Here you go folks! Sorry for the long wait but with work and stuff. Writing hasn't been going as fast but I'm glad to have finished this chapter up! Enjoy :3
Chapter 4: First Day of Dragon Training
The first session of the course was taking place at the edge of the arena where tables and chairs were set up for the students. Naruto found a spot in the middle where Hinata sat beside him. As the students took their seats, Sakanāshi stood at the front where a chalkboard and a table for the teacher are located. Accompanying him was his Gronkle, who then laid down on the ground beside him taking a minor nap.
"Hello, everyone!" he greeted. "Welcome to Dragon Identification and Classes! I'm your teacher for the next few years, Sakanāshi Tara. Today we'll be going over dragon classes today. Can anyone tell me how many classes there are?" He got a response when a student in the back raised his hand. He pointed to the student before saying, "Yes, you!"
Naruto looked over to the kid and saw that he had light brown hair, brown eyes and a gap in his teeth. He was almost as tall as Shino, but not as close. He wore a purple shirt, dark brown pants with a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. He also had cloth wrappings around his palms and wrists. This was Hatsumei Tara, a member of the Tara Clan as well as Sakanāshi's son.
"The answer," he said. "For the number of classes are seven. Which are known as the Stoker, Boulder, Fear, Sharp, Tidal, Strike and Mystery Classes."
"Very good, Hatsumei!" he congratulated. "Now can anyone name a species of dragon from the Strike Class?" He then noticed Naruto immediately raise his hand which he pointed to. "Yes, Naruto?"
"A Night Fury!" the boy exclaimed. This got a couple of laughs from other students, except for Hinata and the other three Hatsumei was with.
"Oh please!" a bully-looking kid said. "Night Fury ain't a Strike Class. It's part of the Mystery Class!" The other two bullies with him agreed very dumbly.
"Actually," Sakanāshi interrupted. "Naruto is correct!" This got the other students to shout, "Seriously!?" in unison. "Yes, even though it's a borderline between Strike and Mystery Class, a Night Fury mostly leans towards to the Strike Class. Considering its speed, tactics and intelligence, it indeed takes its place within that class. Good job, Naruto!"
Naruto smiled that he got the answer right. Hinata also smiled that her crush finally was in a class he could improve in. Behind them, the kid that made fun of Naruto sneered a bit. Though he had a plan for the later parts of the class, which he pulled out a green-colored stem which looked like it came from a root of sorts. This was part of a root called Dragon Root. Dragons were attracted to it like with Dragon Nip, but caused more aggression than calmness. The bully then placed it into Naruto's back pocket without anyone noticing.
The first session of the class ended and the students proceeded to the next session which was located on another edge of the arena where a minor ring was set up. On a table, various weapons from katanas to staffs were seen. The students lined up as Hanajiru and Kuzuri were in front of them.
"Alright, class!" Kuzuri started. "Welcome to the Combat and Tactics session of the class. Today is a real doozy. Each of you will take a practice weapon from the table over there and when we call two names, you'll both fight till the other loses. Now then everyone gather a weapon and let's get started!"
The students then flocked to the table grabbing various weapons. Naruto walked up to it and looked around a bit. He then saw a wooden katana which he picked up. He got a good feel to it, doing a few swings with it. Something on the inside told him that this weapon felt right with him. He smiled before walking over next to Hinata, who acquired a Bō staff, then sent his focus to the teachers.
"Okay," Hanajiru announced. "Would Raidō Tara and Hatsumei Tara come up?"
The two students entered the ring. On the left was Hatsumei, sporting a Bō staff like Hinata, and the right was brown haired boy with green eyes. He was wearing a red shirt, which was a bit tattered. He also wore dark brown pants with a brown belt and black shinobi sandals. On his wrists were brown wrist bands and his fingers were covered in cloth wrapping. His body build was more muscled than the other students but more to the athletic build. In his hands, he sported two Sais, which he occasionally twirled around. This was Raidō Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and son of Hanajiru Tara.
Both stared at each other with hardened glares. Both ready to bash each other's brains in. Hatsumei started spinning his Bō staff around him, with excellent skill. The students watched in awe as the boy kept twirling the staff around him before stopping, without a flinch. The other boy wasn't impressed and just popped his neck and shoulder joints.
"Alright, Hatsu" Raidō advised. "Put down the staff, and no one gets hurt."
Hatsumei had a deadpan expression on his face. "You said that last time, Rai. And then you hurt me."
Raidō then shrugged, "Yeah… but less then I would have."
"Yeah, right." Hatsumei said with a raised brow. Then Kuzuri signaled them to begin, which Hatsumei then charged in with his staff spinning and prepared to strike. But that didn't happen, as somehow, Raidō grabbed the staff, and pulled it from Hatsumei's grip. He then took the staff and broke it in half making it into two small batons, and twirled them in his hands. Hatsumei's eyes widened and shivered a bit.
"Should have dropped the staff?" he said with a gulp.
"Should have dropped the staff," Raidō nodded with a smirk, and proceeded to pummel Hatsumei on the head with the batons playfully, causing him to cry out to stop and surrendered.
The next match was called as two other boys were called up. One had light blonde hair and blue eyes. His face had freckles on his cheeks. He wore an orange shirt, light brown pants, a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. On his wrists were brown wrist bands and his fingers were wrapped in cloth wrappings. In his hands, he wielded nunchaku, which he spun around with expert precision. This was Otoko Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and the son of Kibishīnatto.
The other boy had light brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a blue shirt, brown pants with a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. On his wrists he wore arm guards and his fingers were wrapped in cloth wrappings. In his hands he wielded two katanas, which were poised and ready. This was Shuryō Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and the son of Arainatto.
Otoko then sped around Shuryō, swinging his nunchaku around, while taunting the blue-shirted boy. However, Shuryō seemed to just stand there, in a battle stance, not making a flinch, but dodged all the attacks the orange-wearing Tara was throwing at him.
"Oh, yeah! Otoko is on the move!" The nunchaku wielding Tara taunted, jumping around his fellow clan member, swinging his nunchaku at lightning speed. "You don't know what to do! I'm here! I'm there! I could be anywhere! How can you stop what you can't see?"
However, once Otoko made a pass to Shuryō's left, he got him in the gut with the pommel of his katana handle. This caused Otoko to fall to the ground on his knees, with the air knocked out of him. Shuryō then sheathed the swords while looking at the down boy, and replied, "Like that."
"Good one, Ryō," Otoko wheezed out.
Time went by as other students were called up and sparred with one another. Then, Hinata's name was called as well as one of the bullies by the name of Odei. He was around her and Naruto's height. His hair was brown and had black eyes. He sported a white shirt, brown pants and blue shinobi sandals. Gripped in his hands were tonfa, which he had battle ready.
Both positioned themselves in the ring, waiting for the signal. Odei was smirking, his face showed over confidence. Hinata, however, was fidgeting a bit. She was nervous, thinking she might lose in front of her crush. She then started to discard her stance thinking that she already lost. Naruto noticed this and called out to her.
"Go, Hinata-chan! Kick his ass to the curb!" Hinata was brought out of her thoughts when she heard that. She turned to Naruto, who was giving his signature fox grin with thumbs up. Hinata smiled, her nervousness melted away replaced with confidence. She then turned to Odei with her Bō staff at the ready with a smile.
'Thank you, Naruto-kun' she thought as the spar began.
Odei charged at the Hyūga with yell, swinging his tonfa at her. Hinata dodged each strike before swinging the staff at Odei, getting him in the nose. This caused the boy to cry out in pain, holding his nose. The boy then glared at Hinata, with hate in his eyes.
"You think you're so high and mighty," Odei spat as he lifted up his tonfa. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you, Hyūga." Hinata's expression didn't falter as her eyes shown more distinct pupils, and her veins near her temples bulge. This caused Odei to shutter a bit, considering now he was fighting against the Byakugan.
Hinata then charged at the bully, and then swung with exact precision. Odei tried to counter but had both tonfas knocked out of his grip. Hinata then attacked the tenketsu which would cause knockout in her opponent. She then gave one more thrust with her staff, causing Odei to fly out of the ring where he landed on his back. The students were in awe at what happened. The one in most awe was Naruto. Not only did Hinata win but the way she moved was like a person dancing. He then shook away his thoughts and cheered for her.
Hinata blushed as she heard her crush cheer for her. She then hurried back to the other students, next to Naruto. She then heard Naruto's name called as well as the name of the leader of the bullies, Damasu. The boy was taller than Naruto. He sported black hair and green eyes. He wore a black shirt, brown pants and brown shinobi sandals. In his hands, he wielded a long chain mace. Unlike regular maces, this mace had no spikes and mainly used for bludgeoning.
Damasu smirked as he twirled the mace around. Naruto gulped a bit before unsheathing the katana and got into a readied stance. The spar then began and Naruto charged with sword in hand. Damasu twirled the mace around and chucked it at Naruto. The whiskered blonde dodged the mace, but then got a kick to the gut causing him to get knocked back on the ground. Naruto groan before moving out the way of the incoming mace ball. Naruto then got to his feet and jumped into the air and delivered an air kick to the bully's cheek.
Naruto then land then turned back at Damasu to send in another kick but it was caught and he was thrown near the edge of the ring. Naruto looked up and time seemed to slow down as he saw the mace heading towards him. He knew that the mace would knock him out of the ring and he'd lose. He tried to think of ways to either counter the weapon or dodge it quickly enough. However his thoughts were interrupted by an unknown force.
"You're in quite the predicament," said a disembodied voice. "You want to get out of this without being harmed? Then listen closely, child. Calm yourself and channel your chakra into the blade of your sword. I'll do the rest."
Naruto didn't know where the voice came from but right now he didn't care. He listened as he calmed down and channeled his chakra into the katana. Surprisingly, the katana blade glowed white and he then got into a sword stance before time started speed back up. He flashed his eyes open as the mace was in range and sliced downwards. From this the mace was sliced in two like a knife through hot butter. The split pieces of the mace landed on each side of Naruto which caused the viewers to go wide-eyed.
Damasu was shocked at what he saw. The failure known as Naruto Uzumaki was able to cut through his weapon. His thoughts were broken as Naruto then charged at him, sending a roundhouse kick to the bully's face. This caused him to be knocked back around 5 feet and landed outside the ring. Silence encompassed the group of onlookers. Until Kuzuri shook himself out of his stupor and walked over to Naruto, raising his hand in the air.
"Well," he said. "It goes without sayin'. Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!"
Some of the students cheered for Naruto, mainly Hinata. He smiled as the Tara members and Hinata walked over to him congratulating him. His mind then started to wander as a familiar voice echoed in his mind.
"Not bad, kid." It said. "With a little practice you could be a natural. Oh, and if you want to talk to me, just think it."
'Okay,' Naruto thought. 'Hey, thanks for the help. So who are you? Why can I only hear you?'
"You're welcome. For who I am, you can say that I'm sort of your guardian angel. The only reason you can hear me is because we are connected through a force out of your control."
'Out of my control?' Naruto thought. 'What does that mean? Who are you really?'
"You'll find out in due time. But right now my identity shall remain a secret. We shall talk again later, right now your friends are wondering why you haven't responded to them."
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice was heard. This brought him out of his train of thought and looked at the Hyūga. She had a worried look on her face when he never responded. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said with grin. He then looked around to see that the students were walking over what appeared to be an obstacle course. "So… did I miss anything when I zoned out?"
"Well," Hinata explained. "After your victory, everyone was called to the next class session. It was the Training Course, I believe."
Naruto smiled a bit then started heading over to the Training Course. The course itself was comprised of multiple obstacles determined to test ones strength, speed and will. The first part of the course had swinging logs, which was used to increase ones agility. The next part was the wall climb, where the students were trained to use their strength to overcome this obstacle. After that, there was a straight path but it was likely booby trapped. Once you enter that part, blunted, and padded, kunai shot out which helped one practice evasive tactics. The final part of the course was the 50 meter dash, which had hurdles and as well as a surprise during the end part.
Naruto and Hinata arrived with the other students. He looked to see the twin teachers, Kibishīnatto and Arainatto, who were arguing about something. But eventually, they put off the argument when Arainatto punched the back of Kibishīnatto's head, causing him to fall in pain in front of the students, who were chuckling a bit. The male twin then got up and dusted himself before giving out his announcement.
"Alright," he called out. "Welcome to the Training Course! Where pain and pleasure mix like a delicious drink during the holidays." The students looked at him a bit weird until Arainatto then continued, "Basically what my Otōto is trying to say, the point of this obstacle course is to test your might to either you'll pull through or you'll be in pain. To which, it'll be our pleasure watching."
"Exactly," Kibishīnatto exclaimed. "Now all of you guys head to the starting line."
The students did what they were told. Each of them lined up and positioned themselves ready. The signal was given and the children started running. Naruto came up to the swinging logs. He dodged each one and continued forward. Hinata, who followed after, dodged each one but almost got hit. Hatsumei dodged one by one but got slammed in the gut by one. This caused Otoko, who ran past, to turn around and chuckle a bit before he himself got hit by a log to the side.
After dodging and getting slammed by cylinders of wood, the children then came to the wall climb. Naruto, who looked back, saw Hinata coming right up to him. He allowed her to climb up the wall first, which she shyly smiled at his courtesy. He then climbed up after she got to a pretty good distance. He looked back seeing the other students climbing up as well, though a few having more trouble than others. Naruto made it to the top. There, Hinata was waiting for him and she held out a hand to help him up. Once pulled up, he smiled before gesturing to her to jump down the wall. She nodded as they both jumped down, with the other students following after, and proceeded to the kunai path.
As they stepped into the path, random kunai shot out at them. Naruto dodged but sometimes got nicked by a stray kunai. Hinata, who was using her Byakugan, dodged and swatted each one away. She then saw a stray kunai heading for her crush. She immediately rushed to him as he turned to see the incoming kunai. But before it could hit, she swatted it away with a palm strike, causing it to fling away into a certain bully. Naruto smiled and thanked Hinata for the assist and they and the other students proceeded to the finale of the course.
"Hey, Imōto," Kibishīnatto said to his sibling. "I think I have a brilliant idea for the final part of the obstacle course." She then looked at her twin as if he grew another head.
"You?" she asked. "An idea? Is it the end of the world or something?"
"No! It's a really good idea." He then gestured her to come closer. She rolled her eyes but leaned in. He started whispering the idea into her ear. As this progressed, her lips turned from a smile to a grin. This was probably the best plan her brother has ever came up with in a long time.
"Okay," she said. "I am so into this plan!"
"Shall we begin?" the male twin asked.
"Lets!" she agreed. Then she and her twin made a weird called which surprisingly sounded like a Zippleback. Barf n' Belch, the twins Zippleback, responded to this and waddled over to their riders. The twins then started doing hand gestures, which confused the students, and Barf n' Belch then responded by flying to the final part of the course and the right head started expelling a line of green gas to from the start of the final to the finish.
Naruto tensed at this and grabbed Hinata's wrist, which made her blush, and started high-tailing it to the finish. The other children realized what their teachers were planning as well and started to run to the finish faster as well. The sound of a spark going off reached their ears and they turned to see a flaming, explosive inferno speeding towards them. Naruto looked behind and started sweating bullets and Hinata was trying to not faint at the current situation.
Whenever the wisp of fire got close to any of the children, they'd jump off the course, causing them to become disqualified. Naruto and Hinata kept running as the raging inferno came closer. Naruto then suddenly pulled Hinata close and picked her up bridal style, which caused her face to redden like a tomato. As the finish line was in sight, he then made a desperate dive for it, facing the ground to his back where Hinata wouldn't become injured.
They passed over the finish line and landed on the ground. Naruto, while on his back, held Hinata close as the explosive inferno passed over them. The heat could be felt on their skin causing them to have shivers. The inferno passed and dissipated, which made Naruto sigh with relief. He then looked over at Hinata, who unfortunately had fainted again.
He propped himself up and glared at the twin teachers. Those two were either insane, stupid or both. Why would they allow that in this course? Someone could have gotten severely burned or worse. His thoughts were broken as he looked to see Shakkuri was walking over to the twins, with an expression that could stare down a Red Death.
"Guys," Shakkuri said. "What did I tell you about using Barf n' Belch's gas on the course? Do you realize you could have injured one of the students?"
"Don't look at me," Arainatto said then pointed to her brother. "It was his stupid idea."
"Hey!" he shouted. "My idea wasn't stupid. In fact, my idea made it to where I made a realistic life or death situation happen. At least your kid crossed the finish line with his girlfriend."
"First," Shakkuri started stating. "We are in no circumstance to use dragon fire for the obstacle course. Second, we will never, ever use dragon fire for any course unless were teaching about it. Finally, Hinata isn't my son's girlfriend." He then muttered to himself, "Not yet, anyway."
"Whatever," Kibishīnatto said. "So does this mean our session is over? Cause I want to go to one of the training grounds to blow stuff up."
Shakkuri sighed before saying, "Yes, your session is over." He then looks to the group of students. "If all of you would follow me, we can begin the final session."
A few minutes later, the students gathered at the middle of the arena. Shakkuri and Mjölnir were standing in front of the group ready to begin their session. Most of the students at the time were at awe of Mjölnir. Considering some Skrill are aggressive, Mjölnir cast aside that major notion. Mjölnir looked over at Shakkuri with a look that said, "It's time to begin." Shakkuri nodded before getting the students attention.
"Welcome to the Bonding Course," he said. "In this session, you'll learn the meaning of establishing a bond with a dragon. The bond is a pact between rider and dragon. It means that you trust each other with your lives. Today, I'll teach you how to establish a bond with a wild dragon. However, I must say this; you are under no circumstances to train a wild dragon by yourselves. Are we all clear on this?" He then was answered, "Yes, sensei," by all of the students. "Good! Now let's get started."
Shakkuri then gave out multiple calls which sounded like different types of dragons. The response was five different call backs as five different dragons flew in. They were the Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Gronkle and the Hideous Zippleback. There was also one dragon around the size of a small dog. It had small but powerful red wings, red spines going down from head to tail, and a small red horn on its nose, as well as two on its head. The dragon's body was colored light green with a red trim on some areas, and had big, yellow eyes. It licked its right eye, almost similar as to how a gecko would do, as it looked at the group of children. This was the Terrible Terror, the smallest of the dragons, but not the least in ferocity.
"Here," Shakkuri said. "Will be the dragons you'll be trying to establish a bond with." He then pulled out a small clipboard and held it in front of him. "I call out each of your names and you'll come up here and establish at bond with the dragon I pick. Before we get to that though, let me and Mjölnir demonstrate about establishing a bond."
The students watched as Shakkuri faced the Skrill, who was facing back at him. Naruto watched in awe as his father held out and open palmed hand only a few inches away from the dragon. What seemed like a minute or so passed as Mjölnir closed his eyes and placed his snout into Shakkuri's open palm. The students were at awe at the scene of the bond between the rider and his dragon. Shakkuri smiled as a memory of him and Mjölnir's first meeting came to mind. He shook off the memory before turning to the students.
"That is what you must do," he said. "The key to this is gaining the dragons trust and assuring them that you can be trusted. So let us begin with this lesson."
One by one, students were called up to establish their bonds with the dragons. Naruto's attention was turned to Damasu, who was having trouble getting the Terrible Terror off while its jaws were clamped on its nose. Naruto chuckled at this when he heard the next named called.
"Hinata Hyūga," Shakkuri called. "Come up and try to establish a bond with…" He trailed as he looked at the dragons, before his sights lay on the Nadder. "… The Deadly Nadder."
Hinata tensed before shyly walking over to the Sharp Class dragon. The dragon in question was looking at the Hyūga with keen interest as it chattered and chirped. Hinata then closed her eyes and held out her hand, which was shaking a bit in fear. She was use to the Terrible Terrors that lived in her mother's garden but never a Nadder. She was scared that the dragon might bite her or fling its spines at her.
"Alright," Shakkuri assured her. "Now listen carefully, Hinata. Nadders are well known for their vanity. Just complement her and focus on that to gain-"
He couldn't finish for the Nadder then pressed her snout against Hinata's hand. She tensed a bit and looked at the dragon, which opened its eyes which showed kindness within them. Hinata then slowly smiled and gave out a giggle as the Nadder snuggled her cheek lovingly.
Naruto watched in awe as Hinata interacted with the Nadder. Never in his life had he met someone like Hinata. She was kind, sweet and great with dragons considering how fast she bonded with the Nadder. He couldn't help but chuckle when he witnessed the other dragons being affectionate with her, which made her giggle as they started giving her affectionate licks. Naruto couldn't help but feel something warm in his chest whenever he watched her. He couldn't figure out why though.
Shakkuri was equally surprised when he watched Hinata. She was a natural dragon tamer. He shook his head before walking over to the dragons and giving a few hand gestures to them to give Hinata room. They backed off and the Nadder then rubbed against Hinata's cheek before heading back with the other dragons. Shakkuri then looked to Hinata with smile.
"Hinata," he said. "In all of my years I've never seen any dragon take a liking to anybody that quick. I admit that you're a natural tamer. Congrats!" Hinata blushed at this as she fiddled with her index fingers.
"T-Thank you, sensei," she shyly thanked her teacher. She then walked back over to Naruto, where she noticed him staring at her. She blushed a bit before stand right next to him while still fiddling with her fingers.
"Naruto," Shakkuri called. "You're up! The dragon you'll bond with will be… the Monstrous Nightmare."
Naruto flinched a bit when he heard that. Out of all of the Stoker Class of dragons, Monstrous Nightmares were the most ferocious. Sure he wasn't actually afraid of the dragon, it was the setting oneself on fire that concerned him. He sighed putting his minor fears aside and walked over to the dragon. Its size dwarfed Naruto considerably and snorted a bit. He then extended his hand out to the dragon but held firm. He closed his eyes and waited for the dragon. He then felt something warm on his hand and open his eyes to see the Nightmare's snout in his palm. He smiled a bit before petting the Nightmare's snout, who in term cooed at the touch.
"Hey, big guy," he said. "You're not scary as everyone thinks-"Before he could finish, the dragon tensed suddenly before taking a whiff of Naruto. Its eyes widened and its pupils slitted before rising up before Naruto with its wings extended and its body ignited. He let out a mighty roar which caused Naruto to fearfully fall back and move away.
"Naruto!" Shakkuri shouted to his son. Mjölnir wasted no time and bolted in front of the boy and covered its body in electricity and gave a mighty roar at the Nightmare. The Nightmare then spewed fire at the Skrill, who jumped back and then sent out a bolt of lightning back at it. The Nightmare was frightened by the bolt that struck the ground at its feet.
Naruto's heart was pounding in his chest. The Night Fury was one thing but the Monstrous Nightmare was entirely different. His thoughts were broken as he watched Mjölnir head butt the Nightmare into the wall. It groaned before passing out. Mjölnir snorted before turning to Naruto with a worried expression. The boy smiled before getting up to pet the dragon. Before his hand reached the snout, Mjölnir's expression matched that of the Nightmare's when it first interacted with him. With a snort, the Skrill roared and started sparking with electricity.
Naruto's hair started standing on end and he fell back again while the Skrill started stomping over to him. Naruto shook in fear until he saw Shakkuri jump in front of the Skrill holding a sword, where the blade was blazing with fire. Mjölnir roared before sparking up again and send a bolt of lightning at his rider. Shakkuri quickly countered with a large shield which popped out of his left armguard and blocked the lightning.
The Skrill the charged at the teacher with snapping jaws. Shakkuri dodged out of the way of the jaws then sent out a finger jab to the dragon's chin. The Skrill's eyes widened before falling to the ground unconscious. Shakkuri sighed before sheathing the sword and looking towards Naruto. He was still shaken from the event and both their attentions were brought over to a group of laughter from three certain bullies.
"Wow," Damasu said with a sarcastic tone. "You're quite the tamer. It was a good thing that was a domestic because if it was a wild one then it would have gone for the kill." The bullies then continued laughing at Naruto's misfortune. Naruto's eyes started to water before quickly getting up and running out of the class. Shakkuri tried to call out to him but he was already gone.
Then the dragon rider's eye caught something on the ground. He bent down and picked up the object. From the look of it, it appeared to be a piece of a stem from a root of sorts. The color of the stem was light green which was familiar. He realized what he had found and turned to the students.
"Class is dismissed," he informed with a distant hardened look. He then stopped the three bullies. "Not you three. I need to discuss some things with your parents."
Hinata didn't move from her spot. She was facing the direction where Naruto ran off to with a sad expression on her face. She felt horrible that happened to her crush. She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turns to see Kuzuri trying to comfort her.
"What are you doing here, lass?" he asked. Hinata looked at her teacher confused for a bit.
"What do you mean?" she asked back.
"I mean," he answered. "What are you doing here instead going after the lad? We got things covered here. Go after him!
Hinata's face brightened a bit before nodding. She thanked her teacher before running out of the classroom in the direction Naruto left. Kuzuri smiled a bit before looking over to Shakkuri. He was scolding the three boys while holding a small, familiar looking green stem. He sighed before walking over to the clan head.
In the forest, Naruto was walking. He rubbed his eyes trying to get rid of signs of him crying. Not too far behind but unseen, Hinata was following the spikey blonde while hiding behind the cover of trees. She knew that they weren't supposed to be outside the village, but she had to follow Naruto to see if he was okay.
Naruto sighed before he got onto a familiar trail. He continued walking down in till he reached his destination, the area where he found the Night Fury. As he inspected the remains of the bolos, Hinata peaked out from behind a tree and watched. She was confused to why her crush was out here, as well as, the damage in the surrounding area. Something big must have come through here. She hid again as Naruto picked up the leftover bolo rope, deep in thought.
His thoughts brought him to what Damasu said about wild dragons. Sure trained dragons were dangerous but wild dragons were just as dangerous. 'If it was a wild one then it would have gone for the kill.' Those words echoed through his mind constantly.
"So why didn't you?" he asked himself as he continued to inspect the ropes that had once trapped the dragon.
Dropping the ropes, he then followed the path where the dragon flew off to last time. Behind him, Hinata quietly followed after. Naruto didn't have a hard time finding a trail considering the broken branches and paw prints. It seemed evident the Night Fury must have been hurt. Otherwise, the dragon wouldn't have crashed so many times. He followed the trail until it led him to where the tracks and broken branches ended at.
The end of the trail came into view, or what appeared to be the end. He stepped between two large rocks, and behind them laid a small canyon. It was surrounded by tall rock walls, much like the ones in the Dragon Training Class. It was full of lush, green plants, the sun was shining upon it, and there were birds fluttering about inside it. Even in the canyon, was a small lake in it, either used for swimming or drinking in. In some aspect, it was like a small private paradise for anyone who wanted to get away… or to hide in.
Naruto looked around for any signs, but sadly found none. He sighed in disappointment that he didn't find the dragon. "Well this was stupid," he muttered to himself.
Not too far behind, Hinata carefully moved through the rocks to get a glimpse at her crush. She didn't know why he was all the way out here, but one thing for certain she needed to find out. She then noticed him turning around and she quickly hid. Naruto looked back a bit before shrugging and looking into the canyon.
Just as he was about to leave, he looked down at his left and saw an interesting sight. There was a cluster of small black scales. He picked one up to get a better look at it. There was no mistaking anything about it; the scales he held in his hand were identical to the Night Fury's scales. As he knelt down, a large, black figure swept by right in front of him. He jumped back a bit, but regained his footing as he looked to see what it was. It was the Night Fury, and it looked like it was trying to climb out of the canyon, but the rocks were too smooth for its claws to grab on to.
The dragon glided down and across the small lake that was centered in the canyon. It landed by a tree that was on the opposite end of the canyon from Naruto. Quickly getting a look of determination, Naruto jumped down to a rock ledge so he could get a better look at the dragon, as it tried to once again fly out.
Hinata, coming out of her hiding spot, got closer and watched with eyes wide in shock. There right before her was a dragon she never seen before. Its wingspan was around fourteen to sixteen feet, with the dragon itself being large and sleek, adding its tail length as well. The scales on its body were completely colored black; body design similar to a newt, possibly a dog because of the way its legs were. The Hyūga heiress also noticed a smaller set of wings behind the main ones. On the end of its tail there were wing-like tips or one wing-like tip. She then noticed its short neck and, unlike the other dragons, has no nose horn. Instead on its head, it had multiple flaps like that of a dog's ears it also had them on the side of its head. There were also scale fringes running from the top of its head to the base of its tail.
One thought came to mind when she saw that dragon. This was a Night Fury, a dragon that was known to be the offspring of lightning and the Shinigami itself. She stayed quite as she watched as her crush continued to watch the dragon.
As the Night Fury attempted to escape the canyon, Naruto decided to not waste an opportunity like this. The blonde then pulled out a pocket book from his equipment pouch, as he watched the dragon fail two more times to escape, flying around crookedly and always crashing flat on its belly. He drew the basic shape of the dragon: It was long with large wings, small fins right behind its wings, and two tail fins.
"I don't get it," he asked out-loud, "Why don't you just fly away?" The dragon then responded by firing a Plasma Blast at the ground, leaving a scorch mark where it hit. It was only when he looked for a while at the dragon, and then back at his drawing. He looked back the Night Fury once more to see that one of its tail fins was gone.
Naruto then looked back at his drawing, and erased the left tail fin.
The Night Fury tried to fly out once more, only to crash by the lake. For a moment, a fish jumped out of the water, catching the Night Fury's attention. The dragon walked to the edge and peered in, anxiously looking for a meal. Immediately, the dragon dove into the lake to catch one; the dragon's head came out of the water empty handed.
Naruto watched as the poor dragon come out empty handed, he felt bad for doing this to the dragon. He sent down his pencil, but it rolled off the rock he was sitting on, landing in the canyon and giving away his cover.
The Night Fury looked up at Naruto, its green eyes full of suspicion. The blonde froze and stared back at the dragon, which cocked its head and made low grumbling noises. The two just stared at each other, forgetting one almost killed the other, just trying to figure out one another. It was almost as if both Naruto and the Night Fury were curious about one another; as if they were kindred spirits.
Naruto broke from the stare for a bit and started gathering his things. He started climbing back up to the entrance. Hinata noticed this and quickly ran out and took cover behind the trees. Naruto came out before walking down the path back to the village, not looking back. Hinata poked out a bit looking in the direction of Naruto. She sighed before looking at the entrance of the canyon.
She heard from the members of her clan how her crush announced that he shot down the Night Fury. Sure she had her doubts as well but seeing what happened before and seeing the dragon itself made her relieved that he didn't lie. Although, she wondered if she should tell Naruto that she followed him and witnessed what happened. She sighed before getting on the path.
She knew she wouldn't be able to keep this hidden forever. Right now, Naruto's secret was her secret. She wouldn't expose anything that involved her crush in any way. She was actually glad that Naruto found the legendary Night Fury. If anyone could tame that dragon, she knew Naruto could. She then sighed before casting away her thoughts before heading back to the village.
Next Chapter: One's Reflection and Knowing One's Dragon
Well I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I know I did :3 Anyways till next time!