A Hero

Chapter 4

I am Christopher Scott: A Gentleman Thief. I am not Masashi Kishimoto. Therefore, I don't own Naruto. I don't recall Tenten having a family mentioned, so I will be going on the assumption that she is an orphan.

Naruto was walking, enjoying nature while trying to find Team Eight, when he saw two green blurs blaze past him. Unsure he wanted to know what they would do to him if they accidentally hit him, since they had managed to crush a tree each, he hurried past. He was walking normally when he saw a human boy and girl. The boy had brown hair and the same eyes as Hinata, though they seemed to be more judgmental than kind. Next to him was a girl with brown hair in two buns and brown eyes who was holding two pointy kunai in her hands. Naruto found himself disturbed by this, as he had acquired many scars in his time as a statue due to many types of weapons. Fortunately, Inari and Kyuubi had fixed the marks, but he still had a dislike of those things.

"You were the intruder in the compound earlier," the boy commented in an even tone, "How did you get in without permission?"

"Hinata let me in, since I had no place to go," Naruto responded cheerily, "What are you two doing out here. If you're exploring, I'd recommend being careful. There are these two blurs moving through here that can destroy things. I got away in case the things reduced me to rubble."

"Don't you mean 'a gooey paste?'" the girl asked.

"No, rubble," Naruto said, "I'm a statue, so, why would I be a gooey paste?"

"You're not a statue," the girl said, "You're clearly a living breathing boy. Where are your parents? Are you lost in the forest? Are you new to the village?"

"No, like I said, I was a statue before I was brought to life," Naruto amended, "Now I'm a living statue. I don't have any parents."

"How could that even be…" the boy began before the girl cut him off.

The girl then said, "Oh. I'm sorry. We didn't know."

"Know what?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Nothing important," she said gently, "We've got to stick up for each other, or who else will?"

"Okay," Naruto said, still rather confused, but pleased that he now had a new friend, "Hey, what are your names?"

"I'm Tenten," she said, smiling kindly, "and he's Neji. As for the two blurs, they wouldn't hurt you. They're just our teammates, Gai-sensei and Lee. What's your name?"

"They're not blurs?" Naruto asked, somewhat relieved that the blurs weren't natural occurrences, "Oh, I'm Naruto."

"No," Neji responded.

"Well, can either of you direct me to where Team Eight is?" Naruto asked, "I've been wandering this forest trying to find them, but I can't seem to come across them."

"Why do you need to know that?" Neji asked.

"Well, Hinata and Kiba are part of that team and they are my friends and my teammates, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha seem to be eager to play some type of game where they act like a predator and prey."

"They're about a quarter mile from here," Tenten said, "We passed them a little bit ago, so they're probably still there. Better hurry, though."

"Thank you, Tenten and Neji," Naruto said cheerily, heading off to meet his friends.

"You're welcome," the kunoichi called to him just as merrily, "And, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm willing to listen."

"What was that about?" Neji asked her after the boy was some good number of yards away.

"He's going to need someone to look after him," she said sagely, "He said he had no parents, and I know that I made up some weird explanations for how I came into the world. We orphans have to stick together. Otherwise, who else do we have to turn to?"


Eventually, Naruto found Team Eight. Hinata and Kiba were sparring, being watched by another boy in dark sunglasses and dark hair in an odd standing position while his mouth was covered by his coat collar.

"Who are you?" the dark haired boy asked, staring at him as bugs flew out of his coat, swarming the statue.

The beetles landed on Naruto's surface, which was something he was used to. Having been an immobile stone statue originally, he recalled many times that insects and even had perched on him. Some would even fly into him blindly, crashing against him and dying.

"I'm Naruto," he responded cheerily, noticing that the bugs seemed to be getting heavier. Looking at his shoulders, he saw that they were perched on him, taking chakra from him.

"Could you remove your insects from me?" he asked, "They wouldn't like it if they got poisoned by the chakra, and, even if it didn't kill them, I would prefer to not be a statue, again. Also, aren't we members of the same village."

When he said this, he tilted his head down, revealing the forehead protector with the symbol of Konoha carved into it.

"My apologies," the boy said, recalling his insects, "I was unsure if you were an enemy who had somehow managed to get into the village. Please announce yourself when you are present. I would not like to make that mistake again."

"The fault is mine," Naruto responded, "I was so eager to meet with Hinata and Kiba that I didn't recall that humans didn't like to be uniformed of one's intent. I'm Naruto, by the way."

"I am Shino Aburame," the boy responded, "What did you mean when you said 'humans'? Are you not human, yourself?"

"No," Naruto responded simply, "I'm an animate statue."

"Very well," Shino said evenly, "You don't have a reason to make a lie like that, so you must be telling the truth. How did you come to life?"

"Hinata prayed for a hero, and a god brought me to life using a little bit of Hinata's chakra and some other means."

"I see," Shino responded, "Well then, it is rather nice to meet you, Naruto."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Shino Aburame," Naruto responded. Just then, Kiba and Hinata had stopped sparring.

"Hey, stonehead," Kiba joked, "good to see you."

"It is pleasant to see you too, Kiba, as well as you, Hinata," Naruto returned.

"It's nice to see you, too, Naruto-kun," Hinata responded, smiling gently.

"Hey, Shino," Kiba said, "Don't we have that thing to do on the other side of the village with just the pair of us?"

"I do not," Shino began, until he noticed how close the statue had gotten to his female teammate, being close enough to probably count her eyelashes. Finding the situation rather interesting, as Naruto seemed to be showing preferences, specifically one to a certain light-eyed heiress, he quickly amended his statement, saying, "…understand how I could have forgotten. Let's go now. You two can stay here."

With that, the boys left, leaving Hinata and Naruto alone to discuss their day. Despite the lack of a point of familiarity, they were getting along famously.

Eventually, the sun was beginning to set. And so, they walked and talked all the way to the compound while Hinata prepared for a discussion with her father over her new friend.