Chapter 6:
Broken Girl

Naruto groggily cracked open his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It wasn't the ceiling of his bedroom. It was the tile ceiling of the hospital.

Aw man, he groaned and scrubbed at his face. Did I really get banged up enough to have to come here?

He didn't think so, but maybe he'd landed funny when he'd passed out and fallen off the giant toad's head…

Crud, I didn't pass! Gnashing his teeth, he sat up and stretched. That's what I get for prematurely celebrating… Bah!

Just as he was getting out of bed to look for his clothes, he was hit with a stab of hunger. He was always extra hungry after burning off all his chakra, but this was worse. It felt like he hadn't eaten in days but that was silly. It never took him more than a day or two to recharge unless he really got hurt.

Find clothes, find food, get back to training! Nodding to himself, he slipped off the bed and started to get dressed. That's the plan! And after that, kick Neji's butt!

Once he was fully dressed, Naruto jogged from the room and went to sign himself out. Now that he was a genin, he was considered an adult and could do things like check himself out of the hospital. It was a good thing, too; he didn't have time to wait around for his mom to come and check on him, find him awake, and sign him out.

But halfway to the ground floor reception desk and freedom, he got distracted.

"Hinata?"

The girl was dressed in a hospital-issue nightgown and bathrobe. She looked exceptionally pale and fragile as she shuffled down the hall and braced one hand against the wall as she went. She looked like a dark little ghost. Upon hearing his voice, she stiffened up and turned to gawk at him.

"You okay?" he asked.

While she looked a heck of a lot better than she had the last time he'd seen her, she still didn't look so good. Should she really be out of bed? It was hard for him to tell; his rate of healing was far different than normal people.

"Uh…ah…y-y-yes," she managed softly, dropping her pale eyes to the floor and fidgeting with her fingers.

"You sure?" Naruto frowned.

Hinata nodded. "I…I f-feel much b-better."

"Well that's good," he sighed, trying to forget how all that blood had come out of her mouth.

"I-I'll be r-released s-s-soon," she added meekly.

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered. "You'll be at the finals, right?"

The Hyuuga girl nodded.

"Alright!" he grinned.

Hinata timidly glanced up at him for a second; her pale cheeks a feverish shade. "Sh-Shino-kun s-s-said…he s-said…that y-you p-p-promised t-to…"

"Beat Neji up for you?" he finished for her when her voice trailed off into soft incoherence. "Yeah," he nodded firmly. "He needs to be taught a lesson. Family should never fight that way. Even my mom thinks so."

"W-w-why…?" She was fidgeting so badly that Naruto was surprised that her fingers hadn't fallen off. "Why w-would you h-h-help m-me?"

Naruto blinked. "Why not? You're a nice girl, Hinata. There's no way you could've done anything to deserve what he did!" He titled his head curiously. "What's he so mad at the rest of your family for anyway?"

"U-um…w-w-well…w-well…"

Information was more valuable than treasure in the ninja world, his mother taught him. Anything he couldn't get on Neji, even if it was just his twisted motivations, was important. With Hinata's voice getting quieter and quieter, Naruto came right up to her face so that he could hear her better.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun?!" she yelped and her face reddened further.

"You feelin' okay, Hinata?" Naruto frowned and pressed his hand against her forehead to check her temperature. "Do you have a fever?"

The girl let out a wheezy gasp and shortly crumpled to the floor.

"Hinata?!"


The Yondaime Hokage stared out his office windows and massaged his throbbing temples. There was a dark cloud hovering over his village and he couldn't dispel it. His only consolation—as weak as it was—was that only the older, higher level ninja were aware of it. The rest of the village went about its business in blissful ignorance.

Hosting the Chuunin Exams was bad enough, but three additional factors conspired to turn the already stressful exams into a complete nightmare.

Firstly, there was Oto. A new ninja group was always a cause for concern. Who were they? What were their goals and intentions? How strong were they? What did they specialize in? Were they ultimately ally or enemy?

Secondly, there was Orochimaru. He vaguely recalled the rogue Sannin from his earliest days after the loss of his memory. The snake-like man always gave him the shivers, and he had never really understood why so many people had seemed to trust him and think so highly of him. When the serpent revealed his true self, the future Yondaime had only felt shock upon seeing the man's handiwork. And now it seemed that the ruthless enemy that the Sandaime had banished had returned, intent on the Sharingan and something else.

And thirdly, it seemed that Suna, Konoha's supposed ally, was up to something. Suna hadn't entered as many teams as they had in previous years, and the one team who had succeeded was powerful. The Yondaime Kazekage's children had made it through the first two parts of the exams with minimal difficulties, and the youngest… There was simply something disturbingly wrong with Sabaku no Gaara.

His advisors—Danzou, Homura, Koharu, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Ibiki, and even Kushina—agreed that entering a genin such as Gaara was ominous at the very least.

Please let them be wrong, he sighed. Please let them be jumping at shadows. Please, please, please…

Oh, why the hell did I take this job?!

The short answer was: Jiraiya had talked him into it.

"The list of people qualified to be Hokage is short," the Sannin had told him then, as he'd worked to sway his amnesiac student into going along with things. "The list of people who would actually be good at it, is even shorter. The clan heads already have more than enough responsibilities, especially the Uchiha as they also manage the Military Police. The Sandaime's advisors are advisors and not leaders for a reason. Orochimaru…well, he goes without saying. Tsunade-hime…her Will of Fire has burned out. And as for myself…" He'd laughed. "As much as I love this village, I'd probably only end up ruining it!

"But you, Minato! You are patient, intelligent, and dedicated—it's in your nature. You are strong and skilled and your reputation is fearsome; foreign leaders will think twice and think twice again before messing with you! Sure, the memory thing is a problem, but we will help you. With some coaching and advice, you'll do just fine, I know it! By becoming the Yondaime, you will protect the village and all the people living in it, ninja and civilian alike. You are our best hope."

And then Jiraiya had clinched it with: "And as Hokage, you will decide the fate of that poor baby."

While the Sandaime had left instructions concerning the demon's infant jailor, the village council had been leaning towards disregarding them completely. Sarutobi-sama wished for the child to live and be respected for his sacrifice. The council wanted him to be killed and forgotten to end the threat of the demon's return forever.

The village's safety and future was on the line, and the life of an innocent baby hung in the balance…and so he had agreed.

It was a miracle that his ascension to Hokage had been confirmed by the council. The Uchiha clan openly disdained his nomination. The Hyuuga were openly dubious. And all the other clans were clearly uneasy. But when the votes were cast, he somehow came out the winner.

It was desperation, he knew now. They were desperate for a leader, even one like me who was barely better than a figurehead. With me as Hokage, Konoha would look strong because no one outside the village knew that there was anything wrong with me. And there were officials—mostly civilian—who wanted a confused person like me in charge so that they could try and get more influence through me.

Kakashi and Jiraiya tried to keep the political vultures and spiders at bay, but they couldn't be around all the time. Jiraiya was a master spy and in order to do his primary job and keep the village safe, he had to be gone often and for long stretches of time. Kakashi being in ANBU gave him a good excuse to always be at the Hokage's side as a bodyguard, but sometimes he was needed for other missions. And when both were away, the Yondaime knew that little shady things would slip past him.

But then she had come into his life.

He'd been taking a break and walking through the village when he came across an adorable blonde-haired boy running through the streets and giggling madly. The child's mother caught up with the boy right in front the Hokage and the woman cheerfully introduced her baby to the village leader (while he felt like he knew no one, everyone seemed to know him). Belatedly he saw the whisker marks and realized that the boy was the fox's prison.

"Naru-chan, this man is the Yondaime Hokage; the strongest ninja in the whole village! Can you say hello to Hokage-sama?"

"Hi Yon'y-sama! I'm Naruto!"

From that adorable little greeting on, the blue-eyed boy stole a tiny piece of the Hokage's heart and held on to it tight. Charmed by Naruto and curious as to how he was doing, the Yondaime struck up a conversation with his red-haired mother. She'd seemed uneasy with his attention, but the woman satiated his curiosity as best as she could. And then she'd hesitantly approached him with a problem.

She was a kunoichi and her maternity leave was nearly expired. Because of Naruto's unique situation, she drew a small stipend to help care for him, but it wasn't enough. Even with the salary she drew as a kunoichi, money was still tight most months. When her leave was through, she would either have to return to full duty as a kunoichi and be dependent on babysitters as well as risk going on a mission and never coming home, or she would have to retire and find a civilian job. She wasn't asking for a larger stipend, she was hoping for a part-time administrative job.

And so she became one of his assistants…part time.

However, it quickly became full time as most of his other assistants just kept on not working out. No one wanted to watch the "demon brat" so his red-haired mother could never find a steady, reliable babysitter. Eventually she ended up just bringing Naruto to the tower every day and leaving him in the care of whatever ninjas were available while she worked all day. This irritated a lot of people, but the Yondaime didn't really mind; he enjoyed playing with the boy whenever he could get away with it.

Uzumaki Kushina really earned her place at his side about a year later. A bloody border dispute with Kumogakure no Sato had finally ended and Kumo had sent a powerful ninja as an envoy to sign the treaty to end the fighting. But in the night the man tried to kidnap the Hyuuga heir and was killed. Kumo denied the man's actions and demanded retribution or the fighting would resume. The Hyuuga were ready to throw the clan head's twin brother away. The Yondaime found himself paralyzed with indecision because both options were unbearable…

"From what I understand, Hizashi wants to sacrifice himself to save his brother—not out of duty to the clan or the village, but as a brother saving his brother. Will you grant him his wish? Or will you risk many lives to prevent this one sacrificed life?"

It wasn't fair, but she reminded him of the bigger picture and helped him make his choice. She put up with him as he brooded for weeks afterward and managed to jar him out of his funk (mainly by leaving Naruto with him as much as possible). And from then on, she became his primary assistant and unofficial advisor.

What would I do without her? he wondered idly. I'd agonize over silly things and never make up my mind on the important things… It would be a disaster.

He smiled. I'm so glad that she's with me…

"…And how did this happen again?"

The Hokage blinked and turned away from his office windows to see his dear assistant coming through the door with his lunch (sushi), her lunch (ramen), and Naruto trailing after her.

"I dunno!" Naruto pouted. "I was trying to talk to her, and then she just fell over and all the hospital people got mad at me!"

"What happened?"

"Naruto made Hyuuga Hinata faint somehow," Kushina sighed and handed him his sushi. "And that made the hospital staff freak out, so he had to send a shadow clone to get me to get him out of there." She rolled her eyes and started eating her noodles. "Idiots."

"Oh," he nodded and pulled his sushi out of the take-out bag. "How did you make her faint?"

"I don't know!" Naruto wailed and plopped down on the floor to devour his own boxes of Ichiraku ramen. "All I was doing was talking to her, and then her face got red and she fell down!"

The Yondaime frowned, baffled. "Weird."

"Yeah, I know," Naruto sulked between mouthfuls of noodles.

"Hmm…" Kushina mumbled thoughtfully as she chewed. "Huh. Well, Naruto, you ready to get back to training?"

"Mm-hm!" the boy nodded eagerly, noodles hanging from his mouth.

"Good," she smiled. "You were in the hospital so long I was starting to worry that you were going to sleep until the finals!"

Naruto paused in his inhaling of his ramen. "Huh? How long was I asleep?"

"Five days."

"Five days?!"

"Did you really have to scream?" the Yondaime muttered and rubbed at his ear.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?!" Naruto yelled and tried to shovel down his food twice as fast.

"You obviously needed the rest," his mother frowned and bopped him on the head. "Slow down and chew your food! It would be a real shame if you choked to death before the finals."

Half-panicked, Naruto cringed but did as he was told.

There was a stretch of several minutes of silent eating before Kushina voiced an observation. "You're really into keeping this promise, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Naruto huffed. "You heard what that jerk Neji did! Yondy-sama saw it!"

"Yes, I did," the Hokage grimaced and struggled to keep his appetite.

"I don't doubt that Neji needs some sense knocked through his head, I'm just wondering if you have another reason for wanting to beat this kid," Kushina shrugged.

"Another reason?" Naruto frowned. "Like what?"

"Well this Hinata girl's kinda cute," his mother smirked. "I thought you might want to impress her and avenge her at the same time."

Naruto gawked at her. "Mo-om!"

"What?" she asked innocently. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to impress a cute girl."

"Mom, stop it!" the boy groaned.

"She seems shy, but I bet she's very nice when you get to know her," the Yondaime remarked, cheerfully throwing his two cents in.

"No Yondy-sama, not you too!" Naruto moaned and flopped face first onto the office carpet.

The older blonde peered worriedly over his desk. "Naruto, lots and lots of ninja have stood there in their dirty sandals; do you really want stick your face into that?"

Grumbling incoherently, the boy rolled onto his back and stared moodily up at the ceiling. "I'd much rather impress Sakura-chan."

"I'm sure that you would," Kushina sighed drearily.

The Yondaime swallowed a chuckle and shook his head; he was well-acquainted with this little disagreement. Naruto was sure that Haruno Sakura was the best girl in the whole world and the perfect girl for him—he just had to win her over. Kushina was much less enthusiastic about her son's pink-haired teammate and wished that he would chase after a girl who didn't feel the need to hit him every time he asked her out.

Half-tuning their conversation out, the Hokage munched on his sushi and relaxed. It was nice when he and Kushina and Naruto were all together. When Naruto had enrolled in the Academy, and when he had made genin, he was kept busy and out of the Tower.

I like this feeling, the Hokage smiled. It almost feels like we're a family.


Hyuuga Hinata sank deep into her hospital bed and squeezed her eyes shut in shame.

I can't believe I did that! I fainted on Naruto-kun again! Now he probably thinks I'm weak…and weird.

She'd tried so hard to change; to be stronger. When she'd fought her cousin, she thought she'd been close to succeeding for once in her life. He'd cheered for her then; he'd noticed her. If she could've won, it would've been absolutely perfect.

But her cousin hadn't just won, he'd destroyed her. No matter how many times she forced herself to get up and try again he simply swatted her down again like an annoying fly. He met her determination with scorn; he met her compassion with hatred. And then she couldn't fight anymore.

Neji-nii-san and Otou-sama are right…I am weak. No matter what I do… I just can't! I just—

A stabbing pain in her chest made her break into a coughing fit. When it subsided, she found tiny flecks of blood on her hand. Grimacing, she wiped her hand clean on the underside of her pillow.

I need to get better. Shino-kun will be competing in the finals, and I need to go and support him. And Naruto-kun…he promised…I need to be there for him too!

I will get better. I have to. I just have to…