New chapter finally uploaded. Sorry it took a while, work was a nightmare haha. Its my longest chapter yet and wanted it to set the picture before some timeskips came along. Any good critics are welcome, anything less than... well bugger off. I hope you enjoy it and I'm looking forward to your reviews. I don't own Naruto in any shape, way or form. Kishimoto does.
Chapter 4
The annoying ringing of the alarm stirred a small form under the bed covers. An arm shot out of the sheet and flopped around like fish until it found the cursed device and turned it off. Rising like a zombie from the grave, Naruto got up, climbed out of out bed and began his morning exercises. He hated waking up at dawn. He wanted to sleep and wake up later in the day like most kids his age. However Naruto wanted to be a ninja but not any ninja, he wanted to be Hokage and the greatest one ever. His morning exercises consisted of push-ups, sit-ups and squats.
He didn't do a ridiculous amount. The Third Hokage had told him when Naruto becomes a Genin that is when the real and serious training begins. Naruto was also warned if he wanted to train before and during the academy it had to be easy things and not to push himself too hard. After all, he couldn't become Hokage if he's in the hospital all the time.
When Naruto finished his morning training, he got washed and changed, made himself instant ramen for breakfast and was enjoying it while reading a scroll describing the necessary skills to be a ninja such as stealth, awareness, etc. The scroll was a birthday gift from the Third to Naruto and he loved it. The only downside was that he hated reading, mainly because he struggled with it. He lost his concentration quickly and became bored. However Naruto is that determined to make his dream a reality, he pushed on, trying to overcome the obstacle.
Naruto disposed of his breakfast when he finished and was contemplating now what to do for the day. He could pull pranks but he was running out of new pranks to pull, he needed to think of some new ones before he started up again. Then he thought of Hinata, his new friend and was instantly excited and wanted to see her again. While it sucked failing at being a hero yesterday, Hinata was still thankful for his help and it meant a lot to him.
Naruto tried often to help out when people were in trouble, ranging from carrying the shopping for someone to returning a dropped item. Every time the villagers yelled and abused him. Hinata was different, she recognised his good intentions even if it didn't go the way Naruto planned. He decided to go see her again today and spend the day having fun in the park as kids their age do. Naruto put his sandals on and headed out of the apartment that was his home. When he got to street level, he realised he never got an address from Hinata. 'Great, I make a new friend and I don't know even she lives, you know,' thought Naruto 'Maybe Old man Hokage would know, I'll go see him.'
Naruto then headed as fast as he could to the Hokage office, to see if his grandfather figure could help.
Hinata woke up at dawn, naturally, feeling sore from yesterday's spar, bully asskicking and afternoon training. She had a warm shower and got changed, ready for a new day. She was trying to decide what to do for the day, after breakfast. She could train some more, she couldn't bring out the same precise movements that he performed against the bullies however her young muscles were aching and decided to hold off training until the soreness faded.
She then thought about seeing Naruto again. She had fun with him yesterday and felt like that she could be just a normal girl around and all her worries and fears just melted away. She blushed when she thought of his fox like smile and how the whisker marks on his cheeks made him look adorable. She was brought out of her daydream when a familiar voice interrupted.
"Good morning, Lady Hinata" greeted Ko, with a smile "how are you today?"
"G-good morning, K-Ko-san," return Hinata, "I'm f-fine thank y-you. H-how are you?"
"I'm very well Lady Hinata. Listen, I'm going to be looking after your training from now on," said Ko. Hinata was confused, she believed that he would have to train alone seeing now Hanabi had favour to replace Hinata as clan Heiress but she couldn't deny that she was happy. Ko was always kind to Hinata since her mother passed away and even before then.
"I would like you to go find your friend Naruto, after breakfast, today and meet me in the park at 11am. There are some things I want to talk to the two of you about," explained Ko. Hinata nodded her head excitedly and quickly went in the dining room for breakfast. She thought that her new friendship would quickly end because of how the adults treated Naruto but Hinata was happy for being wrong for once.
Hinata finished breakfast and raced out of the compound wanting to find Naruto as quickly as possible. She recalled that neither of them exchanged their addresses and her Byakugan wasn't developed enough to find Naruto in the village. Hinata did remember that the Third Hokage was like a grandfather to Naruto. So Hinata headed for the office to see if the Hokage would be able to help.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, better known to the public as the Third Hokage, was death staring the endless amount of paperwork on his desk. No matter how much he got done in a day, double the amount came the next day. He thought that he could retire and relax, as an old man should, after Minato was named Fourth Hokage. However because of the Nine Tailed Fox attack nearly 6 years ago, Sarutobi was forced to return as the Third. 'Maybe it was best I returned,' thought the Third, 'if someone else stepped in, Naruto definitely wouldn't be the child he is today." Speaking of said child, Naruto burst through the door.
"Hey Old man!" greeted Naruto loudly, with a huge smile on his face. The Third couldn't help but smile at the boy; Naruto really did have a way to lighten up anyone's mood. The Hokage's secretary followed in the room a bit startled from the racket Naruto caused.
"Boy! Be more respectful for the Hokage. My apologies Lord Hokage, I'll remove him from the premises immediately," said the secretary. Sadly, she was one of those that viewed Naruto as the Fox and did everything she could to stop Naruto visiting his surrogate grandfather.
"I assure you, Miss Tsuchi, Naruto is quite welcome here," informed the Hokage "I'm sure that you have more important things to worry about right now." Sarutobi didn't like how everyone instantly berated Naruto; it was like breathing air as a great offence. Miss Tsuchi heard the warning, nodded and left the office.
"Now Naruto," said Sarutobi, focusing on the child "what can I do for you?"
"Oh, oh, guess what Gramps," said Naruto, still very excited "go on guess. I bet you can't get it"
"Guess huh? Ichiraku has run out of ramen?" guessed Sarutobi. Naruto's expression went from smug to complete horror and Sarutobi couldn't help but laugh. Ramen to Naruto was a matter of life and death. He couldn't live without it. The Hokage had a hard time trying to convince Naruto to eat other things rather than ramen all the time, like vegetables. He nearly had heart attack when he did see Naruto eat something healthy but the shock faded just as quick when Naruto had a bowl of ramen straight after.
"It's not funny gramps, so no it's not that you know. I made a friend yesterday, you know," stated Naruto. Sarutobi was taken back a bit. He had always hoped that Naruto would have a group of friends before he entered the Academy, but it seemed that the parents of the children Naruto tried to be friends with previously, had passed their anger and hatred onto them as well, leaving Naruto truly alone. 'Who is this person gracious enough to befriend Naruto?' thought Sarutobi
"Her name is Hinata Hyuga. She's really cool but she is a bit quiet," continued Naruto and carried on telling the Third all he knew about Hinata. While Sarutobi was shocked once again, the last thing he expected was the Hyuga Heiress befriending Naruto. Sarutobi knew that the Hyuga didn't see Naruto as Fox but they didn't associate with him due to his lack of manners and he assumed that Hinata would have instructed to stay away as well in case Naruto influenced her negatively.
"Hey Gramps, are you okay?" asked Naruto. Sarutobi snapped back to reality to find Naruto sitting on his desk, when his little hand on the Hokage's wrinkled forehand, "you just went quiet and sat still, I thought that you d-"
"I'm perfectly fine, my boy" interrupted Sarutobi. Being an old man, he hated it when his family worried about his welfare and he especially hated it the 'd' word was mentioned. He felt like his time was coming closer every time the word was spoken.
"I'm just amazed. The Hyuga Heiress is your new friend, you better not lose that friendship ok?" assured the Hokage
"Don't worry Gramps, I'm going to do everything I can to be the best friend ever" promised Naruto causing Sarutobi to smile. Naruto always had a knack to keep his promises.
"I know you will. So you came to tell me this news did you?" asked Sarutobi
"Not really," said Naruto, intriguing the Old Hokage, "I came to ask you where her house is. I want to see her again today."
Sarutobi understood now why Naruto came to see him. He was about to answer when the office door opened again however Miss Tsuchi didn't appear instead it was Hinata Hyuga.
"E-excuse me, o-oh N-Naruto-kun, w-what are y-you doing here?" asked Hinata; stunned that Naruto was also in the office.
"Huh? I just asked Gramps where you live, so we can hang out today Hinata" returned Naruto, hopping off the desk and walking towards Hinata, "come on, let's go you know. Catch you later Gramps" grabbing Hinata's hand in one of his own and waving bye to the Third with other and left with Hinata in tow.
Sarutobi just sat there, dumbfounded, trying to process what happened. Naruto came in to find out where Hinata lived, to have the young girl herself walk through the door, assuming to ask where Naruto lived, and then for the two of them to disappear in a grand total of 15 minutes. 'Those two be trouble when they are older,' thought the old Hokage. Sighing, he returned to his mountain of paperwork.
Naruto had finally stopped dragging Hinata when they reached the park. No one was in sight. The two had free reign of the play area.
"Come now Hinata, let's play on the swings you know," said Naruto enthusiastically. Hinata was out of breath from trying to keep up with Naruto. For someone who's almost 6 years old, he could run quite fast for a long period of time. She just nodded, unable to speak for the time being. Together, they went over to the swing set and claimed a swing each.
"Let's see who can swing the highest, you know," said Naruto, hoping to start a friendly competition. Hinata became quite nervous after hearing that. She hadn't been on a swing set much, due to her Hyuga upbringing. While she knew how to swing and wasn't afraid of heights, swinging high was something she had never done before.
"N-N-Naruto-kun," called Hinata, her voice very quiet due to her nerves, luckily Naruto managed to hear her.
"What's up Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto. As he looked at Hinata, he noticed that she was quite rigid and seemed scared. It hurt Naruto seeing his only friend afraid and it worried the young boy. The last thing he wanted was Hinata to be scared.
"Hey, Hinata we can do something else if you don't wanna swing, you know," said Naruto, hoping that Hinata would feel better playing on something else. If Hinata was happy, he was happy.
"I-it's not that N-Naruto-kun," replied Hinata, her voice a bit louder now, "it's just that I-I've never swung high before."
"Ah okay," said Naruto, in understanding, "that's alright Hinata-chan. I'll push you." During his alone times in the park, Naruto watched children getting pushed on the swing by their parents, going a little higher with every push or pushing softer if the child didn't like being high up. So Naruto hopped off his swing and stood behind Hinata.
"N-Naruto-kun, y-you don't have to d-do this," protested Hinata, her nerves coming back again. She had only known Naruto for a day and already knew more about him and how kind he was; better than anyone else in the village but that didn't stop her anxiety. This fear of the unknown was greatly affecting Hinata. Her lack of confidence, even with the boost from facing the bullies, helped that fear work on her nervous nature.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'll be right here okay," soothed Naruto, trying to calm Hinata down, "I'll push a little harder every time okay. If you don't like it then just tell me okay, ill push softer so you don't swing as high". Hinata thought about it, Naruto would always be behind her and if she wanted to stop she would just tell him and it will be all right.
"O-okay, but you promise to stop if I ask," confirmed Hinata, she wanted to be absolutely sure; to Hinata this was a leap of faith.
"I promise Hinata-chan. Naruto Uzumaki always keeps his promises, you know" said Naruto. With a nod from Hinata, Naruto began to push. He kept it consistent so Hinata got comfortable. Once she was giggling from the fun, he started to push a little harder. The higher Hinata went, the more fun she had and she never noticed until Naruto stopped her softly.
"W-why did you stop N-Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata, she never had so much fun in her life.
"Because I want to show you how high you were going Hinata-chan," returned Naruto, hopping onto his swing. He started softly to gain some momentum and once he had it, he started swinging himself hard. Hinata was amazed at how high Naruto was going. 'If he tries any harder, he'll be over the top to of the swing set' thought Hinata. Naruto started to slow down then an idea popped into his head, he was swing quite high so he decided to jump off the swing at the peak, to try and impress Hinata.
Hinata was stunned when she saw Naruto jump off the swing, only to laughing shortly after. When Naruto jumped off, he had to correct himself to stick the landing. However he overcorrected, making him lean slightly more forward. The result was he still landed on his feet but the momentum sent him face first into the sand. He pulled his head out, coughing and spitting out sand before joining in with Hinata's laughing.
"That was silly, I almost got it though. Did you see Hinata-chan?" he asked, Naruto was happy that Hinata's nerves had disappeared. She looked like she was having a good time.
"Y-yes I did N-Naruto-kun. You were so close," agreed Hinata, 'maybe I can do that one time,' she thought.
"Well Hinata-chan, you were swinging just as high as I was before I jumped off. When I'm with you, you have nothing to be scared off, you know" pointed out Naruto. Hinata was amazed. She couldn't believe that she swung just as high as Naruto.
"That was quite an impressive display young man" came a new voice. Naruto quickly turned around to find Ko Hyuga walking towards himself and Hinata.
"Hello Mr Ko" greeted Naruto with a wave, Hinata also waved in greeting to Ko.
"It's good to see you're keeping your word Naruto by looking after Lady Hinata," said Ko, with a smile. He had been watching in the distance for a while now. Ko had suspicions that Hinata showed her potential with Naruto around and seeing the encouragement Naruto gave Hinata, the thesis was proven true.
"There is something I wish to talk to the pair of you while you're here," continued Ko kneeling down, once Hinata joined up with himself and Naruto, "Lady Hinata, as I have said to you this morning, I will be taking over your training until you become a Genin and even afterwards. I am also including young Naruto here to join us as well,"
"Woohoo!" yelled Naruto excitedly "what is the training like Mr Ko?"
"Well with the three of us it will be basic fitness training so that you're ready for the academy," explained Ko smirking at the antics of the blonde boy, "however privately I will be training Lady Hinata on the family fighting style which unfortunately you cannot learn Naruto," Naruto hung his head in defeat, obviously wanting to learn how to defend himself, "but that does not mean I cannot teach a basic taijutsu style that is used in the academy. Its better than nothing but when you become a Genin you will learn you own style of taijutsu"
Naruto was ecstatic. He was getting proper training before entering the Ninja Academy and still having his friendship with Hinata. 'This day cannot get any better, you know' he thought. Hinata was also very excited; she knew she could improve with Naruto's encouragement and with Ko's advice and training.
"Now that's out of the way, the fitness training be in this park starting tomorrow at 7am. Be here on time, it will not look good if our future Hokage is late for everything now. With all that said, suggested we retire for the day. Myself and Lady Hinata will see you fresh in the morning Naruto-san," further explained Ko, standing back up.
"Don't worry Mr Ko, the future Hokage will be here on time, you know. I promises," said Naruto, giving a thumbs up sign, "I guess I'll see you in the morning Hinata-chan."
"Y-yes you will. G-goodbye N-Naruto-kun," returned Hinata, as she turned to leave she remembered that they still haven't exchanged address. Hinata to ask Naruto for his but he was already long gone. Sighing in defeat, Hinata turned back to Ko.
"Don't worry Lady Hinata, I have Naruto's address for you," said Ko, Hinata looked up, smiling at him "and he has our address. I put it into his pocket just before. Let's go home.'
Naruto returned to his apartment, retrieving his key from his pocket, he felt a piece of paper there. He pulled it out and opened it with curiosity. It was the Hyuga Compound address. Naruto smiled as he entered his home, waiting for tomorrow to come around.