On a training ground in the Hidden Leaf Village were Naruto and Wendy, both looking at each other earnestly as they stood still and attentive to each other's movements.
They were deathly silent until Naruto made a gesture with his hands.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto as several clones of him appeared through bursts of smoke and they all, including him, rushed towards her.
Just as they were halfway there, Wendy began puffing out her cheeks.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" shouted Wendy shooting out of her mouth a tornado.
Most of the clones were able to dodge the attack, while a few were hit and disappeared in an explosion of smoke.
The clones that escaped the attack managed to catch up with her.
One clone was about to hit her, but then, Wendy expelled air from the soles of her feet, managing to quickly propel herself backwards and dodge the blow.
More clones tried to hit her, but Wendy managed to move from side to side quickly thanks to the expulsion of air from the soles of her feet.
But then, after she dodged another blow, a clone behind her threw a kunai.
Wendy reacted quickly and dodged it, but when the kunai passed her, she discovered that it had a tag attached to it.
Before she could react, the tag exploded.
Fortunately, Wendy was able to put up her arms as a shield, but she was pushed back by the explosion.
Taking advantage of that, the real Naruto clapped his hands together while making a gesture with his hand before inhaling sharply.
"Wind Style: Dragon Breath!" shouted Naruto shooting a torrent of wind directly at the sky dragon slayer from his mouth.
However, before the attack could reach her, Wendy began sucking in air, which caused the torrent of wind to distort and end up heading for Wendy's mouth, eating the attack in the process.
By the time she finished devouring it, she let out a small burp as she politely covered her mouth.
"Thanks for the food." said Wendy with an amused smile before jumping up very high. "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" shouted Wendy shooting two tornadoes from her arms that hit all the clones around her, eliminating them all in the process.
The elimination of the clones eventually caused the entire area to be covered in a smokescreen.
Wendy immediately sharpened her senses to be able to locate Naruto or any of her clones.
But then, she heard a strange sound and turned her gaze to the front as the smoke began to dissipate, allowing her to see Naruto with a clone beside him who was ripping the air over the authentic one's hand, thus forming a sphere of blue energy.
"Time to end this, don't you think?" asked Naruto with a toothy grin.
"Sounds good to me." said Wendy as her fist went wrapping in air.
Once they prepared their attacks, both opponents lunged at each other ready to attack.
"Rasengan! / Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" the two shouted in unison as both attacks impacted each other.
The collision caused a wave of wind that swept dust and leaves before an explosion happened.
The explosion sent the two opponents flying, but they managed to balance themselves and were able to land on their feet, sliding a bit before coming to a stop.
The jinchuriki and the sky dragon slayer gasped a little from exhaustion.
"Hehe. That wasn't bad, Wendy. And that's even though you didn't use your enhancement spells." said Naruto.
"Thanks, and I would advise you not to use any wind jutsu against me, as I might eat it and use it against you." said Wendy.
"Yeah, I forgot you could do that." said Naruto rubbing the back of his neck as the sky dragon slayer chuckled. "What do you say? Shall we continue with the training?" asked Naruto.
"Of course, I still need to get better at getting stronger." said Wendy with a determined smile.
"That's the spirit!" declared Naruto with a smile.
While the two were in their training, half a distance away from them there was someone watching them closely.
It was Lapis.
After that night when she told Wendy about her origins, she was feeling a little better than she had ever been in her life.
There was a small embarrassing moment when, upon awakening, she found herself lying next to Wendy on the same futon and hugging.
She was still blushing from the memory.
When Wendy left for her daily workout, she couldn't help but be curious and decided to go see what this training was all about that helped her improve.
Needless to say, it was a lot more than she expected and it would be a lie if she said she didn't care.
Truth be told, she was happy to know that Wendy would support her, but she didn't like the idea that she would end up becoming her protector.
If Wendy got better while she stayed at the same level she was at, sooner or later, she would be so far beyond her that she would be nothing but a burden to her and she couldn't stand that.
"I can't stay behind, I must become stronger myself too." thought Lapis with determination.
It was then that she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and turned to the side to discover that she wasn't the only one sneakily watching them.
Half a distance away from her and hidden in a tree was Hinata watching Naruto and Wendy's training with a smile.
"Hinata?" asked Lapis placing herself next to her and causing the white-eyed girl to let out a startled yelp as she quickly turned around.
"L-Lapis?" asked Hinata surprised to see the water dragon slayer.
"What are you doing here?" asked Lapis curiously.
Hinata blushed slightly, as she didn't want to tell her that she was watching Naruto specifically, as she might end up taking her as a stalker.
Though it was true that she had been watching him from a distance for years.
She had to think of some way to dodge that question.
"A-And you? What are you doing here?" asked Hinata hoping that would do the trick.
"I-I was curious about Wendy's training, nothing more." said Lapis with a slight blush before looking down at the ground. "And I can tell she's improving more than I thought she would."
"You don't like that?" asked Hinata noticing the water dragon slayer's sad expression.
"I-It's not that. It's just that, when she and I fought for the first time, the two of us were pretty evenly matched and on our first mission, we were able to fight side by side, but now that she's getting stronger, I'm worried about falling behind and being a burden to her." said Lapis.
"I understand you perfectly. When I was a kid, I considered myself weak and thought I was just going to be a burden to others, but... someone important inspired me and I decided to become stronger so I could fight alongside him instead of behind him." said Hinata with a nostalgic smile, remembering how hard she trained thanks to seeing the effort Naruto put into his training.
"That's what I've decided. From now on, I will also train to become stronger so I can fight alongside Wendy." said Lapis before a slight blush formed on her face. "B-Because that's what partners do, of course."
Hinata let out a slight chuckle as it was clear Lapis' true intentions despite her intentions to hide it.
"That's fine. In fact, how about I help you?" asked Hinata, taking the water dragon slayer by surprise.
"Help me?" asked Lapis in surprise and confusion.
"Yes. Training by yourself is fine, but it's much better when you train with someone like Naruto and Wendy." said Hinata.
Lapis had to admit that she was right.
Wendy would never have learned that technique had she not trained alongside Naruto, just as the jinchuriki wouldn't have learned that new jutsu without her help.
Maybe training with Hinata wouldn't be such a bad idea.
After all, she remembered that she had an ability to see through things, something that could be very useful.
"Okay." said Lapis extending her hand towards her.
Hinata sketched a smile before extending her hand and shaking the water dragon slayer's hand in agreement.
Later, the two were at another training field so they could have their personal session.
Both girls were on either side of the field, positioning themselves to fight.
"Byakugan!" shouted Hinata activating her Kekkei Genkai, causing the veins around her eyes to become too marked.
For a while, the two were silent, waiting for the opponent's move.
Lapis decided to end the waiting and quickly lunged to throw the first blow.
Directing her fist forward, she tried to punch Hinata in the face, but she easily dodged it.
It was then that the white-eyed girl directed her palm, which was covered in chakra, towards her, but Lapis was able to block the blow with her arm.
However, the blow was hard enough to push her backwards at the same time making her groan a bit in pain.
"Damn. She's strong. Could it be a thing of her family technique? I'd better be careful she doesn't hit me too much." thought Lapis.
But then, before she could react, Hinata quickly moved in front of her to give her another slap.
Fortunately, Lapis was able to dodge it by the skin of her teeth.
After that, Lapis immediately covered her fist with water.
"Water Dragon's Crushing Fang!" shouted Lapis trying to hit her, but Hinata managed to block the attack with her chakra-covered palm.
After that, the two spent a while throwing punches at each other.
Being the more experienced, Hinata was able to dodge and block most of the attacks while Lapis had trouble dodging the speed and accuracy of the white-eyed girl's blows that seemed as if they were hitting the inside instead of the outside.
Even when Lapis struck with her water-wrapped fists, Hinata was still able to dodge or block.
After a while of sparring, Hinata slapped Lapis again, pushing her back.
Lapis, who was bruised from her opponent's blows, was breathing heavily from exhaustion and pain as she propped herself up on her knees with her hands.
"Shall we call it a day?" asked Hinata politely.
"N-No." said Lapis before standing up straight. "I'm not done yet! Water Dragon's Wave!" shouted Lapis extending her arms forward, summoning a wave behind her that shot straight towards her opponent.
One would think that Hinata would be devoured by the wave, but then...
"Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" shouted Hinata slamming her chakra-covered hands around her quickly, forming strong, flexible sheets that took the shape of a dome that protected her from the incoming water, like a stone in a river.
Once the water stopped hitting, Hinata undid the dome, but suddenly, she heard a scream and turned her gaze to the front to see Lapis screaming as she walked towards her while covering her leg with water.
"Water Dragon's Tail!" shouted Lapis managing to reach her before she could react and kick her hard, sending her flying backwards, although, in the end, she was able to balance herself and land on her feet, though she dragged herself a bit before coming to a stop.
The two were about to dive back into a fight when, suddenly, they heard a clapping sound.
The two girls turned to the side and were shocked when they saw Naruto and Wendy, the latter being the one clapping on the side of the field as mere spectators.
"That was amazing! Well done, Lapis!" said Wendy.
"What are you doing here?" asked Lapis.
"We were taking a break when we heard some weird noises and came here to investigate." said Naruto.
"H-How long have you two been here?" asked Hinata slightly blushing that she was the one being watched and not the other way around.
"Long enough to see that you're both very strong." said Wendy before approaching the water dragon slayer. "But you're badly hurt. Let me heal you."
"I don't need you to heal me." said Lapis with a frown.
"But if I don't, you won't be able to continue training." said Wendy innocently.
Lapis had to admit she was right.
With the injuries she had received from the previous fight, she wouldn't be able to last long in the next few.
"It's okay. You can heal me, but just this once." said Lapis.
"Works for me." said Wendy with a smile before using her healing magic on her.
"It's good what you're doing for Lapis, Hinata." said Naruto.
"W-Well, it's just that, when I saw how dedicated Lapis was to getting stronger, I decided to help her train." said Hinata.
"You're very kind, Hinata. It's one of the things I like about you." said Naruto with a smile.
"That he… likes… ABOUT ME?!" asked Hinata mentally as her face turned tomato red and steam rose from her head.
Soon after, she passed out.
"AH! Hinata! What happened to you? Are you okay?" asked Naruto panicking and kneeling down next to the fainted girl.
"Ugh. How can he be so dense?" asked Lapis with a narrowed gaze.
"Hehe. That's another thing he's like Natsu in." said Wendy laughing a little, remembering how Natsu acted in front of Lucy.