Naruto is not mine, much to my dismay.
Chapter 7: Reactions
Naruto, Hinata, Jiraiya, and Hana sat around the fire in silence. Naruto did not know how Hinata would react to the news; his greatest fear was that she would hate him. Hinata seeing her Naruto-kun in a state she had never seen him in before, and after what she had heard, wanted to reach out to him.
"That explains a lot, but why would they hate him." Aloud she said, "But why would they hate you? It's not like you're the Kyuubi, right. You're you, Naruto. One who always smiles, no matter what happens. One who brings sunshine into a cloudy day. One who can change people in the way they act and think. One who gives others courage, when the rest of the world is dragging them down. You're Konaha's number one hyperactive ninja, who's never given up on anything. You're strong, courageous, and so much more. If someone hates you for something you had no control over, than they're the ones who are cowards, idiots, and have not one ounce of humanity in them."
Shocked at the sudden change in the shy Hinata, Naruto and the others just sat in awe of the girl who had just made a speech when before she would say very little. Hana was the first to break the silence.
"Way to go Hinata. See I knew you had it in you."
"You don't hate me?" Naruto asked.
"I don't hate you."
"Really?" Naruto could not believe this was real. He could have sworn she would scream and run off to hide as far away from him as possible.
"Baka, did she just not say as much. I swear you are so dense sometimes." Jiraiya told him.
"Shut up Ero-Sennin. I'm not talking to you."
"What was that brat?"
"Naruto-kun?"
"Yes, Hinata-chan."
Hinata, blushing at the chan asked, "Ano...did you really think that I would hate you for something you didn't do?"
"Ano... I did not know what you would think. My greatest fear has always been… that someone our age would find out and hate me for it, just like all the adults do."
"But not all the adults hate you. After all there is Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Hana-sensei, and others who do not hate you, but they know the truth right. They know it's not your fault that Kyuubi attacked. So um…, Naruto-kun, please cheer up."
"I guess your right Hinata-chan."
"Hinata." Hana interjected. "Didn't we agree on the fact that you were not going to call me Hana-sensei anymore?"
"Why is that Hana-ne-chan?" Naruto asked.
"Because it makes me feel old, that's why."
"But you are old." Naruto said
"I'M NOT THAT OLD!" Hana said after beating Naruto into the ground.
"Lesson #1: Never tell a girl she's old." Jiraiya said to his student who laid sprawled unconscious in a two foot crater.
"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Hinata asked.
Later that evening:
Naruto had awakened from his beating, and was cowering from Hana's scowling. Jiraiya had actually proven useful at something other than peeping and had caught fish for dinner. Hinata sat next to Naruto as they ate.
"Naruto, you still have not answered my question from earlier." Jiraiya says getting Naruto's attention.
"Right, what question was that again?"
"What did you mean about being able to talk to both the Kyuubi and your father?"
"Well I've been able to talk to that stupid, annoying fox since you threw me off that cliff. Although, all we do is argue." Naruto was interrupted by a very loud "OUCH, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
Jiraiya had several large bumps, one on top of another, from Hana and surprisingly Hinata.
"You threw him off a cliff. What in seven hells were you thinking? Were you trying to kill him?" Hana berated the sennin.
"How could you do something so mean to you student?" Hinata asked.
"Hey, he learned how to use the Kyuubi's chakra, besides he was able to summon Gama Bunta for the first time, and was able to call him again when the sand and sound attacked." Jiraiya reasoned.
"You still went too far." Hana replied.
"Hello, I'm trying to talk here." Naruto interrupted.
"Sorry about that, please continue." Hana apologized
"As I was saying, Kyuubi and I have been arguing since the cliff. As for my dad, it seems that before he sealed the Kyuubi in me, he placed a memory seal that would seal his memories and a part of his soul in me. When my body was ready the seal activated and I was able to meet and speak with my dad."
"Then that means your dad was..." Hinata started.
"Yup, my dad was the Fourth Hokage."
Once again Hinata was the only one in their group who did not know this.
"So that's what was going on in the hospital." Hinata said
"Hana, did you know about this seal?" Jiraiya asked
"I found out when Naruto woke up in the Hospital, and he explained to the Hokage what Jin told him." Hana replied.
"So why did the old hag not tell me?" Jiraiya complained.
"She probably thought that Naruto would tell you."
"Well that explains some things." Jiraiya said.
"Speaking of dad, he said I need to train with three times the weights before he would teach me any jutsus, so can we stop at the next village to get some?"
"Already ahead of you, I brought some with me for both you and Hinata, though you'll have to deal with twice as much until we can get some more." Jiraiya replied.
"I guess that means we head for the next village when the sun rises, so get some sleep." Hana ordered.
"Yes, Hana-ne-san."
"Yes, Hana-san."
"Jiraiya, I'll take first watch, so why don't you get some sleep." Hana said.
"Who said you're in charge?"
"Do you really want to argue?" She asked. Jiraiya, who had suddenly remembered just how scary she could be, decided against arguing with her. "Jin, your wife is just as scary as ever."
After Naruto and Hinata had fallen asleep Jiraiya spoke up. "You haven't told him yet, have you?"
"In time."
"Never knew you to be a coward." With that Jiraiya went to sleep, leaving Hana to ponder his words.
Morning came all too soon, and the four packed their things and headed to the next village. When they got there Naruto recognized it as one of the towns he and Jiraiya first visited when they went to fetch Tsunade. As before Jiraiya tried to confiscate Gama-chan from Naruto.
"No way, last time you spent every last penny I had on girls and sake. Not this time." With that Naruto grabbed onto Hinata's hand and raced to the nearest shop that sells weights.
"Meet us at the hotel when you're done." Hana called after him.
"Okay, Hana-ne-chan."
After he disappeared around the corner with Hinata, she turned on Jiraiya. "You spent all his money on girls and booze? How could you?"
Before she could say anymore, Jiraiya disappeared. "Probably after girls again."she thought.
"Well, might as well use this time to get some supplies and such." With that she took off to shop for some things.
Meanwhile at the store Naruto and Hinata were looking at some weights. After a while they choose the ones they wanted.
"Hinata, are you hungry?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, kind of."
"Then would you join me, my treat?"
Naruto and Hinata went to the nearest ramen stand. After they finished they went to look at all the shops of the village.
"We don't have to be back for awhile. So let's have some fun."
"Sure, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, blushing.
As they shopped Naruto started to notice how Hinata would blush when she was looking at him. "That's odd." he thought.
"Not really, Naruto."
What his father meant, Naruto had no clue. He did notice how Hinata's eyes seemed to have a sparkle to them that he hadn't noticed before and how it affected him. "What is this feeling? It's weird."
When he saw her looking at a pair of silver, star hair clips, he came to a decision.
"Sir, how much are those hairpins?" Naruto asked the sales clerk.
"They're one thousand yen. ($10)" He answered.
Naruto pulled out Gama-chan and handed the salesman the money.
Hinata unsuccessfully protested. "Naruto-kun, why are you buying those? I never asked for them."
Naruto pushed her protests away. "Hinata-chan, we're friends right. Besides, I want to thank you for yesterday."
"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said when she realized there was no talking him out of it.
After a while they headed back to the hotel, eating some pop-sickles.
Hana immediately noticed the new silver hairpins in Hinata's hair, but decided not to say anything.
"Hana-ne-chan, when will we start training?" Naruto asked.
"Tomorrow we head out to the north, along the way you will be training your stamina and chakra control."
"Nani? What about jutsu's?"
"After you build your stamina up to where you can travel with those weights on, with little trouble. That said, let's go get something to eat and go to bed and before you ask, NO RAMEN!"
Jiraiya did not return until late at night, or early in the morning, as some would say.
A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. Hope I didn't bore you. The real training begins, next chapter. Thanks again for all your reviews, see you next time.