Chapter 10 – New Friend

It was now lunch time and everyone was kind of excited for today's exercise. They were excited due to the lecture that they had with their guest speaker, an ANBU commander. He spoke about what the ANBU did for the village. It was a little sugar coated but everyone got what the ANBU did for the village. The leader of the group of five told them that they will be ANBU for the day and will do an exercise depending of what they selected from the box. They all did this before lunch.

"Protection duty of a high-level diplomat, that sounds boring?" Naruto whined.

"You want to trade with me?" Shikamaru asked. They looked at his paper and saw that he had 'Assassination of a crime lord'.

"I don't think you can. The guy said that this will be the mission you have to do once you choose it." Kiba said. The two sighed in disappointment. Unknown to the group, a pair of annoyed eyes were looking at them. It was as if the eyes were trying to forcefully dig into their souls. These eyes belonged to the current 'Rookie of the Year', Sasuke Uchiha.

One could only wonder why he was even giving the losers the time of day. It had to do with the past couple of months in which he saw the four in a different light. He never did get Naruto back for his prank, even if he could not prove it. He followed the blond and watched as he went to some calligraphy teacher. He didn't really care why he was doing calligraphy but he saw nothing really new in Naruto's routine. He would have spied at him at home but somehow, the loser had some type of security that gave him a bad shock.

Then there was Kiba. He never really accepted the win that the mutt gained over him. It was a blow to his pride that burned deeply. From what he saw of Kiba and his dog, they jogged a lot. He couldn't get closer to his home due to the dogs that were always around. He saw that he was wearing weights and tried it himself. He got tired of the exercise after two weeks. He didn't feel any change and dismissed it. He kept spying on Kiba, looking to see anything else but he kept to his routine and did not change anything. It was frustrating because Kiba kept getting faster.

Then he saw changes in the two slackers of the group. Shikamaru didn't seem to do much but he was getting lessons from Iruka after class. Apparently, he was learning how to create barriers. Sasuke laughed that off as something weak. Choji apparently was learning how to use a weapon because he saw him doing drills with a staff. From what he saw, he was still a beginner and the style looked more defensive than offensive. While the two did not worry him, he was annoyed that it looked like that they were improving.

Sasuke just didn't really like the four. While he was one of the few that still considered them losers and slackers, he could see that they were more skilled than they let on. It also annoyed him that they seem to excel in this new system while he was only doing average. Not once did he get above any of them when it came to these exercises. What made it even more annoying was the fact that they got praised by the people that administered the exercises while he only got criticized. He didn't like it and it needed to change now.

Watching Sasuke, his fan-girls could see his frustration and saw that he was looking at the table where the losers sat. They did not know why he was frustrated by them but they frustrated him and that was a no-no. They decided to confront the group and get them to stop. They gathered and marched over to the group. Shikamaru saw the group coming toward them and warned the guys. They all looked and saw Ami and Sakura at the head.

Naruto still had a crush on the pink-haired ninja in training but it had kind of fizzled somewhat. When he threw himself in learning his clan's art and improving his own skills, he just didn't have the time or energy to ask her out or to impress her. He also began to see that he was kind of wasting his time do that due to the talk Hana had with him. His crush was still there but it just wasn't as strong.

Naruto faced the group with a grin.

"Hey Sakura, what can I do for you?" Naruto asked happily.

"You can stop bothering Sasuke, all of you can." Sakura stated. The four looked at each other before looking over to Sasuke. They saw him look away from them and then walk off. They then turned back to the group of girls.

"What exactly did we do to Sasuke?" Kiba asked.

"We don't know and we don't care. For the past couple of months, he's been giving you four the stink eye. It's probably your fault Naruto. That prank you played on him wasn't funny." Ami said loudly.

"It was never proven that I did that." Naruto joked.

"Just shut up Naruto! You think that you're so cool but you're not! Just leave Sasuke alone or face the consequences!" Sakura threaten. Naruto lost his smile and gave Sakura a serious look.

"Look, I'm not going to be yelled at for something I didn't do. If Sasuke has an issue with us, let him come and tell us. Sasuke is a big boy that can take care of himself. He doesn't need fan-girls coming to his defense." Naruto said.

"What did you call us?!" they shouted.

"I called you guys' fan-girls. You don't do much because you feel that it would make you all sweaty. You might accuse me of acting cool but I know that I'll be ready for the ninja life. What about you?" Naruto asked. The girls were boiling at his words. Naruto just shook his head and walked away before anything could happen. The others followed him, not wanting to be around the group of girls. Everyone who watched was surprised by what just happened. After a while, the group forgot Naruto's words and went to look for the object of their affection.

XXX

After the lunch, the exercise began. Naruto met up with three others. One of them was Hinata Hyūga. As they gathered with another group that got the same assignment, the ANBU assigned to them faced them.

"Okay, you guys are ANBU and you are tasked with protection. You must get your diplomat to the entrance from the doors of the academy. Iruka-sensei will be the one that you will be protecting. I will be the assassin. I will also be using clones, disguised as a crowd. Are we understood?" the masked woman said.

"Hai sensei." They said.

"I will give you five minutes to plan." The woman said and the two groups decided to plan.

"Okay Uzumaki, what's the plan?" one of the boys said.

"You trust me with this? Aren't I one of 'the losers'?" Naruto mocked.

"Well yeah but you and your other friends are the only ones who do well in these exercises. So, what's your plan?" the other boy said. Naruto just looked at them and smirked. He liked this power he had.

"Okay, we need to assume that this woman would not just be the main attacker. Something tells me that she might have a hidden surprise." Naruto said.

"What makes you say that?" asked one of the boys.

"It's something that Shikamaru did to me in a shogi game. Always expect the unexpected is the motto that I use when I face him. That's where Hinata comes in." Naruto said. The meek girl jumped up when he said that.

"M-Me?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, you're the rock star of the team. With you, we're going to pass for sure." Naruto said with a grin.

XXX

The group of Naruto, Hinata and the two boys went first. They surrounded Iruka in a diamond formation with Naruto in front, the two boys at the flanks and Hinata in the back. They moved through the crowd with some ease. That's when the crowd started to get rowdy. The two boys kept them for getting close to Iruka and still kept moving. That's when Hinata spoke up.

"A wolf is m-moving, coming up the f-flank." Hinata said. The boys nodded and Naruto quickly threw a smoke bomb on the ground. It covered the group and made the crowd back away. From out of the smoke, Hinata and Naruto pushed Iruka through the crowd. They were packed tight and moving fast. They were nearing the entrance when Hinata shouted. "Second wolf, hostile close!" Naruto moved quickly and caught a hand that attempted to stab Iruka. Naruto quickly disabled him with a quick slash of his kunai. They continued to move through until they reached the entrance. With that, the exercise was over.

The two boys ran up to them and told the two that they were able to stop the woman but she just dispelled into smoke. That's when they heard clapping. It came from the ANBU and Iruka.

"That was very impressive. I do have some criticism. I would not have used such a distraction. It's too noisy and crazy. Also, I would have had the two who captured the first clone immediately return to cover you. However, you used Hinata's Byakugan perfectly and I liked how you identified the danger. You have all gotten high marks." The woman said. The group cheered.

XXX

At the end of class, Naruto was making his way out. He had gotten another high mark and he was going to celebrate. He had asked the two boys if he wanted to join but they just laughed at him. He should have known better but he didn't let it bother him. As he was exiting, he saw Hinata. It looked like that she was waiting for him.

"Oh hey Hinata, did you want something?" Naruto asked.

"Um," she began but she was just so nervous. Naruto gave her a really confused look. Hinata took a deep breath and faced him. "Um, t-thank you for b-believing in me. I-I know that I-I'm shy but thank y-you for having c-confidence in me."

"No problem Hinata. Like I said, you were the rock star of the group. I've read what I can about your Byakugan and it's perfect for that type of mission. I had faith in you." Naruto said. Hinata was blushing red at Naruto's words. Naruto looked at her with confusion. That's when he remembered that Hinata was on his team too. "Hey Hinata, you want to get some ramen with me? You know, to celebrate our victory?" Hinata processed his words and was even redder. Naruto put his hand on her head and asked if she was alright and that was it for Hinata.

She fainted right there, shocking Naruto. The blond did not know what to do and quickly went to find Iruka.

XXX

Hinata was awakened by some type of smell. She shot up and quickly shook the cobwebs out. She looked to see Iruka and Naruto, who let out a breath of relief.

"W-What happened?" Hinata asked.

"You got all red and I thought you were getting a fever. I touched your forehead and you just fainted. Are you okay Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Um, yes, I think I-I'm alright." Hinata said.

"I think that I will take you home Hinata, just to make sure that you're alright." Iruka offered. Hinata nodded and thanked him.

"Well, I hope you get home safely Hinata. Remember, you and I got have that ramen for our victory today, okay?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded and Naruto took off. Hinata smiled at the fact that Naruto still wanted to take her out for ramen. Iruka just chuckled at the situation.

XXX

Since that day, Hinata had become a good friend of the guys. At first, she was just Naruto's friend. They had that ramen and the two got to know each other. Hinata kept a lot in, something that Naruto noticed but he didn't push. Naruto continued to talk to Hinata at the beginning, during and after class. Everyone thought Naruto had gotten the hint of Hinata's feeling but they realized that he was still just as clueless. It got the two a lot of snickers, which made Hinata blush and Naruto even more confused.

After a while, Hinata was introduced to the group. They all welcomed her without any issues. She was still quite shy with them but that was slowly changing as she continued to hang with the group. Even her father was please at her changing attitude. He didn't know why the change was happening or who was responsible for the change but he didn't need to know that. Either way, Hinata had become a well-liked friend of the group. Everyone was happy and having a time.

XXXXX

Authors' Notes: Well, here's a new chapter. Sorry that I haven't been writing as much. I've had to do a lot and my aunt recently got out of the hospital so I had to watch over her, take her to appointments. So, I am going to be writing a bit more but I'm going to do more writing.

During the week, I will try and take three hours out of the day to write something. I will focus on only one story at the time, so you would get at least two, three chapters for each chapter. So, keep your eyes out.