Hey I'm back.
I don't want you to kill me for the LATE update so...on with it
Thank Hikari no Okami for betaing this chapter
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The Top-Class Training
The next morning Naruto-kun and I met again at the academy entrance. It had been a week since we were together and now that we had my father's permission we could be friends without worries. As always, Naruto-kun was happy. He had smiled since yesterday when I told him that I still could be his friend; his eyes had filled with tears and he had embraced me on the verge of crying, but he only said "I'm so happy". I didn't say a thing but embraced him back. I like to see him smiling.
"Ne! Hinata-chan!" he called me when I reached the gates with Kurenai
"Good m-morning" I said with a shy smile, we both couldn't hide that we were happy to see each other.
"Good morning Naruto" said Kurenai politely, yet also smiling
"Wassup?" replied back Naruto-kun smiling at her, I knew he liked Kurenai, I know it because I like her too
"Ready for another day at the academy? I hope you are giving it your best" she said before putting a hand on my back and gently pushing me forward "May I ask you to take care of her again?"
"Sure! I like taking care of Hinata-chan dattebayo!" he said passing his arm over my shoulders and grinning toothily.
"Well then, I'll see you both after the academy" said Kurenai-san smiling at us. Before I could give her an answer Naruto-kun pulled me running, holding my hand. I blushed while running hand in hand with him, I turned to say goodbye to Kurenai. She was still smiling and waving us goodbye, however before I could say anything she disappeared into a shadow.
We reached the classroom early, several minutes before the class started. The place was almost empty; however, I didn't notice that there was someone else beside us, that is, until Naruto-kun called my attention to it.
"Hey, Hinata-chan, over there, look" he said in a whisper. I followed his eyes towards the other end of the room
"Sasuke" It was Sasuke indeed, but he was different. I couldn't understand how he looked the same as before and at the same time so strangely changed. There was something odd with him, he didn't seemed to be the same Sasuke
"We haven't seen him in a whole week, what happened to him? The top of the class had never been late nor absent before" said Naruto-kun a little annoyed. However I felt a great difference in Sasuke, something around him told me he was so alone, suffering direly. I identified the feeling instantly: it felt amazingly similar to the "me", before Naruto-kun.
I know he and Naruto-kun don't share a good relationship, so even if Naruto-kun was worried at some point about him he would never accept it nor ask him about it; it was probably something of boys. I bit my lower lip and walked towards Sasuke, he turned to see me as I walked close to him. A pair of cold hardened eyes saw through me. His freezing glance almost turned me to ice, and his empty eyes showed nothing but concealed sorrow.
"H-hi" I said stuttering
"What do you need, Hinata?" he asked half annoyed half bored, as if I wasn't worth his time, even if he was doing nothing else but waiting in the classroom.
"W-w-w-w-w-well I-I-I j-j-just, eto…" somewhat his gaze petrified me, it was so uninterested it scared me, making me stutter no matter how hard I tried to keep my voice steady
"Hey teme!" almost yelled Naruto-kun coming to my side "Hinata-chan was only being nice to you! You have no right to treat her like that!"
Sasuke turned to see Naruto-kun almost bored "What does this have to do with you, dobe?"
"Hinata-chan is my friend and is under my care" he answered taking a step between Sasuke and me. I could feel how my face grew hotter
"So you are her bodyguard?" asked the raven haired boy without changing his tone of voice, he seemed so strangely like Neji-nii-san: cold, rude, annoyed, and with a clear tone of superiority, which was making Naruto-kun angry "I'm sorry for Hinata for having a hopeless, good for nothing, lame bodyguard like you that can't even perform the most basic of ninja techniques" he finished. Naruto-kun grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to his face
"WHAT DID YOU SAID TEME!?" yelled at him Naruto-kun, I was so scared, I didn't want them to start a fight in the classroom; specially because I could hear the distant footsteps of a large number of people getting closer
"Let me go Naruto, unless you want me to use force on you" menaced Sasuke, keeping his face calmed and straight. At that moment the doors to the classroom opened and our classmates entered the room.
The cheers and talking of the students entering the place suddenly quieted as they watched the scene. Naruto was holding Sasuke by the collar of the shirt and was clearly angered.
"NARUTO!!" Sakura was the first one to talk after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence "What are YOU doing to My Sasuke-kun? Let him go at once!"
"No" said Naruto-kun seriously, it was the first time he had ever talked back to Sakura "Not until he apologize to Hinata-chan"
"Hina..ta?" asked Sakura dumb folded, apparently she couldn't believe how Naruto-kun was acting, I nearly couldn't believe it myself. Standing up to the top of the class being the worst of the class and talking back to the girl he liked, all because of me? I couldn't help but to blush, I thanked god that I couldn't see my own face
"Naruto-kun, i-it's ok" I said putting my hand over his shoulder
"What is this? What's happening?" asked Iruka-sensei making his way through the students "Naruto? What are you doing?"
Naruto-kun pressed his shirt for moment before letting Sasuke go "You better thank Hinata-chan, if she hadn't asked I would have kicked you ass"
"You would have tried, and you would have failed" replied coldly Sasuke
"Yeah whatever, 'Top of the class'" said Naruto-kun turning his back on Sasuke "Come on Hinata-chan, we better don't waste our time with bastards with a stick up their ass" his comment made me and several other girls blush, but I followed him in silence. That incident had brought a lot of attention towards us.
"Ok everyone, take your seats and calm yourselves, we have a lesson to start" said Iruka-sensei clapping to get everyone's attention. Luckily Naruto-kun and Sasuke didn't get near the other for the rest of the day, and the classes went on smoothly.
However the consequences of our little scene became apparent during recess. Everyone was looking at us, younger and older academy students left their activities for a second to take a look at us as we walked near them. I felt so awkward, passing from bringing absolutely no attention towards me to being the student that everyone sees in the academy, even if it was for being with the boy who faced an Uchiha, and that boy was no other but Naruto-kun, who had also a bad reputation for some unknown reason to me. I walked a little scared behind Naruto-kun as he walked normally towards our tree with the swing on the end of the yard.
"Don't worry, they'll forget about it in a few days" said Naruto-kun with a large toothy grin. I can't help but to imagine a fox when he smiles like that with that cute whisker like marks of his cheeks "sorry for troubling you like this" he finished apologizing
I negated with my head "no, it's ok, you did it for me… I'm happy" I said, blushing a little. Naruto-kun looked at me firmly, making me blush more "what's the matter Naruto-kun?" I asked trying to break eye contact but I was charmed by his sparkling blue eyes
"Hinata…"he said to me with a serious tone "that's the first time I hear you say a phrase without a single stutter"
"W-w-wha..?!" I could feel my blush deepen, I couldn't but wonder what the color of my face was at that moment "well…I-I-I…eto…it w-was because…"
"Hey it's ok Hinata-chan, I like you the way you are; it was just a comment" he said smiling. I nodded, trying to conceal my happiness. He had said he liked me! As a friend no doubt but still!
I tried to stay calmed for the rest of the day but I couldn't help to blush and look slightly away whenever Naruto-kun talked to me, I just couldn't stand looking into his deep blue eyes. Somehow that calm yet determinate look of his always washes my worries away.
The recess was soon over and Naruto-kun and I were separated for our lessons with the boys and the girls respectively. I'm usually not that bad in those but today I was more of a klutz than any other day, I kept dropping stuff, or making silly mistakes; I even got Ino AND Sakura to be mad at me for staining her clothes when I dropped a vial of ink on them.
Slowly and torturous the day ended, and we were dismissed, I walked out of the classroom and when to meet Naruto-kun by our tree, he was there already, on the swing with a sad face, apparently I wasn't the only one with a bad day.
"B-bad day?" I asked as I got there
"Yeah, now that Sasuke is back my mistakes are noticed more" he said sadly. My poor Naruto-kun, he had been so confident this last week "how was it with the girls?"
"Te-te-terri-rible too" I said with a smile "I spi-spilled a vial of ink a-all over Ino's and S-Sakura's dresses, they were v-v-very angry"
"You did? I would have paid to see their faces!" laughed Naruto-kun. I laughed with him, because in fact, their faces were very funny. At that moment Iruka-sensei was walking on the yard talking with an older girl, he saw us and walked towards us
"Hey Naruto!" he said as he approached our tree, the girl was walking at his side "you did pretty good today too" he said smiling
"No I didn't, Sasuke got a perfect score and I only got little more than half the score" said Naruto-kun looking the other side
"But you still got over half of the class in the exercise, your grade was way better than the ones you used to get" Iruka-sensei said rubbing Naruto-kun's head slightly "and I've heard from your teachers that you have also improved considerably Hinata" he continued turning towards me
"T-thanks" was all that I managed to say
"These kids are Uzumaki Naruto and U- I mean Hyuuga Hinata?" asked the girl
"Who wants to know?" asked defensively Naruto-kun "Isn't it rude to ask someone's name without introducing yourself first?"
"My, my, I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Sawamura Midori, I'm 10 years old, nice to meet you" Midori had white hair, and aqua colored eyes, her skin was white and had little freckles around her nose. She was wearing a skirt that matched her eyes and a light yellow t-shirt. Somehow when I saw her I recalled my nightmare
"It wasn't supposed to be like this! We worked hard to make it work this time!"
She was her! In my dream, the girl that was on the floor near me. I had no doubt, she was Sawamura Midori
"Midori here" sensei pulled me back into reality "is the top of the class of her generation"
"C'mon sensei!" said Midori "I'm not that good, there are Hyuugas, and Uchihas in the academy and they are very talented, besides, there are students that graduated from the academy a lot of years younger that I am"
"Still you are one of the best we have in the academy right now" said Iruka-sensei "well I have to deliver some reports now; I'll see you guys later" Sensei walked away after saying goodbye
"So…" said Midori "you guys are friends uh?"
"Yeah, we are the best of friends" said Naruto-kun loudly, Midori giggled
"You are cute" she said "you two look good together; you'll make a good team one day"
"T-team?" I asked, what did she mean with teams?
"Genin are assigned to three-man teams under the tutelage of a Jounin after they graduate" she explained "if you two are assigned to the same team I'm sure you teamwork would be great, that's after all the point of the teams"
"That would kick ass!" cheered Naruto-kun "what do we need to be assigned to the same team?!"
"Well I really don't know, I've heard the team members are selected to create a balanced team, so I guess you'll have to work hard to stay in the middle of the class at least or that one gets on the tops and the other on the bottom, and get a little lucky to be assigned in the same team; who knows? Maybe the teachers won't break a friendship if they thing that it would help a team" she finished putting her index finger on her chin and looking into sky "well I've to go, I'll see you around"
"Ok, bye" said Naruto-kun
"T-take c-care" I said, the older girl nodded slightly and turned around starting to walk away. She stopped a few feet after and turned around
"By the way, would you like me to train you? I can give you tips and help you in your training, I got a little more experience and could help you improve" she said smiling
"Really? Sure, that sound great!" cheered Naruto-kun "don't you agree Hinata-chan?" I answered by nodding
"Ok, it's settled, after school tomorrow, this same tree ok?" and without another word she walked away
"I can't believe it! One of the superiors will help us train! Sasuke will be defeated next time, no doubt!" Naruto-kun danced happily around, but somehow I kept wondering why would an older student like to help us train, what was in it for her? But as long as Naruto-kun was happy I wouldn't mind about that. "Talking about training, it's time for us to do our stuff, Hinata-chan!" Naruto-kun and I had been doing extra training after school, practicing shuriken throw, basic taijutsu and restudying the lessons and doing the homework together, Kurenai-san would pick me up an hour later for that matter.
The afternoon went on and the night had started to claim the sky when Kurenai-san came to pick me up. Naruto-kun and I walked with Kurenai-san towards my house that night. Naruto-kun was going to have dinner at a ramen stand, so even if his house was in the other direction he gets to go with us part of the way.
We were almost at Ichiraku's, Naruto-kun's favorite ramen bar when I suddenly heard something, a faint noise of metal, maybe combat. I got scared; could it be an enemy invasion? "K-k-kurenai-san, I-I hear s-something o-o-over there"I said scared
"Uh? In that direction? I don't hear anything, are you sure it wasn't an animal or something?" she asked me, I negated with my head
"I'm s-s-sure, it's ninjas" I reaffirmed
"Ok, I'll go check it out, you two stay here" she said seriously
"Hell no, we are coming with you!" said Naruto-kun even more serious
"Ok, ok, I don't want to argue with you right now, just stay behind and don't do anything harsh" said Kurenai taking out a kunai knife and walking in the direction I had said
We walked fast but cautious, towards a nearby training field. The place was full of kunai and shuriken: all the trees and the whole ground was full of them. A young boy was panting in the middle of it, thick sweat dropping from his forehead; he was breathing heavily, his raven colored hair messy and dirty, and his clothes cut and bruised all over.
"Sasuke" said Naruto-kun under his breath
"Uchiha Sasuke?!" confirmed Kurenai-san surprised "What has he been doing? This place looks like a battlefield!"
For some reason, it was clear to me. Maybe it was something in the way he was breathing, or the marks in his clothes "He was t-t-training" Kurenai started to walk towards Sasuke, but Naruto stopped her
"What are you doing? He could be hurt" said the chunnin
"We must not interrupting him, dattebayo" explained Naruto-kun, Kurenai-san looked doubtful for a second, but folded her kunai
"Ok, let's go then" and without more she and Naruto-kun turned around and walked back to the road, I stayed back and kept looking at a sweating Sasuke for a second before following them, what in the world had happened to him?
An hour after that I was sweating like him, the heavy drops falling to the dojo's floor in the Hyuuga haven, my afternoon training with my father had come to an end, again I had failed, and my father was clearly not pleased with my performance
"I expect you to work harder and do it better next time, for the sake of the clan, Hinata" he said before leaving the dojo
"'For the sake of the clan' repeated Habataku making fun of it "How can he forget about personal happiness and development? He can't expect you to be a good clan leader if you are not happy and feel your life filled and complete"
"But I'm t-terrible at Jyuuken, and the clan i-is based in the m-m-mastery of the family's taijutsu" I said sadly, still panting
"Yes but that style doesn't work for everybody, there are some peoples' bodies that doesn't fit the movements and positions of the Jyuuken" continued Habataku "Yours for example, you are far more flexible, agile, dexterous, and fast, but you can't exploit those advantages because the Jyuuken is holding you up"
I was listening to her surprised. I had never considered the possibility that the fault wasn't mine but more like it was the Jyuuken's fault that I weren't good at it. All the clan members had used it for generations and I wasn't able to use it at its fullest because my body wasn't fit for it. I felt even more of a loser
"You know? If you want I can teach you a variant of Jyuuken that can help you perform better, it will allow you to use your body's form to its maximum potential, and it can also improve your basic forms and make you stronger in combat and can help you earn your father's acknowledge"
"How can I do that using a style different from Jyuuken?" I asked confused
"It is a fusion of the Jyuuken and another taijutsu style called Shina To Be; it contains all the movements of Jyuuken but fixed for better control, and flexibility, instead of the rigid and centered form of the Jyuuken. It would come better for someone like you Hina-chan, what do you say? Want to give it a try?"
I felt uneasy, I had never practiced a taijutsu style different for Jyuuken, and I had received training in it since before I had learned to talk. Yet, Habataku's words brought an interesting alternative, an escape that allowed me to think that my low performance in Jyuuken wasn't completely my fault, and also her voice had something in it, something unknown but familiar that makes me trust her and believe that it was the better choice
"Ok Habataku, I-I'll give it a try" I replied, besides, I had nothing to lose
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Well that's it, please let me know what do you think of it, flames, flowers and annon reviews are accepted, please do review : )
Okami's note: This chapter was checked on school, so I'm not sure if something slipped. Remember your corrections make me improve as beta : P
DISCLAIMER: Shina To Be doesn't belongs to me, its property of Dame Wren, Thanks to DG Friendly for pointing that I had forgotten to mention it, sorry for that