Hinata struggled to get up, but the damage her body had taken was too much. The fight has left her completely, not that it had been there to start with. Fighting your own father doesn't tend to get one in an enthusiastic mood. Hiashi looked down at his daughter with disappointment and anger in his face.
"I had thought letting Kurenai-san take you under her wing would help you get stronger, but you have not changed. You are still weak, still unsure, and still unfit to be called my daughter and heir to the Hyuga clan." With those words, he turned his back on his daughter and walked out of the dojo. His second daughter, Hanabi, spared one look for her unfortunate sister before she followed her father. Hinata sighed and simply rested there until she gained enough energy to get out of the Main Compound. Today had been her chance to move back into the Main Compound, but she has failed her father's test. She would be living in one of the Branch Family's Compound forever, if she never lived up to her father's expectations.
XXX
"Hinata, we need to talk," Kurenai said firmly but sadly. Hinata immediately blushed and looked away.
"Hinata, look at me when I'm talking to you!" shouted Kurenai. Hinata cowered beneath her sensei's harsh voice and immediately moved to Kurenai's side but did not look at the jonin. Kurenai sighed. She had witnessed Hinata's test at her father's hand by using one of her genjutsu. She knee the Byakugan would immediately see through it, but she had to put a semblance of stealth into her spying, if only to retain the honour in the word Shinobi.
"Hinata," Kurenai said softly, getting down on one knee, "you have been failing every mission since you were made genin. I know you train hard, but you simply aren't good enough. I don't agree with your father, you aren't a disappointment, but maybe you aren't just ready for the shinobi world. Maybe … maybe you need to redo your time at the academy, if only for a year or so," Kurenai suggested softly. Hinata's world came crushing down like a ton of bricks.
"But … but, I can't go back to the academy," Hinata stuttered. "I know that I may not be the best, but I'm working hard!" Hinata immediately looked down, afraid of what would happen for shouting at her sensei.
"Well," Kurenai said after a second, "hard work may not be enough." With that, the jonin stood up and walked away. It took all of Hinata's self-control not to cry.
XXX
Hinata waited for her turn patiently, her heart heavy. Her father had well and truly disowned her, and on top of that, word had leaked out to all Hyuga family members. The more cruel members did not disguise their glee, and some even acted on it, taunting her whenever they felt like it. They knew Hinata was too soft to do activate their cage seal, and what's more, they knew the Hyuga Head, Hinata's father, was too disappointed with his daughter to do anything to help her. His focus was now on his second daughter, Hanabi, and his one remaining hope for a competent heir.
"Hinata-sama!" called the Branch Family Head she was living with. With an unconscious twitch, she slowly stood up, dreading this training session. Because of her occupied mind, she was even more incompetent than usual. Her stance was weak, her focus wavering, her blows too soft and indirect, her speed lacking and most of all, she was down right scared. This branch family head was particularly biased toward the head family, and so took this opportunity to let his opinion be known. By the time the session was over, she was bleeding, battered, bruised and barely conscious, but she nevertheless managed to make it to her room.
She was sprawled on her bed for what seemed like hours, her mind's eye viewing the events of her entire life. Disappointment after disappointment, no happiness, all struggle and most of all, no recognition, no acknowledgement. Tears were coming out of her eyes by the time she replayed her fight with Hiashi. This was the life she was doomed to.
Clang!
She jumped up at the sound of shuriken bouncing off each other. She looked out of her small window and saw her cousin, Neji, spring with the branch family head she had been sparring with earlier that day. The one that had taken fiendish pleasure in making her suffer. But whereas his fight with her had been amateurish at best, this fight was at least chunin level. Her Byakugan could see the perfect chakra control of both participants. Their Jyuken was perfect, a blend of power and grace. How she wished she was the one with such control over her own movements, her own life. She watched for twenty whole minutes while the two sparred, and not once did their pace falter. Neji was going all out, training to his limit. Hinata got the feeling that by the time he reached chunin, he would be a force to be reckoned with. The only person who could probably beat him would be her own father and other members of the head family. A tear escaped her eye involuntarily. This was what her father desired of her; an heir and ninja worthy of his name. It was too bad that she would never achieve that goal.
XXX
Inari slumped onto the hard ground. It had only been a few weeks, but already he could feel the change in his body. His training was paying off already. He had grown taller, and he had lost most of his baby fat. He had grown faster, and he was learning to use many weapons, among them kunai, shuriken, Bo, henbo and ninja swordsmanship. His body was in spasm because of the lack of oxygen, but he ignored the pain. He had gotten used to the intensive training by now, even if it had only been six weeks. His sensei drove him to the brink of his limits, and beyond, at times.
"That's enough for today," his sensei said. "Go home and rest. Tsunami-san will be starting dinner soon. It's your turn to help her."
Inari nodded and got up slowly. "Don't be late," he said. "You know how pissed off mom gets when her dinner is ruined." Inari's sensei smiled and nodded. Tsunami-san had a temper that could have scared most ninja.
After Inari left, the sensei unrolled the piece of paper that had been left for her. She read the words on it over and over, wondering whether she had chosen the right course. She had woken up in Tsunami-san's house, weak and delirious. It had taken over a week before she was back to good health, which was only due to her extensive medical knowledge and impressive regenerative powers. An image flashed in her mind; a tall, blond haired boy, with ice blue eyes, whisker marks on his cheeks, and long, sharp nails that could have been called claws.
Naruto-kun, the sensei thought. Why? Why did you spare my life? Unbidden came flashbacks of the boy's words. "Everyone deserves someone to love and be loved. I had no chance of that and never will, but you do. You may have been called a demon in your homeland, but here you can start afresh. You don't need to work for evil to feel loved." Back then, the sensei had shunned the Konoha ninja, but after he had woken from a sleep, a sleep he had gone into thinking he wouldn't wake from, he had thought again. He should move on soon before his existence was discovered, but for now, he had found people who loved him, and he loved them. He would protect them, as they sheltered him. He looked again at the piece of paper.
"Everyone deserves a second chance" it said, in neat, smooth handwriting. The note was written in blood.
Thank you for your vote of confidence, Naruto-kun, Haku thought.
XXX
Hinata snuck into the Main Compound at midnight. She didn't know why, maybe to show that she had gained some skills after all. Maybe as a challenge to herself. Whatever the reason, she simply wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't completely useless. She crouched in a tree, watching the patrols. She knew them off by heart, seeing as she had been planning this for quite a while. Also, because she was a Head family member, she was privileged to information about all the other Hyuga members. She knew who was on patrol on which nights, and their capabilities. She was no match for any of them, that much was true, but she could use their own weaknesses against them. For instance, all patrol consisted of Branch family members, which meant that they were as inattentive in their duties as possible without seeming so. One of these little inattentive details was that their Byakugan was not activated, which meant that Hinata's presence was of at this moment undetected.
Just as she was about to jump onto the roof opposite her, she tripped on a small branch and fell twenty feet onto the hard ground. She winced, but did not utter a sound. Already the sharp eyes of the patrols would have heard her. She needed to get out of the compound, and fast. She stood and ran a familiar route, a route she has used in her childhood. She came up to the western entrance, but it was locked, much to her surprise. In all her time, she had never seen any of the smaller gates locked. One reason was that they led into the forest, which would mean any infiltrators would have to get past the Konoha ninja who guarded against any sort of infiltration by means of the forest. But maybe because of the increased foreign ninja activity in the village, her father was not taking any chances. Damn it! She should have seen this coming. That's what her father wanted, for her to become a worthy heir, and she could not be a worthy heir by being so stupid.
She heard running footsteps, and immediately she gave up. She would never amount to anything. This had been a bad idea from the start. She knew she wasn't brave enough, so why had she fought her own nature? Just as she heard two people turn the corner onto the path, she caught a blur of movement, and a moment later, she felt strong arms engulf her shoulders. The right one formed half a ram seal, and a moment later she felt a layer of chakra engulf both her and the mystery person. The two patrolmen rounded the corner and stopped, looking at an empty path and a firmly shut gate. For a full minute they gazed at the gate in the Hyuga taijutsu stance, their Byakugan activated, before their postures slowly relaxed. One of them murmured that it must have been a stray cat that had been jumping down from a tree. They made their way back to their rounds. Hinata was too frightened to fight the mystery person who had saved her from a fate worse than death itself; facing her father.
The person let her go and slumped down to the ground. He – for she could tell by the tone of his voice that it was a male – was panting hard and, after a moment, started chuckling softly to himself. She slowly turned round, and found herself looking at none other than Naruto Uzumaki. She was a little shocked by his surprise appearance. What was he doing on Hyuga land? At this time of night? Unescorted, as all visitors were, apart from the Hokage himself. He looked at her, and instantly she knew that he knew what thoughts were flying through her own mind. To her surprise, he smiled.
"That's what I always liked about you, Hinata," he said, softly, which made her blush and look away. "The fact that you aren't stupid, quite smart, in fact, but you don't let the hard logic of life colour your judgement. Inside, you are a nice person. That's an enviable thing, Hinata."
It was quite a while before Hinata got the courage to speak up. "What … what are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" His smiled never left his face, which made it all the harder to ask such a question. How could she, when he had saved her from being discovered?
"Same thing you're doing, probably. Testing my stealth abilities by testing them against such a powerful clan with a renowned doujutsu," he replied simply. To her surprise, Hinata found that it was the same reason why she had come here. She wanted to prove herself, even though no one would know. Too bad she had failed.
Naruto stood up and dusted himself off. He held out his hand to Hinata, still smiling. Hinata looked at the hand, and then at Naruto. Could she trust him? She had never had someone to truly confide in before. Slowly, she took his hand.
XXX
Neji watched the scene with a smirk. So it appeared that his cousin had finally found a friend. How precious. And the friend was not the loser he had expected. Sure the loser's academy results had been one of the best, but that could have just been because of the fact that the test was easy. But he had seen Naruto in action when the Hokage had added his own test by means of the genjutsu that even his Byakugan couldn't detect. He watched with some interest as Naruto helped Hinata to her feet, and then performed a perfect Body Transfer jutsu that did not make any noise and did not create a puff of smoke. His eyes narrowed slightly. That was an ANBU specialty. How had the loser learned such a jutsu? Even Neji had to make do with the Body Transfer jutsu that achieved the same results but was not as powerful as a Body Flicker. After a second, he smiled and made his way back to his bedroom, in the Branch Family Compound he was staying in. Unlike his cousin, he easily managed to avoid all patrols. The Chunin exams were coming up soon. He would enjoy destroying Hinata-sama and Naruto.
XXX
Hiashi watched the entire seen with his usual impassiveness. Interesting, the young Uzumaki Naruto was. Even more interesting was his nephew, Neji. His brother had often boasted that Neji was most gifted of all the Hyugas, and now it seemed those claims just might be true. He could see a vast potential in the Byakugan of the young Hyuga, and a lot of anger as well. If the young Hyuga continued of his path, Hiashi might be forced to use that to control the threat. With that thought in mind, Hiashi made his way back to his quarters, making a mental note to punish all patrols for slacking.
XXX
Naruto let go of Hinata's hand and walked to the spire of the building he had transported them to. He hung onto the spire and let the wind ruffle his hair and face. After a second, he came down and sat next to Hinata.
"It's a frustrating prospect, isn't it? Being weak, that is." Hinata looked away, but nodded. She immediately looked back to Naruto, fighting the itch to activate her Byakugan and see past any façade her might be trying to pull. But she didn't, and that's what drove the young Uzumaki to smile at her. He rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, blushing slightly.
"I must admit, I didn't come to the Compound just to test my skills."
"Why did you come then?" Hinata murmured softly.
Naruto's face instantly hardened. "I overheard Kurenai-san talking to Asuma-san," was all he said, and she knew that he knew everything about her current situation. "It sickens me when I see such things," Naruto continued. "To have family, those who devote their lives to you, and treat them that way. It disgusts me. I know I'm talking about your father, but I just can't keep about such matters."
"It's alright," Hinata murmured at last, and to her surprise, she found her voice quivering. She never showed emotion in front of others, especially practical strangers like this boy she had always crushed on. In a moment, she felt his left arm embrace her shoulders. She blushed furiously and looked away. "I always tried my best, but I guess my father was right. I cannot change my nature. I'm not shinobi material."
"Don't speak like that!" Naruto said vehemently. "I thought like that before, and it never got me anywhere. You need to buck up and train hard! That's the only way you will prove all those people who try to bring you down wrong. You don't have to change your personality to become a good ninja. All you have to do is have guts, guts to never give up and go back on your word!"
"It's too late for me anyway," Hinata said, unconsciously looking into Naruto's blue eyes. "I failed. I'm going back to the academy." Naruto smiled even wider.
"Like I said, I overheard Kurenai, and managed to make a deal with her. It's cost me all the money I made on my mission just to buy you this, but you deserve it. Everyone deserves a chance."
"What have you done," Hinata asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
"I bought you time," Naruto said simply.
"… Time?" she asked.
"Yes, time. I have already told Kakashi-sensei I'm not going on any mission until the Chunin Exams finish. I'm going to use this time to train, and train hard. The exams this year are going to be hard, and I need to be on my best form. I told Kurenai-san that I would get you to pass the Chunin Exams and become a chunin. If you did, I would get my money back, with interest!"
Hinata frowned slightly. He did this for money…?
Naruto stood up and looked down at her with big blue eyes. "I had planned on training hard until the exams in six month's time, but I guess two heads are better than one. You can help me train, especially on taijutsu and how to fight someone with doujutsu like you," he said, thinking of Sasuke, "and in turn, I can help you train your own taijutsu and ninjutsu. After all, we need to get stronger if we are going to fight people with more experience than us. Sharing knowledge seems a good ay to do it. And Konoha is big on camaraderie, right?" He chuckled a little, looking into her lavender eyes with earnest. She did not need to use her Byakugan to know he meant what he said. Slowly she stood up as well and looked into his eyes. For the first time in what felt like ages, she smiled. Naruto punched the air.
"I'll have my money back in no time!" he said, and they both laughed.
XXX
Kurenai looked at the duo with interest. She had made the right decision. Even if Hinata did not make it to chunin, the boy, Naruto, would instill some confidence in the young woman, and hopefully Hinata would become a better shinobi because of it. It was certainly a welcome change to see the girl smiling and laughing instead of crying and punishing herself physically for being weak. With a final look, she flickered to her apartment. Tonight she would be treating some friends to an extensive night out of fun and entertainment. After all, she could afford it.
