I bring you another chapter! Thank you gio08 and wolf6230 for reminding me that my scenes needed to be separated, I had totally forgot.

The New Guy

Chapter Four: Training Fails

Hinata tapped the tips of her fingers together nervously as she and the rest of her squad walked down the streets of Konoha, toward the forest. Kurenai-Sensei was leading them to the east of the city. The forest started inside of the walls on that side so that the mages could do their training within the safety of the walls without getting in the way of civilians. She was walking between her two partners, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. They were total opposites, though they were some of the best friends that Hinata had ever had.

Kiba was a wild one with an almost feral expression constantly on his face. His canines were sharper than the average human; his eyes were black slits, and his brown hair was always in disarray. He was unnecessarily loud most of the time and would say things just to rile people enough to get them to attack him. The thing that she probably liked most about Kiba, however, was his sidekick, Akamaru. He was this huge white dog. Hinata had no idea what breed he was, but he was like an oversized puppy when it came to her. He always wanted to play and cuddle.

Shino was a different story. He was a very quiet boy that always wore a large shirt with a collar that came up and covered the lower portion of his face. He had sunglasses covering his eyes at all times and exuded the most calming aura that Hinata had ever felt coming from a person. Even when Shino was angry, the boy was calm. The only part of Shino that wasn't calm and collected was his hair, which stuck out in an almost afro sort of way, but she liked the way that it looked.

She guessed that she found nearly everything about the two boys to be completely endearing since they were her best friends. Despite her timid nature, no one really messed with her because of those two. They were very protective of her, and seemed to be looking out for her even when they weren't around. They were extremely kind and respectful toward her and never tried to take advantage of her kindness. The fact that they were nice to her didn't mean that they were very kind to anyone else that they came across, which was why she was surprised when Kiba started speaking about a stranger that they had found on the southern outskirts of the city.

"He was kidnapped apparently," Kiba said, finishing off his story with a small frown. "Shikamaru was telling me about it yesterday afternoon. Judging from Kakashi's and Jiraiya's reactions to the boy's appearance, something more is going on than what the adults are saying."

"I'm sure that they would tell you guys if you were meant to know," Kurenai informed Kiba as she turned around to look at the trio reproachfully. "I'm happy that you're so concerned about the wellbeing of this boy, Kiba. It makes me happy to see that you can be compassionate, but this isn't anything to get yourself involved in."

"Well now I know that something's going on," Kiba declared. "If you're telling me to stay out of it, then it's dangerous." Hinata recognized that look in Kiba's eyes. It was a look of excitement. Kiba liked danger more than just about anything else.

"Maybe I'm just saying it because judging the kid's personality as much as I can in the little bit that I've heard about him, he sounds like a person that you wouldn't get along with very well," Kurenai shot back quickly. She turned away from him and began walking more briskly toward the training grounds.

"M-may-maybe she's right Kiba," Hinata mumbled, lowering her eyes to the ground. She wasn't afraid that Kiba would be angry at her, but she didn't like going against what he said. It always made him a little sad. She could see Kiba look at her from her peripheral vision and knew that he looked puzzled.

"If you're sure, Hinata," Shino murmured, "then we'll be sure to stay out of it." He turned and looked at Kiba. "Isn't that right, Kiba?"

"Of course," Kiba said quickly. He slung his large arm around Hinata's shoulder and pulled her in for a one-sided hug while Akamaru barked excitedly from beside her. "We're a team, and if you don't want to have anything to do with it, then we just won't."

"Thank you," she said quietly. They were like the brothers that she never had. She had no idea what she would do without them.

Jiraiya looked as though he wanted to cry in pure frustration. Naruto found the expression almost fascinating. Much to Naruto's disappointment, Jiraiya settled with a loud groan instead of the waterworks that the blond really wanted to see. "Come on, kid!" Jiraiya snapped at him. "This is one of the simplest techniques! Every kid from the academy knows this before they even graduate!"

"Well, old man," Naruto snapped angrily. "I didn't go to an academy! How do you expect me to make a doppelganger when I don't know how to summon any magic?!" He balled his fists up in frustration as he glared at his new teacher.

"I've already told you what to do!" Jiraiya retorted back. "That's all I can do! You have to learn this on your own!"

"Well you suck as a teacher!" Naruto snapped. "I don't know how you taught my old man anything!"

"Minato was one of the most talented students I have ever come across," Jiraiya informed him, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not my fault that you didn't inherit his natural talent."

"Hahaha, stop it!" a shrill voice screeched.

Jiraiya's demeanor totally changed as soon as that annoying sound hit Naruto's ears. He straightened up from his almost pouting slouch and a large smile spread across his face. There was something very wrong with that look. It was creepy and made Naruto uncomfortable. "Hee-hee," Jiraiya giggled, scaring Naruto even more.

He dashed away from Naruto and dove into the bushes on the far side of the clearing. Naruto stood frozen for a moment, unsure of what had just transpired. Shaking himself out of his shock, he dashed after his teacher. Jiraiya had dragged him all the way out here, he would be damned if he was left behind.

As soon as he was inside of the bushes, he was able to see his sensei on the other side, crouching down behind yet another set of bushes. He had his hand over his mouth as his shoulders shook. Worried, Naruto rushed over and crouched down beside him. Jiraiya was peering through the bushes and Naruto felt his heart leap up into his throat. What was going on that was so bad that Jiraiya was shaking?

Afraid to look, he just leaned over so that he was able to see some of the older man's face. His cheeks were tinged red, and Naruto couldn't figure out why. Things weren't adding up.

"Hahaha!" That shrill laugh cut through the silence again, and he heard the sound of water splashing. Despite not wanting to look and be scarred like his sensei, the curiosity was killing him and he felt as though he had no choice. He straightened up a little and peered through the bushes too.

Dread soon turned into fury. If the scene of scantily clad women splashing water over each other wasn't enough to annoy him, Jiraiya's comment of, "I didn't know you had such good taste!" sent him right over the edge!

"Are you serious!" Naruto snapped, standing up. He pointed accusingly down at the still-crouched Jiraiya. He heard the women shriek as they jumped out of the creek, snatched up their belongings and ran away. "You dragged me out here to train me. What do you think that you're doing peeping at women like some sort of pervert!"

"No, no, no!" Jiraiya cried out, sounding genuinely heartbroken as he watched them run off, disappearing from sight at an impressive speed. He turned away after a moment and looked at Naruto petulantly. "Why would you do that? You scared them off! They were perfect research subjects!"

Naruto blinked, completely confused. "Research? What are you researching!"

"Women, of course!" Jiraiya snapped at him as he stood up. "How else am I going to gather enough data to write another novel?"

"You…you're an author?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.

Jiraiya looked very offended as he pulled a large orange book out of his robe, "Of course I am!" It had a picture of a girl running away from a guy. The title was Icha Icha Paradise.

Naruto looked at that, remembered what he was researching and figured that the title plus that equaled a very adult-like novel. "You are a pervert!" he exclaimed, pointing at him yet again. "I can't believe that my dad learned underneath an old perv like you!"

Jiraiya brought his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed loudly. "Let's not get back on this again. You still need more practice."

He walked back through the other set of bushes with Naruto trailing reluctantly behind him. They both stood in the middle of the clearing again and Jiraiya looked at him expectantly. Naruto sighed and focused on channeling magic through his system. He felt that strange warmth that was always flowing inside of him, and tried his best to push it away, figuring that it might be the thing that's obstructing his magical flow.

"Doppelganger!" he cried out as he clenched his eyes shut, concentrating as hard as he could. His voice echoed through the forest several times before fading out. He did it; he could feel that he had a clone! He slowly opened his eyes and saw Jiraiya looking at him with the same hopeless expression that he'd had on his face the majority of the morning. Naruto looked around, knowing, just knowing that the doppelganger had to be around there somewhere. It wasn't, though. There were no clones anywhere in sight.

"Dammit!" he cursed, throwing his hands up in the air in agitation. "That settles it!" Naruto snapped at the man. "I'm obviously not magical! You've clearly got the wrong guy."

"No, I don't," Jiraiya told him. "You've got magic in you. You're just not trying hard enough to pull it out!"

"I'm trying as hard as I can. I can only put all of my concentration into it," Naruto shot back angrily. "There's no magic there! The only thing that I feel is warmth! You're just a senile old man that probably can't remember what he had for breakfast this morning. How am I supposed to believe that you know whether I have magic or not?" He turned around and started walking in the opposite direction of the stream.

"Where do you think you're going, ungrateful brat?" Jiraiya demanded.

"To take a walk," Naruto called back. "I need a break. Just go and be a perv, or something. I'm sure that there's more girls swimming in the water."

Naruto didn't wait for Jiraiya to respond as he walked out of the clearing. Once he was far enough away, he just stopped and took in a deep breath. That was probably one of the most frustrating things that he'd ever had to do. He'd felt so stupid trying to call up some sort of power that he didn't even possess. He couldn't wait for his parents to get to Konoha. He'd finally be able to go home afterward.

Shikamaru dove into the nearest bush and clambered up the tree, breathing quickly as he tried his best to calm his heartbeat down and focus. He needed a plan, and he needed one quickly.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself. Sweat dripped down his face, a testament to the stifling heat that was starting to consume the day. It was probably around 12:00. This probably wouldn't be important to anyone else, but Shikamaru knew Choji. His teammate would be ravenous soon, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Damn Asuma for being such a good mage. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji had been training under him for years, but they were still no match for him, much to all of their chagrin.

"What's wrong, kiddos?" Asuma taunted loudly from the middle of their training ground. Shikamaru could see him spreading his arms out and turning around in a circle, so that his voice would project toward everyone equally. "Are you all getting tired already?"

Of course, we're getting tired, you prick! Shikamaru thought angrily before shaking his head. Anger wouldn't get him anywhere. He needed to have a clear head as he considered all of his options, which were extremely limited from what he could tell. He could hide in the foliage, but there was no telling whether or not he would ever have an opening to attack and snatch off one of the bells from Asuma's waist. He needed pawns and lackeys for him to work with on an opponent this difficult. That wouldn't be a problem normally, but they were all separated, and he didn't know where Choji and Ino were.

"Not on your life!" Ino's voice screeched from directly across the clearing. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance. Sure, Ino, now I know where you are, but Asuma-Sensei does too! What do you hope to accomplish this way? Shikamaru already knew…absolutely nothing. Ino was a very impulsive girl and often opened her mouth to speak, or shout, without thinking about what she was doing first. It was her greatest flaw…not that he would ever tell her that. She'd pitch a fit and flip out like the world was ending if she though that her teammates viewed her as anything other than the perfect goddess that she viewed herself as. Man…women were so annoying. He could almost understand why Iruka-Sensei played for the other team.

This was such a drag!

Crunch!

Shikamaru winced. Choji was somewhere to his left. Far enough away that if Asuma caught him that Shikamaru wouldn't be spotted. That was a good thing in itself, but it was still horrible, because he needed his team if they were going to win this! Why were they both idiots?

"Think, Shikamaru," he coached himself, "you're the only hope right now! You've got to think of a way out of this mess."

His mind was at a blank for the moment before something clicked in his head. He quickly scrambled up the tree that he was closest too, taking extra care not to rustle the leaves, lest he give his position away. First step: snatch his teammates up and get them out of Asuma's line of fire….

"Stupid, senile old man! Who does that geezer think he is?"

Shikamaru knew that annoying voice anywhere. He turned around and stared disbelievingly as the new guy, Naruto, walked past his tree, visibly fuming. He paused and turned and looked up, directly at Shikamaru. "Hey! What are you doing up there?"

Shikamaru froze and looked down at Naruto with wide, disbelieving eyes. There was no way that his cover had just been blown by that idiot. There was no way that just happened. No one was that stupid! It was freaking obvious that he was hiding! Shikamaru just shook his head and leapt away, praying that Asuma wouldn't be able to catch up to him in time.

"Game!"

Shikamaru blinked in disbelief as he landed on the tree next to the one that he'd hidden on a moment before. He just shook his head and sighed. It really didn't matter, he guessed. It was just a game, and he couldn't find the energy in him to care that they had just lost…again. He had no idea how many times it had been since they'd been total newbies, and he didn't really care. The entire thing was just a total drag anyway.

He heard Ino cursing in a very unladylike fashion from farther off as he climbed down the tree. He jumped down the last ten or so feet, focusing on the magic in his lower limbs, allowing himself to soften the blow. "Sorry, man," Naruto told him, grinning sheepishly as he walked over to him. He had one hand sticking into a pocket while the other rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Shikamaru with an apologetic expression. "I didn't realize that you were playing some kind of game."

Shikamaru frowned at him. "Playing a game?" he asked incredulously. He shrugged, he guessed that it could be considered a game. "We were training."

"You're a mage?" Naruto asked him in disbelief.

"Is it that hard to believe?" Shikamaru asked him. He didn't have enough energy left to be offended, but he was a little bit miffed. He might have had absolutely no drive, but he liked to think of himself as an okay mage. He did his job well enough.

"No," Naruto said quickly. "It's not that. I just haven't been around a lot of mages. I mean, we have them where I'm from, but my parents wouldn't let me have much to do with them."

Shikamaru looked at him for a moment, but didn't detect anything false about him. He just shrugged it off. People were prejudice about damn near everything. It wasn't that much of a stretch to say that there were people out there that disliked the magical community. "It's not important anyway," Shikamaru informed him. "It was only a training exercise." He crossed his arms and looked at him. "What brings you out here?"

"Good question," Asuma's deep voice reached Shikamaru's ears a moment later. He looked over, in the direction of the clearing, and saw Asuma, Ino and Choji walking toward them. "It's not safe being out here by yourself. There are mages training all over these woods and sometimes mistakes happen when they're trying to cast a spell."

"I'm not alone," Naruto said quickly. "I'm with Jiraiya, but the old man got on my nerves. I needed to take a small break, so I just walked off for a few minutes."

Asuma looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before he just sighed. "Whatever, kid. Just be careful about where you're walking, alright?"

"No kidding," Ino said haughtily. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she looked at Naruto with a frown. "You got in the way, and I know that you're the reason that we lost."

"Cut the guy some slack," Shikamaru advised her. He didn't know why he was defending Naruto, but he felt as though it was the right thing to do. "This is all new to him, and he doesn't know about this place." Naruto couldn't be as calm as he was on the outside. His head was probably raging with thought after thought, trying to absorb everything that he could. Shikamaru could understand not being able to think straight and just go stumbling around to clear one's head. Shikamaru guessed that he just felt for the guy. If there was one thing that he hated more than anything else, it was being uncertain of what was going on. It took too much energy to be constantly wondering what was going to happen next, and what it meant for him. Naruto had just been kidnapped, and judging from the reactions of some of Shikamaru's elders (Asuma included) it spelled out trouble for the guy. It wasn't just a coincidence.

Ino rolled her eyes at Shikamaru, but backed off. "So," Choji said. Shikamaru looked over at him for the first time and saw that he had his customary bag of chips clutched in one hand while the other was digging inside, making that annoying crackling noise before he noisily shoved a handful of the junk food in his mouth. Shikamaru sighed. That was a classic Choji. "What now?"

An awkward silence consumed the five people in the small group for a few moments before Asuma spoke up. "We'll do this one more time and then we're done for the day," Asuma said after a moment. "That should give you all an idea of what you need to work on, whether it be self-control," he pointedly looked between Ino and Choji, "or reaction time," he looked at Shikamaru. No one protested Asuma's declaration, knowing that he was right.

"Well," Naruto said, "I guess I'll be off, then before that senile pervert finds me. I'm sorry about interrupting your training, and I guess I might see you guys around before I go back home."

Naruto walked off before anyone could say anything else to him. They all just stood around in silence for a few more moments before Ino spoke up. "Do you think that it's a good idea to let him go off alone, Asuma-Sensei?"

Asuma shook his head. "No, Ino, it's not. That doesn't mean much, though. Naruto strikes me as the kind of guy that won't listen to what is said to him and instead has to experience things for himself for him to absorb any truth." He rubbed his hands together and said, "Okay, you guys. Let's get started!"

This was turning out to be an informative day as well as a strange one. Naruto had spoken to more mages in the past few hours than he had in his entire life before, and there hadn't been that many that he had interacted with. He wasn't entirely sure if he liked it or not. They were a strange group of people and Naruto didn't really know how to act around them. They all seemed to be eccentric. That wasn't to say that he was normal himself, but at the moment he felt that way compared to them at least.

He shook himself out of his contemplation as he came up to yet another clearing. He paused just outside of it and peered in. A lone girl stood in the center. She was standing in a strange and slightly hunched position with one of her arms posed in front of her and the other behind her with the palms facing upward. She had her back to him, so he had no idea what she looked like, other than that she was fairly short with beautiful, long black hair.

He fought back the urge to call out and ask what she was doing. He might not have been the most observant person that ever lived, but he wasn't an idiot. He'd already ruined a game that Shikamaru and his team were playing by asking questions. This time, he'd just stand by and see what was going on by observation.

He peered inside and was so stunned that he could barely process what was going on as he saw something that resembled a tornado shoot toward the girl. Not even pausing to think about what he was doing, a familiar warmth already spread to his legs and he sprung forward, darting into the clearing. The girl inhaled sharply as she pivoted on her foot to dodge the tornado that was coming for her. It wasn't enough, though. He could see that it was about to hit her in the side, and there was no way that she was going to get out of it unscathed with how fast it was going.

Naruto dove at her, tackling her around the waist and they both fell to the ground, rolling a few times. They came to a stop with the girl laying on his chest and his arms still caged around her to lessen the impact of the fall. She's really pretty, Naruto thought stupidly as he stared up at her for a moment. The girl looked down at him with wide, damn near white eyes. Naruto would have thought that she was blind if she wasn't looking straight at his face and something about her expression let him know that she was seeing him very clearly. Her mouth was opened in surprise and her entire face turned a bright red. Her breathing came out uneven, and Naruto couldn't figure out why she seemed to be about to have a panic attack.

He gently rolled her over and released her only to grab her by her upper arms and shake her gently. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?" Her eyes widened, something that Naruto wasn't sure was possible, and her breathing got a bit faster.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" a familiar voice hit Naruto's ears.

He turned around and saw that the wild-looking guy with the red war paint on his face was standing next to a huge, white dog on the other side of the clearing with his arms crossed over his chest. He was glaring at Naruto and the dog was making a low rumbling noise in his throat.

"I think I should be asking you that question!" Naruto snapped back at him. "Why would you do that to her? You get your kicks on picking on defenseless girls, or something? You could have hurt her!"

"You're the one that tackled her to the ground, dumbass!" Wild dude, Naruto thought his name was Kiba, snapped. "That could have hurt her really bad too! You trying to break her arms or something?"

"I'm not the one that was using some sort of magic to turn myself into a human tornado and trying to slam me and my dog into someone!"

"It's called Fang-Over-Fang!" Kiba snapped at him. He uncrossed his arms from his chest and clenched his hands into fists at his side as he shouted indignantly at Naruto. "Get it right if you're going to talk about someone's moves!"

"I don't care about your stupid moves!" Naruto shot back. "I'm more concerned with her!" he gestured blindly behind him, in the general direction that the girl had gone.

"Hinata is fine!" Kiba informed him exasperatedly. "We were training!"

"What kind of training makes you almost kill someone?" Naruto demanded disbelievingly.

He felt something tug on his jacket and spun around. It was the girl, Hinata. Her face was still bright red and her eyes were lowered to the ground. "U-uh…w…w-we were t-t-training," she told Naruto quietly. "I…I'm s-s-so s-sorry th-that you th-thought that—"

"You don't need to apologize to anyone!" Kiba called over to her. "He's the one that interrupted us."

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked her. He looked over at Kiba, already forgetting his anger. "Does she seem well to you? I don't know if she should be training right now anyway." He brought his hand up to her forehead and sat the back of it gently against her skin to check the temperature.

A small squeak came out of her mouth as she jumped back and tripped over her feet. She landed on the ground in a small heap. "Hinata?" Kiba called out curiously. He heard footsteps behind him and Kiba walked past him to kneel next to her. He shook her, but there was no response at all. He quickly pressed his fingers against the side of her neck and checked for breathing. "Pulse is fine, maybe just a little fast, and her breathing is a little sporadic. She seems to be okay, though." He looked up at Naruto uneasily. "Maybe you were right…I didn't know that she was sick, or I wouldn't have done that."

"Do you have a sensei?" Naruto asked him curiously. "They might need to know about this."

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "She's off somewhere, though, training our third member."

"Then what should we do?" Naruto asked, looking down at the unconscious Hinata.

Kiba shrugged. "I guess we just wait here until Lady Kurenai gets here or Hinata wakes up."

I hope that you liked it. More characters have shown up, which is always fun! I wanted Hinata's first meeting with Naruto to be special (read: funny). I love her and feel so bad for her with his obliviousness,but it still makes me giggle. Please give me a big head by favoriting, following and reviewing if you feel that it is deserved!

Next Chapter: The Akatsuki