The next day, Hinata had to stay in bed on the doctors orders, though she was fine. They wanted to make sure there were no traces of infections. Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruto stayed with her all day, talking, laughing, and cheering her up. Hinata found that she was still unable to confess to Naruto. Late in the day, Hanabi came by with a eye patch for Hinata that she had made. It was made of soft white silk, and Naruto and Kiba said it made her look cool. Hinata, while her regular vision was impaired, found her Byakugan still functioned well, though it was tricky to channel chakra to only one eye. Around dinner, the others from Iruka's class came by.
" Hinata!" said Ino, rushing in. " We heard this morning."
" We couldn't come until now because we had to train." said Sakura, rushing forward. " Does it hurt?"
The girls were soon transported to the mysterious world the boys often saw them go to, completely oblivious as they talked about strange, girly things.
" Naruto." said Sasuke, walking over. " I was informed that the fox is sealed within you this morning."
" Yeah?" said Naruto, defensively. To his confusion, Sasuke stuck his hand out to shake Naruto's.
" I know you had little choice in the matter, but I want to thank you for protecting the village."
Naruto shook Sasuke's hand, shocked.
" This makes me respect you a little, but don't think its that much." said Sasuke, releasing the handshake and walking away.
Naruto just stood there, shocked at his rivals actions.
---
The next day, the genin all set to following lists of exercises Ashuma had given them. Hinata went on a long run during the morning, Naruto met with Asuma to begin Taijutsu practice, and Kiba and Akamaru, through heavy protests, read a book on chess. Combat practice went well. Hinata had some trouble when her Byakugan was not active since she had lost half her sight, but when it was she held the boys and Akamaru off all at once. Afterwards, they went off for chakra exercises. They all practices their individual jutsu, Hinata working on using Byakugan with one eye, Naruto doing academy-level chakra control exercises, and Kiba and Akamaru attempting the Human Beast Clone jutsu.
By the end of the week, the genin felt far improved. Hinata was able to run far longer and faster and had been able to nearly completely cope with the loss of her eye. Naruto's taijutsu and chakra control were at least passable now. With the shadow clones, he could match either of his team in combat. Kiba and Akamaru could only get their jutsu to work after several tries, but it was very good when it did. Fighting two stronger, faster Kiba's was a daunting task.
The most dramatic change, however, was in Hinata. When she woke every morning and saw her eye in the mirror, she felt a renewed drive to prove her father wrong for calling her useless. Coupled with the acceptance and praise of her friends, she drove herself far harder then she had ever before, and was even managing to carry herself with the pride her clan was supposed to. Things were tense for the Hyuuga, with their recent near treachery against the village and the fact that their leader was jailed, but Hinata ignored all her family save her sister.
The villagers seemed tenser around Naruto, but he ignored it. The children seemed afraid of him now, but his classmates were much nicer to him. Sakura-chan had even smiled to him once.
To the amazement of Kiba and Asuma, Naruto seemed unable to discover that Hisasi had beaten Hinata because she loved him. They kept it quiet, leaving it to Hinata to reveal. Unfortunately, while Hinata was bolder and more confident now, she returned to her blushing, nervous state when talking to Naruto.
---
" All right, sensei, you said we were doing something special today!"
Naruto had become impatient with the training already, constantly pestering Ashuma about going on missions. Asuma said that they would not go on missions until the third week. How ever he had hinted about the group training they were going to do today.
" Yeah, we are. We're going to meet with the other genin teams for a group practice session. This is your chance to show off how awesome you are."
Naruto cheered, and Asuma felt a little guilty. While Kiba was dumber, Naruto was incredibly easy to bait.
---
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the training ground Guy had made them agree on.
" Hey, Naruto…do you see that?" Kiba asked.
" Yeah." Naruto said.
They had spotted Guy and Lee. Asuma had a little laugh to himself. Most people had a similar reaction. The two were nearly identical, and the matching spandex made them the epitome of creepy. Kurenai and the trio were there already, as were Kakashi and his students. They, like their jounin, seemed bored, like they had been dragged here unwillingly.
" Hey!" Ten-Ten said, waving to Hinata. Hinata smiled politely back. She had met the girl a time or two before. She was nice, but a bit of a battle axe. Hinata thought about the phrase for a moment. With her obsession with weapons, she'd probably like being called that.
She also spotted Neji, who glared back, though not as hatefully as normally. The recent events probably made him see her less as a spoiled member of the main house, which was the main reason he disliked her. However, his hatred of the main house remained.
" Asuma! It is good to see you!" Guy said, prancing over. Asuma cringed at the sight. A grown man…especially one as powerful as Guy acting like that was just wrong.
" Good to see you to, Guy. I see you managed to drag Kakashi in." Asuma smiled to Kurenai as Guy's attention returned to Kakashi. Before it could go to far, Kakashi reminded everyone why they were here.
" So, what were we going to do for this group training?" he asked.
" I had originally thought that it would allow our students to spar against a variety of opponents and styles." Guy said, taking his thoughtful pose. " I also think giving our students a chance to fight against a number of opponents at once would be good practice for bad combat situations."
Asuma decided not to mention how Naruto's shadow clones already let his group do that.
" All right, everyone pair up with someone from another group." Kurenai said. The genin followed the forceful woman's command.
---
Naruto found the fights against everyone quite fun. He got to fight Ino and Shikamaru, who weren't as good as he was at hand to hand, giving him the rare opportunity to win. Against Ten-Ten and Shino, though, it was back to being knocked down again and again. Shino wasn't so bad, but Ten-Ten was lighting fast and way stronger than most girls. Finally, he found himself face to face with the green clad boy. He'd seen him fight the others and knew the boy was tough. He'd beaten Sasuke with ease. However, the boys pleasant and laughing demeanor would mean he would be fun to practice against.
" All right!" Naruto said, walking over to Lee. " You ready?"
Naruto had gotten many looks of hatred in his life. Lee's, however, rivaled the best of them. Usually that would not have surprised him, but since the others all seemed more understanding towards him, he was unprepared.
Before he knew it, Lee and buried his knee into Naruto's stomach hard.
Naruto coughed and sputtered. Lee had already backed up and retaken his combat stance. Naruto doubled over, fighting the urge to throw up.
" Lee…what the hell…"
Bam. Another hit came, this time a sweeping kick that knocked him from his feet. Naruto landed heavily and promptly began to vomit. Naruto was aware that everyone was looking at him and the jounin were rushing over, but couldn't do anything but heave.
" Lee! What happened!" Guy asked.
" Naruto-kun was unable to block two attacks. I believe I may have injured him." Lee said, a unusual detachment in his voice. Asuma had heard the boy before. Usually he was as enthusiastic as Guy. However, when he noticed the look in Lee's eyes, it became obvious.
Hinata stood nearby. It was fortunate for her she was pair with Ino, who had the worst Taijutsu of the lot. She was barely paying attention, focused on Naruto. She wanted to race over and see if he was all right, but she knew she had to practice. Still, seeing Naruto hurt so badly frightened her.
A few minutes later Naruto was able to stand. Everyone switched partners again, putting Naruto with Sakura. He still needed a break, so they sat it out. Sakura took the time to watch Sasuke adoringly. Naruto's stomach was still bothering him, so he walked over to Hinata.
" Hey Hinata?" he asked. She and Choji stopped their fight.
" Y-yes, Naruto-kun?"
" Do you have anything for a upset stomach? That burn stuff worked so well, I bet anything you have will make me feel better in no time."
Hinata rifled though her belt pouch before she found a small vial of resin. She had found out it settled the stomach, so she had added it to her kit.
" T-take this." she said, handing Naruto the vial. He opened it and swallowed in one gulp. He stood for a moment, dealing with the oily taste. He burped loudly.
" Man, Hinata, your good with that stuff!" Naruto handed the vial back. Hinata quietly nodded and took it.
---
" We are now going to have you fight while outnumbered." Kurenai said, addressing the genin. " Naruto and Sasuke, you two are first. You stay here in the clearing. Everyone else, head out of the clearing and prepare to attack them."
Naruto and Sasuke nodded to each other. The amount of unspoken communication in that single instant between them was almost terrifying to Kurenai.
---
Five minutes later, the jounin were surveying the damage. It had been a slaughter, but not in the way they had expected.
Sasuke and Naruto seemed to have meshed perfectly and instantly. Despite Shikamaru coordinating the other genin in an attack, Naruto and Sasuke had had a better plan. Naruto summoned nearly fifty clones, distracting the others, while Sasuke moved from target to target, taking the openings the clones created. Asuma knew that Neji, Ten-Ten, and Lee had held out their most powerful abilities, but since they were all Taijutsu types, being matches by Sasuke and Naruto's coordinated hand to hand assaults was embarrassing.
Sasuke, under Kakashi's tutelage, had activated the first level of his Sharingan. With it he had hypnotized Guy's students rather then fight them head on. While the Genjutsu was only strong enough to hold for seconds, Naruto-clones would deliver heavy attacks while they were vulnerable.
Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru had attacked, using the Human Boulder Jutsu to try and scatter the clones before attempting to capture Sasuke with the Mind Transfer and Shadow Possession techniques. However, clones had intercepted them, making the attacks wastes of time. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had done the best. The bug user sent forward a cloud of insects, but Sasuke had before a variation of his fire jutsu which created a cloud of smoke, forcing the insects to retreat into Shino. However, this had been a distraction. Kiba and Akamaru raced in while he did so for an attack, but a squad of Naruto clones grappled him down. However, they had held Hinata out in expectation of this. She went in a last ditch, desperate attack trying to get to Sasuke. Her Jyuuken strikes allowed her to defeat clones in a single strike, but while she had been dealing with one Sasuke had delivered a nerve strike to her shoulders, making her unable to use her arms.
The genin all needed a long time to recuperate. Naruto had drawn a massive amount of chakra and was in rough shape, while Sasuke's extended use of the Sharingan has physically exhausted his body.
" They certainly are a impressive pair." Kakashi said.
" Indeed. Together, their youth burns most fiercely." Guy said in agreement.
" Well, it makes sense. As rivals, they know each other well. It's kind of like watching you and Kakashi in battle." Asuma said to Guy. Guy beamed while Kakashi's one visible eye rolled.
" Hey Sasuke…good job." Naruto wheezed. Sasuke groaned a response back.
Hinata and Kiba exchanged looks, both thinking the same thing. Naruto's skills were usually on par with theirs, but with Sasuke, he was seemingly unstoppable. Their every move had been outguessed, even with the unknown factors of all the other genin added in.
" Were going to have to train harder, Akamaru." Kiba said, petting the tired dog. Akamaru whimpered in agreement.
" I think so to, Kiba-kun." Hinata said.
" All right, everyone! Lets try this again, same groups! I want to see how this goes." Kurenai said. Everyone groaned and took their positions.
Several minutes later, Shikamaru had the genin brought together again.
" Why are we listening to you? Your plan worked so well last time." Kiba said, sarcastically.
" Do you have a better idea?" Shikamaru responded irately.
Kiba seemed at a loss, but Sakura spoke up.
" Well, since having Naruto distract us and keep Sasuke safe while Sasuke beat us was their plan, which worked perfectly, they will probably try it again. We need to distract Naruto while we beat Sasuke-kun, if we can."
" How?" Shikamaru said, bored.
" Genjutsu. Kaka-sensei told me I was a Genjutsu type, so I did a little studying. I can try to make Naruto and Sasuke believe the other had been hit with shuriken."
As Kiba and Hinata watched, the two brainy ninja schemed and plotted. It suddenly made her realize she had never thought that much about strategy as she should have. She felt the feeling of inadequacy rising again and crushed it without mercy. She was tired of that feeling.
" Right then. Everyone know your role?" Sakura asked. Everyone nodded.
Neji, Ten-Ten, and Lee were to make another attack like they had the first time as a distraction. Meanwhile, Sakura would be preparing the Genjutsu. It took her a while, she said, so Ino and Shino would guard her. Shikamaru and Choji would wait for their chance and go after Sasuke when the Genjutsu was finished, while Hinata and Kiba ( "and Akamaru!" Kiba added.) would neutralize all the Naruto clones they could.
They all broke and headed towards the clearing on their designated routes. When they arrived at the clearing, Sasuke stood in it, alone.
" Hinata, can you find him?" Kiba whispered. Hinata activated her Byakugan.
There were clones secreted throughout the trees around the clearing. Sakura's group was going to be detected and attacked when they got there.
" Kiba, send Akamaru to where find Sakura and warn her off."
Kiba raced off though the forest at Kiba's command. When Sakura's group arrived with Akamaru, they moved in cautiously, staying hidden from the clones. When Neji's group attacked from the other side, Sasuke turned his attention towards them. Several Naruto clones broke position to aid. However, the older genin knew to avoid looking in Sasuke's eyes this time and were not defeated. Suddenly, Sasuke and Naruto cried out.
" No!" Their voiced mingled as the Genjutsu took effect.
Believing the other had been wounded severely, Sasuke and the Naruto clones changed tactics. They knelt down as if to pick up a body and raced off. Most of the Naruto clones engaged Guy's genin while one escaped with what it thought was Sasuke's body. Choji and Shikamaru took this chance to try and capture Sasuke. He dodged Shikamaru's shadow, however, and delivered a heavy kick to Choji's head, knocking him over.
Hinata and Kiba raced out to deal with the leftover Naruto clones. Hinata found them with her Byakugan while Kiba hunted them down with his nose. They clones were distracted and scrambled, so they were easily defeated. Ino, Sakura, and Shino joined the chase after Naruto.
" Kiba, with us! Hinata, help Sakura!" Shikamaru shouted. They complied, joining the chase.
Kiba's nose allowed him to follow Sasuke with ease towards where the jounin were waiting. When they arrived, he seemed hysterical, pointing to a blank spot on the ground.
" Sasuke, Naruto isn't there." Kakashi said, voice laden with exasperation.
" Why the hell are you pretending that! He's dying! There are a dozen shuriken in his chest! We need to get him to the hospital now!"
" Kurenai-sensei, he's under a Genjutsu." Kurenai sighed for a moment and formed the hand seals to dispel it. A look for shock went over Sasuke's face and he fell to his knees.
" I thought…I thought…" he mumbled, looking uncharacteristically at a loss.
" Sakura thought we could use a Genjutsu to trick you and Naruto. It worked too well I guess." said Shikamaru, scratching the back of his head.
" Sakura must have done a good job." Kurenai said, impressed.
" Um, if Sasuke bought it, I bet Naruto won't figure it out either." Kiba interjected, worried. " We should go make sure things are all right."
Kurenai and Kiba raced off.
---
Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He knew that Neji and Lee were jerks. Lee hated him, and from what Hinata had said, Neji was a angry, mean spirited person. He never imagined, though, that they'd try to kill Sasuke.
He'd ran and hidden in the forest. He should have ran to the jounin, he realized, but now it was too late and he didn't think Sasuke could be moved. He'd removed the shuriken and tried to bandage the wounds, but he couldn't get the bandages to stay on.
" Ha!" said Sakura, appearing from the treetops with Shino, Ino, and Hinata. " Found you!"
" Hinata! Sasuke's hurt! I tried…I couldn't get the bandages on!" Naruto said pleadingly. Sakura released the Genjutsu, and Naruto startled as Sasuke disappeared.
" What the hell?" Naruto said, perplexed.
" It was a illusion. Sakura created it to trick you." Everyone looked to the bug user, who had spoken.
" Oh." said Naruto. " That was really cool, Sakura-chan!"
Only Hinata, with all she knew of Naruto, realized how he hid his emotions behind the smile he put on. The Hyuuga were trained to hide their emotions and Hinata had seen many skilled practitioners of this art, and she could honestly say Naruto was one of the best.
They headed back at met with Kurenai and Kiba shortly after.
" All right, Naruto! We got you!" Kiba said, grinning widely.
" There were ten of you." Naruto jabbed. " Since it took all of you, I'm not too impressed."
" Aw, shut up." Kiba said, laughing.
They arrived back in the clearing to find the other jounin and genin assembled. Kiba noticed Naruto and Sasuke exchange glances. Kurenai addressed the genin.
" So, what did you all learn today?"
" That me and Sasuke are an awesome team!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. " Even if he is a moody jerk."
Sakura hit Naruto.
" Naruto, be quiet! Anyone could do well along side a wonderful ninja like Sasuke-kun!"
" Close, yet not even close." Kurenai said, grabbing the bridge of her nose like she had a headache.
" Sensei?" said Hinata, raising her hand. She felt everyone's attention turn to her, and couldn't help herself.
" W-we learned…that in groups o-our a-abilities are stronger." Hinata said, shrinking in stature. She couldn't help it. Even with all her endeavors to become more like Naruto, she still was the shy girl she had always been. Today had gone better, but now she seemed to have fully regressed.
" Correct." said Kurenai, smiling. " Sasuke and Naruto do make a good team because of their abilities. Naruto's ability to keep everyone busy while Sasuke beat you, one by one, was a powerful combination. However, when everyone attacked again with a different plan, they were defeated. You are put onto teams like this so that your skills can complement each others."
" Then Naruto and Sasuke should be put on the same team." stated Shino.
" Well, they had another advantage. Since your side had more people, you had to cordinate and avoid interfering with each other, which required extra attention. Say we put Lee and Sakura on a team."
Lee smiled and gave Sakura a thumbs up.
" Lee could protect Sakura long enough for her to use a Genjutsu against you. It could conceal Lee, making it impossible for you to see where he was attacking from. Shino and Shikamaru are another example. Shino's bugs could drain your chakra, which would make it harder to dodge and resist shadow possession. While these matches may work, however, your teams are put together even better."
" Lee, Ten-Ten, and Neji are Taijutsu types." Guy said, looking unusually focused. " Lee and Neji are powerful hand to hand combatants, while Ten-Ten's long range techniques prevent opponents from simply keeping them at bay. Neji can also see though Genjutsu with his Byakugan, which makes is impossible to use Genjutsu against them. You have to fight on their terms."
" Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji are the third generation of a famous combination." followed Kurenai. " Ino and Shikamaru's techniques prevent enemies from escaping. Combined with Choji's clan techniques, which are devastating but easy to dodge, it gives them the ability to neutralize unusually powerful opponents and do heavy damage."
Kakashi, after a nudge from Asuma, spoke next. " Sakura, Shino, and Sasuke have a unique combination. Sakura's Genjutsu and Sasuke's Ninjutsu lets them distract opponents and hit them with powerful, damaging attacks. Sasuke's Taijutsu also allows him to protect Sakura as she prepares the Genjutsu. However, Genjutsu does not work if the opponent has more chakra than Sakura does. Shino is able to drain chakra, eliminating that weakness. Since they are also each highly intelligent, they can prepare plans and new combinations quickly."
" And what about us?" Kiba asked impatiently.
" You three have a completely different style than the groups." Asuma said before taking a long drag of his cigarette. " They play off each other strength. You three compensate for the each other weaknesses. Hinata's clans attacks lack power, but rarely miss. Kiba's clan attacks are hard to aim, but do massive damage. And Naruto's chakra reserves and clones lets him engage a large number of opponents at once, while Kiba and Hinata's skills are more one on one."
" So we are weak?" Hinata said, crestfallen.
" No. Your each strong, but your styles have a weakness." Asuma said, patting her shoulder.
" Right! Now for the real training! Twenty laps around Kohona!" Guy shouted as he ran off.
" Yes, Guy-sensei!" Lee cheered adoringly, leaping up and following his teacher. A moment later they were out of earshot.
" Don't worry, they don't notice. We skip the runs every time." Ten-Ten looked embarrassed. Everyone else, however, sighed in relief.
" Oh, one last thing. Ino, Sakura, Ten-Ten, and Hinata, we have some extra training to do." The girls all looked to Kurenai, who looked serious. " Follow me." Kurenai walked in towards the town.
Naruto was about to ask when Asuma shushed him.
" But I want to know what's going on!" Naruto whined. Kiba walked next to him and nodded.
" No, you really don't. Kunochi stuff is best to stay out of. You might learn some things that will scare you." Asuma shuddered theatrically. " Besides, we got something cool next."
" What? What?" Naruto asked, jumping up and down with excitement. Kakashi rolled his one visible eye.
" Half price barbeque at my favorite restaurant!" Asuma said, smiling broadly and taking out a coupon. The boys all groaned from let down, except for Choji, who was hugging Asuma so tightly Asuma was sure he had a cracked rib.
" You are the best sensei ever!" Choji exclaimed loudly.
---
" Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked. " I thought we were going to train."
" We are."
" So why did you take us to the a fancy bathhouse?"
Kurenai sighed and slipped deeper into the warm water. The girls were all soaking in a private bath in the most expensive spring in Kohona. Kurenai had paid for it all out of pocket so she would have the chance to drill her lesson into their heads.
" Do your noses work?" she asked.
" What kind of question is that?" Ino asked.
" Back at the training ground, I got a wiff of you all. You smelled like the boys."
Ino and Sakura's face fell, but to Kurenai's surprise, Ten-Ten and Hinata didn't seem concerned.
" Yeah? So? We had spent half the day fighting. Its not like we had a chance to wash up." As Ten-Ten finished her retort, the girls face's lit up.
" I see you understand. One of the most useful tricks for a kunochi is to disguise herself as a regular woman. You need to know how to make sure you can…smell pretty and look good." Kurenai struggled to get the last words out, and their was obvious distain in her voice. " It can be useful for blending in to get closer to your target or escaping pursuit. Its hard to do that when your covered with grime and sweat."
" So, what's your point? We would go for a bath after training anyways." Ten-Ten said bluntly.
" I am talking about more than just general hygiene. I have a list of jutsu for you to learn to do thinks from create a simple illusion on your face to repairing your clothes."
" Sensei?" Hinata asked, sounding only slightly timid.
" Yes Hinata?"
" Since I am missing my eye, will it be more difficult to do this?"
The other girls cringed slightly. They had all tried to not mention the eye patch all day for fear that it would be a sensitive topic.
" Yes, yes it will. The genjutsu to make it appear as if your face is clean is tricky because it is designed to be hard to notice. Altering it to make it seem as if your eye was normal would be too much for it. You'd need a higher level, and more demanding, jutsu for that." Kurenai said, a sympathetic look in her eye.
" Thank you sensei. I have another question."
" What is it?"
" If it is not too much trouble, I was hoping you could help me find out how I can begin learning medical jutsu. Asuma-sensei said I have a natural talent for it. I read about medic-nin and found out that most teams have at least one person with medical jutsu. Since my bloodline is weak and damaged, I though it would be best to start learning some other skills."
" It won't be a problem. I will get a few basic scrolls from my library and give them to Asuma."
" Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."
Hinata was reminded of her mother when Kurenai smiled at her sweetly.