A/N: Yo! Procrastination is my superpower. :P

Here's the next chapter, enjoy!


Chapter 9

-TIME SKIP- 4 months

"Blasted thing! Damn it to the seven levels of hell!" Uzumaki Naruto swore as Hinata Hyuuga giggled at his frustration. It had been four more months since that exam at the academy. Currently, what Naruto was eternally damning was the 'Bunshin Jutsu', which no matter what he did, eluded him.

While all of his classmates could easily make two to four healthy looking Bunshin, Naruto could barely manage one sickly looking Bunshin, which could be destroyed by just poking it. "Hina-chaaannn" Naruto whined as Hinata tried to curb her giggles at his bad luck and incompetence.

Hinata put on a mischievous look and looked ready to poke fun (literally) at his Bunshin, but one look at the truly dejected look in his eyes brought a screeching halt to her plans. Instead, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and when wide cerulean eyes looked up at her, she smiled softly, and whispered, "I'll help."

She knew she had made the right call and decided to leave the teasing till after when cerulean orbs looked hopeful again and the dejected look had all but disappeared.

They both got to their feet and stood facing each other. Hinata pondered how she could help, before it flashed clearly before her. She activated her Byakugan and said softly, "Naru, try making another Bunshin". As Naruto complied, Hinata let loose a gasp of surprise. She rechecked what she was seeing and looked utterly surprised.

Naruto looked at her curiously, wondering what had surprised her, as his Bunshin looked the same as always – sickly and useless. She shook her surprise away and deactivated her Byakugan. "What's it, Hinata-chan?"

"Umm... Naru-kun, it's just that I've never seen one person with so much chakra before. I mean, you have Jounin level chakra reserves, and that' nearly impossible."

"How's that possible, Hina-chan? I mean that's cool and all but how come?" said Naruto, looking nearly as surprised as her. Hinata shook her head and shrugged, indicating that she had absolutely no idea how or why it was so.

They stood in silence, each lost in their own thoughts when Hinata broke the silence, "Anyway, I at least know what the problem is and why you can't make proper Bunshin."

"You have got to tell me why the blasted thing doesn't even work!" came the reply.

"You see the problem is, that you are using way too much chakra in the Bunshin, you're putting about twenty clones worth chakra in trying to make one Bunshin."

"But, I feel like I'm pulling only a little chakra." Naruto sighed. "How do I know how much chakra to use?"

Hinata activated her Byakugan again and said "Okay, try making a Bunshin again only this time use the least amount of chakra you possibly can."

Naruto complied, using the least chakra he could, concentrating very hard to do so. There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, there was a Bunshin, still pale and sickly looking. Testing out a theory, Hinata walked to the clone, and poked it. When it didn't spontaneously burst, she nodded and turned to a surprised looking Naruto, satisfied to see that her theory was right.

"Whoa, Hina-chan! That was amazing! How'd you know?"

"Since you have so much chakra, your chakra control is practically non- existent and once I figured out that you were using way too much chakra, I realised the excess chakra was overloading the clones and making your Bunshin useless. I asked you to use the least amount of chakra you could, to test that out. Basically, even your least amount of chakra is about ten times the amount needed, so to fix it, you're gonna have to learn decent chakra control. With the amount of chakra you have, perfect chakra control is practically impossible, so you should aim for decent." Hinata explained.

Naruto slowly nodded his head in understanding, still processing all that Hinata had told him. He was lost in his own thoughts for a while, and suddenly snapped out of it and looked around for Hinata, who he found flopped under 'the Tree', cooling off from her previous training, hands under her head, and staring up at the darkening sky. Winter had set in and though it was only six pm, the sky was well on its way to becoming dark.

'Must have gotten tired of me spacing out' thought Naruto, as he called put, "Hina-chan, please tell me you have a plan to get me to learn how to control my chakra."

Eyes still stuck to the beautiful sky, she replied "Maaaaybbe I do..."

"Hinnnaa-chaann" Naruto whined good-naturedly, "No more ramen after training for a week and I'll help" came the reply. "NOO! You're mean Hina-chan!" and continued to dramatically mourn the loss of his beloved ramen, while Hinata sighed, amused, and watched the sky darken further, enjoying the (relative) peace of the moment.


"I'm going to teach you some basic chakra control exercises. Since the Hyuuga rely very heavily on perfect chakra control, all the children are taught chakra control as soon as they start to walk. So, I'll be able to help you by teaching you these exercises, and help you attain decent chakra control. It won't be easy, with the amount of chakra you have. But this will come in very handy later on when we learn more advanced jutsu and will enable you to perform the academy taught Henge, Kawarami, and Bunshin jutsus." explained Hinata.

After an average day at the academy, Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto had gone through their usual taijutsu routine, sparred, with Hinata winning simply because Naruto had gotten distracted, and Hinata was currently explaining what they were going to do to give Naruto some semblance of chakra control.

Naruto nodded with a determined expression on his face. "First, I'm going to teach you the basic leaf exercise. Take a leaf and using only chakra, try to make it stick to some part of your body. Start with your arm because it's the easiest. Draw chakra and visualise it as a layer between the leaf and your arm. Too little chakra and it won't stick and too much and it'll blow off" said Hinata, as she demonstrated making the leaf stick to her arm.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically and replied in the affirmative. Then he grabbed a leaf and tried to do what Hinata had demonstrated. A second later, the leaf was billowing away to Suna. 'Well that worked out perfectly' thought Naruto wryly as he picked up another leaf and tried again.

A hundred and four leaves later, Naruto decided to call it a day. His chakra control hadn't gotten better at all, the leaf still blew off to god knows where no matter how he hard he tried to draw the least chakra he could. He sighed. 'It's gonna be a long couple of months...' he thought and looked around for Hinata. She was in her usual place, still practising her modified Jyuuken techniques.

"Ready to go, Hina-chan?"

"Coming Naru-kun. How do you feel about sushi?" she asked happily, relishing her 'Freedom from Ramen' week as they walked to the town together, the sun dipping into the horizon behind them.


-TIME SKIP- 4 Months

Uzumaki Naruto was currently doing something that n one ever expected him to do. No it was nothing dramatic like giving up ramen or declaring that he didn't want to be Hokage, but it was just as bizarre. He was sitting, leaning against a tree, his full concentration on *gasp* a book. He seemed to be interestedly reading this book, with no threats hanging over his head, nobody badgering him into doing it. It almost seemed as if he honestly wanted to read this book.

It was after Naruto and Hinata's normal day at the academy and Hinata had gone back to the Hyuuga compound for a change of clothes because of an accident *cough prank gone wrong cough* at the academy. Naruto had already changed and was waiting for Hinata to show up at their usual training spot, and this was where this bizarre scene was taking place.

'Chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energy. Everyone had chakra, but most have negligible amounts that can't be used to perform jutsu. Few have enough chakra for it to be useful. Chakra flows through the body through the chakra network. There are different types of chakra. Most people have a certain elemental affinity. This means that their chakra is inclined to do one type of elemental jutsus. For example, if you are a fire type, then fire jutsus are easier to learn are easier to learn, and require less chakra than other jutsu to perform but water jutsu are harder to learn and perform' Naruto read.

'Hmm... So each person has an elemental affinity... I wonder what mine is... Actually, come to think about it, didn't Hinata say that her taijutsu felt incomplete, despite modifying all the Jyuuken stances to be more flexible. She already explained that she uses chakra in her taijutsu for hitting her opponents... what if she added elemental chakra to her taijutsu, won't that make it even more effective...' thought Naruto, nodding his head, thinking that it was a good idea.

He enthusiastically started reading again, determined to help Hinata just as much as she helped him...

"Hina-chan, I have an idea"

"Well that's a rare occurrence"

"Mean as always Hina-chan" there meaningless, and fond banter continued for a while, till Naruto sat up from their flopped positions under 'the Tree', pulling a surprised hinata up with him.

"Seriously Hina-chan, you need to listen to this"

Recognising he was serious about something, she shook of her mischievous expression and looked at him, ready to listen to whatever he had to say.

"Remember that book you got me, about chakra and its control and uses?" he asked, continuing when she nodded in affirmation, "I read about elemental chakra, and I think you should consider adding elemental chakra to your taijutsu. You yourself said that the taijutsu feels incomplete and I thought adding elemental chakra to your taijutsu might help out, it might become more effective. You'll have to work out the details, because I know practically nothing about it, but you could consider it" finished Naruto, nervous at her reaction.

Hinata sat motionless for a few moments, frozen. This just increased Naruto's nervousness and he tentatively asked, "Hina-chan, you can just ignore the ides, it was stupid anyway, I just-" when he was interrupted by Hinata flinging herself at 'him, a huge grin on her face. "That's a great idea! Thank you! Thank you!" she squealed with excitement, disentangling herself from him, dancing around with excitement while Naruto stared at her, gobsmacked, but smiling, eyes alight with happiness, glad she liked his idea.


"So, I'm just supposed to channel chakra into this piece of paper?" asked Naruto. It had been a few days since Naruto shared his idea, and Hinata had managed to acquire two pieces of chakra sensing paper so that they could test their affinities. It was a Tuesday, and after the academy had decided that today was the day, and subsequently were sitting opposite each other.

"Yeah, that's what the book said. It the paper gets wet, it's water; if it burns it's fire; if it crumbles, it's earth; if it gets cut in two, it's wind; and finally, if it gets singed, it' lightening" explained Hinata.

"On three?" asked Naruto, barely able to contain his excitement, grinning widely. Hinata nodded, just as excited.

"One... Two... Three" and both concentrated and channelled chakra into the papers in their hands. In Hinata's palm, the paper dampened, while Naruto's cut into two, the pieces drifting to the ground as they both lost themselves in their plans for the future.


-TIME SKIP- 4 Months

Streams of water, glistening in the dusky light, flew in the air, circling a rotating figure. With dark shoulder length air fanning out, the girl looked like the most beautiful water nymph, an ethereal beauty with the grace of a goddess. Uzumaki Naruto watched entranced, all coherency long gone, just watching the sheer beauty in front of him.

Hinata Hyuuga meanwhile, concentrated on the streams of water, making sure she was in control of the streams that flew around her spinning on the surface of the pond that had become her latest training ground, oblivious to her entranced audience.

An eternity passed in Uzumaki Naruto's head, though in reality, it had been only twenty minutes or so. He watched, still entranced, wishing he could live in this moment forever, as he was content to watch the scene in front of him.

A thought suddenly flashed in his head, scorching his mind, his whole world changing with just that thought. 'I think I'm falling in love with her...'


Outside Naruto's mind, where eternities had passed, it had been four months since they had tested their chakra affinities. After figuring out their affinities, they had redone their training plans. Hinata, with her perfect chakra control, had quickly mastered the basic elemental chakra control exercises, and was working to perfect her advanced control on the water element so that she could incorporate it into her taijutsu.

Naruto meanwhile, struggled with normal chakra control exercises over the past few months, and was close to perfecting his taijutsu, sparring with Hinata each day. He had mastered the leaf-sticking exercise, and the tree walking exercise under the guidance of Hinata, and was supposed to learn water walking soon, as soon as he had that mastered, he would begin working with his elemental chakra, and aspired to somehow use his wind chakra with his Yōshin-ryū.

They were training incredibly hard, each fuelled by the need to prove themselves to the world, and it had been about a year and a half, since they had started the academy, having about a year and a half left. They were slowly but surely flourishing into young adults, and training to become the great shinobi they were destined to be.


A/N: Reviews are the kryptonite to my powers of procrastination. :P