Title: Towards the Dawn
Story Type: A Naruto AU focused on Fuinjutsu!Naruto/Confident!Hinata
Estimated Rating: T or M
Main Pairing: Shamelessly NaruHina
Basic Summary: The world of Naruto is greatly affected by a much larger Civil War in the Land of Water. The influx of refugees to Konoha has a profound effect on many familiar characters. Many are changed in a major way, some fundamentally. Naruto is guided by the Hokage to be slightly more politically aware and to take up fuinjutsu as an outlet for his energies. Hinata manages to emulate the determination she admires in Naruto for herself, despite separation. What happens when destiny decrees that Naruto and Hinata's paths cross again?
Scene Placement: The following scenes are the actual opening of the story. My goal in the following bits is to show the changes in Naruto and Hinata's personalities. The divergences and direction of the fic will obviously be expanded if this is one of the two fics selected to be selected.
Explanation of this whole shebang: Alrighty, ladies, gentlemen, two-spirits, etc…the purpose of this selection of stories is to present options to my readership as to what will replace several fics that are dead (and up for adoption).
The fics that are no longer with us are: Bend in the River of Fate, Terminator: Origin, New Jedi Order: Shadow of Leviathan, Enclave: A Star Wars vs Star Trek Fanfiction, Forward the Windward, and sadly for many Harry Potter and the Embrace of Chaos. As previously mentioned, all of these fics are up for adoption. If you wish to discuss adopting them or using the basic concepts, feel free to PM me.
Now, for the basic idea…This 'fic' is really a selection of several story ideas. I ask that you read all of them, select two that you want to see become full stories and vote via reviews, the poll, or PM. The three highest vote getters will become full stories. Again, please remember, these scenes are most likely going to be very different from the final product. The primary goal is to help establish the tone and feel of the fic and whet your appetite. In order to simply 'set the table' and not give too much away, most samples will be between 1,800-2,700 words. The future chapters will likely be at least 4,000 words. So, all the samples are only a (decent-sized) fraction of the potential chapters.
In future chapters, there will be reminders/notes/etc in place of this big explanation.
Now, onto the first sample: Towards the Dawn
The sun rose over the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The citizens of the oldest and most storied of the Shinobi villages prided themselves on their discipline and spirit of community; their Will of Fire. However, sense of community was a human creation and as such, was flawed. The most obvious manifestations of this tragedy were Konoha's reaction to the wounds of the Kyūbi's attack. The Bijū's wrath had fallen upon the village without warning or reason. At least, this was the belief of the village at large. Their sense of community unified Konoha in mourning, even at the expense of a child.
Uzumaki Naruto was this child.
He walked amongst the villagers and was seemingly impervious to their apathy, their sneers of derision, and their cruel whispers. Naruto continued to walk towards his destination with a broad smile adorning his face. The aspiring ninja reached the building and threw open the door.
"Sorry, I'm late!"
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Hong, owner of one of Konoha's largest blacksmithing shops, emerged from the back room. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and pulled a scroll out of his interior jacket pocket.
"It's just re-introductions. I know how it'll go. The girls will go nuts over Sasuke. Shikamaru will sleep through it, Kiba will blab about Akamaru and I'll just be bored," Naruto scoffed as he pushed a bit of chakra into the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and a dozen storage scrolls appeared on top of the original scroll.
"Storage scrolls within storage scrolls?" Hong snorted.
"Try not to think about it too hard. Always gives me a headache," Naruto confided in the blacksmith.
"Eh, kid, how many people know you are good at fuinjutsu?" Hong asked as he checked the storage scrolls.
"Old Man Hokage, you and Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered. "Now, if my scrolls have passed your visual inspection…"
"Same quality as always," Hong said appreciatively. "I'll probably sell out by the end of the week. What with the Chuunin Exam coming up and all."
"So I've heard," Naruto said with a smile. "How many more will you need?"
Hong counted out a number of ryō notes. "As many as you can make," the blacksmith handed the bills over to Naruto.
"A pleasure doing business with you," Naruto said with a huge smile as he finished counting the bills. The blacksmith nodded and took the scrolls. Naruto didn't let his smile slip into a grimace until he was in sight of the Academy. The Academy wasn't the source of his annoyance. It was Hong. Naruto had seen the mark-ups the blacksmith had put on the scrolls Naruto produced. Hong was making a ridiculous profit on the scrolls.
'He could afford to give me a few more ryō per scroll,' Naruto thought in annoyance. However, all he could do was grin and bear it. Hong was the only customer he had found for his scrolls. Naruto had attempted to offer his services to several other shops, but had been refused entry. Naruto had taken the hint and searched elsewhere.
The outcast orphan pushed open the Academy doors and expected to get some kind of reaction for his forceful and late entry. Instead, there was a crowd hovering around the middle of room. Naruto always preferred to be the center of attention, so he made his way to the gaggle of his classmates. As he headed to the confrontation, he noticed that Iruka-sensei wasn't in the room.
'Probably why this is even happening,' Naruto observed as he jumped up on a nearby desk to get a good view of the action.
"What?" Naruto heard Sasuke ask.
"I said no. Is that so hard to understand, Sasuke-san?" a girl said rather firmly. That really got Naruto's attention. Naruto would have never expected a girl to turn down Sasuke.
Naruto chewed the inside of his lip as he tried to place the girl's voice. 'Ah, I think it's that Hyūga girl. I can't really remember her name, either Hikaru or Hinata. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the second one.'
Naruto wasn't really familiar with Hinata. She mostly kept to herself and was really quiet. Naruto had heard that she worked hard and he could respect her for that. That being said, she had never registered much to Naruto. Naruto had just never paid her the attention he did to Sakura. Though, Naruto admitted, it was probably because Hinata had been in one of the other classes until recently. There had been a number of 'weed outs' recently and the Academy had consolidated the three classes into one final class.
"What's going on?" Naruto whispered to Tobio.
"Sasuke just got rejected. I never thought I'd see the day," Naruto's classmate said quietly. Naruto snickered. This was going to get good.
"I don't understand. I asked you on a date," Sasuke said in a flat, disbelieving tone. "The other girls would be thrilled for the opportunity."
"Unlike the others, I refuse to be a prize. I am not content to be a decoration," Hinata spoke resolutely. Naruto was rolling with laughter. He wasn't going to regret coming to class today. Mizuki could talk about why egg prices in Suna matter to Konoha and Naruto wouldn't complain too loudly. The look on Sasuke's face was making it all worth it.
Naruto wiped a tear from his eye. "Sasuke…got burned by a girl. Oh man, this is great," Naruto cackled and bathed in the looks of annoyance and ire he was getting. He was the center of attention now. His existence was the one being confirmed. Sasuke and his fangirls shot Naruto a glare that could have caused a Bijū to quail, which caused Naruto to just erupt into a new batch of laughter. Naruto just cheekily bowed to the group before jumping off the desk.
'Oh man, that really made my day…made up for getting shafted by Hong again, even,' Naruto thought contently. 'I'm so glad I decided to come in today.'
Naruto looked to the back corner of the room and watched as Hinata sat down. The way she carried herself seemed odd to Naruto. Hinata had sounded really confident when she shot down Sasuke. However, as she sat down, Naruto noticed that she was clearly trying to calm down. 'Weird, it's almost like she didn't want to be the center of attention,' Naruto thought. He was about to head over and find out more details on Hinata's humiliation of Sasuke when Iruka and Mizuki reentered the classroom.
"Everyone to your seats!" Mizuki barked. Most of the class scurried to their seats. Sasuke, however, threw one last glare at Naruto before taking a seat.
"And thank you, Naruto, for finally deciding to join us," Iruka said in concerned exasperation.
"A man's gotta pay his bills," Naruto said with a shrug.
"Regardless, I hope you arrive on time for the rest of the term. Naruto, you cannot be tardy on the first day, it sets a bad tone for the rest of the term!" Iruka admonished.
Naruto shrugged again and took a seat in the middle of the classroom. He just hoped things stayed interesting. 'Oh well, if things get boring I can always work on some seals,' Naruto thought as Iruka launched into a congratulatory speech commending the class for surviving the latest round of cuts. 'Yeah, I'm going to be practicing seals, I just know it.'
Hinata had finally calmed down after the incident with the class. The attention of her peers was fully on Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei. She was confident in her abilities, but was still uncomfortable in large groups. Hinata was an introvert and had accepted that fact years ago. She was proud of the strides she had made since that fateful day when she was six.
'But is that really him?' Hinata asked herself. 'It had to have been, Iruka-sensei called him Naruto.'
Hinata still remembered that day like it was yesterday. She had been defeated by Hanabi in a spar. The defeat at the hands of her sister was not what crushed her, however. It was the look of utter disapproval from her father that caused Hinata to burst into tears. Hinata's shame and disappointment had driven her from the Hyūga Compound. She ran for what seemed like hours before running into a group of older Academy students. Hinata's carelessness had offended them greatly, and they dragged her into the woods. She had been humiliated and forced to grovel.
Then Naruto had arrived.
He was everything Hinata wasn't at that time. Naruto had spoken with conviction. Hinata could barely whisper to her own father. Naruto had stood up straight. Hinata shrank into herself. Naruto had dared the bullies to look him in the eyes. Hinata wished to simply disappear. The other boys had mentioned that the adults disapproved of Naruto. Instead of looking down, Naruto had smirked and restated his desire to be Hokage. Hinata was in awe of the fact that Naruto was supremely confident. He had started the fight and drawn first blood. Even when all three bullies had attacked him at once, Naruto hadn't given up. He had kicked and wrestled even as they held him down.
Hinata had also made her decision. She had resolved to help Naruto. Hinata leapt to her feet, but before she could step in, Kō arrived and the bullies fled from Hinata's Chuunin guardian. Naruto had taken one last blow to the head before the bullies had fled and was unconscious as Kō dragged Hinata away.
"Stop," Hinata whispered. She had blushed when she realized she had spoken out loud. That had been her first command. Sadly, by the time Hinata had convinced Kō to go back and help Naruto, the boy had either recovered on his own and left or someone had found him.
That day had changed Hinata. She had decided to find a shred of Naruto's determination within herself. It had been difficult at first, especially after the influx of refugees from Kirigakure. Many of the children had entered the Academy and Hinata's year had been split into three classes. Hinata and Naruto had been placed in different classes. After a few days, Hinata had begun to falter. She was slipping back into depression. One day, Hinata changed. It was a sudden and unexpected thing. She had been in a conversation with two branch members about the meal for a ceremony. Hinata had researched the guests and realized they had certain tastes and that the suggestions the servers were making would likely offend the visiting dignitaries. Normally, Hinata would have never spoken up. That day she had been moved to protect the clan, even if it was just from a wealthy merchant's peculiar pallet.
She still remembered the looks of shocked approval from the older women. Looking back, Hinata could not believe that had been the moment she had begun to assert herself. Her actions had even won the first sliver of approval from her demanding father.
Hinata had started taken small steps forward, and before long had realized she had made true progress. Most importantly, the growth had been driven by Hinata's desire for change. She may have had Naruto's example, but she alone had accomplished so much.
'I wonder if I'll get a chance to thank Naruto for being such an inspiration?' Hinata thought to herself.
Remember: Please read all the chapters before voting. There will be a number of others, and not all will be Naruto. Those chapters will be clearly labeled. Such as the next sample which is set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe.
