Disclaimer - Yet again, only one disclaimer for this entire series of fics. *nods* it keeps things cleaner that way.

I don't own Naruto, nor Hinata (though I wish I did), nor do I own any of the other Naruto cast. They all belong to their respective copyright holders.

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To Be Strong.

A Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 1 - Thought.

"Naruto-kun..." There was a picture of the boy in her hand, a small one that had been taken when Naruto had been younger. It was old now, almost two years out of date, but it was still the only one she had of the blonde- haired boy. This picture was, perhaps, her most treasured possession - not that she had many personal possessions, she just wasn't the sort to splash out on herself like that. She had maybe two weeks worth of clothes - and that was about it really. Carefully placing the picture on the small table next to her bed, Hyuuga Hinata left to train.

She'd been training for a while now, ever since Naruto had beaten Neji in the chuunin exam. She knew, in her heart, that Naruto would win but she had never expected him to do it, not for himself, but for her! Naruto had wiped the arena floor with Neji simply because he was angry at the way he had beaten Hinata badly in one of the preliminary matches!

Perhaps Hinata was bending the truth a little to her tastes, but really the girl needed the confidence boost the thought of having someone who actually cared enough to defend her honour gave her. Either way, the incident had inspired her to train, and train hard, she figured that she was at least a match for Kiba now - something she wasn't before. Soon she'd show Naruto how much she'd improved, and he'd turn around and smile and yell in excitement and maybe, just maybe, she'd be confident enough to ask him on a date.

Maybe.

Possibly.

If she was feeling really, really confident.

Hopefully.

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The wood cracked slightly as she hit it, pushing her chakra out through her palm as she struck the training post with an open handed blow. Whilst the attack was rather weak physically, she knew it would be many times more effective if it had been used on a living target, as her blow would have disrupted the spiritual and physical energy - or chakra - within her opponent. The sudden surge of energy would then backlash into her opponents vital systems - effectively injuring them from the inside rather than the outside.

It was an effective, if somewhat disturbing, combat style. One that no one, not even a Jounin nor even the famed copy-ninja Kakashi, could copy. Not unless they had the Byakugan at least, for it was only with the Byakugan that one could see the exact points that had to be hit in order to force chakra into the opponents system - on the other hand, one could use it to see where to hit in order to block the opponents system and prevent them from using their own chakra.

Hinata wished she didn't have this ability.

She wished she wasn't part of the Hyuuga family.

Hell, sometimes she wished that she wasn't a ninja.

Still, there was nothing she could do about those three things so really she was quite stuck as to what she should do. Sitting down on the grass, the raven haired and white-eyed girl leant back against the training post and stared up into the sky. Her hand hurt, she'd been pouring more chakra out of it this training session than she usually did in a week. Sighing to herself she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pot of ointment.

She'd been bringing the ointment with her since the first of these secret training sessions - when she'd first discovered how much it hurt to channel more chakra in a few minutes than she usually used in a week. Of course, it hurt less now because she her body was adapting; she'd used her Byakugan to check the - normally invisible - pathways through which her chakra flowed. To her great excitement, her pathways had increased in size - showing that they were adapting themselves to carry more chakra at any one time, and the bigger her pathways the more she could channel without it hurting.

Carefully pulling the lid off of her pot of ointment Hinata gently sniffed at the cream-like medicine. This particular ointment had been dyed a dull blue in colour, signifying that it had been made for Chakra burn - such as what she was currently feeling. Its odour was like a somewhat nauseating mix of crushed grass and rotting meat - an unfortunate little problem with the herbs she'd used to make it.

Yes, she thought, this was one of her pots wasn't it? One that she'd made, rather than the Hyuuga family medical-ninja. She remembered when she'd learnt to make it, and the day she'd presented some to her father as a birthday gift.

He'd been unhappy about that, not that she'd given him the ointment, but that she'd made it herself. Medicine making was a commoners task, he'd said, not something that a member of the elite Hyuuga clan should do.

Still, Hinata had found the task of making simple medicines strangely satisfying. This was, quite possibly, the only time she'd openly defied her fathers orders. Then again, shortly afterwards he'd denied all recognition of her and instead pinned his hopes on his newest child so the point was effectively moot.

She'd been so upset at her father's actions that she'd retreated into her room and didn't come out for almost a week. When she did eventually come out she was pale, malnourished and exhausted. She'd also left behind an impressive stock of various ointments she'd made in her own way of rebelling.

Since then, she'd been secretly learning more and more about medicine - mostly the simple things like herbal remedies and basic wound-binding techniques, things that - as a ninja - she had found particularly useful for fixing up the smaller scrapes her team earned during missions.

That... and she'd learnt how to make, and then made some rather special ointment for Naruto.

Naruto.

Hinata blushed as she remembered Naruto's praise for her ointment, he hadn't known she had been the maker but she felt he was still complimenting her - albeit in a roundabout way.

She thought about how he'd cheered her on in her fight against Neji, and given her the courage to stand up and defend her ninja way. She had still lost though. But she had fought, with his eyes on her, and she knew he didn't care if she had won or lost, she knew he just cared about her trying her best. Now, though, she was trying harder, training herself to reach some unknown goal.

Why? Why was she training like this?

Was it for him? To impress him? He already acknowledged her, so that wasn't it.

Was it for her? To build up her courage so she could ask him... ask him... ask him out? On a date? With real, date-like activities? And possibly even a kiss at the end?

As Hinata slowly dived down into the happy pink mist that were her fantasies, a squeal of pain pulled her back out like a cork being shot out of a bottle.

"Wh-who's there?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly as she pulled herself to her feet, glancing around the clearing with pale eyes that took in every detail of her surroundings. "Sh-show y-yourself," she demanded, hoping her voice sounded stronger than it really was.

Hinata's only answer was a whimper of pain that came from somewhere off to her right, behind - or even in - a thick area of brushwood. A faint rustling indicated that whatever was in there was large - though not quite as large as herself. A small child perhaps? Or a wild animal maybe?

Whatever it was, the pathetic whimpering of the being tugged at something within Hinata, the part of her that didn't wish to see anything hurt urged her onwards. Approaching the brush, Hinata moved silently her Genin training paying off once again as she barely made a sound - even as she stepped through the somewhat dry grass that covered the ground.

Gently leaning over the leading edge of the thorny bushes that made up the undergrowth, Hinata reached forward and - being careful not to catch herself on any thorns - pulled a few of the branches apart to peek through. What she saw on the other side, however, made her gasp in surprise.

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Author's notes - Well, due to the success of my other ficcie's first chapter I decided to put this up. ^.^ This is another multi chapter story, mostly based around Hinata (at present).

The chapters will be smaller, around 1,500 - 2,000 words or so. This is so that I can work on this during those periods where writers block stops me from my major fic 'Betrothal', but please, please, please don't think I've abandoned that ^^;; because I haven't. And, in fact, the next chapter of that should be up soon =P

^.^ This fic is COMPLETELY separate from 'Betrothal' and bares absolutely NO reference to that fic x.x. At present, pairings (if there will be any) are unknown, though I suspect that Naruto x Hinata will be the most likely ^.^

- Lackey H, minion to fandom x.x