Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto's True Nindo!

Bold: Naruto's True Nindo by Kyuubi123

Beta: Kyuubi123 ~ !

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Chapter Four

School and the Angel Hyuuga!

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The next morning, after eating their breakfast (or in Kushina's case, delicious ramen), everyone sat down in their places to start the next chapter. Minato could only hope it wouldn't be as stressful as the last chapter. He suddenly felt more depressed and serious than normal. In fact, he had not been himself for a while since, even if it was just two chapters, they brought up a lot of tension and stress from everyone in the room.

"Alright, who's reading next?" Minato asked.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Me! Me! Me, me, me, me, ME!" Obito shouted repeatedly, as he bounced up and down on the floor.

With a chuckle, Minato gave his student the book while Kakashi rolled his eyes.

Clearing his throat and with a grin, Obito read, "Chapter 3…"

Naruto walked toward the academy slightly apprehensive. 'I wonder what this year will be like?' he thought. He knew that he was going to cause a commotion, if for no other reason than the clothes he was wearing. He had abandoned the orange jumpsuit that he used to wear.

"Orange?" Tsunade raised a brow.

"He probably did that to get attention," Obito said softly.

"Or maybe the villagers gave that to him since we already know how badly treated he is by the villagers. I wouldn't put it past them from giving that to him to get him killed," Kakashi said darkly.

This made everyone darken their mood even more.

According to Anko, if he wanted to stick out like a bull's-eye in the field, then wearing bright orange was definitely the way to gain attention.

Obito almost smiled, since Anko did make a comment about that if he truly wanted to gain attention from his clan. Then again, she would have killed him should she see him wearing something that ridiculous.

His clothing now consisted of black pants with dark orange strips along the sides, black ninja sandals, a long sleeve black shirt with an orange spiral on the chest, and a black trench coat that went to his knees given to him by his nee-san.

He now looked like a serious ninja, and he had a year to prove himself and gain the headband of a leaf shinobi.

"Good. Anko did a good job," Tsunade nodded, impressed.

"It also has a bit of orange there as well," Rin said, amused.

As he walked toward the academy, he was met with a mixture of looks. There were still the ever present, hateful and distrustful looks from a majority, but a few were looking at him with confusion. They couldn't figure out why he was wearing new clothes and his new attitude.

"Oh now they look at him just because of the different clothing he now wears!" Kushina growled as her hair began to stick out slowly, almost looking like Kyuubi's nine tails.

Minato, noticing Kyuubi's chakra along with her own starting to sprout itself, quickly brought her into his arms, which, much to everyone's relief, calmed her and her chakra down.

"Are you alright?" Minato whispered in her ear.

Kushina shivered and blushed. She slowly nodded meekly and quickly buried herself against his chest to hide her blush. Too bad that Minato already noticed, but didn't dare comment about it. He found it too adorable, his girlfriend's embarrassment.

"I'm fine," Kushina's voice interrupted his thoughts. "You can continue Obito,"

Naruto noticed the new looks, but paid them no mind. He was still thinking about the academy.

When Naruto finally reached the doors of the academy, he stopped for a moment. 'Okay, the old Naruto is gone. Now it's time to finally take my role as a ninja seriously. Heh, I can't wait until they get a look at me now.' Naruto thought with a smirk. He opened the doors and headed toward his future.

Obito nodded in agreement. He was also curious how the others from Naruto's class were going to react. He was, especially, glad about Naruto's change, so he would not continue to go on in the lonely life like he did. Many times before he wanted to change and drop the mask used to hide his loneliness like Anko had wanted, but couldn't seem to do it. He was, at least, glad that Kushina's son did change and finally take control over his life, and ignore the bad treatment the village was putting him through.

Kushina, herself, was proud of her son and hoped that her son was going to walk a much better life like her.

'I wonder…will my Naru-chan find the love of someone that will help him through the darkness of Kyuubi's chakra like I did?' Kushina wondered. For it had been Minato who pulled her through the dark times of her loneliness. His love helped her fight through her own darkness that was created by Kyuubi's chakra.

Iruka looked at the students before him. He could tell that this year's crop of students would be the best the village had seen in a long time. There was one child from each of the predominate clans in the village. Iruka looked at the potential ninja and saw a bright future for the village, but he noticed one student missing.

'Where is Naruto?' Iruka thought hoping that the child hadn't quit.

This made Kushina, Tsunade, and Rin beam with bright smiles.

Obito for his part, immediately grabbed a hold of his list of people whom everyone would thank and favor and wrote down a star next to Iruka's name. He had known the brown haired boy for some time and had already liked him as he'd gotten to know him. He was a good kid with such kindness that held no prejudice, which was rare to find in the shinobi world.

'I'm definitely going to find him and make him my new friend, especially from how much respect Naruto has for him,' Obito thought with a grin.

Iruka saw a lot of himself in the child. They were both orphans who strived to have acceptance.

This made everyone froze in their seats as the words echoed in their heads repeatedly.

They were both orphans who strived to have acceptance.

both orphans…

orphans…

"SAY WHAT!"

"Orphans? Naruto is an orphan? Why! What happened to me? Is that why I'm not mentioned?" Kushina shouted as tears spilled down her eyes. She distraughtly buried herself in her love's chest as she cried for her lonely son. The mere thought of leaving her son alone in the world broke her heart.

Minato paled as he brought his princess closer to him. He could feel something break inside him. He had hoped, beyond anything, that nothing happened to his love, but to know that Naruto was an orphan… No...NO! It can't be! Kami-sama couldn't be cruel enough to take away the most amazing woman in the world away from her son, who had the same childhood as his mother, maybe more so. This was not fair for either Uzumaki to go through this pain and heartache in their lives! He did not care what happened to him as long as Kushina lived and was able to go on with her son, who needed her more than he did.

The Namikaze wrapped his arms around his love as he too let his own tears come out. He wept for the love of his life and for her son for all the pain they had gone through, and upon the separation, they would surely go through in the future.

The rest weren't better than they were. They too couldn't stop their own tears; even Kakashi couldn't stop them. They too couldn't help but feel that it wasn't fair for both of the Uzumakis. To go through the same childhood of loneliness and hatred was not right!

"We've got to continue on. Remember we're changing this, Kushina. Those two did give us the book to change everything and stop events such as this. So don't give up Kushina," Tsunade said firmly, yet gently to everyone, especially to the distraught Uzumaki princess.

Kushina nodded but stayed firmly against her love's protective arms. "Y-you may continue, Obito," She said, her voice cracked as her tears slowly started to stop flowing.

Obito nodded weakly, equally stunned and saddened and continued with a subdued yet determined voice.

At first, he hated Naruto because of the Kyuubi, but that soon changed when he got to know the child. Iruka sighed, he knew that Naruto had a lot of potential; he just didn't have anyone who could bring it out.

This made everyone smile, even Kushina although a bit small. They could see that Iruka actually looked past the Kyuubi and actually did try to see the boy. The young man definitely had gotten their respect unlike most of the village. Obito, especially, nodded and was proven again of Iruka's kindness and anti-prejudice.

'Yup, I'm definitely going to be friends with Iruka,' Obito thought.

"Alright, quiet down. It's time for roll call." Iruka said.

"Kiba Inuzuka,"

"Inuzuka?" Minato blinked by surprised. "You don't think that he might be Tsume's son do you? It will most likely explain it since Tsume's one of our classmates who are clan heirs,"

"I almost forgotten that we might get a chance to learn about knowing our old classmates' children," Kushina said quietly as Minato nodded in agreement.

"Here" a boy with a dog on his head said.

"Shino Aburame"

"Shibi's son," Kushina said, as she finally sat up. She was a bit calmer, but still a bit subdued.

Minato nodded and rubbed his love's arms gently.

"Present" said a boy with sunglasses and a trench coat that covered everything but his upper face and head.

"Sasuke Uchiha"

"Fugaku's son," Minato grimaced.

Obito tensed as his jaw tightened. He almost found himself thinking back upon a very bad memory. Inside, he shivered in fear. He thought back when he last talked to his uncle a few weeks ago. If his sensei or the Hokage ever found out what Fugaku and the Uchiha were planning to do in the future…He didn't even want to think about.

"Here" said a boy dressed in a blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back and white shorts.

"Sakura Haruno"

Minato frowned. "I don't know anyone by the name Haruno," He said.

"Most likely a civilian," Kakashi answered.

Everyone almost jumped, since they'd almost forgotten he was there since he had been so quiet.

"Here" said a girl with bright pink hair who was currently staring at the Uchiha with love in her eyes.

"Ino Yamanaka"

"Inoichi," Minato and Kushina said.

"Here" said a girl with blonde hair in a ponytail, and a purple outfit, who was also staring at the Uchiha with love in her eyes.

'Fan girls.' Iruka thought with a sigh.

"I totally agree with him," Minato said with a grimace as he and Kakashi shivered.

Rin blushed, when she realized she was a bit like that with Kakashi. Obito noticed this, and had to keep a hold on his emotions along with the tightened pain in his chest.

"Choji Akimichi"

"Chōza," Minato and Kushina said.

"Here" said a large boy with brown hair and a bag of chips in his hand, which he was currently eating.

"Shikamaru Nara"

"Shikaku," Minato and Kushina said.

"Troublesome" said a boy with black hair that was in a high ponytail and a bored expression on his face.

"Hinata Hyuuga"

"Hiashi," Minato grimaced again, but intrigued. He didn't expect that the Hyuuga Heir was going to gain an Heiress. This should be interesting.

"Here" said a girl with blue hair, lavender eyes with no pupils, and who was wearing a beige coat that covered everything to her waist as well as blue pants.

"Hmm, she sounds insecure and shy. The exact opposite of Hiashi," Kushina observed.

Minato nodded with widened eyes.

"Naruto Uzumaki" Iruka called. There was no answer and the children started to comment.

"The dope must have dropped out." Sasuke said.

"WHAT! Why that no good teme, 'ttebane!" Kushina growled.

Obito slumped, which Rin and Kakashi immediately noticed. They could see the slight, almost unnoticeable, wince and sadness expressed in his normally cheerful black eyes. They both began to wonder what the boy's problem was.

"Yeah, that's right, he couldn't do anything right anyway." Said Ino.

Kushina growled like a vixen protecting her kitsune.

"Iniochi better teach his daughter properly or Kushina is going to go Kyuubi on her," Jiraiya muttered toward Tsunade, who nodded in agreement with a sweat drop.

'This is great, with Naruto gone now I won't have anyone bugging me and Sasuke will be all mine' Sakura thought.

"WHY THAT NO GOOD LITTLE—!" Before Kushina could let out a few colorful words that little kids or teenagers should never hear, Minato quickly covered her mouth. He was lucky enough not to get burned because of Kyuubi's chakra suddenly growing due to Kushina's anger.

"That Haruno girl better watch it too," Tsunade sweat dropped.

Every one of the students were thinking along the same lines as Sasuke and Ino except one.

Kushina merely growled while glaring at the book.

'Naruto-kun, where are you? I know that you would never give up' Hinata thought. She had had a crush on the young boy since they entered the academy.

This immediately grabbed Kushina's attention. She suddenly felt a deja vu upon that sentence.

"My son has someone crushing on him, dattebane?" Kushina asked excitedly. The fact that someone had a crush on her son, who had to live in nothing but loneliness and hatred, brought joy and excitement inside of her. After all, what she'd learned to this point of her son's life worried her. For she remembered what Mito, the first Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, had told her that love was the thing to tame the Kyuubi from its hate. Minato had been one who helped her keep the Kyuubi at bay while her son, so far, didn't have anyone. She hoped beyond anything that this girl would be the one to help save her son from falling too deep into his own darkness within him and show what love truly is.

With this hopeful thought, it brought her out of her depression, even though it was still there.

"So it seems," Tsunade said, amused.

"Let's hope he isn't dense like Minato was when Kushina had a crush on him," Rin said slyly with a teasing smile.

"If he is Kushina's son…let's hope that he doesn't," Jiraiya said with snigger along with Obito.

Kakashi merely rolled his eyes, but there was some amusement shining inside of them.

Minato blushed and pouted at everyone's teasing.

His will to never give up as well as his cheerful personality gave the girl confidence in herself.

Suddenly the doors of the classroom opened, and in walked Naruto.

"Sorry I'm late Iruka-sensei" Naruto said.

"That's okay Naruto, just don't let it happen again" Iruka said sternly, even though he was relieved that the child had shown up.

'Oh yes, I better make a mental note to treat this Iruka especially nice,' Kushina thought with a smile.

As Iruka continued calling names, Naruto looked for an open seat. He saw one by Sakura and one by Hinata. (Kushina crossed her fingers; hoping that Naruto chooses the kind and shy girl instead of the pink haired girl.) While in the past he wouldn't have thought twice before sitting next to his crush Sakura, he had changed from the child he once was.

"Thank Kami-sama," Jiraiya muttered. He too didn't like the pink haired girl that much either.

He realized that he only talked to Sakura because she would always pay attention to him. Granted she would hit him every time and call him names, but that didn't matter to him. In his mind, she was one of the most popular students and she acknowledged him somewhat. That made her the ideal person for him to try and date.

However, things had changed. He no longer strived for the attention of those that didn't like him, and Sakura had made it abundantly clear that she didn't like him. So with that in mind he walked past the seat beside Sakura and headed towards Hinata.

"YES! That Sakura girl has no idea the opportunity she just missed," Kushina grinned. She found herself wishing the Hyuuga girl good luck. She could see how different she was compared to the rest of the other stuck up Hyuugas.

'Oh no Naruto-kun is headed towards me. Is he really going to sit beside me? What am I going to do?' thought the extremely shy girl. She may have liked Naruto for years but she could never say anything to him. She was so shy that even being around him could cause her to faint and when she did talk, it was normally in a stutter.

"Aww! How cute!" Kushina cooed.

Minato almost snorted. The Hyuuga Heiress reminded him a bit like Kushina in their younger years when she had a crush on him. He could easily remember Kushina's blushing moments. He had thought she was weird until now, as he now found them endearing and cute.

Naruto sat down beside Hinata. Hinata had never been mean to him. When he thought about it, she was probably one of the only people at the academy who didn't call him a failure or look down on him. He really didn't know that much about her except that she was a part of the Hyuga clan and possessed the Byakugan. He had studied up on all of the clans during the break.

"Obito!" Kushina suddenly shouted. This made everyone jump.

"Y-yeah?" Obito asked, looking curiously at the Uzumaki princess.

"Where'd you put the list of people we'll count on in the future?" Kushina asked.

"Um…I have it right here," Obito answered while bringing out the scroll.

"May I have it for a moment please?" Kushina asked politely.

"Uh…sure," Obito nodded, confused and handed the scroll out to Kushina.

Everyone watched as she took the scroll and suddenly brought out a brush and ink. Where she had gotten those they wouldn't know, but they continued to watch curiously, as she wrote something down. Minato, who still held her in his arms, chuckled after watching her write down a name on the scroll with a large heart in front of it:

Hinata Hyuuga

"Are you already planning an early match making for your son?" Minato whispered with an amused grin.

Kushina blushed but just gave him a cheeky grin right back. "Maybe~," She said slyly. "You may continue Obito,"

"Hey Hinata, you don't mind if I sit here do you?" Naruto asked kindly. He still didn't know what Hinata thought of him and was hoping that they could become friends.

"More than friends, hopefully," Kushina muttered.

Hinata, for her part, couldn't even look at Naruto before a blush came to her face and she began to twiddle her index fingers. "S-s-sure, N-n-naruto-k-kun" she said quietly.

A huge smile of relief came to Naruto's face. "Thanks a lot Hinata." He said. Hinata's blushed intensified and she broke eye contact with Naruto and stared at her desk.

Jiraiya and Obito snorted, and then laughed uncontrollably.

Everyone looked at them as if they have gone insane.

"What's so amusing?" Tsunade asked; a bit annoyed with the interruption.

"I-it's just," Obito started then fell back as he laughed uncontrollably again.

"The boy is as oblivious as Minato!" Jiraiya finally blurted out as he and Obito continued to laugh.

Everyone blinked until laughter filled the room, except for the pouting and embarrassed Namikaze. Even Kakashi was laughing hysterically upon the truth of Jiraiya's words.

"That's not funny!" Minato whined with an embarrass blush.

After finally calming down, Obito continued where they left off with a few sniggers under his breath.

While this was going on, everyone in the class stared at Naruto dumbfounded. Not only had he gotten rid of that horrid jumpsuit, but he completely ignored the seat beside Sakura, and sat beside Hinata. Even Iruka was stunned. Naruto had just passed up a chance to sit beside the girl that everyone knew he had a crush on only to sit beside the girl that had a crush on him.

"A good thing too," Rin said with Kushina and Tsunade nodded in agreement.

'Well that's pretty ironic. What's gotten into you Naruto?' Iruka thought.

Naruto finally noticed the looks he was receiving and was confused at it. "Why are all of you staring at me?" he asked.

"What's up with you Naruto? Why are you wearing those cloths?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, stop trying to look cool like Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

Kushina snorted. "Oh please! If he's anything like Fugaku-teme then I'll say that girl's either blind or an idiot," She said. She was no fan of the Uchiha, especially for his hunger for more power.

Everyone expected Naruto to act hurt at Sakura's words and try to get a date. Naruto once again surprised them by not responding.

"Alright, that's enough." Iruka said. He hated how the kids always seemed to pick on Naruto, but he was surprised at how Naruto was controlling himself. "Let's go outside, we are going to start with testing how you have improved over the break."

After everyone had arrived at the training field Iruka broke them up between boys and girls. He had them line up and stand in front of the targets.

This made everyone sat up in attention. They were curious how skilled the new generation were going to be, especially Naruto.

"Okay, you will be given 5 kunai and 5 shuriken. I want you to throw them at the targets." Iruka said.

The boy's went first. Shikamaru simply threw them, not caring where they hit and went to take a nap under a tree. Choji hit the target with 3 of his kunai and 2 of his shuriken. Shino was able to hit the bull's eye with 1 kunai, the others landed close, and hit the target with all of his shuriken. Kiba did the same as Choji, which was expected as neither of their respective clan techniques relied heavily on throwing projectiles. Sasuke stepped up, much to the joy of every female except Hinata, and took his position. He threw all of the kunai and shuriken at the same time and hit the bull's eye with all five of the kunai and four of the shuriken.

'Sasuke-kun is so amazing' every girl thought, once again with the exception of Hinata.

Everyone snorted.

"Yup, it seems that most of the clan Heirs definitely have their parent's talents and personality," Kushina commented dryly.

Minato chuckled.

Obito rolled his eyes upon the fan-girls' thoughts.

"Good job Sasuke, a near perfect score. Naruto it's your turn now." Iruka said.

Naruto stepped into position. "Try to actually hit something this time, dope." Sasuke said as he passed Naruto. Everyone expected Naruto to explode and fire back a retort, but Naruto stayed focused and didn't respond.

"So…he did act a lot like you, Kushina," Minato said, amused.

Kushina pouted then slapped her boyfriend's arm.

Naruto picked up all of the kunai threw them all at once. Then he did the same with the shuriken. Everyone had to pick their jaws off of the ground when they saw that every one of the projectiles had landed in the bull's eye.

"Yeah! Go Naruto!" Everyone, except for the bored Kakashi, cheered.

"How was that Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked with a self-satisfied look on his face.

"That was amazing Naruto! You just got a perfect score." Iruka exclaimed with pride. He didn't know how Naruto had improved so quickly, but he was happy that he was progressing.

"Don't look so smug Naruto! You were just lucky, you're still not as good as Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. Many of the other students agreed but a few were looking at Naruto in a new light.

"Why that—! That Haruno better watch her mouth!" Kushina growled.

Tsunade and Rin nodded in agreement while glaring at the book along with her.

Obito sweated in fear upon the large killing intent the women were sending toward him since he was the one who was holding the book. Jiraiya, Minato, and even Kakashi looked at the Uchiha in pity.

Naruto ignored them and started walking back to the end of the line with a smile on his face. Naruto saw Hinata looking at him with a small smile of approval. This brought an even larger smile to Naruto's face, which in turn brought a large blush to Hinata's face.

'I wonder why she does that.' Naruto thought.

Jiraiya, Obito, and Kakashi snorted.

Tsunade, Kushina, and Rin giggled.

Minato blushed and glared at his amused girlfriend, sensei, Tsunade, and his Gennin team.

The girls went next. Sakura was able to hit the target with three of her kunai and 2 of her shuriken.

"How did I do Sasuke-kun?" She asked. Sasuke for his part simply ignored her.

When it was Hinata's turn, she looked at the bull's eye and saw that Naruto was looking at her.

'Oh no, Naruto-kun is looking at me what if I mess up? What if he thinks that I'm a failure?' she thought as her hand started to shake.

"He won't think that! Come on Hinata-chan! You can do it, dattebane!" Kushina cheered along with Obito and Rin.

Kakashi merely rolled his eyes.

Naruto noticed that Hinata was shaking slightly. He walked up to her and grabbed her hand to stop it from shaking.

"Do your best Hinata." He said with a small smile.

Hinata barely heard his words as she was frozen from the fact that her crush was holding her hand, and was desperately trying not to faint. 'Naruto-kun is holding my hand' she thought with a blush that threatened to spread over her whole body.

'Must not faint, Must not faint.' she told herself.

Kushina squealed upon and found the Hyuuga girl even more adorable. She wasn't usually like this, but she couldn't help it. There was just so much irony upon her son's life, and she felt like laughing about it.

Naruto noticed that Hinata had failed to respond. He saw that she had a dazed look on her face.

"Hinata you okay?" he asked.

Hinata snapped out of her stupor and looked at Naruto.

"Y-y-yes." She stuttered.

"Hinata, you're up." Iruka called.

Hinata quickly ran to her spot leaving a confused Naruto behind.

"Man she's weird." Naruto said.

Jiraiya and Kushina sweat dropped.

"Now…doesn't that sound familiar," Kushina said to her boyfriend with an amused grin.

Minato blushed and just stuck his tongue at her.

Hinata looked at the target and became nervous again until she looked at Naruto and saw a smile of encouragement on his face. Suddenly feeling more confident, she threw her kunai and shuriken. Three of her kunai hit the target with one hitting the bull's eye. Four of her shuriken hit the target, though none hit the bull's eye.

"Way to go Hinata-chan!" Kushina, Obito and Rin cheered.

"Good job Hinata. You have the highest score of the girls and Naruto has the highest score of the boys. Alright let's go to the obstacle course." Iruka said.

While everyone followed Iruka, Naruto walked toward Hinata.

'Naruto-kun is coming this way. What if he thinks that I didn't do well?' Hinata thought, suddenly afraid of his reaction.

"That was great Hinata!" Naruto said with a smile.

"Good, good," Jiraiya nodded. "Always give compliments to the ladies,"

Tsunade and Minato rolled their eyes.

"Like he would know how to compliment a woman," Tsunade muttered.

Hinata blushed and started to twiddle her fingers. "T-t-thank you N-n-naruto-kun. I think that you did great as well." She said.

Naruto was stunned for a second. Other than a few people, no one usually complimented him. Hinata was the first person in his age group who had actually given him a compliment and it made him happy.

Everyone smiled, although a bit sadly at the reminder of the boy's neglected life.

"Thanks Hinata. Come on we have to get to the obstacle course." Naruto said with a small but genuine smile on his face. He then grabbed her hand the close contact, however, caused Hinata to faint.

Everyone found themselves amused by this.

"I bet Naruto is going to be clueless about this," Jiraiya said with a snort.

"Oh? And why is that?" Tsunade asked, lifting an eyebrow but already knew the answer. She just felt like teasing the Namikaze a bit more upon the irony of Kushina's son's life.

"Because we already figured out that Naruto is just as oblivious and dense as Minato," Jiraiya said with a teasing smirk.

"You're right about that," Everyone agreed, except for Minato.

"Would you guys quit it!" Minato glared at his sensei, who merely grinned back.

"What happened to her?" Naruto said. He picked her up and began to run to Iruka.

"Yup, so much like Minato," Jiraiya said, and shook his head sadly like it was a lost cause.

Everyone, sans Minato, laughed.

"If you don't shut up, Jiraiya-sensei, I will tell Tsunade what you did three days ago," Minato warned, with a very mischievous smirk.

"What?" Tsunade shouted and turned to the fearful and pale Toad Sage. "What did Minato mean by that, Jiraiya!"

"Nothing!" Jiraiya squeaked out. "Obito keep reading!"

To avoid any bloodshed, Obito continued which saved the Sennin for the time being.

At the obstacle course, Iruka looked at his students and noticed that Hinata and Naruto were missing, until he saw Naruto running towards him with Hinata in his arms.

"Iruka-sensei, Hinata suddenly collapsed! Do you think I should take her to the nurse?" Naruto asked worriedly. Hinata seemed to be someone who would be his friend and he didn't want anything to happen to her.

Kushina smiled at this and knew exactly how her son felt. She wished that was never the case, but she was quite happy for her son to have someone as kind as the Hyuuga Heiress.

'She's like my son's angel to bring light to his dark and lonely life,' She thought.

Iruka could only smile. Only Naruto would be oblivious to Hinata's crush on him.

Jiraiya almost agreed out loud, but then remembered Minato's threat and quickly held his tongue.

"She'll be fine Naruto. Just give her some room." Iruka said with a smile.

Naruto placed her under a tree and went to stand in line. When Hinata woke up, she looked around to see everyone in line to take the obstacle course. She hurriedly got into line behind Naruto.

"Hey Hinata you feeling better?" Naruto asked concerned.

'He cares about how I feel? Oh kami, if this is a dream please don't wake me up.' Hinata thought.

"Y-yes Naruto-kun, I feel better." She said.

"I'm glad." Naruto said as he went to take the obstacle course.

Everyone sat up and leaned forward. They wanted to see how much the boy improved.

'You can do it Naru-chan, 'ttebane!' Kushina cheered silently.

"Naruto-kun do your best." Hinata said with a blush.

Naruto looked at her and once again felt happy that someone in his class actually believed in him.

Kushina, Tsunade, and Rin smiled.

"I will Hinata." He said kindly.

After the obstacle course, the students went outside to have lunch while the teachers evaluated their scores.

Naruto looked around for a place to sit when he saw Hinata sitting all by herself.

'Hinata has been the only person to be nice to me today. I wonder why.' Naruto thought. He wasn't used to being accepted and acknowledged, especially from his peers, so he was interested in why Hinata was so nice toward him when everyone else treated him with indifference or scorn.

Kushina smiled then scowled at the last part about how her son's classmates treated him during his academy years.

Despite their own annoyance, everyone else couldn't help but look at Kushina in amusement. Her change of expressions was funny.

"Hey Hinata, do you mind if I eat with you?" Naruto asked while walking toward her.

Hinata snapped out of her thoughts. She was thinking about how Naruto had seemed to be so different today.

"Different?" Kushina blinked in confusion.

"Hold on, it explains here," Obito said.

He was quieter, more reserved, much better at throwing projectiles, and if what she had heard from Iruka-sensei whisper to another teacher, then Naruto had done very well on the obstacle course as well.

"He really did get your personality, Hime," Minato said, amused.

Kushina smiled proudly.

"It seems that Anko's training is paying off," Obito said cheerfully.

Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

Another thing that she had noticed was Naruto's smile.

'His smile…?' Kushina and Obito thought with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

While Naruto used to smile at seemingly everything in the past, even if it was ridicule, that smile seemed fake to her somehow. She noticed how Naruto never had his eyes open when he gave that smile.

This froze Obito but then relaxed himself so that no one would notice. Unfortunately, Rin and Kakashi noticed. Rin looked at her teammate with a worried expression.

She could see the sadness that he tried to had behind that smile and it made her sad that he had to hide his emotions. She was also upset at herself for not being able to comfort him when he was sad because of her own insecurities.

"She's really observant," Tsunade noted.

"And very kind too," Kushina smiled softly. She didn't blame the girl for not approaching her son earlier given from what she knew so far about the girl. The fact that Hinata was able to push her shyness aside to give some support to her son was enough for her. She simply adored the Hyuuga Heiress. 'She would make a perfect wife for my Naru-chan and a perfect daughter-in-law,'

The smile that Naruto had now, however, was not as large as his previous smiles, nor did they appear as frequently, but she could see that these smiles were more real. They didn't hide his pain. They expressed his joy and happiness. She much preferred the smiles that he used now.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

She looked up at Naruto. "I d-don't m-mind Naruto-kun" she said with a small smile as well as a blush.

Naruto sat down and began to eat. He was glad that Hinata didn't seem to mind him at all. Everyone else still picked at him and called him names,

Kushina growled at this.

but Hinata didn't. She didn't seem to judge him and actually encouraged him. He still didn't understand why she would blush so much around him or why she always seemed to stutter,

Everyone, but Minato, snorted.

Minato merely sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance, but he too couldn't help feeling amused upon his girlfriend's son's life so much like his mother's and himself.

"I'm beginning to lose hope that your son is going to catch on to Hinata-chan's feelings, Kushina," Tsunade said, exasperated.

but so far, she was the friendliest student in his class towards him.

They sat in silence for a long time until Naruto decided to ask the question that had been bugging him from the beginning of the class.

"Hey Hinata, not that I don't mind but why are you different than the other students?" he asked.

Hinata looked at him in fear. 'Oh no does he mean that he thinks that I'm weird or that I'm not as good as everyone else?' she thought.

"She's very insecure," Tsunade frowned in concern.

Kushina agreed with a concerned frown of her own.

"I mean, you don't look at me with indifference or ridicule me. You actually congratulated me when everyone else tried to put me down. Why do you act so differently toward me?" Nartuo asked with confusion. He couldn't understand why Hinata would be so nice to him. She didn't even know him and yet she was the only one to look at him with kindness and approval. He couldn't care less about what the others students seemed to think about the new him. They went right back to ridiculing him, excluding him, and treating him like an idiot. They were just like the villagers in his opinion, but Hinata was different and he wanted to understand why.

"Oh Naru-chan," Kushina shook her head in amusement, but understanding.

Hinata was at a lost as to what to say. She certainly couldn't tell Naruto that she had a crush on him and at the same time, she didn't want to fail to respond. He might take her silence the wrong way.

'I can't tell him my feelings, but I also don't want to hurt his feelings by staying silent. What should I do?' Hinata thought.

"Why don't you just tell him?" Obito asked with a confused expression.

Rin, Tsunade, and Kushina rolled their eyes upon the boy's question.

Thankfully, she was saved from answering when the bell rang. Hinata let out a sigh of relief as she stood up.

"I t-think t-that we s-should get back to class N-naruto-kun." She said.

Naruto could see that she was relived for the distraction. He didn't want to pry. He would accept her friendliness and wouldn't pressure her. If she wanted to tell him her reasons than that was her decision.

Minato nodded approvingly. It would not do to pressure the kind girl.

"It's okay Hinata; you don't have to tell me. Just tell me, would you like to be my friend." Naruto asked quietly, afraid that she might not want to be friends with someone like him.

Hinata was currently on cloud nine. Naruto, her crush Naruto, wanted her as a friend. She was so happy that she almost fainted, but she knew that he might take that as a rejection and that knowledge kept her conscious.

"I w-would l-like that Naruto-kun." She said with a small smile and blush on her face.

A wide smile appeared on Naruto's face. He had made his first friend and the day wasn't even over yet!

"Great! We'll be the best of friends Hinata." He said "Come on we don't want to late to class."

"H-hai" Hinata said, also happy about the recent development.

"This really reminds me of you two," Tsunade said, pointing at Minato and Kushina.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they actually do get together. You know what they say about opposites attract," Jiraiya said, amused.

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin nodded in agreement.

The rest of the day went smoothly for Naruto. His grade in the obstacle course was right behind Sasuke's. His massive improvement, coupled with his new attitude caused many to question what was up with Naruto. He nearly caused an uproar when he started answering some of the questions in class correctly.

Everyone snorted.

When the day came to an end, Iruka decided to find out what caused such an improvement. He saw Naruto talking to Hinata.

"Hey Naruto wait up." He said.

Naruto looked up at Iruka. "Huh, okay Iruka-sensei. I'll see you tomorrow Hinata." He said with a wide grin that caused the poor girl to blush from head to toe.

The women and girl giggled. The man and boys who weren't smart rolled their eyes. Minato winced upon hearing the smacks Jiraiya, Obito, and Kakashi received.

"O-okay N-naruto-kun." She said as she left. To her this was one of the best days she had had in a long time.

'What does she mean by that?' Obito frowned while still rubbing his bruised head.

After she had left Iruka confronted Nartuo.

"Naruto, what happened over the break? You stopped wearing such bright colors; you don't react to the student when they pick on you, your skills have improved drastically, and you actually participate during the lecture." Iruka said.

Naruto looked at Iruka for a while before answering.

"The day I failed the genin exam for the second time, I met a man. He told me that I shouldn't care what those who don't care about me think or say. I only need to concern myself with those who actually care for me for who I am. That's why I don't respond to their taunts.

"Good," Everyone nodded in agreement.

As long as those who are precious to me believe in me and are proud of me than that's all I need. You were always like a big brother to me Iruka-sensei so I hold your opinion of me in high esteem. I know you don't think that I'm a loser or a drop-out and that's enough for me.

Kushina beamed at this.

The man also told me that I didn't know what it meant to be Hokage and he was right. So I asked the old man what it really meant to be the Hokage. I now know that being Hokage isn't about the title or the respect that comes with the job; it's about caring about the people of this village and being willing to protect them. That's why I'm going to become Hokage for, so that I can defend and protect all those that are precious to me." Naruto said with an intense expression on his face.

Everyone, but Kakashi who merely smirked, smiled proudly for the boy.

"As for my skills, well you can thank me nee-san for that." Naruto said.

This time it was Obito who beamed much to Rin's confusion and mixed turmoil.

Iruka was very impressed. Naruto was changing for the better right before his eyes. He asked many questions. Such as whom the man was, what else he had learned over the break, and who his nee-san was.

"By order, we don't know," Obito listed.

"He basically learned some taijutsu, endurance, speed, patience, chakra control, and some basic knowledge of our village," Rin continued.

When there was a few seconds of silence, Obito and Rin turned to Kakashi, who raised an eye-brow and looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"No," Kakashi answered the unasked order.

"Aw come on, Kakashi! It's not all that all that hard! All you have to do is say the name," Obito said irritably.

"He's right Kakashi-kun," Rin said.

"The answer is still 'no'," Kakashi glared.

Soon enough, Kakashi watched as Obito's expression changed into a mischief grin with a foreboding glint in his eyes.

"If you won't do it then I guess I'll have to tell Gai that you have challenged him into another youthful challenge," Obito said with the famous and unusable Uchiha smirk.

Kakashi tried to hide it, but everyone could see sudden change of skin color turn much paler and nervous sweat began to drip.

"You wouldn't dare," Kakashi glared at the smirking Uchiha.

"You know I would. I have great connections with Gai, remember?" Obito said smoothly.

Rin couldn't help but giggle at this. It seemed that the tides had turned.

"This is so stupid," Kakashi muttered then said, "Naruto's nee-san is Anko,"

"See~! It wasn't that hard," Obito said teasingly.

Kakashi merely glared at the satisfied Uchiha.

He was very surprised with the answers. Naruto didn't know the identity of the man; his chakra control had improved drastically, he had learned the henge and replacement jutsu, his taijutsu was something that he wanted to keep secret, and while Naruto couldn't caste a genjutsu, he could dispel one with a chakra pulse. Iruka's eyes nearly left his head when he found out that Anko was the women that Naruto thought of as a sister.

"My Naruto you have improved a great deal. You may even be able to make rookie of the year if you keep it up. So to celebrate your first day how about we go get some ramen." He said.

Naruto's face lit up. "That would be great Iruka-sensei." He said as he walked to the front door.

"Ah, ramen…" Kushina said dreamily.

Everyone sweat dropped at the drool that slowly began to form from the corner of her mouth.

"One thing though Naruto." Iruka said stopping him. "What's up between you and Hinata?" Iruka said with a small smile on his face.

"Huh? Oh well Hinata agreed to be my friend. She is the only one who has been nice to me. She doesn't make fun of me, she congratulates me when I do something well, and she just seems like a nice person." Naruto said, not really comprehending what Iruka-sensei was trying to infer.

Everyone but Minato tried to stifle their laughter to stop the silent fuming Namikaze. As much as Minato was known to be calm and kind, they all knew that his temper could rival Kushina's, which is rare to see.

Iruka had the same smile on his face. Saying nothing he walked past Naruto toward the ramen stand.

'Maybe you'll understand her feelings toward you one day Naruto.' He thought.

"Let's hope so," Jiraiya muttered quietly so that he wasn't heard from his student.

And so things went in the academy for six months. Naruto continued to score high in the class for projectiles, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, though he refrained from using the dragon style as he wanted to save that for the graduation exam.

Minato nodded approvingly. "He's really like a shinobi now," He said.

"I agree. A shinobi shouldn't reveal his secrets and keep them wrapped. Not to mention it won't do to be a show off," Tsunade commented.

"Not to mention that the council might make him reveal the scroll and give it to them," Jiraiya frowned.

So when it came time for taijutsu he simply used one of the many styles that made up the dragon style, and while it was nowhere near perfect, he was proficient enough to be in the upper part of the class when it came to taijutsu. His progression had gained the attention of many of the students and teachers. Many teachers were wondering how he had progressed so quickly and were evaluating their treatment of him, especially when Iruka was around. He never condoned what they did to Naruto and would defend him against anyone who tried to speak ill of him.

Naruto and Iruka's relationship progressed to the point that they went for ramen almost every night. Naruto had begun to call him Iruka-nii-san.

"I'm glad that Naruto is building his own family," Kushina said with sad, yet happy, smile.

Minato kissed the top of her head. He knew this would be hard for Kushina, especially of how much of Naruto's life seemed so much like Kushina's own childhood. Unfortunately, while he and Kushina were able to experience the love of their own parents before they died when they were still young, Naruto did not experience the same pleasure in his lonely orphan life. This brought an ache inside his chest upon the unfair fate of his love's son. Even if the boy wasn't his, Minato cared for him, who held so much of Kushina's personality. He began to wonder where he was and how could he let something like this happen to Kushina's son.

Interestingly enough, Anko would pick Naruto up of Friday so that they could begin training, and Naruto was sure that he had never seen Iruka blush as bright as he did when he saw Anko, nor had he ever seen Anko express such an interest in a man. Many times he found himself being asked by one about the other.

"Hey! Wait just a second," Obito began to protest.

Everyone turned toward the Uchiha with a confused expression.

"Iruka can't have a crush on Anko just like that before he gets my permission!" Obito pouted.

"And why is that?" Kakashi inquired.

"As her best friend and brother, it is my right!" Obito grumbled.

"Brother?" Everyone shouted in shock.

Obito rolled his eyes. "Not my actual blood related sister guys. We've been very close friends that we refer each other as siblings—twins in fact. Just like Naruto's and Anko's relationship," He explained.

"Oh,"

Rin, for some reason, felt relieved and her heart fluttered in delight.

Naruto and Hinata friendship had progressed as well, albeit slowly. They became more comfortable around each other which caused Hinata to lose her stutter. She did, however, still blush around naruto but she rarely fainted unless he were to hug her in excitement or do something else along the same lines.

Minato found himself chuckling at this. Despite all the annoying teasing, he admitted that this was definitely a familiar scenario. He just hoped that Naruto caught on or that Hinata confessed her feelings much earlier than he and Kushina did. It would make Naruto's life easier and happier.

Naruto had also become good friends with Shino.

"Shibi's son?" Kushina blinked.

"You know…I'm not all that surprised," Minato said and Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"Despite them being allies with us, the Aburame clan are known to be feared and grossed out by the people of the village. It is a sad fact that the people of the Aburame clan are silently shunned and isolated by mostly everyone in the village," Tsunade said with a sigh.

"That's not fair," Obito frowned. "It's not their fault who they are and their clan's ways,"

"We know Obito," Minato reassured the boy with a calm and gentle expression. "Unfortunately, it is the truth. It is because of this that I'm not surprised that Naruto became friends with Shibi's son. Naruto will know better than anyone how that feels,"

"He's right. Shibi was one of the few of my classmates who didn't make fun of me or shun me. He was and still is more respectful and kind to me," Kushina said. "He would have definitely made a great friend, but being on different teams and with the war going on, I wasn't able to become close enough friends with him. Not to mention with having to go visit the Hokage and Mito to prepare being the next Jinchuuriki,"

"So that means this Shino will be another on the list then," Obito muttered as he'd gotten the list back from Kushina, then added Shino's name underneath Hinata's.

One day when Naruto and Hinata were eating he saw Shino all by himself and so Naruto headed over and asked if he wanted to join them. Shino was at first skeptical. He was never very social and people tended to leave his clan alone because of their relationship to bugs. When Shino expressed this and showed Naruto the insects inside his body Naruto simply stated that it made Shino different and different wasn't bad. Shino had never had someone express an interest in his companionship, nor had he ever met someone who didn't think that his bugs were gross. He decided to eat with them and they all became fast friends.

Everyone smiled at this. Glad to see Naruto finally making more friends.

Everything wasn't easy for Naruto, however. Aside from Shino and Hinata, everyone else seemed to treat him the same, if not worse, then before.

This caused everyone to glare at the book in anger.

Sakura and Ino continually tried to put him down and claim that he was trying to be cool like their "Sasuke-kun".

A vixen-like growl was heard from Kushina. The two girls were getting on her nerves!

Sasuke himself saw Naruto as someone to test his strength against. However, Naruto refused to fight Sasuke as he said that he had nothing to prove to the Uchiha.

"Good," Minato said. 'The Uchiha is definitely is Fugaku's son,'

Obito mentally sighed in sadness and began to wonder about his other cousin and older brother of Sasuke.

This did not sit well with Sasuke and the two had been on bad terms ever since. Sasuke would continually try to badger Naruto into a spar or a competition and Naruto would continually ignore Sasuke taunts.

The other teachers began to change their view of Naruto and began to treat him fairly, except for a select few. One of these was Mizuki.

Everyone's chakra spiked at this, especially Kushina's.

Obito carefully (with much difficulty) set the book down and brought out the other list which he called the "Enemy List". He quickly wrote down Mizuki's name down and put down big words next to it.

Mizuki—(TORTURE! PRANK!)

With that done, Obito smirked darkly in satisfaction and continued where they left off.

He pretended to be nice to Naruto when they first met, but Naruto saw through his farce. After this event, Mizuki tried his hardest to fail Naruto, discretely of course. Whether it was by trying to give him harder exams then the other or by failing to acknowledge Naruto's answers during class and penalize him for missed answers.

Minato hissed in slight pain when Kyuubi's chakra began burn him. Fortunately, this snapped Kushina out of her anger and began to panic. She looked at her boyfriend with wide, worried eyes. Guilt began to twist her heart when she saw burn from her love's arm.

"Are you ok? Oh Kami-sama! I didn't mean to hurt you! Th-that Mizuki-teme made me so angry…! I'm so sorry!" Kushina began to babble in guilt as tears began to fall from her eyes. The whole chapter was already straining her because of the horrible life her son was living.

Minato merely smiled gently and lovingly at her. "It's not your fault, Hime-chan," He said, and kissed softly on her forehead then her soft, trembling lips. "There is nothing to apologize for. You can't help it for being angry because it shows how much you love and care for your son, Hime-chan. That is the many things I love about you my beautiful princess," He looked deep into her eyes. "It is your strong heart that could love people so strongly, and show so much kindness and forgiveness is something I adore and love. I could already see that your son was gifted with this as well so please don't cry anymore Kushina,"

Kushina blushed heavily as her heart soared upon the amount of love she could see in Minato's beautiful blue eyes. If she hadn't been sitting already her legs would have given out. She snuggled deeply against Minato's chest and began to calm down upon feeling secured and loved in his arms. She could feel Kyuubi's chakra vanishing.

Everyone smiled upon the loving sight.

This stopped, however, when Iruka found out and brought the matter to the Hokage. Mizuki was fired from the academy and demoted to genin. This was considered merciful considering what Anko wanted to do to the man who tried to fail her otouto. (an: little brother)

Obito smirked since he knew full well what Anko would have done to Mizuki. He felt disappointed that she wasn't able to do it.

We now find Naruto walking toward the academy. He was in a good mood as the academy was half over and he was already in the top ten percent of the class.

Kushina smiled softly as she continued to snuggle against Minato's arms. She felt proud of her son and wished more than anything that she can be there to congratulate him.

He could have been higher, but his genjustu skills and his refrain from using the dragon taijutsu style kept him where he was. As he entered the room he found that Hinata was not in their usual spot. He looked around and didn't see her anywhere. He sat down beside Shino wondering where Hinata could be.

"Hey Shino, have you seen Hinata today?" Naruto asked.

"No." was all Shino said. Naruto and Hinata had learned that Shino was a man of few words and his responses were always short and to the point.

"Definitely Shibi's son," Minato said, amused.

Kushina let out a soft laugh, which brought out a grin from Minato.

Naruto sighed and was beginning to worry as Hinata had never missed a day of school, even when she was sick. She said that she preferred to be at the academy than home.

'What?' Obito frowned and began to feel a sudden dread.

He wasn't the only one. Everyone frowned in concern for the Hyuuga Heiress.

Naruto didn't understand that but didn't pry into her personal affairs. Naruto was brought out of his wonderings when he saw the door open and Hinata come in with her head down. This confused Naruto as Hinata confidence had increased greatly after becoming friends with him and Shino.

"Did something happen to her?" Kushina asked in worry.

Everyone shook their heads in confusion and concern.

'What happened to her?' Obito, Kakashi, and Rin wondered suspiciously.

Hinata sat down beside Naruto without saying a word. She didn't even make eye contact with him or Shino. The boys looked at each other in confusion as to her strange behavior.

"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto asked. All he received in the way of an answer was a stifled sob.

This made everyone even more concern. Yes, even Kakashi held a concerned frown.

"Hinata, what is it?" Naruto asked. She still didn't reply.

The dreaded feeling began to increase inside Uchiha. An idea popped into his head for the explanation of the girl's behavior came in mind, but shook it in denial. He wouldn't believe it! Hinata didn't deserve to be branded with that! He could only hope to be wrong with his conclusion.

"Hinata, we are your friends, you can tell use what's wrong." Shino said with a kind voice unlike his normally stoic tone.

Hinata said nothing; all she did was raise her head. The boys saw that she had white medical tape wrapped around her forehead, and her eyes were filled with despair.

"NO!"

Everyone's eyes widened in shock. For they all, especially Obito, knew what that meant. For behind the white bandages was…

The Caged Bird Seal.


xxHinaAngelxx's Notes:

Here's the new chapter everyone! Hope you all enjoyed it! OMG! Thanks SO much for the awesome Reviews and favorite story and author alerts! I feel so proud of myself! Please Review and tell me how this is coming. Until next time everyone! =^-^=