Eye Trouble
The village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure, was in celebration. Two months ago it had been nothing more than a fortress with a group of ninja clans camped around it. Word had spread, though, and exiles from other countries, other hidden villages, had made their way to the Fire Country, making their place in the plains beneath the plateau. With them had come their families: merchants, farmers, craftsmen, artisans, refugees and emigrants; the burden steadily grew as the people kept coming and the messages grew more frequent, until finally the Daimyo had decided to meet with the leaders of the fortress. And two days ago his decision had finally arrived: he would approve the creation of a hidden village, and supply funds to begin construction of a city to stand the test of time.
So while they waited for the money and materials to arrive (despite the fact that their newly-appointed leader, Hashirama, Shodaime Hokage, could grow the houses with his Wood Release) the villagers celebrated. Tents had been moved to create a large fairground, palanquins converted into stalls to sell goods and allow youngsters to play games, paper lanterns were strung from tent poles and all in all there was a jovial atmosphere. Hashirama was there with his wife Mito singing songs of praise, puppeteers from Suna put on Bunraku plays, merchants from Earth country plied their wares onto the citizenry and overall it was a pretty damn good time to be alive.
Of course parties meant alcohol and alcohol meant people did things that they wouldn't normally do otherwise, and as the sake, wine, beer and mead flowed, so too did inhibitions. This resulted in a woman named Chitose sneaking into an Uchiha's tent, her pink and white hair mussed up by her state of inebriation (shut up, chakra does weird things when mixed with alcohol), while at the same time on the other side of the camp a young man bearing the name Namikaze was about to enter adulthood in the arms of a lovely Hyuuga girl. There was also the matter that, in yet another part of the camp, another Hyuuga was helping further relations with the visitors from Uzushio, which in this case meant that he was taking a roll in the hay with a lovely young Uzumaki woman—the Hokage's wife, in fact. Ordinarily none of this was enough to raise any fuss (this was a celebration after all and such things could be overlooked) if it weren't for the fact that nine months later both women in question gave birth to healthy baby boys, followed a month later by a baby girl added to the ranks of the Uzumaki. That again would have been overlooked (since they weren't the only ones to get pregnant that night), but neither of the children born ever manifested their family bloodlines and so were allowed to live with their non-Clan parent instead, and in the case of the girl from Whirlpool her mother wasn't about to admit that her first child wasn't her husband's so she was sent to live with her cousins instead.
(It should be noted, for posterity, that Hashirama was very laid-back when he wasn't in a fight and believed in forgiveness more than anything, and he wouldn't dump his wife over some drunken indiscretions. He simply took her into the bedroom, spanked her a few times and told her not to do it again. That Mito enjoyed getting spankings was not at all related to this in any way.)
Their names were kept in the respective clans' family trees but beyond that no more attention was paid to them. In the intervening years medical technology and theory advanced and the concept of recessive and dominant genes was introduced, and as a war ended something odd happened. The grandson and granddaughter of two separate but related incidents had met and married sometime during the war, the grandson having risen to the office of Hokage, and a man calling himself Tobi wandered into Konoha looking for something very specific. Of course he was in Konoha to cause mischief, but it would take awhile to set his plans in motion and while waiting things tended to get lonely. It wouldn't have mattered much if not for the fact that the woman he chose to relieve his needs was from the Haruno family line, and the end result was that his rather weak Uchiha blood (since he wasn't born as one, naturally) mingled with the latent Uchiha traits present in the main Haruno family. And as a consequence of that, two people who didn't think there was anything special about them were going to get a rude awakening.
Tobi never did meet his daughter, but it's likely he wouldn't have cared anyway.
Fast forward a bit.
The sun was shining brightly down on the road leading to the southwest border of Fire Country, and Team Seven was on the first leg of the fateful journey that would ultimately change their lives. Birds were cawing and chirping and tweeting to each other in the springtime warmth, while the undergrowth lining the road rustled occasionally with the movement of an animal or lizard, though the ever-alert jounin leading the squad knew that none of them were a threat. As they walked in the traditional three-point cover formation that was best for guarding a single VIP client, Kakashi trailing behind to handle any attacks that might come from the rear, Naruto blinked at the sudden haze across his vision, and rubbed at his eyes furiously, which helped clear his sight up, for the moment anyway.
Sasuke took notice of this, and edged forward a little bit, noticing that even though his teammate (he still hesitated to use the word 'friend') had stopped rubbing at his eyes, Naruto was still blinking furiously, as if he'd stared at a light for too long and couldn't get the afterimage out. Frowning, he dropped back and switched positions with Sakura, so he could beckon to Kakashi and lure the man forward so they could converse more quietly. Once the lackadaisical jounin had drawn close, Sasuke, showing uncharacteristic concern, whispered his misgivings to the team leader and asked if they could take a break and examine Naruto. He tried to couch it in terms that would make it seem like he was more worried about the energetic blond's performance than his health, but Kakashi could tell there was just a little bit of apprehension present for Naruto the person instead of Naruto the ninja. Not much, but more than he'd hoped for at this stage. He was about to call a halt when Naruto spoke up.
"Hey, that puddle up ahead is glowing," he said. "No, wait, no, it was just the sunlight, I think." His off-hand comment had the other members of the team on instant alert; there shouldn't be any puddles on a day like this. The shadow of a cloud passed over the puddle in question and Naruto scowled at the glow still dancing on the ground in front of him. Perturbed, he did what any hyperactive twelve year old with access to rapid-combustion materiel would do: in a single, smooth movement, he primed an explosive tag and threw it into the offending light source, and just before it would have gone off two shapes blurred into existence out of their concealment, the detonating tag kicking up a plume of dust behind them.
The rest of the fight proceeded pretty much as it was meant to, though Kakashi passed up the opportunity to scare the life out of his genin and whisked Tazuna up to the safety of the trees instead, leaving his students to gang up on the somewhat underwhelming Demon Brothers (who, it has since been learned, only earned that moniker by virtue of being named Gozu and Mezu rather than any particular amount of skill). Sasuke and Naruto handled Gozu handily, without the spectacle of 'Kakashi' being torn to ribbons to stun the Uzumaki survivor into inaction, and once he was taken care of moved to aid Sakura with Mezu, who she was struggling with until the intervention of her teammates.
All in all, it was a wake-up call for the genin, and though they had handled the situation it proved they weren't as hot as they'd been pretending so far. The aftermath of the fight proceeded as it was pretty much expected to, and they made good time from there to the border, catching a ride out of the bay and into the Land of Waves. As they traveled across the sea, Naruto again started rubbing against his eyes, once more starting to blink at a rapid and consistent pace, despite having gone the last couple of hours without any trouble.
"Naruto, is there a problem?" Kakashi finally asked him, low enough that the ferryman wouldn't start getting nervous.
"No, sensei," he replied just as softly. "It's just…for the last couple of days there's been this weird haze. It's not making it any harder to see, I mean, just making colors less colorful and I see glowing stuff sometimes. And just a few minutes ago when you took your book out, I could see you doing it. Does that make any sense to you?" At this, Kakashi and Sasuke both frowned at the same time, while Naruto continued staring forward, oblivious to their disquiet. Sakura for her part was resting her eyes, as up to that point she'd been poring over a trapsetting handbook, looking for information she didn't already possess. (She was, naturally, completely ignoring the fact that the last time anyone had seen her with it, Naruto had told her to throw that book away as being useless and try her hand at pranking, if she really wanted to learn how to make and lay traps.)
Uncovering his Sharingan, Kakashi gazed intently at his student, and his frown deepened. He couldn't see the chakra network present in the human body, but he could see where it was being used, and other than the tightly-wound ball where he expected to see it, Kakashi also discerned a faint webwork floating near Naruto's eyes. Naturally, the jounin was completely stumped. Though he wasn't an expert on such things, his research into kekkei genkai—dojutsu in particular—he knew the signs and every sign told him that Naruto was in the initial stages of a bloodline release.
With the genin's unique status taken into consideration, Kakashi came to the unnerving conclusion that the chakra network around Naruto's eyes, to say nothing of the optic nerve, were working overtime and the strain was starting to add up. If it was indeed an emergent kekkei genkai like he suspected then Naruto was likely unable to control what his eyes were doing; in other words experiencing a chakra-based version of an eye disorder involving involuntary muscle contractions. That, coupled to the amount of chakra he had available to him, meant that whatever it was he was experiencing couldn't be turned off, ever. Kakashi hoped it would turn out to be irritation or an allergic reaction to pollen or something similar; having to explain to the Sandaime why none of Naruto's screenings picked up the presence of a bloodline would be trying, to say the least.
… … …
A week after they'd defeated Gato's men, the bridge was finished and in need of a name. It ended up being called the Great Naruto Bridge over its' namesake protesting that he didn't deserve to get a landmark named after him, even if he'd helped build it and helped defend it against those who would see it destroyed; unfortunately for him the villagers weren't about to let their hero go unrecognized, though at least they promised the whole of Team Seven would be fairly represented when it came time to commission the memorial plaque and statue for the town square.
It was to great fanfare that they finally departed Wave via the very same bridge which had been the cause of the mission to begin with, Sasuke's eyes lingering on Tsunami's figure (hey, he was allowed to fantasize every once in awhile) while Naruto tried to suppress his MANLY TEARS following his goodbyes to Inari, which had Sakura and Kakashi both rolling their eyes. As tough as he acted Naruto could be such a little kid sometimes. They spent the next hour walking at a brisk pace, mostly silent and letting the sounds of nature soothe spirits that had alternately been ground into the dirt and then lifted high above the clouds before reality came crashing back in again. Eventually the peace had to end.
"So, Sasuke, you were checking out Inari's mom, huh?"
"What? I wasn't doing anything of the sort, Naruto."
"Sure you weren't. Hey, she's pretty cute—no offense, Sakura-chan—and makes a strong point for weaponized cooking utensils. I don't think Inari would appreciate having a dad who's only five years older than him, though."
"Oh, shut up, already, Naruto. I wasn't looking at her. That's final."
"If you say so, Sasuke, if you say so. Besides, I think she's sweet on Haku." It was sheer luck that he'd managed to actually strike a knockout blow against the older and more experienced shinobi, but Naruto wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth and start boasting about something he knew was a total fluke. The pseudo-ninja had been a bit heartbroken over losing his mentor, but despite that, had found something to hold onto all the same, having sworn to stay with the people of Wave until they'd recovered from the problems he'd helped, if circumspectly, to cause. "Hey, I bet now that you've got your Sharingan then Kakashi's gonna spend a lot more time with you, huh, teach you how to use it? Lucky."
"Luck has nothing to do with it, Naruto."
"Yeah, I guess it means me and Sakura will just have to get stronger, too, so we can kick your ass if you ever start getting an inflated head."
"Tch, as if you could even lay a finger on me."
"What's that? Then what do you call our last spar?"
"I was going easy on you."
"Ha! You just don't want to admit that you're not as good in the real world as you'd like to think!" At that point Sakura stepped in, bonking both boys on the head (Naruto a little harder than Sasuke), forestalling the fight before it broke out. She knew they were easily fast enough to dodge her and aware enough to block the incoming fists if they so desired so it pleased her that the bickering genin took their punishment without comment, rolling her eyes at how nonsensical they could be sometimes.
Caught up in all of the silliness that was Team Seven none of the genin noticed that they were being followed, and Kakashi was patently ignoring it since there were all sorts of things that could be shadowing a group of travelers on the road. Wild beasts knew better than to attack a squad of shinobi, at least the common varieties found outside of ninja villages and their immediate surroundings; bandits and dire animals, on the other hand, were not quite as wise, sometimes even having the skill or strength to back up their arrogance. Still, he paid it no mind, and the journey continued unhindered until nightfall. By his estimation they still had another three days before they reached Konoha.
The realization that Naruto had a Clan bloodline (and what a glorious field day the Hyuuga were going to have with that) combined with the fact that they were faced with an opponent whose skills far outmatched the genins' own—victory secured only thanks to Naruto's battlefield diplomacy—hinted to Kakashi that maybe he should be taking their training more seriously and save the teamwork stuff for later. He'd already seen that Naruto and Sasuke could work together when it really mattered so his focus was going to fall now on getting them stronger, Sakura especially. As a last line of defense, she wasn't a very good one. She had her uses, of course, and he'd never in his life met anyone with control as good as hers, but in the long run her current skills posed more of a risk than a reward.
Their tail had diverted into the woods some ways back and Kakashi heaved a sigh of relief, muffled by his mask and the sound of a page turning. They'd go a little bit farther and then make camp for the night and he would talk to them about training—real training this time, not some half-assed effort to show them something they should have known already. Shrugging, Kakashi flipped his book to another page and suppressed a titter. Nah, they were fine.
Smoke pellets erupted around them and Kakashi reflexively held his breath, since the mask didn't filter out toxins or anything that might be detrimental to a shinobi's health, but Naruto and Sasuke weren't quite so quick on the uptake and breathed in suddenly when the bombs went off; Sakura, he'd seen, had done the smart thing and leaped up into the trees, well above the cloud, reminding him that even if she wasn't that good physically she'd still gotten top marks and was all in all a pretty solid thinker…most of the time. Whenever Sasuke wasn't around, Sakura could almost be called competent. When he was, though…all bets were off.
Of course now Sasuke was unconscious in the middle of the road, Naruto was staggering around drunkenly (showing that whatever was in that smoke wasn't affecting him the way it was supposed to) and they were surrounded by about a dozen of the thugs that Gato had hired which had somehow managed to get away from the fracas. They looked decidedly pissed off, meaning they'd heard their boss was dead and the money had vanished.
Sakura kept to the trees, one hand in her shuriken pouch and the other poised to grab a kunai for self-defense. She was pretty sure she had the advantage in speed over the mercenaries due to her ninja training—certainly, Sakura was faster than civilians her age, male and female alike—but they still had the advantage of weight and size over her and she wasn't about to go leaping in front of any swords. Half of the men went after Kakashi without preamble, simply charging him with weapons raised (a stupid idea on a good day), another four went after Naruto intent on putting him down but were tripped up by his unpredictable movements, and the last two…one stayed on the ground but the other pulled a pair of kunai and launched himself straight at Sakura while Kakashi was engaged.
She knew he wasn't going to get to her in time and as the scarred-up thug came towards her Sakura braced herself against her fear, pulling a kunai from her pouch to grip in a shaking hand, and she readied herself to intercept the attack, despite the trembling in her spine. As she tensed in preparation she recalled a tidbit she'd read once, a factoid which suggested that some mercenary groups were trained in the use of chakra to improve their effectiveness when dealing with bandits and rival gangs.
The thug accelerating toward her must have been one of those groups, given how he was moving quite a bit faster than she'd expect out of a man his size, and though she knew there would be no headband proclaiming which village he'd once served if any at all he was certainly going to be at least high genin level…and as he rushed on Sakura found herself faced with a dilemma. She knew she wasn't strong enough to fight him. Was she fast enough to run away? Could she slow him down and get back to the ground where she could fight better? As she wavered, he let fly with his knives and Sakura saw her own life flashing before her eyes, gaze never leaving the kunai as they sped towards her, certain to sink in and pin her to a trunk. Rationality fled her mind at the same time that chakra flooded her body, a fear response inevitable. With no time to think, no time to react, she thought only about burning this moment into her memory, so that if she survived she'd be able to go over what she did wrong and be better prepared for next time.
All of a sudden the incoming weapons seemed to be moving much slower, still coming alarmingly fast but now they were at least visible and she realized she had a chance after all. Twisting to the side allowed the kunai to pass by her with room to spare, and she kept turning, fingers dipping into her shuriken holster, whipping a brace of three at the bandit faster than she thought she was capable of. They were still painfully slow to her eyes, even as they spun menacingly through the air and sunk into the bandit's arm, loosening his grip on the sword he was holding.
Still he came on and Sakura slipped into the basic taijutsu stance, lunging forward as soon as the man hit the branch she was standing on and catching him in the gut with a solid blow; she was forced to give ground lest the sword cleave into her but it was still such a pathetically slow swing and she evaded it easily, losing only a few strands of hair to the cutting edge and then her kunai was out in a reverse grip, flashing black in the growing twilight, slicing upward against her attacker's shoulder and severing a tendon forcing him to switch to his off hand. That was even worse and when he charged down the bough at her, Sakura leaped up over his sideways slash and kicked him in the head, knocking him down to the road below before she followed, intending to drive an axe heel into his back that would end the fight for him. Even if he was using ninja tools, he wasn't trained like one.
She was stopped by the last of the mercenaries grabbing her collar and smacking her against a tree hard enough to daze the genin. He was fast, much faster than anyone else in the fray save perhaps Kakashi, and rather than stick a knife into her belly the fighter looked instead to be…amused? Through the haze in her mind resulting from the impact, she briefly registered him saying something about there being two Sharingan brats and needing to report this before he disappeared in what could only have been a Body Flicker, leaving her to wonder why the hell there was a jounin-level shinobi in with a group of low-ranking heavies. It didn't make sense to her at all. Neither, for that matter, did Naruto's laughing. She looked over to the blond, finding him slumped against a tree, one hand covering his face while the other dug a kunai into the dirt near an unconscious bandit's head.
"Hey, Sakura, check your eyes. I think you're gonna get a kick out of this one." Confused as to why he would tell her something like that (and noticing that he had several clones out tying up the mercenaries) she withdrew a compact signal mirror from her pocket and glanced into it casually.
"Oh my God!" she shrieked, dropping the mirror. Sasuke heard this just as he was roused by Kakashi, looking at Sakura with a decidedly annoyed expression on his face.
"Very funny, Naruto, now change back."
"I'm over here, bastard," Naruto retorted. "We got hit with knockout gas…I got some clones out to watch us before I hit the deck," he fibbed, "and Kakashi just now woke us up. He and Sakura must have beaten up all these dudes."
"But…but…this is so unfair. You know how hard I had to work for mine? And you two just say 'okay, it's my turn to have funky eyes!' and whoosh, you get them. So not fair…" While the boys bantered, Sakura picked up her mirror and looked again just to be sure. It was still the same as before: both eyes were a deep crimson, a single black tomoe in each iris. There was no mistaking it. Somehow, some way, just like Naruto had turned up with Byakugan, she now possessed Sharingan.
"Uh, how do I turn it off?" she asked. Still stunned by the revelation Sasuke couldn't stop himself from hitting the ground again.
"Great, she's turning into Naruto," he mumbled through the dirt.
Three days later the party had reached Konoha, with Kakashi handing out orders to not talk about their eyes until after he'd met with the Hokage; the trio were dismissed after checking in with instructions to get some rest and meet him at their usual place tomorrow at the usual time (which they all knew meant he was going to be three hours late, again), here's some money go have a nice dinner goodbye.
Naruto of course was going to go straight to Ichiraku's. Sasuke followed if only because he was out of his favorite rice balls, and Sakura wandered off to her home to say hello to her mother, eat a light meal and shove Kakashi's money into her little Iriko-chan purse before having a long shower and a longer rest. Ever since the bridge things had just been too weird for her mind to handle.
… … …
Meanwhile Kakashi was in the Hokage's office to deliver his report, only to find that he was not alone. Several other Jounin were present as well and before he could ask what was going on, his mind clicked on what day it was. The Chuunin exams would be announced soon and he happened to get back on the same day as teams were nominated. He got the sense that the rest were waiting on him to make a decision regarding his own team as an example to follow. Well, they were going to be disappointed.
"I have a report to give so let's get this over with, since I apparently got here just in time to have missed Hokage-sama's speech and must now declare my intentions without any prior information. Oh well; I am Kakashi Hatake, representing Team Seven, and I decline to nominate them for the Chuunin Selection Exams." Hushed whispers spread through the gathered jounin, and in the wake of this event Kurenai and Asuma both withdrew their teams as well, though Guy did not and claimed it as a victory against his 'eternal rival', which Kakashi was all too willing to let the man have. For some reason Iruka was present as well, which he supposed was only fair since he knew the genin a lot better than the jounin leading them, for now anyway, and likely his being there was in an advisory role. He looked unusually pleased that Naruto was not being nominated for advancement.
"Would you care to explain your reasoning as to why you are not putting your team forth, Kakashi?"
"In due time, Hokage-sama; the details will be given with my report. The mission was a success, by the way."
"Good to know, though it doesn't account for why you are late returning. I suppose I'll get the story from you soon enough. Now, are there any other nominations? No? Then Iruka, would you be kind enough to hand out the necessary registration forms? The rest of you are dismissed, except for Kakashi." The assembled squad leaders departed in various methods, Kurenai lingering just a moment longer to give Kakashi an inquisitive glance, before vanishing in a spray of sparkles. "Now, I expect you'll have a very good explanation for your words, Kakashi."
"Of course, sir, beginning with the mission being mis-ranked. The client confessed to us on the road after we encountered the Demon Brothers, who, I assume, have been picked up by now. It was my decision, after a little discussion with my team, to continue with the mission. Once we were in Wave, we encountered Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and what we believed at the time to be a hunter-nin. The skirmish ended in a draw, with both myself and Zabuza too injured to continue…" Kakashi then related the events of the intervening week, the fight on the bridge, and the subsequent awakening of a dormant kekkei genkai in both Naruto and Sasuke. He finished his account with the ambush by Gato and his thugs, the truce called between the missing-nin and the Konoha contingent, the week spent helping finish the bridge and finally the attack on the road back to the hidden village, which concluded with Sakura awakening her own bloodline as a reflex action in response to an assault that should have killed or at least injured her.
Once Kakashi was finished talking, Hiruzen stroked his chin thoughtfully, his stern visage falling heavily on the jounin standing in front of him. He wasn't all that pleased to hear that he waited for them to be placed into a dangerous situation to teach them a skill they should have already possessed, a skill that, all things considered, had been entirely useless in the combat which followed the first encounter. He also got the feeling Kakashi was leaving something out, something important which would cause a latent bloodline to activate in the first place, which by all indications should have manifested much prior to the mission he sent the team on. Perhaps it would have been better if it had appeared at the time of Naruto's sealing, or during the Mizuki incident where he was using phenomenal amounts of chakra. Whatever the real reason was, he'd get to the bottom of it, but in the meantime he had to inform Hiashi and also find a way to keep that pink girl from becoming even more of a fangirl.
Then again maybe having her own Sharingan would get the (civilian) council off of Sasuke's back, though the clans would be demanding the two pair off with outsiders anyway. Hiruzen sighed. He was going to need to look at the family trees for sure.
"I must say, Kakashi, while I understand your reasoning with how you have handled things so far, I am still quite disappointed that you allowed your team to demand a mission for which they were not adequately trained at all. Given that, I am also thankful you have not put them in further danger, volunteering them to test for a rank they are nowhere near ready for yet. The other jounin look to you as an example, you know."
"I wasn't aware of that, sir. I thought they just didn't like making decisions for themselves."
"Be that as it may, I expect you to train Sasuke and Sakura both in the usage of their Sharingan in addition to the training that you should have been giving your team after you passed them. No more of this 'self-motivational' crap and 'teambuilding', understand? Don't fuck this up, Kakashi, or I'll make you swap genin with Gai."
"Very well, sir; teaching Naruto will be easier than before, I suppose. He's still energetic, but ever since he awakened his eyes, he seems to have an easier time of focusing. Just one more thing to worry about, I suppose. If you'll excuse me…" Kakashi departed in a cloud of smoke, making Hiruzen wonder why he allowed the use of Shunshin to leave the office. Kurenai's sparkles, Kakashi's smoke, Asuma's fire, Gai's EXPLOSION…thankfully most of the other jounin chose more subdued spectacles to leave behind, such as swirls of leaves and in one case a pile of paperwork. Eyeing the paperwork he had to assume that his secretary had somehow slipped in with the team leaders. That woman just kept getting sneakier. Picking up the stack, lamenting his aging spine in the process, he laid the stack on his desk and pressed the intercom switch.
"Could you send for Hiashi please? I have an important matter to discuss with him."
… … …
An hour later, Hiashi wandered out of the Hokage's office with a distinctly troubled expression on his face. He'd seen the family history, of course, knew the dirty little secrets where the supposedly pure Hyuuga lineage had taken a few sharp turns to play in the mud and bring back something interesting…he'd known it was always a possibility but to have it actually happen was something else. Not much was said about the Founder's Day party among the Hyuuga, at least those old enough to remember it (and they were increasingly few in number), and for the younger members of the clan it was something out of the halls of legend. Hiashi for his part had kept his fingers crossed, hoping that Naruto would go his entire life without latent abilities turning up, but it appeared that he'd needed a little more luck than he'd actually paid for. Schooling his features, the clan head started the journey to the one place he knew that the energetic blond would be at this hour.
He managed to walk right in on an altercation between Naruto, his team, Sarutobi's grandson and a group of Suna genin most likely in the village for the upcoming exams. The situation was defused primarily by Sasuke's posturing, but Iruka's timely arrival didn't hurt matters either, and he suggested in very clear terms that allies or not, try and avoid threatening anyone in the village lest they find themselves escorted out which, the way he phrased it, meant thrown into a cell, and not necessarily in one piece.
Falling into step with the schoolteacher and his companion as they walked the distance to Ichiraku Ramen, he waited for the boys to place their orders, and asked a moment of the chuunin's time.
"Hey, where're you going, Iruka-sensei?"
"Don't worry, Naruto, just enjoy your food. I'll catch up in a minute." He followed Hiashi across the street, sitting at a café table and fixing the Hyuuga elder with an appraising stare. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen his eyes for myself, but I guess what people have been saying is true. So, what can I do for you, sir?"
"Nothing much; I simply thought I would ask the person who knows him best if he thought there was more than just a physical change."
Iruka shrugged and smiled, gesturing over to where Naruto was sat at the Ichiraku's counter, reading a book of all things while slurping ramen and holding a conversation with Konohamaru at the same time. "I wish I could say I've never seen him sit still for that long, but I'd be lying. Ramen is probably the only thing he actually slows down for, though come to think of it ever since he came back he's been less rambunctious than I remember him being. I can actually tell he's listening, now. It hasn't been very long so maybe he's just actually tired for a change and he'll be back to his normal irrepressible self tomorrow."
"If you're looking for a reason why your student seems to be calmer than ever before, I may have an explanation. It is actually not unusual for young Hyuuga who have not yet activated their bloodline to be rather…inattentive, to use a polite word. The extra visual input requires the brain to be structured in a certain manner to process it all and given that Naruto only just recently obtained the Byakugan, as he is not directly descended from the Hyuuga I can only surmise that his mind took longer to arrange into the proper patterns to handle the information. Tell me, have you noticed any instances of him observing details that others missed, or being hyper-aware of his surroundings when under stress?"
"To be honest, yes, I have. I thought he was just being hyperactive at first, but the things he would mention always pertained in some manner to the lessons I was trying to teach, even if only tangentially. He'd seem to remember a little detail that most of them passed over as unimportant, and then relate that to the current topic in ways that once he'd finished talking made perfect sense. I wasn't aware either of his parents were Hyuuga, though."
"They weren't, or at least not directly. This is all very secret and related to clan lineage, so I will have to ask for an oath of silence on the matter." Iruka offered up a solemn promise, and then leaned forward intently. Though neither he nor Hiashi were much for gossiping, an honest-to-heaven secret was too juicy to pass up. "As it stands, during the Founder's Day celebration, the very first, a few people got a little too deeply into their cups—Mito Senju in particular forgetting for a moment that she was already married. I can let you look at the family tree, but you'd have to swear on your balls not to tell anyone."
"So…so basically you're saying that Naruto is the closest thing we have to royalty outside of the Daimyo's court?"
"More or less; this raises problems, though. As if it weren't bad enough that people routinely try to kidnap my children, the emergence of a true branch family will make Naruto a target as well. Of course, from what I heard, people are going to start watching the Haruno family for Sharingan, so maybe they'll ignore him in favor of that instead."
"Wait, wait, you said that Haruno have latent dojutsu as well? But let's forget about that for awhile. What do you mean regular kidnapping attempts? Am I going to have to start watching for infiltrators once I get Hanabi in my class?"
"In all possibility, yes; I've tried to teach my daughters how to be strong so they can protect themselves, but it just doesn't seem to be taking with Hinata. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The harder I push the weaker she gets. She has the potential to be the best fighter in a hundred years of Hyuuga shinobi and for the life of me I can't seem to get her to realize her own abilities."
"Have you tried constructive criticism, or showing pride in her accomplishments? The truth could work wonders, too—I'm not saying aggrandize Hinata's achievements, but you know, it wouldn't kill you to appreciate the efforts she undertakes, either. Besides, if she knows there's a reason for you being so hard on her she might take it more seriously. Lastly, I'd try not to compare her to anybody, either. Strengths aren't always apparent at the beginning, so you have to give her a chance to get used to the ideas you want her to learn. Now come on, I want to get a Naruto Special before he eats me out of my wallet and back pay."
"I'll take your words under advisement; the clan does have traditions and regardless of how foolish they may seem sometimes, they are hard to break." Hiashi stood and after putting some distance between himself and Iruka turned to look at the man again, a frown on his face. "If it works, I will be in your debt."
"The only debt you need worry about is the one you owe your daughter."
… … …
Naruto was stumped, which was not saying much as he was usually in a state of confusion when he wasn't in a state of absolute certainty. Not long after they had come back from their C turned A rank mission, he had been approached by none other than Hinata's father, Hiashi; he remembered the girl from the Academy and from seeing her around town a few times, but had never actually spoken to her, and if her dad was anything to go by she was probably just as stuck-up and pompous. The clan head had shown up at his door with an offer of training, education in how to use his recently-activated dojutsu as well as the Hyuuga clan's family fighting style.
Normally Naruto would have jumped at the chance to learn something exclusive like that, and he had shown up at the time and place indicated…once. Something about Hiashi just rubbed him wrong, from his tone of voice to the way he attacked a rookie genin with the same ferocity as he would a seasoned jounin; Naruto had managed to fend him off but only after pulling some wild moves off the walls of the dojo.
Apparently he wasn't supposed to do that, and as punishment for his actions he had to do one hundred push-ups with a bucket of water balancing on each shoulder, buckets he wasn't allowed to spill a single drop from. To make matters worse, one of the branch members spent the entire time sneering at him, as if he were a stain on the pristine white walls of the training room. At least it wasn't a total waste of time, as he had found Hinata rather easy to talk to, even if she was somewhat shy. Not at all like his initial assessment of her, which, oddly enough, he was glad he was wrong in.
Naruto's dilemma stemmed from the fact that, despite Hiashi's apparent disappointment in his initial performance, he had been invited back for more training sessions, and had even been given a few books on how to "properly utilize his sacred gift". The chakra-sensing abilities of the Byakugan were all well and good but he'd managed twelve years without them and didn't see the point in growing too reliant on the powers gifted by the kekkei genkai…nor did he appreciate that group of old men who insisted he should be "sealed for the good of the clan and the future of the Hyuuga".
Of course, he couldn't let that stand, so he'd burst in on the Elders' chamber, pointing an indignant finger at each of them in turn, chakra radiating off of his body in a visible shroud to emphasize his total disgust with them. "I already have one seal on me," he'd said once he had their undivided attention, "and I am not interested in getting another one. And anyone who tries had better be ready to lose an arm!" Their hard gazes had told Naruto everything he needed to know about what they thought about that, and he hadn't been back to the Hyuuga grounds since. It seemed that eavesdropping was considered a grievous offense; if they hadn't wanted him to overhear them, then they shouldn't have been arguing so loud.
Now, Naruto was all for getting extra training (anything that could help on his road to Hokage was more than welcome), but there were some things that he wasn't going to put up with and stuffy old men that thought they knew better just because they'd been doing something a certain way for so long that they'd had time to become wrinkly prunes was one such thing.
Thus, he had a choice to make: continue training with Hiashi and his daughters, and endure the disrespect he was getting from the clan as a whole, or try to work on independent study and improve the skills they wanted him to learn on his own. Today, at least, he had plans to meet Hinata at Training Ground 112, while Kakashi was with Sakura and Sasuke to teach them a few things about their dojutsu, and with Hinata's other team members getting their own clan training, was free to practice with the shy Hyuuga girl. Looking at the clock he saw he had roughly twenty minutes to get there, so he set his worries aside for the time being and puttered through his apartment to get ready.
Twenty minutes later and he was at the training ground indicated, where a tall, dark-haired woman was already waiting; Naruto recognized her, despite the brief interactions throughout his admittedly-short career, as Hinata's teacher, looking the same as she had when she first retrieved her team. Alighting on the ground a respectable distance away from her on the rooftop he approached casually, and greeted her with a warm "Good Morning" which was returned in kind.
"I'm glad you've come early, Uzumaki-san," the jounin said. "In case you don't remember me, I'm Kurenai Yuuhi; Hinata's jounin instructor. I'll be joining you two on today's training to see what your current level is. From what Hiashi-dono tells me, you've only recently awakened your bloodline…and have expressed a rather magnanimous dislike of the Hyuuga's training methods."
"You heard about that, huh?" Naruto said sheepishly. Kurenai nodded, a small smirk twitching her ruby lips out of their neutral alignment for the briefest of moments.
"I would say the whole village heard about it. I understand you may have been upset, but in the future please try to minimize any outward displays of emotion. Some of the older shinobi clans view it as a sign of weakness…regardless of what the truth may be. Anyway, since you're here I'm assuming that you've decided against training with the Hyuuga proper?"
"Why shouldn't I? Aside from Hinata and Hanabi about the only ones worth knowing are the ones with that damn seal on their heads. Can you believe that on my first day there that bozo Hiashi came at me with everything he had? If I hadn't improvised I'd be paste on the floor of their dojo—and then they had the nerve to punish me for being creative!"
"Naruto, the Gentle Fist is an old and venerated method of taijutsu held in high regard by many in the village. You shouldn't be so quick to discount it."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled. "It's still a stupidly-rigid style meant for fighting in corridors, not open fields." What questions might have been on the tip of Kurenai's tongue were forestalled by the arrival of her favorite student, and also the one with the most hurdles to overcome. Hinata didn't approach with even half the confidence that Naruto had, shuffling across the rooftop field with something akin to trepidation, and as she neared she kept casting furtive glances at Naruto, something he pretended not to notice.
"Good morning, Kurenai-sensei, Naruto-kun," she said softly. Naruto pretended not to hear her, staring at the clouds instead of acknowledging her. He knew he was being unkind, but he wasn't going to get much done if they had to accommodate a shrinking violet the whole time. Noting Naruto's lack of response, Hinata blushed in shame, and began poking her fingers together as she often did when she was flustered or embarrassed. She was about to turn away and leave the field when she felt a pair of hands on her wrists, and looked up, startled, into a pair of sharp blue eyes.
"If you're going to say hello," Naruto said, "then you should do it loudly and confidently. Now, how about we try it again?"
"Um…" Hinata began, staring down at her fingers once more. "I don't really think…"
"Ah, forget thinking! If you think about it you'll worry too much! It's just like cliff-jumping. Take a deep breath and do it!" Nodding, Hinata lifted her head, took a deep breath, just as he told her, and in as loud a voice as she could muster, shouted out her greeting. His proximity to the girl and the surprising volume she was capable of bowled Naruto over, and he lay on his back, laughing gleefully.
"That's more like it, Hinata-chan! I'll make a proud ninja of you yet!" Staring at the supine jinchuuriki in shock, Hinata was about to offer an apology, but paused when she heard his laughter. It was clear and rich, not scornful or pitying, but genuinely impressed and amused.
Maybe…maybe I can be strong after all, the Hyuuga matron-in-training thought. I can find my own way to be a proud kunoichi.
Training progressed at a decent pace after that, with Naruto agreeing to submit to Kurenai's methods that day. He found it simple but effective and she'd even helped him adjust his basic taijutsu some. They started with training their dojutsu. Kurenai had them first send their vision as far away as they could; focusing not on seeing everything around them, merely on seeing things that ordinarily would require a telescope of rather large caliber. Hinata, he learned, had a range of over three miles, which was impressive even by Hyuuga standards according to the scrolls he'd been given.
Second on the agenda was Jyuuken training, and as before Naruto saw a distinct problem with it. Granted, he hadn't perused the books all that much, but even so…
"Hinata," Naruto said at one point, stopping them in the middle of a spar, "drop into the basic stance and stand at normal sparring length." Flushing, Hinata did as asked, extending her arms in the textbook manner and shifting her feet apart before shuffling out to the normal starting position for a Gentle Fist duel. Naruto did the same, and held the pose for a few moments before relaxing out of it. "Just like I thought, your reach is too short."
"How could you tell? This is the stance that we always take…"
"Tell me something: who usually trains you when you're at home?"
"My father does," Hinata admitted quietly.
"Not one of the female practitioners? Not a kunoichi?" Hinata shook her head no; as the daughter of the clan head she was expected to receive one-on-one training. Truth be told she didn't really like the aggressive style that Hiashi was trying to instill in her, and looking up, she saw a pensive expression on both Naruto's and Kurenai's faces, making her realize she'd said it out loud.
"Well, there are a few things I can see with the style he's trying to teach you. It's made for someone ten years older, a half a meter taller and a handful of kilos heavier—and more importantly he's trying to teach you the men's style of Jyuuken, which aside from not suiting your body doesn't suit your disposition, either. And that's not even beginning to get into the problems with there being no lateral movement or incorporation of low-level techniques. Not that I know any real offensive techniques, but during our last bout I saw twenty different opportunities to take you out had I not been using the textbook style, and I'm not even a genius fighter like Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke."
"What exactly do you mean by that, Naruto?" Kurenai cut in on behalf of her student, noting the dejected look that was starting to form on Hinata's visage. "I've been teaching Hinata the same way in team lessons as she is instructed with her father."
"That's just the thing, though; Hiashi's style works for him because he's a big, tall guy with a solid footing and enormous reach. He also didn't move around much, like he's stuck fighting in a tunnel, even with that big spacious dojo to practice in." Naruto stepped up to Hinata, and whispered in her ear; the girl blushed furiously at his words, but a few more comments had her nodding, and stepping back before stripping off her jacket. He'd been counting on her apparent willingness to do anything for him to get that restrictive coat off of her body, and much to his pleasure, it had worked.
To say that Naruto was impressed with the figure that was revealed would be like saying the sun is only moderately bright. Now, Naruto was not a pervert by any stretch of the imagination (at least, not in the same vein as his mentor and leader), yet as a red-blooded male he still had to appreciate the female figure and in fact had done extensive research and only a tiny bit of peeking in order to create the Ninja Centerfold, and what he saw revealed by Hinata's jacket was nothing short of PERFECTION.
Bolstered by years of intense physical training and a rich diet, the figure he saw before him, clad in a black tank-top and a short sleeved mesh undershirt beneath that, made Naruto wish he had his own Sharingan eye so he could burn the sight into his memory forever. Because beneath that bulky jacket, Hinata had been hiding a physique most women only dreamed of: blushing, round cheeks, leading into a delicate but prominent jaw, dainty neck and slim shoulders; a pair of pert, round breasts stretching the fabric of her shirt out with two prominent but not yet oversized swells, the drape of her shirt hiding what he knew must be a slender, toned waist; hips wide, bottom firm and peach-shaped, descending into a set of strong thighs and the tape on her calves letting him see every ripple and flex of her muscles—even her feet were perfect, dainty toes hiding what he knew must be a solid footing and an iron-hard kick.
Realizing he was staring at the buxom young woman, Naruto quickly shook himself out of his reverie, and stepped forward again, mindful of the contact of his callused hands against the pristine, blemish-free skin of Hinata's arms. He worked quickly, pulling her out of the rigid Jyuuken stance. When he was finished she was in a modified stance, right hand close to her chest, left arm out but relaxed, bent at the elbow; her feet were not spread as far, the left foot back and turned out, the right leg forward and turned in, effectively turning her lower body ninety degrees to her chest and shoulders.
"I noticed you favored your left side, so…" Naruto said, resuming his original starting position and the 'proper' Jyuuken stance. "Let's concentrate on blocking and deflection this time. I'll attack you and you block me. Your job is to get inside my guard any way you can. Ready?" Hinata nodded and Naruto drew on all of his (admittedly limited) taijutsu knowledge to put her through the wringer.
He started simply at first, using the Gentle Fist forms he'd managed to pick up, smiling as he saw her defending herself almost effortlessly against his attacks; picking up the pace, he fired off a pair of shuriken to mask lightning strikes of fingers aimed at neck and kidneys, only to grin even wider when her left hand snapped out to pluck the shuriken from the air and send them back twice as fast, forcing him to abort his blows early, enabling her to deflect his left hand harmlessly past her cheek and pin his right against her armpit, allowing the girl to leverage herself in and deliver a soft tap to his chest that, had she been using any chakra in her strikes, would have been lethal, or at the very least crippling.
"Good!" he crowed, stepping back and resuming his ready stance. Hinata did the same, panting slightly from the exertion, noting that Naruto didn't even seem winded…then again she'd seen his training methods and knew he had a lot more stamina to work with than the average genin or even the average chuunin, a fact which deflated her somewhat, but she wasn't about to let herself get daunted by that in front of Naruto. No sir.
"Good work, Hinata, but we're not done yet. You've still got more enemies!" With a cross seal, Naruto generated a quartet of shadow clones, each of which took up a fighting stance, none of them using Jyuuken like the original was. "You're surrounded now, what do you do? They're not going to fight fair and you've got no backup!"
Hinata's answer was to lash out with her rear leg, catching the clone behind her in the crotch, causing it to dispel; her maneuver put her in position to duck under the brace of kunai flying at her from the right, plucking one out of the air and using it to block the hammer-stab that would have left a nasty injury on her had it connected. Dropping the kunai to off-balance the clone, Hinata righted herself, Byakugan flaring, a backhand smashing into the copy's jaw and sending it flying just in time for her to circle around Naruto's thrusting fingers—she felt the wind of their passage on the nape of her neck, and she initiated body contact to sweep around and send the attacking genin stumbling. Leaping skyward to avoid the grasping hands attempting to pull her into the dirt, Hinata whipped a set of shuriken out of her pouch without aiming, the wild throw making the two remaining clones duck out of the way or else be hit in disabling spots.
As she landed Hinata had to lift her left leg to stifle an incoming kick, the force of which staggered her and set her off-balance; she was caught by the arm and pushed to the ground, her eyes letting her see the kunai descending for the killing blow. Not willing to accept defeat just yet, she rolled into the arm, weakening its grasp on her, and lashed upwards with her foot as she tumbled forward and back into a stance, feeling the satisfying crunch and hearing the poof of a clone dying. Pulling her sight to a point above her body, Hinata braced herself for the pincer attack she knew was coming, and when it did arrive she was ready for it, a chakra spike killing the clone trying to get her from behind before a chakra-coated palm parried the wooden spool attempting to bean her in the side of the head.
The application of chakra, though, caused the scroll to unwind and unseal its contents, dust of some sort exploding into Hinata's face and allowing the remaining Naruto, the original, to move in and place a kunai against her neck. Blinking through the pain coming from her irritated eyes, Hinata glared at the grinning boy in front of her.
"Any last words before I send you to Shinigami?"
As Naruto was hoping, she didn't waste any time pleading for her 'life,' instead taking advantage of the fact that her opponent was not pinning her from behind, leaning away from the kunai and dropping to sweep his legs out from beneath him. Naruto backflipped away from the attempt, disorienting himself momentarily, and Hinata took that moment to swipe the kunai out of his hand, step behind him, and lock her heel against his own to prevent a reverse takedown, holding the blade against his jugular.
"Any last words before I send you to Shinigami?" Hinata retorted, throwing the taunt in Naruto's face.
"Good work, Hinata," was the reply, but not from Naruto; it was Kurenai who had spoken up, smiling at the two teens that chose that moment to realize just how firmly Hinata's chest was pressed up against the whiskered blond's back. The pair separated with a blush, turning and bowing to each other to signal the end of the spar. "And good work to you, too, Naruto, for helping Hinata improve so quickly with a few simple changes. Though I'm curious as to where you learned the Headhunter technique; I know Kakashi hasn't taught that to you yet."
"Um, well, you see…" Naruto said with a sheepish grin. "I sorta saw him use it on Sasuke once and borrowed a few jutsu scrolls from the library? I gave them back before anyone noticed them missing…"
"Well, as long as you didn't keep the scrolls I suppose they are there for anyone to learn from, though next time you can just check them out with the librarian. I noticed you didn't call the attack like most genin would."
"I've been practicing it a lot, Kurenai-sensei. It doesn't really help to yell out your plans to your opponents, does it?"
"Indeed not, Naruto. Good observation. You're welcome to continue practicing with us, if you like."
"That'd be awesome! Hinata's a pretty good fighter, actually, and pretty, too. I wouldn't mind getting my butt kicked every day if it meant I got to see that smile more." That elicited a shy grin and a heavy blush out of the Hyuuga princess, who started poking her fingers together again, that is until Naruto grasped her hands and shook his head lightly. Nodding, Hinata shoved her hands into her pockets instead, trying to emulate her crush and stand proud and unflinching. That earned her one of the big, exuberant grins from her blond idol, one which she returned if not as broadly then just as eagerly.
"Well, that ends today's lessons, I suppose," Kurenai said after a few moments. "Why don't I take the two of you out to eat before you head home? I'm sure the both of you are rather famished after all of that." Naruto's whoops and hollers had even Kurenai grinning, though she was more bemused than anything. Together the trio set off, while in the space they had just left, a jounin and a clan head released the genjutsu they'd been hiding behind to observe the departing ninja.
"Rather surprising how effective a teacher he is," Hiashi commented, face pulled into a pensive frown. Beside him, Kakashi looked as unfazed as normal, though one could see from the way he held himself that he shared a similar emotion to the leader of the Hyuuga. "That boy managing to figure all that out after only a single training session with the Jyuuken, and even discovering flaws that I myself had overlooked—it's quite humbling."
"He is the number one surprising ninja for a reason, you know. If I hadn't declined to send my team to the Exams I'm sure we would have been seeing even more of that."
"Ah, yes, you have two shinobi to instruct in the way of the Sharingan now, instead of just one, don't you? Their education is coming well?"
"You want my honest opinion? I'd probably have better luck with first-year candidates. Sasuke's fallen into this mindset of expecting everything to come easy, without effort, and Sakura's so out of shape I find myself wondering why I allowed them to take D-ranks, let alone a misclassified A-rank. I have the both of them working on their speed and reflexes for now. I've made a lot of mistakes with them; fortunately I seem to have been granted a second chance. I hope the other jounin with rookie teams are taking the opportunity to review their teams' training regimens, as well."
"A sound and sensible agenda," Hiashi commented after pondering Kakashi's words. "Hopefully he will be able to encourage her in more ways than one. I fear that too many more poor showings in her spars against fellow clan members will sour the Elders' opinion of Hinata beyond all recovery."
"They have that much say in your clan?"
"Think of how numerous the Hyuuga are, Kakashi. Though day-to-day matters fall to the discretion of the various family heads, I am head for the entire clan, and the problems that may arise between families and individuals are more plentiful than I am capable of dealing with alone. I do not fear her being branded—clan law prohibits that—but I do fear her being disinherited completely. One other thing bothers me, however, or should I say two things."
"Enlighten me, O Hiashi-dono." The sarcasm in the statement rankled the Hyuuga head somewhat, but he ignored his annoyance and pressed on.
"It concerns a bit of legislation that the Clan Council is trying to get the Jounin Council to ratify and present to the Hokage to be signed into law. With many of our more prominent shinobi-oriented clans on the decline they want to make it a requirement that those clans, families really, with fewer than twenty members be given special exemptions from certain customs and unofficial laws…those pertaining to marriage especially. I know for a fact that Asuma would object to being ordered to find more than one woman to love, especially as he's been skirting the issue of a certain Genjutsu Mistress lately. The Kurama clan, too, would be in objection as their particular abilities are rather unstable and having too many of them around at any one time would be a disaster waiting to happen…and good luck getting Tsunade back here for anything less than a promotion to Hokage."
"I've heard about that piece of work. Anko was complaining about it over at the Holy Carp recently. What's your other concern and is it related?"
"Did you notice how Naruto's expression changed when he succeeded in getting my daughter to discard her jacket for the training session? He's beginning to notice women, Kakashi, and has been for quite some time if Iruka's report on a unique usage of henge is any indication."
"Ah, I think I understand. You worry for Hinata's virtue, is that it?"
"What father would not? Even as the parent to a fledgling kunoichi and another daughter with similar aspirations, I cannot help but feel somewhat protective of them both."
"Naruto is a good boy. He wouldn't take advantage of her."
"If this legislation does pass… there are so many 'ifs' and 'maybes' in recent times, Kakashi. I don't know how to make sense of it all."
"Should you figure it out let me know. I'd like to have a head-start on the fangirls."
… … …
Originally, this was going to be a lot longer than what I have written so far, but the idea, as you can see, fizzled out halfway. Maybe because it's yet another "Naruto gets a doujutsu) fiction. I dunno.
Since the Rookie Nine aren't entered into the Exams that means that Sasuke, naturally, does not receive the curse mark and thus stays in Konoha; other changes include it being Neji who is matched up against Gaara in the preliminaries rather than Lee, and Tenten loses to Kin rather than Temari, though it takes a lot longer and is less humiliating for her.
Naturally Naruto will still learn summoning, though with his newfound focus he's able to master it much more quickly and pick up a few other tricks to use against Gaara when the invasion is launched, while Sasuke and Sakura both are given the ability to use the Chidori (after an extensive amount of speed training to bring them both up to the level where they can actually aim it). With no curse mark fueling his jealousy Sasuke stays in the village…
Other things that were to have happened was Naruto taking Hinata under his Clan's protection citing a few obscure laws and the fact that the Hokage's law always supersedes Clan law, although the reasons for this were never thought out beyond the need to do so in the first place. Perhaps it was triggered by Neji's loss to Gaara and the debilitating injuries that are carried with it, or perhaps it is required by some event occurring during the Invasion. Who knows?
And no, the CRA still doesn't get passed into legality.
Sorry about the sudden shift into serious when it looked like it was developing into a romantic comedy. Not keeping track of what you want to have happen does that to stories.
If anyone wants to adopt this fic then go ahead, with some stipulations:
No CRA. It's silly.
No Hinata/Naruto pairing, unless it's of a platonic, brother/sister nature.
The Byakugan and Sharingan that Naruto and Sakura possess are not magically more powerful than the main wielders of the eye mutations. So none of this silly 'Naruto being able to see souls' stuff or anything involving Sakura becoming able to emulate Sakon and Ukon just because she's got some kind of godly chakra control. That's silly.
NO SUPER-GENIN. THEY'RE ROOKIES FOR A REASON.
Other than that have fun and don't die. Adopters encouraged to note me with their version of the story.
I might pick it up again later. I don't have a clue.
