Disclaimer: Update from last chapter: still do not have any ownership of Naruto or its characters.

Warning: Possibility of bad grammar and spelling. If sensitive to these proceed with caution.

Chapter 7 Real Training

It was a tranquil morning. Only a few stubborn stars remain in the sky as the sun began to shine behind the horizon. Hinata sat starring at the sky as she waited for her pupils. They still had fifteen minutes before it is 5:30, to get to the grounds. If they were late once again the training would go longer than planned.

Off in the distance a figure started to appear. Although the sun wasn't fully up, the bright orange of the individual's clothing could be seen. Hinata's eyes grew, as she saw that it was Naruto that was advancing towards her. Fortunately for her he had yet to see that she was there and she was able to recompose herself.

"Hinata?" Naruto was surprised to see her there. He did not expect to see anyone this early in the morning, let alone Hinata.

"Naruto-kun what are you doing here, this early in the morning?" Hinata smiled trying to hide her nervousness of being alone with Naruto.

"I was going to ask you that."

"I am waiting for Team Ten?" The expression on Naruto's face told Hinata to elaborate in what she meant. "Team Ten have to be here in…" Hinata looked at the time and saw that they now only had five minutes to arrive. "…five minutes"

Naruto continued to hold his puzzled expression, he didn't expect for Team Ten to have practice so early in the morning. In fact the way that Konohamaru spoke about training with Hinata it seemed that they really didn't have any schedule.

"Hinata, do you always start this early? Because yesterday when I joined your training it was nine. Why so early today?"

"What do you mean? We always…"

"Onii-chan! What are you doing here?" Konohamaru hunched over trying to catch his breath. He had woken up late and ran all the way to the training ground. Udon and Moegi looked fine as they stood next to Konohamaru. This was due to them being at the training grounds five minutes early but decided to wait on the edge of the training ground for Konohamaru to arrive.

Hinata looked at the time and saw that if only one more minute would have pasted Team Ten would have had a longer training session. She looked at Naruto and almost scared to ask if he would be joining in the training for the day.

Before she was able to asked, Moegi did the honor of taking that task away from Hinata. Naruto only replied with a nod. He had planned to watch the training but hadn't expected it to be starting so early, he was in the process of walking to his own location to train.

Although he did want to train by himself, he did promise Konohamaru to help train due to Hinata's training being insufficient, but curiosity sparked as he saw the time their training began. He had known Hinata for years and known her to be determined but how was she at training other people.

"I will be watching for today. I want to see how you all train." Naruto sat down with a determined face as he began glaring at them.

The Konohamaru Clan gave a small awkward smile as they exchanged looks. They did not understand Naruto's actions but it looked like Naruto was getting serious. "Konohamaru, are you sure about this. Yesterday Naruto didn't do anything and today he does seem serious about training."

"Calm down Moegi. Naruto is always serious at first but he can never be serious all through the training. Also he will not skip on lunch, especially since it is free ramen." Konohamaru had managed to reassure Moegi but he himself was not fully convinced by his own explanation.

It was true that most of the time Naruto began serious and eventually got bored but there were the few times when he was genuinely serious. Konohamaru could only pray to Kami-sama that this wasn't one of those times.

As the Konohamaru Clan fidgeted with the idea of Naruto be serious, Hinata was starting to feel uncomfortable with Naruto just sitting and watching. The night before she had prepared herself to train with Naruto, figuring out ways as to not have him to close, but now Naruto was going to watch. For years this was what Hinata wanted to do, show Naruto how much she had grown in strength but due to her actions in the past week it made anything dealing with Naruto uneasy.

"Oi, Hinata, I talked to Tsunade yesterday and she told me that you went to talk to her about me." Hinata and The Konohamaru Clan's eyes widened at what Naruto had shouted. "She told me that you asked for permission to have me around so I guess I can observe for a while."

Hinata gave a small grin as The Konohamaru Clan turned to look at her. The Konohamaru Clan could not understand what she was up to? Or if she knew about their plan?

"Naruto, I just didn't want you to get into trouble because of me." Hinata then turned to face the team, "Okay team lets start." The Konohamaru Clan could only hope that she didn't know and began to prepare to train.

Hinata tried not to look towards where Naruto sat starring at them. He was attentive and just looked at her. Why her? This made her tense and freak out. He was probably judging her and thinking how bad she was at training other people.

Although she was lost in her thoughts, Hinata blocked any attack that Team Ten would aim at her. Her stance was firm as she deflected any kunai that flew by her. Moegi went in to attack Hinata on her right side just as Udon threw a kunai to Hinata's left side. Hinata jumped back and swiftly in a blink of an eye jumped up again away from the trap that Team Ten had set up. If Hinata had stayed one second longer on the spot she had landed she would have been hit by an attack by Konohamaru.

Moegi reverted back into to trees and held her stance. She could tell that Hinata wasn't in full concentration, although Hinata's speed was fast she still wasn't her usual speed. She didn't understand her sensei's actions but now was not the time to figure them out.

Moegi jumped out of the tree right above Hinata head and was nearly able to come into contact with Hinata's head when Hinata grabbed her leg and swung around towards Udon. Fortunately Hinata knew how to control her strength and Moegi landed softly on top of Udon who broke her fall.

Udon gasped from under Moegi, "Hurry and get off me, Moegi. We have don't have time, we need to find an opening."

Udon and Moegi scrambled to their feet just in time to see Konohamaru do the unspeakable. Konohamaru lost patience after hours of training and began forming seals with his hands, "Bunshin no Jutsu". All around there stood several Konohamaru clones.

"This is not good. Hinata-sensei is not going to like this." Moegi commented as she backed away from any Konohamaru clone that stood nearby. "Hinata-sensei even warned us about using any attacks with chakra. I hope Hinata-sensei doesn't hurt him."

"I just hope he survives." Udon knew that Hinata-sensei was incapable of hurting anyone but he also knew that Konohamaru could do things that would cause injury even in a total safe zone.

The words "Bunshin no Jutsu" rang in Hinata's ears. She could not believe that one of her students defied her command. She had warned them only to fight with taijutsu and no chakra, but Konohamaru used chakra and now she had no other choice. She was going to have to talk with Konohamaru but first needed to find the real Konohamaru.

Konohamaru eyes stayed widened as Hinata stopped directly in front of him. She had annihilated all of the clones in an alarming speed. He didn't even have time to hide by the time the last Konohamaru clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Hinata stood directly looking at Konohamaru with her calm face, but Konohamaru knew better than to feel relaxed as he looked into her white eyes. He didn't understand why but he feared for his life, at that moment. It could be the fact that her face showed no expression making it looks as if it was Neji that stood before him.

"Konohamaru what did I say that we were training in today." Hinata's face softened from the stern look she held before into a disappointed look. Konohamaru gulped as he saw tried to regain his voice but after seeing the attack that Hinata performed on the clones he could not move. She also looked so much like Neji, he never expected this from Hinata.

Hinata could see the fear in Konohamaru's eyes; they held the same fear that her eyes held when she was scolded by her father. She couldn't believe that she was capable of doing this to another human. Hinata smile at Konohamaru trying to comfort him and asked her question again in a softer tone. This time Konohamaru was able to find his voice and spoke in a low but audible voice, "Sorry Hinata-sensei. I didn't mean to do it, it is just that…"

"I understand. It does get frustrating but you must understand why I said only taijutsu for today. You are good at using ninjutsus but you must also know how to fight with only taijutsus." Hinata once again smiled as she turned to the Moegi and Udon, "Time for a break."

Naruto sat astonished at what he just saw. He hadn't seen Hinata fight in years and now he had witness her strength in one instant. This was not the same Hinata that he had known for years or even the same Hinata that he saw training yesterday. This Hinata that he had witnessed was strong and confident in her abilities.

"Naruto are you hungry? Doesn't ramen sound good about now?" Naruto kept staring blankly without responding, ignoring Udon's questions. "Naruto? Naruto. Naruto!"

Naruto fell backwards off the log that he until recently been sitting on and hit his head against the hard ground. "What the hell was that for!" Naruto screamed as he got up and rubbed the back of his head.

Hinata turned around to see what the commotion was about. She instantly blushed as she saw a screaming Naruto. Due to the clones and her attacks, she had forgotten that Naruto was still around. He had seen her attack.

But that also meant the he had seen her…act so cold to Konohamaru. Hinata felt ashamed and tired to compose herself from the situation that had occurred. She looked on at the floor and sighed.

"Hinata-sensei, I just want to apologize again." Konohamaru kept his eyes down. "I'm sorry for going against you commands." Konohamaru could see that what he did was troubling Hinata. "I am truly sorry."

Konohamaru only hoped that this would compensate for what he had done. That and also he hoped that this would not mean that they were going to have a longer training session because if it did Moegi and Udon would not be happy.

Actually Moegi and Udon were already not happy with Konohamaru but after seeing Hinata's face they did not pay mind to Konohamaru. Hinata-sensei seemed more hurt than Konohamaru and this worried them. They could not understand Hinata's facial expression because they never knew what she had to endure with her father. They had only seen Hanabi's interaction with Hiashi and that relationship was full of compassion. They did not know that this was in great contrast to Hinata's relationship with her father.

Hinata smiled and felt relief that she did not hurt Konohamaru and that he gave a sincere apology. But she still could not believe that at that moment she sounded like her father and worse Naruto could have heard it. Konohamaru let out a breath of relief as he saw Hinata give a sincere smile.

"Hinata I can't believe you did that." Naruto confronted Hinata leaving Udon struggling to stand up after getting hit by Naruto. Hinata looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze. "I can't believe you did that to Konohamaru."

This was what Hinata was afraid of. Naruto had seen her coldness to Konohamaru and now he was confronting her. Why not? She deserved it and Naruto was like an older brother to Konohamaru. She began to look down towards Konohamaru to give an apology when Naruto interrupted with his words.

"Since when did you get to that speed? That attack was…OW!" Naruto looked down and saw where Udon hit him. Udon had a lump on his heard and was glaring at Naruto.

"Why did you hit me? All I was asking is if you wanted ramen." Udon was yelling at the top of his lungs. This meant the he was truly angry since he never raised his voice.

A smile emerged onto Naruto's face as the word ramen was caught in his ear. Ramen sounded good and training was over so why not.

Naruto was mistaken about training since it was only a break but Udon knew that Naruto did not pay much mind to the schedule of Team Ten's training. "Okay let's go and have ramen."

"Umm…Naruto-kun, can you have ramen in ten minuets?" Naruto tried to understand the question that Hinata asked. Was it a trick question? "It's because we are going to resume training in ten minuets."

TEN MINUTES! They were going to continue training? Naruto did not expect this. Yes he did train for hours on end but he thought this training was done for the day. Poor Team Ten having long training sessions, if he were them he would think of a way to get out early. "Hai, I can eat ramen in that time. But I could wait until the end of the training."

"But, but, but, but ramen. I thought you like ramen." Udon began to stutter.

"Shut up Udon." Moegi dug her elbow deep into Udon's side. If Udon kept complaining Hinata was sure to figure out that something was going on.

"What was that for? First Naruto now you, Moegi." Udon's eyes were watering from the pain that Moegi caused. Moegi shot a glance at Udon and then towards Konohamaru, Udon knew this was not good.

"Konohamaru-kun, Udon-kun lets go rest for a while." The sweet voice of Moegi was a warning to Udon and Konohamaru of what was to come. Just like the beautiful songs of the Sirens meant certain death to sailors, Moegi's sweet voice meant a certain amount of pain for Konohamaru and Udon.

"What is happening? What did you do to Naruto, Konohamaru? Yesterday he was able to make Hinata-sensei finish early but today this…" Moegi pointed at Naruto who was sitting waiting patiently for the training to begin anew. "What!" While pointing at Naruto the Konohamaru Clan saw that not only was Naruto sitting patiently but he was eating ramen. Where did he get the ramen? Moegi shook her head pushing out the question of her head and to think about a more important question, like what were they going to do?

The Konohamaru Clan sat in a circle talking in hushed voices. This looked very suspicious to Hinata who was drinking water and stretching to continue training. What could they be up to? Right then Konohamaru was pushed out of the circle.

Konohamaru smiled weakly as he stood up and walked towards Naruto. "Onii-chan, um are you still going to stay and train today?"

Naruto slurped the last bit of noodles that were left in the cup and looked up at Konohamaru. After gulping what was in his mouth he answered, "Hai."

"Hai…Hai" This answer was not good for Konohamaru's health. Konohamaru turned to look Udon and Moegi who were attentively looking at him for an answer. Konohamaru again only weakly smiled before turning back to Naruto who was still talking.

"When you told me that Hinata wasn't giving you sufficient training I believed it because of yesterday. But today…"

"I can explain about that" Naruto raised an eyebrow while Konohamaru tired to explain. "Today umm…I mean yesterday Hinata-sensei…umm I mean today Hinata-sensei was…"

"Konohamaru you don't have to explain. I know why you lied to me"

"You do! I can explain about that…"

Naruto made a "good guy" pose and smiled. "You wanted me to hang out with you guys and so you lied. I'm not easily tricked; I knew the reason all along. Come on, do you think that the future hokage is easily tricked?"

This was a hard question to answer. Obviously the answer was "yes" but that couldn't be said to his face. No, Konohamaru held his tongue as Naruto kept grinning. "Sorry for lying? So you are going to stay and train? Don't you want to go eat instead? You only had two cups of ramen."

Konohamaru still needed to get on good terms with the rest of the Konohamaru Clan. They were mad that they had already paid a good amount of money for the ramen now they needed Naruto to hold up his side of the bargain. Of course Naruto did not know that his side of the bargain wasn't to train with them but to help them get out of training.

"Naruto don't you want some ramen? Not the ones from a styrofoam cup but from Ichiraku's. Those are better and they're hot." Naruto's mouth began to salivate as Konohamaru continued to talk about Ichiraku's ramen.

Ichiraku's ramen was not at bad idea. Two bowls of ramen sounded good to Naruto at that moment. "Okay let's…"

"Let's continue everybody." Hinata stood up and looked at everyone including Naruto. "Let's continue with the training."

"We'll go after training okay Konohamaru." Stretching his back Naruto heaved a sigh. "Oi, Konohamaru you still paying for my ramen right. I am still here in the training, that was the deal right."

"Hai" Konohamaru smiled weakly. He knew that once Udon and Moegi found out about this he would wish that Hinata-sensei had killed him. Now he would have to face two people that would not show any compassion.

"That's enough for today. You guys are free to enjoy the rest of the day." Hinata smiled as the Konohamaru Clan gasped for air.

The Konohamaru Clan hated that phrase that Hinata-sensei always used, "enjoy the rest of the day". Was that some sort of sick twisted joke, there wasn't any "rest of the day". It was already seven and the sun was already going down.

"Konohamaru, I thought you were going to fix this. Naruto didn't do anything." Udon yawned as he patted one of the sore spots on his shoulders.

"I tried talking to him but…"

"Yeah. But we need to do something or else this will happen again tomorrow." Moegi stretched as she picked up her bag. "Well I'm going home. I'm tired. See you tomorrow."

"Um, Naruto still expects us to pay for his food today." Udon and Moegi shoot a look at Konohamaru as if he was saying that he was declaring war.

"What? No, no, no. He didn't get us out early, we shouldn't pay." Udon whined as Moegi looked towards Hinata-sensei.

Hinata-sensei was busy gathering her equipment but she kept looking at something. Moegi noticed that Hinata-sensei was gathering her thing faster than usual. Something was causing Hinata to act strange for the past two days but what could be the cause. There must be something different in those two days compared to the others. Moegi looked around and could not think of anything, but she was curious to find out.

"Hey, you two, come on lets just go. Let's escape from Naruto this time." With that great idea the Konohamaru Clan disappeared from the training ground.

Hinata and Naruto looked up and saw that they were alone. This was bad news for both. For Hinata it meant she was alone with Naruto, for Naruto it meant that he was not getting his free ramen for the day.

"Bye, Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow." Hinata gave a small bow and began to walk away.

"Hinata-chan, do you want to have dinner with me?"

Hinata turned around with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Sorry Naruto-kun. I can't, I'm going to train a bit before heading home."

"More training?" Naruto began to wonder if Hinata was okay. Could there possible be a person who trains so much. "Okay, I just wanted to ask you about the training. Do you mind if I walk with you and ask you about it?"

Hinata swallowed the lump that had built up in her throat. "Ha…" Hinata cleared her throat and tried to answer again. "Yes."

The moon shined upon the couple as they walked between the trees. The atmosphere seemed perfect for long romantic walk and for two people to talk about…

"…the training?" Naruto nodded as Hinata repeated the question that he directed towards her.

"Why was only taijutsu allowed in the training?"

"It's because taijutsu is only hand-to-hand combat without the use of chakra, unlike any ninjutsu that uses chakra. With taijutsu you are more vulnerable to attacks and less likely to deliver successful attacks. That is if you don't think ahead and come up with a plan."

"Oh, I understand." Naruto looked up to the sky with his hands behind his head. "But why only taijutstu for the training?"

Hinata smiled, she didn't know why but she liked that Naruto and her were talking casually, even it it was about training. "Since you have to think about your actions more to have a successful attack with only taijutsu, using only taijutsu in the training encourages Team Ten to use their minds." Naruto nodded in agreement as Hinata continued.

"So you see, if they developed better skills in analyzing the situation and attacking with only taijutsu and learn to deliver successful attacks, then when they do use ninjutsu they chances of successful attacks increase even more. It is a way for them to train their minds, not to only use chakra and physical strength."

Naruto pondered at what he heard for a moment. There was a calm silence between the two as they continued walking. "So that is why you were annoyed with Konohamaru when he did the Bunshin no Jutsu."

"Hai"

"Okay I understand now. But I have another question why are you going to train right now? You already trained with Team Ten." Naruto gazed his blue eyes down to Hinata's ashen eyes as he asked her the last question. She didn't know if she could answer it.

Naruto kept gazing at her waiting for an answer, but Hinata stayed silent. She couldn't answer because all she could think about was having Naruto close and hearing Kiba's word. "You will only find true happiness with him, so continue and confess to him."

"Naruto, I have to confess something to you."

"What is it Hinata-chan?"

"Naruto I have always…I have always…" Hinata's heart began to beat vigorously as she built up the courage to continue. "I have always…trained to accomplish a goal that I have."

"That is good Hinata. What is that goal?" Naruto's gaze was steady as he looked at Hinata.

Hinata answered with the first thing that came into her head. "To grow strong for the one I love." Hinata blurted it out and quickly wished that she didn't' say the truth as she saw Naruto blush a bit. Naruto then smiled a big grin.

"You mean your father, right?"

Hinata shook her head saying yes but she felt ashamed of herself. She was so close to confessing to Naruto but at the last moment she held back. "Well I have to go, Naruto-kun."

"Okay, Hinata."

Hinata turned and starting walking toward her training ground but stopped when she heard Naruto call out to her. "Hinata-chan, be careful and don't train yourself to much. I know how it is to train for a cause. It can get pretty tiring."

"Arigato, Naruto-kun."

Hinata stood a while in place as she stared as Naruto walked away. Once he was out of view she turned around and continued to walk to her destination.

Coming into her own training grounds Hinata looked up in shock at a man who was in orange clothing standing before her. "It is also tiring to train alone."

A/N: I know that it has been a while since I last posted but I have been lacking in motivation. If you read the A/N and remembered that in a few chapters back I posted what my motivations were. Well since there is no school and I work at a school and they are also on break I am lacking stress. Funny thing is that this chapter was almost done but I had writer's block until I received a review. Thank You avatarlovah9573 who wrote "…Keep writing it. UPDATE…" okay they wrote a bit more but I used this and made it like a deadline for me. Also thank you for those other that leave me reviews. Arigato, Thank You, Gracias, 감사해. So reviews and stress are good for me.