Chapter 1
Today was a special day for rookie ninja, Naruto Uzumaki. Kakashi Sensei had chosen him, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, to take part in the Chunin Exams.
He had already passed the written exam and the preliminaries, and he was anxious to move on to the next part. But in that short time span known as a few hours ago, Naruto realized something. Not everyone in the village had despised him. In fact, the one person he never really noticed was his friend the whole time. She even offered her paper to me to cheat off of. Naruto thought. At first I thought it was a dumb trick to get me kicked out, but I realized that there was no way Hinata would do that to anyone. Naruto continued to evaluate the day's events silently in his head. I can't believe I never really noticed her before. She was so weird, but now that I think about it, she's just really shy. Naruto had liked Sakura for a while now, but he was still naïve in the ways of love. There is no way I love Sakura. As much as I hate to admit it to myself, she's nothing but a lousy attempt at proving everyone wrong. Sakura is beautiful and all, but she's not as nice as Hinata. Believe it!
But then Naruto shook his head to clear it. "What am I thinking?! Not in love with Sakura? Of course I am! I could never go for someone as weird as Hinata, right? I mean, she's always so quiet…and…" Naruto fell back down on his bed. Aw, who am I kidding? Sakura treats me just as bad as Sasuke does! Everyone in the village treats me like I'm nothing, Except for Iruka Sensei and Kakashi Sensei, of course. Oh, and old man Hokage. And I suppose Konohamaru and his friends do too. But Hinata…she always looks at me weird, and talks all cute when I'm around. And her face turns red and all I do is ignore her. Hey wait a minute..."I'm a jerk!" Naruto shot up and put on his headband, ready to go find his problem and solve it."I've been too focused on Sakura to even notice Hinata! But Hinata has been so nice to me this whole time!" Naruto opened his window and jumped out into the night, being careful to avoid detection. I'm gonna let Hinata know that I finally understand her. Believe it!
And with that, Naruto dashed through the streets of the Hidden Leaf village. He saw a group of people up ahead, and decided to avoid them. But he spotted Shikamaru just in time and got a big grin on his face."I know, I'll ask lazy Shikamaru where Hinata lives!" So Naruto sped over to Shikamaru and pulled him into the shadows."What? Naruto!" Shikamaru pulled away from Naruto and put his hands in his pockets."What are you doing?!" Naruto just grinned. "Hey, Shikamaru, what's up? I was just wondering where Hinata lived, no big deal."
Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his head,"Hinata? She lives farther away from here. In the Hyuga estate. Why?"Shikamaru looked at Naruto like he was crazy."Uh…no reason. Catch ya later, Shikamaru!" Naruto dodged the question and disappeared into the night.
"What a drag. Naruto is so weird." Shikamaru just put his hands back in his pockets and went home, taking this opportunity to ditch the crowd. Meanwhile, Naruto was on top of a nearby building, searching the premise for Hinata. He squinted his eyes and put a hand to his forehead. "Where could she be?"Naruto wondered aloud. Surprisingly, he spotted her within five minutes, heading out of a store with an arm full of grocery bags. Now that he had seen her, he was a little more worried about what he would say to her. What do I say? Naruto wondered.
Being rash as usual, Naruto just went for it and jumped down to the street below. Not even bothering to be silent about his approach, Naruto went up to Hinata with a big grin on his face and said,"What's up, Hinata?"She jumped in surprise at suddenly seeing Naruto in front of her.
She instantly became red in the face and put her head down."Oh. Hello Naruto. What brings you here?"Hinata said in a really quiet voice, trying not to faint and ruin the whole moment.
"Oh, you know, I was just out training and I saw you walking home and I…uh…decided to help you carry your bags! Yeah, that's it, believe it!"Naruto finished with a triumphant grin and placed his hands behind his head. Hinata's eyes widened in surprise."Y-you want to help m-me?"She asked with a stutter."Uh… yeah! Let me take a few of those bags."Hinata handed them over to Naruto. Her hand grazed over his slightly, and she squeaked quietly, her blush becoming more visible. Naruto wasn't ignorant to his hand touching hers. In fact, he was blushing a little too.
I have got to get out of here! Naruto thought. She is making my blood boil and my stomach turn. What's happening to me? On the outside, Naruto was a statue. He was frozen by his contact with Hinata. It's just a hand! Hold on, maybe she's using her Hyuga powers on me! No… Hinata's not like that. Well, maybe I'm sick or something. Either way, I can't just leave her here to carry all these bags."Hinata, a-are you doing anything…l-later?"Naruto said with a blush.
Hinata nearly fainted. Is Naruto asking me out? She stared at him with her silver eyes. Her eyes were wide, but searching. And the blush on her and Naruto's cheeks, were in full bloom."Naruto…are you, asking me, out?"Hinata had no idea how she said that without stuttering, but she somehow got very bold all of a sudden. Well, bold for a girl like Hinata. "Um…well…I…uh…I…yeah, I guess I am…"He answered nervously. C'mon Naruto! Get it in gear! Hinata shifted her weight foot-to-foot, pressing her fingers together nervously.
"I'm not doing anything later…well, I don't think I am…"She said quietly. Naruto suddenly became very wise. In retrospect, he couldn't say how it happened. Maybe it was her timid and shy attitude, or the way she was so quiet when she talked. Or maybe it was how she showed her potential around him. The way she acted around him. Naruto was in awe."That's good news! After we drop off these bags, I'll take you for a night on the town! Just you and me."As high spirited as Naruto was, he was still nervous. And embarrassed that he was asking a girl out. And surprised that it wasn't Sakura. For the longest time, I thought Sakura was the one I liked. But just now, I realized that I was wrong. So with his new found discovery, Naruto hoisted the bags up onto one arm, and grabbed Hinata's hand with the other, and took off down the street.
