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"Naruto" – Speaking

'Naruto' – Thoughts

Naruto – Flashback

Naruto – Jutsu

Spiraling Comet of Konoha

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Previously on Spiraling Comet of Konoha,

"N-naruto-kun…" Hinata almost felt fear to see that Naruto had struck down his former teammates without any sight of remorse; even the one the blonde once had a crush on, even if she only got a few cuts compared to Sasuke. Just what will Naruto do to Hinata?

"Hinata-chan…" The said girl gasped almost silently to hear her crush say her own name with that kind of affection. "I know you are scared. And trust me, it is okay to be. Because fear is not evil, it helps one grows by helping them understand their weakness." Hinata couldn't say a word with Naruto practically inches from her own face. "And when you know your weakness then you will not only grow stronger but wiser and kinder. Fear is what makes us human and what makes us even better than before."

"N…n…Naruto-kun…" Hinata could only say with her body growing numb but this time from some kind of warmth. "I am afraid." She said without hesitation or stuttering this time. "I am afraid of what my future will be for my clan, for my father and for my little sister. And above all that, I am afraid for you Naruto-kun." Who would have thought that she stuttered when she didn't want to show weakness but it took doing the opposite to get Hinata to speak clearly?

"Good that you are willing to let your fear known Hinata-chan. I am going to make this idiot make up for a lifetime of ignoring your feelings. Believe it!" Naruto smirked and Hinata found herself giggling and feeling a little proud of herself for pulling herself together.

"You better and you can start with this." Hinata said with new found confidence to close the gap and seared her lips on Naruto's. It finally made the blonde widened his eyes since the start of his career as a Chunin. But the blonde had a good recovery rate, in more ways than one, so Naruto was able to complete the interaction by returning the passion Hinata is pouring into this kiss.

"Far out Hinata. This will work out just fine." Naruto said after gently separating each other for the sake of breathing. "This is going to be fun, you'll see." Hinata just smiled and nodded with her head resting on the blonde's chest.

"I thought that you had a sweet tooth in there somewhere." Naruto chuckled from the bench he was sitting on, along with Hinata that resting her head in his lap. There traces of cinnamon and bread crush on her lips that were curled into a smile. That and the rest of her facial features had only made the princess of Konoha look even cuter. "The Konoha Bakery that is famous for their Cinnamon rolls as well as their other breads? You really are the princess of Konoha Hina-chan."

"Only you will invite us as soon as you end the date with a tired out Hinata, Naruto." The blonde just proudly nodded, not feeling bad or regretful about that comment at all. Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame were Hinata's teammates within Team Eight, under Kurenai Yuhi. Of course, unlike Team Seven, they looked after one and another because fate would have it but bring four people who were unappreciated or at least felt that in their lives together.

Kiba's personality and fighting style is further complemented by his wild appearance as while clearly human, he has several physical traits more akin to animals. Like most of his clan, he has messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that he can change into claws. He also has the distinctive red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. Kiba's attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head, over an apparent plate of armour and fishnet undershirt, with a blue forehead protector and blue sandals.

And Shino is a fair-skinned ninja and the tallest member of his graduating class. He has dark, bushy, brown hair. Shino is regularly seen sporting the same style as the rest of his clan, consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar. In all the times Naruto had seen Shino, he has been shown wearing his signature round and dark glasses. Even Hinata doesn't know what his eyes looked like.

Kiba found it hard to get a date since he smells more like wet dog and even carried his partner, Akamaru, who hates to take baths too, in his hood at almost all times. Shino also wasn't too popular with the girls as he wears heavy clothes that sometimes leak bugs that most girls his age hate to even see. Hinata was seen as too timid, shy and soft to be a clan heir like her teammates. And Kurenai was both a woman and an illusion expert, both of them made her look like a weak excuse for a Shinobi, much less a Jonin. It was hard for them all during their days at the Academy for anyone else to take them seriously.

But not Naruto. That blonde had surprised them all multiple times. He never was afraid of them. He was never disgusted of them. He was different them all. And that was because Naruto opened up to them, saying that people hated and feared him as well. He was bullied by class he ever attended during the academy. All the grow ups treated him as the plague that was forbidden from leaving for some reason.

That was how Naruto became the best of friend to Kiba and Shino until they were separated into teams and during the Chunin Exams, Teams are not supposed to even be friendly with each other. It was something about how in war, everyone has the chance to backstab you and run when you least expect it.

"I know." Naruto said after that little walk down memory lane. "I am thinking of putting you all at the top of my list of who to invite to our wedding." Naruto smirked to see that Kiba had his mouth open and even Shino froze in shock.

"Only if you can get through me you will marry Hinata!" That could have been Kiba who said that but instead, the young Shinobi had to be in the glare from the one and only Genjutsu Mistress, Kurenai herself.

Kurenai is a fair-skinned woman of slender build. She has long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her regular outfit consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Overall, this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wears the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

"I won't have to proposing to Hinata only after a few days of dating!" Kurenai was also a woman who viewed Hinata more than one of her students. In fact, after hearing that Hinata's biological mother had died giving birth to Hanabi Hyuga, Hinata's younger sister, Kurenai wanted to be at least a mother figure during Hinata's career as a Kunoichi.

It is just too bad that Kurenai is also a mother figure that never had a boyfriend herself in her life. You can try to understand that Kurenai is trying her best to understand the fact that her supposed daughter had beat her at getting a boyfriend. "I have told you this before Kurenai-san, we are only planning ahead. We are not jumping the gun." Naruto simply said, being the bravest of the three boys to speak to the glare from an angry woman like Kurenai.

"That is why we are taking this slow." Naruto continued with guts that made Kiba and Shino wish they share with the blonde. "And who knows? We can even share some advice about you and Asuma-Sensei for helping out Hinata." This time, the two boys were shocked to see that Kurenai had started to blush instead intimidate Naruto further.

"Just how do you do that Naruto!? Is it because you are now a Chunin!? That's not fair!" Kiba shouted and Naruto just chuckled,

"I agree…" He trailed off to see that Kiba had high hopes, "That your teammates were denied of their solely deserved promotion…" that were dashed at Naruto's words but, "So you can try at it again and better than this year." Kiba couldn't believe that Naruto had played him as an instrument so easily.

"Really?"

"I am sure. You will make your clans proud if it is the last thing you do." Team Eight didn't speak another word that evening. And whatever they noticed or not, Hinata had been listening and smiling at the whole interaction. She was just good as passing as a girl who was asleep for the whole time.

XXXXX

At the end of the week, at a famous BBQ restaurant that was renown throughout Konoha and pretty much everywhere else in the Elemental Continent,

"I am telling you Shika, you look just fine with it on. I am wearing on as well." Naruto said and indeed, he was wearing his Chunin vest even though he preferred not too outside of Chunin-type missions. He was setting on the other side of the table from Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi while having Asuma Sarutobi sit between the blonde and the other one, Ino Yamanaka.

Shikamaru has narrow brown eyes and a typical expression suggesting he is either bored or irritated. He has shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail. He wears a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the Nara clan's symbol on the back, under which is a green-lined mesh T-shirt. He also wears brown pants, a pair of his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings, and wears his blue forehead protector around his left arm. When he becomes a Chunin, he adds a flak jacket over this usual clothing.

Choji has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and like the rest of his clan, he has a more robust physique. Since his childhood, he has always been quite husky, which is a necessity in his clan to perform their techniques since they convert calories to chakra. Choji wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved, green haori, over a light-green shirt with his clan's obligatory kanji for "food" (食, shoku) on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages. His forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side.

Asuma is a tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way, flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals and forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" (火) marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.

And Ino is a fair-skinned girl of average height with green eyes. Her most noticeable trait in her appearance is her long, pale blonde hair, which is always seen in a high-ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. Her hair reached down to her waist until she cut it during her fight with Sakura, and afterwards, she wore a bun. It is shown that when she was younger, she had short hair that went to just above her shoulders, with the bangs held back from her face by two blue barrettes.

In terms of attire, Ino is more often seen wearing a pair of small silver hoop-earrings and purple, fairly revealing clothing. The purple colouring of her outfit seems to be a reference to the embodiment of the bush clover that her father, Inoichi Yamanaka, wanted her to be. She wore a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar, a purple apron skirt that is cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this, and her forehead protector around her waist as a belt.

"You are not helping. Troublesome blonde." Shikamaru said with the typical catchphrase for the lazy Nara clan members.

"What was that Shika? What did you say about Ino?" Shika grew pale to see that not only his female teammate glaring at him with a deadly sweet smile but Naruto did as well.

"N-nothing…" Shikamaru muttered but was scared when the glares had intensified.

"You are whining and whimpering…" Naruto spoke like a demon. "We love the sound of those. Keep it up if you like pain."

Shikamaru had suddenly saw the features of the two blondes morph horribly to the extent of monstrous and devilish. He could have sworn that they licked their lips with the drool of hungry predators.

"That is enough out of you two!" Shikamaru had just managed to release the breath he was keeping in that Naruto and Ino had not noticed. Leave it to his teacher to barge in and save his hide. "I didn't invite you to eat with us if you are going to bully one of my students, young man…"

"Yeah, you invited me to help Ino shut Shikamaru up because it is our duty as fellow blondes to look after one and another to keep incentive jerks out of our hair!" Naruto playfully played the role as a passive general. An act that got Shikamaru to groan, Asuma to sigh while Ino giggled.

"Just how did you come from annoying to funny Naruto?" Ino said, getting a little too close for Naruto's comfort. It appears that with Ino's confidence soaring, so has her shameless since she now flirts with a guy that catches her eye.

"I am still Konoha's Most Unpredictable Shinobi Ino. Now will you please move?" Naruto asked but when Ino instead batted her eyes, thinking that she got him embarrassed, the blonde Chunin had to move her out of the way for a rogue piece of meat that hit the part of the seat that Ino was leaning in front of while trying to get to the other side of her own teacher.

"Choji! What the hell was that!?" Ino yelled at the culprit who had to be the Akimichi clan doing what he always done in his life, eat excessively. "Can you do better at this disgusting mannerisms than a pig?! You fa~~!" Ino suddenly felt like her mouth was covered by the hand of an adult man while the rest of her body couldn't even budge. Of course, she knew that it her teacher and Shikamaru stopping here respectably; Asuma could cover her mouth with just his hand while Shikamaru had to use his signature Kagemane no Jutsu.

But what really got her silent, even with it all, was that Naruto had a hand on her shoulder and shook his head silently. Then the blonde Chunin faced Choji who was still eating, blissfully unaware of what was happening. Until, "Choji, I talked with your mother about how you torture Master Asuma with the ridiculous food bills you run up. And since she will know when you are going to do that again and in one of the restaurants your clan owns, it is only four meals a day for a good full month for you. Other than that, enjoy."

But Choji didn't even take a nibble out of that piece of BBQ that he had in his chopsticks. Not with that widen mouth and hollowed out eyes. Then the poor and frightened boy set the BBQ piece back on the grill. "Y-you won't tell her that right?" Choji stuttered, for someone like him; only four meals a day was a nightmare compared to the twenty eight meals a day that he had grown adjusted to.

"Well if I don't then who will?" Naruto smirked while shifting his eyes to Asuma and Ino who looked especially happy to know just how to get Choji to stop eating up their wallets. "Who indeed?" Naruto said until he excused himself from the seat but not before kissing Ino on the back of the hand. "I might get you a good tutor on seduction as long as you keep your hands to yourself."

That got Ino to blush and look down in both shame and gratitude. Shame that she tried to flirt with a man who already has a girlfriend; no way is he that shallow and Ino just had to try for it anyways. But she was grateful that Naruto is not going to sell her out and supports her changing behavior by offers a teacher for what Ino wants to learn next. Maybe this Naruto will not be so bad after all.

XXXXX

After a couple of weeks since Sasuke first awoke from his coma,

"Don't worry guys. I am sure nothing bad will happen next year. Then you will get that promotion for sure." Naruto said in the company of the senior Team Nine; Tenten, the mistress of weapons, Rock Lee, the loud model boy of Taijutsu, and Neji Hyuga, Hinata's cousin and prodigy in his clan's styles. And to top things off is the Martial Arts Master and Genius, Mighty Guy.

Tenten has brown hair and steel-grey eyes in the manga — both of which are depicted as being dark brown in the anime. She wears her hair in Chinese-style buns on either side of her head with short fringe-bangs falling over her forehead protector which she wears in the traditional manner. Tenten wears a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons as well as dark green pants, a pouch adjusted to her thigh, and standard blue ninja sandals. Her appearance is a reference to the Chinese culture. As a child, she had a perpetual blush, and wore a pink blouse, and yellow fastening buttons. She also had bangs that covered her forehead.

Lee possesses very thick eyebrows (leading to the nickname "Centipede Brows" (ゲジマユ, Gejimayu) by Naruto) and large, rounded black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes. His hair is cut and styled into a bowl-cut style like Guy, and he also began wearing the same attire, consisting of a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt. The only difference in his attire were the bandages he regularly wears around his hands and wrists, which also cover a set of stitches on his left hand, a trait that was due to his rigorous Taijutsu training.

Neji had fair skin and long black hair, which the anime usually depicted as dark brown. When his Byakugan was not active he has featureless white eyes; the anime gave them a slight lavender tint. Neji wore a khaki shirt, a dull blue shirt beneath that, and mesh armour beneath that. He wore dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg. He tied his hair back in a loose ponytail tied a few inches above the end. He wore a black forehead protector, under which was a smaller headband with two straps that frame the sides of his face, both of which hide his Hyuga main family's juinjutsu.

And finally, Mighty Guy is a tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl style. Guy wears a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers and the standard Konoha flak jacket. His forehead protector, is on a red cloth and is worn around his waist, like a belt. When he was a Genin, he wore the same style of clothing with bandages wrapped around his hand and a brown scarf tied around his neck. His hair also had the shape of his signature bowl-style though a bit longer and shaggier, framing the side of his face. His protégé, Rock Lee, has modelled his appearance after Guy and as such both men bear a striking resemblance: both naturally having thick eyebrows and the same haircut.

"Yosh! Our 'Flames of Springtime Youth' will never extinguish!" Lee yelled out what seems to be merit words to his and Guy's hears but to anyone else, that was just nonsense louder than Naruto's when the blonde was still in the Academy. And in all sense, it is.

"Enough Lee. We have been outdone by Naruto and that lazy Nara. Even though when all had an additional year of training. And we acted like that was going to get us a promotion." Tenten was always playing the role as the 'straight man' if only anyone could call her that. "Do you know how much that hurts now?"

"I can and that just makes it feel worse." Neji muttered. He felt like he was on a clear path to becoming Chunin and accomplishing his former dream of taking over the clan. But Naruto was always there, trying to stop Neji to see what he had been missing the whole time; and all the while, Neji tried to turn a blind eye to it all.

And now, everyone that knew Neji, even to the slightest margin, will notice that there was indeed a change in his attitude following his defeat to Naruto during the finals. Some might say that Neji losing to Naruto had only gave the former's uncle the chance to tell his nephew the truth that Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga Clan, had been trying to get him to say.

"Listen. I am sorry that you feel this way and I was shocked to see that there were indeed people stronger than you three. I thought that you were the ones above everyone else." Naruto said and Team Nine only groaned along with Mighty Guy who was silent for some reason. And that was because it was Guy who asked Naruto meet up with his team since the blonde was the only one willing to share what it was like to be a Chunin instead of a Genin. "But if you guys will give up now then I am the one who is going to feel bad. Because I am still looking up to you guys."

"But you are a Chunin and…" Tenten protested,

"Chunin is just a rank with benefits and I was only a Genin for over four months and then a Chunin for only a couple of weeks. You guys have been doing missions and training for over a year. You three are more than just people with headbands." Naruto said and Team Nine were in awe. A Chunin was looking up to them, even though they all are still Genin? "I only got the promotion by whining enough and letting my lid loose again. Just like how I became a Genin in the first place. Please prove that it isn't the only way to get promoted when you enter next year. Okay?"

Naruto smirked playfully and somehow got Team Nine to feel a nigh irresistible tug at their lips. It is something that is called a smile and it was something that most Shinobi forget how to do with all the terrible burdens and horrible sights on a daily basis. But this burden wasn't something to be taken like that, Team Nine felt appreciated again for their experience and it took until an honest and modest and blunt blonde to do it.

"Okay Naruto." Neji said after a while that seemed to be an eternity, "You win. We promise and we don't break promises. Right?" Naruto never answered, just nodded with a smirk sticking to his face like glue. A lot like them.

XXXXX

Later that next day,

It was the same room as Sasuke was placed in for his nasty coma. Sasuke was expected to be in here instead but the Hokage had some punishment for the boy to be dished out. The Uchiha was forced to share a room with another patient; one that gives everyone nightmares for his loud proclaims of the 'Flames of Youth', Rock Lee. Now, Sakura was placed there after how she was reported to have some swallow cuts all around her body and an even nastier conclusion.

But what really was ugly was the mental state Sakura was in. She was something close to that of a vegetable but Tsunade was amazed that she was still able to hold onto her sanity. That granted the Hokage with all the time in the world to fix the injuries and then there were the gifts. From Sakura's favorite snacks packaged from her favorite flowers to be replaced only once a week.

It took over a couple of weeks to fix it all but Tsunade managed to tell Sakura's parents that their daughter will make it. But the Hokage had quite the headache when the two civilians complained about it all; she tried to tell them that Shinobi get injured and hurt more times than one can count, even during training. Hopefully, something like this won't happen again anytime soon.

"J-just what happened to me?" Sakura stuttered, suddenly shivering. "I-I remember feeling l-like my b-body w-was on auto-drive o-or something. A-and there w-were t-these t-things I-I couldn't s-see and they h-hurt…" Sakura tried to make out why she couldn't keep her voice steady until she felt something else, like a warm and gentle hand on the top of her head; Sakura lost her voice at the sensation.

"I am sorry for doing it but Sakura, a Shinobi life is always with danger. Even among comrades. This trauma is nothing compared to what can really happen to you." Naruto said, hurting inside since he knew that he was making a bad apology. But instead Sakura dove in his chest, seeking comfort. Hinata twitched but managed to keep in place, knowing that that Naruto won't take this chance to do something regretful when Sakura gave herself to the blonde. Instead, Naruto hugged her back.

"D-does that m-mean t-that I am a b-bad e-excuse for a Shinobi?" Sakura tried to speak once again but this time, she felt like she was being sandwiched between two warm bodies, softly.

"Everyone has their doubts about something in their lives. That is why friends were invented, so we will know how to help one and another." Naruto said. "And to tell the truth, both of us felt exactly like that one time or another in our own lives. We know how it feels Sakura, remember that."

Sakura couldn't bring herself to look at Naruto or even trust her own voice, so she resorted to just nodding in the blonde's chest. And after a period of silence that felt like an eternity, gentle and low snoring were heard from Sakura. Naruto just shook his head amusingly, that poor girl had finally fell asleep. All Naruto and Hinata knew was that Sakura is sure to have pleasant dreams for the rest of the day; and some of them can be about what she is going to do in the future days.

XXXXX

And while all this was happening within the disbanded Team Seven, the team that everyone within Konoha had placed all their hopes and dreams into making them proud, a certain Uchiha was elsewhere entirely and was not feeling like interacting with Naruto at all. In fact, he was the one who took this hard, even more than Sakura. Sasuke was outdone by Naruto, more than ever before, and he hated it all.

'Why?' Sasuke thought to himself from his lonely branch during the twilight shade. 'Why can't I just prove that a Dobe is always a Dobe? Why can't I get everything first and better than the Dobe!? I am Sasuke Uchiha! I am an elite! I am the prince of Konoha, the greatest village in the world! I am supposed to get it all from the world so why!?' Sasuke was still delusional from the suggestions imprinted by the civilian council who pampered him spoiled to the extreme.

Seeing how no one is going to answer his thoughts, Sasuke gave up. 'Whatever. I will show them, I will show them all that I can become a Chunin like that Dobe and this time, I will show him that I don't need some whore in debit to gain what you don't deserve!' Despite how dark those next thoughts were, one can see actual determination of a young and ambitious man in those words. "You can count on it!"

End of Chapter 2.

*Thanks for the reviews and support. And I am glad that some of you are curious to Naruto's new power. Unfortunately, it is too soon to explain in this chapter so I will try to see which future chapter will be appropriate for it. I am thinking of giving you a hint in Chapter 3, and even an example of Naruto's new Jutsu that came with the new uniform, but I am saving the real answer for a much later chapter. So please keep waiting until then!*

Translations:

Kagemane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique