I do not own any characters of Naruto, or Naruto in general.

Chapter 6: Talking on the Swings

Naruto and his team made it to the tower early the next day. They were about to enter the doors, with team Konohamaru on their heels, when the other team from Konoha appeared in front of them. The hooded girl, obviously the leader and a competent ninja, spoke.

"Give us an earth scroll and you may go unharmed." Hinata gasped. That voice! I didn't want to have to fight her here… The girl removed her hood. Hanabi Hyuga stood in the two team's way. Naruto smiled at the serious Hyuga.

"No offence, Hinata's sister, but I doubt that you could even take out the weakest member of my team, let alone all six of us."

"Not so, I win every sparring match I fight in with my sister."

"So?" Hanabi looked surprised at Naruto's blatant question. "Just because you can beat Hinata in a sparing match using only taijutsu doesn't mean you could even touch her in the field. I would put my entire bank account on Hinata in an actual fight between you and her. Besides, there is no weakest member of my team. Now get out of my way and you might make it to the preliminaries off of someone else's scroll."
Naruto started to walk past the now angry Hyuga. Hanabi was furious at Naruto's lack of respect. Hinata was the only one to see the attack coming.

"Naruto! Watch out!" Hanabi struck Naruto's side as he passed her. Her follow up punch hit Naruto's heart and so did the next ten. Naruto collapsed to his knees and coughed up blood. Hinata gasped with her hand at her mouth.

"That will teach you to show me respect! I am the most powerful of all of the Hyuga! In the last seconds of your life you should remember that."

"Hardly…"
Everyone in the clearing looked up into the trees. Naruto stood for all to see, completely unharmed.

"You couldn't even kill one of my shadow clones." The Naruto on the ground disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Now go, before I make you leave."

Hanabi was stunned. I couldn't even beat his clone?! How is that possible? I am the most powerful member of the main family. Only Neji is capable of fighting me! Hanabi threw a smoke bomb before disappearing into the woods. Naruto jumped down from the trees and was immediately caught in the arms of a weeping Hinata.

"I… I thought you were dead! She could kill you. I have seen her do it before. She knows how to stop a heart with out fail." Hinata buried her face into his chest. "Now that I found you, I don't want to lose you…" Naruto couldn't say anything. Konohamaru and his friends stood behind Hinata and were making kissing faces at Naruto. Naruto rolled his eyes at them and then took Hinata's hand.

"I am not going anywhere. Except into that tower, and you get to come with me." Naruto smiled at the teary eyed young woman in his arms. The six then opened the tower doors and finished the second exam.

"Hinata Hyuga and Shiruki Shiro, prepare for battle."

The preliminary rounds for the third test were under way. Out of the sixty that went into the forest only eighteen had come out with a passing grade. Naruto's team, including Hinata and Sakura. Konohamaru's team, including Udon and Moegi. The team from sand that had met Naruto's team on the river. The team from sound that Naruto had known would get into the third test. A team of ninja from cloud, who had not been expected to achieve as much as they had. The last team in was Hanabi's team. Nine preliminary matches would decide who would go to the finals. Hanabi Hyuga had already defeated one of the ninja from sound with a killing blow. She hadn't even been touched, and wasn't breathing hard at the conclusion of the match. Konohamaru had fought of one of the sand ninja that had tried to ambush Naruto earlier, but not the leader. He had pulled out a very close victory. He had been nearly trapped under the ground but had sacrificed his movement for his life by melting the sand used with a fire jutsu. The other ninja had been trapped completely in the glass and was proclaimed unable to fight. Sakura had fought Udon, and had pulled off a win by using shadow clones to trick the other one into using chakra scalpels on the wrong Sakura. She then knocked the kid out cold using her impressive strength. Another sand ninja fought Moegi, but unlike the fight between Ten-ten and Temari, the weapons expert managed to beat the sand ninja with almost no effort. The leader of the sand ninjas fought with another sound ninja, and was able to defeat him. Both of them had been expert earth jutsu users, but the sand ninja easily overcame the jutsus of the sound ninja by dulling them with jutsus involving sand. Hanabi's teammates were chosen to fight each other and Hanabi convinced the weaker of the two to forfeit. He obeyed without question and his teammate advanced onto the finals. The next round was between Hinata and the leader of the cloud ninjas. The leader looked to be a fast and agile fighter. Naruto had heard of his handiwork from some of the other cloud ninja while they watched. He was a water jutsu specialist and specialized in toxins and acids. Naruto had told as much to Hinata, but she appeared to be confident. Be careful Hinata.

"Ready? Begin!"
Both fighters assumed a fighting stance. "Byakugan!" Hinata had altered her style of juken to allow for more light, swift attacks instead of the powerful and slightly slower ones used by her sister. I made this style just to fight other juken users, but I need the practice. Hinata suddenly was forced to duck underneath a spray of acid that the cloud ninja spat from his mouth. All right, close range it is then. Hinata charged her opponent, ducking two more sprays in the time it took her to reach him. She gave a regular juken style punch to the ninja's shoulder, and wasn't surprised to find it blocked. She had already begun her second, more quick, strike and two fingers struck the man's thigh. Her opponent didn't drop, as she had wanted him to, but he did freeze for a second. A second was all of the time she needed. "256 palm strike!" Hinata let loose her secret technique, one that would only be possible for someone who was using her style of juken. The less chakra put into the attack meant that she could put more into her arms to speed up the attacks beyond regular human ability to even see. Her opponent wasn't able to even move as she struck at a speed that was too fast to comprehend. A second later her opponent collapsed on the ground. Alive, but not even able to move a finger.

"The winner of the match is Hinata Hyuga."

Hinata jumped back up to her place next to Naruto and Sakura. Naruto gave her a big hug and she blushed.

"That was awesome Hinata! You smoked that guy! When I win my match we are going to go and celebrate. After that, maybe we can figure out who will train us for the finals." Hinata smiled. She had gotten over much of her shyness within the last week. She had gotten to the point where being with Naruto was all of the joy as before, but she no longer had to wake up each time he smiled at her. Life couldn't get much better.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Kor Nadin, prepare for battle."

Naruto jumped into the arena along with one of the remaining cloud ninja. He smiled a huge smile at his opponent.

"Hey… I just want to say that it was nice fighting you and I want you to know that when you wake up from this you have my respect."

"You are rather confident, but I warn you, I am more powerful than my leader."

"Whatever."

"Ready? Begin!"
Naruto decided he didn't want this fight to last long at all. "I will finish this fight now, ok. Again, no hard feelings." Naruto started a punch. He was standing ten meters away from his opponent. As he drew his arm back, his other arm untied a leather strap from around his wrist and bicep. Naruto threw his punch with such speed that no one even knew what had happened. All anyone saw was the flying cloud ninja slam into a wall with enough force to break though the two meters of solid rock and into a hallway. Naruto walked over to his unconscious opponent and recovered his two small leather straps. He tied them back onto his arms.

"The match goes to Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto jumped up into the gallery next to his team. They both ran up to him.

"What was that, Naruto? It looked like you threw a punch from ten meters away!"

"Naruto… is the man dead?"

"No, he is not dead. I threw my weights with my punch. They both weigh over five times my body weight, so they hit him pretty hard. I really haven't had them off for over two years. They have a special jutsu on them that alters the effect of gravity on them. They can weigh whatever Jiriya wants them too. I haven't had less than five hundred pounds on each limb since I got them. I kind of want to see how fast I really am, but I don't want to until the finals. Come on, let's go get some ramen."

"What about the last match?"

"The sound ninja will win." Even as Naruto said those words they heard a yell from behind them.

"Earth-style: Rock Tomb Jutsu!"

Naruto turned in time to see the sound ninja's opponent be crushed between to half spheres of rock. A loud and sickening crunch was heard that signified the end of the ninja's life.

"The match goes to Lor of Sound."

Naruto watched as the ninja returned to his place. That guy is tough. Just then, Tsunade walked into the arena.

"Finalists can pick up the finals schedule in my office tomorrow starting at eight. The finals will begin in exactly one month."

Naruto turned back to his friends. "Ramen time! On me." They both nodded and Naruto took Hinata's hand as they walked to the ramen bar. They were almost there when an approaching dust cloud caused them to stop. "SAKURA!" Naruto cringed at Lee's appearance. When the dust settled Lee was on his knees in front of Sakura and had her hands in his.

"Please, lovely rose, grant me the honor of dining with your fairness. And, if I may, know how you are doing in the chunin exams?" Sakura giggled. No one except Lee could get away with doing things like that. "Ok, but you're buying!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Lee stood up and took Sakura's hand in his as they walked through the restaurant's door. Naruto gave a loud sigh.

"Are you OK, Naruto?" Naruto had completely forgotten whose hand he was holding.

"Oh, I am just fine, Hinata. I was just thinking. I am kind of jealous of Lee… not because he has Sakura or anything. I am over that."

"Then why? I don't like seeing you unhappy."

"I wish I could do what he does…"

"But you are faster and stronger than him. I don't know anything that you can't do."

"No! I mean that I wish I could express my feelings as well as he does…"

"Oh…" Hinata wanted to tell him that she wasn't good at expressing herself either, but her throat would stick every time she tried.

"Hinata?"

"Yeah?"

"I may be a great ninja, but I stink at feelings. I just wanted to tell you that. Let's go eat." Naruto led them through the door and into a surprise company of friends. The entire rookie nine were there, minus Sasuke, and Ten-ten was also there. They greeted the duo as they entered the door and took a seat. All of them wanted to know how the prelims went. Naruto was chosen to explain.

"Ok, the prelims went well so now there are seven Konoha ninjas in the finals. Out of nine, that is amazing. Sakura had to take out one of the younger genin from here to get into the finals. Knocked him out cold without being touched. Hinata here wasted some elite ninja from cloud. The guy spat acid, but Hinata totally kicked his rear into the next century. I fought some stooge who was probably decent, but we only fought for three seconds."

Everyone was surprised at the results. Most of the village had considered the new class of genin to be mediocre at best, except the next Hyuga prodigy. To have seven in the finals was amazing. And how did Hinata ace an elite ninja from cloud? Or, for that matter, how did Naruto beat someone in three seconds? Shino, though usually silent, asked the obvious questions.

"Naruto, how did you beat some guy in three seconds?" The room went quiet. Naruto blushed a little and smiled bashfully with his arms over his head.

"I threw my weights at him. He caught them in the bread basket." The room was still quiet. Lee was staring at Naruto now.

"Naruto, how heavy are your weights?" Lee had been training for years with weights. His leg weights were easily twenty-five times his body weight each. Mine could kill a guy, but it would still take a lot of weight to knock out a ninja.

"Oh, I wear two on each arm and leg. I threw two, so that means I threw about a thousand five hundred pounds at the guy." Lee sighed. At least he wasn't quite up to Lee's weight yet. "But, really, Hinata's fight was the coolest one there was. She dodged some acid then ran up to the guy and he only blocked one of her strikes, out of a whole lot. I didn't even know… what?" Everyone was staring at him.

"How did you get so strong? I can't even lift one of your arms! You never told us that you were wearing almost as much as Lee!" Sakura stopped yelling for a second to catch her breath. Everyone was in awe of the new Naruto. One thought was on everyone's minds. Where did this new Naruto come from? Ino was the first to speak up.

"Alright Naruto! That's amazing. We are all going to be at the finals to root for you three. Now, on to more important topics. Hinata, last time you came in here you bowled over Naruto and passed out twice. This time you walk in here on the same guy's arm. Anything we should know about." All of the girls in the room except Hinata started giggling. Hinata chose to blush as red as humanly possible, which only made the girls giggle louder.

"No… I…"

"Oh, come on now! We all saw the kiss last time. Isn't there anything at all between you? How about you, Naruto"

"Hey, why would I tell all of you anything before I figure it out myself? Hinata, do you want to take a walk. I don't think I am hungry right now."

There was not one person in the entire restaurant moving. Choji let his noodles hang out of his mouth, uneaten. Naruto not hungry for ramen? This was an unprecedented event. Actually, Naruto knew that he was very hungry for ramen, but he knew he wouldn't be able to eat anything unless he told Hinata his feelings. Hinata nodded and they headed out the door. Shikamaru was the only one to speak.

"Poor Naruto, love can be troublesome business…"

Naruto had led Hinata to a park. They both took seats on swings. Both of them were silent as they swung, but each had their own thoughts. How can I tell her? Being around her gives my spirits a boost. The times when we are apart for more than a minute hurt me. Is this love? Don't ask me, kid. But the girl loves you. That much I know. If you can't focus on your duties one way or another, then you will die. What is that supposed to mean? It means that if you get distracted in the line of duty by either being with her or the opposite then you have a higher risk of dieing. I don't want us to die, so figure out whether you are more distracted with her, or without her. I constantly think of her, even when we aren't together. Well, then you should be with her. You think it will ease my mind? Yeah, or you will find yourself constantly thinking about her still. That is called love as I understand. Then you mate with her and forget about her… That is not the kind of advice I need right now. Fox Demons don't exactly have marriage or life partners, so maybe that is what you should do afterwards. That… wouldn't be half bad…Hinata's thoughts were slightly different. I love him, but I can't say it. I can't even remember the last time I used that word. If only I could find another way to say it… Hinata stopped swinging. She turned to face Naruto, who had also stopped swinging.

"Naruto…I want you to know that I… l… l…"

"What?"

"What I am trying to say is that I am in l…l… never mind…"

"Here, Hinata. I need to tell you something. So here it goes. I don't know if I love you." Hinata inhaled sharply. What does that mean? Does this mean he does or doesn't like me? Hinata felt so confused. "I don't know if I love you, and I don't know if I will ever know. But I think I might love you. I think it might be love. I mean, anything can happen, right? I mean, I love being around you and talking with you and being with you in general, so I might be in love with you. I just don't know. But, Hinata, will you accept what might be love? If you don't love me you can just tell me and that's ok too." Hinata could barely move. Her love had just confessed what might be love for her and was asking if she loved him back. Hinata had only dreamed of this. I have to tell him!

"Naruto, I l… I lo… Naruto I… oh!" Hinata got fed up with herself. She threw her arms around Naruto and planted a kiss right on his lips, knocking them both to the ground. Hinata released the kiss only to get some air and then returned to it. They made an interesting sight, Naruto laying under a swing with a girl straddling his waist and kissing him. Naruto had been startled at first, but he gradually accepted the kiss. After minutes Hinata pulled her head back to find herself in a very awkward position. She was blushing profusely as she jumped off of Naruto. Naruto couldn't stop smiling as he got up.

"I guess I can take that as an "I love you", right?" Hinata was still trying to cope with the fact that she had kissed Naruto. All she could do was nod. Naruto smiled. "Yeah, well I think that made my decision a little easier. Maybe you want to go out some time?" Hinata nodded again. "Good! Let's go to the top of the monument after training tomorrow, I will pick you up, OK?" Another nod. "You are going to pass out again, aren't ya?" Another nod. "That's fine. You're cute when you sleep." Hinata just collapsed to the ground, but she was caught be Naruto before she fell a foot. Both had the same thought. I am in love…