Hey there! For today we'll spend some time with Hinata to formally introduce her, her life, past, and some of her dynamics with her clan. This chapter also covers the first of the three parts of Team 7's training with Kurenai.
It will be a while until these training scenes are done and the teams meet up (It will be at the end of chapter 5), so hang in there! These scenes are actually very important in the long run, as Chapter 5 will show.
Key warnings for this chapter: Bullying. Extremely minor OC halfway through. Somewhat in-depth talk about the basics of genjutsu.
I hope that you will enjoy this chapter!
Prologue Arc
Chapter 2: Dreams and Illusions (v3.0)
It was snowing on that fateful day...
On a small road within the woods surrounding Konoha's ninja academy, a young girl could be found crouched near the ground, staring curiously at a small amount of snow that she held in her bare hands.
The girl had short, straight blue hair with twin bangs framing her fair-skinned face, and she was protected from the falling snow by a dull purple coat, blue pants, and a cream-colored scarf. Her pale, pupil-less lavender eyes stared at the fluffy white snow in childish wonder.
"So this is how snow feels like!" she giggled, unbothered by the cold sensation. Like all young children, new discoveries excited her.
The girl had been curious about how snow felt like for a while now. It was not like she hadn't seen snow in her life before, but her parents were very protective of her and never allowed her to go outside when it was snowing, so she could only watch from the closed windows of her bedroom as the white powder accumulated on the courtyard.
Finally experiencing the snow like she had wanted for so long brought a smile to her face, but not even five seconds later… it vanished.
She allowed the snow to slip between her fingers until it was back on the ground.
This newfound freedom… wasn't worth it.
Her mother wasn't there anymore, and her father stopped caring about where she went or what she was doing. It was almost as if he didn't want her to exist anymore, and somehow, that hurt her so much more than her mother's death.
She had overheard a few branch house Hyuuga saying that her mother's illness "took away more than just his wife". She wasn't sure she understood what they meant, but she supposed it was why he changed so much.
He no longer smiled or asked about her day. He sent instructors to train her in his place. He stopped passing by her room before bed to give her a goodnight kiss. He almost never leaves his office, not even for dinner. The one time she had managed to catch him outside the office she tried to hug him…
She missed him so much, but apparently, he didn't. He had only scolded her for showing weakness in public and pushed her away. To cry was to show weakness too, so she didn't dare to do it in front of him, and ended up fleeing to her room.
Thinking about that rejection still hurt—a lot—but her tears had long since dried, replaced by a frown. The only times she knew he was alone was when he was working! She had thought that maybe he was trying to say that it was okay for her to visit him in his office. Oh, how wrong she had been…
"I'm far too busy to waste my time with you. Leave."
He had been so frigid that the snow by her feet would be jealous. He hadn't even spared her a glance.
Surely, she must have done something wrong. The only other explanation was that he didn't love her anymore, but that was…
She scowled.
No, that couldn't be right. Even if she didn't know when, where or how, surely she messed up somewhere. That must have been it.
'…Maybe this is because I didn't awaken the Byakugan fast enough,' she thought. Her father had also berated her because of that, even though her grandfather had commented during breakfast that six was a fairly young age for the awakening.
Was that still not enough…?
Perhaps that why he hadn't given her any presents that day? It was the day of the Rinne Festival, of all things! The entire point of the holiday—from her perspective—was to give presents. Sure, her seventh birthday was only two days away, on December 27th, so maybe that year he was planning to give her only a single present instead of one for each occasion but… somehow, she felt that she shouldn't expect any presents.
"At least," her eyes widened at the memory of her father's words, "we can finally begin to train you in actual Gentle Fist."
Could that be the key? She had been training only the basic katas of her family's taijutsu, and she knew she wasn't amazing at those. Her father had never complained when they still trained together, but she knew from his face and from how hard he kept pushing her that he wanted more, and now that she had the Byakugan... maybe she could finally improve and meet his expectations!
"Okay," she got up, eyes shining with determination. If she was to please her father, she needed to make sure that she wouldn't mess up how to activate the Byakugan during training. He had gotten another person to teach her the sign sequence for a forced activation, so a part of her doubted he would be overseeing her Gentle Fist training… but even so, she couldn't fail him again!
First, she went through the seals slowly, focusing only getting the order and shapes correctly since she still struggled a bit with both. The second time, now smiling confidently, she sped up and added chakra to the mix.
Her sight exploded. The veins around her eyes enlarged as blood and chakra rush through them, and the young girl watched with awe as the world of white snow around her transformed into a landscape of dull darkness.
The pitch-black snow held her attention for a while, but then she heard voices in the distance. Her eyes allowed her to see all around her, up to ten meters, but there was nobody in range.
"Hey, look! A girl!"
That was a boy's voice. If she wasn't mistaken, it was coming from somewhere behind her.
"Do you think she would want to play with us?" another boy spoke up.
"I dunno," a third boy said. "Let's ask her!"
The girl couldn't help her smile as excitement coursed through her. It had been so long since she had last played with anyone! As soon as they entered her expanded field of vision, she turned around to introducing herself.
A mistake.
"Ugh... look at those creepy eyes!" one of them exclaimed, his face scrunched up in disgust.
"It's one of those nasty Hyuuga!" another boy said, pointing at her.
Yelping, she instinctively took a couple steps back. In hopes of salvaging the situation, she scrambled to deactivate her dojutsu… but it only made everything worse.
"What, aren't we good enough to see your stupid Byakugan!?" the third boy spat venomously.
"Ha! She thinks she's something special just like the rest of her clan!" the boy who had been pointing at her scoffed. "But you are all just stuck-up, ugly-eyed dumbasses!"
Tears started to form in the girl's eyes, but remembering her father's words about crying, she held them back as best as she could.
The boy who had pointed at her began to laugh. "I was gonna ask your name, but I guess you don't need one! We'll just call you "The Byakugan Monster" from now on, you hear!?"
Her fragile walls crumbled as the other boys joined in the fun, laughing at her while chanting the nickname.
"P-Please, stop!" she begged, unable to control her tears. They began to laugh harder, and one of them shoved her to the snow.
"Monster! Monster!" they chorused in a musical tone, "Byakugan Monster!"
She didn't even think about getting up, instead curling into fetal position and covering her teary eyes, taking what little protection the darkness offered.
If only she were stronger…!
"Hey!"
A fourth voice cut through all the laughter and somehow, her despair intensified.
'Another boy!?'
"Cut it out, you cowards!"
Her mind went blank for a second—she was mistaken! She scrambled to get up, to see who was seemingly coming to her rescue.
It was someone that she would never forget.
A young boy, probably just as old as herself, was running towards the bullies from behind them. His yell made the trio turn their backs on her to face him instead.
The newcomer had spiky blond hair, blue eyes and cute little whisker-like marks on both sides of his puffed-up cheeks. The mysterious boy looked just as angry as his tone had implied, but the silly pair of green goggles on his head didn't make him look very threatening. He was wearing an open orange jacket, revealing a black shirt with a white spiral design on its center. His shorts were of a similar blue tone blue to the girl's pants, and he also wore a scarf—though his was of a beautiful crimson that put her own to shame, with the tail end flowing behind him, almost like a cape.
The bullies turned. "Who do you think you are to order us around!?" one of them screamed, pointing at the blond just like he had done to the girl beforehand. An epiphany told the girl he was most likely the group's leader.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" the blond boy boldly introduced himself, clearly hoping his future title would carry some weight.
Predictably, the trio only laughed at him for that declaration and began to mock him, calling him names much like they had done to the girl less than a minute ago.
However... unlike her, the boy didn't break down in tears. No, to the girl's awe, Naruto had enough courage to stand up to them.
"You don't believe me, huh?" he growled, in a tone that implied he had already predicted that he wouldn't be taken seriously. "Alright! Then I'll show you!"
Scowling, he brought up his hands together, pointer and middle fingers outstretched in a cross-like position: the hand seal used for the Clone Jutsu and all of its variants.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Sadly for Naruto, while the jutsu did work, it was far from ideal. After two poofs, a pair of clones appeared in front of the boy... but they were extremely small and deformed, not even a foot tall. In another situation, the little girl might have squealed from how cute the two mini-Narutos were, but that wasn't the case today. She had a good idea of what was going to happen next and it was not going to be cute.
Despite their size and appearance, both clones squeaked out a defiant "I'll kick your ass!" to the bullies, who in turn only stared at the failed copies in disbelief. The original, on the other hand, didn't look anywhere as confident as his miniatures. Much like the girl, he had already realized where this was going.
The three bullies proceeded to kick the clones away and beat up the defenseless Naruto. The boy tried to fight back, but it was in vain. Three against one were hardly fair odds, and he was a bit smaller than them, too.
The girl wanted to rush towards him to help—everything had been her fault—but fear of provoking the wrath of their tormentors left her paralyzed. All she could do was watch.
Naruto eventually went unconscious, and the bullies soon lost interest. The girl's silence made the bullies completely forget she existed, so they turned their attention to the next best thing: Naruto's crimson scarf.
They played many games with the scarf, from tug-of-war to using it to swing from trees, but they were so rough with it that the threads started to come undone. Once it no longer served any purpose, adding insult to injury, one of the boys threw the scarf on the snow and the three stomped all over it.
"There. Now it's trashed just like you, loser!" the leader of the trio said before they left the area, still laughing.
"Ha! That'll teach him!"
"Like hell someone like him will be Hokage one day!"
"…"
The girl never felt more disgust in her life. The only thing she didn't know was which was stronger: her disgust for the bullies, or for herself.
As soon as the boys were gone, the girl regained control of her legs. She hurried towards her fallen hero, but… she couldn't ignore the tattered scarf that stood between them.
It hurt to look at it. "You were so beautiful…"
Gently, she picked it up and folded it, and then approached Naruto. Crouching near him, she noticed his busted lips, his bleeding nose, his face all swollen and bruised…
And then the boy jumped to his feet.
"I'm not done with you!" he declared loudly, making the girl's heartbeat skyrocket from the scare. "This time my jutsu will work for sure and... uh...? What?"
The boy quickly trailed off as he looked around and realized that the trio no longer was in the woods. Sighing in defeat, he crouched to examine the torn remains of the scarf that the girl now held, looking at it unhappily.
The little happiness the girl still felt because he came to her rescue disappeared. "Are... are you alright?"
Naruto rose and wiped the blood from his face using his sleeve. When he faced her, it was with a wide, brilliant smile. "Yep! I'm fine. I'm used to this kind of thing, so it's no big deal."
She eyed him skeptically—something about his smile was wrong—but decided not to press him. "Um... here!" she offered the scarf back to him instead. "It will warm you up. Y-You must be cold…"
Much to her surprise, instead of being happy that the bullies at least hadn't stolen the scarf, he waved her off dismissively. His smile disappeared, leaving only that same sad expression from before in its place.
Clearly, it was more than just a scarf for him. The realization came with a horrible wave of guilt.
It was all her fault.
"I'm sorry..." she apologized, head hung low. Saying it only made her feel worse.
"Nah," Naruto got up, shaking his head. "It's okay."
To her shock, immediately after saying that he turned his back on her and ran down the road, as if nothing had happened.
"Wait!"
Naruto stopped and faced her, confusion written all over his face.
"Um... I... th-thank you very much!" she said, bowing to him.
She heard a soft gasp and once she straightened, she saw him slack-jawed, eyes wide and with disbelief all over his face. It was almost as if he had never expected her to show gratitude or respect despite his heroics…
And then he offered her the brightest smile she had ever seen in someone's face, almost as if saying "thank you" himself.
It left her with a warm feeling in her heart as he once again took off. He was laughed at, insulted, beaten up, he lost his scarf... and he still had the strength to keep going, smiling.
It was inspiring.
'Can I become as strong as him one day?'
Her gaze then fell to the bundle of red threads in her arms, and she clutched it tightly to her chest. As unusable as it was, it made for a precious Rinne Festival present.
A symbol of hope. A symbol of courage.
'You lost this red scarf because of me,' she thought, smiling, 'but one day... one day I'll knit another scarf just like this one and give it to you… Naruto-kun.'
A symbol of their newfound connection.
That promise remained on her mind even as everything around her—Naruto, the trees, the snow—began to waver.
Slowly but surely, the world blurred until it was no more…
...And to a sequence of increasingly louder beeps of an old alarm clock, Hinata Hyuuga awakened from her slumber.
"Ugh…"
Groggily, her narrowed eyes darted around confusedly in the darkness of her room. When her brain finally began to work properly again, she sluggishly threw her covers off and crawled to the dresser by the foot of her bed.
"5 a.m," she read aloud in a raspy voice, silencing the alarm clock that demanded her attention while rubbing her lavender eyes.
Hinata was now twice as old as her dream self, and traded the winter clothes that kept her warm in the snow for a light, pink kimono she wore as a pajama. Her hair was still short but had gained some extra volume, which her messy bedhead greatly exaggerated.
Now in silence once again, she yawned, stretched… and fell back on the mattress, smiling fondly. Her mind had already erased a fair amount of the dream she just had, but some of it still stuck… after all, her dream had a real-life counterpart.
That day was one of her most precious memories, despite how it all began. However, not all that she had dreamed matched reality. Some of what the bullies did in her dream would've been too much for a simple scarf to endure without ripping completely, and she was sure Naruto had no idea that the Shadow Clone Jutsu even existed at the time—she has a vague recollection of him shoving one of the bullies before they ganged up on him.
Hinata was sure that if Naruto knew about that jutsu, he would've relentlessly pestered their sensei Iruka about teaching it to him, only for Iruka to say no and leave Naruto pouting for the rest of the class. She could easily imagine the scene, and it made her giggle a bit.
Kiba had done the exact same thing the day before, after learning from Kurenai the reason behind Naruto's field promotion to genin. He spent the rest of the day a bit snappy with everyone, which predictably led to a couple conflicts with Shino that she had to diffuse.
"I hope they'll behave today," she sighed. Kurenai was already used to their dynamic, but who knew how Naruto's sensei would react to their bickering?
With another lazy stretch, Hinata jumped out of bed, slipped on her slippers and headed to her bathroom to clean up. She was supposed to be on Training Ground 3 in two hours, but she still had important things to do beforehand and no time to lose.
Normally, she would still wake up around that time, if only to enjoy the peaceful early mornings by herself. The only other people in the Hyuuga Manor that were active at that time were some of the branch house servants; starting her day so early allowed her to have breakfast in peace, away from the loud gatherings of the main house that happened every single morning.
Hinata had always felt a degree of anxiousness in noisy places full of people, but say, traversing a busy street? It was unsettling, especially if she was alone, but she could handle it. Breakfast with her clan, however… not as much.
They stared. They whispered. She could see the disdain and even pity in some of her clansmen when they looked at her. She could feel the unspoken comparisons to her younger sister, who took to the Gentle Fist like fish to water.
It got to the point where she constantly had to fight the urge to faint.
She still couldn't believe it had been easier for her to muster the courage to strike a deal with her father instead of enduring it. It came with a promise, however: that she'd stop being an embarrassment to him and the clan as a whole. That she'd use that time to train herself. That she'd strive to make him proud and prove she could become worthy of his time.
A few years before, she had religiously used that extra time for its intended purpose… and yet, she had barely shown anything for it. Her father never bothered to check on her to see if she was really training, so, discouraged by her lack of progress and by how little all of it mattered, Hinata eventually began to use some of that time to invest on her hobbies instead.
After all, not only did she hate that she was training so to hurt— to kill—people, she knew would never get better… so why bother if she would inevitably fail? She was forced to train during part of her day regardless of what she did in the mornings anyways.
At least, it was easier to endure it all if she could brighten her day a little, be it by taking care of her late mother's garden, by investing on her hobby of pressing flowers or even by experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. She had been using more and more of her free morning time for those kinds of activities as the years went on…
Almost thirty minutes after she woke up, Hinata emerged from her bathroom, clean and with her blue hair neatly combed. Making a beeline for her wardrobe, she collected some of her clothes for the day: a simple black T-shirt and blue pants. From the drawers inside the wardrobe she chose her underwear, frowning a bit when she picked up a bra—she still hated how these were part of her routine.
After dressing herself, Hinata traded her slippers for sandals and left her room.
She spent a couple minutes walking through a series of empty identical-looking hallways, deliberately designed to make navigation as hard as possible for intruders, who (ideally) lacked a Byakugan. Of course, since she lived there, Hinata didn't need her dojutsu to find her destination: the manor's kitchen.
There were many branch house Hyuuga inside. Cooks and servants, who worked hard to prepare the massive meals the main house consumed for breakfast.
The head cook noticed her entering. "Ah, Hinata-sama! Good morning!" he greeted her with a smile, and the other people in the room quickly followed suit.
"Good morning everyone," Hinata replied, her quiet tone contrasting with her own bright smile as she took in the familiar faces.
"Going to prepare lunch for your team again, Hinata-sama?" one of the maids asked, a girl slightly older than Hinata whose name was Keiko.
"Yes, but not just them," Hinata said as she walked towards the refrigerators, her head held high. "Another team will eat with us today, so there's a lot of food this time."
Not to mention she planned to pack bigger helpings for herself and her teammates, since they were instructed to skip breakfast.
"Hmm," Keiko pursed her lips. "Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, okay?"
"It's been a while since Hinata-sama has truly needed our help," the head cook commented, laughing. "I'm sure she can handle it. Or did you forget she made Hanabi-sama's birthday cake all by herself? That wasn't even two weeks ago!"
Hinata blushed, smiling from ear to ear not only at the memory of her accomplishment, but at the expression of pure joy that her little sister wore as she ate slice after slice of the three-layered cake.
The guests too had found the cake's taste and decoration to be marvelous, but Hinata cared little for their opinion… though she did wonder how they'd react if they knew who made it.
'Alright... let's see what we can do today.' She opened the refrigerator. 'I need rice, some vegetables, fish… wait. Oh, so we still have some pork.'
Luckily for Hinata, the cooks told her they weren't planning on using the pork, so she chose it to be the lunch's protein instead of fish. Kiba had commented before that he preferred "real meat" instead of fish, but that wasn't the only factor she had in mind.
From her… research, Hinata also knew that a certain someone really, really loved extra pork with his miso ramen. It truly wasn't much, but seeing as she knew she didn't have the guts to approach him directly, it would have to do.
'My debt to Naruto-kun won't pay itself after all.'
Though, she couldn't deny a part of her just wanted to impress him with her cooking skills… and maybe…
'Stop! Focus, Hinata,' she shook her head, hoping to dispel her distracting, futile thoughts.
Hinata brought some ingredients to a corner of the room that the staff had arranged for her. She had a fair amount of space as well as pots, utensils, sink, and even a stove for her personal use, all thanks to her father cutting some personnel a few years prior and unknowingly freeing up the space and tools.
She had thought they had done it just to get her out of their way, but to her surprise, it had been a simple show of gratitude. An earnest "thank you" for treating them with kindness and respect even though she could've trampled all over them to get whatever she wanted.
'It's a pity that most of the main house think of them as little more than slaves,' she thought with a frown as she began to organize her workspace. 'The cursed seal truly is an abomination… but I shouldn't think about this right now.'
Hinata took a deep breath to clear her mind. Nothing good would come of cooking with such heavy thoughts on her mind.
Instead, she focused on how her teammates had reacted to her food. Every single time she had brought lunch to them throughout the past two weeks, they had showered her with compliments.
A fire burned in her eyes. Hinata refused to let that day be any different.
'Okay! Time to work!'
"And… there! All done," Hinata whispered to herself, wiping the sweat off her brow. 'It's nothing fancy, but I'm sure they'll love it.'
If there was one thing about herself that Hinata had full confidence in, it was in her ability to cook. She felt in comfortable and in control when cooking: she knew exactly what she was supposed to do, and exactly how to do it. Good results were nothing but a consequence of those two facts.
It had taken her quite a while to start believing in what other people told her after tasting her food… but now, Hinata could look at her handiwork with pride: eight bentos brimming with food—delicious food, she knew—as well as fresh tea and orange juice in two separate thermoses.
Satisfied, she walked back to the refrigerator and took out a little pot of leftovers for Akamaru, as well as a bottle of water and two ice packs to keep all the food at ambient temperature, placing all of those next to the bentos.
All that was left was to pack them, and Hinata had left her old academy backpack in one of "her" cabinets the day before specifically for that. But when she bent down to open it…
A monstrous sound echoed through the kitchen. The room had been bustling with noise, but the roar was loud enough that everyone noticed it. And they all knew who was at fault.
Keiko, who had been near Hinata by coincidence, couldn't resist and burst out laughing. "Looks like someone skipped breakfast, right Hinata-sama?"
"Don't tease the poor thing, Keiko-chan!" the head cook scolded, with a traitorous hint of humor in his tone. "You know how she gets."
Hinata found the backpack but refused to get up, face reddening. A few other workers were also snickering, to make things worse.
Was it too late to crawl inside the cabinet…?
"But it's so funny!" Keiko argued. "She's such a shy, quiet little thing, but her stomach clearly had enough of being like that!"
Hinata mumbled something about the height difference between them being negligible, but even as close as she was, Keiko had no hope of deciphering it.
"Sorry, though," the maid apologized instead. Keiko did not bow to the girl, knowing that Hinata didn't like that kind of treatment.
"I-It's fine," Hinata rose and began to pack her things, blushing terribly. "M-My team… our sensei said to skip breakfast for today's training. I don't understand why, though…"
The maid winced. "Ouch… cooking's already unpleasant enough by itself, but doing it while hungry? That must've been torture!"
Hinata faced her with the smallest of smirks. "Cooking is never unpleasant."
"You listen to her, Keiko-chan," the head cook butted in, just as Hinata had predicted. "She knows what's what."
Giggling a bit at the playful argument that ensued while she finished packing—Keiko hated to cook—Hinata said her goodbyes to everyone and left the kitchen, retracing her route from earlier in the morning.
Hinata left her backpack on the bed and glanced at her clock. It was 6:30 a.m; she still had quite a few minutes to spare before risking arriving late.
It was time to equip herself for the day.
She took a roll of bandages from her dresser and wrapped it around her right thigh before tying up her weapon holster over them. This was to allow the holster to be strapped securely without hurting her or cutting off the leg's circulation.
As a Gentle Fist-user, Hinata only kept shuriken on the holster since kunai were often superfluous. Still, kunai had their uses, so she kept some in her hip pouch, together with other items like rope and a small container of ointment. After checking if all of her tools were there, she attached the pouch to the back of her pants.
Next, she took her headband. As much as she disagreed with all the practices revolving around the cursed seal, she didn't dare to use it to cover her forehead, despite it actually being the smarter thing to do. After all, if an enemy killed her, they would mistake her for a branch member and wouldn't take her eyes. Some main branch Hyuuga did wear it like that, but considering her position as the clan's heiress and her shaky social standing…
"I'd probably be banished or something," she muttered with bitter humor, tying the headband around her neck instead. That wasn't too bad either—the neck was easily the most vulnerable part of the body.
Lastly, she opened her wardrobe again, this time focusing on a pile of identical cream jackets with the Hyuuga Clan's red emblem sewn on the shoulders, inside yellow circles. Her father had ordered various copies for her to wear during missions, as they had chainmail woven on the inside, but the kitchen's heat made wearing them while cooking suicidal.
Still, Hinata loved them. She felt cold easily, they had hoods, and were also quite comfortable. More importantly, their thickness added some bulk to her frame, flattening her silhouette and hiding her chest. After her last growth spurt a few months prior and before she got in the habit of wearing the jackets, not only her female classmates kept shooting her dirty looks—as if it was her fault her body was like that—but she had actually caught grown men ogling her chest, one of them being an academy teacher.
It had been… violating.
Shuddering at the memory, she zipped up the jacket. Looking a bit plump was worth it.
Ready to leave, Hinata went to close her wardrobe's door when her eyes caught a glimpse of something special, hidden behind some folded sheets in a dark corner. Most people would perceive it just as an old shoebox.
To Hinata, it was her treasure chest.
She took the box and opened it. Inside was an old, damaged crimson scarf, which she began to stroke it gently, looking at the cloth with fondness. "It's been a while, hasn't it…?"
Her younger self used to take out the scarf often, hoping to draw courage from the memories it brought. However, her attempts at becoming stronger grew half-hearted as the years passed. Knowing she had betrayed everything her—his—scarf represented, Hinata had become too ashamed to look at it again. Unworthy.
There was even a time she had considered burning the scarf. When her last year at the academy began, her father had finally decided to stop paying instructors and take charge of her training himself. The months she spent with him had all but convinced her that it was completely futile to keep trying to meet his expectations... to keep trying to earn his love.
Things had become easier once she began to train with Kurenai, but it wasn't until the day she had been assigned to Team 8 that Hinata began to feel courage again. It was when the scarf's previous owner showed her once again that one should never give up, no matter what the world tells you. Naruto had reignited a fire inside her heart, and she found herself training harder than ever before as her career as a genin began, knowing that if he had succeeded, then she had no excuse.
She had to try her best, and that was exactly what she planned to do.
After putting her treasure and its chest back where they belonged, Hinata made her bed and opened her curtains and window, allowing fresh air and sunlight to enter the room.
The sun was bright, the sky was cloudless, and the birds were singing happily. Her heart sang with them—she could feel that it was going to be an amazing day.
Leaving her room behind, Hinata again braved her home's maze of corridors but took a different path this time. Some main house members were already arriving for the breakfast ceremony that happened at 7 a.m, so Hinata tended to leave the through the dojo instead. It connected to the outdoor training grounds at the back of the manor, and simply walking around the outer walls of the building would lead her down a side entrance that nobody but the guards paid attention to.
She went inside the dojo and kept walking towards the courtyard door, which was open. Nobody used the room until after the breakfast ceremony… but Hinata realized that the door should have been closed too late.
"Hinata. I was waiting for you."
The only thing that kept her from screaming was that she recognized the voice—a man's voice. It made her body froze automatically, and it was with great effort that the girl managed to force her head sideways, slowly, to confirm what she dreaded.
The man had white, seemingly pupil-less eyes similar to her own lavender ones, and his long brown hair that flowed freely down his back. He was dressed in a loose white robe under a brown haori.
It was her father, Hiashi Hyuuga.
His expression was stoic and controlled, betraying nothing… or rather, one detail slipped by: the dark, veiny skin around his eyes that suggested a restless night.
Driven by a surge of fear, Hinata whirled around to face him, bowing low to show him respect and to dodge his gaze, if only for the moment.
"G-G-Good mo-morning, otou-sama. W-Why… um…"
Her voice—meek and at a higher pitch than normal—died in her throat together with that dangerous question.
"I am here to discuss a matter that was brought up during last evening's monthly council meeting."
Hinata didn't even expect it anymore, but the lack of the small, simple gestures like a "good morning" still hurt, even after all those years.
…Straightening, she mused that greeting someone you hate must take too much effort.
"As you know," Hiashi continued, "there are doubts regarding your position as my heiress, thanks to your poor performance and your sister's talent. The spars you two had with each other over the past couple years prove as much."
Hinata lowered her head, face burning with shame. While she had never given her all in those fights to preserve Hanabi's future, her little sister was skilled enough to give her a run for her money even if she were to fight at her fullest. Her chances were 50%, at best…
"After yesterday's meeting, it was agreed that our clan's future cannot remain in this dubious state of affairs. You and your sister will duel once again. If you lose, your title of heiress will be forfeit and your responsibilities toward the clan will change accordingly with your position in the line of succession."
Hinata's head slowly moved upwards. Her father remained as expressive as a wall.
"However, you've recently become a genin and thus have to prioritize your duties to Konoha. I need to know your schedule before I can decide when the duel will happen."
"…Understood."
There was no stuttering, no hesitance and no fear in Hinata as she informed about her training and upcoming mission. It was completely numb and mechanical, and though she looked at his face as she spoke, Hiashi noticed that her gaze was unfocused.
"…I see," He crossed his arms. "Then I will wait for your return to settle this. You should take this evening to rest and prepare for your mission tomorrow… Hinata," he narrowed his eyes, "are you listening to me?"
Hinata snapped to attention. "Y-Y-Yes!" she blurted out, stiffening.
He continued observing her. "… Tell me, you said that you'd be training under another team's sensei this morning."
Hinata nodded. She began to feel an uncomfortable tightness in the pit of her stomach.
"I remember that the documents I had to sign regarding the Hokage's project mentioned three teachers besides your team's. I'm curious: which one will be teaching you today?"
"Ka… K-Kakashi," she somehow managed, distracted by her trembling legs.
"Ah… him."
On the back of her mind, Hinata realized that was the first time her father's usually stoic tone showed any hints of annoyance during their conversation. Those and his scowl were constantly present whenever they interacted—particularly during the months she trained with him in that very room—but oddly enough, they had been absent until that moment.
…She was so focused on trying to get air into her lungs as subtly as possible that the thought failed to stick.
"You should go, then," he said. "That man has no respect for anyone's time, but that doesn't mean you can show up late. I too must leave to begin the breakfast ceremony."
Following the unspoken prompt, Hinata bowed with great difficulty and her father left the room without saying another word.
The door slid shut and Hinata felt everything whirl. The dojo's walls began closing in on her and Hinata tried to flee through the other door, but she only managed a couple shaky steps into the courtyard before her legs betrayed her.
The sun was still shining outside, but its warmth was nothing compared to the cold sweat marring her pale skin. The sky was still cloudless, but Hinata's vision had wavered so badly that she couldn't even recognize anything. The birds were still singing, but Hinata couldn't hear them over her gasps for breath—unlike her legs, her lungs were working on overdrive.
Somehow, even as a deep fear overwhelmed her, the only thought her mind conjured at the time was that she'd probably end up late.
Naruto Uzumaki was already late.
'Crap… I can't believe I forgot that today we would NOT be dealing with Kakashi-sensei!' he thought, shoving a hastily made sandwich down his throat as he jumped from roof to roof towards Training Ground 5.
Thanks to Kakashi's chronic lateness, he was used to waking up at 8:30 a.m. When his alarm clock woke him up two hours earlier than normal he simply turned it off, cursing the poor thing for malfunctioning. Luckily, a flood of memories jolted him awake before he could oversleep for more than fifteen minutes
To make things worse, in his hurry to get ready for the day, Naruto ended up tripping on something while making a bowl of cereal—likely a pair of dirty underwear, but he wasn't sure—and dropped the bowl, dirtying his clothes and the floor with spilled milk.
That forced him to double back and change his orange tracksuit and pants to another pair identical to the one he had (that is, ignoring the milk stains), and he lost some time mopping up his floor, too. Spoiled milk smelled bad enough when it was just on his refrigerator.
That tragic incident also got rid of the last box of cereal that he had, so a simple sandwich had to do. 'Meh. Not my favorite, but at least it's something,' he thought, smirking wildly before taking another bite. 'I'm sure that the suckers Kakashi-sensei will be working with are going to take that stupid bell test, so they haven't had breakfast yet AND will be stuck for hours waiting for that lazy cyclops.'
With his mouth full of bread, he barely contained his mischievous laughter at the expense of the innocently ignorant members of Team 8, whoever they might be. Eating was simply the higher priority, so he settled for enjoying a tasty breakfast in their stead.
But fate had other plans for that sandwich.
Not even ten seconds after he thought that, Naruto tripped on a particularly slippery rooftop and fell, dropping his half-eaten bread in the process.
"No…!" he whined pathetically, reaching out to his bread as it slid down to the streets—likely on the head of some poor civilian that happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time.
"Dammit," he banged his fist on the roof before getting up and fleeing the scene. He had no doubt that if someone saw him, they would get the wrong idea and think he did it on purpose as just another prank. However, from the loud barking sounds and yells that he could hear down below, he thought that maybe nobody would've noticed him anyways.
'…I guess a few bites are better than nothing,' he sighed, trying to look at the brighter side.
Soon afterwards, Naruto finally arrived at Training Ground 5, Team 8's usual training joint. Walking in, he noted that it really wasn't very different from the one his team used. It looked almost the same, right down to the little lake in the center—or pond, he didn't know. It only lacked the stumps and the memorial stone.
Naruto easily spotted his two teammates in the distance, seemingly chatting with each other—he knew better.
The first one was Sasuke Uchiha. He was propped up against a tree with his arms crossed and the usual scowl on his face, his closed eyes hiding the black color that matched his spiky hair. If the surname wasn't proof enough of his lineage, the red and white fan depicted on the back of his blue shirt didn't leave any room for doubt. Sasuke also wore a pair of simple white shorts, which to Naruto, ruined whatever "cool" image he wanted so badly to uphold.
'Arrogant prick,' Naruto frowned, shifting his gaze to something much more pleasant: the girl by Sasuke's side, who incidentally was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.
Sakura Haruno's long, pink hair flowed gently in the wind, almost blending with the petals of her namesake that floated alongside it. Her eyes were of a particularly striking shade of green, contrasting nicely with the crimson qipao she wore. Though… the white circles on the shoulders and on the lower part of the dress were awkwardly out of place, in Naruto's opinion (not that he would ever say it aloud. He valued his life). Given how the dress was open on the sides and exposed her legs fully, she also wore tight green shorts to preserve her modesty, but Naruto personally had never focused on that area enough to notice it.
Seeing the two together always made Naruto's stomach churn. Sakura never spared any resources in her attempts to win Sasuke's affections, but the brooding Uchiha either shot her down on the spot or ignored her completely. That day, Sasuke went with the latter… Naruto just couldn't comprehend it; he would've given everything to have Sakura chasing after him like that.
Worse, he knew that the cheerful behavior Sakura upheld despite her failures was mostly a mask. Her negative emotions keep building up, and when she finds a suitable target to dump them on…
'Oh oh.'
Sakura made eye contact with him, and for one instant, her eyes flashed a dangerous red that froze his soul.
"NARUTO!"
The distance between them began to close rapidly. Naruto knew that resistance was futile and didn't even try to escape.
"You're late!"
"Ow!"
She poked him in the chest, and Naruto swore that had no right to hurt as much as it did.
"Not as bad as Kakashi-sensei—"
"Ow!"
"—but still late!"
"Ow!"
"I told you to be on time today!"
Trembling under her smoldering gaze, Naruto rubbed his bruised chest. "S-sorry 'bout that, Sakura-chan," he chuckled nervously. "I know you said you're looking forward to today... I messed things up with my alarm, you know?"
"Oh really?" Sakura arched a brow, crossing her arms. "So you just overslept, huh?"
"N-No!" he took a couple steps back. "Well, kin—I mean… look."
Sweating under the pressure, Naruto hastily tried to explain what had happened to him that morning, but Sakura interrupted him when he neared the halfway point.
"Right. You tripped on 'something'. Very believable."
"But I rea—"
"Shut up."
Sasuke walked up to them, unfazed by the glare Naruto was sending his way. "We're already behind schedule because you're an idiot," he said, eyes then shifting to Sakura. "Questioning his excuses isn't any better. You two are only wasting our teacher's time."
The girl's shoulders slumped at the unspoken insult. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun…"
Between the interruption and insults, Naruto was just about to blow up at Sasuke, but his rival's last words gave him pause.
"Wasting her time? You mean… sensei's already here!?"
He looked around frantically, scanning the trees and the pink cherry blossom petals around him, but…
"Uh, I don't see anything."
Inwardly and for the billionth time, Sasuke cursed everyone involved in building his team. "You truly are hopeless."
"…Oh, you think this is funny, dontcha!?" Naruto stopped searching and began to march towards Sasuke, baring his teeth. "You liar! I'll teach you a—whoa!
Naruto jumped back as the petals that were scattered across the clearing came to life. A sudden wind picked them up, whirling them around the three genin before they converged right in front of an awestruck Naruto. With a flash, the petals disappeared as if they had never existed, leaving a displeased-looking Kurenai Yuhi in their place.
"I've been told you were bad with genjutsu, but I didn't expect for it to be to this extent," she let out a small sigh. "I know it's the season, but there aren't any cherry trees here, Naruto. Your teammates figured out that they were in a genjutsu almost immediately after they entered. I was here all along."
Kurenai expected one of three reactions from that: Naruto would either lash out at her defiantly as Kakashi said he was prone to, keep quiet but make no effort to hide a bad mood, or he'd cower in fear. She had been betting on the latter, knowing the effect her red glares tended to have on people, however…
"Wow…! You're beautiful!" he blurted out, making both of his teammates stare at him with wide eyes. 'Man, why couldn't we have her instead of Kakashi-sensei? She even got here on time!'
The earnest, unexpected compliment brought a hint of red to Kurenai's cheeks. "E-Excuse me?"
"And man, what a cool entrance!" Naruto continued, eyes sparkling with excitement as a thought struck him. "I didn't know you could teleport using genjutsu! You're gonna teach that to us, right? Right!?"
Behind him, Sakura groaned and Sasuke just shook his head, both muttering things involving the word idiot.
In front of him, Kurenai regained her composure.
"Firstly," she raised a finger, "none of you can perform the Great Flower Escape just yet." Another finger. "Secondly, I didn't teleport—I was just hiding in plain sight! Honestly… teleportation isn't something genjutsu does! Only ninjutsu or fuuinjutsu can do that."
Seeing Naruto gulp, Kurenai tried to calm herself. She had a bad habit of getting annoyed when people were ignorant about her specialty… undoubtedly, that was seeping through her expression and tone.
"Thirdly… thank you for the compliment," she gave him a small smile. "I could tell it was honest, and not an attempt to flatter your way out of trouble."
Naruto scratched his head. "So… am I in trouble?"
"Well," her smile gained a hint of mischief, "it's not my intention. Just this once, I'm putting the blame on Kakashi for being a bad influence. But you do need a reminder about what is a genjutsu, from what I'm seeing. Would you consider that as trouble?"
"Er, well…"
"He totally does," Sakura flatly ratted him out.
"Gah! Sakura-chan…!"
Unlike Sasuke, who merely rolled his eyes, Kurenai had to laugh at Naruto's panicky reaction.
"Before we get to our lesson, I want to know a little more about you three." She sat down in the grass and motioned for her newest students to do the same. Naruto purposefully sat beside Sakura, and to the girl's visible disappointment, Sasuke walked around her to put Naruto between them.
It made Kurenai quirk an eyebrow, but she refused to comment on it.
"Let me formally introduce myself first. My name is Kurenai Yuhi, current sensei of Team 8. I'm also known as the Genjutsu Mistress, not only because it's my specialty, but because I'm our village's strongest genjutsu user, which is why the Hokage chose me to teach the genjutsu lessons for the project you three are part of."
Usually, Kurenai couldn't help herself and would add that many had compared her aptitude with genjutsu to that of an Uchiha… but given the present company, she kept her ego in check—not that kids of their age would truly understand the comparison anyways.
"I enjoy reading in my free evenings, especially while drinking some quality saké... oh, and I suppose teaching my team is a hobby of mine too. Despite it being my job, I love sharing what I know with others. The only thing I can say that I truly hate is people underestimating or belittling me because of my gender. Now, what about you kids?"
Kurenai had finished her introduction with a smile, and it shrunk each time one of the genin finished their introductions.
Naruto's was mostly identical to the one he gave to Kakashi. Knowing how much the village as a whole resented him, Kurenai truly admired Naruto's desire to become Hokage, even if she suspected his reasons weren't the best. Most importantly, she already knew she would really need to help the boy today if he truly wished to lead Konoha in the future, and it made her excited to continue the lesson.
Sakura had modified most of her introduction, now that she got used to the idea of who her teammates were. Instead of yelling out "Naruto" when prompted about what she disliked, Sakura just described him in indirectly, without mentioning his name. While she still glanced meaningfully (but more subtly) at Sasuke when talking about her likes and future, she chose to mention studying and trivia games as her hobby, and despite sounding embarrassed about it, she admitted her only future goal was to earn money to help support her family.
While that last part was fairly respectable, Kurenai found the girl's mindset to be disappointingly mundane. Sakura had a lot of potential for genjutsu according to the academy reports, but Kurenai doubted that the girl had the drive needed to grow strong enough to be the next Genjutsu Mistress… or that she was taking her profession seriously in the first place.
Sasuke, like Naruto, changed almost nothing during his second introduction. The palpable anger and hatred that Kurenai could feel when he talked about the man he aspired to kill—whose identity was obvious to her—spelled out all kinds of tragedy for the boy's future.
It left Kurenai almost as worried for him as she had been for Hinata when they first met, but she had to swallow it down. 'If I don't do my job correctly now, he won't even have a future to worry about.'
Sasuke's ambition created a tense atmosphere that Kurenai had no choice but to try and break. "Now then. As part the Hokage's project, I will be giving you three a deeper course on genjutsu throughout the coming months. My main goal today is teaching Sasuke and Sakura the basics, and we will advance to more complex techniques in future lessons as you two become more proficient with genjutsu."
"Hey, and what about me!?"
Of course, the loudest genin of the team refused to be ignored like that.
Not that Kurenai hadn't expected the outburst. "Well, Naruto, your teammates have some aptitude for genjutsu, but you don't. I'm not saying it's impossible for you to learn genjutsu without an affinity... but tell me, which of the three academy jutsu made you fail to graduate?"
Scowling, he crossed his arms and turned his head away. "That stupid Clone Jutsu," he confirmed her suspicions. "But who cares if I can't do it!? Shadow clones are way cooler!"
"The issue is not that you can't, but why you can't."
Sasuke scoffed at those words. "Isn't it just because he didn't pay attention in class?"
"That probably didn't help, but Naruto's problem is with his chakra reserves and control," Kurenai said, turning to the boy in question. "If you have no problems with the Shadow Clone Jutsu but struggle with the Clone Jutsu… it means your reserves are very large for your age, and your control is poor. The Clone Jutsu requires very little chakra, so the larger your reserves, the harder it is for you to get the right amount."
A bulb lit up above Sakura's head. "So when I do a clone, it's like… 10% of my chakra, but for Naruto it would be about 5% or less… is that right, Kurenai-sensei?"
"Exactly," Kurenai confirmed, despite feeling that the proportion would be far, far lower. "It's much more difficult for someone born with such large reserves to execute a clone jutsu, and genjutsu would be even harder."
'So I had a handicap all along,' Naruto realized with a slight frown. 'Though I would've never learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu if it wasn't for that, so… I guess it worked out in the end.'
"Thus," Kurenai continued, drawing his attention, "today your job is to be our guinea pig: your teammates will cast genjutsu on you and you will be breaking them over and over again."
"…What!? But this is dumb!" Naruto yelled as he rose to two feet. "I don't want to be a training dummy!"
Kurenai sighed, closing her eyes. 'It seems I'll have to show him why this is important the hard way, just like with Kiba...'
"How's that even going to help me become Hokage!?"
"Ah, yes…" Kurenai also got up. "You did say something to that effect, didn't you?"
She drew a kunai from her pouch with a flourish and in slow, measured steps, began to walk towards him with a predatory glint in her eyes.
Before Naruto knew it, his legs were taking him backwards... but his teammates were as still as statues.
"G-Guys! Watch out!"
The only one to react was Kurenai, who smirked as she strolled right between Sasuke and Sakura. "Don't worry about them. In fact…"
Naruto's back collided with a tree that definitively hadn't been there before.
"Don't worry about becoming Hokage either."
When his eyes darted back to Kurenai, he saw her body distorting in a spiral pattern until it became a black mist that dissipated in the air
"She's gone…? But—what the!?"
The roots of the tree clamped up on Naruto's body, coiling around him like snakes and restraining his limbs. Not that he could move; the sight of a kunai held only inches away from his neck paralyzed him from head to toe.
"You can't do anything against genjutsu," Kurenai whispered from behind him, so close that his neck tingled because of her breath. "And you will never be Hokage if even a genin can easily trap and kill you with a mere C-rank illusion. But I have good news," she purred sweetly. "You won't have the chance to experience that feeling."
She shifted her grip on the kunai, aiming the sharp tip at Naruto's neck. "It'll be quick," she promised. "You'll feel cold for a while, but that's all."
Her arm reared back and Naruto screamed. His eyes closed reflexively when the blade darted towards him, plunging him into darkness.
…And then came the cold.
Naruto had closed his eyes only for one second, but the array of differences between these two moments of sight assaulted him so suddenly that it almost left him dizzy.
He heard someone laughing, almost hysterically.
He couldn't feel a tree pressed up against his back anymore, nor the roots that had restrained him. Instead, he only felt a flowing, cool wetness flowing down his head, making him shiver as it drenched him through his clothes.
His blond hair became a curtain that impaired his vision, but he could still see his teammates on the grass. Sasuke had turned just enough to allow him to see his infuriating smirk, and Naruto had to suppress that familiar urge to make his eye—which was shining with amusement—black in more ways than one.
On the other hand, Sakura was lying on her back, trembling from her uncontrollable laughter. "That," she wheezed, wiping tears from her eyes, "was just priceless…!"
A kunai sliced through the air from somewhere behind Naruto, burying itself by his feet with a dull thud. An empty water bottle soon followed, bouncing on the grass.
"Do you understand now, Naruto?"
He kept silent, which Kurenai took as a yes. She then moved around, standing between him and his teammates. "So, which one of you can explain to us what is a genjutsu?"
Sakura, who had yet to get up, raised her hand. "I-I'll do it, just… gimme a minute…!"
"Very well."
While waiting for Sakura to catch her breath, Kurenai went to recover her bottle and kunai, which accidentally put her face-to-face with Naruto. His posture and expression… they were guarded and angry at the same time.
It dawned on her that she made a mistake.
'…Ugh. Way to go, Kurenai,' she shoved the kunai and bottle inside pouches her dress kept hidden.
Seeing the distrust in his gaze, Kurenai realized she hadn't thought things through. Naruto and Kiba were similar, yes, but there was one crucial difference between them that her methods hadn't considered. Kiba took the water as a reminder of who the true "alpha" of the pack was, but Naruto's past would make him interpret that action very differently.
'I guess all that happened yesterday is still affecting me if I couldn't see something this obvious coming from a mile away…'
"Naruto?" she approached the boy and crouched to his level, keeping her voice in a low, soothing tone. "Can we talk for a moment?"
"…What do you want?" he asked with a bluntness that almost made the woman wince.
"Listen. I didn't do this to be mean or because I hate you, I just wanted you to understand how critical it is for you to do what I'm asking. I can't do much to make you stronger, yes, but I can help you overcome this weakness. Genjutsu isn't lethal by itself, but this can get you killed, Naruto. Do you really understand why I did all of this?"
He looked down.
Unlike when he faced Mizuki, there were no good news to make him forget about the lethality of the situation. He could see her point perfectly.
However… the humiliation that followed was not so easy to understand. From his perspective, if Kurenai's aim was simply to teach him a lesson he'd never forget, then there was no need for her to dump water on him like that afterward.
"… Yeah, I get it," he muttered, refusing to face her.
If he had, he'd have the guilt flashing across her eyes. Kurenai knew she'd have to somehow earn his trust, and she decided to start small.
"Can you give me your jacket, please?"
Though he eyed her woman with suspicion, Naruto unzipped the wet jacket and handed it over. To his surprise, Kurenai just wrung the water out of it and walked away to a nearby tree, on which she tied up the jacket and left it to dry.
A considerate gesture, but he wasn't fully convinced.
"Hey, and what about this?" he asked when she returned, looking down at his plain black shirt. It wasn't completely soaked, but much of its upper half was uncomfortably sticky.
"That? Er…" she motioned for him to come closer and whispered in his ear: "Your seal will show up if you use chakra. Sorry, but you'll have to bear it."
"Huh. I didn't know that… well, okay," he shrugged, trying to ignore the weird look the other two were sending their way. "The sun will take care of it, I guess…"
Naruto couldn't say he was happy about Kurenai or this "prank" she had pulled on him… but he had to admit, she knew what she was doing. Despite being 100% sure the lesson would be horribly boring, he was actually willing to listen to it—she proved to him how important this knowledge was. It was more that could be said from his old academy teachers, as even Iruka lacked the patience to explain these things to him.
The two then joined Sakura and Sasuke, and seeing that the girl had regained her composure, Kurenai motioned for her to begin.
"Alright," Sakura straightened. "To put it simply, a genjutsu is when you use your chakra to mess with someone's nervous system. You can make an enemy see, feel, smell, hear and even taste things that don't exist, distracting the person so the user or their team can finish them off or flee. You can make the illusion work on a specific person, group, or make it affect anyone within a certain range."
"Excellent!" Kurenai offered her a wide smile. "That's a perfect description of what genjutsu is. It seems you really grasped the concepts you were taught in the academy, Sakura."
"Oh, that was nothing special," the girl rebutted, idly playing with her hair in a show of embarrassment. "Anyone that listened a little in class could've told you that..."
Sakura's inner thoughts were nowhere as humble as she sounded. 'Hah! I'm so awesome! Now that even someone as renowned as Kurenai-sensei praised my intelligence, surely Sasuke-kun will—"
"Hn. That was just the basics."
'…agree with me…!?'
"Man," Naruto began, unaware that Sakura's spirit was crumbling into dust at that very second, "that stuff sounds really strong… there's gotta be a way to deal with it, right?"
"Of course," Kurenai said. "Genjutsu in general has two main weaknesses. Firstly, it's an art that requires much more chakra control and dedication when compared with ninjutsu and taijutsu of the same level, so most people that focus on it aren't as skilled with those other arts."
"Oh, I gotcha," Naruto cracked his knuckles, grinning. "You mean we gotta ambush 'em, huh!?"
"Yes. Your average genjutsu-user needs teammates to cover for them, and sometimes the teammates also rely on the illusions to find openings. But," she smiled cryptically, "an ambush is always advantageous, and not always possible."
The blond deflated, brows knitting together "Well, that's true…"
"That's where the second weakness comes in: the stronger genjutsu you'd see in battles tend to warp the victim's sense of time. If you spend an entire minute in an illusion, it's unlikely that even three seconds have actually passed in the real world… which gives you plenty of time to break the genjutsu and react."
Naruto's expression of unease remained unchanged, and Kurenai's soon matched it. "You… don't know about breaking genjutsu," she realized.
The review would take more time than she had expected.
"Knowing him, I bet he skipped that class," Sakura piped in, lips twisting in disgust.
Naruto only smiled sheepishly at that.
"Of course," Sasuke scoffed. "Typical."
"Shut up, Sasuke! Nobody asked you," Naruto snarled.
"Actually," Kurenai crossed her arms, "I'll ask it. Sasuke, can you explain to Naruto the two ways he could've escaped the Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death? You were the top genin of your class, so I trust you know that much."
The Uchiha met her challenge with a dissatisfied, bored look. "He could've stopped his chakra flow and then expelled the genjutsu's chakra out of his system, or he could've forced his body out of the illusion by recalibrating his senses with a strong external stimulus."
"Uhhh... Did you really have to use all those complicated words?" Naruto whined, frowning confusedly.
Kurenai opened her mouth, but Sakura was faster. "Naruto, remember that bit about genjutsu messing with your senses? You can get your body to 'wake up' if you stimulate any of them hard enough. It's almost always easier to work with tact: just bite your lip or tongue—it has to hurt—and you're out. If what Kurenai-sensei said earlier about your chakra reserves is true, you should probably just forget that stuff about chakra flow."
"Hm," Naruto scratched his chin. "Okay. That actually sounds pretty simple…" he muttered to himself.
"Well," Kurenai began. "Sasuke, your explanation was correct but Naruto has a point—keep your audience in mind when explaining things."
"It's not my fault he's an idiot."
"Hey! You—"
"As for Sakura," Kurenai raised her voice, glaring at the boys for a second, "your simplification was also correct, but I think Naruto is capable of doing the chakra flow method; we'll try that out later. Lastly," her eyes landed on Naruto, "you too are correct. Breaking out of a genjutsu is simple… but the real difficulty lies in figuring out you're in one.
"Now, before we move on to practice, I want to cover the last way to escape genjutsu: teamwork."
"Kurenai-sensei," Sakura's arm shot up, "can I explain that one too!?"
The woman chuckled in response. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I suppose I shouldn't let you and Sasuke handle all the explanations."
"Wait a sec," Naruto spoke up, "didn't you say there were only two ways?"
"I said two ways you could've escaped from an illusion," she corrected him. "Going back to what your teammates said: genjutsu works because a subtle amount of the user's chakra affects the victim's nervous system. Your body can't detect so little foreign chakra on its own, but when you stop your flow it becomes obvious. It's just a matter of pushing it out with your own chakra afterwards—how much depends on the genjutsu's strength. Do you three follow so far?"
They nodded.
"Good. If a teammate notices you are in a genjutsu, they can help by touching you and sending some of their chakra into your body. Since they aren't making any attempt at masking their chakra, your body will react and try to flush it out, which ends up destabilizing the genjutsu and breaking it. And… that's it for the theory. Any last questions?"
One look at their faces told her that all of them were confident in their understanding of the concepts they discussed. She didn't expect less from Sakura or Sasuke, but just to be sure, Kurenai spent a couple minutes quizzing Naruto on all that they had discussed until that point.
The result…?
"Bravo!" she applauded him, prideful. "You got all of them right!"
Naruto, unused to be praised, blushed and scratched his head. 'Well… I guess she's not that bad.'
"Color me surprised," Sakura commented off-handedly. "You actually paid attention for once."
"Yes, and I'm glad he did," Kurenai confessed as she calmly got up. "Now we can finally move on to practice."
"Great!"
In contrast to her teammates and Kurenai, Sakura practically jumped to two feet. "So we're finally going to learn some genjutsu, right!?"
"Oh my," Kurenai smirked, amused at how the girl was leaning forward with her fists pumped. "You sound surprisingly excited about this."
"Heh, Sakura-chan's been talking about learning from you all week," Naruto commented, earning a brief pouting glare from Sakura, who couldn't help but blush.
"Sorry Kurenai-sensei," the girl muttered, shifting in her feet. "It's just… I can't help it. Back at the academy, our teachers kept saying I could be great with genjutsu but they never taught any, and Kakashi-sensei just wants to focus on teamwork… but now?" she grinned widely. "I'll finally have cool jutsu in my arsenal! How awesome is that?"
"…Cool jutsu?" Sasuke just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're looking and sounding exactly like Naruto right now."
'…Huh?'
At that moment, alarm bells began to ring in Naruto's head. He saw Sakura' fingers trembling as she closed them into a tight fist, and though she still wore a pleasant smile, the odd way her wide-open eyes began to twitch twisted the expression completely.
He knew those signs.
Sakura's neck slowly spun sideways until she was facing Sasuke. "What did you say, Sasuke-kun…?"
As fast and silently as he could, Naruto backed away and took cover behind Kurenai, much to the woman's complete befuddlement.
"I… said you're acting like Naruto," Sasuke replied, his stoic tone betraying some confusion at the… intense way Sakura stared at him. "You were talking ab—hngh!?"
Sakura pounced on him, grabbing him by the collar in such a way that his feet actually left the ground.
"You jerk! How dare you compare me to Naruto!?" she screamed, shaking him violently. "I'm nothing like that idiot, you hear!? Nothing!"
"S-Sakura-chan, you're going to kill him…!"
The girl froze at those words. Her brain quickly caught up with what she had done, and when that happened…
"Oh no!"
"Argh!"
…She dropped Sasuke, who stumbled backwards, fell, and hit his head on the ground.
"Ah, Sasuke-kun! I'm sorry, I-I don't know what came over me," Sakura stammered, hurrying to his side. "Are you hurt? Is it bleeding!?"
Still hidden behind Kurenai, Naruto huffed at the scene unfolding in front of him. "If it was me it would be all punches and no apologies… this sucks."
Meanwhile, Kurenai closed her eyes to center herself and tried to make sense of the mess that was Team 7.
'Kakashi was completely right in his initial report. They have potential—'
"Dammit Sakura, get off me! You're annoying!"
"Sasuke-kun, please don't be mad at me! I didn't want to call you a jerk!"
Kurenai heard Naruto stomping towards the other two, growling.
"What does he have that I don't, Sakura-chan!?"
'—but as long as they get on each other's throats like this—'
"Shut up Naruto! Sasuke-kun's much cooler than you and—ow! That hurt!"
"Serves you right. If you listened to me the first time then I wouldn't have to push you."
"Hey, if you don't stop bothering her I'll beat you up!"
'—they'll never be fit for much more than a D-rank mission. This is a big problem...'
"Like you could even touch me, loser."
"What was that!? You bastard...!"
"Sasuke-kun, show him wh—!
"Enough!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
The genin silently moved away from each other.
"Disappointing," Kurenai crossed her arms, glaring icily at all three.
Both Naruto and Sakura looked away in shame, but Sasuke held a sour, defiant expression of someone who didn't believe they were in the wrong.
"Let's not waste more of our time," the woman sighed wearily as she took out a scroll from her pouch and created two Shadow Clones. "This scroll has a few extremely basic, harmless D-rank genjutsu. Sasuke, Sakura, today we'll cover two of the simplest ones. Naruto, you'll be their target so you can practice breaking out of genjutsu. Once I'm satisfied with everyone's progress, I'll start casting illusions on all of you so you can improve your attention to detail and practice how to get your teammates out of an illusion, and we'll keep that up until lunch break. Are we clear?"
Seeing there were no objections, the clones approached Sakura and Sasuke while Naruto flopped on the grass again to wait until his teammates were ready to experiment on him.
Kurenai didn't truly need the second clone, but this time she chose to keep herself free. She needed to think.
'These three will be in grave danger if they are like this during the mission tomorrow. Is there anything I can do to fix this situation?'
What Kurenai forgot that day, is that when one tries to fix a problem, they risk creating another…
A/N:
Before you people freak out: Hinata's panic attack is NOT because she fears that losing to Hanabi means being sealed. Her fear is about something else entirely, as you'll see next chapter. (I feel bad for setting up her day as something great only to drop that on her, lol).
This was our first look at Hinata, and I hope you guys liked my interpretation of the character. There's still a lot more to see, but I hope this showcases well the foundation of her personality.
This chapter's second half is setting up the basis for some of Sakura and Sasuke's expanded character development, and to a lesser extent Naruto's, but you will only see hints of where I'm going with this once I get back to Team 7 in chapter 4, though chapter 5 will state outright what my plan is. Hopefully the bickering wasn't too annoying...
And, well... hope you enjoyed the genjutsu talk, too. I like to touch a bit on mechanics because it's stuff I enjoy reading about, but that's not the only reason I wrote that. It's also an important lesson for Naruto (who truly graduated without knowing how to deal with genjutsu since Jiraiya taught that to him in canon).
As a brief note on Sakura, I thought that being compared to Naruto was a suitable "berserk button" for her. She prides herself on her intelligence after all, so not even Sasuke can get away with that particular comment.
Anyways, I hope you guys stick around for the next chapter, which will be exclusively about Team 8 and Kakashi!
Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts about the chapter!
Changelog:
v1.0.1 (10/25/15) – Same stuff as v1.0.1 from chapter 1.
2.0 (11/07/15) – Improved the grammar, as well as Hinata and Hiashi's characterization. Modified Kurenai's attitude according to reviewer ZeroKaze's feedback.
2.1 (11/20/15) – Small fixes here and there. Mostly focused on the flashback/dream, especially the part about Naruto. Added details about Kurenai's training in the A/Ns.
v2.1.1 (12/20/15) – Small fixes in the flashback/dream, thanks to my friend Levi for pointing them out!
v2.5 (07/05/16) – Restructured/got rid of some lines, erased typos. Altered some parts about Kurenai's behavior to make it clearer that Chapter 1's events were taking a toll on her, based on a few reviews.
v2.6 (02/12/17) – Fixed typos and restructured a few lines, again. Added little tidbits here and there.
v2.7 (07/02/17) – Deleted allusions to future events of The Last on Hinata's dream and modified a couple bits to match her semi-canon bedroom, which actually exists in the anime.
V3.0 (09/24/17) – Many changes to the structure to improve flow, grammar and consistency with later chapters. Particularly, Hinata's backstory now fully matches the continuity of C19/20, and much of the characterization for everyone was polished. The chapter's name was also changed to better reflect its content.
Hinata's dream: The sequence is less awkward, and much of it was rewritten. I showed Hinata's drive to please her father, expanded on the bullying, and all content from Naruto's POV has been eliminated since it's HINATA's dream. (Some of that stuff remained, transformed into her observations).
Hinata's present: Essentially rewrote the ENTIRE thing, though the greater sequence of events remains. Noteworthy changes include Hinata losing motivation for her training and regaining it because Naruto graduated, her crush towards Naruto has been toned down considerably in terms of what drives her to connect with him, some interactions between Hinata and the kitchen staff are now a thing, Hanabi's recent birthday was acknowledged the red scarf becomes more relevant, Hinata's training with Hiashi was made explicit, Hiashi's moment has a very different tone and ends with Hinata suffering a panic attack.
Team 7's scene: Mostly adapted to flow better. Sakura's violence was toned down considerably due to a few reviews, in particular Darth Onixia's, and the entire sequence between Naruto spotting his team and Kurenai showing up was changed. Sakura's introduction has extra details than canon's. Deleted redundant paragraphs about Team 7's skill set. Made the Great Flower Escape hit only Naruto (and thus I had to make Sakura's excitement about learning genjutsu come from somewhere else), his subsequent panic became less humiliating in the narration, and made Kurenai deal with Naruto's wariness ASAP. Significantly shortened the genjutsu lecture, eliminated the Sharingan references, made Sasuke trigger Sakura by accident rather than intentionally, and restructured the rest.