::Okay, I've figured out how to place this storyline. Include the main storyline up to the preliminary matches in the chuunin exam's third test. At that point, imagine Sasuke didn't show up in time to compete and the invasion was called off subtly by Orochimaru, who maintained his guise as the Kazekage throughout the exam::
Naruto stared at his hand. The skin burned, throbbed, and his arm felt like it was on fire. His attempts to learn the third stage of the Rasengan had been scattered thus far. Perhaps with more time… He knew that once he had experienced the feel of the move, he would be able to repeat it. Each time he'd tried something slightly different, but he still hadn't found just the right way. On the other side of the clearing, Hinata was standing stock still with her eyes closed.
A log swung down from the trees and changed direction to come at her from above. She sidestepped it and then did her best to avoid the succeeding attacks. With her eyes open it would have been easy, but she kept them closed. Jiraiya sat in the trees with his supply of logs. Her self-control is among the best I've ever seen, but she never expresses her anger. I fear she will lose control and die if she ever loses her temper in a fight. Hinata waited for the next barrage. Jiraiya knew the Byakugan allowed her to see in practically all directions, but what he wanted to do was to extend her other senses, the senses other ninja relied on instead of sight to detect such attacks. The Hyuuga style of taijutsu didn't play to Hinata's strengths. She would have made a genius of a medical nin, but that kind of training was not his to give.
What he could do was try and increase her awareness to avoid getting hit. Her body wasn't as tough as most, and her nature led her to defend first, so giving her better skills to avoid injury were best—for now.
Naruto fell back on the ground, panting. Jiraiya tossed another log. Hinata didn't move. At the very last second her eyes snapped open and she fell to the ground. Jiraiya sighed. As aware of attacks as that girl was, her ability to pick up anything Naruto was doing was unmatched. It almost reminded him of a mother's ability to 'sense' when something was amiss with her children.
"Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei," she said as she got to her feet. He sighed and jumped out of the trees.
"It's alright for now, but you can't get distracted every time a teammate goes down or you'll be next!" She nodded sadly. Jiraiya patted her on the head. "You did better though." Her cheeks turned slightly rose-colored as he passed by. Jiraiya gave her more encouragement and praise than her father ever had. Her mother had been supportive, but since she'd caught the coughing disease Hinata hadn't seen much of her.
Hyuuga Hiashi's wife had become severely weakened after giving birth to Hanabi, and had contracted a rare coughing disease that didn't want to let go. She'd spent the past few years in a separate room in bed with an older sister to look over her. Naruto had never been shown to her, but Hinata had talked to her mother about Naruto a few weeks after he came to their household and had been happy to see some life in the woman's eyes.
Jiraiya stood over Naruto. "How's it coming?"
Naruto's blue eyes opened a crack. "I've almost…got it," he panted. Sweat had soaked his dark blue clothes, turning his t-shirt black and making parts of it stick to him. Early summer sunshine beat on them without mercy in their clearing, one reason why Jiraiya preferred to throw logs from the shade of the trees.
"More like you've almost got sunstroke. How about a rest?"
The blue eyes opened fully and Naruto slowly sat up. He stared at the tattered tree in front of him. "Not yet. I've almost got it, just a few more times." Jiraiya sighed and stepped back as Naruto struggled to his feet and straightened. Naruto swayed a bit. Dang it! My eyesight is blurring.
Then a pale hand with a canteen showed up under his nose and he blinked. The canteen shook a bit making the water slosh around inside. Naruto turned his head to see Hinata smiling shyly at him. "Have some water first, you're dripping with sweat." Finding no fault in this reasoning, Naruto accepted the canteen and took a couple of gulps.
"Ah! Thanks, Hinata-chan," he said. He wiped the sweat from his brow and held out an arm to return the water to her, then saw only her back as she followed Jiraiya into the shade at the edge of the grounds. Naruto looked at the canteen and then tried to find somewhere to put it. A rock nearby offered some limited shade, and closing the top he set the canteen in the shadow. It wouldn't stay cool, but the shade would help keep it all from turning to steam in this heat. Facing the trees, Naruto held out a hand to begin again.
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Hinata stared into Jiraiya's eyes, her Byakugan boring into him. His mind, his body, his chakra, were all an open book. "Now look at my chakra, follow it, you can see how it circulates," Jiraiya's voice was calm, and Hinata was practically in a hypnotic trance as she studied the senin's chakra system. He took in a shuddering breath, and Hinata could see his diaphragm dropping. "Now tell my chakra to gather somewhere as you would your own."
She didn't question him, she was under the combined spell of her own Byakugan's intense scrutiny and her teacher's calm directions. Half aware of what she was doing, she sent his chakra into his hands. More and more, until his feet seemed to fade from his chakra system. –! What am I doing! I can't manipulate other's chakra! It's not possible without using the gentle fist! She spun away, her eyes returning to normal and her body trembling.
Jiraiya calmly sent his chakra back to where it belonged, thankful that he had had the guts to have her try it on him instead of an animal. At least he knew how to handle the full power of the byakugan—to a degree. "A little surprised?" he asked.
Hinata blinked up at him. "H-how did I do that? How can I?"
Jiraiya smiled. "I'd love to tell you that this was just an exercise for me in learning to predict your moves, but it's actually an attempt to give you back something." He stood and stretched. Damn! My feet are killing me. Hinata stood as well.
"Give me back what?" She wasn't aware of losing anything.
Jiraiya grinned. "Oh, you'll see. Let's check out how Naruto's doing, it's going to be getting dark soon and there's a town nearby where we can stay for a while." They turned to cross over to Naruto's side of the clearing and Hinata felt mild alarm. He wasn't there. She walked ahead and looked around in the grass. She found his dark clothes first, then his face. He seemed to be sleeping, and judging from the empty canteen at his side, he hadn't meant to. Probably worked himself into exhaustion…again.
Hinata and Jiraiya took Naruto and their packs on a short walk into a nearby village. They paid for rooms for the next week and settled in. Jiraiya carried Naruto to the public baths with Hinata in tow because there was no way he would sleep in the same room as a stinky Naruto. Hinata went to the women's baths and Jiraiya walked straight through the locker room and dumped Naruto—clothes and all—into the first bath on the men's side. A couple of the other bathers gave Jiraiya a weird look. Was he trying to kill the boy?
A few bubbles later Naruto burst from the water to stand on top and glare at his white-hared sensei. "What are you trying to do?! Kill me?!" Jiraiya just smirked and walked away. A fuming Naruto returned to the locker room to undress and collect some soap. He found his wash basket and opened it up and smiled. One advantage to having Hinata along on the trip was she always made sure he had at least one set of clean clothes. He and Jiraiya had shocked her with their traveling lifestyle and the two males had found themselves properly chastised for not bathing regularly etc.
As he settled into the bath properly this time he kept his hands above the water to keep them from smarting in the hot water and closed his eyes. It's nice having a sister, especially having Hinata for a sister. Hanabi…not so much. He then realized that Hinata was the only member of his 'family' with whom he felt a bond. Sure he spent plenty of time with Hiashi, but that was more like training than father-son time. Reaching for the soap Naruto thought, I guess just because we have the same name doesn't mean we're really a family.
Meanwhile, on the women's side of the baths, Hinata was going through a minor ordeal. A group of young women from the village happened to be bathing at the same time and Hinata had caught their attention with her pale scars and white eyes. They had asked the usual questions, and Hinata had quietly admitted she was on an extended training trip. One of the women, who seemed to be in her mid twenties, had taken a look at Hinata's soaps and squealed. "This will never do! Even if you're training that's no excuse for not taking proper care of yourself!" Hinata had tried to explain that she didn't need any more than what she had, but the women then pulled out their own things and started testing them on her.
Jiraiya sat on the outside of the fence, his face a mask of deep thought. He had to do it. He needed to gather some inspiration on this trip or else it lost all meaning! Still, peeping on his own student struck a moral chord he hadn't been aware of before. Awe screw it… He was about to turn away when he heard Hinata's voice say, "It's green!!" In the next moment he was fixed to the fence with an eye at a crack.
A group of shapely young women had Hinata stuck in a circle as they did something to her that involved a lot of passing around of tubes and cups and washcloths. What in the world are they doing? He'd never encountered this before. Sometimes a group of women would wash each other's hair or apply facemasks (which he didn't approve of because they would then just sit and chat), but never something as frenzied as this. There had to be half a dozen or more.
Finally they began to drift apart and do their own washing, until only a few remained. When the last drifted away into the water to wash Jiraiya's jaw dropped. They had done some kind of horrific genjutsu to his student! Hinata's shoulder-length hair was slicked back and dark green, her visible skin was bright pink, and her eyes had a headband around them. Her hands were in special mittens of some kind. I will make them pay…after I watch this.
Naruto got up from the bath and toweled off, heading for the locker room to put on his dry clothes. As he put his shirt over his head he paused. What was this familiar chakra so far from his own? He hurriedly finished dressing and ran out. It was coming from the women's side of the bath. He skidded to a stop near the fence and ran around back. "Pervert-senin! Just what do you think you're doing!!!" he shouted at Jiraiya's back. The hermit leapt back and clapped a hand over Naruto's mouth.
"I thought you were supposed to be quieter," Jiraiya mumbled. Naruto was glaring daggers. Jiraiya sighed. "Come, if they haven't heard then it should be okay, but they did—something—to Hinata." By now the old man had figured it out, but he wanted to see Naruto's reaction.
Naruto grumbled and put his eye to the hole. He blinked. Hinata was surrounded by a group of giggling, naked women! "What are they doing to her?" he asked. Jiraiya took a chance and peeked over the fence. Dang! They were removing the goo, too bad.
"They had her covered with green slime and blindfolded," he said. Naruto's jaw dropped and Jiraiya snuck another look and froze. The women had cleared away and Hinata was rising from the bath with just a short towel wrapped around her. Her wet hair shone like polished wood and her usually pale skin was flushed and smooth, scars and bruises gone as if by magic.
Naruto felt strange. He stood there a moment, his head pounding and his heart racing. Why can't I look away!? Then he felt a warm trickle on his upper lip that allowed him to look away. Raising a hand to his face it came away red. Naruto was stunned. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm as bad as Pervert-senin! Nooooooo!
::To stop there, or not to stop there? I won't stop there. The saga of the bathhouse days continues!::
While staying in the town the trio fed, rested, and soaked. Naturally Naruto snuck off on his own to continue training. It took him until their fourth day there to finally complete the rasengan. While this subtly impressed Jiraiya, it also gave the old senin a moment of pause. This move had been the last skill he could pass to the boy. Naruto didn't have any idea of course, but for the moment was content to try and perfect his new attack. Hinata was in awe of Naruto, Jiraiya knew it, Naruto didn't see it, and the old man was beginning to get aggravated.
Hinata had not stopped training, but had continued to practice manipulating other's chakra with her eyes. It was a strain, and she could only compare it to trying to use her own chakra for the first time. She did find that using the same people over and over made it a great deal easier. Her usual practice grounds were the market and baths. It was at the baths that she got a surprise.
Naruto had managed to drag Jiraiya into the men's side of the baths rather than peeking, and Hinata could tell the old man wasn't around to watch so she activated her byakugan and concentrated on a woman in the midst of washing her hair. Slowly the chakra gathered in the woman's hands then ebbed away. Hinata took a deep breath and went under the water to wet her hair for washing. When she came up she found herself staring eye-to-eye with her latest test subject. The woman's brown eyes didn't look too happy. "Who are you?" the woman asked.
Hinata gulped. "Hi-Hyu-Hyuuga Hinata…" This woman had to be a nin to realize her chakra was being controlled by another. Hinata had worried about practicing on normal folk for just this reason, but the benefits had outweighed the consequences at the time. Now she wished she had stayed meek.
The strange woman 'humph'ed and sat beside Hinata without taking her eyes off her. There was a strange seal of some kind on her forehead in the shape of a diamond. It was rather tasteful in the girl's opinion. "That was no small skill you showed with that jutsu. I know medic nin who can direct their own chakra in someone else, but never someone who can manipulated another's chakra as if it were their own." She brought out some soap and lathered up an arm. "I presume this is a new ability since you were practicing on me."
Hinata blushed pink clear down to her toes. "I-um, yes. Sorry."
To her surprise the woman scoffed. "You didn't do any harm. Know that I can see what kind of person you are, I know you wouldn't hurt me. Still… Where are you from?"
Hinata tried to find her shampoo. "I'm a genin from Hidden Leaf Village," she aid quietly.
The woman paused. "You seem a bit old…" Hinata's blush deepened. "So you haven't passed the chuunin exam?" Hinata shook her head. "Good." Hinata's head came up and she stared.
"Good? I'm the lump of my family! My father is ashamed of me, my little sister despises my weakness, and the branch family resent me the most!" She pitched off the shelf she was seated on and sank in the water in an attempt to let the hot water block tears and sooth the knot in her throat. A strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her clear out of the water before setting her back in her old spot.
Hinata coughed as the blond woman glared at her. "Don't kill yourself over it! If your family thinks how good a person you are depends on how strong a fighter you are, they are NOT the family for you." The water gone from her lungs, Hinata looked up into steadfast, brown eyes. The woman sighed and sat back, leaning her head on the edge of the pool. "Being a ninja would probably kill you young, and you're a good girl, Hinata."
Hinata looked down at the water and saw the image of her hands waver under the surface. "What is your name?" she asked quietly, but in a stronger tone than her old self used. She no longer saw this woman as a threat, but perhaps as a friend.
"Tsunade."
