Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in said story. If I did own them I would be like a mini-god. But I don't so I'm not. I do however own this story.

Chapter 2

Later that day

'It's too early to go home,' Naruto thought. 'There's nothing to do there besides watch the mold spread, anyhow.' Naruto was tempted to go find Iruka and ask him to take him out for ramen, but then he remembered that Iruka was going to be talking to the jounin instructors about their new teams. "I wonder what he'll say about me. He'll probably tell my instructor how kicked that chuunin's ass the other night. Yeah, and then he'll tell him how I should be a least a jounin, maybe even hokage!' Naruto decided that he would use the last of the money he had to treat himself to ramen at his favorite ramen stand.

On the way there, all Naruto could think about was how he was going to show his instructor how strong he was, and then Sakura-Chan would have to like him. He could see Sakura giving him a big hug and saying, 'Wow, Naruto. You're so strong. I bet you could beat up Sasuke in your sleep. You're my hero Naruto...' 'Yeah,' Naruto thought. 'That'll be awesome.'

When Naruto got to the ramen stand, he was starving. He sat down on a stool, and then one of the owners came up to him asked him, "What can I get for you today?" Naruto simply replied, "One, please." The man looked confused, "One of what sir." Naruto happily explained, "Oh, I meant one of everything." The man looked startled, but he started making up Naruto's order.

After Naruto had eaten three bowls of ramen, he began thinking. He started to wonder why all of the adult ninja's hated him with a passion, but the regular citizens of the village didn't treat him any differently than any of the other children. 'Perhaps they don't know about how Kyuubi is sealed inside of me. Perhaps the average citizen was oblivious to the fact that there was a monster inside of him. Naruto also began wondering if Kyuubi could hear what Naruto heard, and see what Naruto saw. He still couldn't believe that there was a monster inside of him.

Naruto looked up to grab another bowl of ramen, when he noticed that there was someone at the far end of the ramen booth. Whoever it was, was talking to the operator very quietly, as if she was afraid to be heard. And that someone had pink hair.

"Oi! Oi! Sakura, what're you doing here."

"Buying ramen."

"Wow, me too."

"Wow, imagine that. Two people in a ramen stand and they're both buying ramen," Sakura said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster.

'Dammit,' she thought. 'Why does he always have to bother me? Doesn't he realize that I don't like him? Doesn't realize that he annoys me?' Her internal ranting was interrupted by server bringing her order to her.

"Who are you eating with?" Naruto asked.

"What do mean," Sakura replied nervously.

"Well you ordered a two person meal, so I just assumed you were going to eat with somebody."

"Well, I was planning on eating with (indecipherable)," Sakura muttered.

"Who did you say? I couldn't hear you."

"I said Sasuke-kun." Sakura replied.

"WHAAT??!! Why would you want to eat with that stupid jerk, when you could have lunch with me?"

At that point, something inside Sakura snapped. The normal Sakura lost control, and Inner Sakura took over. And she was pissed.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL SASUKE STUPID!!!" Sakura shouted. "HE IS A HUNDRED TIMES SMARTER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE! Sasuke is kind, smart, generous, talented, and thoughtful. While you are a just a loud, annoying idiot." At that point, Sakura smacked Naruto hard across the face and shouted, "Never talk to me again!!!"

Then Sakura stormed out, leaving Naruto with a red mark on is face and a broken heart.

Hyuuga Hinata hated her life. She had returned home after the team assignments had been handed out. That had been thirty minutes ago, twenty-nine minutes ago her father asked her what team she was on, and twenty-eight minutes ago he had started yelling at her and still wasn't done yet. Right now he was trying to make her feel bad by saying how disappointed their ancestors were at her.

"A Hyuuga one of the lowest in their class, how far our clan must have fallen to have this happen. And the heiress of the clan no less. I fear the Hyuuga clan will end after you take over from me. Do you not feel ashamed for having upset our ancestors so much? You're a disgrace to the Hyuuga name. Tell me the names of the riffraff with whom you are associating."

"One of them is Nara Shikamaru,"

"Ah yes, the Nara clan. Easily the laziest bunch of ninjas there are. And your other teammates name?"

Hinata muttered something so low that her father couldn't hear it.

"Speak up, when the head of the clan speaks to you.'

"Uzamaki Naruto."

Her father almost looked scared for a second, but when Hinata looked again, all she could see was anger. "No!!! I forbid it, you are not allowed to even look at him, much less be on the same team as him!!!"

Hinata's large, clear eyes began to fill up with tears. 'He can't, He can't say that. I finally get to be with the one person I love, and he's going to stop me. I won't let him, I won't.' With that, she did the only thing she could think of. And her father just watched her.

"Hiashi, you know you don't have the authority to do that." Came a voice from a tree.

"Who invited you into my house, Iruka?"

"The third sent me here. He anticipated that you would be upset by your daughter's teammate."

"And he's right."

"He also told me to tell you that it isn't your decision anymore. Now that Hinata has graduated, she is an adult in the eyes of the village."

"If she lives in my house, she lives according to my rules."

"And what rules are those?"

"The Hyuuga clan rules that have been passed down for generations."

"The same rules that state that the second born child of the main house must be sealed with the mark of the sealed bird? Because I noticed that Hanabi is lacking that particular seal on her pretty forehead."

Hiashi realized that Iruka had him. He would have to give up, or else the hokage get force Hiashi to abide by his own rules, and make him put a seal on Hanabi. He also realized that the third would probably insist that he do it. The third had been putting a lot of pressure on him to stop the 'nonsense' of the main family and branch family. The third was probably still angry at Hiashi anyway, since it had been Hiashi who had led the group of elders to search for Naruto the night he ran away. Hiashi had never seen the third as angry as when the elders had tried to demand that Naruto be handed because he was a threat to the village. The Hokage had told them that Naruto had saved the village twice already, and that the real threats were the elders themselves, the ones who had been responsible for Naruto's suffering. 'Yes,' Hiashi thought, 'Yondaime will definitely strike back at me for leading that group. It is best if I don't give him the chance.'

"Fine Hiashi," Hiashi said. "See if I care what happens to her."

Then he left and went inside.

Iruka was relieved that Hiashi let it go so easily. If things had gotten violent, Iruka would have been in trouble. It wasn't as if Iruka suspected there would be trouble, but the old families seemed to be a bit unstable anyways. "Oh well, I must as well go bring Hinata back here. It's not as if her father will do it.' And then he left in search of Hinata.

As Shikamaru walked home from the academy, he realized he didn't know anything about either of his teammates. All he knew about Naruto was that he was loud and annoying, and he couldn't remember Hinata ever talking unless Iruka made her. He knew about the Hyuuga bloodline, who in Konoha didn't, but he had never seen it been used, and had no idea how it worked. Shikamaru decided that after he ate dinner at home, he would go outside and watch the clouds go by until it got too dark to see. He figured he could use that time to remember anything he could about either of his teammates.

When Shikamaru got home, his mother was right there waiting for him.

"Shikamaru, could you do something for me?"

'Dammit,' Shikamaru thought. 'Why does she always phrase it as a question? It's not as if I have a choice in the matter.' All he said was, "Yes, mother."

"Your father is back from his mission early, and I would like you to start training with him now, since you are a gennin."

Well, there went his cloud gazing plan.

"How troublesome."

"Shikamaru!"

"I'm going mother." And he was, but as slowly as he thought he could get away with. He wondered how his father could stand being married to a woman. They were so bossy, and always ordered you around, and ...

"Shikamaru."

"Yes, father."

"Today is the day you learn the first of six Nara clan special techniques."

Shikamaru was amazed. He had heard from other people that his father didn't use regular jutsus like the other ninjas. His father had never even mentioned that the Nara clan had any special techniques, though most clans did, much less told Shikamaru that he would teach those techniques to him.

"This first skill is known as Kagemane no Jutsu. This is a very useful skill, and once mastered can be more deadly than many kekkai genkais. The principle of this technique is that you can put your chakra into your shadow, and then you attach your shadow to someone else's shadow, and then they must follow your movements."

"I didn't get that."

"Perhaps it is easier to show than explain."

Shikamaru suddenly noticed that his father's shadow extended, and then it touched his shadow, and he could no longer move on his own. His father spread his arms, and then he followed suit. 'Dammit, my body is moving on its own.'

"See, this is what I mean. You no longer have control of your body." His father then released him.

"To make full use of this skill, you must be observant. You must always be aware of how the environment you're in can help or hurt you. Once you have mastered this, you will need no weapons. The weapons your opponent has can be used to kill him, but if you need to carry weapons for whatever reason, wear your weapons in unusual places. That way your opponent is less likely to have a weapon in the same place." To illustrate this, Shikamaru's father rolled up his sleeve to show that he put his shuriken holder around his forearm, rather than around his hip, as most ninjas did.

"This technique does, however, have its limits. The first is surface area."

"Surface area?" What the hell was his father talking about?

"Yes, surface area. You can only extend your shadow as far as the natural surface area would cover. You can make your shadow any shape, but the size remains constant. Therefore, this technique is strongest right after sunrise and right before sunset, and it is weakest at noon. The second limitation is chakra. This technique uses up large amounts of chakra. You can hold multiple people with this technique, but holding them uses chakra up. Also, if your opponent has a significantly larger amount of chakra than you do, it is possible that he will be able to break free of your hold on him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father."

"Good, then let's start practicing."

When Hinata ran from her father, she had no idea where she was going. Her feet had carried her to place that she often visited when she needed to get away from her family. She hated her family so much right now. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Why did she have to be born into that idiotic clan with all their idiotic rules and those expectations of her? Didn't they realize that she didn't want to have to kill, she had always wanted to help people and make them feel better, but no, her father said that it was the job of the Hyuuga clan to protect Konoha, not to heal it. 'Damn these eyes,' she thought. 'I hate being in the Hyuuga clan. Everybody in Konoha is either scared of us or jealous of us. They have no idea what it's like to have the burden of such a clan on their shoulders.'

Just then Hinata arrived at her favorite pity place, the playground. When she got there, she noticed that someone was already there. "It's Naruto-kun," she said to herself. 'But he looks different,' she thought. 'He looks so sad.' He wasn't wearing that cocky smile that he always wore. He wasn't standing up straight; he was kind of hunched over. His eyes looked red and puffy like he had been crying and his knuckles looked bruised like he had been punching something. Hinata looked around and saw the tree that Naruto must have vented his frustration on. He was just sitting there, slowly swinging back and forth on the swing, with his head hung low. She decided that it would be best if she left before Naruto noticed her, but as she was turning around to leave, she tripped over her own feet, and made a loud umph sound.

This caused Naruto to look up and see Hinata laying on the ground there. He got up and went to see if she was alright. He started smiling; hoping that Hinata hadn't noticed how said he was.

"Are you alright?"

"H-h-hai." Hinata mumbled.

Naruto reached his hand out to help Hinata, and she gladly took it. It was the first time that she had ever talked to Naruto, much less touched him. This made her feel brave enough to ask the question, "Why were you crying?" After seeing Naruto's face fall at the question, she wished that she hadn't asked it.

Naruto was about to make up an excuse, when he realize that this was Hyuuga Hinata, his new teammate. 'I should probably tell her the truth now, because if she finds out later, she'll never trust me.' He also thought that it was strange that someone his own age, especially a girl his own age, was being nice to him. So he decided to tell the truth to Hinata. He was also glad to have someone to talk to, even if he didn't know her that well.

"I'm just angry that Sakura slapped me and told me to never speak to her again."

Hinata could not understand why anyone would be so cruel to Naruto. It wasn't as if Naruto hurt anyone, but everybody always seemed to hate Naruto for no good reason. Hinata decided that she would never be mean to Naruto because she knew how it felt to be hated by everybody, and scorned because you were different. Hinata decided to ask Naruto something she had always been wondering, but never had the courage to ask him before.

"N-n-naruto?"

"Yes."

"W-w-w-why do you like Sakura so much?"

Naruto was about to say something, but he stopped. He had never really thought about why he liked Sakura. She was always mean to him, and she always said that she loved Sasuke, so why did he like her. Just then remembered the first day he had decided to go after Sakura.

BEGIN FLASHBACK

It was Naruto's fourth day at the academy, and everybody was already calling Naruto a failure. Iruka-sensei had called Naruto an idiot fourteen times so far, and everybody laughed at Naruto when they thought he wasn't looking. Some of the older academy students had told Naruto to leave, because they didn't want a freak like him at the academy. The only person that had actually had been nice to Naruto so far had been a kid who was a year older than him. This kid had black hair, which was cut in a bowl cut, and thick black eyebrows. The kid, who was called Rock Lee, had said, "Don't give up, if you work hard, you can become even better than the greatest genius of the leaf." And to prove that he meant what he said, Rock Lee gave him a nice guy pose.

Then there was Sasuke. Naruto already hated Sasuke, while everybody else seemed to be love in with that jerk. Everybody was talking about how he already knew all twelve signs, and how he could perform jutsus that most chunnin couldn't do. 'Damn, that Sasgay.' Naruto had thought. Naruto was determined to prove that he was better than Sasuke.

So Naruto had gone up to Sasuke and shouted, "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Neh... you're not even worth my time." And that bastard had turned around and walked away.

Everybody started laughing at Naruto and calling him an idiot. Then Naruto noticed two girls talking to each other, one had pink hair the other had blonde.

Pink hair said, "Isn't Sasuke so cool." She was almost swooning as she said it.

Blondie said, "Yeah, I guess so."

Pinkie said, "When I grow up, I want to marry him."

Blondie; "Yeah, Sakura, you and half the other girls in the village."

Sakura. That was the name of the pink haired girl. 'I know how I can prove that I'm better than Sasgay. I'll go out with Sakura, and then she'll admit that I'm better than Sasgay, and she'll tell everyone else that I'm better than him and then they'll all say that I'm good enough to be Hokage, and I'll take over from that old fart.' Naruto had images of Sasuke being sad and disappointed that he wasn't the best ninja anymore, and images of Naruto standing up with the Third begging him to take over the job of Hokage. "Hehehe." Naruto laughed out loud.

(A/N: I know its flawed logic, but he only twelve, so cut him a break.)

Then Naruto went up to Sakura and said, "Sakura-chan, do you want to go out with me?"

END FLASHBACK

Naruto started laughing had himself when he remembered his reason for liking Sakura-chan. Hinata was worried that Naruto might have just gone crazy, so she asked him, "What is it?"

"I just remembered that my only reason for liking Sakura was that she liked Sasuke. I guess I kinda figured that if I could make her like me, I would be better than Sasuke. Kinda stupid huh?"

Hinata just blushed and gave a little nod.

"So why are you here?" Naruto asked.

"My father said that I'm not allowed to be on the same team as you." Hinata said hesitantly.

"WHAT?!? Why would he say that? I mean I know all of the adults of the village hate me, but why would he forbid us from being on the same? Is he even allowed to do that?"

"No."

Hinata and Naruto looked around to see where the voice came from. Suddenly Iruka appeared in-between them.

"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Two things. First, I'm here to bring Hinata back to her father's house."

"But I don't want to go back."

"Don't worry about it. I just talked to your father and reminded him that the decision of what team you're on is not up to him. He won't be happy about it, but he'll have to allow it. The second thing is that I came here to tell Naruto that I received a promotion."

"What, when did this happen."

"I'll officially be a jounin tomorrow, after I hand you all over to your jounin instructors. I even have my first assignment."

"What is it? What is it?" Naruto was practically wetting himself with excitement.

"I can't tell you."

Naruto's face fell.

"Don't worry, if become a gennin, I'm sure you'll see me in a couple of months. But, now, I had better take Hinata back to her father's house."

With that Iruka took Hinata with him back to the Hyuuga clan manor. Naruto slowly walked back to his empty apartment.

The Next Morning

Naruto was getting impatient. There were only two teams without their jounin instructors, teams 1 and 9, and he had been there for almost two hours. The fact that nobody was talking was irritating Naruto to no end. Suddenly, there appeared to be a miniature tornado in the center of the room. The wind cleared and standing there was a female jounin. "Team 9, I am Mitarashi Anko, and I am your new jounin instructor!" The woman shouted.

Naruto had something to shout back, "Whaaat?!? A woman???"

Suddenly Anko performed a set of eight hand seals, and Naruto could no longer move or speak.

"Kid, you seemed intelligent right up to the moment when you opened up your mouth."

She pointed to Hinata and Shikamaru, "Are you his teammates?"

They just nodded, for fear of speaking.

"Good, grab the brat, and follow me."

She started walking out the door before either of them could even acknowledge they had heard her. 'Great,' Shikamaru thought. 'All I need is another bossy woman.' But he reluctantly helped Hinata pick up Naruto, and start carrying out the door. Once they were outside, they saw a male ninja walking towards the academy. He had spiky gray hair, one of his eyes were covered by his head protector, and his mouth was completely hidden. 'He must be the instructor for team one,' Shikamaru thought. As the ninja passed, Shikamaru heard him say, "Should I say I was putting out a fire with water jutsu. Or should I tell them I was saving the village from a flood, or ..."

THE END

Author's Note: I'm so embarrassed, I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but all of the characters are two years older than in the manga. So they start the academy when they're eleven, and graduate when they are fourteen. This will be important later on.

Bonus points for whoever can tell me who Mitarashi Anko. No she is not an original character. She is from the manga.

I'm also looking for a beta reader. If interested, e-mail me at

Please Read and Review.