Notes: This chapter was running a bit long, so I decided to cut it in half.

Senjutsu for the Soul

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 6: Partners and Sensei

Naruto woke up in Hinata's bed, with her snuggled up to his side, and her arm draped over his chest. This was only alarming because he could not recall how he'd gotten there. He remembered falling asleep in his own bed, then dreaming of meeting his mother, and seeing the fox. It had seemed so real at the time, but now...

Curious, he raised his right hand (the one that wasn't trapped under Hinata) and tried to mold his chakra into the shape of a chain. If it worked, he would accept that the dream had been real. If it didn't, then it had only been the desperate dream of a boy who simply missed his mother.

Several fruitless minutes later, Naruto scowled, glaring at his finger as if it had betrayed him. In the dream, his mother had done it so easily. And so had he, after a while. But it seemed he'd forgotten how. Or it hadn't really happened. Muttering a curse, he pointed at the bedroom door, trying to produce... well, anything.

The door opened unexpectedly.

"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke said as he walked in, and barely threw himself aside in time as a chain as wide around as his head erupted from Naruto's extended finger, smashed through the spot on the door where Sasuke's head had been an instant earlier, and kept going, if the following ridiculously loud and destructive noises were any indicator.

Anyone else might have been furious at nearly being killed. But Sasuke just sat on the floor, a megawatt grin spreading slowly across his face, just before his mother and brother burst into the room seconds later. He merely looked up at them, and said quite simply and honestly, but with unmistakable joy in his tone, "Naruto did it."

Perhaps the only thing that saved Naruto from Mikoto's immediate wrath was that Hinata was still asleep and still attached to him, a fact that he intended to use to his full advantage in the coming moments.

Inuzuka Kiba took a deep, shuddering breath as he picked himself up off the ground, only to watch Akimichi Chōji, his brother in every way but blood, slam into the ground in front of him, bloodied and broken.

"Not entirely pathetic," Enma said, crossing his massive arms over his chest. "But nowhere near good enough. Again, brats."

Kiba spat blood and teeth, and spared Chōji a glance. Just as he'd suspected, Chōji's eyes were blood red, a clear indicator of the demonic chakra rushing through both of their bodies. It was the only thing keeping them in one piece and standing, frankly. But for the first time, it hadn't made a bit of difference offensively.

Enma was strong, horribly strong. They'd both known that going in. What they hadn't known was that he was so much stronger than them, their tainted chakra had no visible effect on him. And they had thrown plenty of it at him in many wasted efforts. Kiba figured it out first and began conserving the demonic chakra solely for healing. The only problem with that was that without a chakra shroud to cushion Enma's blows, they hurt a lot worse.

Chōji had it worst, though: he had been the first of them to maintain a chakra shroud under battle conditions, and so Enma naturally expected more of him. So did Kiba, frankly, because Chōji had been the one to teach him. But where Kiba had his claws, Chōji only had his fists, and it was clear that he wasn't going to hurt Enma that way. And since the goal here was to make Enma bleed, Kiba supposedly had the advantage. On the other hand, since Chōji had been accustomed to his chakra shroud longer, he could use it a lot more effectively on the defensive front. Aside from that, his big, sturdy body was practically built to take more punishment, or so Enma believed.

Kiba, for one, was tired of getting hit. "Got my back, fatty?" he growled out of the side of his mouth.

"Better than having your front, dog breath," Chōji grunted, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

They shared at quick glance, and then Kiba dove at Chōji, who grabbed him by one arm, spun around, and hurled Kiba as hard as he could at Enma. Kiba sailed toward the monkey king with claws extended, fully expecting and accepting what was about to happen.

"Not too smart, brat," Enma chuckled, and then his giant fist plowed into Kiba's face.

This was part of the plan, if it could be called that. Kiba was supposed to go down, and Enma was not supposed to notice that Kiba had been short one clawed fingernail, which was now stashed in Chōji's armband. Chōji was supposed to use Kiba's distraction to charge in, and once Enma reached out to attack him, Chōji would tag him with the hidden claw.

The only real problem was that Enma had apparently tired of the game, too, because this hit was much harder than any other. Instead of just seeing stars, Kiba suddenly saw nothing at all, and was out cold long before he crashed into the ground again.

When Kiba woke up minutes later, the first thing he heard was howling of the human variety. His first thought was that his sister Hana had found him broken on the ground, lost her mind, and tried to attack Enma. Then he rolled over and got the shock of his life: Chōji had lost his mind instead.

Chōji, enlarged to the size of small building, was pounding his door-sized fists against every part of Enma he could reach. Even if this wasn't exactly hurting Enma, he had to be feeling it.

And still he wasn't bleeding.

Kiba wanted to help, but as he drew on the demonic chakra yet again, his vision was briefly clouded by a blood-red haze. He knew what that meant: he had used too much. Any more and the fox might take him over, however briefly. And if that happened, he'd be more likely to attack them both instead of just Enma. So Chōji was on his own.

The fight didn't last much longer. When Chōji began to tire and slow down, Enma went on the attack. To Kiba's shock, Chōji blocked the first punch with his forearm. Enma's punches were sledgehammers. Nobody blocked them. But Chōji managed to block twice more with the same arm before Kiba heard a loud, gruesome crack, and Chōji went down, cradling his broken arm and sobbing in pain.

Enma shook his head and walked off without a word. They had failed.

Chōji didn't shrink down to normal size right away, and Kiba guessed that doing that with broken bones was tricky business. Instead, Chōji surrounded just his arm with a chakra shroud to speed the healing along. Although considering his arm was longer than most men were tall, that was still quite a feat of chakra control.

"We'll get him next time, buddy," Kiba promised, and Chōji managed a smile that was more of a grimace. Inwardly, though, Kiba blamed himself. Chōji had only lost control because he saw Kiba get hurt bad, and Kiba only got hurt bad because he hadn't been able to come up with a decent strategy. That had always been Shino's area of expertise, but bothering him for advice on beating Enma was a supremely bad idea. And Shino wouldn't be around forever for them to fall back on. They needed to think for themselves. That meant no depending on Shikamaru, either.

Once Chōji's arm was in reasonable condition, he decreased his size, but kept enough extra mass on him so that he could carry Kiba back to the cave without much trouble. Shizune and Hana came running out to meet them, and for once, Kiba didn't have the strength to stop them from fussing over his wounds. Shizune spent a minute or two checking Chōji's arm, then shifted her attention to Kiba. She made a small, unhappy noise when she noticed he was missing a fingernail, but ignored it so she could focus on the more serious injuries. As usual, Hana said nothing, merely staring at his wounds.

Kiba licked his dry lips. "Nee-chan?" he asked wearily.

Hana blinked and forced herself to smile for him. "Yeah, Kiba?"

"I need a dog," he stated firmly.

Hana didn't speak at first, and Kiba knew why. Communications with the Inuzuka clan were... strained at best, for the two of them. Though that was true of nearly all nine children with their respective families. Hana and Shizune did take turns returning to the village to stock up on supplies, but Kiba got the strong impression that Hana looked forward to those trips less and less. She didn't want to go home, and for an Inuzuka, the only reasons not to go home were if it was no longer there, or if they were no longer welcome.

"Okay then," Hana said after a moment, gently ruffling his hair. "I'll get you a dog. Hey, if I'm lucky, I might get everyone a dog."

Mikoto did not punish Naruto for wrecking the house, not really. It had genuinely been an accident, although he knew better than to use any jutsu in the house, and certainly not an untested one (practice within dreams didn't count). But combined with the fact that he'd apparently gone missing a few hours earlier, everyone was naturally still stuck in panic mode, and his continued "bad behavior" wasn't helping things any. That, he could appreciate (even though Naruto felt the only child who was really guilty of it was Sasuke, who went out of his way to be a jerk; Naruto just happened into it occasionally when he got excited).

But Mikoto's patience had worn thin, especially since Naruto could not really explain why his hair had been red when he'd been found in the ravine, or why it had gone back to its natural color while he was asleep in Hinata's room. Naruto hadn't even known until Jiraiya showed him some pictures, but all this really told Naruto was that he'd make a decent-looking redhead if he ever got he urge. At any rate, he hadn't been at all concerned: he trusted his mother completely, and if she wanted his hair to be like hers for a while, he was all too happy to oblige her.

It was only when Itachi pulled Naruto aside and told him, with barely restrained fury, that Mikoto had suffered a panic attack while Naruto had been missing, that the guilt began to set in. Naruto had always known, on some level, that Mikoto cared for him as if he were her one of her own sons. She had always treated him well, and while Naruto was thankful for that, some small part of him had assumed that Mikoto was doing this mainly out of a sense of responsibility to his mother (he'd heard several stories about people who made the mistake of earning the wrath of Uzumaki Kushina). But this was the first time it had ever occurred to him that Mikoto actually loved him and worried for him the way his mother would have, had she been there. The very idea that he'd done that to Mikoto, who had always seemed so steady and resilient, was quite sobering. Naruto had gone straight to Mikoto and begged her forgiveness, which she had given faster than he'd expected. But it had come with a condition, and if Naruto had not trusted her so much, he might have suspected that she had suckered him right into it.

That was how Naruto ended up back in his room, but with the very unwelcome presence of a young, smart-mouthed orange toad named Gamakichi. Naruto was now under strict orders not to go anywhere without the toad, which would have seemed completely unfair, except that Hinata already had Gamashiro, and Sasuke got stuck with Gamatatsu, Gamakichi's slow-witted and forever hungry brother, which hadn't pleased the young Uchiha at all. Compared to that, Naruto figured he'd lucked out, although if it hadn't meant taking Hinata's friend away, he would have much preferred Gamashiro's company. At least he was quiet. Gamakichi, on the other hand, had helped search for Naruto and was still sore about the sleep he'd missed out on because of it. Naruto had to remind himself several times that Gamakichi was one of Gamabunta's kids, and so squashing him probably wasn't allowed. And Gamakichi was small enough where he could fit easily into a pocket, so if nothing else, Naruto didn't actually have to physically carry him. But that also meant that Naruto tended to forget the toad was even around, which had probably been the intent all along.

Today, surely, she thought. Today he would say yes.

Even though he never had before.

Every morning, without fail, Itachi was the first out of bed, if he ever slept at all. He would wait exactly one hour before waking Sasuke and Naruto, and then the three of them would leave for ninja training.

Hinata was never ordered to come, or even invited. The boys were always long gone by the time Mikoto came to wake her, and even when Hinata purposely woke up early in hopes of being taken along, Itachi always kissed the center of her forehead and said the same thing.

"Not today, Hinata. Some other time."

Only that time was beginning to seem like it would never come. Itachi had taught her many things, though. But none of those things required her to go more than a few feet from the house. None of those things would help her catch up with the progress that her brothers were surely making without her. She feared, more than anything else, being left behind. They all loved her, that much was obvious. But you could only drag dead weight around for so long before it finally made more sense to get rid of it.

Like clockwork, a few minutes later, Itachi emerged from the bedroom that he had shared with Hinata since she was a baby. Hinata was aware that some might consider the arrangement inappropriate, but she did not. She thought of Itachi as her parent, and he had been acting as such for longer than she could remember. Really, she figured it was silly to be self conscious around someone who had bathed her back when she had nothing worth peeking at. And if anyone would be familiar with her body and how it had changed over the years, it would be Itachi.

"You're up early," Itachi noted as he walked into the kitchen.

"I want to start training with Sasuke and Naruto today, Itachi nii-san," Hinata announced.

To his credit, Itachi did not even pause as he began his daily routine. First on the list was making some sort of energy drink that smelled horrible and tasted worse. Sasuke and Naruto chugged it down every day without complaint, for the simple reason that it actually got worse if Itachi added anything for flavor, which he did solely to punish them as needed.

"We've talked about this, Hinata," he said at last, his tone one of infinite patience.

"I want to talk about it again," she insisted.

Itachi closed his eyes briefly before turning to face her. He looked upset, though not in the way she'd been expecting. Wordlessly, he extended his arm, and she went to him, allowing him to drape it around her shoulders.

"What I am about to say will hurt you, Hinata," he murmured. "But I do it only because you are my beloved child."

She nodded, bracing herself mentally and leaning against him.

"You were born premature. However, the specific conditions of your birth had, and likely will always have, considerable and lasting impact on your growth. You will never be as strong as Sasuke or Naruto. Not because you are a girl, but because of these conditions. If I demanded from you what I demand from them every day, it would be beyond inhumane. I would never do that to one I love so dearly. So please, do not ask me to."

"What about the trail?" Hinata asked at once. "Can't I at least do that?"

Itachi frowned. "The trail runs around the entire mountain. Even the boys do not run the full length."

"I know, they take the shortcut through the forest. But I can at least do that, can't I?"

"No, Hinata. We both know that your legs do not perform well under stress."

"You make the boys do three laps. Couldn't I just do one? Just for today?"

"Hinata..."

"Please?"

He didn't look like he would give in, at first. But then he gave her the first glass of his energy drink.

Hinata chugged it down, barely tasting it. It was better that way, the boys insisted, and Hinata now agreed with them.

"There are conditions," Itachi said.

She'd expected as much. "Okay."

"You must take Gamashiro with you. You will feel tired, but if you feel you cannot go on, you must tell someone right away. Under no circumstances are you to attempt more than one lap."

"But I can go?" Hinata asked eagerly.

"Sasuke is the fastest. Naruto can run the longest. Sasuke always passes Naruto at least once. Naruto will pass you twice. If he finishes before you, I'm sending him back to get you. If that happens, you go with him, without complaint. Understood?"

"Understood. So I can go?"

"...yes," Itachi said at last. "Don't make me regret this, Hinata. I'm trusting you to know when you can't go on. Don't abuse my trust, and don't abuse yourself. There is a firm line between hard training and senselessly punishing your body. Don't cross it."

Hinata nodded, beaming at him.

He sighed, shaking his head as he prepared three more glasses. "Get ready. Once the boys have eaten, we'll go."

Naruto was used to coming in second. That part didn't bother him so much. He knew if push came to shove, he could run harder and longer than Sasuke ever could. Itachi always told them that while Sasuke's body was built for speed, Naruto's was built for stamina. Sasuke liked to think that coming in first every time made him the winner. Naruto liked to think that if they ever had to run four or more laps instead, there would be a new winner.

Hinata never went with them.

At first, Naruto had not understood this. At the time, he'd greatly preferred Hinata's company to Sasuke's. Hinata was nice, smelled better, and didn't hit him when she didn't get her way.

Itachi had finally explained that Hinata simply did not have the leg strength to do what they did every day, which had made perfect sense. More than once Hinata had tired just from walking around the house during the course of a day, and sometimes she caught fevers that left her in bed for days. She always got better eventually, but she had never been the most active child, and it showed. Many times while Sasuke and Naruto played outside, Naruto would notice Hinata watching from the window. Sometimes she took meals in her room because she didn't have the strength to make it to the kitchen, and she hated being carried by anyone, even Itachi. And while Naruto had been taught to never admit it, Mikoto constantly asked him to look out for Hinata, especially if she seemed to be having trouble with something.

It hadn't been a big deal to him. Naruto figured since he was older than Hinata, he was supposed to look out for her, and she was supposed to be smaller than him. It was some time before he began to realize that Hinata was usually sickly to some degree: occasionally her milky skin was paler than normal, or she would have to stop and catch her breath doing something as minimal as walking, or her cheeks would become flushed for no good reason at all. At times, she would simply faint without warning, and Naruto had gotten pretty good at diving and catching her before she could bump her head in a fall.

So when Itachi announced that Hinata would be joining them for training that morning, Naruto had thought it was a joke. But then Hinata had shown up with Gamashiro at her side. Naruto could not deny that she looked eager to get started, but he remembered looking the same way for his first lap. It tended to fade pretty quickly.

Sasuke glanced at Hinata, but said nothing. This was good as far as Naruto was concerned. Sasuke had never really gotten used to Hinata. Naruto wasn't sure if it was because they had different eye-based abilities, or if there was some rivalry between their clans, but couldn't imagine what Hinata might have done to get on Sasuke's bad side. Although, the list of people on Sasuke's good side was limited to about two names on a good day, and Naruto didn't see it getting any longer in the near future.

Itachi gave the signal, and they started to run. Naruto knew that Itachi would wait until they were out of sight before sending out Kage Bunshin to watch their progress.

As usual, Sasuke quickly took the lead, and didn't slow down until he had a comfortable distance between he and Naruto. Sasuke didn't like to look weak in front of anyone. Besides, Naruto knew that even if he managed to pass Sasuke and take the lead, he wouldn't be able to hold onto it, so he didn't bother. As expected, Hinata soon fell behind. Naruto briefly considered slowing down so he could keep an eye on her, but decided against it. Hinata hated to be pitied, and if she was running laps, she had something to prove to somebody, and he didn't want to get in the way of that. So he only glanced over his shoulder at her and waved. She smiled and waved back, and that was the last Naruto saw of her for some time.

Eventually, he lost sight of Sasuke as well, which was normal.

By the time Naruto passed by Itachi at the starting point, signifying his first complete lap, he couldn't help feeling a little worried about Hinata. He hadn't expected her to catch up, and he knew Gamashiro was with her, but he was certain that she had never run this long in her entire life. And sure enough, when Naruto finally spotted her during his second lap, she had sat down on the side of the trail to catch her breath. Gamashiro was at her side, and he didn't look worried. That was a good sign, at least. Naruto already knew he was going to stop, and from the wary look in Hinata's eyes, so did she.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto said as he jogged up to her. "Seen Sasuke?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

She nodded. "He passed a while ago."

"Thought so." He paused. "Uh, you okay?"

"Fine, Naruto. Thank you for asking." She sounded slightly annoyed.

"Okay. Well, I'm gonna get back to running. Sasuke's horrible when he wins by too much."

She smiled, but it was strained. "I can imagine. Good luck, Naruto."

"Same to you." He waved at her, nodded to Gamashiro, and ran off.

Naruto ran for a few minutes, then made a Kage Bunshin and instructed it to cut through the forest, so it could come up on Hinata unnoticed. He figured that if she was as tired as she looked, she wouldn't be able to use her Byakugan for very long, either, so she probably wouldn't see him. Satisfied, he went back to running.

Sasuke passed him a few minutes later, looking smug as ever. Naruto ignored him.

Itachi and Sasuke were in Naruto's sight at the starting point when the Kage Bunshin's memories suddenly flowed into his head.

Hinata had eventually started running again, but she tired faster than before, yet refused to stop. She eventually collapsed, not unconscious, but too tired to pick herself up. She refused Gamashiro's offers to help her up, and just laid on the trail, totally helpless.

Sasuke ran past minutes later without even looking at her.

Naruto couldn't remember a time when he'd been so angry. He ran past the Uchiha brothers without a word, immediately cutting through the forest.

When Naruto crashed out of the forest and landed in front of Hinata and Gamashiro, she had at least gotten up to all fours, but was shaking pretty badly. He reached for her, and she smacked his hand away with a surprising bit of strength. Naruto saw at once that she was crying out of sheer frustration. At least, he hoped it was that, and not pain or embarrasment. "Hinata," he said gently.

"No!" she snapped, shaking her head. "I don't need or want help!"

"Fine. But if you really think I'd go home to Mikoto-san without you, or that she would even let me back into the house, then you must have some serious genjutsu on you right now."

"I can make it on my own!" Hinata cried.

"Okay. Then I'll walk with you when you do." Naruto sat down right there on the trail and waited. And if he left his bottled water out accidentally, then Hinata accidentally gulped it down, too.

After an hour, she had stopped shaking, but still seemed to be in no hurry to leave.

"Can I ask you something?" he murmured.

Hinata closed her eyes. "What, Naruto?"

"Why do you cry when Sasuke and I fight?"

"Because I care about you both and don't want you to fight each other. I don't like seeing you hurt."

"So it's like instinct? You couldn't stop, even if you wanted to?"

Hinata opened her eyes. "I don't think I could."

"Okay. Then you have to understand something about me." Naruto reached over and took her hand in his. "I get that you don't like us helping you. I can respect that, even if I don't like it. But seeing you like this? It doesn't just hurt me. It kills me, Hinata. When I see you struggling and know you won't let me help you, I feel like I can't breathe and I'm going to die slowly. So if you won't let me help you for your sake, then let me do it for mine."

Hinata didn't say anything. But she allowed Naruto to pull her onto his back, and obediently locked her arms around his neck when he asked her to. After the first step, she began to sniffle, and by the time he got her back to Itachi, she was bawling like her heart was broken. Naruto tried to explain that she was okay, but wasn't sure Itachi heard him over Hinata's crying. Actually, he wasn't sure Itachi would have heard anything even if she had been quiet. He tended to block everything else out when Hinata was crying, save for getting her to stop and then brutalizing the source of her tears. Naruto knew that Itachi would never strike him or Sasuke without a reason, but if either of them ever made Hinata cry, he would drag them behind the house and beat them bloody, and with Mikoto's blessing. Naruto fully expected this treatment once Hinata explained why she was crying, but figured it was better than just leaving her on the trail until someone came looking for them.

And sure enough, once Hinata was resting in her room, Itachi motioned for Naruto to follow him into the backyard. Naruto sighed and followed him without complaint.

"Hinata was crying," Itachi said. "She told me why."

Naruto nodded and braced himself for the first blow. It never came.

"She said she was crying because she is weak," Itachi continued. "I cannot blame anyone else for that."

"So... you're not going to beat me?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Do you feel you made Hinata cry?" Itachi replied.

"Yes," Naruto answered honestly. "She cried because I told her how much I cared about her. It was the only thing I could think of to make her let me help her."

Itachi nodded slowly. "Do you think she was lying to me?"

"No, I think she really believes that she's weak. But I also think she didn't want me to get in trouble."

"Then do you think I should beat you?"

"Only if you think it was wrong of me to do what I did. This is supposed to be punishment, right? So if I did anything wrong today, then go ahead."

Itachi stared at him. "Hinata said that you refused to leave her."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean I was supposed to leave her?"

"No. Make no mistake, I'm very glad that you didn't."

"Good. Why didn't you send Sasuke to get her?"

"Sasuke would not have been able to convince her to go with him. No, he wouldn't have bothered trying to convince her. He either would have knocked her out first, or carried her against her will while she fought him. You can imagine why I preferred to send you."

"But Sasuke doesn't get beat?"

Itachi sighed. "Sasuke did exactly what was expected of him. So did you. I can't realistically say that either of you should be punished. I was the one who gave Hinata permission to run. I can only punish myself. So I'm going to tell her that she is no longer allowed to run with us."

Naruto frowned. "She really won't like that. Or you for telling her that."

"I know. But I feel it is best. Perhaps if she convinces herself that she hates me, she will not ask to run again."

"Can't you just tell her the truth?"

"Which is what? That's she's still weak largely because I'm overprotective? No."

"I think you could. I think you should. And if your lying to her makes her cry, I think I should get to beat you."

Itachi frowned at him. "If I thought I deserved to get beaten, I would ask it of someone who could do a good job of it. Jiraiya-sensei, or my mother, but not you."

Naruto frowned. "Huh? Mikoto-san can fight?"

Itachi smiled and walked away. "Wait," he called over his shoulder.

The next morning, Sasuke showed up to breakfast with several bruises on his face.

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke growled.

Normally, if Itachi had beaten Sasuke, Sasuke wouldn't be too proud to admit it, since Naruto got beaten at least as often. This behavior was odd.

"Was it a toad?" Naruto guessed. Shima had whacked him on the head with a stick plenty of times, and for an old toad, she was plenty strong.

"Shut UP, Naruto," Sasuke hissed.

"You boys aren't fighting, are you?" Mikoto asked as she put a pitcher of orange juice on the table.

"No, Mikoto-san," Naruto replied quickly.

"Good," she said approvingly, resting her hand on the back of Sasuke's chair. "Because you know fighting makes our Hina-chan cry."

Naruto was surprised to see that Sasuke actually flinched away as her fingers brushed his shoulder. Then he realized on closer inspection that if Mikoto had made a fist, it would have been a pretty good match for the bruises on Sasuke. And of course, Sasuke would never admit to that.

"Sasuke, Hina-chan will be eating in her room today. Take a plate to her after you're done, would you?" Mikoto added.

"Yes, kaa-san," Sasuke murmured.

Mikoto beamed at him. "My little gentleman." She leaned down and kissed him soundly on his bruised cheek, and from the way Sasuke winced, Naruto was sure she'd done it on purpose.

Sasuke ate quickly and vanished with Hinata's plate, likely to avoid further punishment. The moment Hinata's door closed, Naruto turned to Mikoto and said, "You really hit him, Mikoto-san? I can't believe it!"

"I don't know what you mean, Naru-chan," Mikoto said serenely. "I never hit my boys."

"Well, I know Itachi didn't do it, and it wasn't me."

"If you're asking how Sasuke got hurt, then it must have happened during his sparring session."

"What sparring session?"

"The one I dragged him out of bed for, at around two in the morning."

Naruto gaped at her. "Why? It's too dark to see anything then!"

Mikoto gave him a flat look. "Really? I saw just fine. But then I wasn't blindfolded like Sasuke was."

"Was that really necessary?"

"Naru-chan, Itachi wants you both to be ninja. That's fine, but in this house, you are gentlemen first and ninja second. So long as you remember that, you'll never have to spar with me."

"Well, I kinda want to see you fight now," Naruto admitted. "Just so long as it's not against me."

Mikoto smiled and patted his head. "Maybe I can arrange that sometime."

Every night, Hinata said the same three prayers to anyone who might be willing to hear them.

She asked for happiness for everyone she knew.

She asked for protection for those she didn't know, but had still impacted her life positively in some way.

Finally, she asked for patience. Not for any reason in particular, or rather, precisely for the reason she was simply unwilling to state aloud: her frail body and the daily challenges it presented her with.

Hinata had tried, with varying degrees of success, reinforcing the muscles in her legs with demonic chakra. Even with the above average chakra control that seemed to come naturally, or at least easier to those of her blood, this was a temporary fix at best. Her legs could indeed withstand more stress and perform better with the tainted chakra pumping through them. And if she could have done that on a permanent basis, there would have been no problem. But using that chakra consistently, even for more than a few minutes, had never been a solution to anything, and in fact caused more problems than it solved. Hinata figured out very quickly that being able to walk farther was not worth the price of losing a piece of her soul.

So she had begun searching for other ways of dealing with her legs, but there had been nothing promising so far. And every day, she had to watch Naruto and Sasuke get stronger, while she remained helpless and weak. And the thought that they would leave her behind somehow hurt far worse than the idea that she had been responsible for her own mother's death.

But the disastrous run had proven what she'd feared: that she was already beyond Itachi's help, and that she would never be able to catch up to her brothers, no matter what she did. In truth, she didn't much care for Sasuke. She had tried and been pushed away at every turn. Even now, Sasuke was only grudgingly polite to her, and only when someone with authority was watching. But Naruto, who was smiles and warmth and light and kindness... if he left her now, she would die. Not even Mikoto's tender care or Itachi's protective arms could prevent that, Hinata suspected. Because Naruto was not just a friend or adopted brother. He was the only one who lived with the same curse and yet somehow managed not to be afraid, and seemingly not even to care that he carried it. And when he looked at her, it made Hinata feel as if she could one day be the same way. Naruto was her hope, but only so long as he stayed within her arm's reach. And yet her asking him to stay with her would make him less brilliant, and dull the special light of his that made her life less dark.

She was going to lose him, and it hurt.

Hinata didn't cry over this, not yet, at least. Instead, she laid awake in her bed and stared at the wall, forgetting that if she didn't at least pretend to be asleep, someone would come in and try to comfort her. Almost certainly Itachi, since it was late and he kept unusual hours, but possibly Mikoto, as she had a habit of checking on all of her children each and every time she woke up.

Sure enough, a few hours later, a gentle hand brushed against her cheek, and Hinata rolled over to see Mikoto kneeling beside the bed. "You couldn't sleep, Hina-chan?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'm weak and they're going to leave me behind," Hinata whispered. "Why can't I be strong, Mikoto-san?"

Mikoto sighed deeply. "You know, I once saw a Rock-nin with no arms. He'd lost them years earlier, but he'd trained himself to fight without them. Strictly taijutsu, mind you, but what he could do with those feet was nothing short of-"

"Are you telling me I can be a ninja even if I can't walk for very long?" Hinata interrupted.

"I'm telling you that you can be a ninja as long as you have the will. I'll admit your legs present a certain challenge, but I don't think it's anything you can't overcome. Unfortunately, with things as they are now, you're stuck."

"So there's nothing I can do?"

"Oh, there is," Mikoto said with a smile. "I bet you think Itachi is the greatest ninja ever, and that if he can't help you, no one can, right? But did you ever stop to think that maybe he inherited some of that skill, and not all of it from his father? Because I'll tell you something, Hina-chan: if I had married Fugaku first, I never would have become a jonin. You're just lucky I had sense enough to do the latter first, and that I'm quite capable of training you. My Itachi may be a genius when it comes to being a ninja, but there's plenty he'll never understand about women."

"You would train me?" Hinata asked in shock. "But you never said anything before."

"Because training young ninja isn't easy. You have to be rough with them." Mikoto sighed and stroked Hinata's cheek with a finger. "And I never wanted to be anything but gentle with you, Hina-chan. But I can see how much your heart is hurting right now. So if you really want this, and you're willing to put up with some extremely tough love, I will help you. But I warn you: you're going to hate me before we're done. Though, when we are done, you'll realize just how much Itachi has to love you, to refuse to put you through this himself. So, do I have a new student or not?"

Hinata smiled. "I promise to do my best, Mikoto-sensei."

Continued in Chapter 7: Never Forget Your First

Still smarting from Sakura's sudden refusal to see him, Naruto tries to reconnect with her, but Shikamaru is only making things worse, or is he? The attempt doesn't go as planned, but Naruto does learn something about girls, just not from Sakura.