They say that when it rains it pours. He couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. The thunder clouds had rolled in from the east. He smiled and let out a sigh of relief. He loved the rain. But he also despised it. He loved it because it reminds him of home and it gave him a break from his jutsu for a few hours. He hated it because it reminded him of what he lost, what he continues to lose every single day. He turned a single ringed eye towards the east. He could feel it. The power he sought was there. The power to change the world. Buried inside of a young girl, waiting to be harnessed. He turned his gaze down to the streets below. Children played unaware of the horrors that the world had waiting. This was what he wanted, for these children to, hopefully, never be made aware of the horrors of war, of violence, of cruelty. For these children to never have to go through what he had. A cough drew his attention and he stepped away from the balcony and into the warmer skyscraper. "You look like you want to ask something, Kakuzu."
The man in question was dressed in a black cloak adorned by red clouds. He had green eyes. More strikingly were his black sclera. Of course most would comment on the tendrils of thread that writhed from within his mask, but most never see him without his mask. "If I may, why don't we just capture the container now? She hasn't learned to use it's power yet, and the village is crippled. It seems like now is the perfect opportunity."
"I understand your concern and you're correct in your concerns. If we wanted to forcefully take her, now would be the perfect time to do so. But if for some reason she were to unleash it on us while we weren't prepared, then every last one of us would die. More than that, it's better for us to have the girl containing it and to join us willingly, then to see us as kidnappers and as threats."
"And how shall we do that?"
"Konoha is already doing it for us. They are pushing her away, tormenting her. So all we need to do, is give her the chance to leave when the time is right."
"And when will that be?"
"When she knows pain." He turned his eyes towards the others in the room. They had remained silent up to this point. His eyes flickered between the other two men in the room. One wore an orange mask that revealed only a single eye, it was really his only unique trait. That is until you heard the man speak. Of course when it comes to voices the other man takes the prize for most bizarre. He did have two after all. Oh and his skin was split down the middle from being half bone white and half coal black. If that wasn't odd enough he had strange plant like appendages stemming from his shoulders making him look like a Venus Fly Trap. The two men said nothing, though the monochrome one smiled when he made eye contact. Finally his eyes flickered to the only woman among them. She had blue hair and orange eyes. In addition to that she had several piercings dotting her face. She was his oldest friend and the only living person he trusted completely. She understood him, and she knew his real reasons for not wanting to force the girl.
He didn't want to kill her. He wanted children to have a chance at becoming adults, and he didn't want to rob the girl of what little chance at joy she would have. Of course he did believe swaying her to his side would be easier than trying to make himself the new vessel. And who knows, maybe she won't have to know pain once she joins them. Whether she is ready for it or not, she would bring peace to this world. Be it as a smoldering ruin, or a paradise never before seen. He hoped to ensure the latter.
Humans are strange creatures. Or maybe she's just the strange one, of course as far as she can tell she's human (what with still being squishy and small), so maybe she's strange because she's human. Her best friend was strange but she like that about her. Where everyone else made sure the normal was to try and harm her, to varying degrees of success, her best friend tried to hurt others for trying to hurt her. And that was. . . well it was strange. Hinata-chan had grown to be a lot more vocal about her being under the Hyuuga-clan's, and the heiresses, protection. She had also gotten more physical about it, using those weird, but cool, finger strikes to disable the adults. Naruko had tried to imitate her when she was alone during the attacks, but she had just ended up poking them and then getting her arm broken for her efforts, so she gave up on trying to mimic Hinata-chan. She had asked Hinata-chan to teach her but she was told she would need the Byakugan for it to work. She had found herself wishing for a family for the first time in a long time. If she had a family then she would have already been receiving training. But the best she got were play fights with her friend who was far to skilled for it to actually help. So she gave up and figured she would wait for her entrance into Konoha's first ninja academy.
She hadn't actually had to wait all that long for her first day at the academy. It had only been a few short weeks after that realization that the new semester started up and she was preparing for her first day at the first ninja academy. Konoha was too large to have only one academy so multiple were in place with different levels of expectations placed upon the students. The first ninja academy had the highest among them, being the first academy founded in Konoha (hence the name) and being the one used exclusively by the clans and exceptional talents (as well as anyone fortunate enough to live close to it). Her enrollment into the prestigious institution was the gift she received from the Hokage (the old man in the hat) for her sixth birthday. She had asked why he enrolled her in the first and not the third (which was closer to her house) and he had stated that, "she has untapped potential that would be wasted in any institution but the best Konoha has to offer." She didn't really mind, it was the same academy Hinata-chan would be attending so she considered the extended time with her friend to be the real gift. She still didn't really trust the old man. It didn't help that every morning she woke up to his and Konoha's malice. Humans really are strange creatures, to not let that hatred relent for even a single day for nearly a year was, in a way, impressive. Of course that's just how things were. The people of Konoha hated her and she didn't care for them. She ignored them and they tried to harm her, that was just how the world worked.
She snapped out of her thoughts as her alarm clock went off. She always woke up before it went off, but she found it helped to focus her attention at the start of the day. She got it from the same man who gave her the clock that currently sat on her dining table. She thought it was a little weird to be receiving another clock for her sixth birthday, but he really seemed to want her to always be aware of the time. She had decided his hair was actually a light silver and not white like she initially thought. Of course she came to that decision while backed into an alleyway and being beaten by the villagers, who had managed to isolate her on most her recent birthday. Hinata-chan had warned her not to go out on her birthday, but she thought it would be fine to go and get the mail (A large man with a face similar to the Hokage always dropped it off for her around that time of the month). As it turned out it wasn't fine and she received a rather painful beating. She can't remember the last time she saw Hinata-chan so worried. Long story short the silver haired dog man saved her gave her a clock and then took her home to a worried Hinata-chan, who quickly turned into a sad and then angry Hinata-chan. Of course not at her, Hinata-chan never gets mad at her (okay well she does sometimes, but it was mostly driven by worry).
Hinata-chan had sorta been like that ever since she apparently saved her from that cloud ninja. Of course that's what she and Hiashi say, but Naruko only remembers her worry for Hinata-chan and then red and then nothing.
She looked at the clock on her table and realized she had been too lost in thought and hadn't actually been getting ready. Of course she woke up early so she wasn't late, she just wasn't as early as she normally was. Which well that's late she guesses, but she wouldn't be late to class is her point.
She quickly returned to her bedroom and got dressed, putting on a navy blue dress that had lavender accents that never failed to remind her of Hinata-chan. Of course it helped that Hinata-chan gave her this dress for her sixth birthday. When she asked why, her friend had said it complimented her hair and the lavender worked well with her eyes. It had been weird seeing her eyes go from blue to purple after the incident. What was even more weird was the shade seemed to change in the morning. Like when she first woke up it was a sort of violet purple, almost red really, but after a few minutes they would turn to the truer amethyst purple. She had no idea why it happened. Of course her body was weird in the morning. Like her hair (which she is currently brushing) for example. Every morning, without fail, two of her bangs would stand up and look sorta like horns (or rabbit ears, which she much preferred). She just chalked it up to being another weird thing about her. Her hair had grown longer, reaching down to her waist now. Hinata-chan thought her hair was pretty so she liked growing it out. It made her feel like her friend was there for her even when they weren't together. She finished brushing her hair and put her ramen in the microwave. Instant ramen was no match for Ichiraku's but it was still good. While she waits for it to cook she checks her other things. All her school supplies are in order. She's dressed and ready. Okay yeah, just breakfast and she's good. She spots a black pair of shorts and realizes that she's not as dressed as she thought. Hitomi had given her several pairs of black shorts along with Hinata-chan's dress and told her that a Kunoichi should always wear shorts under her dress. She didn't really get it, but Hitomi hadn't lied to her yet so she followed the advice. She quickly slipped on the shorts and her microwave beeped right as she finished. Perfect. She had a quick meal and set out, only to turn around and brush her teeth (she didn't understand why it was important, but everyone of the Hyuuga's had said she absolutely has to do it, so she did). Finally she set out, this time nothing was left undone.
It took her a little over half an hour to arrive at the academy. It wasn't a terribly long journey, but it is certainly not as easy as the five minute walk from her apartment to the third academy would have been. She heads inside the aged building. It looked clean and well kept but the age showed. It looked much more traditional in style than the rest of the buildings in Konoha, though not in the same way as the Hyuuga estate. She looked for room 103, the classroom she would be spending the next six years in. Of course that's assuming that she doesn't decide to become something other than a ninja. Truth be told she kind of wanted to see the world beyond Konoha's walls. Just like the hate she felt from within Konoha she felt none from outside of it, and it made her curious. Of course she's considered other options. Like being a florist for example. The last present she had received for her sixth birthday was several pots of soil and packs of seeds for different kinds of flowers. She had put them on the balcony and had taken to caring for them. When they finally bloomed she was in awe, everyone of the flowers were different, but each were a shade of red similar to her hair. She had no idea who sent it but she loved it.
She stirs from her thoughts as she finds room 103. She doesn't hesitate to step inside and quickly spots Hinata-chan. She was the only person in class with white eyes (it also helped that her Byakugan was active and she was waving.). It looked like her friend had been looking for her before she even stepped in the building. The veins signaling the use of the Byakugan ending and Hinata-chan's white (with a hint of lavender) eyes returned to normal. She smiled and quickly ran up the steps to her friend, sliding into the seat next to her. "Hey Hinata-chan!"
"Good morning, Naruko-chan." They exchanged hugs briefly and started to quietly talk about their first day of school. They were excited to say the least. About 10 minutes pass before other kids start to stream into the classroom, mostly one at a time, but sometimes in groups. One such group caught Naruko's attention. She looked at the trio of kids that entered. Or rather the duo that entered dragging the third kid. The first was a plump boy who was managing to eat a bag of potato chips with one hand while holding onto the hand of another boy with the other. Said boy seemed to be asleep if the faint snoring was anything to go by. Finally there was a blonde girl who was scolding the sleeping boy while pulling him by his other hand. Naruko guessed it made sense for others to enter the academy with their friends. The sleeping boy seems to finally stir awake only to mutter.
"Troublesome."
"Honestly Shika this is a little much even for you. Do you want your mom to yell at you?" The blonde girl asked in response.
"Troublesome."
The plump boy speaks up. "Calm down Ino you're being too harsh. Want a chip?"
"No thanks Choji," She sighed and continued speaking, "Well now that you're finally awake we can stop dragging you. Honestly you're too lazy." Naruko didn't really understand the interaction but she guessed it wasn't that different from when Hinata-chan or Ayame-nee scold her for not eating properly. That thought brought a smile to her lips.
A few more minutes would pass by and finally another student would enter. This one sorta stuck out for how hard he was trying not to stick out. At least that's what Naruko assumed. He wore a large jacket that went down to his ankle and up to his nose. Along with that he had dark sunglasses that obscured his eyes. Naruko thought he was sorta weird, even by the standard of all people being weird. Maybe he's actually blind, or doesn't have a human mouth. Oh! What if he's actually crawling with bugs? Or maybe he's just really buff and is shy to let people see? Naruko would be lying if she said he's not interesting. He slowly made his way up the steps, but stopped as he passed her. They made eye contact (or at least she thinks he did, she couldn't really tell thanks to the sunglasses) and he flinched. He seemed to be buzzing loudly, like an angry swarm of bees. He quickly averts eye contact and heads to the back corner furthest away from her. Oh guess he was more normal than she thought. He was just like everyone else. She turns back towards the front as a few of the other girls in class squeal. She hadn't even registered that they were here, but they had a weird blandness to them that was almost hard to figure out. But she guessed that was a good trait to have as a ninja so she left it at that. Instead she turned her attention to the reason.
A thin boy with black hair and matching eyes walked in. He was thin, not as thin as she was when she was kicked out, actually not even as thin as she is now, but still thin. He was pale too. It actually sorta reminded her of Hinata-chan. Though his wasn't almost ghostly like hers was. She looked at his hair and tilted her head. Maybe that's why Hinata-chan gave her a hair brush, so her hair wouldn't look like a ducks butt like his. She might get him a hair brush then, he might not have known it's a thing just like her. He looked confident. Like how Hinata-chan started to look after she started training. They made eye contact and the boy did something odd. He blushed. Sorta like Hinata-chan used to (and still does when she thinks Naruko isn't looking). Maybe he's not as confident as she thought. Or maybe he's sick, that would explain him being thin. She didn't get it and shrugged. She turned her attention back to Hinata-chan.
They don't get to talk for long before she notices Hinata-chan's eyes flick towards the door. This must be interesting if it got her attention so suddenly. She turns towards the door and is swiftly proven right. A girl had walked in. She had greens eyes and, more strikingly, pink hair. The girl looked a little nervous and brushed her bangs over her forehead. Naruko thought she was prettier without the hair in the way but she shrugged it off. The girl looked around hesitantly before moving up the steps. As she walked past Naruko couldn't help but say. "Your hair looks pretty." The girl blinked in surprise and smiled before she suddenly flinched and hurried away. Oh. Naruko thought it was a bit odd, the girl didn't seem to be looking at her when she flinched but, still. It was the same as everyone else. She turned back to Hinata-chan. Weird that Hinata-chan's Byakugan was fading again. Maybe she wanted to look outside the classroom some more.
After a few minutes the last student comes scrambling in. A glance towards the clock on the wall tells her he's only barely on time. He looks around for a brief second before running up and sliding into the seat next to her. She turned and looked at him, curious of the boy who sat next to her. He had red triangles on his cheeks and spiky brown hair. He also smelled like a dog. She didn't really mind, she liked dogs, and knows she had smelled worse in the past, so she wasn't about to judge. She wondered if he had a dog. She wishes she could, but dogs, like every other animal, never wanted to get close to her. Though they did follow her around like other animals. She still had no idea why animals seemed to both love and hate her at the same time. She snaps out of her thoughts as the boy turns and smiles at her. She only now realized there were no other open seats. Well who cares, he was smiling, so maybe he'll be another friend.
A minute passes filled with chattering between the students before the door slides open for one last time and a man with a scar across his nose walks in. He calmly, but sternly, calls out, "Alright quiet down, I'm going to take roll. When I call your name stand up and tell the class one thing about yourself along with your goal in becoming a ninja. If you don't have one just say so." This got Naruko thinking, why did she want to become a ninja? "Now then, first up, Aburame Shino." The secretly buff boy stands up (she doesn't know whether he is actually buff or not, but she's going to pretend he is until proven otherwise).
"I am the heir of the Aburame clan and I am becoming a ninja to be able to lead the clan in the future. Why? Because it is my duty as the heir of the clan." The boy sits down. That was a little odd but she guesses that got the point across.
"Akimichi Choji."
The plump boy stands and speaks, still munching on chips. Naruko realizes it's actually a new bag. "I like eating and want to be strong like my Tou-chan." The scarred man goes down the list naming a few kids that fell in that category of being weirdly bland. Actually now that she looks around most of the kids in the class were like that. Finally he comes to one of the kids that got her interest earlier.
"Haruno Sakura" The pink haired girl stands up.
"My mom is a ninja and I want to be one like her." Naruko note's that she didn't actually say anything about herself but she guess it counts if the sensei is okay with it.
"Hyuuga Hinata"
"I'm the heiress of the Hyuuga clan and I am becoming a ninja to be a good clan head, and to protect Naruko-chan." She says smiling at Naruko. Naruko smiled back.
"Inuzuka Kiba" The spiky haired boy stands up with a smirk on his face. He seemed confident, but not in the same way as Hinata-chan or the black haired boy.
"My family uses ninken in combat and I hope to be the strongest in my family."
The list continues once more with the weirdly bland kids before the instructor says. "Nara Shikamaru." Only to be met with silence. Waiting a few moments and seeing no one standing he says. "Is Nara Shikamaru here?" A loud smack echoes through the room, the class turns to see the tired boy rubbing the back of his head while the blonde girl hisses something at him. With a groan he stands and says.
"I'm tired and I'm becoming a ninja because it would be too troublesome not to." Naruko doesn't really get it, wouldn't it be easier not to be a ninja? The tired boy sits back down and seems to go to sleep again.
"Answer when called on next time. Now, Uchiha Sasuke."
The dark haired boy with the duck butt hair style stands and says. "I like tomatoes and want to be strong like my Onii-chan."
"Uzumaki Naruko."
"I like ramen and Hinata-chan. I don't really know why I want to be a ninja." It's true, she doesn't know why. It's not like she is the heiress to a clan, and she doesn't particularly care for the village. She could use it as a way to see the world beyond the village, but she was sure if she tried hard enough she could leave without being a ninja, so that didn't feel like the reason. The Hokage had tried to convince her that she should try and be like him. She figured that won't work since everyone hates her. At the end of the day she guesses she became a ninja because Hinata-chan is going to and she wants to protect her. Yeah that's the answer she guesses. Hinata-chan is going to be a ninja, and she doesn't want to be left behind.
The instructor goes down the rest of the list finishing with the blonde girl, she's the only one who had yet to speak. "Yamanaka Ino."
"I love fashion and I want to learn my clans techniques. And watch out for these two." She says gesturing to Shikamaru and Choji, fondness present in her tone.
"Alright, you all come from different walks of life with different experiences and perspectives. I hope you can keep this in mind in the future when you interact with your fellow students and ninja. From this moment forward you start your road to becoming a ninja. Congratulations." He paused and smiled at the students. "Now then, let's go over your schedule for the next year." He says as he looks around the class, only to be interrupted by Kiba.
"Hey sensei you never told us your name."
"Right my apologies, I'm Umino Iruka and I will be your sensei for the next six years. Now as for our schedule. In the morning we will be having light exercise to get you all used to working out, some times it will be drills and other times we'll be playing games. Following that we'll have four hours of civilian subjects. Those being Math, English, Science, and History. Then you will be given an hour long break for lunch and recess. After that we will be having three hours of ninja theory. It will be split into three subjects. Chakra Theory, Ninjutsu Theory, and Basic Stealth. Now any questions?"
Sasuke speaks up this time. "Why are we spending time on civilian subjects when we're going to be ninja?"
"Because sometimes ninja are injured in the field and must live civilian lives as a result, and some of you might decide you don't want to be ninja, and this way you won't be to far behind your peers who have begun civilian school. Not only that while the civilian subjects are certainly more important to a civilian than a ninja it still has the potential to help on future missions. And if that isn't enough, we want our ninja's to have some basic knowledge on how the world works and how to write up reports." That answer was enough to satisfy the Uchiha.
Hinata was having a good first day of school. She got to spend time with her best friend. She was on the road to becoming more powerful to protect her best friend. And she got to start learning something outside of the gentle fist. She loved her clan techniques but she had a thirst for more knowledge that clan techniques alone couldn't quench. Of course as much good as her first day had brought there were some bad parts.
Most notably the Inuzuka boy, the Uchiha, and that pink haired girl. The pink haired girl was the least annoying. It just made her weirdly upset when she heard Naruko-chan call her hair pretty so she may or may not have activated her Byakugan to scare the girl away. Of course she felt bad after seeing how it brought her friends mood down. She didn't know why she did it.
In a similar vein she found herself disliking the Uchiha from the moment he blushed at her friend. She still didn't know why, but just like the compliment it bothered her. Finally there was the Inuzuka boy. He didn't do anything wrong, in fact he was friendly and didn't even talk to them outside of a brief statement about girls being gross, but him sitting next to Naruko-chan had bothered her.
She had resolved herself to take the middle seat next time so Naruko-chan won't have to sit next to anyone else. She would make sure her friend is always safe, even if it's just other kids.
The year had come and gone. The excitement of school had quickly faded into routine and just a chance to see her friend everyday. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what she had hoped it would be going in. That being said, it was worth her time. She knew that much.
She had found out why Shino seemed to dislike her. The answer was actually surprising. He didn't actually hate her or dislike her. According to him he was completely neutral to her, but he and the insects that apparently live inside him, were afraid of her. She guessed that's why animals seemed to run away from her if she got too close. But she still didn't understand the following her. It's like they only realized they were afraid at a certain distance and at all other distances were drawn to her. Shino couldn't answer that question, but he did say that his insects did feel the draw, whatever it was.
Hinata-chan said it was because she was powerful, but Naruko didn't get it. Her friend was way stronger than she was. Not to mention she was small, easily the smallest in her class. So she didn't really see how she was powerful, but she figured it was related to her apparent saving of Hinata-chan.
Despite now being civil with Shino they still weren't really friends. But she didn't blame him, he couldn't calm down whenever he was near her and she wasn't going to make him deal with that just to try and be his friend. He was at least kind regardless of the fear he felt and she liked him for that.
The pink haired girl, Sakura, had turned out to be a dud. The girl at first had sort of gotten along with her when others weren't around but she grew distant when anyone else was there. She got especially distant whenever Hinata-chan was around. And she didn't want to be friends with someone who couldn't get along with Hinata-chan. As the year went on she sort of just started ignoring Naruko so she left it at that.
She got along decently well with Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. But they only occasionally talked in class and never considered playing together outside of class, even during recess. So they were only sorta friends. They at least didn't seem to hate her like the weirdly bland kids (which the hate seemed to somehow make them blander). Kiba was in a similar boat at first, but they actually got to the point where she was invited over to play. She got to the clan compound and the abundance of dogs quickly made that go poorly. So she ended up being about as close to Kiba as she was to the trio.
Lastly there was Sasuke. Sasuke actually still tried to be friends with her, but Hinata-chan seemed to really not like him. He would also do that weird blushing everytime she was around which only made Hinata-chan madder. Naruko didn't get it. Sasuke had never been mean to either of them but Hinata-chan just really didn't like him. She had heard the Uchiha clan and Hyuuga clan were rivals but this seemed to be a little weird. Still she prioritized Hinata-chan. Though she did hope the two could start getting along cause it'd be fun to have another friend.
Other than that classes had gone as Iruka-sensei said and they progressed through the year steadily. A few of the bland kids dropped out to become civilians. Naruko couldn't remember their names or faces but figured it didn't really matter. She had considered dropping out, she had been since the first day. Even now a year later she hadn't figured out precisely why she wanted to be a ninja. But she figured it would come to her before graduation. She hoped it would.
Much to her delight she had grown a bit in the last year, gaining a full two inches of height. She now stood at a proud 3'4". Well she was proud of it but she was still the shortest kid in class. Hinata-chan had grown more than her, before she was only an inch taller, but now she stood at 3'7". Naruko is sure she'll catch up. She's gotta be bigger than Hinata-chan to protect her. Bodyguards are always super beefy and tall.
She shot up at the sound of screaming. Her heart was beating erratically and she looked at the eerie glow of her alarm clock. It was only 11pm. She had gone to bed early. She had been tired from the new schedule that was introduced at the start of her second year. Her heart was still beating erratically. She needed a drink of water. Her voice was hoarse from her own screaming. She looked out her window as she passed. She couldn't help but stop and observe. The moon hung over head. The village was quiet, and she could feel it. The normal hatred she felt when she woke up was quelled by the sleep of the citizens. And perhaps because of that she could feel something different. In another part of Konoha, an area she had never been before, was an intense sorrow and rage. It wasn't directed at her, which came as a surprise, but instead directed at someone else. She had no idea who, but the hatred felt as intense as the villages hatred for her. She could also feel something else, a sort of worry coming from the Hokage tower.
Her heart beat slowly calmed down and she stopped observing the city. That was the first time feeling emotions had woken her up since Hinata-chan had been kidnapped. And if it wasn't for the fact that when she focused she could still feel her friend, she would be scrambling to find her. She went and got that water. She took a deep breath, drank the water, and went back to bed.
She didn't immediately associate the events that followed with that night, but in the coming weeks she would realize what transpired. After that night Sasuke suddenly got way more popular (after a brief stint of not being in class). He also stopped blushing around her, or making any expression other than anger. She could feel his hate every morning just like the rest of the village, though his was never directed at her. So she knew whatever happened had effected him, she just wasn't sure why.
She finally got an answer when she asked Hinata-chan. "His whole family was killed in one night."
"Oh."
"Yeah. . ." She had known her friend didn't like him but she could see the sadness in her eyes. She had lost her uncle and could relate on some level. Naruko didn't fully understand but understood it upset people with families to lose said family. She just didn't understand why. Of course she wasn't about to say that, Hinata-chan had told her it's inconsiderate.
She wanted to feel bad for him, but the results were more annoying for her. The girls that hung around him went from mostly ignoring her and acting like she's not there, to being outright mean to her. Something about her trying to "Steal Sasuke-kun away." Yeah Naruko thought it was weird. Again she asked Hinata-chan and was told that there are apparently rumors that Sasuke likes girls with long hair. And much to her surprise, he had a crush on her during the first year so some students drew the conclusion that she was trying to get his attention. Naruko thought it was ridiculous, she grew her hair out because she likes it like that, and because Hinata-chan seems to like it like that. Plus why would she like boys, all the boys in her class are weird. She asked Hinata-chan if she thinks she should cut it. Well she tried but her friend didn't even let her finish asking before she said no. And that was that.
Despite all this Naruko didn't really have any problems with Sasuke himself. His friends(?) were annoying but he wasn't. And it's not like it's his fault that the girls (and some boys by the looks of things) in class seem weirdly attracted to him for having a dead family. That might be the weirdest thought she's had in a while. Maybe they just didn't like his family, sorta like how they don't like her. She still thought it was a little weird (and kinda mean) but maybe that's normal and she's the weird one.
Maybe it was more normal than she thought cause it wasn't just the bland girls who joined in. Ino and Sakura both started to behave like them. They also stopped being friends. Actually as a matter of fact they were only briefly friends before becoming enemies. The two had seemed as close as she and Hinata-chan are, so she kinda thought it was sad. She had asked Hinata-chan if the same would happen to them. Crushing on the same boy (but boys are gross). Hinata-chan had assured her that wouldn't happen. Naruko didn't know how the other girl was so certain but she wasn't going to push it. She certainly doesn't want to become enemies with Hinata-chan over a boy (again boys are gross anyways). That whole ordeal was the most notable part of the second year, with one exception she'll get to soon.
The new year brought with it the aforementioned new curriculum. The only real change being that they're now practicing Taijutsu instead of only doing light exercise in the mornings. There was other change which actually was going to start today. They were finally going to unlock their chakra. She was excited, it was supposedly the most interesting part of the second year and she was looking forward to it. She could finally start catching up to Hinata-chan (who already had unlocked her chakra before they even entered the academy). The class is currently gathered outside. Iruka-sensei was explaining chakra again, he's done that a lot in the past year and a half. She's pretty sure that's all the chakra theory class is, just different ways of explaining what chakra is.
Finally he gets to something new. "Now, I'm going to teach you how to find and harness your chakra." Naruko isn't the only who perked up upon hearing that. The entire class is suddenly paying attention, well almost the entire class, a few of the clan heirs aren't. Those being Shikamaru, who is too busy sleeping, Hinata-chan who already knows how to use her chakra, and Sasuke who Naruko guesses is in the same boat as Hinata-chan.
"First I want everyone to sit down in the lotus position. Then close your eyes." Naruko couldn't help but note that it was a little similar to the instructions the voice gave her. Though not the quite the same. Still it made Naruko ponder if Iruka-sensei was the voice. Wait no, the voice felt more female and as far as she could tell Iruka-sensei was a boy. But maybe the voice wasn't really a female, Naruko couldn't remember the details of that night to well, it was mostly a haze of worry. "Now I want you to clear your mind. Once you've done so look inside yourself for a ball, it might be big or small but just look for a ball." Okay well it's not exactly the same, the voice had just wanted her to stay still. And to calm her breathing.
An odd sensation washed over her. It sort of felt like she opened her eyes, but instead of seeing the academy training ground that she knew; she instead saw an endless black void. If she had to compare it to anything she would say it's like how she felt peoples emotions without actually feeling them with any of her five senses. She didn't have to look around the void to find what Iruka-sensei described. A large blue ball sat before her. And when she said large, she meant it. In fact it was as large as the Hokage tower if she had to guess. So this was her chakra? She placed a hand against it. It was warm, comfortable, and sort of felt like a part of her she never knew was there. She liked it. But then she noticed something odd. Part of it was a sort of green, and stemming from that green was a yellow strand (which she assumed was also made of chakra). She followed it and found something else. She hadn't noticed it when she was facing her chakra but there was another ball. It was made of three colors. Yellow, which was connected to her own chakra. White, which seemed to be flickering defiantly. And finally red, which seemed to be the majority color, it made her uncomfortable. She watched in curiosity as the three colors pushed against each other. Yellow seemed to push with white against the red, but there was so much of the latter that they were still losing this weird tug of war. And then suddenly, the ball seemed to turn, with the entire red side facing her. Black rings (with these weird commas) suddenly appeared on it and she felt her heart rate spike. Then a dot appeared in the middle of the rings and she realized. It looked sorta like an eye. And it was staring at her. She barely had time to comprehend what was happening before she felt her scream tear from her lungs as she stumbled back. Whatever that thing was, it scared her. She bumped against her own chakra and in a moment of desperation pushed herself in.
Her eyes snapped open and she found a worried Iruka-sensei and Hinata-chan leaning over her. Her friend was holding her tight.
She let out a gasp as she struggled to ask, "Hinata-chan? Wh-What was that?! I-It looked. . . It looked right at me. I-I-"
Hinata tightened her grip on Naruko-chan. The smaller girl was shaking and it seemed to be one of the rare times she saw tears pouring down her face. She had only seen her this terrified once and even then it was after the worst of it. Back during her seventh birthday she had been lured out of her apartment somehow, and then hunted down for sport. At least she thinks it's sport, it was too much even for the villages usual spite. She didn't get to see her friends injuries, and none of the adults were willing to tell her. In fact it was one of the few secrets that Naruko-chan kept from her. She wanted to know, even now, but she wasn't willing to make the other girl relive that night just for the sake of knowing. So she did all she could, she made sure Naruko-chan never went home alone and that she stayed with her even more than she already did. It was the best she could do. She worried it wasn't enough but Naruko-chan never asked for more. She slowly traced a circle on her friends back and whispered,"It will be okay Naru-chan." She said it over and over again, slowly calming the smaller girl. Her eyes flicked to nearby movement.
The rest of the class was staring at them, staring at her friend. Hinata hated their stares, to her it was always the worst part of the villages treatment of Naruko-chan. It reminded her of the elders of her clan. Those eyes assigned a value to a person without ever knowing who they are and that value was always worthless. She hated it. She snapped out of her thoughts as she returned her attention to the other kids, they were still staring. She knew they hated Naruko-chan. And she in turn disliked them for it. She silently activated her Byakugan as she stared at them. Her eyes flicked to Iruka-sensei who seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.
"Alright, she's just a little overloaded from using too much chakra. Now I believe the rest of you still haven't accessed it yet. And Shikamaru wake up!" The class goes back to meditating while the Nara groans.
"Iruka-sensei, since this is the last class today can we leave early, Ko-san is already waiting for us." Iruka-sensei didn't seem too fond of the idea but he took one look at the still shaking redhead and nodded.
"I wouldn't normally allow it but you've both completed the work. Just don't expect this to be a regular occurrence."
"Thank you sensei," Naruko-chan shakily stands on her feet, with Hinata's help. "Now come on Naru-chan let's get you home." Hinata then whispers in her ear. "And, if you want, we can talk about it." Naruko-chan nods and they start to walk towards Ko. She saw his surprise, which then morphed into a stern look. She knew he was going to scold them, but as soon as he saw what state Naruko-chan's in he stopped and silently started to lead them back to Naruko-chan's house (they always walker her home after her seventh birthday).
"Do you want to talk about it?" Several moments pass in silence, "it's okay, I won't-" Naruko interrupts her.
"N-No if I can talk to anyone it's you." Hinata realizes it's pretty bad, Naruko-chan never stutters like that. Not unless her mouth is in too much pain to talk properly (which was something Hinata tried to prevent from happening). "I found my chakra." Hinata knows there's more so she waits for Naruko to continue. "But then I found another chakra source. A-And it turned into some weird eye thing. I-It looked right at me. I-I was so scared. I-It was like every bad emotion I've ever felt directed at me, but worse." Naruko-chan was crying in fear at the memory. Hinata hugs her in response, rubbing her back.
How could Naruko-chan have two chakra sources? Well that at least explains the power Naruko-chan used when the cloud nin attacked her. Seeing the red head calm down a bit she says. "Naruko-chan wha-" Naruko interrupts again.
"Naru-chan." Hinata nods knowing what she meant. If it helped her red headed friend then she had no problem with it.
"Naru-chan what did the eye look like?"
"I-It was red, with several rings around the pupil, I didn't count how many, and-"
"It had tomoe in the rings, they look like commas." Naruko nods dumbly and asks.
"How did you know?"
"Naru-chan. . . That's. . . What your eyes looked like on the night you saved me. When you blacked out."
"Oh. . . Hinata-chan. . . Am I a demon? What if the villagers are right? Maybe that was just the demon part of me, the part I've never known of until now?"
"I don't think you're a demon. I think you are Uzumaki Naruko, my best friend and the person who risked herself to save me from being kidnapped. But even if you are a demon, you're still my best friend, no matter what." Naruko nods accepting the answer. She's still unsure, but at the very least she knows Hinata-chan will still be her friend, even if she is a demon.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan. . . Um. . . Can we get ramen tonight?"
"Of course."
And so the two (along with Ko) went to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner that night, it's Naruko's comfort food, and her favorite food. Hinata-chan usually tells her not to have ramen at every meal, though she can't really stop her from keeping it at home. It helps that people can't sell her rotten ramen, ramen just never lasts that long in the stores and has incredibly long expiration dates. Anyways because she usually has dinner with Hinata-chan she's forced to eat those nasty vegetables, though at least she's not super thin because of it. Between Hinata-chan's comforting and the ramen she'd calmed down a lot in the past few hours and was back to her usual self. The two seven year old girls finished their meal and Naruko was taken back to her apartment. " Thanks for today, Hina-chan." She says smiling brightly at the taller girl. The white eyed girl blushes, Naruko hadn't shortened her name like that before. It made her more comfortable when Hinata-chan shortened her name, so she figured she could do the same. She liked the sound of it.
The third and fourth year marked a change in curriculum but no new trauma. Which truth be told, Naruko and Hina-chan were both thankful for. In the third year Science was rolled into Math, called Advanced Math (which was math and science but not called as such, Naruko thought it was a weird distinction), making one class and giving Taijutsu it's own full class, once again going back to just exercising in the morning class. That was really the only thing of note to come in the third year. The fourth year saw English be removed and agility training taking it's place. That being said their history class did get a higher level of expectation in the students writing and reading abilities, so their English ability did still improve just at a bit of a slower rate than before. Beyond the time being removed from civilian subjects they also started intermediate stealth (which incorporated aspects of setting traps and looking for signs of traps). The exercise period was divided into two separate periods, one for strength training and the other for the aforementioned agility training. Chakra theory had also been vamped up into teaching them their first proper chakra control exercises and getting used to tapping into their chakra at any time. Lastly Ninjutsu theory finally taught them their first ninjutsu, that being the Kawarimi. All in all it was starting to feel like they were preparing to be ninja's rather than just sort of learning about how ninjas work. Naruko still hadn't really decided why she wanted to be a ninja, but she had grown more sure that she did indeed want to follow this path.
Of course in the past few years she's grown, just like her peers. She now stood at a proud four feet tall exactly. She was still shortest kid in class, but the growth made her happy, as it turned out she started to grow more once she was getting a steadier supply of food (she had Hina-chan and the Hyuuga's to thank for that). Her hair had also grown, much to the fury of Sasuke's fans (she had figured out they weren't his friends), now reaching down to her lower thighs. It was actually getting a bit unwieldy but she liked it too much to cut it plus Hina-chan insists she keeps it long (which Naruko found funny given her friend keeps her hair short). Speaking of Sasuke he still seemed to be grieving over the loss of his family. She sort of wished he would stop because his fans were getting more annoying towards her. They still didn't seem to understand she wasn't interested in him.
She had found out that a downside of growing was that her clothes didn't fit as nicely. Her old dress used to fit comfortably but it felt tight now. She felt like her movement was too constricted by it. Fortunately Hina-chan came to the rescue as always and gave her a new dress for her tenth birthday. It had the same color scheme but was designed with mesh armor in mind. Mesh armor that she now wore under the dress to have an extra level of protection that the cloth wouldn't deliver. Most notably she used the mesh as sleeves that extend beyond the dress.
Speaking of Hina-chan, the white eyed girl had also grown, she now stood at 4'5". Naruko couldn't help but pout at that, she wanted to be tall enough to protect Hina-chan. Though she's come to the realization height is not that big a deal. She had realized that during Taijutsu practice. She may be the shortest kid in class but she's the fifth best at Taijutsu. Hina-chan and Sasuke tend to compete for first. Kiba has third place locked down and Choji has fourth. Of course that's not to say Naruko can't win against those four, she just loses against them more than she wins. Though she always loses when Hina-chan goes all out on her. They had both trained hard these past two years but, Naruko didn't have clan techniques to help her and admittedly she didn't practice much outside of class like Hina-chan does.
Of course all this growth wasn't without it's pain. For some reason once Naruko started wearing her new dress Kiba started acting weird around her. At first it was just averting his eyes and trying not to pay attention to her when she talks, but then it turned into him being mean. Seemingly out of nowhere he started making fun of her. Which not liking her is pretty normal but she found the nicknames Dobe or Naruko-baka to be weird. She wasn't top of the class in studies but she was always slightly above average. And as she mentioned earlier she was fifth best in the class at Taijutsu. So she really didn't get it. The only thing she was bad at was math and chakra control. And sure her vocabulary was a little limited but it wasn't much worse than his. Certainly she wasn't bad enough in any subjects to warrant mocking her smarts. So she figures it must be chakra control which she may have been a little easy on herself when she said she was bad. Cause yeah, she's bad. So what if the leaf would be violently thrown from her forehead and turn to dust on impact. Or if she accidentally hit one of the bland kids with it one time and he had to go to the nurse. It was an accident. She asked Hina-chan if she had any idea and her friend just said he's being stupid and dealing with his feelings poorly. Naruko didn't get it, but she figured Hina-chan would tell her if it was actually a problem.
Of course where Kiba got mean Iruka-sensei suddenly got nice. Well that's not true. Iruka-sensei had been nice to her ever since that incident in their second year. He had been cold and she could feel the hostility before, but after that incident she could tell he was sorry and was trying to be nicer to make up for whatever he thought he did wrong. He had actually even gone so far as to apologize to her at one point. She didn't understand and simply told him he was acting like a normal person when he was cold to her. That seemed to upset him. She apologized but he told her he wasn't mad at her. Apparently he was mad at himself and the village. She didn't get it. This is how things are, why be mad over it? Of course Hina-chan was the same so maybe she should be mad. But honestly, she just sorta feels numb to it.
Anyways, today marked the start of the second semester and Iruka-sensei had an announcement to make. "From now on you won't have a recess." He was met with many boos. Naruko didn't really care, but she guessed she'd miss the free time. "Instead that time will be spent on a self study in a field of your choice. You have one week to decide. If you don't make a decision by next Monday I'll be assigning a subject for you." A few kids still grumbled at losing recess, but most looked excited for it. It seems like most of the clan heirs already had a good idea of what they wanted to do. Sasuke was the first to make a decision, choosing to focus on Ninjutsu during his self study. Unsurprisingly most of the undecided bland kids decided to just follow his decision. To Naruko's surprise Hina-chan went and decided to study the use of herbs. Apparently she was going to use them to make healing salves and poisons. Naruko was tempted to do the same, her garden would be perfect for it, and she would get to spend time with Hina-chan. But something inside of her said she needs to seek her own path.
It would take a week of looking into the different fields of being a ninja before she finally settled on Genjutsu. She felt a draw to it, and in a way it sort of made her think of that white chakra that's inside her. She had also considered Fuinjutsu, but it requires more time than the 30 minute class would allow for, and she doesn't have the resources for it. She decided to file it away for something to look into when she graduates. For now she was content with just studying Genjutsu. Though she came to realize quickly it wouldn't help her against Hina-chan who can use her Byakugan to ignore Genjutsu. She would also quickly realize that, despite the fact that she feels a draw towards Genjutsu, she has little to no talent for the art. But she wasn't going to give up, according to Hina-chan she used to be terrible at the Jyuken so she knew if she dedicated enough time she would improve. She had asked Iruka-sensei for advice and he told her to try and spend her self study on chakra control for now, as it's required to have any skill in Genjutsu. So she spent more time trying and failing at the leaf sticking exercise.
But it wasn't without progress and by the end of the year she had managed to get the leaf to stick to her forehead for the full duration of her self study. She still didn't have the ability to perform the Genjutsu, but she could tell what her problem was now and that progress reassured her. She decided to ask Iruka-sensei for the next exercise on the last day before their spring break and he told her to try and walk up a tree with her chakra. She spent her spring break falling down from trees with Hina-chan (who needed the next step for the Jyuken). She kept at it and by the end of their fourth year she could stick to the tree for about three minutes.
Their summer came and went and the fifth year of the academy started up. It, like the years before it, brought new changes. The first and less surprising of the two main changes was that they started to learn to use kunai and shuriken. More importantly was that they had a new assistant teacher helping the class. Apparently classes always get an assistant teacher starting in the fifth year who joins them for the last two years. The teachers name was Touji Mizuki. He sort of gave Naruko bad vibes, she could feel his hate even when she wasn't just waking up and it was more intense than a lot of the villagers. Of course Hina-chan is the only person who knows about her ability to sense emotions in the morning so she couldn't really bring this problem to Iruka-sensei. She just hoped he wouldn't try anything.
Other than that a few more changes were made to the curriculum with strength and agility training each losing twenty minutes to the new kunai and shuriken training. A few kids expressed their concern that they would grow weak if they don't train as much in class to which Iruka-sensei responded with an extra lesson.
"When you become a genin, you will be expected to train on your own sometimes, your genin sensei will only be required to teach you for four hours a day. If you truly wish to excel as a ninja you'll train on your own time as well." Naruko took it to heart and started to run laps around her block on weekends. And trying to run up and down the trees rather than just walking. She couldn't afford any weights so she started doing push-ups and sit-ups for as long as she could. She would also do squats but she's pretty sure she'd get more out of that if she had weights. She also just started to spend more time practicing her chakra control in general. Hina-chan was strong because she trained so much outside of class and Naruko was never gonna catch up if she didn't do the same.
The extra training actually pulled off by the middle of the semester where for the first time she overtook Choji in the Taijutsu ranking and reached fourth place. Of course she still lost most of the time against the three ahead of her, but she was making progress and that was enough for her.
After one particular loss Mizuki decided to show more of his true colors. He pulled her aside for special training and taught her a supposedly correct version of her incorrect academy stance. She lost worse than usual against Hina-chan after that. Her friend asked what was going on and she explained. It was quickly revealed that Mizuki lied to her and they made a plan for Hina-chan to spy and check for sure (the Byakugan was a wonderful thing). Indeed it was found that he had been attempting to sabotage her Taijutsu by deliberately teaching her harmful stances. Of course this brought another problem to her attention. She had been struggling on tests this year in class, only barely scraping by, and they compared their answer sheets. Answers had been changed to look like she changed her mind from correct answers. They suspected Mizuki was doing it, but they had no proof. More annoyingly; however, was that Mizuki started to call her out on her bad grades in class and the rest of the class started to join Kiba in his name calling. Naruko of course started to ignore Mizuki's instructions which only made the problem worse, but she can just ignore him and those kids. Truthfully it seems like the issue bothers Hina-chan more than it bothers her. She thinks it's a little ridiculous that they think she's dumb when she always answers Iruka-sensei's questions right. But she guesses they have no reason to think anything is wrong with Mizuki's behavior. Iruka-sensei certainly hasn't noticed.
The whole thing had made it more clear who she could trust. There was of course Hina-chan, but she had also figured out that Choji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Shino weren't getting swept into it. Though if she had to guess Choji doesn't care because Shikamaru doesn't. Sasuke is too fixated on his hatred to care about her, and Shino is neutral towards everyone. Actually even now he still seems a little scared of her.
Drama aside they did continue to actually try and be ninja's. They started learning the Henge no Jutsu, a Jutsu that lets the user transform into anyone else. She had at first thought it was akin to a Genjutsu but it actually changes the physical shape of the user. Still, it was a new Jutsu and one that seemed incredibly useful, so she wasn't about to complain about it not being a Genjutsu (which she wasn't really doing to begin with).
Thanks to Hina-chan she had quickly learned that the Henge no Jutsu might just be the best Jutsu yet or maybe ever. Her friend had wisely pointed out that she should use it while buying food. The implication was enough for Naruko to focus a lot of energy into mastering the Jutsu. After that it didn't take long for her to start buying fresh food for half the price of rotten food, or for ramen to not cost most her budget. She still kept a supply of ramen, but for once she was able to buy things like fruit and vegetables (yuck) and milk. It was a sort of novel feeling. Being able to buy her own food with no strings attached had felt pretty good. Hina-chan had always made sure she had a supply of food (or maybe it was Hiashi who actually did it) but now she wasn't reliant on the Hyuuga's for food outside of ramen. It felt good. She started to gain weight after that. Her training was enough to ensure she didn't get out of shape, but she got a lot less thin then she used to be. Of course Hina-chan had made sure she never starved again, but still she didn't have every meal with her. All in all, she felt good. And being able to save money was a plus. It took a few months of saving but she did finally manage to buy a set of training weights. Things were looking up.
Hina-chan had made good progress with her herbs. Though it was a little concerning seeing her friend get sick from testing weaker versions of her own poisons, but apparently getting that immunity was worth it. Naruko didn't fully understand but if Hina-chan is to be believed she's recently made a poison that can paralyze three adults, so it seems pretty potent. The two girls had made use of the healing salves quite a lot after sparring, so Naruko had no doubt that it worked well.
"Hey, Hokage-sama."
"Hello, Naruko-chan. What can I do for you today?"
"I'm gonna be a ninja soon, well assuming I graduate."
"Which I have no doubt you will."
"Well I was wondering." He merely raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue. "Will there be consequences for people attacking me once I become a ninja?"
"Yes, attacking a ninja is capital punishment."
"So will I be allowed to retaliate as such?"
"Afraid not, we do have a justice system. Once you become a ninja just apprehend the attacking citizen and bring he or she to T&I. While it is a capital crime to attack a ninja, the ninja themselves are rarely allowed to issue their own justice. Does that make sense?"
"Not really. Why can't the ninja just punish them on the spot?"
"To prevent them from abusing their power. It used to be as you described, and I found that too often were ninja baiting civilians into attacking them just so they have an excuse to kill our own people." As it turned out ninja weren't the most mentally stable folks and giving them absolute power tended to make them run wild. . .
"I see, that makes sense. Thank you."
"Of course, now is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No I have no other questions."
"I see, well then you're dismissed."
"Thank you Hokage-sama."
"Anytime Naruko-san."
Of course he didn't bring up the fact that in normal circumstances a civilian would never dare to attack a ninja, and if the ninja does attack back they typically get a slap on the wrist. But letting her know would likely only raise more problems. As he sees it letting her know that she doesn't have to take it anymore will further incentivize her to become a ninja. Of course once she's a ninja she is a soldier and is beholden to Konoha. It's taken a long time but the plan does seem to be finally paying dividends. Still he couldn't help but shudder to think of what Jiraiya or Tsunade will do when they finally find out. He knows they will, it's sort of inevitable. He just had to hope that by the time Jiraiya finds out he'll have found a successor who can deal with the brunt of his wrath. But it's not like he left her completely helpless. He assigned Kakashi to watch out for her once a week (despite the man petitioning for more). He had to reassure himself because he isn't sure if his conscious could take it if he didn't. He had come to the shaky conclusion in the past few years that she likely isn't actually the demon. If her seventh birthday was anything to go by. Afterall if she was, the village would like be in ruins after that disaster. And while he still believes letting the village use her in dealing with their grief, and making her a goal to work towards for Kurenai has been a benefit, he does think that it's a little sad that the child had to deal with that for the greater good.
On the topic of Kurenai the woman had actually gone and done it. She just recently met all the requirements to be considered an Elite Jonin. Of course by now she's realized it's a little too late to adopt Naruko when the girl is about to graduate from the academy, only having a few short months left. So she had asked him to change the deal. He saw no reason to argue. All she wanted was for Naruko to be on her team. He agreed. Kurenai clearly wasn't pleased with not being able to become an elite jonin on time, but she wanted the girl as a student and he saw no reason to reject that. He told her, if she passes the test then she'll be put on her team. It was actually sort of funny because not even a few days later Kakashi seemed to get the same idea and asked for Naruko to be on his team. Of course he told him that Kurenai had beat him to it. The man seemed disappointed but accepted that answer.
Kakashi had been the first of his generation to attain the rank of Elite Jonin, followed by Maito Gai and then Kurenai. His son was close, but unfortunately that had been the only aspect of his plan to backfire. Kurenai despite dating his son hadn't slowed her growth for him. His son on the other hand had started to grow lax in his training as a result of his focus on the woman. Well he'd figure out a solution to that soon enough. Though truth be told he didn't care too much, his son was his own man now and it wasn't really his duty to do his job for him.
Graduation was fast approaching and it seemed like there was an energy in the air of the academy. The students who had made it this far were determined to become ninja and it was only right that they were worried and excited. Naruko was no exception. She loved the Academy, these past six years had been some of the best of her life (to be fair she could also remember them more clearly then most of the previous years), but she was ready to take the next step. She had worked hard, harder than she ever thought she could. And her work had payed off. She had managed to learn and cast a Genjutsu. She had tirelessly practiced her chakra control and it was finally at the point where she could cast one (it only took mastering the tree climbing exercise and starting water walking). Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu had quickly become her favorite tool in her arsenal. Of course that wasn't all she had learned, she had dedicated time to learning to detect and dispel Genjutsu. She may not have the highest aptitude for it but she was certain she was better than the rest of her classmates, she ignored the fact that she was one of two students to practice it and the other was one of those bland kids (who somehow managed to stay bland even as they near graduation).
They had learned and were mastering their last Ninjutsu from the Academy. The Jutsu in question was the Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruko had found it difficult, only barely being able to produce one barely acceptable clone. It was a problem since three were required to graduate, but she hoped she would master it in the coming months before graduation. According to Iruka-sensei her chakra control needed to be better since she had such large reserves and was overloading the Jutsu. It's actually the reason she was taught the water walking exercise. If Naruko had to guess she would be able to do it if she mastered the water walking exercise. Of course there was no close source of water so she could only practice outside of class. If she could she would dedicate her self study to the new exercise.
She had unfortunately sunk down to the bottom of the class. She was really only saved by her ability in the physical classes. Her theoretical classes were still being sabotaged. But she did make up for it, now ranking third overall in Taijutsu and being one of the only student to consistently score perfect marks on kunai and shuriken practice. It had felt pretty good the day she surpassed Kiba in Taijutsu, seeing the look on his face when she delivered a painful roundhouse kick was a highlight of the year. Kicking Kiba's ass aside she had managed to shakily stay afloat just barely scraping together a passing grade. She wasn't one of the students that would have to repeat (assuming nothing changes in the next three months) but she would pass at the bottom of her class.
Naruko found her thoughts flicking back to Kiba as Hina-chan ruthlessly struck him in the shoulder with her Jyuken. She had found out why he was acting the way he did. Apparently he had been crushing on her for a few years now, ever since the bullying started. Apparently he thought to hide it by being mean to her. She had only even found out when he finally got the courage to confess. She had swiftly and efficiently shut him down. She didn't feel anything physical or emotional for him and he had been rude for years, so she wasn't about to say yes. He took the rejection poorly and doubled down on his bullying. She could tell he was hurting and it sort of made her feel bad, but being mean to her wasn't going to make her like him, let alone want to be friends with him.
Which brings her to today, Hina-chan was currently sparring with him for today's Taijutsu practice and she was being particularly ruthless. She was always harsher on people when they made fun of Naruko, and Kiba was no exception, if anything she regularly made an example of him. Naruko almost felt like Hina-chan was being too harsh sometimes. The class had realized that once Hina-chan stopped vocalizing that she didn't like how they treat her and instead would show her displeasure in the ring, well most of them quit out of fear. The only exceptions were Sakura, who was far too stubborn to stop, and Kiba who might not know the meaning of the word fear, or common sense. The others weren't so bold and would usually wait until after Taijutsu practice or the weekend in hopes Hina-chan would forget. She never did. Naruko thought it was a bit much, but it also secretly made her happy, so she never complained.
Hina-chan swiftly finished the match and the rest of the day went by relatively uneventfully. Until classes ended and Hina-chan said they need to to talk. Naruko was confused but agreed, they always talked so she didn't understand why today was special. Either way Hina-chan led her to the playground where they first met all those years ago. She ordered Ko to give them some privacy. Naruko found that to be a surprise, she almost never ordered Ko away. Naruko looked at her friend, she was still taller than the redhead, and Naruko would wager that will likely always be the case. Hina-chan was staring at her with a look of determination and paradoxically hesitation.
"So. . . What did you wanna talk about, Hina-chan?" She looked towards the swing and wanted to sit, but Hina-chan made no move so she stayed put.
Her white eyed friend looked at her and said, "Naruko." This caught Naruko off guard. Hina-chan never called her by name unless she was scolding her (for not eating her vegetables for example) and certainly never in that tone. If she said her name it was angrily. In fact Naruko can't recall a time where her friend didn't use an honorific with her name. It had been Naruko-san, then chan, and then Naru-chan. So yeah she was taken aback by the way Hina-chan said her name. Whatever she has to say must be important. "I like girls."
Well now Naruko was confused. What's so important about that? Naruko liked girls, her best friend is a girl. She voiced her confusion, "Okay, so do I, what's your point?"
"No Naruko, I like girls like Sakura and Ino like boys. Like Kiba likes girls."
"Oh."
"Do you think I'm weird? Or do you think we shouldn't be friends anymore?" Was that why she was worried? Because Naruko might thinks she's weird or suddenly hate her? The idea was ridiculous, She loved Hina-chan more than anyone, she could never hate her.
"Hinata." Her friend blinked, it seems she was just as surprised by the use of her name with no honorifics as Naruko was. "I've always thought you were weird. Your weirdness has never interfered with our friendship before, and it's not going to change now. I don't know if liking girls is weird or not, but even if it is I still want to be your friend." Naruko had always thought Hina-chan was a little weird, ever since she first saw her pretty eyes. It had only been reaffirmed as the years went on.
"What if I don't want to just be friends anymore?"
"You don't want to be friends anymore?" She felt a weird pain in her chest upon hearing those words.
"It's just a hypothetical, where I wanted to be your girlfriend." Naruko had a feeling this isn't as hypothetical as Hina-chan is saying it is, but she would see where her friend is taking this.
"Would things change between us?"
"I mean, we would start acting like a couple I guess. I've never really done this before. We're both new and would have to see where it takes us."
"And if I don't feel the same, would thing change between us then?"
"No. Even if, hypothetically speaking, you didn't love me like I love you we would still be friends."
"Good, cause I would never want to risk losing you, I don't think I could bare the loneliness anymore."
"Okay, then, no hypothetical this time. Naruko, I'm in love with you and I want to know, do you feel the same?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" Hina-chan didn't seem to understand how she could possibly not know.
"I've never thought about it before, in fact the only time I've considered love and dating like that in the past were when Kiba asked me out, and I knew the second he asked me out that I didn't like him." She knew she loved Hina-chan as a friend, hell sometimes it felt like they were sisters with how close they are. She just wasn't sure, she rarely thought about romance and now she's suddenly having to describe how she really feels about Hina-chan. It was difficult.
"Naruko, I've been in love with you since we were five. I only realized it during our second year at the academy. Will you go out with me?" She had known it was coming but it still made her blush. She was sure her face was as red as her hair. But it was kind of strange, she had been unsure just a moment ago, but just like when Kiba asked her out she instantly knew what her answer was. She shyly nodded and tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Hina-chan let her gather her thoughts in silence for a few long minutes before she finally managed to vocalize her answer.
"I'd like that. I'm not very good with emotions and putting my feelings in words. But I know I like you a lot, and. . . I'd like to be your girlfriend." She found it sort of funny. She could feel other peoples emotions to the point where it was sort of mundane, but she had a hard time attributing her own. She chalked it up to another weird thing about herself.
A look of joy spread on her friends face and she swiftly pulled her into a hug. Huh, maybe that's the reason Hina-chan likes to cuddle her so much. She found herself leaning into the embrace.
The class seemed to have mixed reactions when the two girls showed up to class the next day holding hands. Naruko had never cared about what other people thought of her. Well she mostly didn't care. She cared a lot about what Hina-chan thought of her. And when she was small (okay smaller) she was just curious about what other people thought of her (she still didn't understand the hatred), never has she really cared what they thought. She swept her gaze around the class curiously, despite her previous statement she was curious to see how they would react. Most of the girls in the class seemed relieved (and a few boys), Sasuke seemed disappointed, Kiba seemed upset. Shikamaru and Choji didn't seem to react at all and Shino still just sat quietly in the corner acting all mysterious. A few bland boys actually seemed upset with her. Iruka-sensei had a faint smile on his face and she swore she heard him say "Finally." Lastly there was Mizuki who wasn't doing anything to hide his disgust. She had to wonder if it's because she's dating a girl openly or because she's happy. Maybe he's jealous. She didn't like that thought. She looked at Hina-chan and shrugged. The two girls started heading to their seats.
A few more minutes pass before finally class began. Iruka-sensei quiets the chatter of the students and says, "As you all are aware graduation is fast approaching. If all goes well then every last one of you will walk out of this class as ninjas. It should come as no surprise that you will be given a final exam that will cover every topic you've studied in the past six years. In addition you will be able to use your self study for bonus points on the exam, so if you haven't been practicing seriously you might want to start." A few of bland kids let out groans, most hadn't realized studying Ninjutsu with no drive or direction wouldn't produce results. Of course the kids who groaned were the ones who would likely need those bonus points. Though to be fair Naruko would likely need them if Mizuki sets out to sabotage her like he has in the past. Naruko wasn't worried, she had worked hard for so long, and a little bit of sabotage wasn't going to be enough to undo that. "Now then let's head outside for your strength training."
The strength training class had been pretty normal until Kiba decided to open his mouth (which in itself is pretty normal). "The Dobe's a dumb dyke!" Whatever that meant sent him into hysterics.
Naruko turned towards Hina-chan and asked, "What's a dyke?"
"It's a rude word for girls who like other girls, a slur in other words."
"Was it a reaction like that you were afraid of?"
"Somewhat." Naruko didn't think she would ever react like that, to anything really. Her girlfriend (felt weird addressing her as such) had activated her Byakugan and was staring him down. Kiba seemed to take note and rather than cowering he doubled down.
"What the heiress upset that I called her girlfriend dumb? Or maybe you dykes are just overly emotional?" He went into another fit of hysterics. The rest of the class just sort of listened in an awkward silence. Naruko found herself annoyed. No. Annoyed wasn't the right word. She was mad. Was this how Hina-chan felt when people made fun of her?
"Kiba, I don't normally comment on your shit, because frankly it's not worth my time. But you're taking it too far." She was giving him a chance, a chance to back down and realize he's self destructing.
"I'm not scared of you."
"Well maybe I can change that."
"Whatever, you're still just a dumb dyke." Naruko only smiled in response. It wasn't an honest smile and there was no joy. The rest of the strength training would pass uneventfully, only made notable by the tension in the air between the two girls and Kiba.
They would come to their Taijutsu class and as luck would have it, Naruko was matched up against Kiba for the first match of the day. She glanced at Iruka and found he had a gleam in his eyes. Well it seemed he had set this up for her. There was a reason she liked him. She had a show to put on now. A vicious smile crept across her face as she entered the sparring circle. She still didn't really care that he insulted her, but he insulted Hina-chan and she had to let him know just how overly emotional she got over it.
"I'll show you how much better a man is when I kick your ass." Kiba seemed confident. He was behind her in the rankings but only barely. If she didn't take him seriously she could and would lose.
"So men are better if they hurt me? Thanks but I'll pass. Though for what it's worth you're not a man, so I don't think you'll be showing me anything." She flicked her eyes up to Akamaru, the white pup was allowed to join sparring matches starting this year as they were allowed to use anything in their arsenal to improve their Taijutsu. Really it wasn't right to call it the Taijutsu class anymore, it would be more accurate to call it the close quarters combat class. Non lethal weapons were allowed, Jutsu that enhanced their Taijutsu was allowed, and styles outside of the Academy style were encouraged (they had always been allowed). So Naruko wasn't going to hesitate to remove Kiba's advantage. Of course Akamaru never stayed in the ring with her for long, he could only ignore his fear for so long.
"Kick his ass Naru-chan." Naruko smiled at her girlfriend (thinking that still sent butterflies through her). Hina-chan was always so supportive of her. She liked her a lot for that. Her girlfriend had always been there for her. Actually now that she thinks about it there is a lot she likes about her girlfriend. Like how she smiles, or her beautiful eyes, or how she is so sweet to her little sister, or would save her from Hitomi's death cuddles (of course she usually followed that with her own, but Naruko didn't mind Hina-chan's cuddles anymore), she could go on. Unfortunately Iruka-sensei had other ideas as he called for the match to begin, and she did have an ass to kick.
She dashes forward and quickly throws a basic punch from the academy style. Kiba didn't seem to be thinking things through very clearly as he simply side stepped the punch. If he was he would know she doesn't use the academy style anymore and focused a lot more on landing devastating kicks. Like the one she just connected to his jaw. He fell backward and she briefly wondered if he fell unconscious. Her question was answered as he shakily got to his feet. She didn't give him time to breathe as she lashed out with another kick, this one connecting to his solar plexus. This time she augmented it with the slightest amount of chakra and he was sent tumbling out of the circle.
"Winner by ring out, Naruko! Now make the seal of reconciliation." Naruko walked up to Kiba and offered her hand. He hesitated for a moment, and she whispered to him.
"I know your hurting, and for what it's worth I don't hate you. But rather than lashing out and putting me and Hina-chan down why don't you just try and be friends with us." Kiba looked down and after a moment he nodded. He grabbed her hand and made the seal.
"Who wants to be your friend anyways. If anything we're rivals from here on out you hear me, Naruko?"
"Sure thing, Kiba." She wouldn't soon forget all his bullying, but she was willing to move forward and leave it in the past, it seemed he was finally willing to do the same.
Iruka chimed in, "While I'm glad you two have finally started getting along, I'm going to be the bearer of bad news. Kiba you're being given detention. Let this be a lesson to all of you. We here in Konoha do not allow such discrimination. These are the people you're putting your lives on the line with. We lie, we cheat, we steal, and we kill for a living, so mocking a fellow ninja, or even a civilian, for living their life the best they can is unacceptable. I hope to never see any of you bringing shame to Konoha like that in the future." Ninja villages didn't support such behavior and Konoha was no exception. That being said Fire Country didn't legally allow for gay marriage, in fact homosexual behavior was considered deviant and ground for imprisonment. Konoha was excluded from those laws however. Essentially a ninja village was a city state that had a very strong allegiance with their respective country. Konoha made it's own laws and had a leader that they answered to above all else and they were allowed free travel in Fire Country and to operate within the country with impunity. In return they protected Fire Country at all times, from threats foreign and domestic, they also payed a tax to the country. It was mutually beneficial. This same system was more or less how it functioned in every country with a ninja village. It's also the reason that homosexuality is perfectly fine in Konoha, but illegal in Fire Country without creating a tension between the two. Of course this was the same for many of the laws Konoha had in place that directly went against Fire Countries. The only real tension is created by civilians who recently moved into the village and carried those belief with them. But they're a small minority and the Hokage (who has absolute power in Konoha) wasn't about to sate a few civilians at the cost of harming the happiness of his ninja.
"Before we begin your exam I'm going to be passing a form around. It's simply to request whoever you'd like to be on a team with. It's not a guarantee that you'll get these people on your team, but it will be taken into consideration when teams are being selected. Just write down your name at the top and then the top three students you want to be paired with along with the reason why."
Well it should be obvious that she was putting Naru-chan as the first student. They had to be on the same team for her to protect the adorable redhead. She wrote the girls name in and stated "We've been training together for years and are familiar with working together and each others combat styles." Hinata didn't really care who else was on her team. She still didn't like Kiba but his mocking had clearly gone from being malicious to a form of banter with her girlfriend. The InoShikaCho trio was already set in stone so she wasn't really going to bother listing Shikamaru or Choji. Sakura was. . . Sakura. So that really just left Sasuke and Shino (she didn't even bother considering the kids Naru-chan called "weirdly bland"). She listed simpler reasons for the two boys, one was smart and clever and the second was even with her in skill if the class rankings were anything to go by. She turned in her form and returned to her seat. They had an exam to take.
A/N So here's chapter 3. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Anyways I tried out a different process for rewriting this chapter, that left more of the original chapter in tact so for the older readers I'd like to know, do you prefer this or the complete redo of the originial? As a more general question, how does everyone feel about the chapter? I think it was a lot of fun to write and I certainly hope it was fun for everyone to read. The two girls are finally starting their relationship so that's exciting (yay for the gay). Anyways, chapter four should hopefully be out in the next 2 weeks to a month, same as before. So yeah, I'll see you all next time and thanks for everyone for all the love.
CM 11/01/2019
It was kindly pointed out that Henge no Jutsu is a physical transformation, not an illusory one like I mistakenly thought. So I went back and changed the part that mentioned it to correct for this mistake.
CM 11/04/2019