Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.

- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII


Part One: How It All Began

Chapter Two: Precious People

Kakashi stared at the blond boy standing in front of him, wondering if his ears were still working properly.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but could you please repeat what you just said?"

The nine-year-old boy gave him an odd look. "I said, Kakashi-san, that I don't want you to train me. I'm perfectly happy with the way things are."

The silver-haired ninja blinked and found that his mouth was hanging open – though it was mercifully concealed behind the mask he was always wearing. That wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting, if he were to be entirely honest with himself. Happiness? Probably. Excitement? Definitely. Gratitude? He could only hope for that one. But this?

"Why not? I mean…" Damn it, he was unravelling. This shouldn't be so difficult; any aspiring genin would be over the moon upon hearing that the famous Copy Ninja had singled them out for an apprenticeship.

Any aspiring genin except Naruto, as it turned out.

He cleared his throat and tried again. "Why don't you want to be my apprentice, Naruto?"

"Because you hate yourself," the boy replied without any hesitation, making Kakashi's jaw drop once again. "I don't care that you were dad's student; I don't want to be around that kind of darkness every day."

By the time Naruto had stopped talking, Kakashi's jaw seemed to have been firmly planted in the ground. He didn't even know where to begin in order to decipher what the boy had just said.

'Facts. Think in facts.'

Fact No 1: Naruto knew that Namikaze Minato was his father. Fact No 2: The boy knew that Kakashi was Minato's student. Fact No 3: The boy somehow knew about Kakashi's guilt over the deaths of his teammates.

And what was this about 'darkness'?

"How do you know all that, Naruto?" Kakashi croaked; nope, logic was no help whatsoever right now.

"I listened," the boy said, shrugging. "Anyway, thanks for the offer, but I gotta go. I have an… ah, errand... to run before the classes begin. See ya!"

Naruto sidestepped the still reeling young man and started walking towards the center of Konoha; he was about to turn around the corner before Kakashi managed to pull himself together again.

"Wait!" He covered the distance with a Shunshin, appearing in front of the boy and making him jump back a couple of steps.

The blond looked up at him with a quizzical frown on his face.

"You're right." Kakashi realized that if he wanted Naruto to accept him, then he'd better not hide anything from the surprisingly well-informed boy. "Your father was Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. And he was also my sensei."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I already knew that, Kakashi-san."

"Which is precisely why I want to train you personally," the silver-haired ninja said, ignoring the interruption.

"Look, I get it, alright?" Naruto half-groaned in exasperation. "Master-student bond and all that. But, as I said, I don't want to be around your kind of darkness every day. So, thanks but–"

"What 'darkness'?" Kakashi interjected. "What are you talking about?"

"All that self-loathing," the boy said, waving vaguely towards the silver-haired man. "It might be more tolerable than what everyone else has inside them, but it still makes my skin crawl."

Kakashi's jaw dropped for the third time in the span of a few minutes; he had the feeling that talking to this kid for a prolonged period of time was going to unhinge it completely. "How can you be so certain that I hate myself? As far as I know, you didn't know me before today."

"I don't have to know you in order to feel it," Naruto said, sounding offended.

'How can he possibly…? Feel it…? What…?'

Kakashi shook his head, trying to force his brain to restart. He couldn't make heads or tails out of Naruto's last statement –and if he tried, he was probably going to go crazy. So, he decided to just go along with what the blond boy was saying. For the moment, anyway.

"Then, if you know that this… 'darkness', as you called it, exists, can you help me get rid of it?"

The silver-haired ninja had to resist the impulse to pat himself on the back for his stroke of genius when he saw the boy's expression turn thoughtful.

"I don't know," Naruto said quietly. "I've never done something like that before. I don't know if it's even possible."

"Well," Kakashi began, sending a silent prayer to whichever kami might be listening, "there's no harm in trying, is there?"

"No," Naruto said with a small, hesitant smile that somehow managed to brighten his entire face. "There isn't. We could try this!"

The silver-haired man closed his visible eye to smile at the blond boy. "Then let's make a deal, Naruto. I'll teach you everything I know, and you'll help me get rid of the darkness inside me. How does that sound?"

The boy's smile became brighter, rekindling Kakashi's hope of reaching him. 'It's not too late yet.'

"It sounds great!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "Does this mean I get to leave the Academy?"

Kakashi frowned at the hopeful tone of Naruto's request. "No, you'll keep attending classes there." His frown deepened when the boy's spirits visibly deflated. "I'll train you in the afternoons."

"Fine," the blond sighed.

"Come on, don't look so down," Kakashi said with forced cheer. "The Academy isn't all that bad."

"Says you," Naruto mumbled. "I don't see why I have to keep going to a place nobody likes me now that I have a private tutor."

Well, that was an interesting – and worrisome – piece of information. 'Looks like I'll have to pay a visit to his homeroom teacher soon.' Probably after classes were done today; the sooner he got this dealt with, the better it would be for Naruto.

"There are some things only the Academy can teach you, Naruto."

"Like what?" the blond snorted.

"Teamwork, for example."

Naruto snorted again, louder this time.

"We'll get back to that later," Kakashi said hastily, deeming it best to drop the obviously thorny subject for now.

"If you say so," Naruto said with a shrug. "Anyway, what time should I meet you today for training?"

"Hmm… Let's say… two hours after class ends in Training Ground Three." That ought to give him some time to make a few inquiries.

"Okay," the boy said, regaining some his previous cheer. "I'll see you later, Kakashi-san!"

Naruto waved goodbye and resumed his walk towards the center of Konoha to spread kami know what kind of chaos before his lessons began.

Kakashi sighed; he had a lot of work ahead of him.

-XOXO-

"You're late, Kakashi-san!"

"Sorry," the silver-haired man said with another eye-smile and a sheepish tone that nonetheless failed to mollify the blond boy. "I seem to have lost myself on the path to enlightenment."

For the first time in years, Naruto found himself at a complete loss for words. He just sputtered indignantly, still pointing his index finger at the silver-haired man. 'Some sensei he is!'

"That's weird. The brat I remember used to be very punctual."

"Anyway," Kakashi drawled, "now that we're both here, how about you show me what you can do?"

"You mean you took me as your apprentice without knowing my skills?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. Was this guy for real?

"I have a vague idea of your abilities, and Iruka-san filled some of the blanks earlier, but I'd like to see for myself what you can do. And, Naruto," the silver-haired man added in a much more serious tone, "don't hold back like you do at the Academy."

"What makes you think I'm holding back in class?" the boy asked with what he hoped was an innocent grin.

"I've seen your pranks," Kakashi said simply. The young man fell in a combat stance that was unfamiliar to the blond boy. "We'll start with taijutsu. The goal is to land a hit on me. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, falling in his own battle stance.

"Good. Begin!"

-XOXO-

Three hours later, Naruto was collapsed on the grass, trying to catch his breath. The silver-haired ninja had been relentless. Taijutsu, kunai and shuriken, ninjutsu, tracking… And he had been hopelessly outclassed in every single one of these subjects.

'In almost every one,' the blond boy thought with a measure of pride. He'd led his new tutor around in circles for quite a while and had even managed to get him with a couple of traps before the man had caught him.

"Well," Kakashi said, dusting off his vest, "that was entertaining."

Naruto glowered at him from his spot on the ground, too exhausted think of a sufficiently biting retort.

"Your chakra control is better than I thought it would be, considering your massive reserves; keep practicing on that and you're going to become a ninjutsu powerhouse." The young man squatted next to the prone boy. "Furthermore, you're way above average at the subjects that interest you – namely, stealth and traps. Then again, you've been getting a lot of practice on them for years.

"All things considered, you have the potential to become a great shinobi."

"'Potential'?" Naruto managed to squawk indignantly.

"Yes." Kakashi fixed him with a stern look. "It takes more than ninjutsu to turn someone into a true shinobi, kid."

The blond boy frowned, trying to understand what his new, self-appointed teacher meant. 'Any ideas?'

"Maybe. Your father used to say that a ninja's duty was to protect the people of his village."

Naruto scoffed; yeah, he couldn't see that happening any time soon. Why would he want to spend his life fighting for those who resented him?

"Yes, I too thought that Minato was crazy."

"Don't worry." Kakashi held out a hand to the blond. "You'll figure it out one day."

The boy clasped the offered hand and let the young man help him up. "And if I don't?"

"Then I'll have failed you as your sensei," Kakashi said solemnly.

Naruto looked away from the silver-haired man and pressed his lips together to keep them from wobbling. He wasn't used to people taking an interest in what he was doing. "Why do you care so much about what'll happen to me, Kakashi-san?"

"Master-student bond, remember? You said so yourself earlier."

"Are you talking about my dad or me?"

"Yes," Kakashi said with another eye-smile, infuriating the boy. Why couldn't the one-eyed geezer just give him a straight answer?

"Whatever," Naruto huffed. "Now that you've seen what I can do, what are you going to teach me?"

"For now, the basics." Kakashi placed his hands in his pockets. "Chakra control, taijutsu, ninjutsu, weapons, stealth and reconnaissance… We'll start your training tomorrow. Meet me here one hour after your classes at the Academy end."

Naruto stared at his new, unwanted tutor with barely concealed surprise. The man wasn't just asking to teach him, he was eager for it. And the boy was actually enjoying himself talking to someone who wasn't looking at him with cold eyes.

'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'

"Oh, so now you agree with me? Insufferable brat…" Kurama grumbled.

'Yeah, yeah. You were right, I was wrong. Go ahead and rub it in my face.'

"Don't worry, I will," the Fox assured the boy. "Repeatedly. Now, accept before he comes to his senses and runs off."

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing how that would look to someone who couldn't hear Kurama. He'd gotten quite a few odd looks from his classmates before he'd learned to control his facial expressions when he was talking to the Fox in public.

"You'd better not be late again, sensei," Naruto warned the silver-haired man, "or I'm going to track you down and drop a can of pink paint on you."

Kakashi's eye widened fractionally when the boy addressed him as his teacher formally, before narrowing as the young man realized something. "Why pink?"

"'Cause pink is evil," the blond said seriously.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

Naruto just grinned at him.

-XOXO-

Kakashi turned a page of the book he was absentmindedly reading as he watched Naruto performing a taijutsu kata again – for the umpteenth time. He was adamant that they wouldn't get to the more complex forms until the boy mastered the basics.

Naruto's reflexes and spatial awareness were good, as should be expected from a boy who had spent more than half of his life outwitting both the Military Police and the ANBU, but his form was unrefined and sloppy – evidence of being self-taught. Kakashi couldn't even begin to imagine how many hours of practice it must have taken the blond to reach a genin's level of proficiency in martial arts without anyone's help. The boy's determination was certainly admirable.

That, and his desire to best his rival.

When Kakashi had asked Naruto why was he trying so hard to beat Uchiha Sasuke at the Academy, all he got back was: ''Cause he's a lot like me, but with much more darkness inside'. Any further attempts on his part to clarify what this 'darkness' was and how was the blond able to feel it were met with evasive answers and requests for more training.

He could be patient, though. There was no rush. Naruto obviously needed more time before he was ready to trust him, so he just had to wait. It would all work out.

'Who am I kidding?'

The past seven weeks had been an enlightening experience for the silver-haired man. He'd learned more about Naruto than he'd expected, and yet he still felt like he knew absolutely nothing about the boy.

Naruto wasn't a 'genius', not in the way the term had been applied to Kakashi. Still, he was too hard-working and stubborn for his own good, pushing through every obstacle with sheer willpower when talent alone didn't seem to be enough. The boy was full of energy, although he had many quiet moments of introspection. He enjoyed watering the potted flowers he kept in his small apartment, loved the color orange and always wore at least one orange article of clothing, and adored ramen in any shape and form.

He also had absolutely no desire to reach out and befriend any of his classmates.

Naruto's Academy teacher, a chuunin named Umino Iruka, had been extremely cooperative after Kakashi had explained the reason he was so interested in the boy. To his credit, the young man with the scarred nose seemed to be just as worried as Kakashi was about Naruto. He had been trying to get Naruto to open up for months but, so far, he hadn't had any luck.

Iruka had told Kakashi that the blond boy was slacking off in class, either napping or doodling, and that he barely talked all day if he wasn't directly asked a question. He had also informed the silver-haired man that Naruto hadn't been this withdrawn during his first year in the Academy; back then, the boy had shown some interest in talking to his classmates. For some reason neither of them knew, Naruto had changed for the worse during his second year.

'It would help if I knew what caused this change in the first place.' Asking the boy, however, had turned out to be a dead end. The only time he had mentioned the incident at the marketplace, Naruto had clammed up and threatened to quit being his apprentice.

Kakashi sighed. The truth was that he had no idea whatsoever on how to approach Naruto without spooking him. He was at the end of his rope here; all he could do was stick to the daily routine the two of them had established and hope that it would be enough.

He sniffed the air as a new scent wafted towards him. Lavender. 'Must be the Hyuuga girl.'

He had noticed a few days after he had appointed himself as Naruto's tutor that Hyuuga Hiashi's eldest daughter often watched the boy when he trained. A couple of discreet questions at Naruto had informed him that the blond had no clue about her little hobby. In a way, it was really cute. Puppy love… A princess falling for the outcast son of a great lord. Maybe one day he could convince Jiraiya-sama to write something like that in his next Icha Icha novel.

Kakashi's hand froze as he was about to turn another page.

'Idiot!' he berated himself when he realized just how blind he'd been all this time.

He couldn't get Naruto to open up, but maybe he didn't have to.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

The boy paused mid-strike and turned his head to look at him. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I'm going to take a short walk. Keep practicing, okay?"

"Okay, sensei," the boy said with a small shrug and continued the kata.

"Good."

Judging by the sheer amount of her free time the Hyuuga girl devoted in watching Naruto, she liked him – a lot. Kakashi didn't know why she saw him differently from the other kids or why she hesitated to talk to him and, honestly, he didn't care. The one thing that mattered to him was that she, unlike almost everyone else in Konoha, wouldn't shun or insult his student.

He sniffed the air again, trying to locate the girl; she was surprisingly good at concealing her presence.

'Got you!'

-XOXO-

Hinata deactivated her Byakugan as the strain became too much for her.

Still, she couldn't complain. Being forced to use it so often to… observe… the boy she admired more than any of her classmates in order to avoid getting caught by his new sensei had improved her endurance. She could now keep her bloodline limit activated for twice as long as she used to. Not that this meant much – she had barely been able to hold it for an hour a few weeks ago.

Hinata was not particularly talented –for a Hyuuga. She was deft and agile, thanks to her slight build, but in a shinobi clan focusing exclusively – and, some would say, obsessively – on taijutsu, being petite was not an advantage on its own. Unfortunately for her, Hinata had none of the redeeming qualities that would even out her physical disadvantage. Her speed was only slightly above average, her reflexes mediocre, and her chakra reserves abysmal.

She was a poor excuse for an heiress, as she was reminded daily. Nevertheless, she was all her father had until her younger sister, Hanabi, was old enough to challenge her for the position. But that day would not come for a while. When it did… what would she do then?

Her dismal thoughts were interrupted as a masked face with an unruly mop of silver hair suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Hello!"

Hinata yelped in surprise and took a few steps back, instinctively aiming a Jyuuken strike at the unknown man intruding in her personal space.

"Calm down!" The one-eyed man sidestepped her strike effortlessly and held his hands out in a placating gesture. "I didn't mean to frighten you! I just want to talk."

The girl let her hands fall and paled as she realized she had overreacted and attacked a jounin. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to–"

"It's okay," the silver-haired man said, giving her what seemed to be a smile with just his eye. "There's no need to apologize for having good instincts and excellent reflexes."

"T-thank you, sir," Hinata said, blushing lightly. She wasn't used to hearing sincere compliments instead of backhanded insults.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, little girl," he said, still having that strange smile on his face. "And you are…?"

"Hyuuga Hinata, Kakashi-san," she responded with a small bow.

"Hinata," he said lightly. "May I ask you a question?"

The girl nodded.

"Why have you been following my apprentice around?"

Hinata's blush deepened, until she felt as if her face was on fire. She started twiddling her fingers, a nervous habit of hers. "I… I-I mean…"

"Because if you're here to spy on my training methods, then I'm going to have to report you to your father."

"No!" Hinata flinched at the sudden volume of her voice, but pressed on. "I'm not here to s-spy on you, Kakashi-san! I just wanted to… to watch Naruto-kun."

"'Kun', huh?" he asked, making her turn redder than ever. "Is he a friend of yours, then?"

"N-no, sir." She fixed her gaze on her sandaled feet, too embarrassed to look at him.

"Do you want him to be a friend of yours?"

The girl's head shot up and her eyes widened in shock; he couldn't possibly be suggesting… "K-Kakashi-san?"

"You heard me, Hinata."

"Yes, sir," she whispered.

"Good." Kakashi's odd smile was back in place. "But first, I'd like you to answer my question. Why have you been watching Naruto? As I understand, most of your classmates aren't particularly fond of him."

Hinata looked at her twiddling fingers again. "Naruto-kun is a remarkable person, Kakashi-san. He's the best student in our class because he never stops trying. He trains constantly and never gives up. Every time someone tells him that he's not good enough, he proves them wrong."

It was only after she'd stopped taking that she realized she hadn't stuttered at all during her little speech.

"That's all?" The silver-haired man asked skeptically. "You simply... admire his stubbornness?"

"Yes, sir," Hinata answered quietly, still looking at her fingers. She hoped the masked ninja wouldn't press her for answers; she didn't want to tell him about the time she and Naruto had first met.

"You're as weird as sensei," Kakashi mumbled to himself. "Anyway," he continued in a normal tone of voice, "would you like to join us for training today?"

The indigo-haired girl nodded hesitantly, too stunned to find words.

"Excellent!" Kakashi said cheerfully. Without another word, he turned on his heel and started walking towards the place she'd seen him and Naruto training.

Hinata followed him quietly, not daring to believe this strange, wondrous turn of events.

-XOXO-

Naruto eyed his new sensei irritably. When Kakashi had said that he was going for a walk, the boy hadn't expected him to bring a girl back with him.

"What's she doing here?"

"Now, now, Naruto," Kakashi chided lightly, "don't be rude. Hinata is going to join us as your sparring partner."

Naruto frowned and looked at the girl who seemed to be trying her best to shrink into herself. The Hyuuga girl was one of his classmates in the Academy, but he'd never talked to her before –unless one counted asking someone if they were okay as 'talking'. Since she had barely managed to string a few words together, he didn't consider it a conversation. All he knew about her was that she was quiet, withdrawn, and that she wasn't fawning over Sasuke like all the other girls – something that made her an oddity to the blond boy.

None of this, however, explained why Kakashi had brought her here.

"I don't need a sparring partner," the boy said firmly.

"Yes, you do," Kakashi sighed. "Everyone needs a partner to train with and compete against if they want to improve. I'm certain that both of you will benefit greatly from this arrangement."

The blond boy crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"Stop being so contrary and just do as Kakashi says. This could be good for you."

"This is not up for negotiation, Naruto," Kakashi said.

"Fine," Naruto grunted.

The indigo-haired girl peeked at him from behind her bangs. "I-it's going to be good working with you, N-Naruto-kun."

The boy's eyes widened slightly at her use of the familiar honorific, but he ruthlessly stomped on the flicker of hope. "Yeah, maybe…"

"Why are you being so rude to her, you fiendish brat?"

"Naruto, is there a particular reason you're being so rude to Hinata?"

'What, are the two of you communicating now?' Naruto asked irritably.

"Apologize to her!"

The blond boy tightened his arms around his chest and looked away again.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said warningly.

"Okay, fine!" the boy shouted, throwing up his hands in exasperation at the two nagging voices both outside and inside his head. "I'm sorry! I'm just... not used to having company while I train."

"I usually train alone, too," the indigo-haired girl said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Naruto pressed his lips together and tried to ignore the kindness in her white eyes. It couldn't be sincere – it rarely was.

"Well," Kakashi said cheerfully, "That's about to change. Now then, why don't the two of you spar a bit? I'd like to see how skilled you are compared to each other."

The blond boy shrugged and fell into his combat stance. Hinata faced him and did the same, although her stance was much different from his.

"Begin!"

A few strikes into their first match, Naruto's opinion that the blue-haired girl would be a terrible sparring partner was confirmed. She actually went out of her way to avoid hitting him. The match consisted of him attacking and her dodging and occasionally getting hit.

His irritation got the better of him after the fourth match.

'That does it!' He'd learn what her problem was right now.

He wasn't worried about Kakashi or Hinata catching on to what he was about to do. He knew from examining himself in the mirror that the bare minimum of Kurama's chakra necessary to use his sensory abilities didn't have any noticeable effects in his features, other than his pupils turning into vertical slits. Besides, after practicing diligently for months, he was now able to sense the emotions of others in literally the blink of an eye.

Drawing a tiny bit of the Fox's chakra, he focused on the girl in front of him.

Fear.

That was all he could sense from her.

-XOXO-

'This… isn't going well.'

It had all been so perfect inside Kakashi's head. He'd present the Hyuuga girl to Naruto as the boy's new sparring partner. The two of them would fight a few matches, maybe chat a bit about the Academy, complain about their sensei, and, hopefully, become friends before the week was out. Naruto really needed a friend his age and, from what he'd gathered from the short talk he had with her, so did Hinata.

The only setback was that the brats were proving to be… uncooperative.

So far, Naruto had been openly hostile to Hinata, which was something Kakashi really should have expected would happen. The boy had some serious issues with trusting people; hell, it had taken Kakashi almost a month before he could get anything out of Naruto other than 'hello' and 'I'm fine'. And shy, timid Hinata was getting more and more flustered by Naruto's standoffish behavior.

Suddenly, Naruto stopped moving and stared at Hinata; Kakashi could swear that, for a moment, the boy's eyes had vertical slits instead of pupils. He'd seen that happen a few times, but whenever he asked about it, Naruto just shrugged and evaded the question.

The boy's mouth was a thin line now, his lips pressed together so tightly they appeared white. "I'm done for today, sensei. I'll see you tomorrow."

Before Kakashi could open his mouth to stop him, Naruto had run off, leaving him and Hinata alone in the training grounds.

'Why can't things just go as planned for once?'

"K-Kakashi-sensei?" The timid girl was clenching her hands tightly, looking like she was about to cry. "D-Did I do s-something w-wrong?"

"No, Hinata." He sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to fathom how everything could have gone so terribly wrong. "It's not something you did."

The girl didn't appear to be reassured –if anything, she seemed to be even closer to tears now. "B-but…"

"This is solely my fault." The young man sat on the ground, motioning for the girl to join him. "Naruto is... He doesn't really like being around other people. I should have asked for his opinion before inviting you to join us."

"He wasn't always like that," Hinata whispered. "He used to smile."

Kakashi knew the smile Hinata was referring to: that bright, face-splitting grin Naruto had the one and only time he had succeeded in dropping a can of paint on his sensei's head, just as he'd promised he would if the young man was late again.

Could she possibly know? "What changed?"

"I don't know, Kakashi-sensei. One day, Iruka-sensei told us that Naruto-kun had been taken to the hospital. When he returned to class, his eyes were as cold as ice and he stopped smiling like he used to."

The silver-haired man released the breath he'd been holding. 'Nothing. Another dead end.'

Hinata misinterpreted his downcast expression. "D-do you want me t-to leave, Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver-haired ninja looked at the girl sitting in front of him. Her entire body was trembling, she could barely meet his gaze, and her eyes were filled with tears that she refused to shed in his presence. Nevertheless, she simply refused to back down and quit without a fight. Even though it was buried under a mountain of insecurities, meek, timid Hinata had a willpower as steely as Naruto's.

"You can go home for today. However, I expect you here tomorrow, one hour after your classes at the Academy."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" Her warm smile was not what he had expected to gain by bringing her here, but that didn't make it any less valuable.

Kakashi couldn't help but appreciate the irony here. He had counted on her to fix his problem and, somehow, he had ended up with two damaged children instead of one. And now he, a prime specimen of a messed-up adult, had to find a way to fix both of them.

'They're right. Like really does attract like.'

-XOXO-

Hinata fidgeted uncomfortably as she and Naruto waited in Training Ground Three for Kakashi. As usual, their sensei was late. He probably wouldn't show up for at least another hour –and when he did, he would simply offer them another far-fetched excuse with his nose buried in that book of his.

Even after two weeks, the mere thought of that orange book was enough to make Hinata blush beet red.

Who knew a ninja as widely respected as Hatake Kakashi would read something so... so... inappropriate –in public, no less! The indigo-haired girl had the sinking suspicion that if her father knew of the Copy Ninja's reading habits, he wouldn't have allowed her to be trained by the man. As it were, she was only allowed to remain under Kakashi's tutelage until a more qualified mentor could be found for her. When she had repeated her father's words to Kakashi, however, he had just laughed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like: 'crafty bastard'.

"Why do you do that?"

Hinata lifted her eyes from her fingers and looked at Naruto. He had never talked to her unprompted before, unless it was about training. "D-do what, Naruto-kun?"

"That thing with your fingers." He poked his index fingers together in an extremely accurate depiction of her nervous habit.

Her mind blanked at that point. Nobody had ever asked her about that; they just kept scolding her for doing something unbefitting her status as the Hyuuga heiress. "T-that's because..."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Once again, the round pupils turned into vertical slits and, just like all the other times she had noticed this, they were back to normal before she could blink. "Why are you so afraid of me?"

The indigo-haired girl stared at him, dumbfounded; all her previous embarrassment was driven out of her mind. "I-I'm not afraid of you."

"Yes, you are," the blond boy scoffed. "You won't look at me. You can barely bring yourself to talk to me. You won't even fight back in a training match!"

"That's not because I'm a-afraid of you!" Hinata repeated, trying to sound confident and failing miserably. Oh, curse her stutter!

"Liar!" Naruto yelled. "You're afraid right now!"

"I'm not afraid of you!" It wasn't until she noticed the shocked look on the blond's face that she realized she had actually shouted at him. "I'm just..."

The boy's eyes narrowed suspiciously again. "What?"

"I'm just afraid that..." She steeled herself and looked at him, even though what she wanted to do was run away and hide in a dark corner somewhere. "...That you won't want to be friends with someone like me."

Naruto's eyes were no longer narrowed; instead, they had become impossibly wide, with his eyebrows lost under his bangs. "Wh... What?"

"Y-you're always so confident, Naruto-kun. You never give up, even though everyone expects you to fail. And I wish I could be even a little bit like that," Hinata whispered, fighting back tears. "If I were stronger, more confident... then maybe my father would be proud of me for once."

For a long time, the only sound was the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the tree leaves.

"You're wrong, you know," Naruto said, scratching his whiskered-marked cheek nervously. "You're pretty stubborn yourself."

Hinata tried to chuckle at that, although it came off more like a sob.

"Well, you are," he repeated, folding his arms over his chest. "Ku– …A friend of mine says that only someone monumentally stubborn could have put up with my behavior these past two weeks."

"You were kind of rude, Naruto-kun." Hinata slapped a hand over her mouth; she hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Naruto mumbled.

The indigo-haired girl just smiled at him. Anything she could say now would be either a lie or terribly unkind.

"Look, Hinata, I'm..." The blond boy scratched his cheek again and fidgeted awkwardly. "...What I mean is..."

Hinata remained silent, partly out of consideration and partly out of curiosity. She didn't think there was anything that could make the unflappable Naruto this flustered.

"…Would you like to help me set up a trap for Kakashi-sensei?"

"A trap?" the indigo-haired girl asked flatly. Somehow, she doubted that this was what he had been about to say.

"Yeah. He's always late, making wait for him for hours, so I figure we're due some payback." Naruto suddenly took an interest in a small bird that was perched on a nearby tree branch. "And, since we're both his students and he keeps going on about teamwork, I thought that… maybe… you'd want to help me with this?"

Hinata knew better than most that Naruto didn't need anyone's help, least of all hers, to set up a trap. Even some members of the Hyuuga clan spoke about his ingenuity with a grudging respect. A small smile crept on her face as she realized that this was his way of apologizing to her.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, I'd like to help you set up a trap for Kakashi-sensei."

He smiled back at her, that bright smile she liked so much and hadn't seen for more than a year. "Great! Here's what I was thinking…"

The blond unfurled a scroll on the ground and started drawing a diagram while explaining to her how the trap would work and where they were going to set it up. She joined him eagerly, surprised to find that she wasn't feeling a shred of guilt over pranking her sensei.

After all, Kakashi really had it coming.

-XOXO-

Naruto doodled absentmindedly in his notebook, vaguely aware that Iruka and Mizuki were lecturing the class on the use of hand seals.

"Teacher."

'Boring.'

There was no need for him to pay attention to them; Kurama had made sure that he'd learned the basics of ninjutsu a long time ago. Instead, he focused on the word game he was playing with the Fox inside his head to pass the time until lunch break. The ten-year-old considered it a much greater challenge than today's lesson.

"Come on, is that really the best you can do? Lecture."

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'Who's being predictable now? Ninjutsu.'

"Chakra."

'Uh… Fox.'

"Forest."

'Trees.'

"Sky."

'Sun.'

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

The boy raised his head and looked at the white-haired man, hiding his annoyance behind a blank mask. "Yes, Mizuki-sensei?"

"Nice of you to rejoin us." Mizuki's words had several children sniggering. "Could you repeat the purpose of hand seals for your classmates?"

Another round of sniggers went around the classroom; Naruto's fellow students were clearly expecting him to fail. 'Jerks.'

However, not everyone was looking amused with today's show.

Shikamaru and Chouji were, as always, sitting together; the dark-haired boy was staring at Naruto with an expression equal parts thoughtful and worried. Kiba was pretending to play with his new puppy, although he was sneaking peeks at Naruto's direction every few moments. Sakura and Ino were, strangely enough, not sniggering like the rest of Sasuke's fangirls; they were whispering to each other, looking worriedly at the blond boy. Sasuke was watching him carefully, although he was trying to pass it off as his usual brooding. Shino's face was half-hidden by his high collar and his glasses, but Naruto could swear he was frowning. And Hinata was smiling at him encouragingly.

Naruto smiled back at her and took a deep breath.

"Hand seals allow shinobi to build up and manipulate their chakra. There are twelve of them: Monkey, Bird, Dog, Boar, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Rat, Ox, Tiger, and Hare." Naruto demonstrated each seal as he named them. "Each jutsu has its own sequence of hand seals. A beginner has to form all of them in order to activate the jutsu, but a jounin can use less seals or even just one to do it.

"For example, Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage, could create an entire forest using just the Snake seal." Naruto clasped his hands together, forming the appropriate sign. "And Uchiha Madara, the co-founder of the Hidden Leaf, could create walls of flame with just the Horse seal." Once again, the blond boy formed the corresponding sign with his fingers.

Naruto's words were met with silence, as Mizuki, Iruka, and his classmates just stared at him; some even had their mouths hanging open.

'Why are they all gaping at me?'

"Because they are fools," Kurama scoffed.

Iruka was the first to recover from the shock. "Where did you learn all that, Naruto?"

"I read it in a scroll about chakra manipulation," Naruto said evasively, hoping the ponytailed tutor wouldn't ask him where he'd found that particular scroll.

"I see." Iruka cleared his throat. "You're right. Hand seals aren't strictly necessary and several jounin have attained that level of mastery over the shinobi arts. However, the use of ninjutsu without the complete sequence of hand seals is beyond the capabilities of Academy students and genin."

Naruto shrugged. "It just takes practice."

"Then perhaps you wouldn't mind demonstrating this for the class." Mizuki had found his voice again and was looking at Naruto with a falsely sweet smile that made the boy sick. "Step forward and use the transformation technique with just one hand seal."

"Mizuki, he's ten years old!" Iruka protested. "You can't ask an Academy student to do something like that!"

Naruto stared at the ponytailed tutor with the scarred nose. Over the course of the last year, the young man had taken a more active interest in him. He would often ask the boy about his day or his impressions of the day's lessons; once, he'd even taken Naruto to Ichiraku's for ramen. And, most important of all, his eyes were no longer cold and distant.

"He seems to believe he can do it. We'll see soon enough if his boasting is the result of overconfidence. Naruto, step forward." Mizuki motioned for the boy to stand at the center of the classroom.

"That does it," Kurama growled. "First he interrupts our training and now he's trying to demean you? Unforgivable."

'We weren't exactly training, Kurama,' Naruto pointed out.

"That's beside the point. It's the principle of the matter."

The blond had to agree with that. He wasn't the only student who hadn't been paying attention to the lecture. This wasn't the first time Mizuki had targeted him specifically.

Naruto grinned; he knew exactly what he had to do to put the obnoxious man in his place.

He stood up and walked to the spot the white-haired teacher had indicated. Facing his classmates, he took a deep breath, formed the Ram seal, and focused his chakra. He pictured the person he was going to transform into and held the image in his mind.

"Henge!"

With a puff of smoke, Naruto turned into a gorgeous girl wearing a skimpy two-piece swimsuit that left little to the imagination. Her long, blonde hair was tied in two pigtails, and she was smiling seductively at the two chuunin.

Sporting identical nosebleeds, both Mizuki and Iruka were knocked out cold.

"Good one, kit," Kurama chuckled.

Naruto had to bite his lower lip to keep himself from laughing when he saw the expressions of disbelief on the other kids' faces as the teachers unsteadily got on their feet again. He undid the transformation and flashed a victory sign at the class.

"Uzumaki Naruto wins!"

Iruka was too busy plugging his nose with bits of paper to scold him properly. Mizuki, however, seemed ready to throttle the blond boy. "Why you little–"

"See ya, sensei!" Naruto laughed, stuck out his tongue, and jumped out the window.

Still chuckling, the blond boy headed towards a secluded spot in the woods near the Academy.

Sitting in the shadow cast by one of the trees, Naruto placed a leaf on his palm, closed his eyes, and concentrated on it. Kakashi had told him to keep practicing until focusing his chakra on the spot the leaf was resting on became as easy as breathing to him. He still had a long way to go, but he was getting better.

His time was better spent here than in the classroom.

-XOXO-

Seeing Naruto waiting for her near the Academy's entrance, Hinata walked up to him and handed him his backpack, along with all the things he had left back in the classroom.

"Sorry about that," Naruto told her sheepishly as he shrugged on his bag.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun." It wasn't the first time the indigo-haired girl had to gather Naruto's belongings after he had skipped a lesson.

Without warning, Naruto's face fell in a frown as he stared at something behind her. Following his gaze, Hinata saw her cousin, Neji, exiting the Academy; as always, her cousin was alone. He was also scowling at her.

Naruto ground his teeth; Hinata saw his eyes change once again. "That jerk."

"Naruto-kun!" Despite her scandalized tone, she was secretly glad he cared so much about the way people treated her. "You should try to be more polite to Neji-nii-san."

It wasn't the first time she told him that and she had the feeling that it wouldn't be the last. The two boys had been introduced a few months ago and they had immediately taken an intense dislike to each other.

"I will be more polite to Neji-chan," Naruto said, placing more emphasis than necessary on the diminutive honorific, "when he stops looking at you like that. I don't get why you're so nice to him. You should tell him to get lost."

"I can't do that," Hinata said quietly, as unpleasant memories from seven years ago resurfaced in her mind. "Neji-nii-san has been through a lot."

"Maybe," Naruto conceded reluctantly. "But that's no reason to take his anger out on you."

'No, it isn't.' Hinata lowered her eyed and clasped her hands together. As much as she defended her cousin and tried to understand him, there were times she wished he weren't so hostile to her.

Trying to find a way to change the subject, Hinata's mind went back to the embarrassment she had felt a few hours ago at class. "Naruto-kun, what was that transformation technique you used earlier?"

"The Sexy Jutsu?" Naruto asked as they started walking towards Ichiraku ramen. "It's something I made up. I needed a weapon against adults that wouldn't be considered dangerous, so..." The blond trailed off and waved a hand vaguely, as if that would explain how 'weapon' led to 'half-naked girl'.

Although, judging by the amount of blood loss the two chuunin had suffered, Hinata had to revise her opinion about the perils of that jutsu.

But that wasn't what was troubling her right now. "Where did you get the idea for it?"

If he said that it was from Kakashi's favorite book, Hinata was going to burn every single copy of Icha Icha Paradise in the Hidden Leaf. Starting with their sensei's.

"From the old stories about kitsune."

The girl blinked in surprise. "Kitsune?"

Naruto nodded. "They say that kitsune would turn into beautiful women in order to trick humans but, I have to say," the boy snickered, "I didn't think they'd react like that."

It certainly was an… effective technique, once one managed to get past the indecency of it.

"You shouldn't use that jutsu, Naruto-kun," Hinata said as sternly as she could manage –which, admittedly, wasn't all that forbidding. "It's..." Improper. Unseemly. Crude. "...demeaning... to women."

"But..." Naruto gaped at her for a moment, before finding his voice again. "But I wasn't trying to hurt you! I just wanted to put Mizuki in his place!"

"I wasn't insulted, Naruto-kun." Not much, anyway.

The boy breathed a small sigh of relief. "Good. I won't use it again, Hinata... Unless the fool really deserves it."

"Naruto-kun!"

"What?" The blond asked defensively. "I won't use it against Kakashi-sensei if that's what you're worried about."

"That isn't..." Hinata paused and reconsidered what she was about to say. "Just... promise me you'll only use it as a last resort."

"I promise, Hinata." Naruto's tone was sincere, but his mischievous grin failed to put the girl at ease.

After a few minutes, they reached the small ramen stand. Ichiraku Teuchi was alone behind the counter, chopping vegetables; his daughter, Ayame, was nowhere in sight.

Naruto sat on one of the stools in front of the counter. "Hello, Teuchi-jii-san!"

"Hello, Teuchi-san," Hinata echoed as she took a seat next to the blond boy.

"Hello, kids," the old man greeted them cordially. "Did you have a good time in class today?"

"Better than yesterday," Naruto replied with a bright grin.

Hinata sighed and shook her head; her friend was incorrigible.

"I hope you aren't causing your teacher any trouble, Naruto." Teuchi started stirring the pot where the noodles were being cooked. "Iruka seems like a nice young man."

The two children looked at each other.

"He is," Naruto said quietly. "Don't worry, old man. I'm not making any trouble for him."

"That's good." Teuchi filled two bowls with ramen, just the way the children preferred them; he was well accustomed to their eating preferences by now.

Naruto and Hinata took a pair of chopsticks each and started eating their first bowls for the day's lunch.

-XOXO-

"Would it kill you to be on time for once, Kakashi-sensei?"

"It might," Kakashi said blithely. Annoying his students –especially Naruto– was one of the greatest pleasures of being a sensei. "But this time I have a reason."

"Really?" Naruto asked, obviously unconvinced; from her expression, Hinata also didn't believe him.

'I think I'm losing my dignity here.'

"Yes. You see," the young man said with a cheerful smile, "I was called to the Academy. Your tutors weren't too happy about your new jutsu, Naruto."

"They wouldn't have fallen for it if they weren't such closet perverts," the boy scoffed, eyeing his sensei thoughtfully.

"Don't even think about it," the silver-haired ninja warned. Despite his rather antisocial tendencies, the boy was every bit like his mother when it came to messing with people. "That jutsu won't work on me."

"How do you know that, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked with an almost evil grin.

"I know it because I'm a jounin." Kakashi wholeheartedly hoped that the blond wouldn't try the jutsu regardless. It would be a terrible blow to his reputation if he was hospitalized due to severe blood loss.

And why wasn't Hinata doing anything to put Naruto in his place? Weren't girls supposed to get mad when boys acted like perverts? Kurenai certainly took every chance she got to carp at him about his choice of reading material.

"Anyway," Kakashi said in an effort to redirect the subject somewhere other than his alleged vulnerability to Naruto's new jutsu, "Iruka-san was adamant that you never use that jutsu in class again. And Mizuki-san demands an apology."

"No way I'm saying 'sorry' to that creep!" Naruto protested.

Kakashi's frowned slightly; this wasn't the first time Naruto had been disrespectful towards the white-haired tutor.

"Why do you keep calling Mizuki-sensei a 'creep', Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Because that's what he is," Naruto said – a bit viciously, in Kakashi's opinion. "He smiles, but it's all fake. Underneath, there's just malice and hatred."

The indigo-haired girl frowned in confusion. "How do you know that?"

That was the very question Kakashi had been trying to answer for more than a year. How did Naruto have such a frightening insight into the minds of other people, even strangers he had never talked to?

"I… I just do, alright?" Naruto's defensive tone and uncomfortable fidgeting made Kakashi's frown deepen. If he didn't know better, he'd say that the boy was afraid.

'He's not afraid – he's terrified. Of us. Why?'

"Naruto," the silver-haired ninja began, "the three of us have been a team for more than a year now. We've been training together almost every day." The blond fidgeted once again under the weight of his sensei's and his best friend's gaze. "The two of you spend more time with me and with each other than you do at home.

"I think that Hinata and I deserve to know the truth."

"You can trust us, Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly.

Naruto looked at Hinata, then at Kakashi, then back at the girl before lowering his eyes. Kakashi held his breath; he hoped that he hadn't pushed the boy too far.

"It's because I can…" Naruto took a deep breath, but didn't lift his gaze from his sandals. "…I can… sense it," he said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I can sense the evil in everyone around me."

The young man's eyebrows climbed towards his hairline.

'What?'

-XOXO-

"I think that Hinata and I deserve to know the truth."

"You can trust us, Naruto-kun."

Despite Kakashi and Hinata's words of trust, Naruto was on the verge of panic.

Normally, the boy didn't care one bit about the opinions of others – or, at least, he refused to let them get to him. Most people in the Leaf despised him for being the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, which was fine with him. In his eyes, Kurama wasn't the monster here. But Kakashi and Hinata were different. From the very start, neither of them had treated him with anything other than kindness.

'I can't tell them. They're going to run away.'

Naruto hadn't realized how much he wanted a friend – a human friend – until spending some time around people who didn't mind his presence. Hinata, despite being quiet and sometimes painfully shy, understood him better than anyone except Kurama. She was his friend, someone willing to stick with him even when he was acting like a brat. And Kakashi was what he had always imagined a parent would be like: a responsible voice telling him to take some time off from training and eat his much hated vegetables.

"If they can't accept you for who and what you are, then you're better off without them."

As blunt as they were, Kurama's words gave the blond boy the courage he desperately needed.

"It's because I can…" Naruto took a deep breath and ignored the impulse to tell them something – anything! – other than the truth. He could lie to everyone except these two. "…I can… sense it." The boy didn't dare lift his eyes from the ground, fearing what he might see in his friends' faces. "I can sense the evil in everyone around me."

Slowly at first, but building up speed, he explained to his sensei and his fellow apprentice about his unique ability to sense negative emotions and the source of this power. He told them about Kurama: how they had first met six years ago, how the Fox had been there for him when no-one else had, how he had taught him to sense chakra and emotions. For the first time in his life, he held nothing back. He told them everything.

In a way it was... cleansing.

The blond boy squirmed nervously under his friends' dumbfounded looks. His spirits fell as the silence dragged on.

'They won't accept me.'

-XOXO-

Hinata didn't know what to think of Naruto's words.

Ever since she could remember, she had been instructed to stay away from the blond boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks. She had never been given a reason for it, no matter how many times she had asked Koh, her guardian, to tell her why was that boy so dangerous. It was just one more thing that was expected of her.

She watched Naruto squirming and sweating as he anxiously waited for someone to speak, and wanted to tell him that there was nothing for him to worry about. They were all wrong about him. He wasn't the demon that had nearly destroyed the Leaf ten years ago.

Naruto was the one who had encouraged her to keep trying when her entire family had all but abandoned her to her fate. He had told her to 'screw them' and do things at her own pace; Kakashi had said the same, but in a much more restrained language. He could be aloof and even mean to the people who insulted him, but he was no more a monster than she was. If there was one thing Hinata was certain of, it was this.

And, from what Naruto had just said, the Nine-Tailed Dem– no, Kurama might not be as bad as everyone thought he was, either.

"Would..." Hinata clasped her hands together; this wasn't the time to let her shyness ruin everything. "Would you like to train with me sometime, Naruto-kun?"

-XOXO-

Kakashi felt like someone had socked him square in the face and then proceeded to spin him around until he lost all sense of the world around him. If he wasn't feeling so lightheaded from the shocking revelation, he would be ashamed that he was overreacting like that.

'Overreacting?' The panicked part of his brain protested. 'Naruto is TALKING to the freaking KYUUBI!'

There were all kinds of scenarios he had thought up to explain the boy's mysterious ability to see right through people. A bloodline limit from his mother's side of the family, a side-effect of his troubled childhood, some kind of obscure jutsu he had found during one of his raids in the library…

As it turned out, it was all of these.

…More or less.

'It seems that the only reason Naruto hasn't snapped and destroyed the Leaf yet is the very monster that nearly destroyed the village more than ten years ago.' Kakashi didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at the irony of the situation.

Not that this changed anything. Naruto was still Naruto, the same withdrawn, guarded boy who kept everyone at bay in order to protect his heart from more pain. He was simply aware of his… The young man didn't even know if he could still call the Fox a 'prisoner', given what he had just learned.

Kakashi sighed inwardly. 'What a mess.'

"Would... Would you like to train with me sometime, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto blinked at the girl. "But we're already training together, Hinata."

The indigo-haired girl tightened her grip – most likely to prevent herself from twiddling her fingers as she always did when she was uncomfortable. 'I'll have to break her out of that habit someday.'

"I meant your sensory abilities." Hinata's cheeks reddened slightly, though not as much as they used to. "I can help you… with my Byakugan…"

The silver-haired man smiled to himself at the girl's words. Taking her as another apprentice had turned out to be one of the best decisions he had ever made. She and Naruto had become thick as thieves over the past year –much to his chagrin. If there was one thing worse than a mischievous boy with a penchant for pranks, it was a mischievous boy with a penchant for pranks and an accomplice who could see through walls. And both of them could be pretty damn imaginative when it came to 'punishing' their perpetually tardy sensei.

Still, he couldn't be too angry with them for following his teachings and working together. He simply wished they would target someone else for a change.

'Maybe I should introduce my adorable students to Guy.' That ought to have the Green Beast of the Leaf running for the hills.

"I think that's an excellent idea," Kakashi said. It would probably be for the best if Hinata helped Naruto with his sensory abilities.

Negative Emotions Sensing. Just what had Naruto sensed in the marketplace two years ago?

-XOXO-

Naruto smiled hesitantly at Kakashi and Hinata.

"I'd like that very much. Thanks, Hinata. And thank you too, Kakashi-sensei." Thank you for not running away.

"What are you thanking me for?" Kakashi asked. "I'm not the one volunteering to help you with your sensory training. Although," the young man added thoughtfully, "my ninja hounds might appreciate testing their skills against a Byakugan user and a sensory type."

"They won't be able to hide from us! Right, Hinata?"

The indigo-haired girl nodded. "Right! We'll track them down no matter where they hide, Kakashi-sensei."

"Don't bite more than you can chew, kids," Kakashi said blithely. "You might regret it later. After all…" The young man vanished with a puff of smoke. "…How would you track down my ninken if you can't even catch me?"

"I see him," Hinata said. The veins around her eyes were bulging, an unmistakable sign that she was using her Byakugan. "Twenty meters in front of us. Thirty meters…. I think he wants us to chase him."

Naruto drew a bit of Kurama's chakra. Immediately, the world changed. His eyesight became cleared, his sense of smell sharper. Some forty meters ahead, he could sense a familiar chakra signature.

Hinata gasped softly. "Naruto-kun, your eyes…"

Belatedly, the blond boy realized that she hadn't seen him use Kurama's chakra before. He released the red chakra, letting his eyes and whisker marks return to normal.

"Does it…" Naruto felt a stab of fear once again. "Does it bother you, Hinata?"

The girl shook her head. "No. I was just surprised."

Feeling a little apprehensive, Naruto tapped into Kurama's chakra again. He almost sighed in relief when he sensed nothing negative from Hinata – no fear, disgust, or hatred. Just her chakra signature, which he knew as well as Kakashi's.

Naruto blinked rapidly; he wasn't going to cry in front of her. 'You were right, Kurama.'

"I'm always right, kit," the Fox said smugly. "You should know that by now."

Hinata turned her head towards the direction Kakashi had run off. "Sensei's getting away."

"Then let's catch him." He grinned at her. "Are you ready, Hinata?"

The girl nodded and smiled back. "Yes."

Without another word, both of them took off in pursuit of their sensei.

-XOXO-

Naruto examined his target. Well-trimmed beard – check. Sash with the emblem of the Land of Fire – check. Cigarette firmly planted in his mouth – check. A beautiful black-haired woman with red eyes standing within a ten-meter radius – check. The man matched all of Kakashi's criteria.

'Why couldn't Kakashi-sensei find this Asuma guy himself?' the eleven-and-a-half-year-old boy grumbled to himself as he left his hiding spot and started walking towards the two jounin.

"Do you want me to cite the reasons in alphabetical order or in order of importance?"

'What 'reasons' does he have besides laziness?' Naruto scoffed, even though he knew perfectly well what the Fox was talking about.

"Remember, kit, don't be rude to him," Kurama warned. "You're here to ask for his help."

'I know.'

Naruto sighed and resigned himself to the inevitable. There were only a handful of ninja in the Land of Fire who could use Wind Release and Kakashi wasn't one of them – something that was still bothering Naruto far more than it should have. The man had achieved four changes in chakra nature and could even use the Sharingan, but Fuuton was beyond him. Hence, the need for another teacher.

"Sarutobi Asuma-san?" Naruto asked with a small but polite bow. "And Yuuhi Kurenai-san?"

The two young jounin blinked at the blond boy standing in front of them before exchanging a look.

"Yeah, that's us," Asuma said.

"You're Kakashi's student, aren't you?" Kurenai asked, studying the boy closely.

Naruto squirmed uncomfortably under her intense gaze. There was something about her red eyes that reminded him of Kurama, only somehow scarier. The Fox would just blast a person out of existence, not trap him in a genjutsu that would make him scream in agony for days.

"Yes, Kurenai-san. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

The bearded jounin smiled at him, making the cigarette on his lips bob up and down. "What brings you here, Naruto?"

"I want you to help me with my Fuuton training, Asuma-san."

The cigarette nearly fell out of Asuma's mouth as he stared at the blond boy in shock; Kurenai had a similar expression on her face.

"Subtle, kit," Kurama mocked. "Really subtle."

"Don't you think you're a little too young for that kind of training, Naruto-kun?" the young woman asked, concerned.

The boy shook his head. "No. Kakashi-sensei could use Raiton and Doton when he was my age."

"Kakashi is… a special case," Kurenai said carefully.

"And my dad had already mastered Fuuton by the time he'd graduated from the Academy."

That had the two jounin gaping once again.

"You know, kit, you've been getting that kind of reaction a lot lately."

'Shut up, Kurama!'

Naruto's protest only made the Fox laugh.

"Your… You know who your father was?" Asuma croaked; his voice sounded considerably more high-pitched.

"I figured it out years ago," Naruto said with a casual shrug. It wasn't exactly the truth, but it was better than saying: 'The Demon sealed inside my belly told me who my parents were when I was four'.

Kurenai rubbed her forehead with her hand. "I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. After all, the resemblance is striking."

"Yeah." Asuma sighed, letting out a huge puff of smoke that made Naruto sneeze. "But why the sudden interest in Wind Release?"

"Kakashi-sensei started training Hinata and me in change in chakra nature." The blond boy fought back another sneeze; how could Asuma smoke these things all day? "Hinata has a Lightning affinity, so sensei's teaching her personally."

"Looks like we're going to have a Hyuuga wielding Raikiri in a few years," the bearded jounin mumbled in an undertone.

"That would be awesome," Naruto exclaimed, momentarily distracted from his goal by the mental image of Hinata using the technique Kakashi had demonstrated earlier that day.

"What about you, Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked kindly, bringing the boy back to reality. "You have a Wind affinity, I presume."

"Yes, Kurenai-san. Kakashi-sensei can only give me pointers, though," the blond said sullenly. "He told me that if I wanted real training on Fuuton, I should ask Asuma-san to help me."

"I see," Asuma said, releasing another puff of smoke. "And Kakashi couldn't ask me himself because…?"

"Something about a debt he owes you, I think," Naruto grumbled. The boy had been too busy yelling at his sensei to pay attention to what the man was saying. Not that Kakashi had offered many details about this 'debt' of his.

"Asuma…" Kurenai's red eyes had a rather nasty glint in them.

The burly, fearsome-looking man seemed to shrink under the slight woman's piercing gaze. "It was just some harmless betting! Anyway," Asuma cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure, "tell Kakashi that I can't help you right now."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a busy man, kid. I don't have time to train you."

"How about we play this on Shogi, Asuma-san?" Naruto asked innocently.

"You play Shogi, Naruto?" From the intrigued look on his face, Asuma seemed to have taken the bait – just like Kakashi had said he would.

The boy nodded, fighting back a smirk. "I'm pretty good at it."

Asuma stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully. "Alright. If you win, I'll train you in Fuuton. But if you lose," the young man smirked, "then you'll have to go back to Kakashi and collect what he owes me."

Kurenai sighed and rubbed her forehead again.

"You're on, Asuma-san!" The man had no idea what he had walked into. Naruto hadn't been playing Shogi for years with a being whose intellect and cunning vastly surpassed those of most humans without picking up a few things.

Naruto removed the portable board he had taken to carrying around with him in order to have something to pass the time he and Hinata spent waiting for Kakashi to appear each day and set it up on top of a nearby bench. He sat on one side of the board, while Asuma sat on the other. Kurenai was standing slightly behind the jounin, looking at the board with a mixture of exasperation and curiosity on her face.

Twenty minutes later, Asuma was holding his head and staring at the board in disbelief, while Kurenai was trying her best not to snicker at the young man's predicament.

"So," Naruto asked cheerfully, "will you train me now, Asuma-san?"

Asuma stared at him for a while; he seemed to have realized he had just been played for a fool. "You win, Naruto. But I want a rematch one of these days."

"Sure thing, Asuma-san," the boy said with a bright, sincere smile. It was nice to meet more adults who didn't look at him with cold eyes.

"I'll hold you to it, kid." Asuma pushed the board aside. "Now, pay close attention. I don't want to repeat myself…"

-XOXO-

Kakashi stood on a tree branch with a clear view of the training ground his two students were using. Naruto and Hinata were sparring with each other; from what he could see, the twelve-year-olds seemed to have restricted themselves to taijutsu.

The silver-haired ninja smiled fondly at the sight.

The differences in their fighting styles were clear. Hinata's movements were precise and graceful, each timed perfectly to exploit the weaknesses in her opponent's defense. Naruto's attacks were the exact opposite; he focused more on breaking through their defenses with raw strength. Their reflexes were excellent and their speed was improving every day. The two of them would easily make jounin in a few years.

But to do that, they first had to pass the Academy graduation test one week from now. Hinata would easily pass; she would ace the tests even with both hands tied behind her back. So would Naruto, if not for that one jutsu…

The young man sighed and jumped down into the training field. The two children stopped their match and turned to face him.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata greeted him politely.

"You're actually early," Naruto said in place of a greeting. "Did something happen?"

"It did." Kakashi sighed again; there was no use in delaying the news. "I asked the staff at the Academy to remove the Clone Jutsu from your examination, Naruto."

It wasn't an unreasonable request. There had been several instances when an examination had been altered to suit the needs of a student who, while talented in certain areas, struggled with other aspects of the shinobi arts. The most recent example was Rock Lee one year ago, who had been allowed to graduate despite not having any aptitude whatsoever for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Compared to him, Naruto, who could get the Clone Jutsu to work one time out of four and was one of the best students in his year, should have easily been given some leeway.

"They turned me down. They said that the ability to create a clone is an integral part of a ninja's arsenal, which is why the Clone Jutsu is one of the basics."

"Oh," Naruto said, sounding crestfallen. "I see."

"We're going to train more, Naruto-kun," Hinata said encouragingly. "You aren't going to fail the exam."

"Hinata's right, Naruto." Kakashi had to resist the impulse to laugh like one of the villains in Jiraiya-sama's books. If those short-sighted, bigoted idiots at the Academy wanted a war, he was more than happy to oblige them. "The Academy instructors said that you have to be able to create a clone in order to graduate. They didn't specify what kind of clone this must be."

With a quick series of hand seals, Kakashi created a clone of himself.

"This is the Lightning Clone Jutsu. As you can see," the young man released the jutsu, making the clone explode in a burst of lightning that would have incapacitated anyone who had been in contact with it, "it's much more useful than an illusionary clone. Think you can master this, Hinata?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" The look of determination on the girl's face told Kakashi that she would have this down by the end of the week.

"Good! Now, as for you, Naruto... Unfortunately, there's no time to put you through the change in chakra nature training necessary in order to learn the Lightning Clone Jutsu, the Water Clone Jutsu, or the Earth Clone Jutsu. But," Kakashi added before Naruto could begin protesting, "your massive chakra reserves give us with another option."

The silver-haired ninja formed a cross-like seal with the index and middle fingers of both hands. With a puff of smoke, another copy of himself stood beside him. "This is the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's classified as a Forbidden Jutsu because it requires a tremendous amount of chakra in order to be used safely, but I don't think that's going to be a problem for you. It's a solid clone that is able to think and act independently. Furthermore, the clone's memories return to you after it's been dispelled."

"That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, awed. "Much better than the stupid Clone Jutsu."

"Which is why it's a B-rank technique instead of E-rank," Kakashi said, nodding. "Think you can master it?"

"Definitely!" The boy's blue eyes were glowing with excitement at the thought of learning a jutsu most jounin had trouble using.

"Excellent! Now, I want both of you to listen closely as I explain the basics of the two techniques…"

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth and pride as the two children gave him their full, undivided attention. For once, he had done something right.


Author's Notes:

I apologize for the delay between updates. My schedule has been rather hectic lately.

I assure you, I have no plans to abandon either of my stories. They are already plotted all the way to the finale – I simply have to take the time to write the chapters. I hope you'll be patient with me.

Now, on to the notes.

-X-

How does Naruto know so many things he shouldn't: Simple. Kurama told him all that. The Fox told him about his parents, about Minato's students, about the battle between Hashirama and Madara, and several other things.

Having a sympathetic ear instead of rejection resulted in a major change in both Naruto and Kurama's characters over the years. Naruto's confidence is real, not just a mask behind which he hides his insecurities – although he still prefers not to show his pain and loneliness to others. And Kurama is more open about his past and the things he has experienced.

-X-

Kata: Originally, they were teaching and training methods by which successful combat techniques were preserved and passed on.

The basic goal of kata is to preserve and transmit proven techniques and to practice self-defense. By practicing in a repetitive manner the learner develops the ability to execute those techniques and movements in a natural, reflex-like manner. Systematic practice does not mean permanently rigid. The goal is to internalize the movements and techniques of a kata so they can be executed and adapted under different circumstances, without thought or hesitation. A novice's actions will look uneven and difficult, while a master's appear simple and smooth. (Quote from Wikipedia)

-X-

The incident Hinata and Naruto are alluding to: It's Naruto saving her from some bullies. Although, unlike canon, this time Naruto won the fight. In this story, he isn't the dead-last loser who had no-one to teach him; he's one of the best students in his class, thanks to Kurama's help and encouragement.

As to why he helped her: same reason as canon. Hinata was being mistreated, just like him. I plan to elaborate more on that later.

-X-

Hiashi's reaction: There might be a handful of ninja in the Leaf more skilled than Kakashi, and most of them don't have the time (or the inclination) to take on an apprentice. Hiashi knows this very well. This is his way of telling Hinata that he approves of her new mentor.

Hiashi may not be a model parent, but he isn't an evil bastard.

I've read some fics where Hiashi is worse than Tobi, Madara, Black Zetsu, and Kaguya combined which, to be entirely honest, annoy the hell out of me.

Hiashi's character behind the 'Hyuuga clan head' mask is best shown in the scene where he apologizes to Neji and bows to him.

To elaborate on that a bit: The way Hiashi bowed is called 'kowtow'. While frowned upon in the West (it even caused several diplomatic incidents between Western emissaries and the Chinese authorities in the 18th-19th centuries), in East Asian culture, especially Imperial China, kowtowing was the highest sign of reverence. It was widely used to show reverence for one's elders, superiors, and especially the Emperor, as well as for religious and cultural objects of worship. Basically, it means that you resign yourself to be someone's… if not 'slave', then 'obedient servant'.

Hiashi did just that to Neji, a boy who is, for all intents and purposes, the Hyuuga clan head's servant.

In Western terms: what Hiashi did is similar to a king kneeling in front of one of his knights and swearing an oath of fealty to him.

-X-

Word association game: As the name implies, it's a common word game involving an exchange of words that are associated together. It is believed (but not proven) that word association can reveal something of a person's subconscious mind (as it shows what things they associate together). However, most of the game's fun comes from observing the erratic links between words and from wondering how someone else's mind managed to make such an association.

-X-

Naruto's opinion about the people of the Leaf: In case I failed to explain it, Naruto hates most of the people in the Village. They isolated and neglected him, while Kurama was there for him nearly all his life. In his eyes, the Fox isn't the villain and they aren't the victims.

Dark Naruto: In canon, Naruto suppressed his hatred for the villagers so, with a little 'help' from Kurama, it manifested as a different aspect of his personality. Here, he's much more in touch with his anger and hatred for the people of the Leaf.

Just to be clear, though: Naruto is still the hero, not a homicidal maniac, so don't expect any massacres. I think I made some of his goals clear in the Prologue.

-X-

Hinata's Lightning Affinity: In the databooks, Hinata is listed with Fire and Lightning changes in chakra nature, though it doesn't say which one she has an affinity for. I base my choice on the fact that Boruto, her son, has a Wind affinity but was also able to use Raiton and Suiton at the age of twelve.


Thank you for reading! Please, review and share your thoughts.


Edit: 05 December 2016 – Fixed some spelling mistakes.