Past
Several months had passed since Naruto saved Hinata from those three boys. The next day, he found her waiting for him so they could enter the academy together. Day after that, she had asked to hang out outside of the academy, with Naruto agreeing because he had nothing better to do, going shopping with her, watching a movie together, and eating at Ichiraku, with Old Man Teuchi thinking that she was his girlfriend, earning a blush from the blue-haired girl and an annoyed look from Naruto. After that, he was more willing to let Hinata sit with him during lunch. He even stopped telling her he didn't care and to do what she wanted, instead, simply saying sure, okay, and alright.
Two weeks after that, Hinata visited Naruto at Iruka's place to hang out with the blond, finding out about his aspirations to be a hero after seeing him watch the news about superheroes like The Avengers and the X-Men being praised. Later that night, she had played Super Smash Bros. Melee with him, with the former proving herself as a challenge to Naruto. To actually have someone to play with that gave him a challenge made the blond openly smile. To Hinata, she found it cute, though she didn't say it out loud. As the days went by, he became friendlier towards her, no longer calling her annoying and listening to what she says.
Naruto's 9th Birthday
Academy
"Naruto?"
"Hmm?"
"Today's your 9th birthday, right?" asked Hinata. He simply answered with a yeah.
"...You don't sound excited about it. Why?" Naruto went on to tell her how no one other than the Third Hokage and Iruka had ever come for his birthday. He considered his birthday as meaningless and not worth celebrating.
"Besides, it's the day my parents died, and the day the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village."
Present
"I never knew who my parents were. I grew up without knowing what it was like to receive the love of a mom and dad. I keep asking myself and others who my parents were, only to get nothing." Ayane couldn't help but have a look of sadness towards the blond. Hell, she was feeling how he felt, not knowing what it was like to be loved by her own mother, wishing she could experience it.
"I told Hinata if I had one wish, it'd be to one day get out of Konoha and start fresh. Live somewhere out of the ninja nation and live as an ordinary person, going to school and getting a job I liked. Simple life."
"How did she react to it?"
Past
"Do you still want to leave?" asked Hinata.
"I still do. If that opportunity presents itself, I'll gladly take it and get as far away from this place as possible. After all, why would I stay in a village where nearly everyone hates me?" Hearing this from Naruto, she felt sad.
"I'd miss you..." she replied.
"I know...But you can come with me if you wanted to."
Hearing this, Hinata said, "I'd go anywhere with you." This surprised both him and the girl, who immediately turned red in embarrassment. Naruto tells her she was a good friend, maybe even his best friend and that he appreciated her for not giving up on him when they first met.
"Can I ask you something? It's very important."
"What is it?" asked a curious Hinata.
"...Do you think this village and the people of this village are worth saving? Way before I knew you, Iruka told me how a true hero would save those who hated them, I don't understand. All my life, I only saw anger and hatred from the villagers. They called me a monster, got their kids to hate me too when I did nothing to them, and tell me to go die somewhere. Why save them after shunning me?"
"...I understand how you feel Naruto. I see what you go through every day, enough to make me angry."
"But..."
"But even if I feel that way...should the village be under attack, and these people are in danger and need to be rescued, I'd save them regardless of how I feel," Hinata answered without hesitation in her voice. "You don't need a reason to save them, only because it's the right thing to do. A true hero puts up with it and saves people, even the ones who hate them, for truly...their actions can change the hearts of those who used to hate or reject them. Like the heroes you aspire to be, only you can change how the people of Konoha see you by earning it. It all starts with how you go about it. I think that's something you never understood, even if it was in front of you." Even Hinata would save those who hated him. He wanted to disagree with her, yet...why did her answer feel so right?
"You've...given me a lot to think about..."
"Take your time Naruto..." Hinata said with a gentle smile, Naruto nodding at her response.
An hour later...
"Are you sure we should approach him Choji? I feel like it's a drag trying to be friends with him. When he first entered our class, he was a real jerk, though not as much as Sasuke."
"It's worth trying Shikamaru. He's changed a bit since Hinata became friends with him."
"But what if he's unfriendly towards us like he is with the rest of us?"
"Ahem!" The boys known as Shikamaru and Choji stopped as they turned to see Naruto looking at them, with his arms crossed. "Can you two move? I need to go use the bathroom." Complying, both boys moved out of the way as Naruto walked past them and made his way down the stairs and out of the classroom.
"I told you it was a drag," Shikamaru told his friend.
"How about we ask Hinata? She's his friend."
"You still want to try and be his friend?" he asked. Choji admits to Shikamaru that the whole not making friends with Naruto and ignoring him felt wrong to him, but did it because everyone else was doing so. It made him feel like a bad person, and that was someone Choji didn't want to be. Sighing, Shikamaru gives in and walks with Choji to see Hinata, who was going around and asking students to come to Naruto's birthday party. Like everyone she asked, they laughed and denied the request, making her sad. Seeing this, Shikamaru and Choji walk towards Hinata and tell her that they'd like to come to his birthday.
"Re-Really?" Choji gave her a smile and a thumbs up while Shikamaru simply said, "Sure." Thankful, Hinata bows to them in respect before going off to ask more students.
"I wonder how this party's going to go?" Choji tells his friend that he hopes the food there is nice, earning a sigh from Choji.
Having finished asking Shino if he'd come, who responded with a simple yes, Hinata decided to ask Ino. Last month, she and Sakura found out that they loved Sasuke, which ended with the two ending their friendship in order to become love rivals. To end it over a boy, the Hyuga girl found it ridiculous.
She didn't want to invite her, but after seeing Ino all by herself, Hinata felt a bit sorry for her. Mustering the courage and letting out a sigh, she approached the girl and asked if she could come to Naruto's birthday.
"Naruto? That kid who always has that angry look on him?" she asked.
"He's changed a lot since I became his friend. Naruto's really nice," she assured the Yamanaka girl. "He's never had a real birthday in his entire life, and I want to make sure he gets one tonight. It'll mean a lot to me and him if you could come."
"...I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm going."
"I see...Okay, I understand. I guess I'll be the only girl there. It's not like-"
"Whoa hold on...The other girls in the class said no?" she asked, with Hinata answering yes. "That is so wrong. Having only one girl at a party is a crime! Because of that, I've changed my mind, I'm going." Hearing this make the Hyuga girl happy as she hugged Ino and thanked her.
"What's going on here?" Looking behind her, Hinata sees Naruto sporting a confused expression on his face. Blushing, she lets go of Ino and tells him that nothing was going on. "Then why were you hugging Ino?"
"Because she...needed one?" Naruto said nothing as he went back to his seat.
Present
"A true hero who saves everyone no matter how much hate they're given. To hear that they didn't need a reason to save them other than it's the right thing to do...I couldn't agree with her. I wouldn't...but a part of me believed it."
"...It was the same for me." Naruto looked at Ayane with surprise. "Like you, I didn't consider my clan to be worth saving. Yet, I'm still there, and a few people from my clan have grown to accept me."
"You're really something you know..." Ayane yawned as Naruto said that. When asked if she was tired, the girl brushed it off and told the latter it was nothing and that she can still listen to his story.
"If you say so...Later that day, thanks to the part of me that wanted to believe Hinata, I saved a puppy for someone I hated while Hinata prepared a surprise birthday party for me."
Past
Hyuga Residence
"A surprise birthday party?"
"Yes, Naruto's birthday is today," Hinata told Neji about her friendship with the blond 3 weeks ago. While he was skeptical of the friendship between the two, he nonetheless supported it. Like his cousin, he didn't hate Naruto for no reason at all. If there was a reason to, he needed a reason to hate him.
"It'd be nice if you could come too, Neji nii-san. I think you and him can be good friends."
"Sorry, I can't come. I'm going over to Tenten's to tutor her." Having been told of his plans, Hinata tells her cousin he's been going over to her place for a while. Curious, she asks him why he's been going to her house for the past two months.
"Well...Because..." Neji was sweating a bit as he tried to form a sentence. In truth, her cousin had developed a crush on Tenten. The reason for him going to her place was to not only help her study but to get closer to the girl and maybe develop something deep between them.
"It's okay Neji nii-san, I know why you're going. But, if you finish early, can you come?" After thinking about it and seeing Hinata looking at him with an anticipating expression on her face that tugged on his heartstrings, he promised her he'd try to finish early, earning a smile from her. He swore that cuteness was a dangerous weapon that girls and women use to make guys do their bidding.
Konoha Forest
Evening
Having finished his training, Naruto decided to return home after feeling a drop of rain fall on his head.
"To think that it'd rain on my birthday. Oh well, not like anyone's going to be there, other than Iruka." As he prepared to rush home, he heard a cry for help. Going towards it, he saw a girl from his class yelling for help as she cried. Her puppy had fallen into a fast-moving river and she couldn't swim to save her pet.
"Just walk away Naruto. There's no way in hell that I'm helping someone like her. It's her problem..." Adamant in his decision, Naruto proceeded to leave, though that was before he heard her cries getting louder and desperate.
"I shouldn't...Why would I anyway? It's her fault for not watching over it and for not learning how to swim."
Seeing as no one was coming to help, the girl accepted the reality that no one would help her puppy. That is until Naruto jumped into the river and swam towards it. In his mind, he wondered why he jumped into the river. His body just moved on its own. The water was cold as hell, but he didn't care, he just kept swimming. Finally, Naruto caught the puppy and got out of the water as the girl ran towards him, who made sure to check if the girl's pet was okay.
"Why...Why did you save my puppy? I said horrible things to you, called you a monster." she asked.
"I don't know myself. For all I care, I could've let you be and gone home. Yet...I couldn't help but answer your call for help." Hearing Naruto's answer, the girl was moved by his selfless act. Grateful, the crying girl thanked him, with the puppy happily barking.
Naruto helped walk the girl and her puppy home, her parents glad that they made it home safely. However, when they saw Naruto, they angrily asked why he was with her. When the girl told them what he did, the parents were surprised, though not accepting of his heroic act. This he was cool with. While the parents weren't accepting, he managed to change the girl's views of him.
Walking away, Naruto thought about what he did. It was just a simple pet rescue, and he felt...happy about it. Just that simple act of kindness towards someone who hated him...To be thanked by her warmed his heart a bit. Naruto would keep this to himself so he wouldn't be lectured by Iruka about how dangerous it was for him to jump into a river like that. He would not hear the end of it.
Umiko Residence
Once inside the apartment, Naruto was surprised by Iruka, Hinata, and her cousin Neji, who yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" to him. What's more, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shino Aburame had arrived to celebrate his birthday as well.
"Who...What-"
"You weren't expecting us?" asked a lightly smiling Shikamaru. "I know what you're going to say, "I don't know you guys, why are you here, and why did you show up now?" Basically, Choji and I wanted to be friends with you, but back then, you were..."
"You were pretty unapproachable, like Sasuke." Naruto frowned when Choji compared him to Sasuke.
"Thanks, Choji...Anyways, following the months that passed, we saw you in a different light, thanks to your friend Hinata. When you left to go to the bathroom, Hinata went to every student in the classroom and asked them to go celebrate your birthday. So...this is it."
"I only came here because having one girl at your party is bad," Ino added.
"We also came here to apologize for making you feel like not everyone in the class, save for Hinata, cared about you so...can we stay for the party? Maybe become...friends?" asked Shikamaru.
"...This is...I don't know what to make of this. Hinata went and invited students I don't even know, and Ino, one of Sasuke's fangirls, is here so Hinata wouldn't be the odd one out..." At first, everyone thought that he'd hate how some of the students he didn't know were here, only to breathe a sigh of relief and form happy smiles on their faces once he said, "This...is a far better surprise than any present I've ever received. You guys are free to stay until it's time for you all to leave." The blond then thanked them for coming before celebrating his birthday.
Present
That birthday, it was no longer me and Iruka. It was livelier than the other ones. Truly one that I would never forget. I became fast friends with Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, and Neji. Ino...she kept to herself and only hung out with Hinata. I did talk to her a bit, only to ignore her when she started worshiping Sasuke. Iruka, he just sat around with that huge smile on his face and minded his own business. As for the cake, it was very delicious."
"I never celebrated any of my birthdays. Never had the time or the need to."
"Well let me know your birthday and I can help you celebrate it properly. You could even drop by and I'll make sure your birthdays are the best." The purple-haired kunoichi blushed when he told her he wanted to help celebrate it.
"Just...continue the story."
Past
Umiko Residence
Naruto right eyes twitched when Shikamaru got first place while he got in second place in Mario Kart.
"I've been playing this way longer than you Naruto," Shikamaru replied. Walking over to them, Neji asked if he could try playing as Hinata came over and asked to play as well. Naruto voiced how bad of an idea it was to let her play video games. When the Branch House Hyuga asked why it was a bad idea for Hinata to play, the boys learned it the hard way when she beat them 10 times in a row in Mario Kart's Battle Mode.
"Because she's a natural..."
"Hey I want to try as well!" yelled Ino. Shino simply stayed quiet and watched as everyone gathered to play. Seeing Shino feeling left out, the birthday boy decided to strike up a conversation with him.
"Not enjoying the party?" he asked. Shino assured him that the party was fine, there's just one problem.
"I've never played video games before," he answered.
"Do you want to try? I can teach you." Shino said nothing when Naruto offered to help the dark glasses-wearing boy fit in. An hour later, Shino had found himself playing alongside the others as Naruto watched.
Soon, it was time for everyone to go. The rain had stopped, and the kids slowly left one by one until only Hinata and Neji remained. Finally, it was time for them to leave as well. Naruto had thanked Hinata for inviting people over to know them better. Before going, Neji had thanked the blond for being Hinata's friend.
"I hope we can know each other a lot better. Maybe even spar when we get older."
"I would like that a lot, Naruto Uzumaki." As soon as Neji and Hinata left, it was just him and Iruka. When asked if he enjoyed his birthday, Naruto told him it was better than the last birthdays he had.
"I'll probably have to get Hinata a large present for hers when it comes up..."
"She has been a huge influence on you huh?" said Iruka.
"Yeah...these past few months...they've been enjoyable...Not so lonely. It makes me feel..."
"Happy?"
"No...Hopeful. Yeah, I still want to leave this village, but still keep this feeling inside. That is why, I'm going to change how this village sees me, by showing them who I really am." Iruka could only smile and ruffle the blond's hair, surprising the latter.
"I swear, you sound really old. Well, don't worry about chores tonight. I'll take care of it."
"We'll do them together."
Present
"So that was the day you decided to prove yourself to the village?"
"Yeah...4 weeks after my birthday, I finally had my chance to leave the village, not to get away from it, but to explore the outside world and learn new things and get stronger along the way. I spent so much time training with strong people and creating my own techniques in order to be where I am. I even studied advanced machinery and magic, but that's a story of its own entirely I don't think you'd be interested in."
"Was it 4 weeks later that you met Jiraiya?" Naruto simply nodded. "I was wondering when you'd introduce that perverted sage." He chuckled when Ayane started to call Jiraiya a perverted sage.
"I would tell you now, but I'm seriously getting tired."
"Wait...WHAT!?" she yelled.
"I may not look like it, but I haven't slept for half a day yesterday and all of today. I've been constantly training and honing my skills until morning to make sure that I was in top shape for when I get back to Konoha. I've also been running non-stop for 5 hours straight, drinking coffee so I could keep going."
"So when we fought, you weren't at full strength!?"
"Pretty much. Had I rested before we fought, I would have...beaten...you." In an instant, Naruto had fallen asleep. Ayane wanted to wake him up and take him back to camp, but she was starting to feel tired as well. She too didn't get much sleep. She only wanted to stay awake a bit more so she could listen to the blond's "origin story". But seeing as "Mr. Storyteller" had fallen asleep, that wasn't going to happen, at least not tonight.
"You're finishing your story when we wake up you hero-worshiping jerk." Blushing, Ayane decided to lay next to the blond, too fatigued to move anymore. She hoped that he didn't do anything funny to her in her sleep.
In this chapter, Naruto has never had a good birthday. There was cake and balloons, but it was just him and Iruka, with the Third Hokage rarely appearing. When it comes to birthdays, it's really sad to barely have anyone celebrating it with you. Naruto had Iruka, yes, but that was it. To have a birthday where you have several people come to celebrate it is a pretty wonderful feeling, and to give Naruto that feeling that his birthday is important to celebrate like the other kids, it's a pretty nice moment for him, enough that no presents were needed.
The part where he saved a puppy from drowning was from a Filler Arc in Naruto Shippuden that I used as a reference. To help that unknown girl in his class rescue her pet is a pretty defining moment for him because he then understands what Iruka and Hinata meant by what a true hero does: Helping people, even the ones who hate you. This helps Naruto decide that he's going to change the village's views on him, which will define him in the long run. This was mainly inspired by My Hero Academia and Spider-Man, where Izuku found himself saving Bakugo from that slime monster and Spidey being the hero he is despite being seen as a menace to others.
As you've read from the other chapters, Naruto was a real jerk when he first enrolled at the academy. He gave people looks that told them to keep their distance, and that really scared students a bit. Having befriended Hinata, some of the students, mainly Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, and Ino decide maybe Naruto's not such a bad guy, he may be approachable, though they weren't sure of how to go about it, having kept their distance from him for so long, mainly since everyone in the village did the same thing. For Neji, he's there because he promised Hinata that he'd come. In here, Neji is like he was after the Chunin Exams Arc, having been informed of Hizashi's sacrifice early instead of having it being kept from him until he was older. He also has a crush on Tenten, who will make an appearance at some point in Part 1.
To have Hinata tell him what a true hero would do is another important factor. Like Hajime and Chiaki from Danganrompa, I wanted a moment like this to happen between the two. If he wasn't going to listen to Iruka, the only other person he'd listen to would be Hinata. I forgot to flush it out earlier but Hinata has not developed any feeling towards Naruto, until this chapter, in the small part where they ate at Ichiraku Ramen together.
