Insert disclaimer here

Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)

Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind (also flashbacks)

Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi/Summon/Inner Sakura talking Jutsu will also be bold

BLAH yelling, or emphasis of some sort

(Blah Blah) author comment

Naruto of the Nine Tails

Rated M for language, violence, adult themes, graphic imagery, clowns, gallows humor, rabid fangirls, and puns.

A/N

Ok by popular demand and frequent bitching (you know who you are) I managed to hurry this one up a little and so help me if you people whine at me that this chp is too short I will hunt you down and use you for target practice (I didn't write this much for a semester long research paper so feel priviledged)

Alright now we get down to the juicy parts, I had considered drawing out the time between Naruto's return to the academy and the graduation, but I decided I could show all relevant events in flashbacks, that and it gives me more flexibility overall.

Now to make one thing very clear, the color of Naruto's hair and fur is a rust color, so a very red shade of tan

Chp 8: Making the Cut

It was early morning in the Hidden Leaf as the village slowly came to life. Shops opened their doors as the usual early risers bustled about in an attempt to beat the early morning rush. Half-awake gennin teams gathered and headed toward the Hokage tower to receive the day's mission assignments. Anyone seeing this scene would see nothing out of the ordinary, in fact there was nothing out of the ordinary, everything was exactly as it should be… it was just graduation day at the academy.

It's on this particular morning that we find one Hyuuga Hinata slowly waking to meet the new day, and a bucket of water.

"Eep, cold!" yelped the now soaked Hyuuga heiress as she was unceremoniously wrenched from her personal wonderland.

"Morning Aneki!" chirped a grinning Hanabi as she exited the room intent on making herself scarce.

"Some guard dog you are," Hinata said giving a pointed glare to the room's other occupant, a young boy around her age curled up on a futon across the room whose most defining features were a pair of redish fox ears sticking out of his redish hair and a set of nine bushy tails of a similar color resting behind him.

Shrugging the fox boy answered, "Chibi say was shower."

"Naruto, since when do I shower in here?" she asked rolling her eyes in frustration. Damn that sister of her's, she loved her to death but why did she have to be the only one that knew how to get around Naruto? Seriously, where a squad of ANBU couldn't make it through the door to deliver a message the now nine year old Hanabi could prank her at will, it was enough to drive her homicidal, or at least it had on several occasions.

Shrugging again, Naruto hopped off his futon onto all fours arching to stretch his back, flexed his clawed hands and then proceeded to pad his way out her door and down the hall.

Getting up Hinata collected her bath kit and followed. It was like this every morning, Naruto was up first he'd wait for her to get up then they went through their morning routine.

'Well except for that one time when Anko-san made us breakfast,' thought Hinata giggling to herself at the memory of how nearly three years before the older woman had made the mistake of giving Naruto a piece of bacon, 'He wouldn't leave her alone for a week.'

Reaching her destination Hinata found Naruto waiting patiently in front of the bath house. Opening the door she waited for him to sweep past her before fallowing him in.

Pausing to help Naruto undo the tie in the back of his dogi pants, she stripped off her soaked pjs, grabbed her kit and stepped under one of the many showers Naruto obediently sitting in front of her like he had every morning for the past three years.

As Hinata cleaned herself and Naruto off she let her mind wander. So much had happened since Naruto had come to live with her. A few days after his arrival Anko had stopped by to see how Naruto was doing, during that visit and those that followed Anko had taken a liking to the Hyuuga sisters, especially Hanabi. Hinata still blamed the woman for taking her sister over to the dark side.

True to her name Hanabi had become a little firecracker, she not only had a short fuse but she had become the near antithesis of stereotypical Hyuuga behavior. The only time she acted like a Hyuuga was when she was pissed, not just angry but pissed. If her face went blank and her voice cold someone had crossed a line and was about to get... well we're not going to go there.

The biggest change had been in the other students at the academy, once they had gotten over the shock of having him in class again it didn't take long for them to figure out that they had nothing to fear as long as they didn't do anything overly stupid. On several occasions Hinata had even heard one of her classmates chewing out their parents for the way they had talked about him before, he may have been dangerous but he was a hero as far as they were concerned. Naruto even had an official, ORGANIZED, fan club; they even had shirts (Founded by one Yamanaka Ino after her mother told her she was to have nothing to do with Naruto).

Closing her eyes Hinata dumped a bucket of water over her head to rinse off the suds, she had already finished scrubbing and rinsing Naruto who had moved out to where they had gotten undressed and was waiting patiently for her to finish. Drying her indigo blue hair Hinata collected her things before wrapping a towel around her middle and opening the door.

Walking behind Naruto back to her room Hinata couldn't help but smile, he had come so far since his accident. He still had a very long way to go... but still. Between what she had been able to teach him and what he had picked up on his own he could get his point across, but he understood the majority of what people said. He never really started walking again, he seemed to prefer all fours, and it showed.

'Now if only he didn't act like my pet,' thought Hinata.

It had gotten rather frustrating over the past year or so having the object of her affection sleeping in her room. She knew it wouldn't be right to do anything until he was back to…well as normal as he was going to get, that and she wasn't sure if it would be considered rape due to his condition.

Getting back to her room Hinata threw on a pair of black pants and one of the tight fitting purple shirts that she always wore. By this time Naruto had selected which out of his many identical pairs of pants he wanted to wear and only needed Hinata to tie the back around his tails and he'd be ready to go. After that Hinata put on her tabi and black ankle wraps that secured her pant bottoms. Finally after securing her kunai and shuriken pouches along with her other various tools she grabbed her vest (basically the same as her jacket only no fuzzy edging) and swept out of her room Naruto on her heels.

About twenty minutes later found Hinata, Hanabi and Naruto on their way to the academy after a quick breakfast and Hinata promising not to turn her sister into a welcome mat.

"So, Aneki, who do you think will pass?" asked Hanabi in a somewhat subdued tone.

'So that's why she pranked me,' thought Hinata. Hanabi did have a tendency to act up when she was nervous, "You'll do fine. Stop worrying about it."

"But what if I screw up?" she asked. "What if I miss a hand seal or don't use enough chakra?" she was now in all out panic mode, "WHAT IF-"

SMACK

Hanabi's head whipped forward, followed by the chastising voice of her sadistic mentor.

"What have I told you about that?" chided a rather irate looking Anko.

"But-"

SMACK

"NO BUTS!" she bellowed, "That's the problem with you 'prodigies' these days, you think to much," she said now completely docile.

"Morning Anko-san," called Hinata from Hanabi's right. She had long ago become accustomed to Anko popping out of nowhere for her current antics to phase her.

"Hey Hinata."

"So, really, who do you think is gonna pass?" Hanabi asked, gingerly rubbing the back of her head where Anko had struck her.

"Well," she paused while tapping her chin in thought, "Definitely Sasuke and Sakura, if those two can't do it we're all doomed. Speaking of which she's late."

As if on cue a red and bubblegum pink blur came streaking around the corner followed closely by a purple and yellow blur.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK BILLBOARD BROW!" shrieked Ino as she attempted to maim her pink haired friend.

"Make me PIGGY!" retorted Sakura while deftly bouncing out of her friend's reach before they were both lifted bodily from the ground by a set of bushy tails. "Oh, morning Naruto."

"Damn shrieking flowers," said fox boy who currently had his hands clamped over his sensitive ears as he held the two girls out of eachothers' reach.

"She started it," pouted Ino pointing accusingly at Sakura.

As the group began moving toward their destination once more Anko decided it was her duty as an adult to settle the feud between the two friends.

Translation: she wanted to know what Sakura did to piss off Ino.

"So what was it this time blondie?" she inquired.

"She said Sasuke-kun was GAY!" she spat giving her nemesis a death glare.

"He is. He has shown no interest in ANY girl aside from the fact that he will need at least one to revive his clan," stated Sakura who seemed to be just enjoying the ride as she resituated the small canvas backpack that she always carried (presumably to house her seemingly endless stash of books).

"One of these days Forehead…one of these days," Ino growled

"Yes one of these days you'll admit that I'm right and stop chasing that jerk."

"Oh will you look at that we're here," said Hanabi as she made a beeline for the escape route that was the door into the academy.

The exam was fairly uneventful, a written test followed by each student getting called up (by last name Z-A, if same first name Z-A) and asked to make three bunshin to show that you could do ninjutsu. After that those who passed were given a hitai-ate and sent on their way.

Ino, who had been one of the first to be called, had hung around for two reasons. First, she and her friends, by this point she and Sakura had made nice, were planning on training after the exam like they did any day after classes let out. Second, to try and calm down Choji; the poor boy was not the brightest to begin with but now he had to wait and go last out of all his peers. (She had planned on ambushing Sasuke but had left via the window in the test room, for obvious reasons)

Munchmunchmunchmunchmunch…

"Choji…I'm telling you…stop eating so fast…or…you're going to give yourself…indigestion…" Ino said in a strained voice as she attempted to wrestle one of the boys seemingly endless bags of potato chips out of his hand, "Seriously…it's-AH!" she cried as her friend suddenly let go of the bag causing her to topple head over heels.

"Are you alright," heard the dazed Yamanaka. Glancing up she saw a somewhat concerned Hinata looking down at her, but there was something…off.

'Since when has Hinata worn a metal choker?' thought Ino still not fully recovered from her tumble, then doing a double take, '…waaait…shiny, Konoha leaf…that's…'

"YOU PASSED," she squealed as she pounced on her friend knocking her to the ground. It was quite a good thing that Kiba had passed and gone home already otherwise his…comments… would have sent poor Hinata into a blush induced shock. It was entirely true that she had become far less shy but she was still easily embarrassed and tended to revert to old habits when especially uncomfortable.

"Piggy, you might want to get off now," came Sakura's voice.

"Why?" she asked still nuzzling her friend.

"One, I don't think Hiashi-san will appreciate you suffocating his daughter," she stated holding up her index finger for emphasis, "and two, Naruto looks like he's about to use you to paint the room."

That was all it took. In the blink of an eye Ino was off Hinata and looking for Naruto to gauge whether she was in the clear or if she should run like her life depended on it (which to some extent it did). Seeing the slightly overprotective Jinchuuriki relax Ino sighed in relief. Almost everyone had learned long ago to tread lightly where concerning the Hyuuga heiress, go too far and you would regret it. Like that time when Kiba wouldn't stop asking Hinata out on a date.

Flashback

He had cornered her on the academy drilling field during lunch.

"Come on just one date."

"Sorry Kiba-kun I'm not interested," she replied for the ninth time that day, so persistent.

"I promise I'll be a total gentleman, won't try to kiss you, hold you hand, nothing," everyone knew that all you had to do was negotiate…right?

"Kiba-kun, I'm not going on a date with you," she wasn't having the best day. Neji was acting up again and the Hyuuga elders were putting a lot pressure on her at the moment, class was boring, and now this.

"Ok, no date thing, just dinner and a movie."

"No," this guy seriously couldn't take a hint and it was really beginning to piss her off.

"Is it the dog thing? I can shower and leave Akamaru at home."

'Hey I'm cleaner then you, paint face. At least I rinse every day,' thought Akamaru.

"Kiba, I'm not interested in dating right now," she growled holding the bridge of her nose.

"So that's a maybe?"

"KIBA I'M NOT-"

During this whole thing Naruto had been a few feet away watching intently. He could sense his Beta's distress, hard not to really, the scent of anger was practically rolling off her in waves. He didn't completely understand what was going on but from her body language he could tell that it was the one that smelled of dog that was the cause. Then everything changed, her eyes narrowed, her voice rose, her muscles tensed, he could smell copious amounts of adrenaline pumping through her system, something was wrong.

In a flash of movement the rusty haired boy buried his shoulder into the Inuzuka's gut driving him away from his Beta.

Bouncing off slightly due to the difference in mass he arched his body, using his tails for counter balance, he planted his palm on the ground and drove his heel into the solar-plexus pushing the boy off his feet into the air.

Digging his claws into the ground he threw himself under the boy while rapping one of his tails around Kiba's right arm and pulled adding to the momentum from his previous attacks slapping the helpless boy into the ground.

End Flashback

Naruto had slapped Kiba on the ground several more times before Hinata had managed to calm him down enough to let Kiba go and by that point he had a dislocated shoulder, seven broken or otherwise damaged ribs, a mild concussion, a very bruised tailbone, and a slightly bleeding kidney... the poor boy pissed blood for a week.

Suffice it to say that, though Naruto had become far better at telling when his 'beta' (no one knew how he'd come by the title but most felt it fit, though it was subject to change if he ever decided she was... more) as he called Hinata was in actual danger, but everyone kept a close eye on his reactions to make sure they didn't invoke his wrath all the same.

"Yes," gasp, "I passed," said a now Ino free Hinata. A moment later they all heard a squeal of delight from behind the door leading to the test room, "I told her she'd be fine," said Hinata grinning from ear to ear as her sister exited the room sporting her shinny new forehead protector on…her forehead, how uninspired.

"I'm up," spoke Sakura in a rather bored tone as she got up and walked to the front and into the test room just as Iruka stuck his head out to call her name only to come back out roughly twenty seconds later using her Hitai-ate to tie her hair back and looking very pleased with herself.

"Ino, you and Shikamaru are staying with Choji correct?" asked Hinata as Sakura rejoined the group.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys once he passes," she replied.

"Ok then, see you later," with that Hinata, her sister, Naruto, and Sakura walked out of the classroom.

As the group left the academy they turned left heading away from the center of the village toward the training grounds.

"So how'd it go yesterday?" asked Sakura directing her question to the elder of the two sisters.

Hinata didn't need to ask what Sakura meant, "Nothing has changed as far as they can tell. He did score a little higher on the memory and speech tests though," every Thursday Naruto went in to have some tests done to see if anything had changed.

The studies and checkups had started shortly after Naruto had come to live at the Hyuuga estate. They had started with simply having Hiashi look Naruto over with his Byakugan and what he found was... well it was interesting…

Flashback

"So Hiashi what did you find," asked the aged Hokage.

"I observed the boy's chakra system as you requested and it would appear rather normal for the most part, just larger. Also the seal is still present but from what I can tell it is inactive meaning, from what I understand, that it has most likely served some emergency purpose and the boy has absorbed all nine tails," stated the Hyuuga Patriarch.

"You said his system seemed rather normal. What did you mean?"

For a moment Hiashi stood deep in thought then, "It's not that there is anything particularly irregular about the system; it's the flow of the chakra itself that is irregular. Normally, chakra flows continuously throughout the body and, for the most part, his does, however, for some reason the chakra flow to Naruto's head is greatly reduced and I could find no reason for it."

"And what of the tails?" Sarutobi had been waiting to hear about this, some of the changes in the boy's body he could write off as being simple more…primitive, but the tails just didn't seem to fit.

"The tails are solid chakra."

"What?" yelped the professor.

"The tails ar-" but Sarutobi cut him off.

"No, I heard you, but how?" for the first time in his very long life Sarutobi was at a complete loss for an explanation.

"I don't know. The only theory that I can come up with that seems plausible is that the tails are somehow an extension of his chakra system that formed when the seal malfunctioned, just the excess chakra taking a form that is similar to its original state."

End Flashback

After that once a week Hinata took Naruto to the hospital to have him evaluated, starting with basic tests and slowly moving into the more invasive techniques as Naruto adjusted to the unfamiliar (it helped that Hinata was constantly reassuring him). That aside…

"Did he act up at all?"

"Once, when they tried to get him to drink the dye for the M.R.I.," Hinata said grinning slightly.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, "Those idiots actually tried to get him to drink that crap? Oh that must have been great."

"You could say that," Hinata said now grinning from ear to ear.

"So what happened, did he drink it?"

"He took one sip," answered Hinata.

"AND," demanded Sakura who was now thoroughly miffed at her friend for leading her on like this.

Thinking she'd better explain before her friend lost her cool and attacked her Hinata began the story of the previous day's check up.

Flashback

"Ok now that that's done we're going to try an M.R.I. today," spoke the medic nin as he lead Hinata and Naruto into a room off the hall. "He's going to need to drink this," hands a bottle of white liquid to Hinata, "within the next hour."

Turning to her friend and crouching down to his level Hinata unscrewed the top of the container and handed it to Naruto, "You need to drink this. Ok?" Naruto nods and brings the container to his lips before drinking some of the white substance. For a moment it seemed all was well then…

WREEEETCH

Projectile vomit all over the room.

End Flashback

"I was able to get out of the way but," said Hinata as she fought to control her laughter, "the medic guy got it full in the face," she finished.

Sakura, who by this time was on the ground clutching her sides as she laughed her ass off, erupted into yet another giggle fit that threatened to suffocate her.

"BOO!"

"AHHH!" cried Sakura as she was instantly cured of her giggle fit.

"Hey Sensei."

"Ohayo Anko-san."

"Crazy snake bitch," grumbled the boy as he glared at the young woman from the branches of a nearby tree.

"Yes I love you to gaki," responded said crazy snake bitch.

"So…no missions today?" asked Sakura hopefully. She always liked when Anko helped them with their training for two reasons. First and foremost, it meant that there was someone she could ask for help (the problem with being the smartest in the class? None of the other students can help you when you're stuck). Second, well it was more…interesting when Anko was around.

"Nope," Anko pouted, "All they had were D and B missions today."

FACE VAULT

It was a well known fact amongst the girls that their unofficial sensei was a little eccentric but sometimes she managed to surprise even them. Though, truth be told, Anko was lying through her teeth. There were plenty of A rank missions she had just chosen to take the day off to congratulate her charges when they graduated.

'Note to self: get a C.T. scan later. That pesky disembodied voice is back,' thought Anko as the group made their way down the street.

"STOP…MOVING…DAMNIT!" panted Sakura as she tried to land a hit on Hinata (and failed miserably).

"Ok you two that's enough," Anko called.

"For the love of all that is holy," sighed Sakura as she collapsed under a tree, "no one should be able to bend like that, it's not fair."

For the last hour everyone had enjoyed a game of 'tag,' otherwise known as "Try and Land a Hit on Hinata" and Hinata had come out without a scratch... again.

"Pinky you too slow no way hit Beta," teased Naruto as hung possum style from the tree.

"Why you," she growled, 'If it weren't for the fact that you could kill me without trying you would be in a world of hurt right now.'

'Just cause he's right.'

'Shut up you.'

"He's right though you know," said Anko.

Sakura's face fell, 'The gods hate me.'

"Being able to crush an opponent in one blow is useless if you can't hit them," Anko explained.

Grumble grumble bitch piss moan.

'Sore loser,' thought Ino as she smacked her friend in the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for!"

"Forehead you can't be the best at everything, so shut it. You're giving me a head ache."

"At least I'm the best at something piggy."

"YOU WANNA GO BILLBOARD BROW!"

"TRY ME BLONDIE!"

A moment later and the two friends were bouncing around the training field hell bent on killing each other while the rest of the group just sat off to the side to watch what promised to be a very interesting "spar" but it was getting dark and Hinata really didn't want to deal with another lecture when she got home.

"Come on imouto we should get home before it gets dark."

"I think I'll hang around for a little while you go ahead."

"Ok," she sighed, "but if you break curfew again tou-san is going to yell at you again," she warned before turning to leave, Naruto hot on her heels.

As they walked, Hinata thought about the next day, 'We get team assignments tomorrow, I wonder who I'll be with.' She'd thought about it before but this was different, before had just been a thought in passing, but now…now it was happening, and she was worried. She already knew that no matter who she was put with Naruto would be with her, that was a given, but still.

Even as she got home and prepared for bed thoughts of just how uncertain her future really was ran through her head.

"What wrong Beta?" asked Naruto as she crawled under her blanket.

Rolling over to face her roommate she glared at him, "How is it you always know when something is bothering me?" she asked. Somehow Naruto ALWAYS knew and every time he'd badger her till she caved.

"You smell funny," he stated.

'Damn that nose of yours,' thought as she turned back toward the wall hoping he'd let it go, but we are creatures of habit and even Naruto was no exception.

Hoping off his own futon Naruto padded across the room and onto Hinata's bed, "Beta, what wrong?"

'So persistent.'

"Beta," he said his tone low and commanding.

Rolling to face him again, "After tomorrow everything will change and I'm not sure if I'm ready yet."

"No worries, you be fine," it wasn't much but something in the way he said it made Hinata feel like he was right.

Edited: 10/24/10

End Notes

FINALLY jeese this was supposed to go all the way through the bell test, but I took pity on you guys. Next time, Chp 9: Meet Team 7, this time EVERYTHING'S different, and that's all I'm telling you. :P

Cliff Notes

(1) For the coment about Naruto's build near the beginning. Think of doing some combination of push ups, pull ups, bear walk, etc all day every day for three yrs.

(2) Tabi- Thick split toed sock favored by real ninja

(3) Bunshin no jutsu- an illusionary clone.

(4) imouto- little sister.

(5) Tou-san dad