Because I Love You - Chasing After You

by The Flare Blade

Hiruzen knew that Tazuna's request was much more dangerous and important than it first appeared to be. He needed experienced ninja for the mission, but his hands were tied because of politics... until he sees a loophole. Using an educational project as cover, he will send two teams to Wave! A Naruto retelling with Hinata as a main character but with canon teams. (Ch1-5 revised!)

22. Chapter 22 - Reminiscensing over Ramen

It's been a while, eh?

Those that have visited my profile might already know this, but I decided to rethink my strategy regarding the revision-turned-rewrite. To avoid leaving my "current readerbase" (you guys are still there, right…?) waiting for new content for way, way too long, I'll be alternating between one new chapter and one revised one. In this case, the last revised chapter I posted was… Chapter 3. In February.

Yeah, College killed my productivity last semester (thank god that's finally over!), and Chapter 3 was a bitch to handle exactly like every single time I dealt with it in the past. At least I'm finally happy with how it's looking like, almost 3 years later. Please go read it sometime if you can! I'll talk in more detail about my absence in the profile, since that wasn't all that held me back these past few months.

But I will say you guys got REALLY lucky Fire Emblem Three Houses is not releasing this year.

So about this chapter, I'd like to sin a bit. Or a lot. There are two major storytelling no-nos that I'll be heavily relying on, and I hope they can cancel each other's failings by being used together. The title should make the first sin obvious. The second is… flashbacks!

Well, sort of. I feel reluctant to call them as such… you'll get why soon.

This chapter is dealing with the very last events leading up to the chunin exams proper (though we are still officially dealing with that arc's contents and the exam already is a plot point here) but some important things happened between this arc and the last, and chaining it all together chronologically would be a nightmare. I'll be alternating between parts of a single, big present scene and multiple fragments of past scenes, six in total.

There will be no *FLASHBACK* warnings, just simple, unobtrusive linebreaks.

Have fun!

---

The Chunin Exams arc

Chapter 22: Reminiscensing over Ramen (v1.0)

---

Three months had passed since Teams 7 and 8's return from their mission in the Land of Waves. Of all the bonds that had been made between the genin during that ordeal, none surprised Naruto and Hinata as much as the one they formed with each other.

Unfortunately, during all this time, they hadn't interacted that much. Between missions and the classes they had to attend thanks to the Hokage's project, their schedules hardly ever matched for too long.

This had been both a blessing and a curse for them. Hinata's shyness still got the better of her most of the time, leaving her to hesitate too much in approaching Naruto and then giving up when he began to interact with someone else. Naruto, for his part, still didn't know where exactly he stood with Hinata, who was still a mystery to him in far too many ways… leaving him to wait for her to approach him instead.

And yet, despite these issues, they both wanted to further their budding friendship. Naruto wanted to know more about this person who so easily accepted him even after discovering he had the Kyuubi in his gut, of all things, and that admired him as a hero. Hinata, meanwhile, had dreamed of being Naruto's friend for years now, not to mention she owed him that much for being such a coward for so long.

The solution to their little problem? Might Guy, Neji's teacher and their newly appointed Taijutsu instructor.

Or, in other words, someone that could leave them both so physically drained that neither Naruto nor Hinata could spare the energy to linger on their anxieties… and that also gave them the perfect excuse to spend some time with each other:

Hunger.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen! O-Oh…?"

Naruto and Hinata dragged themselves to the stools by the counter, not paying much attention to the waitress across the counter: a brown-haired teenager dressed in a white uniform, who watched the new (and only) costumers warily.

The waitress had easily recognized Naruto's bright orange pants from under the tent flaps the moment he approached the shop… but she wasn't prepared to see the usually-hyperactive boy looking like a zombie.

Or that he'd bring an unfamiliar girl that looked just as worn out as he did.

The two genin seated themselves and, almost as if they were puppets with their strings cut, flopped into the counter, groaning miserably as their heads hit the counter. They remained silent afterward, leaving the poor waitress confused and equally as speechless until a guttural noise cut the silence apart—the sounds of two stomachs loudly demanding to be fed.

"Alright," the teenager nodded to herself and turned away from her costumers, "I know how to solve this problem!"

Soon enough, she had in her hands two bowls of miso ramen filled with extra pork. Even though the costumers in question weren't even looking at her, Ayame still served them with a smile just as her father had taught her.

"It's ready and super delicious! Eat up!"

In a flash, the dead came to life.

The pair began to eat with such ferocity that the waitress was pretty sure she would've lost her hands if she hadn't let go of the bowls in time. Naruto devoured his ramen like someone that had gone without food for weeks, slurping away without caring for all the soup stains that his clothes were accumulating. The girl sitting beside him, the waitress noticed, ate with far more care and grace, but her eating speed was such that she actually put her empty bowl down a couple seconds before than Naruto.

"Ah, that hit the spot!" the boy said, beaming as he rubbed his belly. "Thanks Ayame nee-chan!"

The waitress giggled.

"I knew that would do the trick for you! Although," she turned to Hinata, "I wasn't sure what you'd have liked, missy, so I went with what Naruto usually asks since I figured that's the ramen he'd be advertising to anyone he'd bring with him. I hope it was good enough! I know that when we're really hungry anything goes so…"

"O-Oh no, it was amazing!" Hinata hurridly waved her hands in denial. "I can see why Naruto-kun speaks so highly of this place."

"I'm glad you think that way!" Satisfied, Ayame then shifted her eyes to Naruto again. "So why don't you introduce us to each other, Naruto?"

"Huh? …Sure. Hinata, this is Ayame nee-chan. She's not just a waitress here, you know, she's the daughter of the chef and a pretty good cook on her own right!"

"You can say I'm the heiress to this place!" Ayame said, beaming with pride.

Hinata was ashamed that all she had in return was a small, fake smile.

"Funny thing," Naruto continued, "cuz Hinata here is an heiress too! Of the Hyuuga clan!"

"Oh, my! Making useful connections, eh, future Hokage? You sly dog, you."

Ayame and Naruto laughed together, neither noticing Hinata's expression darkening for a moment before she grabbed a menu to distract herself.

That, Ayame paid attention to. "So, Hinata-san, I take it this means you want seconds like Naruto surely does? Anything caught your fancy?"

"Hmm..."

There were a few interesting options, but Hinata wasn't feeling very experimental that day. "I-I think I'll have the same again..."

"Okay, coming right up! While I'm preparing it, if you don't mind me prying, what brought you two here today? I know you're not teammates because Naruto already dragged the rest of Team 7 here a few times, and both of you looked like a chariot bowled you over…"

"You remember that post-academy training thing I talked about one of these days?" Naruto asked, and continued once Ayame nodded. "It's that; we had a special Taijutsu class today."

"Eh, training?" The waitress frowned. "But I thought genin had Sundays free unless they were on missions!"

Hinata decided to answer that question. "Our sensei thought we needed some extra classes... and Sunday was the only day available."

"Man," Naruto slumped on the counter again, sighing. "I was hoping that maybe this wouldn't be as tough as his normal classes, but I'm hurting even worse than normal… did he really need to have this going from dawn to lunchtime? Like, seriously?"

That was definitively something Hinata agreed with, despite her training being significantly lighter than Naruto's until halfway through the day. The only reason she was as tired as him was due to her significantly lower stamina.

"Not as bad as that first day, though," Naruto grumbled, a scowl taking form on his face.

"W-Well, once you start getting used to how intense Guy-sensei's training is, it gets… easier, a bit."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, briefly confused. "Oh, the training? Right, I know, but that's not it. I was talking about your cousin, you know?"

Hinata's eyes went wide. "N-Neji nii-san? He… went to your training?"

The storm clouds began to hover over Naruto's head again. "Yeah, that asshole was there. He wasn't in yours?"

She shook her head, the mere notion making her nervous.

"Lucky you, then. Just thinking about that guy makes my blood boil…"

"…What did he do?"

"He didn't do anything! And that's the problem! Listen…"

---

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Sakura's eyes twitched involuntarily, pure revulsion reflected in her expression. In spite of that, she just couldn't stop herself from staring at the green duo, who were hugging each other and were clearly overwhelmed by some intense emotion if their overflowing tears were any indication.

It was just the creepiest thing ever.

By themselves, Rock Lee and Might Guy already made her skin crawl just with how they looked. She felt guilty for feeling like this because she quickly understood that they were genuinely nice people but… they just disgusted her. She couldn't help it.

They both had huge eyebrows that reminded her of hairy caterpillars and wore their black hair in the ugliest bowl cut possible, only made worse by their deep green clothes. Really tight clothes.

On an individual level, Guy's overly large nose further ruined his face, and the less said about Lee's eyes, the better.

"How did I lose to this guy…?"

Sasuke's muttered words grabbed her attention, providing an escape route from her own thoughts.

He was lying on the grassy floor of the training ground that Team Guy usually frequented, rubbing his arm where a bruise was forming, courtesy of one of Lee's punches. Despite having his butt kicked, as Naruto had put a minute before, there was still a look of contempt reflected in his Sharingan.

Just as the thought of helping him up struck her, someone else got the same idea.

"Ugh, they're so embarrassing… here, take my hand."

That person was Tenten, the only female on Team Guy. The girl's brown hair, which matched her eyes, was short and held in twin buns that Sakura thought looked fairly cute on her. She wore a qipao-style, sleeveless pink blouse and green pants, and while her clothes were nowhere as… revealing as her teammate and sensei's tight garments, Sakura could easily see the musculature on the girl's bare arms as pulled Sasuke up.

It made her envious.

"I'm sorry about those two. When they get like this, there's just no stopping the waterworks…" Tenten said, to which Sasuke just made a noncommittal noise that got cut off by a whistle that came from beside Sakura.

"Man, I thought Bushy Brows was a total weirdo but he's kinda cool in a fight, huh?"

It pained Sakura to admit it, but Naruto was right. "Hard to believe he's only one year apart from us," she replied.

"You better keep that in mind," Tenten spoke up, smiling at them. "There's a pretty big experience gap between our teams, so it's only natural we'll be winning these spars without much effort. And there really isn't any shame in that."

"Ha! Well said, Tenten!"

Suddenly, Guy materialized near them, with Lee right behind him.

"That was an excellent display of the power of your youth!" the jonin boomed, offering a thumbs-up and a blinding smile to Sasuke.

"What? But he lost!" Naruto blurted out. "How's that any good?"

Guy laughed jovially before answering. "While victory is far sweeter, it's from defeat that we learn the most important lessons! Even if it's only where our limits lie, which I believe was one of the lessons your teammate has learned here."

Sasuke said nothing again, but Sakura was sure he was reflecting on what Lee had told him during their spar. 'Sasuke-kun was actually able to see where Lee was going, but he still couldn't react fast enough…'

And talking about Lee, the boy dashed over to them and smiled just as brightly as his sensei had.

"Please take Guy-sensei's words to heart, Sasuke-san! I'm living proof of how losing can help one improve themselves!"

"Exactly," the jonin agreed. "I'm sure the day will come where you are the one teaching a lesson or two to Lee."

"I… look forward to that day," Sasuke finally said, deactivating his Sharingan and nodding towards Lee, a small show of respect that the older boy eagerly returned.

"Now then, Naruto, Sakura," Guy announced, "which one of you wants to go next?"

"Me, me, me, me! Pick me! I wanna fight bushy brows too!"

Sighing, Sakura let her shoulders sag. She didn't even need to look at Naruto to know he was waving his arm and perhaps even jumping to catch Guy's attention, making her cheeks redden. Her eyes then met Tenten's who smiled, empathetic with her plight.

Guy shook his head, though his smile was still there. "Lee already had his turn. Instead… Neji!"

Blinking, Sakura realized she had almost forgotten that Team Guy had a third genin since Neji hadn't said a word to anyone and just kept to himself, leaning against a tree a little ways off from where she had been watching the spar with Tenten and Naruto.

"Hey," Naruto spoke up, "I've heard about you! You're Hinata's cousin, right?"

Neji didn't even spare him a glance.

"Guy-sensei," he said as he approached, "if this was all that you wanted from us, I ask that you'll excuse me so that I can train on my own."

The jonin's seemingly perpetual smile wavered.

Sakura knew things were going to go downhill right there and then.

"Neji, haven't you listened to what I just said to Naruto?"

"I did. And with all due respect, Guy-sensei, I disagree." The Hyuuga then shifted his eyes towards Naruto. "You. Were you your class's dead last, like Lee was for mine?"

Sakura cringed when a fire lit up in Naruto's eyes.

"Yeah, and what's it for you?!"

Neji's reply came in the form of a brief, but excessively harsh lecture about failures, geniuses and destiny that Sakura only half-paid attention to. She was too taken aback by how ridiculous it all sounded and by how Neji radiated such a conviction in his own words that she barely absorbed what he said.

'He's gotta be joking,' she thought, but Lee's deep scowl and the disappointment in Tenten and Guy's faces spoke by themselves.

It wasn't just disbelief that kept Sakura from paying attention to Neji. The older boy's words seemed to strike a nerve with Naruto, who shook with fury as the Hyuuga kept on and on. It made her decide to subtly move closer and ahead of Naruto just in case he became pissed enough to try attacking Neji, and to help keep him in check when he inevitably exploded.

To her surprise, it wasn't Naruto nor even Guy who interrupted Neji.

"Naruto is stronger than you think."

It was Sasuke.

She thought she heard a soft gasp from Naruto afterward, but Neji, scowling at the interruption, replied too quickly for her to be sure.

"And you're more foolish than I thought. How disappointing." Neji whipped his head away to face Guy. "Can I leave now?"

Guy remained quiet, staring Neji down while seeming to be mentally debating over pros and cons of forcing his subordinate to obey.

"…As long as you promise to focus on your training," he eventually said.

"I will."

With that, Neji walked away. Naruto by then had recovered just enough to throw a few taunts at the older boy, such as calling him a coward, but Neji refused to take the bait and just kept going without acknowledging Naruto, who was left bristling with anger.

"What an asshole!"

"Neji's behavior is most unyouthful, yes," Lee agreed, glaring at his teammate's back until he disappeared from sight. "Just try not to let him get to you, Naruto-kun."

"It's been more than a year now, and he still refuses to open his eyes," Guy sighed, shaking his head.

"Don't worry, Guy-sensei," Tenten patted the man's shoulder. "He'll come around eventually… but meanwhile, why don't you let me fight with Sakura first while the boys cool down?"

"Ah! An excellent idea! We are in a schedule after all. Sakura, if you will?"

The pinkette gulped. If Tenten was anywhere near Lee's level…

---

"…Then after Sakura-chan got her butt kicked, I got to fight Bushy Brows!" Naruto said, pausing to drink the broth in his ramen bowl, leaving it empty. "He won, but it was so close!"

Luckily for Naruto, Hinata was too distracted by her thoughts and her food to call him out on that little lie.

'So this is why it was Neji nii-san never went to the taijutsu classes… it wasn't because of me. Or, at least not just me.'

It brought her some relief, even if part of her felt like it shouldn't.

"So yeah," Naruto continued, "at least one good thing came out of that… ah, thanks!" he beamed at Ayame, who swapped the empty bowl with one full of ramen, and did the same for Hinata. "It made going through that ridiculous work out later worth it, you know?"

"But, um… didn't Sasuke-san come to your defense?" Hinata asked, making Naruto stop himself from digging in. "I… I think that was a good thing, too… don't you?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I guess. Maybe…" he shrugged, and then went back to his ramen.

Confused by his evasive answer, Hinata began to eat again as she reflected on it. 'Did I say something wrong? Or… did something happen between them? That seems more likely but… should I ask about it?'

In the end, Hinata spent far too long deliberating if she should or not press Naruto, and he took the lead instead when he finished his bowl.

"So this reminds me, I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?"

"What exactly were you doing with Guy-sensei earlier?" he questioned, voice muffled by a mouthful of ramen. "I was expecting you'd be doing the same things Chouji and I were doing, but Guy-sensei left Lee in charge of our training and…. well, cause of that it was hard to pay a lotta attention to what you were doing then. It got me curious."

Unlike him, Hinata took the time to swallow before talking. "Well, it's… a little complicated."

It took her until she had finished her bowl to articulate her thoughts enough to continue. "So, uh… you know how my clan has its own taijutsu style, right?"

Naruto nodded.

"I… you could say that me and Guy-sensei were trying to make some adaptations to it," she sighed. "It turns out my body is a bit at odds with the normal Gentle Fist."

Hinata then made what soon would prove to be a mistake: she continued to eat.

"Uh… what? But you look fine to me!"

She choked on her ramen.

"Aw geez." Naruto quickly slammed his hand on the girl's back a few times to help her out. "You okay?" he asked once Hinata stopped coughing, offering her a nearby water bottle that she had purchased earlier as he was talking about Neji.

"I… think so," she said, breathlessly.

He frowned. "You sure? You're really red… and hot too," he said, placing a hand on her forehead, making the girl freeze under his touch.

An amused giggle from the other side of the counter drew his attention away from Hinata. "Don't worry Naruto, she's fine! …That's what you said just now, wasn't it?"

"Uh, yeah," he shrugged, confused. "I mean, she's not missing an arm or a leg, so I don't get what could be wrong here..."

"Hmmm… so that's what you meant."

Ayame giggled once more, this time looking at Hinata, making Naruto glance at the girl again. He wanted to check if she was still so red—that couldn't be healthy, he was sure—but her face was almost buried in the ramen bowl as she continued to eat her meal.

Naruto was left with no option but to do the same. An amused Ayame was still smirking at him, as if she knew something he didn't, and he was starting to think he had messed up somewhere.

It vexed him.

Hinata didn't take long to finish her food, and by then she had regained her bearings.

"I… suppose I should start from the beginning…"

---

"Very well, show me."

With those words, Hiashi activated his Byakugan and his entire world went dark, despite the bright sunlight that seeped into the dojo via the open door to the courtyard.

"A-Alright… here goes."

In front of him was Hinata, dressed in her black training clothes and sitting on the floor like himself. In between them was the arrangement of bowls and water that Hinata had been using to develop her affinity in the past month.

Hiashi watched attentively as his daughter's charka flowed from her hand into the water, mixing with it until they overlapped completely. The water remained in the shape of the bowl as Hinata raised her arm and swiftly moved it to the second bowl. Her chakra never wavered; not a single drop fell during the process.

"Hmm." He took the first bowl, which was now empty, and examined the insides with his finger. "It's completely dry."

"Thank goodness…" Hinata sighed, relief washing away the tension in her body.

"Did you have any doubts?" Hiashi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh? W-What do you mean?"

"It seems you forgot that I receive periodic reports about your training," he crossed his arm, but held a neutral expression over the usual frown. "I knew that you had completed your training a week ago… I'm curious as to why you waited all this time before showing me the results."

She looked down, intimidated anyway. "I… I just wanted to make sure I could do it right."

Hiashi almost allowed himself to sigh. Even after their conversation in the graveyard a month before, Hinata still deeply feared his judgment… and he had a feeling that no matter how well they repaired their bond, that specific scar would always remain.

But rather than focus on his own shortcomings as a father, Hiashi chose to focus on his daughter instead: he smiled and allowed positivity to seep into his voice.

"Well then, you didn't just do it right—you did it perfectly. And… I'm proud of you, Hinata."

A soft gasp escaped her lips. The girl moved a hand to her mouth to hide how it hung wide open and made eye contact with him, disbelief written all over her face until the message finally sunk in. Her eyes then began to sparkle as tears pooled on them, but Hinata refused to let them fall, wiping them with her sleeve. She tried to speak, but her voice was stuck and the tears returned.

Hiashi decided to give her a moment.

"I'll be heading to the courtyard to prepare for the next steps," he said while getting up, and immediately turned his back on the girl. "You should have enough time to seal your equipment and place the scroll back in your room."

Leaving that suggestion hanging in the air—and wondering if it was his imagination or if Hinata had actually mumbled back a shaky response—Hiashi went through the dojo's open door.

He knew that his daughter liked to practice in a secluded area of the courtyard, near Hikari's garden, so he had to transfer what he needed from the usual training grounds to there. It was quick work, though a bit worse on his back than he had predicted.

'Time forgives no one,' he lamented.

It didn't take long until Hinata joined him again. Her face had no hint of the emotion or tears from before, only a mild confusion was apparent in her features as she scanned the object he had brought with him.

"A charka dummy?"

While normal taijutsu could easily be practiced on a wooden post padded with cloth or leather, the Hyuuga Clan couldn't train just with simple wooden posts to fully gauge the effectiveness of their art. Just the same, because of the pain and the damage, they couldn't reliably stick with human partners and spars. That's where the chakra dummy entered the picture.

On the outside, it resembled a human mannequin, covered by leather. Its inside was a reasonably faithful recreation of the human body, with bones made of metal while organs and muscles were made of a special wood that could absorb chakra for a few seconds, making it a perfect training tool for Gentle Fist users. That dummy, in particular, even had its own chakra network woven in—a custom-made modification that the First Hokage himself had helped make as a gift to the Hyuuga clan head of his time.

"We will be running a few tests today, but the first has nothing to do with the chakra dummy," Hiashi explained, motioning for Hinata to come closer. "Extend your hand and form a chakra needle," he said, activating his eyes again.

"Right."

The Gentle Fist was about injecting the user's chakra into the enemy, and for this purpose the Hyuuga usually form a needle-shaped structure from the tenketsu in the fingers to connect their attacks as the very first step to learning the art.

Bringing a minimal amount of chakra to her right pointer and middle fingers, Hinata formed two needles that connected to each other, which was a slightly more advanced form of the original technique. There was no difficulty here—she had mastered the technique years before.

Or so she thought.

"Your chakra needle is unstable, even at the base."

"…What?"

"It's jagged, to be more precise. It should be completely straight once the two needles join, but it isn't."

He released her hand, and Hinata wasted no time into weaving the seals for the Byakugan to see for herself.

"But… i-it looks straight to me!"

Hiashi scratched his chin. "Of course, your Byakugan is a farsight type like mine. It will take a while before your insight develops enough for you to see it, but I assure you, it is not as it should be."

She gulped. "Is… how bad it is?"

"Right now, I don't believe it changes much. You can't see it, and I would have missed if I wasn't focusing enough either. This is likely just the result of your affinity not being Lightning, which in turn means you have less control over this technique than the other Hyuuga." Hiashi then moved away from her and pointed at the dummy. "Let's test some more. Strike the dummy's brain."

With a small grunt, Hinata poked the dummy's skull and sent her chakra as far as she could. Skin and organs were easy to pierce, but bones—or metal—were a bit more resistant.

"Hmm… I see," Hiashi nodded to himself. "Hinata, you might want to consider training Lightning as a secondary affinity in the future. Especially if you continue to dabble in ninjutsu"

The girl looked back at him confused. She could remember Kakashi's lesson about the natures, and yes, Lightning would be useful to cover her poor match-up against Earth techniques, but…

'Wasn't me branching out of the normal style the whole point of this training?' she thought to herself.

She was reluctant to share this with her father, but he easily read her.

"It will be important for you, as a potential leader, to show promise with the normal Gentle Fist regardless of your nature," Hiashi said, bringing clarity to Hinata's features.

"Furthermore… right now, the way you apply chakra to your taijutsu is simplistic, but there are advanced techniques that consume more chakra and require it to be manipulated in more complex ways. These techniques are already hard for a normal Hyuuga to grasp, let alone one without the correct affinity. We don't know yet what kind of techniques you'll be able to develop with yours, but you might be forced to rely on traditional techniques depending on the results."

Hinata tried to not feel discouraged, but she couldn't help it.

She knew the basic taijutsu she could perform had crucial weaknesses, and that's where other techniques came in, such as the Rotation for defense. If her style turned out to be full of holes, not only that risked her time limit growing shorter, it also meant she was more likely to run out of chakra and become a burden to her teammates and whoever other people might be relying on her during a given battle.

Once Hiashi realized his words shook her, he quickly steered them back into track.

"Now, my daughter, I want you to try something a little different…"

Under her father's instructions, Hinata tried to mix the way she manipulated liquids with the way she could form a chakra needle… and they hit so many roadblocks from that point forward.

Hiashi struggled to translate his theory into practice for Hinata, whose feedback about what he wanted her to do was vague until he realized she was afraid to speak her mind and worked to fix that. Hinata also had her muscle memory, so to speak, getting in the way.

The biggest obstacle, however, was that she had to depend almost completely on her father's Byakugan and his instructions, as her eyes didn't give her the level of focus she needed to accurately manipulate her own chakra in the way he needed her to. That had been bad enough without it making her so frustrated in the process.

But after three long hours, they succeeded.

It turned out that the jags in Hinata's needle actually came from her Water affinity. When Hinata projected chakra without any attempt to constrict it into a form, there was a slightly wavy shape to it. Attempts to fuse two "chakra waves" into one made them realize that Hinata could twist and bend them fairly easily, with a flexibility far beyond what Hiashi himself could with his own needle.

That particular discovery had been the key for their success, as the waves were unstable and broke apart when they touched… unless the points of contact were the very tips. Thus, Hinata had to weave the waves around each other, in a thin drill-like spiral until they could fuse at the end. It was a complex shape, and it took Hinata almost two hours just to do it consistently since she couldn't see what she was doing… but she managed it.

However, that wasn't the end of their problems.

"Hah!"

Like before, Hinata sent her chakra into the dummy's brain but now using her new wavy needle. She then turned, looking at her father expectantly, and was met with unnerving silence.

"…Hinata," he eventually said, "I want you to strike other places in the dummy. Five or so different places, then the skull again."

She obeyed, yet Hiashi shook his head at the results. It made fear flash across the girl's features, but he quickly assuaged her.

"I'm not disappointed in you, it's just that my idea here didn't work… but I know what will."

Since Hinata's Byakugan was on, she immediately noticed when her father began to concentrate a fair amount chakra in his left forearm, making the limb grow bright to her eyes.

"I want you to strike at the glowing spot," he said, extended the arm to her. She hesitated at the thought of hurting him, but two seconds later Hiashi felt the familiar sting of his own technique.

"S-So… how is your arm?" Hinata dared to ask after another moment of silence. "Is there any difference?"

"I wasn't trying to look at the damage you made," he said, surprising her. This time, the same spot on Hiashi's other arm began to glow. "Our Gentle Fist is comparable to how a syringe works, wouldn't you say?"

"Uh…? I suppose, but…"

"This time, instead of sending your own chakra into me, I want to do the reverse. Try to drain my chakra."

Hinata seemed confused, but eventually nodded at him and tried her best.

…Hiashi smiled despite the pain.

He didn't have the best of news to share with Hinata but, at last, he saw what he had been praying for.

Potential.

---

Naruto gaped. "So you can, like, absorb chakra?"

"It's… more like ripping out chakra, to be honest," Hinata corrected. "If I try to use the Gentle Fist in this new way like I did before, I can still send my chakra into another person to hurt them, but I end up taking some of their chakra when I… p-pull it out, I guess."

"Cool…"

He chose that moment to shift his focus away from his food to glance at the girl beside him, only to see her poking half-heartedly at the food.

"You don't seem to agree with Naruto, though," Ayame remarked from behind the counter, busily washing a little pile of dishes while she still had the chance.

"Y-You see, this… modified Gentle Fist… it's worse than the real deal. Draining chakra isn't better than what I could already do, most of the time. A-And… my attacks don't go as far as they should, too," she finished with a small sigh.

"By far," Naruto said, "you mean, like, inside the target's body?"

Hinata nodded, taking a mouthful of ramen. She knew her chakra output, or damage output, would surely grow as she obtained more experience with the style, but the same applied to the normal Gentle Fist. In practice, there would only be a small gap between her effectiveness and that of another Hyuuga at her level… but that gap would still be there to haunt her nevertheless.

"Hmm. Hey, but you said you could curve your needle-thingy," Naruto spoke up again. "That sounds like it could be useful if you ask me!"

"That's actually the part that answers your question." Naruto regarded Hinata with a confused expression, to which she frowned a bit. "About what my training with Guy-sensei was about…?"

"Oh yeah! That."

"Well, you see… My father thinks I could maybe hit people even if they dodge my hands. B-But… the normal Gentle Fist doesn't mesh with that idea very well."

Naruto scratched his chin. "Hmm, so… that's where Guy-sensei comes in?"

"Y-Yes. My father thought that Guy-sensei, who's familiar with various types of taijutsu including the Gentle Fist, would be the ideal person to help me modify the way I fight. Right now, we're only experimenting with other styles to see if we can mix them with the Gentle Fist. Swipe motions, for example, but…"

Shaking her head, the girl trailed off into silence, which went unbroken for a fair while thanks to yet another round of ramen arriving to the counter. It gave Naruto a little room to pause and think, something he usually wouldn't do while eating, especially not with ramen! He didn't even register Ayame mentioning she was going to take a small trip to the bathroom.

It had been a while, but Naruto could still remember his first spar with Hinata, and how she fought mostly by thrusting or poking with chakra-laced hands. She'd have needed to miss him only by a couple inches to curve her needle and still hit him, if the size he had in mind was about right. It killed him a bit, but he could understand why Hinata was having doubts about it all.

Then, after glancing at her one more time and taking in the worry and fear shining dully in her lavender eyes, Naruto remembered something else….

"To me, Naruto-kun… y-you… you are a hero."

It was a precious memory, but now it only brought a frown to his face.

What kind of hero would he be if he left Hinata in that state? Even if he changed the subject or cracked a joke, that wouldn't help in the long run. No… if he did that, he wouldn't even be a hero: he'd just be a clown, like he was to everyone else.

Drinking the last bits of broth from his bowl and leaving it on the counter for Ayame to take once she returned, he turned to Hinata, fire in his eyes. "Remember how I told you that I've been living with big, old and furry ever since I was born?"

A little confused, Hinata nodded before she, too, left her bowl on the counter.

"Kakashi-sensei said to be that's probably the reason I have so much more chakra than normal. And, you know, that really sucked for me during most of my life."

Realization dawned on Hinata at that moment. "Your chakra control…!"

"Yeah," he allowed himself a smile, with a hint of bitterness. "If it wasn't for that, I could probably manage a normal Clone like you and anyone else can. But, you know, that would mean I wouldn't be able to do the Shadow Clone Jutsu until who knows when. And thinking about it, that would suck way more! I just can't imagine fighting without being able to use clones anymore, really. It's such an amazing jutsu and… ugh," he groaned, noticing Hinata was looking a little lost again. "Sorry, I'm no good at explaining things."

"O-Oh, no, no! It's okay, really," Hinata said with a panicky motion. It wasn't like she could claim to be great at that, either.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is… stick with this new style! Even if it's not working out right now, I'm sure you'll be able to make something really cool out of it one day! And… it'll be something only you can do! Isn't that awesome?!"

"…"

Hinata's only reaction, for what felt like the longest time, was just a silent shock. And Naruto wasn't really sure what he expected after his words sunk in. Maybe to be laughed at? Something along those lines, really.

Anything but that intense look of gratitude and admiration that Hinata shot at him.

It felt good. Really good. He definitively didn't say something dumb, at least!

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. I… I won't give up on this."

Her quiet promise made him pump his fist. "Now that's more like it!"

Laughing, Naruto treated himself to yet another ramen bowl that Ayame had ready for him. Hinata did the same, smiling the entire time and not just because of how tasty Ichiraku's food was.

That cheerful mood held strong until those bowls became empty. And a bit to Naruto's surprise, it was Hinata who got the conversation going again.

"I promised something similar to my father a couple months ago… but I needed a reminder."

It was so easy to give in to her dark thoughts, the feelings of uselessness, and even her cousin's bitter accusations… she hadn't even realized how half-heartedly she had been facing her training lately.

Again.

Shifting in her seat to face Naruto, Hinata bowed. "Thank you again, Naruto-kun."

"Aw, it was nothing," Naruto said, scratching his head. In an odd role reversal, it was he that couldn't hold eye-contact with Hinata for long.

"But… but even so, I'm not sure if I should focus on this right now..."

"What do you… oh, the Chunin Exams, huh…? That's next week, right?"

"Y-Yes, j-just eight days from today," Hinata said, looking conflicted. "It's so close now…"

"I guess that's not that much time to really try to get a whole new fighting style ready to roll," Naruto nodded to himself, then paused. "So wait, then what are you going to do?"

"Well… s-so, I was thinking…"

---

Sakura munched on her lunch angrily.

'Stupid ANBU… couldn't he have waited another hour or so before sending Kakashi-sensei away on a mission?'

Sometimes, even if a jonin has a genin team under their wing, they might still get called on for missions if the village required them. This usually left the genin to their own devices until a temporary teacher could be arranged for them a day later.

On a normal day, Sakura would be glad to take a break from the monotonous work of D-rank missions. That day, however, was a ninjutsu class day, and Sakura needed guidance to overcome a certain problem that came up when she tried to train by herself over the weekend.

'So much for that. Should've asked him in the morning,' she thought with regret. 'Now I'm stuck on a training ground without being able to train. I'll have to get Kurenai-sensei to help me instead… but that's not happening today, regardless.'

"What's got you so upset, forehead?"

Her eyes narrowed while the owner of that knowing voice approached her from behind and sat by her side. Sakura only glanced at her.

Just being near Ino Yamanaka had always made her feel a bit self-conscious…. or rather, outright inferior.

Ino had a fair skin and beautiful, lustrous platinum blond hair that she kept tied in a ponytail long enough to reach her waist, where her headband was tied up like a belt. It combined perfectly with her bright green eyes and her fashionable, yet practical ninja wear, which was predominantly purple and consisted of a sleeveless blouse and apron skirt that showcased her maturing figure perfectly.

Sakura really envied all of that. Her only consolation was her theory that Ino bandaged her torso to hide a bit of flab rather to preserve her modesty.

"It's your own fault, letting the mouse hog Sasuke-kun like that."

Sakura gave her rival a good glare and almost shared that theory with her. She was saving that insult for a special occasion—you don't call a fellow girl fat without being ready for bloodshed.

"Don't call Hinata a mouse, you pig. Besides, I'm not mad because of her, and she's not trying to do that kind of thing anyway."

"Oh really?" the blonde arched a thin eyebrow. "Hinata was training with water bowls like mine the last few times. There's no reason for her to try training with Lightning chakra like Sasuke-kun, other than trying to get close to him."

This time, Sakura turned away and actually paid attention to what was a few feet ahead of her: Sasuke and Hinata. Neither were done eating just yet; Sasuke was busy showing a yellow device to Hinata while speaking to her in hushed tones, occasionally pointing at one part of the object. The Hyuuga, for her part, seemed to be completely focused on what he had to say to the point where she completely forgot about the little bento she had beside her.

Internally, Sakura hoped that Hinata wouldn't be mad at her for sharing this with Ino, but she had to defend her friend. "Hinata wasn't supposed to have been born with Water affinity; her whole clan uses Lightning. She told me there are some techniques she'll basically never be able to attempt unless she masters that element… I guess she's trying to get started on that."

"Her whole clan…? How mysterious," Ino muttered in response. "Not just Hinata. To be honest, you got me curious. I was so sure it was about Sasuke-kun you're mad at right now, but even if that's not it, you didn't look upset any of the other times I tried to do something with him recently. Did you actually give up?"

Sakura allowed herself to smirk. "Did you get anywhere with Sasuke-kun?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then there's nothing to be upset about. Duh."

The blonde bristled. "It's not like you are any better."

"Maybe. But I'm not even trying right now," Sakura argued. 'Not overtly, anyway,' she added to herself.

Ino just stared at Sakura, trying to read her. "But you haven't given up."

With a noncommittal shrug, Sakura replied: "I got to know Sasuke-kun a little better ever since we were put in the same team, and I realized he's way too busy chasing after his… goal," she frowned, "to give romance any thought. He's too focused."

Leaving those words hanging in the air, Sakura went silent and resumed to eat, leaving Ino with little choice but to do the same.

Both of them ate like normal human beings and at a reasonable pace. That could go without saying, perhaps, but notably, it resulted in a certain someone wrapping up his lunch way before either girl got halfway through their bentos.

"Alright! I dunno about you guys, but I'm off to train!"

That loud announcement made Ino scowl, anger flashing through her eyes as she raised her voice. "Naruto, stop screaming while other people are trying to have lunch in peace! Geez…"

That brought a few comments from the other genin assembled nearby—meaning all twelve genin from the Hokage's project besides Neji, who had left when Kakashi got dragged away by an ANBU. They ranged from Kiba agreeing with Ino, Lee arguing that Naruto's drive was admirable and youthful, and even one Shikamaru Nara asking everyone to shut up because he was trying to sleep.

Naruto just offered a thumbs-up to Lee and a raspberry to Ino before he got up and crossed a small distance to where Hinata and Sasuke were sitting, ignoring everyone else.

"Thanks for the food, Hinata! It was amazing, as always." He then placed the bento box he had eaten from right beside Hinata, its rightful owner.

Sakura stifled a giggle. She saw in Hinata's posture how she grew tenser as Naruto approached, but that quickly melted away after that declaration, making her lips go from a flat line to a shy, proud smile, with a bright blush adorning her cheeks.

"T-Thank you Naruto-kun, I'm glad you liked it!"

Smirking, Naruto said his goodbyes to her and Sasuke, then the others, and walked away. When his back was to the group, Hinata shifted her eyes to Sakura. Finding the smile that was still on her friend's face to be adorable, Sakura offered the girl an encouraging nod, which only made the smaller girl's smile grow wider.

It faltered, when she made eye contact with Ino. The blonde offered a friendly wave, which Hinata hesitantly returned before Sasuke drew her back into their quiet conversation again.

"As you can see," Sakura said, glancing at Ino and replicating the overly self-assured tone the other girl had started their conversation with, "Hinata's not after Sasuke-kun."

"Noted. And I gotta say, forehead… good job."

The sudden praise threw Sakura for a loop. "Good… job? Er, what?"

Ino allowed herself to smile softly, her eyes still on Hinata. "You did what I tried to do before but couldn't."

Sakura blinked dumbly until it hit her. "You tried to befriend Hinata before?"

"Of course I did," Ino scoffed, but then her expression grew sad. "I noticed Hinata didn't have any friends when we were younger, she just hung back and watched everyone. She looked so sad and lonely, but whenever I tried to talk with her she just… clammed up. That, or she scurried away like a little mouse. I realized I was scaring her somehow, but I couldn't find a way past that… and I was a bit stupid back then, too," she shook her head. "I ended up thinking I was bothering her somehow and stopped trying to talk to her. I hoped that she would approach me when she was ready but I guess that sent the wrong message and I… to be honest, eventually I just forgot about Hinata. She blends in so easily…"

That last admission made a spark of anger surge within Sakura, but she stomped that fire out. She knew she wasn't any better, having barely noticed Hinata during their years together at the academy even though they ended up sparing or working together more than once.

"It wasn't just me," Sakura muttered. "Her team helped her a lot too… but you're right. It's so odd! It's almost like she lacked any sort of presence back then."

"Well, if you are in a field brimming with beautiful flowers of so many different colors… how are you going to notice one little bud that has yet to bloom?"

Sakura felt a chill running down her spine.

Those words… they reminded her so much of what Ino had said in what felt like ages ago, when they had just began their friendship and Sakura had questioned why she had bothered helping her.

"But did you see her smile just now?" Ino continued. "Or how she spoke with Naruto even though it clearly got her anxious? Someone's blooming… and it's an amazing thing to see happening."

When Sakura didn't reply, Ino grew curious again and noticed the troubled expression on her face and how she no longer was eating. "What's wrong?"

"It's just… this reminds me of when I was in her place. You helped me so much, back then, and not only did I never really thank you for it, instead I… I stomped all over our friendship."

Ino scoffed and looked away. "You scared Hinata's going to do the same thing?"

Sakura just shook her head, a little laugh escaping her. "Hinata's not like that. Besides, I ended our friendship because of Sasuke-kun… I don't see something like that happening with her, even if I become interested in Naruto one day."

It wouldn't surprise Sakura if, in that dreadful scenario, Hinata turned out to be supportive instead, regardless of her own intentions to chase after Naruto. If her friend would actually give up, though… that was an interesting what-if to dwell upon, but Sakura threw that thought out, unwilling to let it distract her.

This was on her mind ever since that day she had invited Hinata into her home for the first time, and she had to get it out of her chest.

"Ino?"

With a deep breath, Sakura faced her former friend, looking at her in the eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry."

Ino dropped her chopsticks, leaving it to fall into the bento box in her lap. "…Excuse me?"

"I said I'm sorry," Sakura repeated, more forcefully but just quiet enough to not let the others overhear them. "I'm sorry for being such a horrible friend back then. I... I-I actually miss what we had, you know?"

Cursing her emotions, Sakura forced back some tears. "I want to go back to being friends with you. But… I know you won't want that anymore so I… I at least wanted you to forgive me one day. I'd understand if you can't, but… I guess I just wanted to say this."

Her courage waning, Sakura looked away from Ino and focused on her food, but there was so little remaining that she was done faster that she wanted to be. It didn't help that Ino seemed content to let the silence between them stretch uncomfortably as she finished her own lunch as well. One wary glance told Sakura nothing—her former friend's face was stoic and unreadable.

It only made her more anxious.

When Ino began to get up, Sakura was sure she would have to accept the lack of answer as an answer in itself… until finally, Ino took pity on her.

"You don't deserve to be forgiven. What you did… it hurt a lot. I actually began to hate you for it."

Once again, Sakura did all she could to stop her tears from flowing.

"But hey," Ino kept going, "isn't that's what forgiveness is all about? About letting go, even if the other person doesn't deserve it?"

Sakura almost knocked her bento box to the ground scrambling to two feet. "Wait, you're saying—!"

"I'll think about it, okay?"

Ino turned away, accidentally whipping Sakura in the face with her ponytail.

"Oops. Sorry!" she giggled with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Before Sakura could realize that accident had been fully intentional, though, Ino allowed her gaze to soften. "And… I miss it too," she said in a small voice, before turning away from Sakura completely and raising her volume. "Hey, Hinata! Thanks for the meal!"

With that, Ino left a very shocked Sakura to her own devices and went to return Hinata's bento box. She exchanged a few words with the shy girl, who was caught off guard by the sudden ambush.

Sakura didn't hear what they spoke about—Hinata was always quiet and Ino lowered her tone likely on purpose, just to keep her curious—but she did catch how Ino winked suggestively at Sasuke at the end and glanced back at her before leaving to train by herself.

It made Sakura remember the day she earned her headband, when she had returned Ino's gift to her—the bandanna that helped her embrace her sizeable forehead rather than hide from it. She had promised Ino then that she wouldn't lose to her… and Ino had done the same.

She smiled. Maybe not everything would go back to how it was before she messed everything up… but that was okay. She'd be happy if she could earn Ino's friendship back, even if she one day lost Sasuke to her.

Not that she was planning to let that happen, of course…

---

"…Oh, I get it! That's why you asked Kakashi-sensei for that yellow machine thingy Sasuke had on him all the time after we got back from Wave, right? What's it called again…?"

"An ammeter, Naruto-kun," Hinata supplied helpfully. "We use it to see how much amperage we can generate with our chakra. I-It's part of the training with Lightning Chakra."

"Hmm… sure."

From Naruto's expression, Hinata guessed he didn't remember much of what they were taught during physics classes at the academy. She wondered if she should explain a bit of it to him, but Naruto didn't ask about it.

Still, he remained pensive. It made for an awkward pause—to Hinata—where she debated with herself if she should explain it to him. It sounded simple, but she felt she'd be risking him thinking she thought he was stupid or… something.

She'd have been happy to fill the silence with ramen, but a couple other customers had arrived and Ayame was working on those orders instead.

Unbelievably, she was still hungry. 'Or there's something addictive to this ramen…'

"So wait a sec," Naruto broke their silence. "Let me get this straight. Then you can still use the old Gentle Fist you've always used? It's not one or the other, but both?"

She blinked. How was that still confusing him?

"Uh, yes?"

"Sheesh," Naruto scratched his head. "Why were you even trying to make a new style at all then, with the exams right around the corner? That's actually dangerous, you know?"

Hinata lowered her head. "I… guess. But, I-I couldn't exactly ignore it. I know I won't be able to get the style working in time for the exam's start but… my father, he told me the exams have three parts. The first two are never the same but they generally let the teams work together. So I will have Kiba-kun and Shino-kun with me, but in the last part…"

Realization dawned on Naruto. "The last part is a one-on-one tournament, isn't it? I have this vague memory of something like that happening here, what… five years ago? It was the talk of the village!"

He frowned. He lacked the money to buy a ticket at the time, which left him bummed out for almost an entire week since everyone around him talked about the event constantly, before and after.

Hinata, too, was frowning, but for other reasons. "I… I think my team has a good shot at getting there. Our teamwork is getting better and better, and Kurenai-sensei seemed okay with the idea of us participating. But after that… I'd be on my own, and the whole village would be watching the fights."

"…Okay," Naruto crossed his arms, "but what's that has to do with you practicing your new style?"

"I-It's just… most of my clan will be there, watching," Hinata explained, sighing. "If I really get to the third round, the single month we have between the first two parts and the last won't be enough for me to show I got anywhere with my modified Gentle Fist. And I need to show them something…"

"You do? But why? Wouldn't it be better to, I dunno… focus on what you already know so you have better chances to win?"

Hinata began to play with her fingers, avoiding Naruto's gaze. "It's… clan stuff. C-Complicated stuff. I'm not sure I'd be able to explain it… sorry."

"Nah, it's fine," he waved her off. "Clan stuff sounds boring too. Yuck!"

Naruto then made an exaggerated grimace, making Hinata laugh. "It really is!"

Her mood improved even further when Ayame placed yet another ramen bowl in front of them. "Dig in!"

Neither Naruto nor Hinata hesitated to obey that order.

They were so focused on the food that, unlike Ayame, they never noticed someone else eventually entered the stand right before they were done eating.

The person was struck with surprise at seeing these two specific genin eating side-by-side. Pointing at them incredulously, the person mouthed to Ayame the following question: "Am I interrupting something?"

The waitress struggled to hold her giggling in check as she mouthed back: "Not today, at least."

Before the person could process that information, Naruto placed his empty bowl on the counter, sighing. "Man, I'm almost full."

He then burped, in a loud and drawn out way that was impossible to ignore.

"Haha, see?" he said, smirking towards Hinata, who... was awkwardly trying to hide her disgust, making the person behind them shake their head.

"It's been months since I last saw you and your manners are still as poor as ever…"

Hinata, who was about to offer her bowl back to Ayame, froze. She remembered that voice, and Naruto confirmed her thoughts.

"Iruka-sensei!"

She turned around to see Naruto had already jumped out of his seat and that, yes, the familiar voice belonged to their former academy teacher, Iruka Umino. Between his brown ponytail and the scar across his nose, it was impossible to mistake him for anyone else, but Hinata had been unsure for a second or two. For the first time in her life, she wasn't seeing him in his uniform, but a more casual, dark grey clothes—it made sense to her, since there were no classes on Sundays.

While Naruto had a 1000-volt smile on his face, Iruka was frowning a bit. "Still eating like a wild animal, I see. What am I going to do with you, Naruto?"

"Aw, come on. It was just a little, innocent burp…"

Sighing—and muttering that Naruto was a lost cause—Iruka shifted his focus to his other former student as he made his way into the stand.

"And I have to say, this is a surprise. Hello, Hinata," he greeted her, smiling gently. "And hello to you too, Ayame! I met your father in the bank just now—from the size of that line, I don't think he'll come back anytime soon."

In order to keep up with the erratic schedules from the village's ninja, Konoha's banks were always open, even on weekends and holidays, which sometimes resulted in massive lines during those "off-days"…

But Ayame was already expecting that, and only smiled confidently. "It's okay, I can hold the fort for a while! Now, the usual, I take it?"

Iruka nodded to her and went to sit beside Hinata, leaving the girl between him and Naruto once the latter sat down soon after.

"Um… H-Hello, Iruka-sensei," Hinata offered timidly.

"While I was kinda hoping I could run into Naruto by coming here, I wasn't expecting to meet you here as well."

Despite Iruka saying that with a bit of laughter in his voice, Hinata took it in the complete opposite way. "I-I-I can leave! If, if you n-need to talk with Naruto-kun in partic—"

"Hey, calm down…! No need for that!" Iruka cut her off. "This is even better actually! I have the chance to catch up with not one, but two of my students!"

"Ah." She felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks, and Naruto, who chuckled at her expense, wasn't helping matters.

"She's kinda silly like that, you know?"

If only Hinata had a turtle shell to crawl into…

"Like I said," Iruka cleared his throat, "this is a surprise. You two weren't friends back when you were my students. How did this happen?"

At that, Naruto and Hinata both went on to briefly explain about the Hokage's project, and more specifically, the part about their extra training with Guy that they had shared with Ayame earlier.

"I see... it's a pity Chouji couldn't join us as well," Iruka said.

"He got wrapped up in clan business," Naruto explained. "Was pretty bummed out about missing on the ramen, too." He then nudged Hinata. "Like I said: yuck!"

The two shared a laugh, leaving Iruka to smile at them as he considered his options.

He had always known about the girl's crush on Naruto, but Hinata hadn't ever approached the boy before… or anyone else. He had attempted to encourage her to socialize when she had been his student, going so far as putting her in groups with people he knew were nice and friendly, but that had never worked out. She had put up too many walls, and nobody had bothered enough to break them all.

It was one of his greatest failures as a teacher, but now there she was, hanging out with Naruto like normal friends would. It sparked his curiosity, but Iruka couldn't find a way of broaching the subject without risking a negative reaction from Hinata. He didn't know how much she had grown in that regard, but putting her in the spotlight or pressing her had never worked well in the past.

Thus, he chose his original plan… all while keeping an eye on Hinata's reactions. It was a sneaky, roundabout way of getting some answers if he played his cards right.

"So, Naruto! It's been a while," he began.

"Yeah! Ever since the team assignments, right?"

"I trust you've been taking good care of my old partner?

Smirking, Naruto took off his headband and showed it to Iruka, as well as Hinata who was between them. "See? I polish it every other day! Though it was a bit worn out already… not much I can do about that."

Iruka laughed. "It seems I had nothing to worry about there!"

Hinata then glanced at him, unsubtly searching for his headband. Being off-duty, Iruka wasn't wearing it… but if he had been, she'd fin d one that was shiny and with barely any marks of wear much like her own.

'So he hasn't told her about how he graduated,' Iruka realized. Thus, it meant they couldn't be that close, right? Only a small part of the Mizuki incident was actually sensitive information… and Hinata didn't try to satiate the obvious curiosity in her eyes either, further proving that theory in his mind.

"And how are your teammates treating you two?" he continued, focusing on Hinata to prompt her to go first.

To his pleasant surprise, she answered him with a gentle smile. "Kiba-kun and Shino-kun have been wonderful to me, Iruka-sensei. They are always there for me, helping me whenever I struggle to keep up o-or when I make a mistake… they've been good friends. I-I know I don't have a lot of… uh, experience, to say something like that… but still! I'm really glad you put us three on the same team!"

Iruka found himself smiling as well. "You don't know how happy I am to hear this from you, Hinata."

He had worried before about how Hinata would fare whenever Kiba and Shino had personality clashes and if they would shut her out, but he began to feel that maybe it was for the best that his original plan for Hinata's genin team hadn't worked out. He shouldn't have doubted Hiruzen's wisdom… but there was a second side to that equation.

A much, much more worrying side.

"And what about you, Naruto? Getting along with Sasuke and Sakura?"

Ayame chose that exact moment to deliver the trio's orders, and Iruka was fully expecting Naruto to juggle eating and answering his question with insults toward Sasuke mixed with praises aimed at Sakura… but the blond surprised him.

"I guess," he shrugged, and then devoted his attention to his food. It was impossible for Iruka miss how he didn't devour the ramen instantly. He was almost eating like a normal person, and his expression was rather neutral… nothing like the happy grin he wore when eating his favorite food.

'Weird,' Iruka thought. 'Is he hiding something…?'

Before he could grill Naruto, though, Iruka noticed Hinata wasn't eating at all. She wore a troubled expression, and Iruka could feel from her nervous body language that she wanted to say something.

Iruka decided to wait, and it paid off a few seconds later after Hinata took a silent, deep breath.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Wut?" he replied with his mouth full.

They made eye-contact, but Hinata held firm and didn't look away. "Something has happened between you and Sasuke-kun… hasn't it?"

Naruto stopped eating. He glanced at Iruka behind her, who nodded in silent encouragement.

"I… guess it's more like something didn't happen."

'…Oh no,' Hinata thought. While Iruka was still in the dark, she had a feeling she knew the cause of whatever conflict was going on between Sasuke and Naruto…

---

"Huh… neat," Naruto whistled, impressed. "I'm surprised you of all people remembered that stuff about first-aid they taught us last year. Heck, I'm surprised you were even awake for it…"

The person he was addressing just sighed.

To many, Shikamaru Nara was easily described with only a single word: lazy. It was rather easy to make that assumption, especially if they were privy to how he behaved during classes.

And Shikamaru… he couldn't exactly deny it. But he liked to think of himself as someone who, instead of being lazy, just managed his energy efficiently by making one very deliberate life choice: don't put any more effort into something than what's strictly necessary.

Laziness was just an indirect result of many things not being of any importance whatsoever to him to begin with... which included most of the classes he had slept through. He had easily recognized the content that would just be unnecessary to his life as a ninja or was just common sense, and as such, only devoted those classes enough attention to not fail the final exams.

First-aid was not one of those classes, and Shikamaru knew he had made the right decision as he gave one last look at his childhood friend's bandaged arm. There wasn't much light to help him since the sun was almost out, but he had managed it nonetheless.

"Thanks Shika!" Chouji said. "You're a lifesaver…!"

"Just make sure you won't move that arm too much. It'd be too troublesome to do all of that again," Shikamaru muttered while preparing to seal back the wad of bandages and other utensils he had taken out of the first-aid scroll to patch Chouji up.

"It's stinging a fair bit, so unless you give me some food I'm going to pass on moving it," the Akimichi laughed, still riding on the relief of surviving that encounter without a severe injury.

Not that Shikamaru could blame him. From the size of the gash, he knew his friend was really lucky that the damage caused by the bandit's butcher knife had been minimal.

"Hang in there, Chouji," Naruto said, placing a hand on the bigger boy's shoulder. "And, uh, sorry for not being able to help."

"It's okay! You were close, sure, but you had your own fight to win," Choji waved him off with his good arm. "That guy was giving you a lotta of trouble, huh?"

Naruto groaned. "Yeah, he was way too fast! I got lucky that I managed to trick him with my clones there at the end…"

"Is that so, Naruto?"

A new voice rung out from behind the trio. One that was usually stoic, but now held a hint of challenge to it.

Naruto seemed to have subconsciously detected that and turned around with his arms crossed. "Yeah. What, here to brag about how you got three of them on your own, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, and Shikamaru knew right there and then that Naruto had the wrong idea… so he butted before they ended up in a troublesome situation. "You're back, but where's Asuma-sensei?"

Sasuke had gone to help Asuma (Team 10's sensei and the commanding officer for the mission) to tie up the unconscious bandits, but he had returned alone.

"He's in the leader's tent searching for the missing goods we were sent to retrieve," Sasuke answered, pointing at the tent with his thumb. "It's not a big place so he told me I could go back."

Shikamaru nodded, and then watched as his attempt at avoiding troubles began to go down the drain.

"It's funny," the Uchiha focused on Naruto once more, his features tightening. "I saw a bit of your fight, and yes, the guy you fought was fast. But you defeated faster before."

The blonde visibly tensed, which drew Shikamaru's attention. 'Out of everyone that graduated, only Chouji's slower than Naruto…'

"You mean that A-rank mission you guys took with Team 8 a couple weeks ago, right?" Chouji questioned, oblivious to the growing tension in the air. "Kiba told me all about it and—!"

"No he didn't," Sasuke cut him off. "Kiba didn't see when Naruto and I fought a masked ninja in the bridge. That guy was much faster than these bandits we just fought, and he defeated me. But Naruto won against him."

"Y-Yeah? So what? The spotlight can't be on you all the time…"

Yet another oddity presented itself to Shikamaru: the way Naruto unconsciously took a step back after those shaky words. He had never seen the blond intimidated by Sasuke before, Naruto always reacted with overconfidence or defiance… even though he had never beat Sasuke.

Except that it seemed like he had a victory over his rival now. The Naruto he knew would never stop bragging about that! And yet… he wasn't.

What didn't surprise Shikamaru, however, was how Sasuke allowed some anger to seep into his words thanks to his unhelpful teammate forcing him to spell it out. "How could you struggle against that nobody when you managed to defeat Haku, who was much faster?"

Naruto didn't answer, his lips held in a tight line. He held Sasuke's gaze, though, as if he could make his rival back off by staring him down.

This brief silence was enough for even Chouji to feel something was wrong. Keeping his voice down to a whisper, he tapped Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Should we do something?"

The Nara scoffed. That was exactly what he had been wondering… but ultimately it didn't matter. Naruto's features shifted as if he had just remembered something, then he smirked.

"You know what? Fine! I'll spill the beans."

…And that's exactly what Naruto did.

Shikamaru brought his palm to his head. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. His words went by unheard thanks to Chouji, who had burst out laughing.

From the corner of his vision, he could barely see one Asuma Sarutobi exiting the camp's biggest tent from a fair distance away, with a big sack thrown over his shoulder.

The Akimichi struggled to regain his breath. "I can't believe you actually tried that out!"

Unlike Chouji, Sasuke was not amused and glared at Naruto. It was easy to see that the Uchiha took that… claim, as an insult to his own intelligence. But Naruto didn't notice that, as he had turned to address Chouji.

"C'mon, nothing else was working!" He then gave them a proud smirk. "Luckily, I had a genius idea and got us through."

"It has something to do with "the demon", doesn't it?"

At that moment, Shikamaru witnessed two things happen.

Number one, Naruto's smile vanished. His expression… it reminded Shikamaru of something he saw frequently whenever he played shogi with someone besides his father: the face of someone who just realized they were going to lose and there was no way out.

Except there was genuine fear woven in, meaning there was something important at stake for Naruto… something Shikamaru couldn't figure out.

"I found what we were looking for, boys!"

But whether or not whatever Naruto feared would happen, they would never know. The second thing that happened in that instant was Asuma's arrival.

"Now how about we set off for home?" Asuma asked with a small, strained smile. "I already sent a messenger bird ahead, so we won't have to worry about those loafs."

"Um… Asuma-sensei," Chouji meekly raised his good hand. "N-Not that I want to do that, but should we really leave them alive? I know you tied them all up, but still…"

The jonin scratched his beard. "That's how these missions usually go, but remember our briefing? These guys aren't just any bandits; we suspect they are part of a much larger group hounding this region, so they have to be taken for interrogation in case one of them has good intel for us."

Sasuke grunted, tearing his gaze away from Naruto's back and onto Asuma instead. "So the ANBU will pick them up?"

"Yes… and since I've got the goods stolen from our clients here," Asuma patted the sack, "we've nothing to do but to return home. So let's go! If we make a good pace we can be back in time to eat something in Yakiniku Q after the debriefing. What do you say, boys? It'll be on me!"

With Choji's loud cheers drowning Naruto's muttered rant about how Ichikaru would've been a better choice, the group began the trip back to Konoha.

Asuma breathed a subtle sigh of relief that didn't escape Shikamaru.

One hour later, they were by the Hokage's Tower, waiting outside the office for their turn to be debriefed. It wasn't a tense trip, as the chatter about food had yet to end.

And Shikamaru had his sensei to thank for that. It had been only a glimpse, but he had seen when Asuma left the bandit leader's tent with a sack on hand. 'He reached us too fast… something made him want to hurry and it can't be food.'

Glancing at Sasuke, who was leaning against a nearby wall, staring at the night sky from a window, Shikamaru frowned. 'Could it really have been… the demon?'

That was something that had bothered Shikamaru for years now. He hung out with Naruto on occasion when they were younger, and the way some villagers reacted to the blond didn't go by unnoticed. The most mysterious of all being the associations with a demon…

Naruto had never reacted to any of those before, but Sasuke got through whatever walls he had built up. If not for Asuma's intervention—one done on purpose, at that—maybe he could've gotten more clues to solve this mystery.

One part of him felt that it was way too much trouble... that he should just ignore it. Naruto wasn't even that close to him after all. But another tried to convince him that there was something important going on.

This situation surrounding Naruto… it wasn't normal. Not even his own parents would talk about the subject, though they had encouraged him to make his own conclusions about the village's top prankster. The problem was getting to that conclusion.

Shikamaru sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be getting there today, again.

…But someday, surely. This puzzle couldn't elude him forever.

Perhaps he was just missing something obvious, after all.

---

He had been wrong.

Iruka had just realized he had been massively wrong and couldn't believe his ears and eyes. A glance at Ayame from over the counter told him that this really had happened, because she seemed just as shocked as he was. The only difference is that she had her hands over her mouth while Iruka hadn't stopped his chin from hitting the floor.

It was fortunate that they were the only customers in Ichiraku right then, because Naruto had just openly spoken about the Kyuubi sealed inside him. With Hinata in earshot. And the girl acted like she—no, she knew about it! And Naruto knew that she knew!

It blew his mind.

"I-Iruka-sensei?"

"Ayame nee-chan? What's wrong with you guys?"

The waitress spoke first. "Isn't there a law saying we can't tell anyone about that…? One where the punishment for breaking it is death…?!"

The fear in her quaky voice finally made Iruka's brain start working right again. "Oh no," he motioned for her to calm down. "That law exists, yes, but it doesn't apply to Naruto himself. He wasn't supposed to know just yet but… things happened."

Iruka then turned to face his students, eyes on Hinata. "You weren't supposed to know about it either."

The familiar heat of shame crept up on the girl's cheeks, making her avert her gaze. Iruka raised an eyebrow at that and stared at Naruto instead, prompting the boy to briefly tell the last events of the mission in the Land of Waves.

Suddenly a lot of things began to make sense to Iruka. Instead of telling about his secret on his own, it took Naruto but two slip-ups for him to have to tell the truth to Hinata, despite them not being very close to each other.

Naruto had omitted most of the heart-to-heart they had by Haru and Zabuza's graves, but it was easy for the chunin to assume that was where his bond with Hinata had sprouted from. He had told her about the fox, she hadn't rejected him, and they were even hanging out months later… Iruka couldn't believe it took something that drastic for them to become friends.

And he couldn't believe how risky it all was.

"Naruto… you need to be more careful," Iruka scolded him. Not in a tone of anger, but one of worry. "You got really lucky that it was Hinata who overheard you and that you could explain the situation without any issues."

Ayame nodded emphatically. "It's not that much of a problem here in the village, where only the kids around your age and younger don't know. But outside? Naruto, someone could even try to kidnap you because of this! Or worse!"

Naruto gulped, paling. "O-Or worse…?"

A little color returned to his cheeks when his voice came out high-pitched and not at all manly, but it went away quickly as he noticed Hinata seemed distracted and hadn't noticed his moment of weakness.

The word "kidnap" brought awful memories to the girl's mind. But, even worse, it brought a question that she was too afraid to ask right then.

'Is it possible that someone could steal the Kyuubi from Naruto-kun, like how I could have my Byakugan stolen?'

"But… you know, I'm glad this happened," Iruka continued, bringing her back to reality. "I always felt you two could become good friends, so at least something nice came out of what happened on that mission, huh?"

Hinata couldn't help her smile. She dared to glance at Naruto, and while he wasn't as radiant as normal was, she was happy to see his lips had turned up a bit and his frown was gone.

Then his eyes met hers, locking her in place.

"We don't know a lot about each other yet," Naruto began, "but I'm glad too. I think we'll be great friends!"

Her cheeks reddened like they always did, even as Naruto changed the topic back to Sasuke.

"It's a pity that had to come with Sasuke being on my tail about that battle," he sighed. "During the mission, I could tell he was trying to be a bit nicer… I thought maybe we could really become friends, you know? But now…"

"Hmm," Iruka scratched his chin. "Is Sasuke constantly pressing you like that?"

That question went unanswered for a couple minutes, and that was due to two things: Ayame bringing yet another round of ramen to the trio… and because of Hinata, once again, being too hesitant to say what she wanted to say.

'Naruto-kun said Sasuke-san came to his defense that time,' she thought as she ate, remembering their conversation about Neji from earlier. She could also call brief moments across the many other days of training they shared together, where Sasuke would offer to help his ex-classmates if he was ahead enough (which was often the case). That sometimes included Naruto, and Hinata hadn't spotted any tension between the two in the occasions she was paying attention to.

Most of all, she remembered Sasuke's inquires about "the demon", way back when they were travelling to Wave with Tazuna. 'He seemed a bit worried about Naruto-kun back then… but now he seems to be upset about it too.'

That train of thought ultimately lead her nowhere, cementing in her mind that she chose correctly in keeping quiet.

She sighed, pushing her empty bowl away from herself. Naruto finished seconds later, and finally answered Iruka's question.

"Honestly, no. He's kinda trying to be nicer these days, and we're even working well together. But then out of nowhere he starts asking those questions again. It always catches me off-guard," Naruto told them with a scowl. "It's actually been a while since he last tried though… almost a month now."

That didn't bring him any comfort. Sasuke definitely wasn't going to give up on getting an answer, he could bet his fluffy night cap on it.

"Surely Kakashi must have pulled him aside and said something to calm him down," Iruka guessed.

While Hinata nodded, finding that to be fairly reasonable, Naruto just shrugged in response. "Maybe. Kakashi-sensei can be so detached at times it's hard to see him going out of his way to fix this."

Then a memory came to mind. It seemed like such a remote possibility, but the timing… that had happened right after Sasuke had last confronted him about his secret.

'Could it really have been… him?'

---

One of the few absolute rules of the world was that everything eventually came to end.

Haku was no stranger to having to leave his old life behind and start anew. This would be the fourth time he had to go through that, but for once, he had the time to linger on how he felt. To dwell on what-ifs.

"Konoha will welcome you with open arms if you choose to stay here," the Hokage had said to him when they first met.

Haku had doubted that. Growing up in the Land of Water, how couldn't he?

But as the days passed, Haku was able to observe Konoha and its citizens and he realized that, yes, this place was different. Even when around those with pale, white eyes like the girl that had clashed with Haru, nobody treated them worse for it. Neither adults nor kids treated their peers any worse for having a bloodline.

…Well, that was a lie. Haku was sitting on a bench by one of the village's walls, which was close to a park. A few minutes before, he had heard a few kids playing in the park and one had teased another about their "pale, weird eyes". So maybe it wasn't perfect, but… compared to the persecution he and "his kind" face in the Land of Water? This was a paradise!

The offer was so very tempting...

This was Haku's last chance to change his mind. In one hour, he'd be out of the village and there would be no going back from that point.

A voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"You're here."

Haku blinked, focusing on the person in front of him. "Sasuke-san?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Oh. S-Sure," Haku stuttered, motioning for Sasuke to sit beside him. The younger boy's blunt tone and the tight, determined expression he wore caught Haku off-guard.

It was hard to come face-to-face with someone that you tried to kill.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked once Sasuke sat down.

"I was there when Kakashi told Naruto you wanted to see him before you left."

"I see." Given that it would be at least half-an-hour before the time he had asked Naruto to meet him, Haku was confident he knew what Sasuke wanted to speak about. However…

"It's actually very fortunate that you came to me. I wanted to speak to you as well."

Sasuke couldn't stop the surprise from breaking through his stoicism. "Me? Kakashi only told us you wanted to speak with Naruto."

"To be honest, so much happened that it just slipped my mind until now," the older boy confessed with a slight, embarrassed laugh.

Then, he grew serious. "…It's about one thing you said during our battle, before you went unconscious. At the time, you thought you were dying."

From the way Sasuke frowned and kept silent, Haku guessed his memory of those events were shaky… so he quoted to Sasuke the words he now remembered.

"I spent… my whole life trying to become stronger. So that I could kill my brother to… to avenge my clan. I… failed."

Sasuke grimaced.

"…What of it? I don't see how any of that is your business."

"I'm not going to pry if that's what you think. But I just wanted to tell you that… I wasn't too different from you. I had my sister with me, yes, and her safety and well-being were my top priorities. But still…"

"You lost your family too?"

As much as it hurt, Haku recounted his past to Sasuke. From the death of his parents to when Zabuza saved them.

"I didn't stay with Zabuza just because he gave me and my sister food and shelter. Zabuza wanted me to kill for him… I hated that. But there was a person I wanted dead with every fiber of my being."

"The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura," Sasuke guessed, recalling when the academy had covered the Land of Water in their studies.

"Yes. Him," Haku said, in a darker, dangerous tone. "That… madman, if it wasn't for him then none of this would have happened. I wanted to kill him, or at least help Zabuza achieve that in my place… that's why I worked so hard to get better at fighting. It didn't help that Zabuza himself was one of Yagura's targets after that failed coup… so it also was a matter of protecting my sister. As long as he lived, she'd never have a safe life."

"…But now that's not a factor anymore."

Haku gave a smile tainted with sadness, forcing Sasuke to look away. "No. And without Haru for me to fight for… I clung to the only thing I had left."

The word "revenge" went unspoken between them.

However… it made Sasuke wonder: 'Why is he telling me this?'

Sasuke normally had problems with sympathy, let alone empathy… but it was unavoidable for to see himself in Haku's place. To feel that familiar pain, anger and hatred… it was too easy for him. So what purpose did Haku have?

He quickly realized why. "You found another goal."

"Close. I'd say…. I realized where I should put my sights on afterwards. All thanks to your friend."

Sasuke turned to Haku with a question in his lips, but Haku was looking somewhere high above. Curious, Sasuke followed the older boy's gaze…

The Hokage Monument.

"The way Naruto-san spoke about his dream… he doesn't just want to be strong or to have his face up there one day; he genuinely wants to make this village a better place, no matter how hard the world would fight back against him."

Sasuke scoffed, with a hint of a smirk slipping through. "He's too idealistic."

Haku laughed. "Perhaps! But still… he inspired me. I'm going back to my homeland but I wasn't sure what to do after the war, if I survived." His expression darkened, then. "I honestly considered killing myself after Yagura was deposed, and with that mindset I doubt I'd end up surviving the war to begin with."

"…I see," Sasuke replied, neutrally. It made Haku wonder if similar thoughts had ever crossed his mind before.

"As the Mizukage, I'd have the power to lead my village to a better place, unlike what Yagura did. I could unite my people, helping those that suffered like me and my sister and making people that thought like my father realize those with bloodline limits are all human beings too, not monsters. I could help make sure we wouldn't fall to those same traps ever again. I don't really feel any attachment to my country… but I suspect Naruto-san doesn't have many reasons to want to fight for this village either. And that didn't stop him."

"…That's a noble goal. But what does it have to do with me?"

"I just wanted to tell you that there can be more to life than revenge. Maybe others have told you things to that effect already, but… I imagine that none of them really understand what it feels like, do they?"

The two fell into silence. Sasuke, because Haku's words weighed on him. He needed some space to process them… and Haku deliberately gave him that pause.

"No. They don't. They… really don't."

"…That's what I thought. Now then," Haku smoothed down his blue kimono, mentally preparing himself. "You had a question of your own, didn't you?"

Sasuke wasted no words. "Naruto defeated you on the bridge. How?"

Leaning back against the bench, Haku sighed, forcing a dreamy, disappointed expression. "By being lucky."

And then he told Sasuke… who wore a most unpleasant scowl after hearing it.

"This is ridiculous. This is exactly what Naruto said happened."

"I suppose, looking back, it was a bit ridiculous," Haku shrugged. "But Naruto-san's desperation paid off."

"Stop lying," Sasuke accused. "A ninja of your caliber, defeated by that stupid jutsu? There's no way. I've seen him doing that dumb trick before—only an idiot would fall for it."

Haku scowled, faking offense. "Look, it's not my fault that I have a thing for blondes, twin tails and big breasts, okay? Not to mention those hips… I learned something new about my tastes that day. But anyway, like I said, Naruto-san got lucky. If his transformation was any different, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Haku could only hope his mortified blush could pass off as something else for Sasuke… there were a couple of old ladies staring at them from across the street, whispering in a way he sensed as accusatory.

He felt like a dirty old man.

'I did promise the Hokage, though…'

"Unbelievable," Sasuke shook his head. "Just… unbelievable."

"I guess you're just a bit too young to see how powerful those techniques can be, Sasuke-san. Remember when I said that there's more to life than just revenge? Well, girls are one of the finest parts of the "more"… but don't worry," Haku patted his shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get it one wonderful day!"

Grunting, Sasuke batted Haku's hand away and rose. "Good luck with your war."

With that passing as a satisfactory farewell for him, Sasuke stormed off, hands shoved in his pockets. Haku almost replied to him, but he saw Naruto approaching them from a distance, looking at them curiously.

The two teammates crossed paths. Naruto asked something to Sasuke, but Haku couldn't hear if the Uchiha replied or not. All he knew is that Sasuke didn't stop, and Naruto still seemed lost after they parted.

'I hope things end up well between those two…'

---

Naruto felt someone tugging his sleeve. It was a small thing, barely noticeable, but just enough to draw his attention.

"N-Naruto-kun? Are you alright? Iruka-sensei asked you a question…"

"Ah. Really? Sorry Iruka-sensei," he smiled apologetically, scratching his head. "I just got lost in thought for a bit…"

In the end, the merchant caravan that would take Haku back to the Land of Waves—one that Naruto didn't know also had supplies meant to help the rebel group Haku would be joining—arrived sooner than they expected, cutting their conversation short.

Naruto regretted not immediately asking Haku what he and Sasuke talked about, but, now, he supposed he couldn't do anything about that.

"So," Iruka cleared his throat, "I asked about Sakura. I understand things are rocky between you and Sasuke, but how's she doing?"

"Huh?" Pretending to be upset, his gaze fell down to Hinata. "You could've answered that on your own, you know?"

She shrunk a bit on her seat. "S-Sorry, I d-didn't think—!"

"Whoa, hey!" Naruto threw his hands up, eyes wide. "I was just kidding!"

"…Oh." Rather than relaxing, Hinata now just felt stupid for overreacting. "Sorry," she whispered, lowering her head.

"Naruto, don't tease her," Iruka glared at the boy. Sighing, he shifted his expression to a gentler one and placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Still, did I understand it correctly or are you friends with Sakura as well?"

She nodded in her usual meek manner, making him chuckle. "How wonderful! Your circle of friends seems bigger than I imagined."

"Even Ino's been hanging around with them lately," Naruto added.

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Ino?"

"Yama—I-I mean, Ino-san… she wanted some help during training, and we, uh, kinda became friends after that…?"

Ino was definitively her friend, yet Hinata wasn't fully sure she could call herself Ino's friend just yet. Her few one-on-one conversations with the girl weren't unpleasant, by any means… but Hinata barely could get a word in. Even when she did want to speak up, which wasn't always the case.

Nonetheless, she found herself agreeing with Iruka.

"Wonderful" was perhaps the best word to describe the bonds she had formed with others lately, even the weaker bonds like with Chouji. Of the genin in the Hokage's project, the only one she wasn't in friendly terms with was Neji, and the only one she had yet to really interact with was Shikamaru.

A few months ago, she could barely dream about having a single friend. And now looking at her hands, she realized she almost needed all of her fingers to keep track of her friendships.

The thought made her feel butterflies on her stomach, and it took some willpower to hold back the desire to giggle freely. These thoughts, sometimes, still overwhelmed her.

"More ramen coming up!"

Ayame once again placed more ramen in front of them, and Hinata wondered if maybe this time she was just hungry…

"I'm surprised Sakura and Ino can now tolerate each other," Iruka spoke up. "But we're getting sidetracked; Naruto, you didn't answer me."

"What did you ask again?" the boy mumbled with his mouth full.

The teacher then wondered if the ramen had distracted Naruto that badly, or if the boy was just avoiding the question. It wasn't like Naruto to do such a thing, but… it wouldn't be the first time in this conversation that his expectations were shattered.

He rolled his eyes as a theory popped up in his mind. "Let me guess, Sakura rejected you again?"

Naruto made an angry, muffled noise at that, but Hinata answered before he could swallow his food. "Actually… Sakura told me Naruto-kun has stopped doing that."

Yet another expectation shattered, it seemed.

"Kurenai-sensei made me realize I was just making her upset, so… eh," he shrugged, "there wasn't much point in asking her out again. Not yet anyway."

'…Well, he hasn't given up. Classic Naruto,' Iruka thought, smiling despite himself.

"Still, Sakura-chan's being nicer to me lately, like helping me when I get stuck on the theory parts during training or… or helping me write mission reports!"

Iruka crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Helping you write, or writing them for you? Don't try to fool the guy who graded you all these years."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto pouted, his cheeks reddening when he saw Hinata using a hand to mask her giggling. "Look, that was just the first time."

"I can't imagine Sakura just agreeing to that," Hinata added once she recovered.

"Well, she didn't exactly agree…"

---

"I'm already regretting agreeing to this," Sakura crossed her arms, tapping one foot repeatedly as she waited for Naruto to find his keys to unlock his apartment's door.

"Just give me another second… argh, where is it!?"

"Maybe on your frog thingy?" she suggested, referring to his coin purse.

"Nah. I never put it there."

"…Don't you have a spare key somewhere?"

"Yeah, but it's on the same key chain as the other one."

Sakura immediately deleted that statement from her memories lest she drove herself insane.

Or killed someone.

'Why the hell did I agree with this again…?'

One of the core duties of a ninja was to keep their Kage informed of everything that went on during their missions, which is why it's customary for one to write a report after returning. B-rank missions and above usually required all squad members to give their own reports, but for C ranks only one report sufficed. Team 7 was no exception to those rules. Report writing always fell to either Sakura or Sasuke, but that day Kakashi had decided Naruto needed some experience and had him do it instead…

Of course, as an exemplary academy student, Naruto had no idea of how to go on about making a proper report… and that's how Naruto ended up on Sakura's doorstep begging for help. Unfortunately for her, her parents had guests that day, so they couldn't use her house.

Meaning Naruto's apartment was the sole remaining option if they wanted a quiet place away from the scorching summer heat.

Truthfully, she wanted nothing to do with this. However, Naruto was doing his part by not asking her out constantly or doing annoying stunts to impress her. Sakura knew she had to give in a bit herself sometimes to strengthen their bond, and he had proven himself as "not that unbearable" over the past months after all.

Furthermore, though she was not as obvious as Sasuke, she too was curious and worried about what had happened in the bridge that day in the Land of Waves. This could be her chance to discover something new.

'It would've been so much easier if Hinata could just tell me what she knows,' she sighed. Unfortunately, her shy friend wouldn't budge no matter how much she pushed.

"It's not my place to tell you… but if you can earn Naruto-kun's trust I'm sure he'll share it with you one day."

Bailing him out when Sasuke got too pushy about it a few times surely have earned her a couple trust points already, but…

"I can't believe it."

"Ha! I told you," Sakura smirked smugly, watching as a defeated, frustrated Naruto took out his keychain from a certain frog's mouth.

He sighed and shoved a key into the lock. "Come on in… and, just warning you, it's a bit messy inside."

Preparing her mind to withstand pure chaos, she went inside, barely registering Naruto muttering something under his breath as they went in.

She walked around the place, numbly examining every room of the small apartment. As she predicted, "a bit messy" was definitively underselling it.

There were dirty clothes all around, dust on most of the furniture, the bed wasn't made, the sink had a huge pile of dishes and ramen cups which, added, to other random trash around the place, left the entire apartment with a disgusting smell. The bathroom wasn't too offensive, sure, but the only part of the place that seemed actually cared for was a little corner in the kitchen that had small potted plants on a stand.

"Gods… Naruto, don't you ever clean this place?"

"Once a week or so—"

Sakura almost choked.

"—but last Sunday I was out of the village so… well, It's not that bad, right?"

"Naruto. This isn't bad: it's unacceptable! You can't live like this—like a pig! It's unhealthy!"

Her voice lent far more toward worry than anger, but it managed to fill Naruto with dread regardless.

"…You're not going to make me clean this up, are you? It'll take forever! And this report's due tomorrow!"

"Dude, you can make dozens of clones! This shouldn't be a problem, and I can't work in this mess."

Naruto looked away. "Eh… I get it, but… ugh."

Sakura smothered a flicker of anger from her face. "Look, I'll help. We clean this up and I'll do the report in your place. Deal?"

She offered a hand to him, but the way his eyes gleamed made her know she had won even before he accepted.

"Deal!"

Naruto made a handful of clones and immediately got to work.

'Well, I guess being on the other side feels nice,' she thought, remembering how her mother sometimes bribed her like that—chores for a reward. However, while she in the past worked alongside her mother, this time Sakura saw herself hanging back to watch.

It was actually Naruto's suggestion. It wasn't her home after all, she didn't know what went where, and with all the clones running around there wasn't much space in the cramped apartment for her to sit down and focus on the report either.

It didn't take long for her to be thankful for that. She observed the clones working in every room of the apartment and quickly had enough.

"Stop! All of you!"

One nearby Naruto, with a drenched rag in hand, gulped before asking: "W-What's wrong?"

She made a diagonal cross motion with her arms. "No clones! I want only the real Naruto here."

A few sighs of relief were heard right before multiple poofs around the house. The original Naruto came from the kitchen into the living room, drying his hands on a towel. "Uh, here I am? You changed your mind awfully quick…"

"Your clone asked what was wrong. The answer is everything. How did you learn to clean this place?"

"Well… the old man hired a woman to clean here during classes. I mean, on the academy. But… once I was old enough, he had her spend a few hours teaching me how to do it, then fired her." He shrugged. "Guess he was cutting costs."

"…And this is what she taught you?"

Incredulously, Sakura pointed at the living room's stand. One Naruto had been dusting it off… with a kitchen sponge. The poor furniture had scratches all over, and Sakura was sure they were old scars.

"Yeah… but, I guess I'm not that good at it, huh?" he laughed a bit, embarrassed. "I never managed to get it as clean as she did…"

One thing immediately occurred to Sakura. 'Did she… intentionally teach him wrong?'

She then shook the thought away—it wasn't relevant right then. "Look, you're not doing this stuff right. But don't worry," she tried a smile. "Show me what you know and I'll point out how you can improve."

Naruto thanked her, despite not looking very thrilled. No clones meant more work, less free time… but he would be spending time with her—a couple hours in fact—which Sakura imagined would even the odds for him.

She did a lot of correcting that day, and for once was glad to have done so many chores for her parents over the past few years.

There were many processes that Naruto was doing in a wasteful manner, like the absurd amount of detergent he was using to wash the dishes. It got to the point he could barely hold a cup without it slipping.

Some processes lacked key materials, mainly cleaning supplies, which forced Sakura to send a clone out to buy them—with handwritten instructions, of course. And some other processes were completely missing from what Naruto did, like wringing the wet rags before using them on the floor or furniture.

Sakura's only failure was the bathroom. Her mother had always handled the heavy-duty cleaning there, and Sakura had only been taught the more routine variation, a fact that she ended up apologizing for to Naruto once they were done cleaning for the day.

"I'll have my mom show me and next week or so I'll teach you… sorry."

"No problem! You already did a lot!" he assured her as they walked out of the bathroom into the kitchen. "I could use a break anyway."

She flopped on a chair. "I guess I can agree to that. Even just directing you around and showing you stuff tired me out a bit," she said, wiping the sweat off her brow. "And it's so hot in here too…"

"Yeah, I dunno why but this place is really stuffy in the summer," Naruto sat down across from her, and Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"…Some water would be nice."

"Oh. Sure! Just a sec…"

That simple interaction led her to wonder….

She had once told Sasuke about how Naruto's bad behavior was due to having no parents, and while that comment had been laced with fury at the time—they had just become a team—now it sprung to her mind again, and she felt only… sadness.

It was a simple thing, but it dawned on her that if you don't have parents to make you behave and impart some common sense, manners and such… you also don't have parents to care for you.

Which reflected in other things…

"Here's your water," Naruto said, offering her a cup while downing one himself.

"Thanks. So… what do you think?"

"Uh, about what?"

"This place!" she said, motioning all around them. "Isn't it much better now, clean, tidy and smelling nice?"

"I guess," he shrugged. "It's nice, but it's also a lot of work…"

She rolled her eyes. "Only if you leave everything on hold for a week like that. Normal people do at least some of the work on a daily basis."

"Oh. But still… I dunno," he shrugged again, smiling apologetically.

It proved Sakura's theory for her.

While Naruto lived in that apartment, it… wasn't really a home. Now that it wasn't messy anymore she could see just how bland the place was—it didn't feel like something Sakura would associate her teammate with. Naruto was full of life, of energy.

Yet his apartment gave the vibe of being purely functional: a place to sleep, eat and bathe in, but little else. It wasn't completely lacking in personality though, between his plants and that ramen poster, but she could tell Naruto didn't see much value in the apartment. It wasn't just a matter of laziness and not having someone to teach him better, but of having someone that would make that place worth caring for.

She could remember seeing their team's photo in his room. That was the only photo she saw and Sakura wouldn't be surprised if it was the only photo Naruto had around. It was a huge contrast with her own home, filled with photos all around the place. With memories. With happiness.

…Despite all the effort they put into cleaning Naruto's apartment, Sakura realized it would take much, much more than that to make the place lose its stench of loneliness.

"Sakura-chan? What wrong?"

She blinked back into reality to a blurry, worried Naruto. "N-No, sorry. I was just… sorry."

Closing her eyes, she held back her tears and used that brief escape into the darkness to recompose herself.

"I… I was thinking," she began, "how about we make another deal?"

"…"

"Oh, don't give me that look. I didn't forget my part this time: Kakashi-sensei will have a flawless report on his hands tomorrow."

"Heh, bold words," he snickered, making her smirk a little. "So what's it this time?"

"I'll visit you twice a week or so to see if you're actually doing the stuff I've shown you today. If you are… I'll… do nice things for you?"

"…Like?"

Since she actually hadn't been thinking about what she just suggested, Sakura found herself scrambling for a good answer.

"Uh, like… voting for ramen after missions more often?"

Briefly, Sakura considered saying she'd accept going on a date, but that was way too dangerous. She couldn't risk Naruto getting the wrong idea—plus that would screw over Hinata and ruin her own chances with Sasuke—but she had no other plan. Her deal sounded extremely weak to her ears.

"Really? That'd be awesome!"

Naruto's smile was wide and bright. 'Clearly, I've underestimated the power of ramen...'

"So all I gotta do is keep the place clean like this?" he asked.

"Basically. But you gotta put some effort! If I don't like what I see I'll have you do it all again and... ohohoho," Sakura lips curved into a malicious smile as a devious idea popped up in her mind.

It made the Uzumaki shake with fear "…A-And?"

"I'll ask Hinata to stop bringing a bento for you when we have classes together. Instead I will bring you raw vegetables. A whole bunch of 'em!"

"… Man, I knew you could be mean but that's just cruel," Naruto said, looking at her like a kicked puppy.

Sakura couldn't resist the laughter bubbling in her throat, and Naruto soon joined in, infected by her mirth.

'I just hope he doesn't think I'm kidding… though now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I could get Hinata to go along with it.'

Her eyes flickered to the window, and seeing the purple-ish sky up above made her leave her chair with a jolt. "Crap! I told my parents I wouldn't be out for long but it's almost dark already!"

"Oh. Oh! Okay," Naruto got up too. He shoved his hands into his pockets and blanched. "Uh… my keys… aren't here?"

"You lost them again!?"

She groaned at the guilty, frightened smile that he sent her way and wordlessly set off to help him.

With the apartment being all in order the search didn't take very long. Yet, it was just enough time for Sakura to reflect on something…

"Your role, is to support your teammates. Both on the field and out of it."

She sighed, staring at the bundle of keys she held in her hand. They somehow had ended up under Naruto's bed.

'I think… I finally understand what you meant by that, Kurenai-sensei.'

Soon after, she returned the keys to Naruto, and he opened the door for her.

"So, guess that's goodbye for now?"

Instead of leaving, Sakura stared blankly at him. Naruto returned a confused look for a couple seconds before blurting out: "What is it this time?"

"Looks like I have one last thing to teach you before I go… pay attention because this is super important!"

Naruto still looked lost, and she sighed again.

'Hinata, you better thank me for this one day…'

---

A violent burp and a pained groan signaled the end of Naruto's tale. He had felt his stomach's complaints as he focused on eating and sharing his story and not causing a scene, but now he was paying the price.

He tried massaging his stomach but that did nothing.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?"

"I… don't feel so good," he managed to say before burping again, causing Hinata to recoil.

Iruka didn't even berate him this time, motioning to draw Ayame's attention instead. "Just how many ramen bowls did you let him eat? No more than the limit we agreed on, right…?"

The young waitress paled. "Oh no. I forgot about that!"

As Ayame poured over the paper she had been using to keep track of that day's orders, Hinata questioned what she had just heard. "A limit?"

"Your friend here isn't a bottomless pit, despite how voracious he can be. And to avoid this," Iruka pointed at Naruto, who was face-down on the counter, groaning, "I asked Teuchi-san to keep him in check. And he actually agreed to it, but—"

"I-I'm sorry!" Ayame cut him off, bowing in shame. "I was so distracted by all the talking that I forgot!"

Timidly, she offered a piece of paper to Iruka. His eyes bulged out as he read it.

"How… how did you manage to eat this much?!"

"Ah, that's for them both," Ayame added. "They ate the same amount, but…"

"…Well, that's not as bad but it's still a lot," Iruka commented, and then looked down at Hinata. "You're not feeling sick as well, are you? You ate just as much as he did…"

Growing as red as a tomato, Hinata pointedly looked away and muttered something that Iruka couldn't hope to decipher.

He sighed. "I guess I'll need to take Naruto home now and wait until he's better… and I was hoping to grade all those tests before dinner, too…"

"I-I'll do it!"

Astonished, Iruka stared at Hinata and almost slapped himself. Of course, knowing her, she'd have suggested that after he so carelessly complained about taking care of Naruto.

He tried to salvage the situation out of guilt, mostly. It was temptingly convenient…

"Don't worry Hinata, I can handle it."

"But sensei, you're so busy already… a-and I-I don't really have anything to do right now, so…"

"Even so, how do you plan to bring Naruto to his apartment?" Having asked that, Iruka pointed at Naruto to force Hinata to look at him. "He doesn't look like he can move well on his own."

Hinata had no answer to that, but luckily for her, Ayame bailed her out.

"I hate to interrupt, but what about the money?"

"H-How much was it again?" Hinata asked.

The lingering pink of embarrassment on her cheeks died down to a pale white once Ayame told her the numbers.

"T-That much?!"

"Yes… oh, but I could give you two the Akimichi discount!" the waitress offered. "You did eat enough for that."

Hinata had never, in her entire life, felt as fat as she did at that moment.

Shoulders sagging, she took the pouch on her back and drew a thin, blue wallet from it. "When Naruto-kun invited me, I never expected I'd be spending this much…"

"Wait," Iruka interrupted. "Naruto invited you?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Then stop right there."

The teacher walked up to Naruto and demanded the boy's wallet. "Naruto, you never invite a lady to eat unless you're paying for her."

"What…?! Where did that come from?! And I won't have money for ramen next weekend if I pay f—"

He burped again and curled on himself, cradling his belly.

"Then take some extra D-ranks to make up for that," Iruka continued, crossing his arms. "Besides, haven't you eaten enough ramen now to compensate that?"

As Iruka then went on a lecture about responsibility and manners and whatnot, Hinata found herself wanting to protest. She had enough money on her—money that mostly went unspent—and Naruto had no obligation to pay up despite what Iruka said.

But the implication that her time with Naruto could—albeit very loosely—be considered a date… her brain short-circuited, even if only for a few moments.

'That was never Naruto-kun's intention, so it doesn't count! Focus, you idiot!'

By the time Hinata had shaken those thoughts away, Iruka had already worn down her hero enough: he had already sacrificed himself for her, leaving his frog purse dreadfully thin and her heart heavy with guilt.

Naruto burped again as he left his chair, struggling to stay in two feet until Iruka helped steady him. "Careful there," the teacher said, and then began to lead his former student to outside the Ichirkaru Ramen stand. "Come on, let's get you home…"

"W-Wait!"

Without even thinking, Hinata dashed around them, blocking their way. She bowed low, and from there the words just tumbled out of her mouth.

"Please, Iruka-sensei, let me do it! I know N-Naruto-kun's home isn't far from here… he, uh, he could lean on me! We're about the same height, and even though I'm not very strong, b-but I can handle that much! And like I said before I don't really have anything to do right now, and, and… I could make tea for him! I know a few recipes that could help!"

She paused to breathe and dared to angle herself up just enough to peek at her former teacher's face. Her outburst had stunned Iruka into silence but the same didn't apply to Naruto, who latched on to one part that had caught his attention.

"You know where I live?"

"Ah. Yes, you see…"

Hinata then proved her words by casually telling them how to get from Ichiraku to Naruto's apartment building, not realizing she was completely creeping Naruto out.

That moment made him remember she had admitted to basically stalking him… he had never given his adress with her, and couldn't see a reason for Sakura or someone else to have done it either. It left him feeling something unpleasant deep inside, unrelated to his stomach problems… he couldn't put his finger on it, but it felt awful and he opted to ignore it instead.

Thankfully, Iruka facilitated that by moving the conversation along.

"You are not going to budge, are you?"

Despite the embarrassment showing on her cheeks, Hinata shook her head to that rhetorical question, muttering something that Iruka imagined to be an apology. As someone that taught young kids, he dealt with stubborn attitudes often enough to know that he wasn't going to win that round without threatening her somehow.

But he no longer held any legitimate authority over Hinata, Naruto or any of his former students, as Kakashi had so harshly reminded him a few days before. Admitting defeat, he motioned for her to come close and draped Naruto's arm over her shoulder.

"I'm going to trust you and that tea you mentioned, then," he said with a smile, which grew wider as Hinata nodded with serious determination, as if he had just given her an S-rank mission.

It was just adorable, he thought.

The two genin then said their goodbyes to Iruka and to Ayame and left Ichiraku Ramen behind… and once the kids were out of earshot, Iruka allowed himself to chuckle. He had a good feeling about them becoming friends. Regardless of any romance that might bloom as time passed, or even fade away, he was sure their bond would grow to be a strong one.

His became even happier once he saw the steam coming from the half-eaten ramen bowl he had abandoned.

"I took the liberty to re-heat it for you," Ayame explained, before leaning morosely against the counter. "My dad's so going to kill me for this…"

"Look at it from the bright side: you've got another customer that liked your ramen as much as Naruto. And I should note that unlike him, she is quite rich. You'll live to fight another day."

Ayame let out a giggle. "Hopefully! It was nice seeing him with a new friend. I hope she comes by more often now that she discovered my family's magic!"

"… I hope so too," Iruka replied, with a darker expression that not even the delicious ramen in front of him could curb. "They won't have a lot of time for that kind of thing with the Chunin Exams so close. Can you believe their teachers recommended them?"

"They mentioned the exam quite a bit before you arrived," she said, casually, not sharing Iruka's worries.

He decided that it was for the best. Civilians usually weren't privy to what went on in the exams prior to the final round, which wasn't really that dangerous thanks to the presence of a referee.

"I hope some of those foreigners decide to try our ramen out," the girl continued. "They should start arriving soon, right?"

"Yes. The delegation from Waterfall arrived earlier today, and the Sand's set to arrive in a couple hours or so."

The thought of foreigners didn't appeal to Iruka as much. Ninja were dangerous folk after all, but he felt safe still, knowing that the Leaf's allies were the first to arrive and that their most dangerous foes, the Stone and Cloud, refused the invitation.

'At least we are still safe...'

If only Iruka knew where the threats truly lied... perhaps, then, he would have accompanied his former students after all.

But he didn't know. He couldn't even imagine it!

Naruto and Hinata, however, would soon find out for themselves that this exam would be much, much more dangerous than they ever thought possible...

---

A/N:

And that's the end of it! I hope my sins didn't detract too much from the end product…

I do know there's one messy transition in here, with the Ino scene being a bit disconnected from what Hinata would be sharing with Naruto, but that scene was very necessary and I couldn't figure out a better place to work it into. Hinata does bring up Ino later, but… putting it there would be much worse.

Some of you might be mad that the exams haven't begun. But like I said, this is part of the arc's contents right now. People getting introduced beforehand means the exams themselves have less meat to them, and each of those scenes have their own purpose.. You guys might have noticed I tend to describe people in detail when they are introduced… Team 10's males ended up being the exception. I've convinced myself that since the scene was from Shika's POV, he'd find all that clothing descriptions too troublesome, haha… in reality, it just wasn't working out, though.

Next chapter… I'm sure you all know who will be making an appearance next. And I'm happy to say that Chapter 23 will have the first exam built into it! There's no running away from it anymore, haha.

Also no running away from focusing on Sasuke…

Before that happens, though, I have a date with chapter 4. While Chapter 3 was kinda completely rewritten, I don't plan to do such a heavy makeover with Chapter 4, especially not the fight scenes. I'm confident I can bring it to you guys within at least 1,5 months from now… I'm shooting for just 1, but don't tempt fate and all of that.

This chapter had a lot of scenes and things for you guys to ponder about. Please do share your thoughts through a review! Your kind words always make my days so much brighter! I'm afraid that by now it will be hard to give credit to everyone appropriately as I revise all my chapters, so at least I'll say that every review and PM has played/will play a part in this.

And… if you can take a look at Chapter 3 as well afterward, or at least eventually? I worked really hard to make it work, you know. AO3 is super stingy with comments.

Before I devote my last words to the kind souls that reviewed the last two chapters as guests, I wanted to thank you all for keeping up with my fic. My number of favorites, followers and reviews are growing so much, so thank you all! Special thanks to gio08 and SimplePotato for the beta work, and the good people of Gamefaqs's Naruto Board and the Naruto Fanfiction subreddit, who kindly helped me with a couple details about Lightning Chakra training that lacked prescence here but could be explored more in the future, hopefully.

In particular, MindForgedManacle on reddit came up with the winning idea about the ammeter, as well as a nice explanation about the terms surrounding electricity that I may use in the future. I sucked at physics back in school, so that helped a lot! Haha… but seriously, thanks everyone that took a minute to help me out! I name everyone, but this is so big already… searching about Lightning Chakra on either forum should bring up the threads in question, tho, including all the users involved.

Well. See you all next time! Gotta sleep...

---

Guest Review Answers

Some Guy: I was planning to answer this with the entire fic revised but oh well. Thanks a lot for the high praise, in particular about characters and interactions. They ARE the crux of my fic… Ah, I could probably change the story's name to "Pacing Problems – the fic", I know. I'm trying to get better, but the turtle pacing usually gets the better of me instead.

About that bit with Hiashi, I… was honestly just struggling to have something going on between all that dialogue, and since I wanted him on the floor asking for forgiveness, that was kind of a way to get to that point. I'll definitively keep this feedback in mind when Chapter 20's turn comes up again.

Guest (C20): Thanks for the kind words! And yeah… the Hyuuga got shafted hard in terms of lore and relationship dynamics. At least on the latter I'm trying hard to make up for canon's deficiencies here!

Stickler (C1): For what is worth, since I don't know if you stayed or not, thanks for pointing out my ignorance. I credited you about it already.

Guest (C21, October 26th): Glad you liked it! The revised chapters are also on this site! I'll be mentioning the last revised chapter each time I post a new chapter, like this one.

Guest (C21, April 13th): Oh my, thank you! I promise I'll keep trying to deliver!