Getting Started
Author's Notes: Just a head's up, but it may be another chapter or two before I cover the canon team 7. The reason is I am trying to decide whether to cover the "disaster mission" as I have come to call it where my ocs get really wrecked, or if I should do it as flashbacks with just a quick overview and the actual scene it happened in. If you have a preference please say so because after this then Matto and Heza well only make one or two appearances because right after team 7 becomes canon it is going to get real fast paced.. With that said let's get started.
Mizuki had not been kidding when he had said that Naruto's shadow clones would come in handy. Within a week, team 7 had already done twice the required amount of D-rank missions needed to take part in the next Chunnin exams. It got to the point where Naruto would take at least ten missions at once. It was said that the village never looked so good since all of the fences were painted quickly and the monument took no time to clean up at all.
The only real problems came when it was time for every Genin's worst nightmare: Tora Hunting. This wasn't a problem for long however when Naruto got the bright idea of bringing catnip one time. Everyone who had ever had to do this mission found themselves' palming their foreheads and asking themselves why they didn't think of that. After a while Naruto seemed to be able to get on the "cat from hell's" good side to the point where the nip was no longer needed to everyone's relief.
But it wasn't just fences and cats the three were given task for. Many of the store owners who would get large shipments soon figured out that they only had to pay for one team when in truth they could have close to five at the time. This was good for Naruto because while he was working at all of these stores he was gradually making it so that everyone was a whole lot nicer to him. In fact, some of the owners would actually give him discounts now.
Besides doing D-ranks, Team 7 trained their butts off. While Kakashi was still usually late for everything, Naruto was making progress with him. However, when he actually got to the team meetings, he was one hell of a taskmaster. Each day the three would do laps around the village on and other extreme workouts such as running up and down the hokage's monument. And this was just their warm ups. After that, they would have quick "spars." (More like all out warfare.)
After that, they would then work on chakra control and learning justus. It was during these times that Naruto learned that he could cover his hands or any other part of his body with wind chakra and slice through practically any thing. (Think Kabuto's signature fighting technique only with wind instead of regular chakra.)
Naruto also took things up a notch with his weight training. One year after Naruto began using shadow clones, he decided to start wearing weights to get his speed up like his father's. After joining team 7, Naruto took it up a notch. Instead of regular weights, he started wearing chakra weights. These weights took the percentage of chakra and for each percent of your overall chakra put into a seal would make you feel ten pounds heavier. By the end of the month, Naruto was at thirty percent. This of course made him practically untouchable during spars with his teammates whenever he took them off.
Unfortunately for Naruto and Kakashi, two months into training, Gai witnessed one of these spars and dragged the two into a two on two spar with him and Gai. Now this one time would not have been so bad. However, Naruto actually made the mistake of wiping the floor with Lee in less than five moves. (I'll let you use your imaginations on that but just know that Naruto used his "chakra hands" to make it so that Lee couldn't move.) Unfortunately, Kakashi also won against Gai although not as fast. However the damage was done and Gai insisted on more matches, leading to the "eternal rivalry of youth between the ages." (I know scary right?)
Truth be told, Naruto did not really mind since Lee was one of the few people his age who could actually give him a good workout when sparring. Now if he could only get those two away from that flames of youth crap.
And of course there was training with his adopted father Kyubi. After Naruto graduated, the fox decided it was a good time to accelerate Naruto's training by having him work on sword fighting.
It wasn't just training and missions everyday for Naruto though. Sometimes when he would have the day off he would wait at the academy for Iruka and Mizuki to finish their lectures and he would chat with them. It was on one of these days that he got to meet Neji's cousin who would soon later become one of his most precious people.
Hidden Leaf Village Ninja Academy: Four Months After Graduation: Teachers' Lounge
Naruto was walking through the hallways towards the Teachers' Lounge. He was going to tell his two favorite teachers about the C-rank that he and his team just finished. (This one is his third but the first outside of the land of fire.) He turned into the room to find the two friends just about done grading papers.
"Hey guys." Naruto said coming in and taking a seat at the table his two senseis were seated at.
"Hey Naruto, how you been doing lately?" Mizuki asked looking up from his last paper.
"Been good. Just got back from a C-rank outside of the land of fire." Naruto said.
"Really? That's your first mission outside of the country isn't it? How did it go?" Iruka asked very interested in how his favorite student from last year's class did.
"Yeah it was. Any way, I did fine Iruka-sensei. It was a simple escort mission of a merchant's caravan to a town just west of the border. Since it was a large caravan, we had to work with another team. Would have had to have another team with us as well, but apparently someone in the caravan had heard about my shadow clone ability and asked that I quote un quote put them to good use."
Mizuki and Iruka just chuckled at that and the three then spent the next few minutes talking before the two teachers left towards their apartments. Naruto was leaving as well when he noticed a girl on the swing in front of the Academy. Now normally he wouldn't think anything of it. However, he saw a loneliness in the girl's eyes that he quickly recognized.
'She looks just like I did all those years ago.' He thought to himself remembering the times before he met up with Mizuki and Iruka. Deciding to talk to her he headed over to the girl who he recognized as a Hyuga by her eyes. 'Wonder why a Hyuga would be lonely?' He asked himself.
"Hey, mind if I sit down here?" He asked once he got next to the girl.
The girl had been so busy just looking down and being lost in her thoughts that she was surprised to hear someone talking to her. Jumping a little, she looked to her side seeing a blonde with whisker like marks on his face along with the bluest eyes she had ever set sight on. Drawn out of her thoughts, she just slowly shook her head and turned back around while putting an arm over the swings rope support. (Think of Naruto when he failed the Exam that final time and is watching the others.)
Naruto watched her for a few seconds before sitting down cross legged. After about five minutes of silence between the two, Naruto decided to see if he could get the Hyuga to open up a little bit. Taking a deep breath, he then said to her "My Name's Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"
The girl just looked at him for a moment before replying "Hinata Hyuga" and just turned back again. Naruto just sighed realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere this way and decided to take a more direct approach.
"So who are you waiting for?" He asked while looking at her.
"No one really." She said not even turning this time.
"I find that odd. Normally parents come to pick up their children." Naruto said trying to get the girl to say more than three words to him.
"Well usually father sends someone for me but lately no one has come." She said.
'Finally got a full sentence from her.' Naruto thought then frowned. "Why's that?" He asked.
The Hyuga just sighed and then said "He probably doesn't think I'm worth it. No matter what I do it just doesn't seem to be good enough. He seems to think my younger sister can do everything better than I can."
"I'm sure he doesn't think that." Naruto said trying to cheer her up.
"But he does. Ever since my mother died giving birth to my sister he's been nothing but cold and heartless to me and my sister. But more so to me." She said sadly.
Before Naruto could say anything though she continued. "It's not just him either, the whole council thinks I'm good for nothing and weak. And why shouldn't they? I can't seem to do anything right and it's never good enough for my father."
Naruto just got pissed at this. For years people had called him a failure telling him that he couldn't do anything right. Getting up, he went in front of the girl and placed a finger under her chin tilting her head up making her look him in the eye.
"Listen Hinata and listen well. You cannot let what those people tell you get to you."
"But-" the girl started.
"No buts. The only one who can call your self a failure is yourself and from what I can see you are not one. Just someone who is lacking confidence. Believe me, I know what it is like to be called a failure. Hell, I've been called even worse. But I didn't let those idiots get to me, and I grew stronger because of it. Yeah it took a lot of work but I kept at it. All you have to do is just keep going." All this time he looked into her eyes not blinking once.
Hinata just nodded to him but was thrilled on the inside with what she was hearing. Here was someone who didn't think that she was a failure. Someone who had been through the same thing she was right now and had gotten through it. She was even more thrilled when she heard what he said next.
"If these fools think your weak, then all you have to do is show them their wrong. All you have to do is get stronger. I know you can, and if you want, I can help."
Hinata couldn't believe her ears. Here was the same person who had been through the same things she had and was wiling to help her. Looking into his eyes she asked "You really mean it? You'll really help me?"
Naruto just nodded and said "Yes. If you want me to." Hinata nodded and he continued. "Me and my team just finished a C-rank today so I don't think we will be doing any missions again tomorrow. Let me ask my sensei and if we aren't then we'll get started then. I'll be waiting here if I don't have any."
Hinata just nodded and Naruto said good bye before leaving to find Kakashi. Not surprisingly he found his perverted teacher buying the newest volume of that hated orange book at the bookstore.
'Figures.' He thought before walking up to him. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, can I talk to you?"
Kakashi just turned around and noticing the look on his Sensei's son's face nodded. The two left the bookstore and Kakashi asked what Naruto wanted to talk about. Naruto explained what happened by the swing and asked if they had any missions planned for tomorrow so that he could see if he could train the Hyuga. Kakashi listened and then told him that he was just planning on having them do a few D-ranks and training and that he had no problems with Naruto teaching her. He actually said to use training ground 7 and that if he need any help to just ask. Naruto thanked him and took off towards his house wondering what he should help his new friend with first.
Next Day: Tree Swing outside of Academy
Hinata came out of the academy and immediately perked up when she saw Naruto leaning against the tree. When Naruto caught sight of her he waved to her and headed towards her. When he got close he jerked his head towards the exit and when Hinata nodded to him the two left together.
"We're going to be going to my team's training grounds. We'll start once we're there." Naruto said taking a quick glance to his newest "student."
"Ok." Hinata said noticing the glance and smiling at her new friend. Naruto just grinned and led the way.
Meanwhile: Training Ground 7
The rest of Team 7 was waiting for Naruto to show up with his new friend that he was going to be helping. When Kakashi and Naruto had explained to the other two what Naruto was going to start doing today the other two decided to see if they could help out at all. In the meantime, Matto and Heza were currently in a two on one battle royal with their silver haired sensei.
"So what do you think Naruto will work on first today sensei? Chakra control or Taijustu?" Matto asked throwing a right hook at Kakashi and following up with a round house kick pivoting when Kakashi dodged and turning it into a spin kick that forced Kakashi to go towards the only female on the team.
"I would personally start with a little bit of Taijustu, but I think he wants to try chakra control first." Kakashi replied as he started blocking punches and kicks come from the kunoichi and jumping away from a quick punch to get some distance said "Good one Heza, by the way what do you think they'll work on first?"
Heza just shrugged and closed the distance again and with Matto who came to her side started going after their teacher again. "Can't say really. I mean yeah he said that he would work on those two first but does it really matter in what order? I mean sure the Hyugas use extreme chakra control in their gentle fist style, and yes Naruto has studied it somewhat. But does it really matter this early in the game?"
"Good point." Matto said dodging under a roundhouse kick and tried to get into his sensei's bubble with a kick of his own but only ended in making the cyclops take a step to keep the distance between the two. This was the scene that Naruto and Hinata walked onto.
"Wow, that's amazing." Hinata breathed while Naruto just chuckled. Heza heard him and without taking her eyes off of Kakashi or even slowing down called out "Hey Naruto! You just going to stand there or you going to help?"
Kakashi's eye suddenly widened when Naruto did his signature entry into any battle where the opponent is usually a lot slower than he is. (Think what Naruto did in the bell test with that kick to the side of the opponents face when Naruto is in the air.) Kakashi was able to reduce the impact by rolling and then had to immediately go on the defense from all the kicks and punches that was coming from Naruto.
Meanwhile Matto and Heza got into position on either side of him and the three proceeded to box their teacher in. After about two minutes of a rather intense Taijustu match between the four, Kakashi called it quits so that Naruto could start teaching Hinata. Said Hyuga just there with a look of shocked amazement on her face. When the four started walking towards her, the four saw this and Heza chuckled.
"I think we broke her." She said earning chuckles from the three guys in the area.
Hinata snapped out of her semi trance and looking at Naruto said "That was amazing! Can you really help me be able to fight like that?"
Naruto nodded and said "Not all at once obviously. It'll take some time, but I'm sure that you can reach that point. Although you will have to do the most of it. I'm really just here to help you get started. All I can do is show you what to do. You are the only one who can decide how high you climb."
Hinata just nodded and then asked what she had to do. Naruto decided to see how she did in Taijustu first and spent the next hour and a half working on that showing where she could improve. After that, he worked on chakra control, showing her all kinds of exercises including leaf balancing and tree climbing.
It went on like this for another four months. Naruto was very impressed with his friend's progress and even taught her a few justus he knew. Eventually Hinata got to the point where she could hold her own when sparring with Matto and Heza and Naruto decided that there wasn't really anything else he could teach her. She would sometimes come find him if she was having troubles with something, but usually it was just to hang out with him, and the two became quite close. Everyone in her class had noticed how much she had improved, especially her confidence in herself. One day, Iruka decided to see what brought about the change.
Ninja Academy: Two Months Before Graduation
Iruka was amazed with Hinata. She went to being one of the worst students in regards to Taijustu and other physical attributes required to ninja with an extreme case of self doubt to one of the most confident and strongest in her class. That plus she was a lot more open now.
One day during a Taijustu test where Mizuki was once again helping him test the students, he watched Hinata and her opponent face off against each other. The opponent was a poor sap of a kunoichi, a fan girl.
Now the one thing that separated this poor excuse of a ninja from the other fan girls was the fact that she was particularly mean and liked to make others feel like dirt. She immediately started to trash talk Hinata thinking that Hinata's new found confidence was just a mask. When she couldn't get Hinata to bite, she became very upset and rushed straight in. Big no no on her part. Just as she got in close, Hinata stepped to the side and got to one knee while turning to face her opponent. With her left arm she swept the girls legs out from under her and with her right slammed her arm into the girls stomach and sent her flying into the mat they were on top of. The girls breath instantly left her and Mizuki called the match.
Hinata got a few cheers from her classmates while the rest of the "snobs" realized one very important thing: the new Hinata was not a mask and was here to stay. Iruka then congratulated Hinata and decided to ask the one thing that was on everyone's mind.
"Very well done Hinata. You've definitely improved. What have you been doing differently?"
Hinata noticed everyone looking at her and got a small blush. "Well you see Iruka-sensei. I've been getting some help outside of class."
Iruka raised an eyebrow at the blush and answer and decided to get some more info. "Can you be a little more specific Hinata? What kind of help did you get? Was it with your father?"
Hinata shook her head and said "No sensei. I've been training with Naruto and the rest of team 7."
Iruka and Mizuki just burst into laughter when they heard this causing everyone to look at them like they were nuts.
Once Mizuki got his laughter under control he said "Well that certainly explains it! That kid can be one harsh task master. Believe me, I've seen what he does for training now a days."
Hinata just nodded to this and smiled.
Iruka who had also gotten his little laughing fit under control decided to ask another question. "So Hinata, how long have you been training with them."
"Well, Iruka-sensei, I started training with them about four months ago." Hinata said and everyone was impressed with how fast Hinata had grown. One particular Uchiha was wondering if he could train with this team since they obviously knew what they were doing.
