I expect a lot of reviews for this chapter. It's my longest yet and surprisingly deep in some areas. I really hope you like it! I'm hoping to reach 110 reviews this time!

101 Forever

Naruto grinned to himself as he watched Hinata do her stretches in preparation for her match. Hinata wasn't excited about her match, but Naruto was. He felt like it was duty to be excited for her.

"I'm sure you're gonna do great, Hinata-chan. You kick butt!" Hinata blushed before dropping down into a split and leaning over to touch her foot. Naruto wished he was as flexible as Hinata she could do some really cool things.

Maybe she could teach him?

"Hey. Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun?" she asked while switching legs.

"Do you want to train together sometime? I mean, I would like a training partner and it would be great! We could get strong together and I'm sure you would be a great partner! You're really strong for a girl." He bounced on the back of his feet waiting for her answer.

Hinata stiffened at Naruto's last words.

'I must not get mad at Naruto-kun. I must not get mad at Naruto-kun. I must not get mad at Naruto-kun.'

"Do you think girls are weak Naruto-san?" she asked somewhat coldly. Naruto didn't seem to notice her acting out of character.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, Sakura and Ino are pretty weak. The rest of the girls in the class are too. You're not though, you are different. I'm sure you can even beat Sasuke-teme!"

Hinata blushed at the compliment. She relaxed minutely. She was glad Naruto-kun didn't think she was weak. Not many people thought she was strong…actually the only person who thought she was strong was Naruto-kun.

That was a depressing thought.

It's not like she thought Naruto's opinion didn't matter. It's just…even her sister and father thought she was weak. Her whole family thought she was weak. 'Fated to be a failure' like Neji-san would say.

Hinata's eyes dimmed.

"Hey Hinata you okay?" Naruto crouched by the girl and put his hand on her shoulder. The girl had gone quiet after his last few words.

"Are you sure I'm strong Naruto? Not many people think so." She barely whispered.

'Only you.' She thought

"Sure you are! Your taijutsu kicks butt! If you weren't strong you would be at the bottom of the class with me, but you're like one of the top kunoichi here. Actually I think you are the top kunoichi." Naruto grinned when Hinata met his eyes and smiled slightly.

"Naruto…how do I make them see that I'm strong?" she looked into his blue eyes searching for an answer. Naruto sat back on his haunches in thought.

"Some people…some people don't want to see Hinata-chan. It's like they will always look through you and see something else." Naruto was more than familiar with people doing that. Sometimes when he was walking down the street someone would look at him with such hatred, such fear, but somehow not manage to be looking at him at all. When he was younger he questioned it, but now…now he just tried to make them see him. If they saw Naruto then maybe they would stop looking at that other thing. Maybe if they saw Naruto maybe something more than hatred or fear would be in their eyes.

"You have to show them you're strength Hinata. You need to show them that you aren't weak at all. Throw it in their faces if you have to, but the most important thing is, Hinata, you can never give up. If you give in and become what they always thought you to be then you don't fail them. You give them the satisfaction of being right, but in doing so you fail yourself. You're strong Hinata. I don't think you realize it, but you really are. Not just in body, but in mind and soul too. You just need to see it yourself."

Hinata stared at Naruto with a touch of awe. She hadn't known that Naruto had such depth to him.

"I think…I think I'm going to try to see what you see Naruto. I'm going to try to find that strong kunoichi in me. No, I don't think I'm going to try. I am. I am going to find her."

"And when you do Hinata. I'm going to be right here with a bowl of ramen to celebrate." He grinned. Hinata face faulted before she began to laugh. Naruto laughed with her.

-Time skip-

Hinata had won her match against Ino. Ino hadn't a chance against Hinata. Not after Naruto's words and if Hinata had her way, then never again. Naruto had taken her to Ichiraku's to celebrate. He gave Teuchi a blow by blow account of the match and to Hinata's great amusement it somehow included explosions and enemy ninjas. From what she had remembered, and it was only two hours ago by the way, she had knocked Ino out two minutes into the match.

She giggled when Naruto throw his arms out trying to show and explosion.

"-boom! The academy blew sky high and then Hinata-chan and I had to search through the rubble and find survivors. We had gotten everybody else out, but we couldn't find Iruka-sensei. Others kept telling us to give up, but we couldn't! We had to find our sensei! And then I heard a pained groan. And we found Iruka-sensei pinned under a desk and tons of boulders! He was suffocating under a pile of homework, which he really shouldn't have given us anyways, and we had to break the boulder and dig him out! He was so thankful that he gave us some money to come here and get a few bowls of ramen."

Hinata giggled at the wildly exaggerating boy. Iruka had given them some money, but that was because he wanted Naruto out of his hair so he could grade homework in peace.

"Wow!" Teuchi-san laughed at the boy's antics. "I'm so glad to be serving heroes, but I'll make sure to ask Iruka his side of the story next time he's here."

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Okay, so maybe it didn't exactly happen that way."

Hinata giggled into her ramen. Naruto turned to Hinata.

"Oi! You're supposed to be on my side. You're my partner."

Hinata blushed, but smiled at the boy. She turned to Teuchi-san and nodded solemnly.

"I was there the whole time. I saw everything…except maybe what Naruto saw."

"Hey!"

Teuchi and Hinata laughed at his pout.

"Yeah, yeah. Go on ahead and gang up on me."

They laughed harder. Teuchi was still chuckling as he went into the back room to grab clean bowls.

Naruto smiled to himself. He was glad that he had such great friends even if they were ganging up on him right now. Their laughs weren't mocking or even forced. It was just a happy laugh that he had caused. Naruto had rarely ever invoked feelings in others besides hate, fear, distrust, disgust or wariness. He wanted this moment to last forever. He closed his eyes, still smiling to himself.

"Hinata-chan, will you stay with me forever?" the words were out of his mouth before he could even finish thinking about them. He wanted her to stay forever; he wanted all of his friends to stay with him forever. Hinata…Hinata was the most special out of all of them.

He didn't get to hear her answer. All he got to hear was a soft thump. Naruto opened his eyes and looked down. He smiled to himself as he got out of his chair to pick her up.

He really hoped she said yes when she woke up.