Can you save me…from myself?
Chapter 2: Arrival
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any related items, just the storyline and my own characters.
Genre: Romance/Action/Drama
Pairs: Naruto/Hinata (Main) Neji/Tenten, Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Lee, Ino/Shikamaru, Temari/Shikamaru, Akita/Kiba (Akita is a new Genin added in, Naruto and Hinata will advance every chapter, but I will switch out the others, making scenes with or two different pairs each chapter)
"" – Talking
Italics – Thoughts, or emphasis
(AN :….) – is an Author's Note
PoV Name – is a point of view change. These will be few and far between, as I prefer third person. However, important chapters or drama related ones may have PoV changes.
Beats his head into the desk for not having wrote in months I really hated leaving this be, but lately I have had multiple real life issues to deal with (deaths in the faimily, going to the hospital, applying for my graduate next year, writing thesis papers, a job in software developing, and discussing a project about actually writing a book (that's a horrific experience!)) and couldn't get to this. However, now that the Term has started in earnest, I will be continuing this, and will be updating at the very least every three weeks, if not every one to two. I know a lot of people enjoyed this story and I hope you can forgive me for my lack of writing. For those of you, who are able, please review. I tried to write a really good chapter to make up for my lack of updates.
Gomen nasai!
Ryuu
December 21st
Naruto groaned.
Their new sensei, 'Sawaki-sama' as they were required to call him (more accurately 'Sawaakii-baka in his opinion), had woken them up at an hour before the crack of dawn, way earlier than was necessary. And he said they would be waking up at this time every day from now till they left the Academy, the name of which he still hadn't 'deemed to give to them'. Now they were running around town, each with a different job, for some stupid grocery list that their 'sensei' just happened to 'need'. Naruto just happened to 'end up with' getting potatoes for the journey, the thought of which made him touch his head and wince in remembrance. (AN: Play on Japanese words here in the first sentence, so I'll explain it. 'Sawaki' is a normal last name in Japanese. Conversely, Naruto has added 'Sawaa' instead of 'Sawa'. Normally 'Sawa' means a marsh or swamp and 'ki' means tree, wood, spirit, or mood. However, Naruto has played on the words, changing it to 'Sawaa' (sour) and 'kii' (strange), only a slight difference in pronunciation I believe. So in other words, he changed a bit of pronunciation and is now calling him an 'odd sour idiot', if you take each part literally. Slightly childish, but that's Naruto for you. Keep this is mind for when Sawaki gets mad at him for this name later).
-Flashback to that Morning-
Sawaki looked out at the genins, who were still yawning and attempting to form a straight line in the dining hall, except for the few who actually woke up this early normally (namely Lee and Neji). He sighed, wondering again why he accepted the position at the academy, and decided to just deal with the annoyance in his typical attitude, "From this point forward, you are no longer ninjas. You are no longer citizens of whatever country you came from. You are now students of the Academy and as such, you have no rights, everything is a privilege. While with me, there will be three rules. Breaking any of this will result in punishment, breaking them multiple times will mean that you will not be sleeping in a tent when we camp, nor will you get any food. First, you will obey my orders without question. Second, you will not, under any circumstances, leave the group alone or without my permission. Third, you will not question anything I say and stay silent unless spoken to. Understood..? Good. Now, each of you will obtain one item from the market, no questions asked, and no debating. I assume you are in order as I told you, and this list is correct… Uzumaki Naruto? I need you to gather potatoes…"
"NANI! You want me to get potatoes! That's not…" Sawaki took out his sword at that moment and promptly hit Naruto on the head with its hilt, causing Naruto to yell out and curse, which in turn caused him to get hit yet again by Sawaki. Naruto was about to continue when someone reached out and touched his arm lightly. Naruto turned back in surprise to see Hinata pointing him back towards Sawaki, who was looking at Naruto coldly, his face once again brooking no emotion.
"You already broke the first and third rule. You will gather potatoes from the market, and I do not need to explain myself to you, brat."
"Jerk! I ought to…" Naruto never finished the sentence as Sawaki Sawaki had finally lost his patience and picked Naruto up by the scruff of his jacket, proceeding to through him out the upper window of the inn and into the street outside, which received either a shocked gasp from some of the genins or a chuckle from others (as well as stares at the window from the street below). The only two who didn't react were Shikamaru, who seemed to develop an even greater sense of annoyance in the mornings and Chouji, who was once again eating a bag of chips, even before most of the genins had gotten breakfast.
"Now, perhaps the rest of you will understand the rules. As I said before, each of you will obtain one item from the market, no questions asked, and no debating." Sawaki did not smile once during the entire affair, and even when the glass broke in the window and the owner of the inn came upstairs yelling, his facial expression did not change. He simply handed the owner of the inn some money and pointed him back down the stairs, returning to the genin at hand with barely a blink, even as Naruto spouted curse words that could easily be heard from the street below.
-End Flashback-
Naruto groaned again as he turned the corner and realized he was completely lost, as usual. This town was so confusing, there had to be a million streets just in the city itself, not to mention what was in the farming areas outside, and of course he had to go and get the stupid potatoes by himself, without even a map. He was still muttering as he walked down this new street, creating new curse words to describe 'Sawaakii-sama', when he heard a familiar voice in one of the alleys off to the side. Turning, Naruto's eyes opened wide at the scene before him.
"Hey babe, you lost? I can show you where to go, if you need a guide. Maybe we can go get a bite to eat, eh?" Two rough looking boys stood off to the side crowding a young girl that was pushed up against the wall and looked to be about Naruto's age. After a moment, Naruto blinked in surprise as he realized that the girl in question was Hinata.
"An-ano… I-I… I m-mean…" Hinata stood with the two boys off to the side in an alley holding a small sack of cloth, looking nervous and lost, not to mention scared at being crowded, her timid nature getting the better of her in the situation. She stared wide-eyed as she tried to form her words, shaking perceptibly as she backed into a corner, though whether it was from fear or simply timidity, she wasn't really sure. Naruto, being his typical impulsive self, didn't even bother to think about what he was doing as he dropped the potatoes to one side and ran into the alley, yelling as per his normal self.
"Hey, leave her alone you jerks!" The two boys immediately turned, looking in surprise at the strange boy in an almost annoyingly bright orange jumpsuit running towards them, seemingly out of the shadows. One of them started to advance at the insult, but as Naruto pulled a kunai, his friend grabbed his arm and shook his head, obviously being just slightly wiser than the other (though no where near that of any normal human being).
"Ah, man, it's not worth it. She's already with a guy, we're out of luck. Let's get out of here; we can find another girl. Don't leave your girlfriend out in the street alone next time, baka!" The one who had advanced on Naruto muttered in disappointment and the two boys walked off, looking for a new catch just as Naruto reached them, breathing heavily and looking at Hinata, who was still blushing madly from the 'girlfriend' comment, and too embarrassed to say anything.
"Are you… alright… Hinata-chan?" Naruto took a breath and stood back up from where he had been leaning on his knees, watching Hinata closely as he caught his breath and replaced his kunai in a belt pouch.
"An-ano… H-hai… I j-just… g-got lost. Gomen, I d-didn't mean to trouble you, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed as she was still breathing heavily, staring at the ground in embarrassment after Naruto's rescue. H-he probably thinks I'm weak now…I-I couldn't even handle two normal boys…
"Great! Those guys were jerks; you should be careful Hinata-chan! I'm lost too, anyway, so we can try and find the inn…" Naruto turned around quickly, obviously intent on starting that right away, but as she looked for his bag of potatoes he groaned for quite literally the thousandth time that day. Looking over to where he had set it down on the ground, he saw that it had fallen over and rolled, directly into a large puddle of mud and what looked to be gasoline, making it utterly unusable. Hinata blinked when Naruto abruptly cut off, looking around his shoulder to see his ruin of the bag of potatoes and grimacing at the sight as Naruto muttered under his breath. "Dang it! Now I have to go get another bag and I'm going to get lost again…" Naruto grumbled yet another time and walked over, picking up the bag and looking at it in disgust as the soggy potatoes dripped onto the ground.
Hinata bit her lower lip, watching Naruto mutter about the bag as she walked slowly up to him. "Ano… I-I… can help y-you, if you want, N-Naruto-kun…We can go get another bag, I-I have th-the carrots Sawaki-sama told me to get, and s-since it was my f-fault anyway…"
Naruto blinked and looked at Hinata in surprise. "Really? Um, Thanks…" Naruto was uncharacteristically awkward for a moment, not used to people taking time to help him, since the people in Konoha had always seemed to enjoy watching him get in trouble, but he covered it up with one of his usual grins, "Let's go then! Er… Which way to the market?" Naruto looked around, and muttered about confusing cities under his breath, causing Hinata to giggle nervously as she pointed to the right. They started off down the road toward the market, Naruto talking almost non-stop as usual and Hinata listening in silence, making an occasional comment on this or that, however not concentrating so much on Naruto's actual words but rather at his appearance. Though he was utterly lost in the city and still suffering from a bruise where he had landed on the street earlier, he seemed happier than she had seem him since the incident with Sasuke, sincerely content just to be talking to her. Talking to m-me..? N-no, h-he's just happy t-to have anyone t-to talk to…Hinata sighed, but having been paying so much attention to Naruto-kun, she didn't notice a set of lines in front of a hill to one side of the street, and with her usual luck, she ran directly into it, tripping and heading sideways toward the hill. Naruto attempted to grab her before she went down, but only succeeded in falling along with her, both of them rolling down the hill, Naruto with his arms around Hinata after having tried to catch her. Luckily, no one was in sight on the out of the way area near the bottom of the hill, though the two genins were not caring much about public embarrassment once their roll down the snow drift had stopped.
They had ended at the bottom of the hill by rolling directly into a pile of snow, Hinata lying underneath Naruto and looking up at him, with Naruto stopping himself from falling onto her by placing his elbows on either side. Both of the genins were blushing furiously, rather surprisingly on Naruto's part, and Naruto attempted to make a joke but fell into silence, staring at Hinata. Hinata blushed even worse under his gaze, shivering a bit in the cold snow and looking away from Naruto's eyes.
"An-ano… N-Naruto-kun… Why are y-you staring..?" Naruto blinked in surprise, not having noticed he was staring himself, and immediately made up an excuse without really thinking about it, standing up and pulling Hinata with him as he tried to reign in his blush. Crap, she noticed me… She was just beautiful in that position… Heck, she beautiful period, wonder how I didn't notice that before… Where the hell did that come from! I like Sakura-chan …Weird thoughts gotta come up with an excuse…
"Just, you were all wet, and your jacket's soaked, and I was thinking about breakfast, and…" Naruto rambled on, making up a series of random excuses, most of which had nothing to do with their situation at all, but Hinata just shook her head in embarrassment, staring at the ground. She realized what he had said earlier was correct, however, when she looked at her jacket, which had been soaked by puddles hit on the way down, and her fall into the snow. She began shivering, taking off the coat she normally wore, leaving her in just a short sleeve blue shirt that only caused Hinata to shiver more and rub her own arms with her hands in a vague attempt to warm herself. (AN: If anyone can actually find a picture of her w/o the jacket, I'd appreciate it, link it in a review or something :)) Naruto watched her for a moment in surprise, realizing he had never seen her without the jacket, then nearly hit himself for being a idiot and took his own jacket off, taking hers from her and wrapping his own around Hinata's back gently. Hinata froze in the action of warming her arms and formed a dark blush on her cheeks, staring up at Naruto in surprise, then immediately looking back down again.
"An-ano, D-Don't you need…" Hinata gestured to the jacket, not trusting herself to talk beyond that as she continued staring down at her feet in embarrassment and attempted to control her blush.
"Nah. I'll be fine, besides you're the one who's wet and shivering." Naruto looked around, the entire situation rather lost on him, and then blinked, seeing another street nearby and at the end of it, the marketplace. "Look Hinata-chan! There's the market; come on, let's go so we can get back to the inn. Maybe that idiot Kiba will be there, or Sakura-chan, they'll know where the inn is." He immediately started off toward the street, leaving Hinata to catch up with him. She hugged his jacket around her as she hurried up to him, looking at her feet and lost in her own thoughts as he started rambling again, as if nothing had happened. N-Naruto-kun…Will I ever b-be able to t-tell you...? N-no, it's better if I-I don't… Hinata sighed and looked over toward Naruto, smiling slightly and deciding to leave her gloomy thoughts behind and instead concentrate on Naruto's description of yet another ramen shop he had seen while walking. At least, f-for now, I can be w-with him…
"Hey, you, kid, get back here! Your dog stole my sausage!" Everyone in the market turned toward the shout and saw a man running down the street, holding an empty hot dog container in one of his hands as he clawed his way through the crowd, chasing a boy and a small white dog. The boy turned down an alleyway, grinning, and hiked himself up a wall with a couple of kunai, his dog in his jacket as he pulled himself up onto the roof, breathing heavily. By the time the man was able to follow him into the alleyway, the boy had already disappeared and was no where to be found. At least, as far as non-shinobi were concerned.
"Ready boy?" Kiba grinned at his dog, looking over the side of the roof to see the man futilely try to figure out where he and Akamaru had gone. Akamaru replied with a yip and jumped out of Kiba's jacket, positioning himself on the side of the roof, the sausage still clutched in his mouth. "Alright, mark him Akamaru!" Akamaru jumped into the air, sending a stream of yellow directly onto the man's bald head, before landing back on the roof as Kiba erupted in laughter. The man shouted from the alleyway below and yelled up at the two, degrading them and cursing them with everything he could think of. After awhile a few attempts to scale the wall to reach them, which ended in his falling into a garbage can, he left, still muttering curses under his breath about boys and their stupid dogs.
"Isn't that a little immature for a ninja..? Oh right, of course, I forgot, you an Inuzuka. Dogs are notoriously immature, so this is no surprise." A girl's voice emanated from behind the two and Kiba spun around, groaning as he saw Akita sitting behind him; her stupid fluff ball of a cat Teimichi looking at them from her lap with what Kiba could have swore was a look of absolute superiority.
"Shut up! Why is it every time I see you, you insult my family? Stupid cowardly cat lovers…" Kiba yelled at her, the last sentence muttered under his breath as Akamaru growled at the cat, his fur bristling on end. Teimichi simply gave Akamaru that look of haughtiness, licking her paw unconcernedly and ignoring the growl, and not surprisingly, Teimichi's look was mimicked by Akita as she watched Kiba.
"I'm just stating the truth. I mean, what kind of ninja let's their pet steal sausages from random people of the street. Teimichi would never do that, would you girl?" Akita smiled at her panther, petting her head and scratching her ears, though she never took her eyes off Kiba. "Have you even finished the errand Sawaki-sama gave you? Or is that too hard for a dog-breath like you?"
Kiba glared angrily at her in return, holding up a sack of meat, though it was so crushed from being thrown around it was impossible to tell exactly what kind of meat it was. "Right here, what about you, akitaken? I don't see you with anything, or are you still looking for little toy mice for that thing in your lap?" (AN: Knowing she hates dogs, Kiba is using 'akitaken' (a word denoting a small breed of dog, sort of like an orange fox) to insult her)
Akita chuckled back at him in contempt and pulled out a box from behind her back, opening it to show rows of kunai stacked and laid in rows. "I was done thirty minutes ago, after we started. Figures that Sawaki-sama would give the job of meat to the dogs, he knows cats are superior; after all, he let us acquire the weapons for him. Sawaki-sama puts a high priority on weapons; probably more than that sickening excuse for food you're carrying. And by the way, I kind of like 'Akita-ken', I think I'll allow you to call me it." Akita smiled back at him, daring him to take the bait and ask a question so she could taunt him again. A smarter man would have left it at that, letting her have the last word and just headed back to the inn, of course, this was Kiba, and he was hardly going to let a cat have the last word on him. (AN: Akita is responding with 'ken' being used as a title, meaning empress, or here, Empress Akita. Bunch of weird Japanese puns going on here, sorry if you're missing them)
"Feh, like I would ever consider a cat above me. And how would you know what Sawaki-sama puts a high priority on? We only met him yesterday, or are you already cuddling up to you new 'owner' like a good little kitten?" Kiba smirked back at Akita as he spoke, obviously believing he had the upper hand, and Akamaru backed him up with a small yip. Akita just watched him for a moment, a strange glint her eyes as she allowed him to believe he had had the last word, before stretching and responding.
"Well, I've already done some research while you were playing in the streets, and discovered Sawaki-sama's room is covered in different types of weapons. You see, I try to learn about who's teaching me, so I know what to expect, something that you have probably never thought of. But then, you can't expect much from dogs, can you Teimichi?" Teimichi purred in agreement to Akita, licking her cheek and throwing a covert glance at Akamaru. Kiba was silent in his shock for a moment, the growled and turned away, heading for the ladder on the other side of the roof, muttering under his breath, Spying to learn what to expect… yeah right… more like so you can be the new sensei's pet cat. Akita smirked at his back and stood, placing Teimichi on the ground and the both followed Kiba and Akamaru off the roof and into the nearby alleyway and out to the street, where Kiba stopped, staring at a vendor on the other side of the market. Akita followed his gaze to see the two other genins on their squad, the yellow-haired boy with the orange jacket, which happened to be on the shy girl next to him now, the one normally wearing the gray jacket the boy currently had slung over his shoulder. While she had to wonder why they had swapped jackets, one look at Kiba's face told her the opportunity to needle him about it was simply too good to pass up.
Akita leaned in behind Kiba, grinning and whispering in his ear, "Oh, hey look, that other guy is getting pretty cozy with the girl, eh? They even switched jackets. She probably figured out that he's better than some pathetic excuse for a ninja and his little puppy." Kiba jumped away from her in shock, having forgotten she was there, and growled angrily, sending a glare her way and spitting on the ground to show what he thought of her comment.
"It's not like that, idiot; Hinata is just too good for him. He's dead last anyway; he could never be with the Heir to Hyuuga." Content with his explanation, Kiba headed over to their stand, Akamaru at his side, and a smirking Akita and Teimichi behind him. As he was about halfway across the street, Hinata and Naruto turned around. Upon seeing him Hinata waved, and Naruto groaned, but they both waited till Kiba and Akita caught up to them. Hinata frowned as she noticed Kiba's bad attitude and Akita's smirk behind him, guessing at what had happened, but that all went over Naruto's head, as usual.
"Hey, dog-breath, you lose a bone or something? You look like you want to rip out somebody's throat." Naruto grinned at him, one hand holding Hinata's wet jacket to his shoulder and the other shoved deep into a pocket. He was obviously freezing, even Akita had a jacket on, but he gritted his teeth and faked being oblivious to the cold, even as his arms shook.
"Nothing you need to worry about, dead last. Just some problems with the local kittens," Kiba shot a look at the smirking Akita before pointing at Hinata's jacket, his voice sounding slightly annoyed, "What about you? Accidentally do something stupid again and get Hinata all wet? At least you had the common courtesy to give her your jacket, though I never would have expected chivalry from you."
Hinata blushed and spoke up, cutting Naruto off before he could reply, "N-Naruto-kun tried to stop m-me from f-falling… I-it wasn't his fault…" Hinata's blush grew deeper as she realized how it must look and she stared at her feet, not meeting anyone's eyes. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Naruto started fidgeting, cold and not enjoying standing out in the snow.
"Hey, let's go back to the inn already. Sawaakii-baka told us to be back before dawn and the suns starting to rise. Besides, it's cold out here." Naruto turned and was about to start walking when he realized he still didn't know where the inn was. He turned back to the others with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head, "Er, which way's the inn?" Akita rolled her eyes, sighing, and pointed to the street leading south and the four genins started out, Hinata still silent and embarrassed, Naruto rambling on about how confusing the city was and his new training exercises, Akita going back to her favorite pastime of annoying Kiba, and Kiba glowering at Hinata wearing Naruto's jacket and yelling back at Akita's comments.
The wind rushed into the inn as the door swung open, hitting the wall with a crack and ushering in the four genin, the last to arrive just minutes before dawn. The inn was deserted this early in the morning, except for the genins who had already made their way back to the inn more than a half hour ago, and seemed a darker place because of it. The genins who had already arrived were arranged around the hearth, the fire contained within it heating the room with what little it could, and they all looked up as the last four to arrive entered the room, then each went back to their own business, waiting for their new teacher to descend the stairway and announce it was time to leave. Shikamaru stretched and went back to staring at fire, mutter a 'troublesome' which rewarded him with a bump on his head from Ino, who had tired of his annoying lack of vocabulary. Shino stood in a corner, glancing up to look at the group before going back to a book he was reading, something labeled 'bugs' (the rest obscured by his hand) and Chouji was actually attempting to roast a sausage in the fireplace, though with little success. Sakura didn't glance up for a but a second before going back to arguing with Lee, who she was futilely trying to get to give up his green leotard in favor of something more normal. Tenten sat with Neji, trying to talk with him, but as soon as Hinata entered the room he stared at her, refusing to make even the few comments he had made before as he took in the scene of her in Naruto's jacket. His eyes slowly went cold and he looked at Naruto, who was still holding Hinata's jacket in his arms and rambling on about something idiotic. Neji slowly stood and was about to draw Hinata off to the side to talk to her when he felt a hand on his arm and he blinked, looking down in surprise.
Tenten quietly shook her head as she spoke, showing that strange ability she had to restrain Neji, and whispered to him, "Leave them be. You can reprimand her later, but look at Hinata for a moment before you do anything." Neji's eyes narrowed at the rebuke and he turned, taking a closer look at Hinata and noticed a light in her eyes he hadn't seen for a long time, a happiness that lit her face when talking to Naruto. He sighed in defeat and nodded to Tenten, sitting back down, and Tenten smirked at the small victory she had gained. Those that could change Neji's mind were few and far between.
Just moments after all this had taken place, the door at the top of the stairway opened and Sawaki walked down silently, watching his new charges that seemed not to have noticed him. Except for the two on the couch, the girl and the boy with the pure white eyes, who had looked at him as the door opened. I'll have to keep track of those two… Sawaki tapped is sword on the wall twice and the talking stopped, every eye turning towards him as he gracefully 'floated' into the main room. He nodded when he saw everything he requested had been gathered and that the genins were already packed, walking over to stand in the center of the group, his face completely emotionless as usual.
"Gather up your possessions and the items I requested, you will be required to carry them all on your backs for the three days we are traveling. I will provide enough food and water to survive on, along with tents. We're leaving immediately." Sawaki did not wait for them to pick up their bags but instead headed directly for the door, opening it and stepping outside, leaving the surprised genins to grab their bags quickly and head outside, following their new teacher, 'Sawaki-sama', down the road to an unknown destination, now fully abandoning all they had ever known in their lives.
December 24th
Hinata pulled on a branch that had caught her clothing and sighed, already wondering when they were going to reach 'the Academy', though it was only early morning. It had already been three days since they started out and the snow had not let up, if anything it had only fallen harder, and everyone was exhausted from the grueling pace Sawaki-sama had set, even Naruto who hadn't talked as much as normal the entire day. She missed his voice, something she blushed at the thought of, even if only she knew the truth, but she was glad that he hadn't given Sawaki-sama another reason to speed up the pace again. Her thoughts were suddenly cut short, however, as she bumped into the orange object in question, hurriedly apologizing then letting her words fall short as she saw what he was staring at.
Below her sprawled the black, marble walls of a huge complex that was laid out across the entire eastern side of a valley floor, backed up against a set of black cliff faces. But what really took her breath away was what was contained inside it. 'The Academy', as she now knew that it was, was not a simple school, but rather a citadel that rose upwards at layers, starting with a lower level that made up what could only be described as a small city. This city seemed even more advanced than other Hidden Villages she had seen, made mostly out of a dark red wood that looked to come from the forest sprawled below it, and the sides were closed in by black cliffs as well that Hinata was barely able to make out a few caves on. As her gaze rose upwards to the next level, Hinata blinked in surprise, feeling that she could actually see a line dividing the two levels, though whether it was just a feeling or an actual line created by the change in color and scenery, she wasn't sure. The second level was make completely out of black marble and wood, surrounded by yet another wall, and looked to have numerous fields where she could see people moving about, though not quite in the quantity contained by the city below. Somehow, she knew this was their new 'training camp', for lack of a better term, and shuddered slightly. It looked so bleak. Ah well, at least we'll be together... I hope… Hinata sighed again and then blinked as she realized that the others were looking even farther up the cliffs and she followed their line of sight, gasping as she witnessed what was built above the middle level. Built straight into the wall was a literal palace, a huge expanse of building that stretched across the top, seeming to be a hawk looking down upon the levels below it, if a hawk was built out of black marble, wood, and grey stone and looked like a palace for the empires of old, when dynasties ruled. Hinata wondered who lived in that type of place, even as she vaguely noticed Sawaki-sama turning and looking at the group staring at the area that was laid out on the valley floor below them.
"This is your last chance to turn back. If you move beyond this point, you will not be allowed to leave till your training period is finished, even if you are on the recommendation of Tsunade…" When no one answered him, Sawaki shrugged unconcerned and continued, "Then welcome to the Hidden Village of Kouryou. This will be your home for the next three years, at least, unless of course, you die during that time period. From this point onward all your ranks are stripped, no one will really care who you are, or what happens to you. You are all now Gesu, and will be considered as such by everyone you encounter. If you happen to have even an average amount of talent, which I doubt, you just might earn the right to be called otherwise. Until then, you are Gesu, and will be expected to follow the rules of the Ryuuguu. And the final warning I shall ever give you…" Sawaki's eyes actual hardened even more, and he stared at the genins for a moment before continuing his sentence, "If you ever get called up to the Ryuuguu, the estate up on the higher level, don't expect to come back down without a wound or two, if at all…" Sawaki looked down at the genins with what Hinata thought looked like a sneer before he turned away and began walking toward a small path leading down into the valley, causing the new 'students' to gather their things and rush after him. (AN: I think a bit of this was lost on some of you, so I'll do my best to explain it. A 'gesu' (I think this term may have been used in the Fruit Basket Manga, not sure, so some people might be familiar with it) is a menial, or person of low class. In other words, a peasant. Very little respect is granted to people at this level. Chuuryuushakai is "Middle-Class' while Gami is 'Upper-Class'. As for Ryuuguu and Kouryou, I want to see if you guys can find the meanings of those :) A cookie to whoever does, keep in mind Kouryou has two meanings. If no one finds it before I release the next chapter, I'll give the translations there.)
Naruto was completely oblivious. More so than normal, if one watched him closely. His eyes were trained completely on Ryuuguu, the school on the middle level, while everyone else was looking around and observing the city. And while the others were gauging their surroundings, Naruto was yelling at Sawaki-sama again, making an annoyingly loud racket.
"Hey, Sawaakii-sama? How big is this place? I want to get to training, not walk around in a market al…" Naruto was abruptly cut short as the hilt of a sword crashed into is mouth, knocking him to the ground and creating a rather large gash on his chin.
"Do not speak to me unless spoken to, brat. And… it's Sawaki-sama." Sawaki muttered under his breath about annoying brats and continued walking, not even waiting for Naruto to get back to his feet before resuming his pace. The other genins walked by as Naruto growled, wiping the blood from his mouth and spitting a bit onto the ground, then blinking and looking up as he noticed someone had stopped just above him.
"A-ano, here N-naruto-kun…" Naruto looked up to see Hinata above him, holding out a small container of the same medicine she had given him at the Chuunin Exam. He grinned and took it from her, putting a small drop on his lip and chin before handing it back as the wounds healed at their usual abnormally fast rate.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan! Stupid jerk, all I did was ask when we would get there…" Naruto started walking quickly to catch up with the group, leaving Hinata to rush after him as he mumbled about 'Sawaakii-sama' and was yet again completely oblivious. Hinata sighed sadly. She had always hated it when people fought; it always made her feel weak and helpless when she couldn't do anything. She knew she was useless, of course, but it hurt to be reminded of it and to not be able to help her friends or… N-naruto-kun… Hinata sighed again and her thoughts slowly began to fall back toward her birthday. I-I wish it wouldn't come so s-soon… On-only seven years th-then they'll ex-expect me to b-be the H-head… I w-wish Neji-nii-san c-could b-be head… H-he wouldn't be s-so useless... Hinata dreaded her birthday this year, because her father had been a Chuunin at thirteen and had expected the same of her, and she hadn't even been able to get to the final round. Maybe she would have a better birthday this year, because she would be away from her family. N-no… I-it will always b-be the an-anniversary of M-mother's death… B-but maybe N-naruto will… N-no… I c-can't tell h…
"Hey, Hey, Hinata-chan, when do you turn thirteen? Everyone else is thirteen already, but I never heard that you were!" Naruto-kun. Oh no. Everyone was staring at Hinata now as they walked and she slowly turned red and looked at the ground, her bangs obscuring her eyes. Neji looked at her sideways and winced slightly, though only Tenten noticed, and even Kiba blinked and stopped yelling at Akita. Have we ever celebrated her birthday…?
"An-ano… D-December…Tw-twenty… S-s-seventh…" Hinata managed to get out in a slightly choked voice, suddenly even more timid and awkward than before. She turned redder and continued staring at the ground as they walked. Around her she heard shouts of "Oh, that's wonderful Hinata-chan!", "We'll have to get you a present!", "Hey, baka, why didn't you tell us!", "Great! We can have a party to celebrate!" but this only resulted in her drawing in on herself more. Neji through her a worried look, but everyone else seemed oblivious to the fact that she didn't seem to be enjoying the attention, even Naruto who was asking her worriedly what she wanted for her birthday, obviously having no clue what to get or about the fact that she didn't seem happy. Thankfully, she was saved at that moment by no other than Sawaki, though not out of any type of grace, but rather by the fact that they had arrived.
"At attention, brats. We've arrived at your home for the next three years." They all looked up at the huge black gate standing in front of them with 'Ryuuguu' labeled clearly in its top frame. With a loud creak it slowly began to open, and Sawaki announced in his now familiar emotionless voice.
"Welcome to Ryuuguu, brats."
Alright, there's chapter three, hope you all enjoy it! Couple of NaruHina moments, next chapter will be devoted to three main points:
-The
Genins settling into Ryuuguu and meeting some of the teachers, as well
as some introductions to the deeper plot (very large plot planned, so
this may actually take 5-6 chapters at the very least to introduce it
all)
-Hinata's Birthday
-My edited version of Hinata's mother's death, explanation, and a really long and fluffy NaruHina part :)
Thanks for reading and please review! Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, eto… Gomen x 1000000000 for not updating sooner!
Ryuu-kun
