Gallivanting God
Interlude
The sun shone over the bustling village of Konoha, citizens flocked in droves to their favourite vendors, restaurants and all other places of entertainment available in the Village. The Shinobi of the village were no exception. Some of them going to weapon and apparel stores, others going to the edges of the village. The time was already midday, and the Genin training for the Chunin Exams, were already doing their training.
In the Hyuga compound, Hinata Hyuga was undergoing intense training with her father. The man had been surprised when his daughter came to him, requesting training, saying she had made it to the finals of the Chunin Exams. Hyuga Hiashi was a strict man, one who held high expectations for his children, and when Hinata was younger and failed to meet those expectations, she was judged as less than stellar. That being said, Hiashi was not a cold-hearted man all the way down to his core. He was more than willing to train his daughter, only so she could prove herself to him. Maybe, if his wife was still alive, he could have connected more with his daughter. But the patriarch of the clan did not dwell on such thoughts for long.
Hinata had come a long way in the past seventeen days, barely being able to keep up with her father was the state she started in. But the man saw an unebbing will in her eyes. Every time she was knocked down, or on the brink of exhaustion, Hinata's face remained firm, like the stone visages of the Hokages. The girl had learned one of the techniques taught only to the main family already and was in the process of learning the other. Her first opponent was a long-range fighter, and then it was The Last Uchiha. Hiashi had sought to bring up Hinata's speed to acceptable levels. But, Hinata had far surpassed what her father expected of her.
The Hyuga Heiress panted and heaved for breath in front of the training dummy in front of her. Hinata had been out practicing the technique her father had described as "A staple for every Main Family member". But she was not practicing this hard to impress him, she was trying so desperately hard because of the Shinobi that gave her inspiration. Uzumaki Naruto. A boy who had been mocked all his life as a failure, as someone who would never make it as Shinobi. A Ninja who had been told his dream was foolish and that he would never become the Hokage. That blonde haired rascal had clawed his way through life and had now become "Kakashi of the Sharingan's Star Pupil".
Despite how pretentious it was, she was proud of Naruto. The person she placed her admiration and hopes in had success in all he put his mind to. She wanted to be like that. Hinata wanted to be a Ninja that could never back down, that would defy the odds stacked against them no matter what. She had heard Naruto talk about his Ninja Way. That he would "Never go back on his unbending words and never give up." That resonated deep within Hinata's core. Such a simple declaration, and yet, it was so powerful to her.
"I want to succeed and try my best no matter what. In this tournament, I'm going to go as far as I can, so I can win!" Hinata declared her resolve, also adopting Naruto's Ninja Way as her own. Having regained her breath and equilibrium, Hinata immediately fell back into practice.
Similarly, outside of the Clan compound, currently by himself was Hyuga Neji. The Branch Member of the Hyuga Family, forever sworn to protect the main household. He hated it. Neji was sworn to protect something he despised with his whole being. Ever since his father was killed, traded for the life of the Main Family, the Byakugan Prodigy had become lost in a daze. Destiny had decided what his Father would do at birth, that was the purpose of the Caged Bird Seal. A reminder of the fate of a trapped animal. Destiny had similarly decided that at birth, Neji was a greater talent than even the Main Household. His talent was so astounding it allowed him to effortlessly domineer over the "failures" beneath. That's why it upset him. To see the progress of Uzumaki Naruto. A boy who failed the Academy Graduation Exam numerous times, who was hopeless at the basic Shinobi Arts. But that boy never stopped aiming for his dream of Hokage.
No matter the setback, the failure, the humiliation, he struggled against fate in an attempt to complete his hopes. Neji thought the Genin was foolish. That he was born a failure and would always be that. But what surprised him was the murmurings of him becoming the favoured student of Kakashi Hatake. Even The Last Uchiha, who Neji considered a prodigy like himself, had not earned that moniker. He hated Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto was living proof of something Neji wanted to believe in, but his past wouldn't allow him to. The brunette swore to defeat the loudmouthed Uzumaki and prove himself right above all others.
"Come on Sasuke, faster!" Kakashi demanded from his student, the raven haired Uchiha clenching his teeth in pain and frustration. Approaching Kakashi at a rapid pace, Sasuke went for an overhead kick, his joints aching and muscles tearing at the very action, Kakashi adeptly stepped aside and punched Sasuke in his stomach. The Sharingan warrior bared through the pain, bracing himself the Uchiha landed into a windmill kick that was aimed atop Kakashi's head, once again the Jonin avoided it easily, then kicking Sasuke in the back of the head before landing another on his back, sending him sprawling across the hard rock they stood on.
Sasuke struggled to pull himself to his feet, the intense pain making it far more difficult than it should have been. The Raven haired Uchiha had become frustrated in the last few days, it had been over two weeks since the end of the Prelims, and Sasuke couldn't help but feel like he was making no progress. Naruto just seemed to get further and further away from him. Kakashi ran him through so much training every day, making his Taijutsu better, Ninjutsu more refined and speed more explosive. Yet, Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that the blonde was pulling ahead of him. It pissed him off. It reminded him so much of his older brother, Uchiha Itachi.
When they were younger, Itachi would sometimes train with Sasuke, teaching him things, but at some point, Itachi started to pull away from him, and became distant. Then, the night of disaster struck, where Sasuke lost everything. His Mother, Father and his beloved elder Brother. Sasuke had suffered at the hands of Itachi, when the Uchiha Killer casted a Genjutsu on him that made him relive the events of that night for continuously. It would take years, until Sasuke was formed into Team 7, where he would meet people he could consider friends and family again. And the one who he counted as his closest friend, was pulling away like Itachi once did. He hated that. He hated how similar Naruto was to Itachi. Sasuke Uchiha didn't want to lose his friend like he lost his brother.
The blonde Jinchuriki was in the same meeting place he had been training in for the last 17 days. Naruto was now on the final step of the Rasengan, which was forming it into a ball inside an empty Balloon. Naruto had decided to speed the process up for himself and used some of his savings to buy extra balloons, which surprisingly wasn't all that expensive for a couple hundred of them. The blonde eyed up the empty balloon. Focusing intensely, the blonde poured Chakra into his hand, a swirling vortex of chaos formed immediately with Naruto adding more power into it, causing the shape of the rubber to dilate. Naruto immediately began to pour more chakra around the vortex, shaping it into a sphere. The rubber instantly settled, leaving Naruto with a seemingly empty balloon.
Naruto didn't let his concentration waver. This was still difficult for him. He could feel that his sphere was imperfect. And the rambunctious Chakra inside still punched against the cage he created for it. Naruto couldn't help but feel his admiration and awe for the Fourth increase. To create such a powerful and complex technique like the Rasengan. The blonde felt his worship for the man was well founded and the continued growth of it was not something that bothered him. Before long, the balloon exploded in Naruto's hand, sending him down to the ground. Around him, the blonde heard the sounds of popping and pained grunts. The experiences of his Shadow Clones filtered into his brain, letting the blonde understand the process of forming the Rasengan better and better.
Naruto continued his training like this for the rest of the day, returning to his apartment well into the evening. Ever since that Quest appeared, the blonde had become clear-minded and focused. There was no longer any doubt about who he was, or what the Uzumaki wanted to be. Uzumaki Naruto was beginning to like his life. He had a clear dream for himself, and people he could consider precious. Aside from what Naruto perceived to be a duty from his idol The Fourth Hokage, the blonde now had reason to protect those in Konoha. To protect Konoha meant to protect his precious people, friends. And that was all the reason he needed. For a child who had known nothing of bonds and friendship, they meant everything to him.
The blonde let his mind wander to Karin. The Uzumaki he met in the forest. After his talk with The Third, Naruto knew the Old Man would do something to get her here. But that conversation had not ended well. Naruto didn't want to think about Hiruzen, so he let his mind dwell on Karin. Naruto found her red hair to be beautiful. It was such a vibrant hue that it drew his attention immediately to her. Then her eyes, Naruto always found himself daydreaming if he looked into them long enough. His heart was always aflutter whenever he thought of her now. It wasn't a bad feeling, so he didn't dissuade himself from having it. But the blonde couldn't place what the feeling was, so he just settled for that he liked thinking about Karin.
"I don't think it'd be bad if I had her live with me after the exams…" Naruto pondered aloud as he watched the sun set over Konoha.
AN: Just a short one. The next chapter will start the Finals. But, I'm going to put this on hiatus. It's very tiring at the moment.
Stylo1, stop trolling. If you aren't, just stop. I can tell you're a kid in your teens. You clearly don't know how to view things from different perspectives, so I'm not going to say much. However, a lot of the stuff you've said has shown one thing. You have never watched or read the Naruto series.
I'll admit, I'm a bad writer. But, that doesn't matter to me. I have never claimed to be God's Gift to literature. Is that what people infer from when I said the other Gamer fics were bad? That's just my opinion. I never said "They're bad and im better, OP baby! 1 million times greater than any published author!11!"
Like one of the guest reviewers said, I'm not paid for this. So what if I make mistakes or make something seem forced? I never went to a college or University to learn how to write stories. This is my first proper fiction that i've put a lot of time into.
To quote Eminem, "I'm harder on myself than you could ever be regardless." I see all the bad things, this chapter is absolute dog shit. But I had to put it out to tell you guys that I can't be assed writing this anymore. I'll come back to it in a couple of months. But between the copious amounts of belligerent retards who think they can critique me when they don't have the balls to publish their own fics and the exhaustion I feel after work, just can't be bothered.
One last thing to Stylo1, Quality over Quantity. Go back to reading your Self-Insert Original Character fics, or even that one where Naruto read a book and somehow became a Kage Level shinobi in the academy. Twat.
Goodbye for now.
P.S To that fucking bitch Guest who said these notes take up a third of the story, learn maths, the longest one only took up an eighth.