasn't there a seal that...?

"You- you have a job!?" The very thought seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

He rolled his eyes, kami above why was she here? "Yes," he simply said. There just had to be a rune for...

"No! I mean-.. We thought you were dead or something!" she amended quickly.

He continued to eat, avoiding to look at her. "Well, I'm not. Surprise." Naruto thought he had caught Sasuke smirk as Sakura fumed at him, albeit quietly.

Dinner continued and just before Naruto made to stand up, Sasuke spoke up. "You mend weapons, right?" Quickly overcoming his initial shock, he nodded. Sasuke continued, "Can you fix my windmill shurikens then? I broke quite a few."

Naruto grinned. "Sure, Sasuke." He had intentionally forgone calling him 'teme", he thought himself too old for dumb nicknames.

Standing as well, the Uchiha said, "Lead the way, Naruto," and the two boys left both Sakura and the still nameless third guy behind.

"You have changed," Sasuke remarked as they walked down the hallways, "aside from the lack of orange."

Naruto nearly tripped. "Did you just crack joke? Hell, you changed even more so!" Sasuke just harrumphed in response.

"Well, maybe not," Naruto chuckled.

They entered the workshop and Naruto found familiar sight. "Kami above! Leave you kami damned maniac! What is your problem?!"

Kakashi didn't react, instead, he just flipped a page in his book. Naruto bristled, but moved past him and behind the counter were he sat down heavily.

Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. "Well, lemme see your shuriken. I if they can't be repaired, I can replace them, ya know."

The shurikens were in a right state. Blunted, cracked and some parts were even corroded to some degree. One of them even had teeth marks, as if a snaked had bitten down on it. Hard. The marks nearly went through the solid steel.

"Hate to say, but you'd be better off with a new set, Sasuke. What did you throw these at?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shuddered. "Snake," he stated flatly, the Uchiha didn't want to talk about the encounter with Orochimaru.

Naruto raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Instead, he walked over to one of the many tall cupboards that stood against the wall behind the counter. He opened the tallest of them and Sasuke got a look at many, oh so many throwing weapons stored away inside. Intentionally or not, while Naruto rummaged through his stock he threw some of the weapons aside, or more accurately, at Kakashi. The man avoided everything without moving from his spot but his eyes, and Sasuke's, widened when a huge ass spear with a blade as big as Sasuke's torso soared towards him. Using the substitution jutsu, Kakashi switched places with a big tower shield that had leaned against a wall. The metal shield lit up like a street light as the spear sent millions of volt through it and was driven into the stolid stone wall. Kakashi gawked at the hole in the wall and the spear sticking out of it.

"Here you go," Naruto said as if nothing had ever happened and handed Sasuke a wooden crate.

"Thanks... I guess," Sasuke told him as he too looked at the spear in the wall.

"Now, do you mind taking your sensei with you? I can't have too many holes in my walls and with him here I can't make any promises." Naruto sauntered over to the weapon and gave it a sharp tug, ripping it out of the stone.

"What in the wold is this spear?" Sasuke asked as Naruto stowed the weapon away.

"Oh, yeah, that's not a spear but a glaive, to be exact. The biggest one I made. About half a year ago? Hmm... well, the thunder rune surely lasted..." Naruto was by now talking to himself as he inspected the weapon.

"You mean... you made this?" Sasuke asked in a carefully neutral tone.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, I did. Just because I didn't make it as ninja, doesn't mean I can't do anything else. The old man took me in and taught me all there was to know and he isn't even finished yet."

Sasuke ignored the bitter remark. "Old man?"

"Yeah, Muso, the artisan out in the-," Naruto was cut of by Sasuke dropping the crate. "Hey, they may not break from that but don't drop 'em like that."

Sasuke picked the crate back up before looking intensely at Naruto. "You... were taught by Muso, the forge master?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto closed the cupboard and sat down behind the counter again. "Yeah, sure. What's with that?"

Sasuke shook his head. He would need to let that sink. "No, nothing, thanks for the replacement." He left with a thoughtful expression.

Kakashi wasn't surprised, after all, he had been the first to see Naruto after he vanished from his apartment when he picked up the armored vests for anbu. What did surprise him was the skill Naruto had in handling these weapons. If the throws had been stronger, he would have been a pincushion before long. The accuracy was deadly and the power behind the thrown glaive had been immense. Not for the first time the silver haired ninja had to wonder just why Naruto wasn't allowed to become a ninja. Something wasn't right. Kakashi left, intending to get some answers from the Hokage.

On the third day team 8 finally arrived. Battered and bruised they hobbled inside the tower where they were greeted by Kurenai and instructed to rest and get their gear repaired by the artisan in the tower.

Never in all her live Hinata had been happier to take a long hot bath. She soaked in the water for hours, scrubbing of the grime and blood the forest had left her with. Stepping outside of the small bathroom into the equally small one-bed room she sorted through her clothes. She would need to replace them all, the armor padding took quite the hit and while Hinata wasn't really hurt beyond a bruise on her back, the armoring was through with, burned by a lightning strike. Kurenai had told them about an artisan that was here to mend and replace weapons and he would also have clothing available if needed. Yeah, her bows needed repairing, the shield took a huge hit and Hinata wasn't sure if the fireball it took had damaged anything too badly. It wouldn't do her well if she couldn't use it in the third part of the exam. She decided to find him after dinner. Hopefully, the artisan could repair her weapons, they were her most precious possession.

Naruto was going spare. He didn't find Kurenai anywhere and neither had he seen Kiba or Shino or any indication that Hinata was here. Kakashi would have known but he actually was with his team for once, but he didn't know that. Naruto was also unaware of the fact that team 8 was fast asleep in their rooms, rooms he was unable to enter for they were restricted to ninja and the medical personal. But as it had to happen some day, he came across the third Hokage, someone Naruto had thought he wouldn't ever see again, which was a very stupid thought, because the Hokage had invited him personally.

"Naruto." The older man's voice sent a lot of vivid memories of past encounters through Naruto's head. How he always told him of his dream and how he encouraged him in it. He was about to spin around and snap at the man, yell at him, asking him why he spoke to him only now, years after he had vanished. But the snarl faded from Naruto's lips when he saw just how old the man had become. Hiruzen was far from young, really, and even tough he had called him old man, Naruto did so as affectionate gesture. But now, the Hokage looked truly old. The wrinkles seemed to be permanently carved into his skin, the rings underneath his eyes were near black and his beard had whitened out completely. Aside from that, he seemed to slouch, dragging his feet heavily across the floor. Naruto swallowed his insults as he was reminded of just how hard the job of the Hokage was.

So he inclined his head, if only just barely. "Lord Hokage," he said, unable to meet the mans tired eyes. Hiruzen sighed and refrained from coming closer.

"I see you are doing good," the Hokage told him.

Naruto nodded. "I am fine, yes." The boy remained silent, unwilling to talk with his eyes anywhere but at Hiruzen.

The Hokage sighed again. He hadn't imagined meeting Naruto again as anything easy but this was just straight out awkward. Now he actually hoped for the boy to scream and shout at him as long as he would talk to him. Oh how he had failed him. He shook his head. Now his life was better, hopefully for quite some time before his burdens would drag him back down, back to him.

"Very well. I thank you for your work on behalf of this village." He swallowed thickly. "Fare well, Naruto."

He watched the Hokage walk away, his posture even worse than before, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. The Hokage could have done something, could have tested Naruto himself, could have allowed him another year in the academy but he didn't. He never even came to talk to him. It was an old wound, a wound Naruto had thought healed, but apparently, the fact that he had to give up on his dream, on his live as a ninja, still hurt deeply.

He stood there for a while, unable to really move away, before he shook his head and reminded himself of his job. Still deep in thought Naruto headed back to the workshop. As usual, Kakashi was there now, wherever he may have been before, standing before the fixed wall, reading his pervert book, letting of the occasional giggle. Grimacing and trowing his spare hammer at the man, Naruto sat down and waited. The newly arrived ninja would soon seek him out to repair their gear. Sadly, Naruto was only allowed to sell them standard weapons and armor, so not exactly the stuff he and Muso usually made. The glaive he had with him because... well, because he wanted to show it off. Anyhow, he needed work to take his mind of his encounter with the Hokage and more so of his worries over Hinata.

Naruto heard the door open and, not looking up from the material ledger, shouted, "Welcome, what can I do for-"

He was cut short when a mop of black hair shot over the counter right into his side. With a strangled yelp he hit the ground with the new weight atop him. He blinked in surprise and turned to face one teary faced Hinata. He didn't really get a chance to speak, she squeezed the living daylight right out of his lungs. He squirmed in her grasp until she loosened it just a bit.

"Hey there," he wheezed, "I was looking for you this morning! How come I didn't see you at dinner?" He frowned when she didn't smile back, she looked tired, not bodily but more in mind. How much he hated this forest right now!

Hinata seemed to snap out of it, pushing herself up into as sitting position on Naruto's stomach and blushed. The teen was relieved to see that she wasn't that much out of it. "I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered and scrambled of his person, "I was just..." Hinata suppressed the need to frown. Just needed to see him? Just needed some comfort after all the fighting and killing? She needed to cry her life out in his shoulder more likely. But she wouldn't, she didn't want to be weak. So she hopped to her feet, still struggling for words.

Naruto chuckled as he pushed himself of the floor. He was somewhat pleased that Kakashi had vacated the room as soon as Hinata entered. Maybe the man was actually decent? "Congrats, Hinata, on making it," he said, but Hinata didn't look all that happy.

"You know," he began, sitting down again and offering her a chair as well, "I talked to a lot of people here, all of them ninja. All of them knew what they were in for. All of them knew what this was about, even singed a waiver so they alone are to blame for what happens to them." Hinata looked at him but reacted little to what he said. "The thing is, whatever you had to do in that forest, Hinata, no one could blame you for it, no one would have the right, for they probably did things way worse than you. And whatever you did, I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't judge you by that." That seemed to have gotten her attention. "You are a ninja, and pretty soon chunin, so you didn't do anything wrong. It's... just your job. I... know how that feels..." Oh damn, he had blabbed there!

Hinata looked relieved, but thoughtful. Hopefully, she wasn't thinking about what he had said at the end.

Then she smiled. "Thank you, Naruto," she told him sincerely and it made his heart leap in circles. Remembering what she had come here for in the first place, she took her weapons of her person, careful not to damage them an her jacket.

"Ah!" Naruto exclaimed and hopped of his chair. He took the shield and unfolded it. He aimed at the door just as it opened. "Oh for the love of-! Why are you here?!" he shouted at Kakashi. The man shrugged and continued to read. Naruto's eyebrow twitched violently and he reached back to grab an arrow.

He had added an acceleration seal to the shield-bow before Hinata got the finished product so Kakashi never saw it coming. His book was ripped from his hand and shredded into a million pieces. The man frowned at his empty hand before he looked at Naruto with a look that said "Really?" before he simply produced an exact copy of the book that was just destroyed. Naruto's face hit the wooden counter with an audible thud! before he started mending Hinata's bow.

It wasn't all that damaged, really, but it would do good to clean and readjust some things. The dent in the shield made him frown though. It had affected the blade inside so that definitely needed to be fixed. While he tinkered with the weapon, Hinata sat there and watched him. At some point, she handed him her second bow and watched him fix the chip in one of the dagger blades. She really liked to watch Naruto work. He was so focused, yet relaxed, totally at ease.

She was snapped out of it when the door swung open and another kunoichi entered the workshop. Her clothes looked relatively unaffected but her hair was a mess she had somehow managed to capture in a total of four ponytails. The big fan on her back looked like it had taken the biggest hits, singed as it was, and the sour look on her face indicated a really bad time in the forest. But hadn't Naruto seen her before? With the angry red head?

"You're the artisan?" she asked and Naruto nodded. The girl slammed her huge fan down onto the counter. "Can you mend this?"

Shrugging, Naruto looked it over. Did she hold it into a fire? There were several holes in the fan, rendering it nearly useless. He noted the chakra threads laced into the fan, specifically around the three violet circles on it. He studied it for some time more before he understood how it worked.

"You want me to just mend it or restore the lost chakra threading as well?" The question seemed to have caught her off guard. She really hadn't expected Naruto to be able to do that. Hinata told the girl, who introduced herself as Temari, that she was fine with waiting, so Naruto should go ahead and fix the fan first.

Temari was amazed by how fast and how accurately the needle moved in the artisans hand. He connected the served chakra threads and restored it to the exact same quality it had been before. After Naruto was finished, Temari was unable to tell where the holes had been exactly. Thanking him numbly, she left with her weapon.

"And here I thought she would be way more unpleasant," Naruto sighed and returned to working on Hinata's weapons.

Hinata's eyebrow twitched, not that anyone noticed, and she inched closer to Naruto. "You... know her?" she asked.

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when Hinata's voice was so close all of sudden. Taking a calming breath he answered, "Well, I passed by her team and the one with the red hair demanded my blood, so you could say I have seen her before but I don't really know her past the fan."

Nodding to herself and wondering were exactly the jealousy had come from, Hinata retreated to her previous seat. After a while, Naruto, who had been working silently, spoke up.

"Say... wanna grab a bite? I mean... later?" he asked, not looking at her.

The moment may have turned semi romantic for teenagers had Kakashi not giggled like a school girl just then. Naruto nearly blew a gasket. He threw hammer and anvil at the man who, still giggling like some maniac, vacated the room, avoiding the projectiles. Breathing heavily, Naruto retrieved the tools, set them back in place and slapped a poster that read "Hang in there!" over the hole in the wall before sitting back down. After another second or so, he turned to Hinata again.

"So?" he asked and Hinata found herself blinking, then blushing and then nodding rapidly with a meek "Hai!" that got lost inbetween her rapid head movements.

"That's great!" Naruto shouted before looking sheepishly at her, clearing his throat. "Yeah, great... so, when are you gonna be at the mess hall?"

Safe to say, Hinata skipped the halls with a spring in her step. She had nearly tripped on the way out and nearly left her gear behind, not to mention she had nearly forgotten to buy some standard ninja attire. It was a simple gray hoodie, which looked like Naruto's by coincidence, and standard navy blue pants with sandals. Naruto told her he would have gotten her padded armor but he wasn't allowed to sell give away specialized gear. He had tried to mend Hinata's old clothes but the armoring was truly ruined and Naruto spent half an hour trying to find out who had done that. When sh eventually admitted that he was dead, he didn't react at all, said he shouldn't have messed with her then. For some reason, she felt better because of that.

Somehow, the matches had been disappointing. Sasuke just rolled over that one guy and Sakura just punched Ino once and it was over. Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his head. After a delightful if slightly awkward dinner, Naruto had managed to track down Kurenai and got permission to be at the stands for the preliminaries. And now, he waited for Hinata's turn all the while glaring daggers at the other Hyuuga in the arena. Neji Hyuuga was, according to Hinata, her cousin and did not like her one bit, loathed her even. He seemed hell bent on ridiculing her every time he got the chance. He made Naruto's blood boil and he had to take 23 deep breaths before he stopped thinking about shoving every arrow he had made for Hinata up Neji's arse.

When Naruto wasn't glaring at Neji or admiring Hinata, he tried not to squirm under the glare he got from across the arena. The red head from Suna did nothing but try and burn a hole into Naruto with his gaze alone. He was startled when Kurnai gasped besides him.

Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji

Ah, the irony.

"Show him, Hinata!" he shouted down to her. She returned a weak smile and he could see her clenching the bowstring above her chest.

Hayate, the proctor of the exams, stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Hinata to get ready while Neji already stood on his other side, sneering at Hinata with disdain.

"Ready?" Hayate called out and Hinata readied the shield on her arm, falling into a stance not unlike Neji's but her feet weren't as stiffly positioned as his and her arms she held lower than he did. That seemed to make Neji even angrier. They both nodded at Hayate.

"Begin!"

Neji exploded from his position rushing straight at Hinata, one arm drawn back as wide as he could. It seemed to Naruto that he intended to end this with one clean hit.

But Hinata knew him too well to be surprised or even faced by the fact that he tried to kill her. Neji came to halt in fron of her but his palm shot forward at her chest. Hinata brought the shield up and caught the blow full force. She was lifted of the ground and flew backwards. While Neji smirked at his display of power he failed to notice that Hinata had let him force her away.

She unfolded her bow and suddenly, Neji didn't smirk anymore. He hadn't bothered to activate his Byakugan before but now it was absolutely necessary.

Hinata never touched the ground. From the quver at her side she had drawn an arrow with two sharp ends and held it horizontally beneath her feet whilst still in the air. The arrow exploded as soon as her chakra touched the little mechanism inside and a metal wire shot from each end, lodging itself into the walls of the arena. She stood on the wire and without missing a beat, she pulled more arrows out of the quiver. Naruto smirked when he saw what she intended to do.

The arrows with the cross shaped head started to rain down on Neji. The boy avoided every single one of them but Hinata had expected that.

"Is that all?" he shouted at her. "Pathetic! Come down here and fight!" He jumped only to be jerked back violently, as if he had hit an invisible wall. "What the-!" There was a thin cut across his chest, bleeding slightly.

"First blood," Naruto whispered.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he poured more chakra into his eyes. Then he gasped, looking around himself in disbelief.

The cross shaped arrow heads worked exactly like the arrow Hinata had used to stretch the wire she stood on. The moment the arrows hit the ground or were deflected by Neji they would send out wires so thin they weren't visible to the naked eye and even the Byakugan would have had difficulties spotting something so thin. Neji stood in the middle of a forest of wires, spanning around him, encircling him like the trees.

"Welcome to my forest of death, Neji," Hinata said with a confidence in her voice no one but Naruto and Kurenai ever got to hear. She folded the bow back to the shield and reverently pulled the long bow of her back, holding it before her. "Let's do this," she told her self, "No weakness!"

Neji didn't have the time to blink before and arrow pierced his upper left thigh, drilling into the solid stone beneath. He snarled, refusing to scream out in obvious pain. Instead, he dodged the next arrow and threw a kunai at Hinata who simply swayed to the left a little, not breaking her aim and released another arrow. Neji made to sidestep the arrow but ran into the wires. Cursing, he pressed his body into the sharp metal and the arrow only grazed his shoulder.

"That's enough!" he shouted and drew and arm back. "Eight Triagrams Air Palm!" Neji roared and released a blast of compressed air against Hinata.

The wires that had been in the way snapped or were ripped out of their holding place in the wall as Hinata was forced to jump sideways on her wire, which thankfully held fast. Neji followed the path of his technique and landed on the wire as well and engaged Hinata in close combat. She was at a disadvantage against him. Without the shield, she would have been done for.

Neji swiped her palm strike aside, sending chakra into her wrist as he did so. Hinata winced and jumped back. In under a second, her long bow had shrunken down to reveal the long dagger inside it. With dagger and shield, she managed to hold herself. Neji's wounded leg took his toll as he failed to preposition it fast enough on the fin wire and he slipped backwards. Instantly, Hinata's foor dug into his unguarded chest as she used him to catapult herself into the air, her long bow once again in hand. Neji's eye widened when she fired three arrows at once at him.

Twisting midair, he managed to avoid two of them but once lodged itself into his side. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground, rolling to lessen the impact but before he could stand straight again, lightning crackled though his body. Writhing in pain he swiped at the arrow in his side, dislodging it from his body along with a lot of blood.

He was breathing heavily, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Give up, Neji," he heard Hinata say from somewhere above him, "That was the non lethal version."

"NEVER!" he roared and suddenly disappeared from where he had stood. Hinata's eyes widened and she whirled around but it was too late already.

"Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!"

Hinata chocked on her scream as she was blown across the arena and hit the wall with crushing force, being driven hard inside it.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, nearly hopping over the railing, but Kurenai haled him back.

Neji dropped of the wire like a sack of stones, hitting the ground hard. Still, he pushed himself to his feet and sneered at Hinata's direction, his Byakuugan still active. He swung clumsily to the left, the arrow jut grazing his cheek.

Hinata dropped out of the hole in the wall onto her knees, breathing heavily. Never had she imagined Neji would use the body flicker technique or any technique that wasn't gentle first. Her insides had taken a brutal hit, the chakra he had driven inside her stomach had caused multiple internal bleeding and she as sure she had broken at least two ribs.

Shakily, she stood and approached Neji, who likewise limped towards her.

"Maybe... I have... misjudged your... strength," he wheezed, holding his side.

Hinata said nothing, only standing straighter as she dropped the long bow and extended the katar from the shield, readying herself.

"But...," he continued, "That doesn't... change... that you're in... range...!" Hinata's eyes widened and she started to move at the same moment Neji did.

"Eight Triagrams-!"

"Ninpo: Flower Shield!"

Neji exploded into motion, his palm shooting forward at unrivaled speed an hit-

He missed his target. His strike was stopped.

Hinata, while relying on her weapons, was not ignorant enough to lay all of her hopes into them. She had learned several jutsu, including water elemental jutsu and the dew medical ones she was able to use. But most importantly, she created three jutsu of her own making. One being the flower shield.

It was unnecessary for her to hold a shield to use the technique, but it certainly didn't do any harm. When using the flower shield, Hinata forced a mass of chakra out of her palm, just like a gentle first strike, but Hinata manipulated the expelled chakra to form a big, opaque shield before her. Because it was as big as she was, she could only maintain it for two seconds before she would feel a drain. But in this case, she needed to only block one hit before she followed with her second technique.

Neji's palm was painfully repelled against the round, petal shaped shield in front of him. He hadn't expected that at all, but then again, Hinata had barely used any chakra before now.

Hinata let her hand be driven back from the impact on her shield, which immediately dissolved. She spun on her heel and readied her dagger mid rotation.

"Ninpo: Thorns of the Rose!" Chakra coated the long dagger, the blood on Hinata's hand dissolved into it, staining the normally white technique red, as she slashed at Neji with all her might, aiming for his abdomen.

The technique would work with any blade she held or even just her hand, but the blade she had gotten from Naruto was inlaid with oricalcum, which greatly increased the strength of her attack. The name didn't originate from the slash, no, it was what would happen after the hit that earned the technique it's name. Should Hinata hit her target, no matter how shallow the cut, the chakra blade would immediately attach itself to the target and after Hinata formed a hand seal, the chakra would expand into the wound, piercing through the target, impaling it like a thorn.

But Neji had regained his bearings, shaking of the initial shock. Barely in time he managed to move his arm into the way of Hinata's strike. He jumped back but the cut was deep and he gasped in pain as he held the deep cut on his forearm. But Hinata wasn't about to let him go easily so she formed a simple hand seal before her face and at once, Neji screamed in pain as his arm, bone included was pierced by a spike of solid chakra.

Neji was at the verge of fainting, the blood loss had been enormous and he used a whole lot of chakra. His Byakugan deactivated on its on but he remained upright on his knees, clutching his ruined arm.

Coughing up blood, Hinata frowned as she swayed on her feet, struggling to remain standing.

Naruto was out of it. He wanted to go down there and deck that Neji guy so hard he wouldn't stand up ever again. But he simply continued to cheer on Hinata, she was strong enough to do it on her own, after all. "Go, Hinata! Take him out!" he shouted at her and she felt her heart swell in pride.

With a shaky breath she straightened, ignoring the pain, and walked forward, once again stowing her long bow away at her back. Out of her quiver she pulled the a poisonous arrow that would put Neji to sleep since she didn't want to kill him. She swayed slightly before his bleeding form. Hinata raised the arrow to stab it into his shoulder or arm, whatever she was capable of hitting.

But Neji wasn't finished yet. He whipped his good arm upwards, the palm facing Hinata, whose eyes widened and she moved to the side while raising her shield in fron of her. The arrow hit Neji's upper arm but he simply ignored it and shouted with all he had left: "Eight Triagrams Air Palm!"

The boys arm gave a sickening crack as the bone snapped from the backlash of the strike that barreled into Hinata's shield. With a muted scream, Hinata was thrown backwards, skidding along the floor until she hit the wall she had previously emerged from. The moment her body hit the wall, Neji hit the floor, unmoving and bleeding, the arrow still inside his upper arm.

Absolute silence hung in the arena while Hayate observed both downed contestant, waiting if one would rise again.

Naruto held his breath, stopped moving and stared at Hinata, willing her to rise, to win against this asshole of her cousin. Kurenai had chewed away the nails on both hands by now and Kiba, and even Shino, leaned over the railings waiting for Hinata to move.

Seconds trickled by and it seems as if they wouldn't attempt to stand again but the silence was broken by Hinata as she coughed lightly and rolled over onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. Hayate, deeming that enough, raised an arm in Hinata's direction.

"Winner, Hinata!"

A/M: There we go... 18k words. Not bad, if I dare say so myself. Feel free to tell me what you think, the story will continue a little past the chunin exams, invasion included. Maybe I'll even give you and Epilogue... We'll see. Actually... why not include Pain...?

Okay so, just so you can't argue about it, Naruto has an idea what his seal is about because he can read whats written on it, but he hasn't figured that one out yet, mainly because he loathes the thing and is pretty sure that the seal is why the villagers hate him, so he tries to ignore it.

I hope you like Mosu, he should gain some more extensive backstory by the next update. You'll also get some bromance with Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, if you don't like that, you won't. If you couldn't care less about Mosu's backstory, please, let me know. Otherwise I'd waste my time and we wouldn't want that, would we?