Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter Five – Shy Girl, Hyuga Hinata
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.
"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking
"Flashbacks"
"Normal"
Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)
Three days later
Naruto currently sat on a bench in Konoha Park with Haruno Sakura sitting to his right and Yamanaka Ino sitting to his left as all three of them just sat back and enjoyed the sunshine. It was another beautiful day in Konoha, though there were a few clouds up in the sky casting shadows down upon the ground's surface. Naruto, Sakura and Ino just sat back listening to the birds twittering away and the bees buzzing about the flowers looking for fresh pollen and nectar for their hives. A cool breeze blew in their faces as they just sat back without a care in the world as the wind blew in their hair. It was definitely a peaceful atmosphere since no one came along the pathways to glare at the trio.
For Naruto, it was a new experience. He was not used to having friends and therefore had no idea how to go about things, but Sakura and Ino had steered him right. He was surprised to learn that Ino had an extensive knowledge of flowers. Well, her family did own a flower shop, but he had been amazed that Ino had actually taken the time to learn about the different types of flowers her family's shop. He had watched as Ino helped Sakura with a flower arranging assignment that their academy sensei, a woman he knew as Suzume who took a girls only class and taught them about kunoichi and helped them prepare for their future lives as kunoichi. It was not a class that he was allowed in, nor did Suzume approve of him. Like everyone else, Suzume seemed to hate him with a passion, though he hardly ever saw her, but whenever he did, it always resulted in her chasing him away for no apparent reason, since he had just been minding his own business, so he always steered clear of her whenever he could.
It turned out that Sakura was completely clueless about flowers. Every time she tried to build a bouquet on her own, the end result was terribly off-putting. Naruto remembered cringing at the sight of Sakura's bouquets. However, with some help from Ino, her bouquets improved dramatically. Naruto listened to Ino as she explained it to Sakura, who seemed to forget everything Ino told her when going off on her own. Apparently, flower arranging was about finding a main flower for the bouquet and then using lesser flowers to highlight the main flowers and compliment them. Naruto had got it right and even built bouquets of his own, one for each of the girls and Ino had been impressed. She had no idea that he had been listening in, but was glad that he had since he showed that he definitely knew how to build a bouquet.
Speaking of Ino, since befriending Naruto, many of her friends, as predicted had deserted her, not that she cared. They had all been taken in by their parents and believed every word that had come out of their mothers and fathers' mouths and the other villagers didn't help matters. Ino was definitely beginning to understand certain aspects of life that she had taken for granted before. The villagers had started giving her the same kind of glares Naruto received; the same type of glare she had seen her mother give him three days ago. She also heard whispers and heard parts of conversations with people called her names such as "demon whore" and she remembered someone saying something along the lines of how Naruto had "corrupted" her. As for her home situation, the relationship between her and her mother had vastly deteriorated, as Shiori had made it quite clear that she refused to acknowledge "demon lovers" and that included her father as well. Ino remembered coming home that night and overhearing the end of a massive argument her parents were having over Naruto.
Three days ago
"I don't want to hear it!" Inoichi shouted at his wife as he frantically paced up and down the living room of the Yamanaka house, which was joined to the flower shop.
"How can you sympathise with that monster?" Shiori asked, clearly outraged that her husband had taken the "demon's" side and allowed their daughter to socialise with "it" as she stood at the doorway of the living room glaring at her husband, "You know what happened to Hiro."
"Of course I do," Inoichi replied with a huff, "Your brother was killed by the Kyuubi no Yoko."
"Then why do you defend it?" Shiori asked, repeating her question as her glare intensified, "That thing still lives. It dwells among us in that disgusting human form. My brother's murderer walks freely while the Hokage and the shinobi community does nothing."
Inoichi sighed. His wife's older brother, Mizumaru Hiro was one of the Kyuubi's many victims. Inoichi remembered him well since they had been the best of friends while in the academy and he had hoped that they would be on the same three-man genin team, though, to his disappointment, he had ended up on the same team as Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Choza, though he did get on well with his teammates and they became the famous InoShikaCho trio. Anyway, it was because of his friendship with Hiro that Inoichi had met Shiori and they had both quickly fallen in love and with the approval of both Hiro and the Mizumaru patriarch, Hiro and Shiori's father, they had gotten married.
However, since the Kyuubi attack, Shiori had changed drastically from the nice, kind and caring woman he had fallen in love with to a rather cold and short-tempered woman that snapped over even the smallest of things. Since Naruto was the container for her brother's killer, she immediately followed everyone else in using him as a substitute and scapegoat. She had been very adamant about Naruto and her desire to see him dead and often participated in many of the beatings and always managed to slip away unnoticed when the ninja and ANBU showed up to break up the crowd and arrest those they managed to catch. It was made worse when Ino had met Sakura when Shiori had befriended Sakura's mother, Fuhei. Fuhei had lost her husband to the Kyuubi and they both shared a mutual hatred of Naruto. In fact, Inoichi figured that his wife spent more time with Fuhei than anyone else whenever she was out. In any case, Inoichi had had enough of his wife's attitude.
"Uzumaki Naruto is not the Kyuubi," Inoichi replied in response to his wife's statement, "It's sealed inside him. Can't you see that?"
"Lies!" Shiori retorted furiously, "That thing is the Kyuubi in human form. If it's not killed, its power will eventually be restored and this village will perish."
"You're wrong," Inoichi replied as he shook his head, "The Kyuubi is sealed inside him, therefore it's a separate entity from him. The Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in the child because he couldn't kill it. It was his dying wish that the boy be made a hero for keeping the monster from destroying our village."
"You lie!" Shiori protested, raising her voice as she shot her husband a disgusted look, "The Yondaime would never do that. He would never want us to look up to that thing as a hero as if it were a normal child and if he did… well I guess he was planning on having its power released at a later date to continue its rampage and therefore, perhaps the Yondaime isn't the hero we all believed him to be."
Inoichi shot his wife a disgusted look; clearly outraged at her level of stubbornness. Some people were so close-minded that they'd come up with just about anything to hang onto their hatred, even going as far as to turn against the Yondaime if it meant hanging onto their hatred of Naruto and claiming that the Yondaime himself was perhaps behind the attack and had sealed the Kyuubi and hoped that it would be released at a later date to finish what it had started. A load of crap, Inoichi knew, but that was just how deep some of the villagers' hatred ran and it disgusted him to no end. He was even more disgusted that his wife was one of those people.
"You know that that's not true," Inoichi said in response to Shiori statement, "The Yondaime loved this village and would do just about anything to protect it, even if it cost him his life."
"Of course," Shiori agreed with a nod, "That's why he sealed the Kyuubi in that human form. So we could finish what he started. So why do you defend it and allow our daughter to socialise with it?"
"I already told you; he's not the Kyuubi itself," Inoichi said, clearly annoyed at his wife's stubborn attitude as he let out a groan of frustration, "You and the rest of this village refuse to see it. I understand that the Kyuubi killed a lot of people and that you're all angry, but taking it out on an innocent child who's just as much a victim of the Kyuubi's attack as the rest of you isn't going to solve anything."
Shiori remained silent for a moment as she looked at her husband with a stunned look of betrayal on her face. From her facial expression, it was as if she discovered that someone had betrayed her. She then gave her husband a hard look.
"Is that how you feel?" she asked him, her voice laced with rage and fury, "Is that truly how you feel… that we're the ones at fault?"
"All I'm saying is that you're taking your anger out on an innocent boy," Inoichi replied while unbeknownst to him, Ino had just entered the hallway after spending the day with Naruto, "What you're doing won't help anyone. Think of the example we're setting for our children. We're teaching them how to hate someone. Supposing they encounter a foreigner, huh? What then? If we're teaching them how to hate one of our own, then they may assume that it's okay to hate complete strangers who mean no harm to anyone."
"Outsiders are trash!" Shiori shouted, startling both Ino and Inoichi, causing them to jump back, "Konohagakure no Sato is the greatest of the five Great Shinobi Nations and everyone else is of little consequence."
Both father and daughter stared at this woman shocked and stunned beyond belief at her statement. Ino couldn't believe that this woman… no, this monster was her mother where as Inoichi couldn't believe that this was the same woman he had fallen in love with all those years ago. Her close-minded stubbornness was one thing, but her belief that outsiders didn't matter because Konoha was the strongest of the five main hidden villages was another. Didn't she realise that Konoha was as strong as it was partially due to outside influences. Some of those influences were essential to Konoha's economy and without them; the village would no doubt be brought down to its knees.
"You're wrong about that," Inoichi said with a hard stare, "Or are you just so determined to hang onto your hatred of Naruto that you'll say just about anything to do so? Have you forgotten that dear Fuhei-san is herself, an outsider?"
Shiori was at a loss for words to explain herself. However, she eventually regained her composure as anger flooded her senses as she shot both her husband and daughter hateful a nasty hateful glare.
"Whatever, I don't have to listen to this delusional nonsense," she said, practically spitting at both her husband and daughter, her voice dripping with pure venom, "Fuhei-chan's origins are not being discussed here and to be perfectly honest, I could care less where she came from. She's my friend and always will be. At least she agrees with me about that repulsive thing. I may not agree with how she's decided to handle her daughter's association with "it", but Sakura's not my daughter and it's not my place to force Sakura into anything. If Fuhei-chan believes that her daughter will eventually come around, then let her. As for me… I refuse to live under the same roof as "demon lovers"."
Both Inoichi and Ino gasped, with Ino's gasp alerting her father to her presence, causing him to sin his head round as far as it would go.
"Musume-chan," he said in alarm as a look of fear flooded his face, "How long have you been there?"
"Just before she said that outsiders were trash," Ino said as she shot her mother a nasty look just as Inoichi let out a sigh of relief that she never heard anything about the Kyuubi or its connection to Naruto, "Which might I say, you're wrong about, just as you're wrong about how, as your child that I'm supposed to go along with whatever you want and not ask questions like I'm some kind of mindless machine and how I'm not supposed to think for myself."
"I never said…" Shiori started to say, before she realised that their was no point in arguing since she was too furious and outraged at the moment to think straight and she sent her daughter and husband a repulsive glare, "You know what…"
She paused as she raised her hands in front of her to chest level, crisscrossing them.
"Forget it," she went on, uncrossing her hands and flew them out to the sides in a quick fashion as if to say, "I'm through with everything. I don't have to listen to you ungrateful people who believe in fending for demons."
She then directed her look solely on her husband as her glare intensified.
"Inoichi, I want a divorce," she blurted out simply as she turned to glare at her daughter, "And Ino, if you want to hang out with that thing; fine. See if I care. Just so you know though, from this point forward, you are only my daughter by blood and nothing more. I no longer consider you my daughter, though the fact remains that I brought you into the world."
Ino was shocked and stunned for a moment, but she eventually found her voice and she shot her mother a hateful glare.
"Yeah, well I don't want such a heartless bitch as a mother anyway," she said, spitting venom at the woman that she had once revered as her mother, "Naruto-kun's not the monster; you are; you and the rest of those disgusting people."
Shiori's eyes widened at Ino's backlash as she was clearly hurt by her daughter's harsh statement. However, before she could respond, she noticed Inoichi give her a disappointed and defeated look, full of hurt, sorrow, pity and anger; anger over her close-minded state and the lengths she was willing to go just to hang onto her hatred of Naruto.
"You know Shiori-san, I pity you, I really do," he said as he looked down at Ino with an apologetic look in his eyes as he knew how upsetting his next statement would be for her, "If you want a divorce, then fine. Your wish is my command. You're no longer the woman I fell in love with all those years ago. Just as Ino said, you've become every bit a heartless monster as the one you accuse Naruto of being. I hope you find yourself again because I definitely wouldn't want to think of the consequences if you don't."
Present.
Ino cringed as she remembered that. Her mother had moved out and that was that. It had been upsetting to say the least that her mother was so close-minded that she would say just about anything to hold onto her beliefs. Ino didn't want a mother like that and in a way, she was glad that her mother left because she didn't think she could've tolerated her mother hating Naruto; not when it was clear that she was in the wrong. Ino knew that Naruto was no monster. Since befriending him, she had gotten to know him quite well. It was upsetting that her mother and father divorced and her mother moved out and since it had been over Naruto, had the circumstances been different, Ino would have blamed him for it and would have betrayed him, but since she knew that Naruto was misunderstood and in need of all the friends he could get, she found that she just couldn't put him at fault. The fault lay with the villagers and not him and besides; she may have lost most of her old friends, but at least she still had Sakura, her best friend and that was good enough for her.
"Even though I lost most of my friends, at least I still have you Sakura-chan, and Naruto-kun to," she thought with a content smile on her face, "Not to worry Naruto-kun; we'll be your friends if no one will. You won't have to worry about being alone again."
Six-year-old Hyuga Hinata sat on a bench at the other side of the park, bringing knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms round her legs. Depression had already set in; in fact depression had set in years ago. She was heiress to the powerful Hyuga Clan, one of the oldest and most ancient clans in the village whose power was only second to that of the Uchiha Clan. The Hyuga Clan was well known for their Byakugan dojutsu, their Kekkei Genkai and their Jyuken taijutsu style, which was most effective when used by someone with the Byakugan. The Byakugan allowed those who possessed it a 360-degree field of vision as well as see through objects and also give the person telescopic vision as well as a degree of microscopic vision. Hinata knew that there were those so skilled in the use of their Byakugan that they could notice even the smallest of bugs in the corner of a room from the corner of their eye. However, what many of the Hyuga Clan used the Byakugan for was to see the keirakurei of their opponents and attack their tenketsu in order to disrupt their flow of chakra, which was where the Jyuken came in.
The Jyuken was a taijutsu style that incorporated the use of palm strikes that basically aimed to damage the enemy's keirakurei and hampering their ability to use chakra. In order to accomplish this, the Jyuken user would inject a small amount of their own chakra into the opponent's keirakurei and use it to decrease or increase the flow of chakra depending on how they hit their opponent and since the keirakurei was so closely tied with the body's internal organs, the Jyuken can also be used to attack the enemy's internal organs. Even the gentlest of touches could prove devastating and cause major damage if not death and the fact that the keirakurei was invisible to normal eyes and that the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan could make it visible meant that the Hyuga Clan was one of the deadliest and most feared clans in the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
However, none of that mattered to Hinata. The Hyuga Clan was well known for its strict by-the-book no-nonsense policies and the emotionless expressions on their faces whenever they were seen in public. Her father, Hiashi was known for his cold, hard and almost frightening look he wore mostly all the time. Hiashi was a very intimidating man, Hinata knew and he was so intimidating that even the other Hyugas were mostly all a bit wary of him. He was very strict and tolerated nothing short of absolute and complete success, which of course Hinata was lacking.
Hinata was the clan's black sheep. Unlike many of the others, she had a kind and caring attitude towards other, which set her at odds with the rest of the clan who believed that emotions were a sign of weakness. During her sparring sessions, Hinata would always hold back against her partner, which allowed him or her to gain the upper hand and defeat her, which her father and the Hyuga Council did not approve of. Hinata remembered how she had been trained from the very first day she learned how to walk and how her kindness and concern for her sparring partners' well being lead to constantly being berated by her father and the Hyuga Council. Her father was even more frightening when he was angry and at times, from the look on his face, she had believed that he was going to kill her at times. It wasn't that Hinata couldn't defeat her partners, it was because she had feared overdoing it and causing them serious harm and when she told the council this, they had just waved it off, making it clear that they didn't care about the well being of their fellow clansmen, labelling them as expendable pawns whose only purpose was to serve and die for the benefit of the Main Household. Anyway, after years of suffering constant verbal lashings due to the fact that she lost and as heiress to the clan, she wasn't supposed to lose and those berating her calling her weak and unfit, Hinata started believing it to be true and it affected her performance, causing her skills to dwindle and it was so bad that Hinata suffered from an inferiority complex, believing that she was not only the weakest in her clan, but the weakest in the entire village. Her performance in the academy classes weren't all that good, leading to more and more verbal abuse at home.
"Why am I so weak?" she thought to herself, looking up at the sky as if it alone could provide the answers she sought.
She remembered pouring her heart and soul into her training at the academy, training till her hands were bleeding and bruised, but whenever she had to put that training to the test, she would always freeze up at the last possible moment as the voice of her father and the Hyuga Council members seemed to echo in her head with their verbal assaults as if they were taunting her. No matter how hard she trained or tried to block the voices from her head, they would always find their way into her head and berate her for her weakness and it caused her to go into important tests expecting to fail no matter how hard she tried and it hampered her performance.
Unfortunately, her position as heiress to the clan only served to make things worse, since she was expected to excel at everything and rise above her emotions. There was now talk of replacing her as heiress with her little sister, Hanabi, who was only one-year-old and her father, being the cold strict person that he was showing signs of agreeing with the Hyuga Council. Hinata didn't like it one bit. As much as she wanted to stand up for herself and prove everyone wrong about their opinions of her, the voices of those who had berated her continued to haunt her thoughts and always seemed to get in the way of her making any real progress.
However, before she could dwell on her life any further, a shadow suddenly loomed over her, well the shadows of three people to be exact.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" a girl's voice said in a cruel, boastful tone, "Some little Hyuga who thinks just because they're from a big shot clan that they can walk wherever they please like they own the place."
Hinata looked up and saw three girls standing over her with big arrogant grins on their faces as they stood with their arms folding and from the looks of their postures, they were trying to make themselves look tough; especially the purple haired girl in the middle.
"You must feel that you're some high and mighty princess coming from a noble clan," the purple haired girl said and Hinata knew it was her who had spoken before, "Must think its okay to get everything you want while us lesser folk get absolutely squat no matter how hard we work while you don't have to lift a finger."
The two other girls nodded in agreement as they both looked at their apparent leader, which seemed to cause her grin to widen.
Hinata cringed at the girl's tone. It was clear that whoever this girl was, she was out to cause trouble for her and she didn't want any part in it. Hyuga's were easily identifiable from their pure white pupilless eyes, so it was no surprise that these girls knew what clan she came from.
"Leave me alone," Hinata said meekly in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "I haven't done anything to you."
"Huh?" the purple haired girl said in mock wonder as she placed her hand to the side of her ear in a gesture that suggested that she was trying to amplify her own hearing, "I'm sorry, what was that? Speak up. I can't hear you."
"I think she wants us to leave her alone Ami," the girl to the right said in a tone of mock concern.
"Yeah," the girl to the left said in the same kind of tone as her friend, "I think I heard her say that she's done nothing to us."
Ami just looked down at Hinata with a cruel smirk on her face. Ever since being punched in the face by Naruto six days ago when he came to Sakura's rescue, she had been in a sour mood. Never before had she been so humiliated. A boy actually had the nerve to punch her and not just any boy; the most hated boy in the village had actually gotten his nose in something that was clearly not his business and totally ruined her day. If that wasn't bad enough, word had spread of what happened and Ami found her popularity dwindle somewhat. Many of those she had used to bolster her image had been afraid of Naruto due to them listening to what their parents had said and since Ami had provoked him, many of Ami's so-called friends feared that Naruto would come after them next due to their association with Ami and had distanced themselves from her; something that had infuriated Ami to no end. Naruto had damaged her reputation and even more infuriating still; she had discovered that Ino had befriended him as well, though the only upside to that was that Ino had lost everything she ever had. Ami smirked when she heard that Ino's mother had even divorced her father because of Naruto and in her mind, Ino had been brought down to her proper place. Unfortunately Ami's triumph was short-lived as she learned that Ino didn't care about that and along with Sakura, they both became Naruto's friends and spent their time with him. Even more infuriating still was that since befriending Naruto, Sakura seemed to grow more and more confident and had shocked her when she stood up to her all by herself. Infuriated that her main target was no longer the weak needy little girl she once was, Ami decided to, like most bullies do when their main target gains some courage, go off and find a new target to take their negativities out on and unfortunately for Hinata, Ami had chosen her as her new target. The reason being, though Ami didn't know Hinata all that well, she had seen her at the academy a few times and from what she had seen of her, Hinata was an even more easier target than Sakura had been when she had decided to start picking on her and the fact that Hinata's eyes were pure white with no pupils, making her look blind gave Ami the perfect excuse to use her as her new punching bag.
"Is that so?" Ami said in a tone of mock surprise before shooting her a cruel boastful look, "You want us to leave you alone, is that it?"
Hinata just nodded, knowing full well that they had no intentions of complying with her wishes. It made her feel vulnerable and even more exposed than she already felt. She found herself wishing that she could find a corner somewhere where she could just curl up and die or at the very least, that those cruel sadistic girls would just disappear.
"Ain't gonna happen you little pupilless freak," Ami said as her face became flooded with anger, "I can't stand little freaks like you that hail from rich and powerful clans that believe they own the world and that they can just walk all over everyone else. I especially can't stand that disgusting Hyuga Clan with their disgusting eyes. It's sickening for such eyes to exist. They're a bunch of freaks, the whole lot of them, including you."
If it had been any other Hyuga that Ami had insulted, she would have been dead. Making fun or insulting a Hyuga's eyes was one of the worst crimes one could commit. The Hyuga Clan took pride in their eyes and to have someone talk about their eyes in such a disgraceful manner was insulting. Hinata knew that if it had been her cousin, Neji that Ami was talking to, she'd probably be dead the moment she stopped talking. No one insulted the eyes of the Hyuga Clan and lived to tell about it. Just by insulting her eyes, Hinata knew that by Hyuga Clan law, Ami's life was already forfeit and the Hyuga Council didn't care much for the person's age. If they discovered someone had insulted their eyes, they'd have that person assassinated regardless of whether they were an adult or a child. Fortunately for Ami, she had encountered the clan's black sheep. Either she didn't know the Hyuga Clan's laws or she was just stupid and confident that word wouldn't reach the ears of the reach of the clan. Hinata definitely wouldn't tell anyone about Ami's insults. Se didn't like that law and no matter what, she didn't want to be responsible for anyone's death just because they were expressing their opinions. Everyone had their right to their own views and beliefs, Hinata knew. However, sometimes it was wise for people to keep their own opinions and beliefs to themselves. Unfortunately, the Hyuga Council didn't see things that way. If someone was expressing anti-Hyuga views, their reaction was to have that person silenced just to help bolster their pride. Hinata didn't want to be responsible for Ami's death, even though she felt that Ami deserved it.
"What's the matter?" Ami went on as her expression returned to the same cruel sadistic one as before, "Cat got your tongue pupilless freak?"
"D-d-don't call me t-t-that," Hinata stuttered as she tried to muster up the courage to stand up to this girl who dared insult her and she stood up from the bench in an attempt to confront Ami, "I-I-I've d-d-d-done nothing t-to you, now p-p-p-please l-l-leave me a-a-alone."
Ami just snorted and slammed her hand into Hinata's shoulder, causing her to fall back down on the bench and the little courage that Hinata had managed to gather vanished quickly as the voices started tormenting her again.
"Weak, you're too weak," the voice of her father came, "You'll never amount to anything, so don't even bother trying. You're a lost cause."
"You shouldn't even try," the cold harsh voice of her cousin, Neji came as she almost pictured him staring at her with nothing but pure venom and hatred in his eyes, "This is your fate. You may be part of the Main Household, but you're destined for failure."
Hinata cringed as those two and other voices continued to assault her thoughts, taunting her, sapping away her confidence and self-esteem and leaving her nothing more than a frightened little girl at the mercy of three cruel girls who seemed to be out to ruin her day for no other reason than because she was a Hyuga.
"What did you do to us?" Ami said in a cruel boastful tone of mock curiosity before her face twisted into an angry expression; the same one she had when Sakura asked her a similar question, "You were born into this village and you breathe the same air that I breathe. People like you disgust me because you're nothing more than freaks and I absolutely detest freaks."
Ami glared down at the trembling heiress as a smirk crept onto her lips. She enjoyed the frightened look on the poor girl's face. There was something about making others feel miserable that Ami found exciting. She found that she liked bullying others and making their lives miserable. It made her feel good about herself and she used that feeling to boast her image. It made her feel powerful and in control and it was that feeling she enjoyed most of all. She believed she could do anything and get away with it. Nothing was beyond her and she always got what she wanted.
Unfortunately, since that incident six days ago, Ami's little fantasy had come under threat. Many of her so-called friends had distanced themselves from her due to her confrontation with Naruto for fear of becoming his next targets and much of the power Ami believed she had had diminished and it left Ami feeling something she had never felt before. She didn't know how to describe this new feeling that had come over her, but it infuriated her the more she thought about it. The reality of it was harsh and Ami, being the type of person she was, could not take the fact that things were not going her way anymore and so, she had decided to select Hinata as her new target, believing that if she targeted her, then she'd get everything she lost back and she also believed that people would forget about her confrontation with Naruto and things would get back to "normal".
"Soon everything will be back to the way they were," she thought to herself arrogantly, "And then I'll make that whisker-faced freak pay for humiliating me, then I'll deal with you Sakura."
Meanwhile, back on the other side of the park, Naruto, Sakura and Ino had decided to get up and go for a walk round the park. Sakura and Ino walked on either side of him as he took the middle with a peaceful look on his face for a change. For the first time in his life, he could honestly say that he felt happy and content. Never before had he felt like this and he had to admit that it was strange. He was so used to people glaring at him, hurling insults at her and running from lynch mobs out for his blood and receiving their beatings. Never before had anyone befriended him for so long. In the past whenever the children befriended him, it wouldn't take long before they abandoned him due to their parents finding out. Sometimes whenever he befriended someone, their first meeting would be okay, but once they went their separate ways and they met up again, the child would either tell him about what his or her parents had told them about him or would just regard him with the same cold glares as the adults did. Of course, now he had become so used to it that he didn't act as if it bothered him. Now he would just outwardly give an uncaring shrug and move on like it was nothing, but inwardly, those acts of abandonment tore him apart and quite often whenever he was alone, he would curl up and cry till he fell asleep.
Now however, things were looking up. Now he had not one, but two people he could call his friends. Sure, they were both girls and at the ages they were at just now, many children believed that the opposite gender was gross, but in Naruto's case. He had been so desperate for a friend that he did not care for the gender of the two people he had befriended and likewise, Sakura and Ino had been so touched by him and had been shocked at his cruel treatment and the pain and loneliness he suffered that they didn't care for the fact he was a boy. Of course, it meant that they both were targets of the villagers' hatred as well just for socialising with him and Naruto found himself upset when he heard that Ino's mother had divorced her father and moved out, though he was glad to hear that Ino's father didn't regard him the same as everyone else in the village. Ino had lost her mother and most of her friends because of him, but Ino had assured him that it didn't really matter and that she didn't want to see her mother again for as long as she lived due to her own self-centred views on life. She knew that things were going to be tough from now on, but she was confident that with Naruto and Sakura by her side, she could brave it all and go on to become a valuable asset to the village and help Naruto prove everyone wrong about whatever it was they hated him for.
"Huh, hey is that Ami?" Sakura said, bringing Ino and Naruto both out of their thoughts as she pointed at a familiar purple haired girl and her two cronies who seemed to be tormenting someone who was cowering in fear and trying to back away from the three cruel girls, but the backboard of the bench she was currently sitting on prevented any chance of escape.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he recognised Ami from six days ago when he had saved Sakura from her and he also recognised the girl Ami and her lackeys were tormenting.
"Oh my, that is Ami," Ino said as she surveyed the scene; though she didn't recognise Ami's victim, she could easily identify the girl as a Hyuga from the white pupilless eyes she had.
She also had dark bluish hair and wore, a pair of dark blue sandals, blue trousers and a heavy light brown fur coat as if it was cold. However, it was fairly warm and Ino didn't understand why she was wearing that coat. Wasn't she sweltering in it? Of course, she was sweating at the moment, but it seemed to be more out of fear at what Ami and her two lackeys were going to do to her.
"What's she doing bugging Hinata?" Naruto asked no one in particular, glaring at Ami as he was reminded of how he had come across her bullying Sakura.
"You know her Naruto-kun?" Ino asked, turning to face him with a look of surprise on her face.
"We've never actually spoken face to face before," Naruto said, clarifying that fact as he continued to glare at Ami; not turning to look at Ino or Sakura, "However, I've seen her around. She's kind and caring from what I've seen, though she's shy. She never did anything to anyone."
"Neither did I," Sakura spoke up as she joined Naruto in glaring at her worst enemy, "But that didn't stop Ami from picking on me and it seems that she's decided to find herself someone else to pick on since the last time we met, I pretty much put her in her place."
Naruto growled as his glare intensified. Seemed this girl didn't learn her lesson. He just couldn't understand how some people got pleasure out of making other people's lives a misery. They seemed to just do it for no reason at all just so they could feel good about themselves. Whenever Naruto was the victim of the villagers' hatred, he felt that they were like that; making his life a living hell just to feel good about themselves, though he knew it probably ran much deeper than that. However, Ami seemed to victimise others just for the sheer hell of it. He couldn't understand why. What purpose did it serve? Didn't he already deal with her?
Well, regardless of those questions, Naruto knew that Hinata needed help and he was not going to just sit back and watch as Ami and her cronies did what they wanted to her. Apparently, Sakura and Ino had the same idea, as they to were glaring at Ami. Ami obviously hadn't learned her lesson and since she couldn't target Sakura anymore, it seemed that she had selected a new target and that was something that infuriated Naruto more than anything. It only served to remind him of his own situation and the situation that Sakura and Ino now faced because of their association with him.
"I say we put a stop to this," Naruto said as he turned his head to face both Sakura and Ino, who nodded in agreement.
True, they may not know Hinata at all, but they just couldn't stand by and watch her being abused by their most hated enemy. For Sakura, it was a reminder of how Ami used to pick on her because of her huge forehead and it seemed as if Ami was targeting Hinata because of her eyes; something like her forehead; Hinata had no control over. For Ino however, it was like seeing Sakura for the first time all over again. She could tell that Hinata was scared and too timid to fight back, just like Sakura had been. Hinata looked like a cornered mouse to her and like with Sakura, Ino saw Hinata as someone who was in dire need of help in building up her confidence. Perhaps she could even be a new friend for Naruto since Ino knew that the more friends Naruto had the better since he needed all the friends he could get and apparently, Sakura had similar thoughts running through her head.
"Okay Naruto-kun, let's put a stop to this," Sakura said and that seemed to act as a signal as all three of them advanced on the three unsuspecting bullies who continued to torment their poor victim, unaware of the three interlopers that had every intention of spoiling their fun.
"Ready to pay for being the freak that you are?" Ami mockingly asked with a cruel smile framing her face as she cracked her knuckles, ready to inflict a world of pain on the poor Hyuga heiress.
Hinata tried to shrink further into the bench as the three sadistic girls advanced on her, ready to unload a world of pain and she felt defeated and alone. No one was here to save her and even if they were, Hinata wouldn't be surprised if they just decided to sit back and watch, allowing Ami and her accomplices beat her up because she knew that the majority if not all of the Hyuga Clan viewed her as a disgrace and not worth anything now that they had Hanabi, whom they seemed to view as her replacement as clan heiress. She was pathetic, she was useless, she was not worth saving and she was better off dead. She had never wanted to just curl up and die as badly as she did right now, mentally cursing herself for her own failure.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" a voice came, just as Ami balled up her fist and prepared to throw the first punch, causing her to stop.
Hinata also looked up after hearing the voice with a look of confusion as she turned her head in the direction of the voice and gasped as she saw who it was.
"N-N-Naruto-kun," she stuttered with disbelief evident in her voice.
Naruto, the person she admired was here to save her. It had to be a dream. There was no way someone like Naruto would waste his time on someone like her. Why would someone as confident and as fearless as Naruto stick his neck out for her? They never even spoke directly to one another before.
Hinata was another person who didn't share the villagers' hatred like most of the other children did. In fact, she actually admired him. He was strong, confident, never willing to give up no matter what where as she was weak, pathetic and always caved in whenever faced with any real tests… all things considered, Naruto was her polar opposite. It was like he was the physical manifestation of all the things she wanted to be. However, she had always been too shy to talk to him and would always move away whenever he was near her; not because she hated him, it was because she was afraid to speak with him since she didn't know what to say to him and whenever distancing herself from him wasn't possible, her brain seemed to have developed a brilliant… or bothersome (whatever way you look at it) defence mechanism in causing her to faint in case he spoke to her. It didn't stop her from admiring him and someday she hoped that she could find something to say to him so that she could approach him without the fear of passing out and hopefully he'd help her build her confidence up. She dreamed of someday being like Naruto.
Of course, she knew of his horrible and oppressive treatment at the hands of the villagers and that upset her greatly. She couldn't understand why the villagers regarded him with such hatred and scorn. What did he do to deserve such awful treatment? How could the villagers be so cruel as to want to kill a child? The one thing that flooded Hinata's heart with anger and hatred was the villagers' treatment of Naruto. From what she knew, Naruto had done nothing wrong… well he did pull an awful lot of pranks, but that wasn't a good reason for wanting him dead. Hinata remembered that she had happened to come across some of Naruto's beatings in the past and from what she saw, the villagers were out to kill him. However, the village's shinobi always intervened and some of the culprits were arrested. Hinata just couldn't understand it. None of Naruto's pranks in the past had been harmful or mean-spirited. She was smart enough to know that his pranks were undoubtably a form of revenge against the villagers for their mistreatment of him. However, none of his victims had been seriously hurt or killed because of his pranks and those that were injured in some way were okay again within a few days. Naruto's pranks left no permanent damage to the village or anyone's possessions. His pranks alone didn't merit such awful treatment. There had to be something else. Something deeper that she wasn't aware of. However, Naruto somehow managed to endure and came back with a smile. It was one of the reasons Hinata admired him. However, she couldn't help but wonder how he could endure such treatment and not develop a hatred for the village. If it were her, she knew that she'd probably either kill herself or would've run away a long time ago. How Naruto was able to take it without resorting to suicide or running away or even planning revenge on the villagers was beyond her. Nevertheless, she admired him for it.
When it came to why the villagers hated Naruto, she had asked her father about it, but he had just changed the subject and the rest of the clan seemed to be neutral in the whole Naruto affair. Unlike the other children, she was never told not to associate herself with Naruto by her father or the Hyuga Council. The other children obeyed their parents blindly, but Hinata wasn't given the same message. The Hyuga Council and her father just turned a blind eye to Naruto like he didn't matter to them, but then again that was just typical Hyuga arrogance. If it didn't affect their clan then it was none of their concern. However, she suspected that some of the Hyuga Clan did share the villagers' opinion of Naruto and only kept quiet about it in the hope that she would befriend him and it would either give them the perfect excuse to get rid of her or they were counting on the delusion that she heard many parents tell their children that hanging around with Naruto would get them killed would become a reality for her. In any case, the Hyuga Clan regarded Naruto as a matter beneath their notice since he hadn't caused trouble for them before and so long as he left them alone, they were more than happy to leave him alone.
Back to reality, Hinata just stared in wonder and disbelief as she saw Naruto with two girls; one on either side of him glaring down her three tormenters. She still couldn't believe that Naruto would stick his neck out for her. Didn't he realise that she wasn't worth it? In her mind, anyone saving her were just wasting their time. She just wasn't worth it.
"You," Ami said, her voice dripping with hatred and venom as she whipped her head round in Naruto's direction and glared him, Sakura and Ino down.
Ami was absolutely seething as she glared at all three interlopers who dared spoil her "fun". She couldn't believe it. Once again Naruto had come to ruin her day just like he did six days ago. Was this a new fetish of his? Was he now out to ruin her life? In Ami's mind, the answer was yes. The fact he was here to stop her from antagonising her newly chosen target was testament of that and the fact that her former target and her best friend were there providing backup this time round only infuriated her even more.
"It's not enough that made Sakura-chan's life a living hell," Ino said in clear disgust, shooting the purple haired girl a nasty glare, "You now have the gall to go and bully someone else since Sakura's no longer intimidated by you."
"People like you make me sick Ami," Sakura said with a nasty sneer, "Can't pick on me anymore, so you go after someone else… You're just a spoiled little troll that can't take no for an answer."
"You seriously don't know when to quit, do you?" Naruto said, folding his arms across his chest as he intensified his glare, "I thought that you would've learned your lesson before, but it seems that you haven't. Still picking on people because of things they have no control over. You make me sick."
"The feelings mutual," Ami barked back as her fists tightened, "It seems that you freaks look out for one another; "Freaks United", that's what you all are; a whisker faced freak, a pupilless freak, a big-headed freak and a "I'm so popular" freak. Well guess what Ino; you've got nothing left. I heard that since being friends with Whisker-face, everyone's left and abandoned you. Heck, even your mom's cleared off."
"I still have Naruto-ken and Sakura-chan," Ino countered with an uncaring look on her face, which only served to infuriate Ami further, "If my former friends don't like me because of Naruto-kun, so be it. They know nothing and neither does my mom… or maybe she does but just doesn't care."
Ino paused as she let out a growl as she remembered her mother's stubborn attitude and delusional views on life. She definitely wouldn't put it past her mother to know the truth and hate Naruto anyway. From what she had seen of her mother since befriending Naruto, that possibility was pretty easy to believe.
"In any case, I could care less about that monster," she went on, shaking her head to dismiss the thoughts of her mother, "Unless she comes to her senses, I want nothing to do with her."
Ami just growled. The ammunition she thought she had against Ino turned out to be useless. She shot the three friends a hateful glare of rage. How dare they? How dare they spoil her fun? She was better than they were. The fact that Ino was unfazed by the loss of her popularity as well as her mother's divorce only served to add fuel to the fire. She wanted to make them suffer; Naruto for interfering with her fun, Sakura because of her big forehead, Hinata because of her eyes and Ino because she had gotten in the way of her having "fun" with Sakura in the past.
"Anyway, we're not going to let you hurt Hinata-chan," Naruto said, bringing everyone back to the topic at hand, causing Hinata to stare at him with a confused look on her face since her had addressed her with the chan suffix.
"Hinata-chan," Ami said in a mocking tone as she seemed to calm down somewhat as she looked between Naruto and Hinata, "Do you always use that suffix when addressing girls or is it that you already know her? I wouldn't be surprised. You're both freaks after all."
"We may not know Hinata-chan all that well," Naruto said with a shake of his head, "But we won't allow you and your cronies make her life a living hell. I thought that you'd learn your lesson before when I saved Sakura-chan, but apparently, you just don't know when to stop."
"Yeah," Sakura said, nodding in agreement with Naruto, "Since you can't pick on me anymore, you decide to pick on someone else just to make yourself feel big."
"You're nothing but a scared little coward," Ino announced, putting in her two cents, "Only cowards do what you do because they can't accept that they're just like everyone else; they feel that they should be better than everyone else. That sums you up perfectly Ami."
Ami's rage immediately returned and… glaring at Naruto whom she blamed for her social life going downhill, she let out a loud hate-filled scream and charged him, ready to slam her fist in his face, but Naruto easily sidestepped her when she got close to her and stuck out his foot in her path causing her to trip and stumble forwards onward the pathway. Unfortunately at that very moment, a man was walking past carrying a cartload of manure to the Yamanaka Flower Shop that Inoichi had ordered to help some of the plants grow. Unfortunately, Ami stumbled right onto the cart and the added weight was just enough to tip the cart downwards causing the manure to fall right on top of Ami.
"Huh?" the man carrying the cart said, noticing that something was wrong and turned to see the manure he had been hauling on the ground and a blob that seemed to rise up revealing a very dirty, smelly and ticked off six-year-old purple haired girl.
"I ain't cleanin' that up," the man said as he held up his hands and backed away from the scene, obviously not wanting to get involved.
Ami immediately spun round and glared at Naruto with pure hatred burning in her eyes as she clenched her fists and gritting her teeth, seething with pure rage. Once again, Naruto had humiliated her horribly. Bits of manure stuck to her cloths, skin and hair, making it look as if she had been rolling around in a mud puddle and the smell that emitted from her… it was rather off putting.
"Eew, you stink!" Ami's two lackeys shrieked in unison as their hands flew up to their noses and they both ran away, abandoning their leader for a second time.
"You know, maybe we shouldn't hang around with her anymore," the girl out in front said, looking back at her friend, "It seems that Ami's now causing nothing but trouble."
Her friend just nodded in agreement, though she remained silent and they both continued to run out of the park, determined to get as far away from Ami as they possibly could as they decided that hanging around with Ami just wasn't worth it anymore.
Ami just watched them go with a look of pure and absolute shock on her face. Just like everyone else, her two most loyal companions had abandoned her. She had overheard what they were talking about and it infuriated her to no end. The two girls whom she had assumed would remain loyal to her through thick and thin, no matter what happened had followed the path of her so-called friends. She whipped her head back round to face Naruto, whom in her mind was responsible for it, giving him one of the nastiest ice-cold glares that she could muster.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" she screamed as she moved to lunge at Naruto, but Ino walked in front of Naruto and shook her head.
"My, my Ami, your head really is empty," she said with a hopeless sigh, "You brought that on yourself and as for targeting a Hyuga… I really hope for your sake that you didn't insult her eyes."
This little bit of information seemed to get through to Ami and aroused her curiosity as she calmed down somewhat, but from the look in her eyes, her rage hadn't vanished and even the slightest of things could set her off again.
"Why?" she said in a boastful tone, putting her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest as if she try and look important, "Just look at them, they make her look blind. Like I said, she's a freak just like Whisker-face and Billboard Brow."
She then turned to face Hinata, who had been watching the situation with an astonished look on her face, unsure what to make of it. Upon noticing Ami's gaze, she let out a small eep and backed up onto the bench, curling into a ball.
"Isn't that right White Eyes?" Ami said, continuing her talk from where she left off, "Your eyes make you a freak of nature just like those other two?"
She motioned her head towards Naruto and Sakura, but Hinata had shut her eyes and was shaking her head and muttered to herself, though the words were so quiet they were incoherent.
Ino just glared at Ami, knowing that she was the cause of Hinata's reaction. However, she maintained her composure and decided to finish what she had started.
"You just made a big mistake Ami," she went on with an evil smirk etched on her face, "For you see, the Hyuga Clan take great pride in their eyes and if one was ever to become Hokage… well let's just say, if I were you, I'd fake my own death and flee the village if I wanted to remain alive."
Hinata looked up from her position at hearing Ino's statement, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"What do you mean?" Ami growled in frustration, "Get to the point already. I don't have all day."
"What I mean is that the Hyugas consider an insult on their eyes as a capital offence and everyone knows that the clans all have their own set of individual laws. By insulting Hinata's eyes, your life is forfeit by Hyuga law and these guys don't care about the gender or age of the person that insulted them. If they catch you, you'll be strapped to a table, cut open while you're still alive and your insides will be ripped out and then they'll wave whatever they pull out in your face while you lie dying."
Hinata, Naruto and Sakura's eyes all widened at that last part. Hinata knew that the last part was just made up, since being a Hyuga herself she knew exactly how the clan conducted their executions. Basically they just sent someone out to assassinate the person and make their death seem like a tragic accident or the person would just mysteriously disappear never to be seen or heard from again. However, Naruto and Sakura didn't know that and were wondering how Ino knew of the Hyuga execution methods. Apparently Ami was not only clueless about the Hyuga Clan's execution methods, but had also been clueless about the Hyuga Clan's laws; not that it was mandatory for the village to know the laws of the individual clans, it was just that the Hyugas had chosen to make their laws public knowledge, possibly as a means to flaunt their power and intimidate people in order to make anyone planning on opposing them think twice before doing so. In short, the Hyuga Clan was not a clan to be trifled with. Even the Uchiha Clan; the only clan to rival the Hyugas in power were a bit intimidated by them, even if they were too arrogant and self-absorbed to admit it.
It took a few seconds for Ami to absorb everything that Ino told her and when she did, her expression changed from one of rage to one of mortified fear as images of herself being strapped to a table and being hung, drawn and quartered and having various organ waved in front of her face entered her mind. Ino smirked as she had gotten the reaction she had been hoping for. Five seconds later, Ami screamed and turned before running off after her two former lackeys.
"I don't wanna die!" she shouted with fear evident in her voice, so absorbed in her fear that she failed to hear Ino laughing like the whole thing was a joke.
"I guess her head really is empty," she said, struggling to contain her laughter, "Gullible to the point of stupidity."
"Ino-chan, how do you know about how the Hyuga Clan kills people?" Sakura asked curiously as she stared at her friend with a fearful expression on her face… fear that Ino knew too much about the Hyuga Clan and that it would put her life in danger.
"I don't," Ino said with a smile as she shook her head, "I made that last part up just to see how she'd react."
Naruto chuckled as he walked over to them.
"Yep, you were right Ino-chan, her head's empty," he said with a laugh, "Even emptier than an empty vase."
Ino just laughed at comment, noting the irony as she remembered that she once threw flowers in Ami's mouth saying that her head was so empty that she had mistaken it for a vase and decided to fill it with flowers. She also remembered telling Ami how the flowers she'd thrown were poisonous and Ami and her friends had run off screaming for Suzume. That had been the time that Suzume had introduced the class to flower arranging.
However, Naruto, Sakura and Ino all turned to the bench to find Hinata had come out of her ball and was looking at them unsure what to do. She looked apprehensive and from the looks of it, it seemed that Hinata was ready to curl back up into a ball.
"H-hey, Hinata-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked with concern written all over his face.
Hinata flinched as she stared back at him and then at the two girls. She didn't recognise either of them, though she could tell that the blonde-haired one was the heiress of the Yamanaka Clan, the clan she knew had chosen botany over psychology, which was what their jutsu centred round. However she didn't know the pink-haired girl who had the big forehead, though she suspected that she was a Haruno.
"Don't worry," Sakura said with a smile as she walked up to Hinata and bent over to smile in her face, "Ami won't bother you anymore and if she does, we'll be here to stop her."
Hinata just stared into Sakura's jade green eyes, unsure what to say. This was a major problem of hers. She had a major problem communicating with others. She was quiet and often found herself having to speak louder for others to hear her… something that she hated doing. The only person she could honest say she could have a coherent conversation with outside her clan was Yuhi Kurenai, a woman she had met not long after her mother died and who had become somewhat of a surrogate mother and second role model for her. Hinata had no problems talking with her and confided a lot in Kurenai, even her most inner-most secrets. However, when it came to anyone else, she would always use a quiet tone, though she was polite and always used suffixes when addressing people. It was part of her shy nature. Maybe it was because of her status as a Hyuga and the fact that the Hyuga Clan was both respected and feared within the village. Maybe she was afraid of other people's opinions of her just because of who she was or maybe it was the fact that as the heiress to her clan, people both out with and within the clan had such high expectations of her or maybe it was all those things put together. Nevertheless, Hinata had a major problem communicating with people, fearful of what they'd think of her because of her clan's status and her position in the clan.
"Ano… w-w-why d-d-did you s-save me?" she asked in a quiet tone as she looked down at her feet, clearly afraid of what would happen now.
"What do you mean, why did we save you?" Naruto asked, walking over to Hinata with Ino bringing up the rear, "That mean Ami girl was about to hurt you. Why wouldn't we help you?"
"B-because I'm n-n-not w-w-w-worth it," Hinata stuttered in a voice that was barely above a whisper; so quiet that Naruto didn't hear her.
However, Sakura heard since she was practically right up in Hinata's face.
"Not worth it," she said looking surprised, "Why would you think that?"
"B-b-because I-I-I-I'm w-w-weak," Hinata replied, still stuttering as tears started to well up in her eyes.
She brought her hands up to her eyes and wiped the tears away, but more tears formed and threatened to roll down the heiress's beautiful cheeks.
"Weak, who told you that Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, silently vowing to find the person and beat the forty colours of shit out of them as he clenched his fist.
"M-m-my f-f-f-father, my c-c-cousin and the e-e-elders on the c-c-c-council," Hinata replied, still trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes as they started to roll down her cheeks, "I'm the h-h-h-h-heiress of the H-Hyuga Clan and…"
She trailed off as she burst into tears and started crying uncontrollably, causing Sakura to take a seat next to her and she wrapped a comforting arm round her. Naruto and Ino witnessed this, both coming to the same conclusion as they knew what she was trying to say.
"You don't meet the clan's expectations, do you?" Ino asked simple as she let out a sigh.
Hinata shook her head and Naruto started thinking to himself.
"I d-d-don't," Hinata admitted, feeling more like a cornered mouse than anything.
Maybe it was her depression or maybe it was Naruto's presence… she didn't know, but at the moment she didn't care. She had decided to share her problems with Naruto and these girls and after a few minutes of crying and fighting to regain her composure, which was made easier with Sakura's comforting arm round her, she told them all everything how she had held back during her sparring sessions and how she was constantly berated for being weak because of it and how she poured her heart and soul into her training, only to have it all wasted when the voices started berating her in her head. She even divulged how the Hyuga Council was talking about replacing her with her younger sister, Hanabi.
Needless to say, the other three were shocked to hear this. They all knew about the Hyuga Clan and their strict no-nonsense and "don't mess with us" attitude. Expectations ran high in the Hyuga Clan and they had a zero-tolerance policy for failure. Unfortunately, Hinata didn't get with the program and because of it, she was shunned and berated and Naruto guessed that many people outside the Hyuga Clan had already developed their own opinions of Hinata because of her clan; something that she had no control over just like him with whatever it was the villagers hated him for and just like Sakura because of her oversized forehead. Her clan was probably another reason why Ami had chosen her as her new target and that annoyed him.
Sakura had similar thoughts running through her mind as she let Hinata rest her head on her shoulder. She knew that the Hyuga Clan were really strict and often wore emotionless faces. She had seen Hinata once or twice before at the academy, but unlike the rest of the Hyuga Clan, she didn't have the same emotionless look on her face as the others did. Hinata seemed to be shy and from what Sakura had seen, it looked as if Hinata was hoping that no one would speak to her and after hearing Hinata's story, she could have a good guess as to why. Hinata was like her in a way with people probably forming their own opinions of her because of her clan and her eyes would give them the perfect excuse for them to pester her just like Sakura's forehead had given bullies like Ami an excuse to make her life hellish. Only, unlike Sakura, Hinata's own clan frowned upon her because she was not like the rest of them. She was kind and gentle and was obviously looking out for her sparring partners' well being. Sakura didn't have anyone in her own family berating her for her faults. In fact, Fuhei had been quite comforting towards her daughter whenever she came home after being harassed. Hinata on the other hand suffered terribly at the hands of her own clan and Sakura could tell that it had destroyed her confidence just like Ami and many other bullies had destroyed her own confidence before she met Ino.
As for Ino, after hearing Hinata's story, she could honestly say that it was like meeting Sakura all over again. Like Sakura had been, Hinata was someone in need of help in building up their confidence. Only unlike Sakura, Hinata's "bullies" were her own clan and she knew that people probably made their own assumptions of Hinata as soon as they saw her eyes, since white pupilless eyes was what identified her as a Hyuga. It was like Naruto's situation with the villagers hating him because of something her had no control over and it was also like Sakura's situation with bullies picking on her because of her forehead. She knew that Hinata was in need of help and she was going to give it to her. Heck, it would also do Naruto a world of good, since it meant that he had a new friend and from what Ino could see, Naruto needed all the friends he could get. Beside, Naruto had already helped Sakura gain confidence. Maybe he could do the same for Hinata. She had seen Hinata around in the academy from time to time and she had noticed that she was often watching Naruto at a distance with a small, yet genuine smile on her face. Hinata no doubt admired Naruto and Ino could tell that she didn't see him the way the rest of the village saw him. It was nice to know that not everyone saw Naruto in a bad light. Her father didn't see Naruto in a bad light and apparently neither did Hinata.
"They want to replace with your sister," Naruto said, clearly outraged at the concept that Hinata put forward, "And why… just because you're not like them? Damn it."
Hinata jumped at Naruto sudden outburst as she saw his fists tighten and he glared down at the ground.
"Just who the hell do they think they are?" Naruto ranted on, "Damn it. I never really cared much for the Hyugas before, but to hear that they treat even their own like dirt just because that person happens to be different… I just can't stand that."
After a few minutes, Naruto's posture became less tense as he calmed himself down and then gave Hinata an apologetic look.
"Sorry 'bout that Hinata-chan," he said as he bowed his head in an apologetic way, "I just had to blow off some steam. I didn't mean to scare you."
"I-i-it's q-q-q-quite a-a-a-alright Naruto-kun," Hinata replied with a red tint forming on her cheeks, unable to believe that the person she had admired from afar for so long was actually speaking to her and she wasn't moving to try and distance herself from him and surprisingly enough, she didn't faint.
Maybe it was due to the circumstances of the situation, but in any case, Hinata knew that she couldn't get out of this one without talking to him.
"By t-t-t-the way," Hinata said as the redness in her cheeks increased and she turned to the side in an effort to hide her cheeks, "Thank you –f-f-f-for s-s-saving me Naruto-kun, e-e-e-even if I'm n-n-n-not w-w-w-worth it."
"Not worth it," Naruto said in a slightly annoyed tone, "Hinata-chan, don't go berating yourself just because of what those idiots in your clan said. Your main problem is that you believe everything they say. You go into everything expecting to fail and if you do that, you will fail. If I were you, I'd dedicate myself to proving them wrong. Take my situation for example. Everyone with the exceptions of a few hates me and I don't know why. However, I don't let that get me down. I may not know what it is they hate me for, but I'm going to prove 'em all wrong."
"I try, I really try, b-b-b-but the voices…" Hinata started to say.
"Just ignore them," Naruto cut in with a serious look on his face, "I know what that's like. Every night whenever I go to sleep, I always hear the voices of the villagers in my head hurling their insults at me, but I eventually learned to live with it and I now choose to ignore them. I know it's hard, believe me. However, you can't let those voices rule over your life otherwise you'll just prove to everyone just how right they are. If you seriously want to prove 'em wrong, then whenever you hear those voice, just shake your head and remember that you're out to prove them all wrong."
Hinata looked up at Naruto with a thoughtful look on her face as her brain processed everything he just said.
"That's right Hinata-chan," Ino said with a nod, "Don't let those stuck-up arrogant nitwits get to you. Take Sakura-chan for example. When I first met her, she was constantly being picked on because of her oversized forehead and to tell you the truth, she was truly pathetic, no offence Sakura-chan."
"None taken," Sakura responded to Ino's comment, waving it off like it was nothing.
"However, when she started hanging out with me, she started to open up and come out of her shell," Ino went on, "And now I think she can make it on her own."
"I also have Naruto-kun to thank for that," Sakura added, deciding that Hinata should know the whole story, "You see, that girl that picked on you, Ami. I was her previous target because, as Ino-chan said, I have this monstrous forehead. She was the first one to really start picking on me and the others after her just followed her example. My confidence, as Ino said, was pathetic. After hanging around with her for a while with her standing up for me, my confidence started to grow. However, Ami didn't give up in her quest to make my life a misery and six days ago when Ino was ill with a really bad cold, Ami cornered me, but then Naruto-kun came to my rescue. I owe him and I decided that I would become his friend. After all, is situation is kind of like mine. The villagers hate him for some unknown reason just like Ami and her cronies hate me because of my monstrosity of a forehead. We have that in common. Both of us hated and harassed because of things we never really asked for and I can tell that you're similar. Your clan don't like the fact that you're not like them, which you can't help and everyone else probably don't like you because of your clan, something that you also have no control over."
Ino nodded.
"That's right Hinata-chan," she said, adding in her two cents, "Sakura here decided that she would help Naruto-kun after he saved her from Ami and got to know him and I have to confess, that if it wasn't for Sakura-chan, I wouldn't have considered becoming Naruto-kun's friend. I was popular once and I let it go to my head. I turned a blind eye to Naruto-kun, believing that everyone hated him because of his pranks. I just listened to my friends and formed my own opinions. However, then Sakura-chan came and told me how he had saved her from Ami while I was suffering from my cold and because of that, I had a more open mind. I will admit, at first, I was sceptical. After all, my popular status normal meant that people like Naruto-kun were beneath me and I only agreed to go along with Sakura0chan because she was my best friend. However, when I met Naruto, my mom happened to be passing by and through her attitude towards him, I could no longer deny the truth. I had no idea that the villagers were constantly trying to kill him before, but my mother's intrusion only confirmed that what Sakura-chan had told me was true. I knew right there and then that I couldn't just leave Naruto-kun. He needed all the friends he could get. I could se it in his eyes… the pain and suffering he must've endured. I knew that I just couldn't let that go on. I had taken a lot of things for granted before, but since meeting Naruto-kun, I know that everything's not as simple as I led myself to believe they were. He was in need of help just like Sakura-chan had been and whether he realised it or not, he helped Sakura's confidence dramatically."
"Uh huh," Sakura said with a nod, "Thanks to both Ino-chan and Naruto-kun, I finally managed to stand up to Ami on my own, which was why she probably chose to torment you. I'm sorry about that."
Naruto smiled, though he was stunned to hear that he had indeed unknowingly helped Sakura with her confidence, but he put that aside and looked directly at Hinata.
"And we can help you as well Hinata-chan," he said, flashing her a fox like grin, "That is, if you want to be our friend. You look lonely and I know what that feels like and it's not something I'd wish on anyone, even if they were my worst enemy."
Hinata looked at Naruto, shooting him a stunned look. He wanted to be her friend? Surely this had to be a dream. She had always envisioned becoming Naruto's friend, but now that it was happening, she felt afraid that it was all just one big dream and that she was going to wake up.
"Y-y-y-you want t-t-to be m-m-my friend?" she asked with a stutter to which Naruto nodded.
"Of course Hinata-chan, you're kinda like me and Sakura-chan in dealing with problems that others pile on you due to circumstances beyond your control," he said and then his face became serious, "Though I must warn you, be prepared for the villagers when they learn that you're going around with me. Ino-chan's lost almost everything she once had, including her mother, who divorced her dad because he doesn't see me like the village does. I won't lie to you. You'll probably be in for the same kind of treatment I had to endure my whole life. Sakura-chan and Ino-chan already know this."
Hinata thought about it for a moment and then let out a sigh.
"I always admired you Naruto-kun," she said, looking Naruto right in the eye, "You seemed to always come through with a smile and you never gave up no matter what. I think it was because you were my opposite; everything I wasn't and wanted to be. I wanted to talk to you, but I was scared and didn't know what to say to you. So I kept my distance or I fainted. I'm sorry, but I just didn't know what I was going to say to you. I wasn't being like everyone else, I swear, I just..."
"Think nothing of it Hinata-chan," Naruto interrupted her with another fox like grin, "You're a nice person. That's all I need to know."
"Besides, you can rest easy now," Sakura added.
"You're no longer alone," Ino went on, "You have us now and we're going to help you overcome your lack of confidence and prove those stuck-up idiots in your clan wrong."
Hinata smiled as she looked around, seeing the smiling faces of Naruto, Sakura and Ino. She knew that they were truthful and that they would help her. She had always admired Naruto since the first day she laid eyes on him and she had to admit that when she first saw him with Ino and Sakura, she felt a bit upset that they were with him and she wasn't. However, the fact that they all had offered to be her friend caused this feeling to diminish somewhat, though she was still a bit upset that she wasn't the first one to become Naruto's friend. However the fact that Naruto, Sakura and Ino were willing to let her into their little group was better than nothing and that was something she could not deny. She knew through witnessing Naruto's pranks and beatings in the past that he was like her, lonely and friendless and that he needed all the friends he could get. It pained Hinata to know the awful treatment Naruto had suffered and all because it seemed like he was alive. The fact he now had friends seemed to be a miracle and even though Hinata wasn't the first to become his friend, she definitely wouldn't let that fact bother her. She was Naruto's friend now and that's all that mattered. She never felt more content than she was feeling right now.
Glossary
Genin – Junior Ninja (low-class ninja)
Kunoichi – Female Ninja
Ano – Um
Kekkei Genkai – Bloodline Limit (A type of jutsu or set of jutsu techniques that can only be learned by those in a certain family, in other words a jutsu that can only be learned through genetic inheritance and can't be learned by anyone out with the family)
Dojutsu – Eye technique
Byakugan – White Eye (Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai)
Taijutsu – Martial arts (ninja hand-to-hand combat)
Jyuken – Gentle Fist
Keirakurei – Chakra pathway network/system
Tenketsu – Pressure points (Chakra points)
Author's notes – I'm still alive and well and I do apologise for the long-awaited update. It's just that I got distracted and suffered from a massive dose of writer's block. I have to say that I'm pleased with the increase of reviews. One of them made me do an awful lot of thinking about how the story should go and one of the reasons for my writers block was that I got too ahead of myself and overloaded with ideas. Okay, so now that I've introduced Hinata, things can really start to pick up I realise that I may have overdone it with Naruto's life as far as beatings go and the story may seem depressing, but I intend to change that. As I said in chapter one, I have a tendency of blowing situations out of proportions, making them as bad as possible and on that note, I warn you that this story's version of Sasuke is going to be one of the most evil portrayals ever and I do mean evil and really delusional in his superiority complex over everyone else. By the way, who can say that they don't like Sakura in the pre-Shippuden era? I can honestly say that I didn't, always fawning over Sasuke "Oh Sasuke you're so cool" no matter what. My portrayal of Sakura isn't that of a delusional Sasuke fangirl and neither will Ino for that matter and they both won't be obsessed over Naruto to the point where they don't train either. I intend on making Sakura, Ino and Sakura stronger than their cannon counterparts in the anime and manga when they graduate and all three of them will be out to prove that not all kunoichi are lovesick delusional fangirls that care more about their "Prince Charming" than their ninja careers. By the way, in the latest manga chapter, Danzo revealed that he has the Sharingan in his right eye, though I believe that his situation is similar to Kakashi's since he keeps it covered. I could incorporate that into my story, but not until it's revealed how he got it. I mean in Nagato's flashback, Danzo's right eye was covered, but he may not have had the Sharingan then and was only hiding the hole in his eye and he probably acquired the Sharingan eye at a later date. Anyway, here's a question for you. How many people believe that pre-Shippuden Sakura suffers from short-term memory loss? I mean every time Sasuke rejected her in the beginning and said something harsh to her, she would always be left depressed until she saw Sasuke again in which case, her fangirl attitude would return and it would be like the incident earlier never occurred. I don't mean to bash Sakura, but her pre-Shippuden attitude in cannon is a bit of a downer for me. At least she gets better as time goes on and as for Sasuke; I'm unsure what's going to happen to him in the manga. I find it hard to believe that he's going to redeem himself since he's now decided to assassinate all five Kages (though it could just be a mistranslation since the spoilers stated that he was only targeting Danzo specifically). I wouldn't be surprised if he is going to kill all five Kages. I'm sorry, but after spending so long in darkness and with Madara pushing him further into it, I don't see how he can be saved (though Kishimoto could have Naruto pull off a miracle).