Disclaimer: During the less-than 24 hours since my last update, I have obtained ownership of Naruto and all characters within it… Course I haven't you nilly. Last disclaimer.
Author Notes: 26 reviews in under 24 hours when I first checked. I can see this is rather popular, so it will be continuing.
In story questions such as Naruto background etc will be answered in time.
The Naruto leading his own team is a coin which is still up in the air. For my idea Naruto doesn't have to lead his own time, however I am thinking it could be more fun if he does(?). So my question to you; my sexy sexy audience is thus;
Do you want Naruto to head a team?
If yes, per person you may nominate one person to be under his team.
Important note; If Naruto does have a team he will be a jounin, if you tell me you'd prefer not, he will be more of an friend to the Rookie 9, and a side mentor over a sensei and will be a chuunin.
Send your votes via reviews and private messages if you would like a say. Double points if you give reasoning as to why you want what you say.
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Naruto Sempai: Chapter 1 – The Path of a Ninja
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When Hinata woke up that morning she found herself energetic and very excited. It could have been the complete change in the weather, from rains and cool northern winds yesterday to a cloudless summer sky today. Or perhaps it was that she was looking forward to the idea of being mentored by the one person in several years that made her feel like she was changing, she was growing as both a shinobi and as a person.
After finishing her morning rituals she slipped out after a rather hastily eaten breakfast, wanting to avoid her father. It wasn't that he berated her, not anymore. It was worse than that. It was as though he had given up on her entirely. When he spoke somewhat cruel things to her, it could at least be seen to attempt to motivate her further. However she knew it was bad when he didn't even do that anymore. These days he was both cold and distant to her. A hurtful combination given that he was her father, a person she would always love, and the person she wanted to improve for the most.
As she strolled through Konoha this morning she could just tell today was going to be a good day. The dampness caused by yesterdays rains were already nearly gone, just leaving the plants watered, causing their smell to be carried well across the area. The heat was warm, yet not hot and the breeze was ever so slightly cooling and best of all, there wasn't a cloud in sight.
"Oi! Hyuuga-San!" came a brilliantly familiar voice. Hinata smiled, recognising it, and turn to see Naruto land before her.
"N-Naruto-Sensei" she greeted her little smile in place. Naruto grinned back.
"Just Naruto, or Naruto-sempai if you must" he said, still avoiding the 'sensei' title. "But, great news!" he said his smile growing ever wider "Having spoken with the Hokage and the guys at the academy, they've given me permission to be a personal tutor for you." He said making sure to keep eye contact, wanting to see her smile both on her face, and in her eyes "After hours at the academy, on weekends, or even if you feel you need a little space from your classmates. So long as I'm available I'm all yours" he said, but seizing the opportunity to tease her stepped back "But I just hope we can keep this strictly professional" he said with a sly smile.
Hinata, slightly less amused, flushed.
"N-Naruto-sempai!" she said, looking away in embarrassment. He seemed to be unwilling to let her simple mistake yesterday go. She hadn't meant it the way it came out! It was just her nerves. But alas, the damage was done now, and she was paying for it.
"I'm just kidding" he said holding up his hands as though in defence "But, what do you think? Naruto do good, or what?" he finished with a grin, hands on his waist. Hinata nodded
"Y-Yes, thank you Naruto-sempai. I only hope I won't disappoint you" she said with a slight bow. Naruto frowned at this.
"Hmm, disappoint me?" he questioned stroking his chin thoughtfully. Hinata looked up, worried. "You aren't in the habit of turning up some hours late, are you?" he asked completely seriously. Hinata blinked
"Ano… no?" she replied, at the strange question.
"Hmm, I see" Naruto said still looking thoughtful "You aren't going to ditch times we agree on because it was too 'troublesome', are you?" he asked, again with complete seriousness. Hinata was somewhat confused by where this was going.
"No" she repeated more sure of herself this time. Naruto grinned at her again, after studying it for a moment she allowed herself to relax.
"Hinata-chan, so long as you turn up, on time… ish, and you give it all you have, you could never disappoint me" he said taking a hold of her shoulder with an arm. "You seem like the type who will do that, am I right?" he nodded with an encouraging smile. Hinata looked at him in his wonderfully blue eyes and nodded
"Fantastic!" he said, letting go of her "Now, you have a class to attend, and I have a mission to get to, I'll pop in to see you at the end of the day. So you be good, you naughty thing you" He chuckled playfully before hopping off.
Hinata couldn't help but flush a little. She wouldn't admit it, but she liked how he joked with her, though it was embarrassing, she found it was definitely lessening her reluctance to say anything to him. She didn't fully understand how that worked, but it just… did.
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The day passed much as many before it had. Hinata found her energy topped off though, likely from a certain individual who seemed to have boundless energy. Naruto was the subject of many a conversation throughout the whole day. Iruka revealed that Naruto attended the academy a year before they did, and passed in a single year. Of course, this only seemed to boost his popularity among the students, which Hinata saw made Iruka both a little deflated but happy. She supposed the two had their own bond, as Iruka was quick to point out he was Naruto's favourite teacher, also using it as a form of blackmail in that if they did as Iruka said, they would be on the road to catching Naruto up; which was frighteningly effective, especially when it came to Sasuke, oddly enough.
Hinata like the others was working that extra hard today, though she felt she had her own reasons, more personal than the others. She wanted to have something to say for herself, knowing that this evening Naruto would no doubt ask about today.
When the day did finally draw to a close Hianta was a little upset with herself. She really gave it her all, but didn't feel as though she made any progress at all. Suddenly she wasn't quite as enthused about talking with Naruto, at least not when he asked about today.
As she gathered her things she couldn't help but feel that pang of disappointment. 'Another day gone, no more progress made' was all she couldn't help but feel.
"Heya" Naruto said from behind her shocking her into a small gasp. She span around, taking a step back crashing into her desk. Naruto chuckled as she picked herself up
"Easy now" he grinned "Only me. So how do you think you did today?" he asked. Hinata brushed herself off, but paused when he asked that. She considered just lying, only for a moment, but passing off the idea. Naruto was already going to lengths for her, she dare not disgrace him by lying to him.
"Ano… w-well…" she began. She glanced up at Naruto, expecting to see a look of concern or disappointment, but no such look could be seen. He was just smiling at her, patiently waiting for her to tell him. "I-I'm not sure I m-made m-much progress" she confessed, holding her arm with her hand, and looking down. There was a pause. Slowly she looked up, only to find Naruto looking at the ground, scanning it, as though searching for something. This continued for a moment before Hinata finally had to ask
"A-Ano, Naruto-sempai?" she said, catching his attention.
"Yes? sorry, I just don't see it" he said with a grin. He had lost her
"S-See what?" she asked
"Whatever you were looking at down there!" Naruto said, gesturing towards the ground. Hinata just looked, completely unsure where he was going with this. Naruto continued to look at her, before elaborating.
"Okay, first things first. Confidence!" he said with emphasis "I don't mean to be rude, not that you would say anything even if I was, am I right?" he poked "But you don't have any" Hinata frowned, but could not bring herself to disagree. Instead she just looked down. Naruto cupped a finger and picked her face back up to his by lifting her chin.
"There's nothing wrong with being shy Hinata, but when your confidence is affecting everything else, it's time for a change, yeah?" he said, smiling. Hinata smiled back at little, unable to follow her instincts and look down.
"Lesson one; Eye contact!" he said, releasing her chin. "All I want you to do, it maintain eye contact with someone when you're speaking to them. I guarantee them this will help raise your confidence." He said "So let's practice now, do you have time?" he asked, checking his watch momentarily. Hinata nodded
"S-sure." Naruto grinned.
"Perfect, well, let's get something to eat while we practise" he said rasing a finger "When I was at the academy Iruka-sensei would occasionally treat me to a ramen, sound good?" he asked with a grin she had only one answer for
"That sounds g-great" she said focusing on maintaining eye contact.
Naruto took her to a small ramen shop, one she had not been to before. It seemed nice enough, the owners seemed very friendly with Naruto, leading her to believe perhaps this was one of his favourites. After ordering Naruto turned back to her.
"So, the first thing I would like to ask is; Why?" he asked, quite simply. Hinata; whilst making sure to maintain eye contact with him frowned a little.
"Excuse me but, why what?" she asked after a moments silence.
"Why are you here. Becoming a ninja, despite how hard it is, and the dangers of it all" He asked, clearly pressing into personal territory. Hinata was hesitant, and nealy lost eye contact, however after gathering her thoughts she responded.
"Because I need to be." She said as simply as he asked.
"For your clan?" Naruto suggested. Hinata blinked.
"W-Well, yes and no. It's true the Hyuuga have a long standing tradition of being exceptional warriors. The main branch more than anyone is supposed to excel in strength, s-so there is that. But…" Hinata struggled to maintain eye contact. It was only now she was realising how blue Naruto's eyes were, it was like looking into a perfect sapphire lake in a mid summers afternoon.
"I see" Naruto said after her pause continued into a silence "So while there is the expectations, you have your own of yourself" he said assumingly. Hinata nodded. There was slightly more to it than that, but that was a rough silhouette of the picture.
"What about you?" she dared to venture. Naruto grinned at her, apparently pleased by this.
"Well, since you ask; I started to become a hero and to become respected. But it didn't take me too long to work out it doesn't exactly work like that. My goal is to become the greatest Hokage. And to protect everyone in the village" he said with a smile unlike any other Hinata had seen so far. It was both passionate, and thoughtful, just like the tone he used to tell her. Normally the statement 'become the greatest hokage' would be the words of some loud mouth fool. But when he said it, the way he said it, Hinata instantly believed that he really could be. Just as all this hit her, the food was placed in front of her. Naruto broke the eye contact to focus on his meal.
"Itadakimasu!" he called cheerfully as he began to dig into his food. Hinata followed suit, thinking about what he just told her. She could have guessed from the little she knew of Naruto that he was a big thinker, and a big dreamer. But his goal was big, bigger than she would have guessed. She considered the possibilities of it. Clearly Naruto was a gifted shinobi, so there was a chance. But then all of the Hokage's strength and wisdom were legendary. With the third still around they still are. To become the greatest of them all? Hinata looked at the boy to her side, and allowed herself to imagine.
"So, anyway" Naruto said, having swallowing a particularly large mouthful, and effectively bringing Hinata back to earth. "I want you to keep eye contact with everyone you speak with for 3 weeks. Even if it's hard, or they aren't keeping eye contact with you, make sure you look into their eyes. The reason I say 3 weeks, because that is the time it takes to train your brain to learn a habit. Once you keep doing something for that long, your brain will do it automatically, and you shouldn't have to focus on doing it." He said simply. Hinata nodded, she didn't really know either way, but she had faith he knew what he was talking about.
"So, tell me; already do you feel it has made a difference?" he said looking at her. She looked back at it, and locked eyes. She smiled faintly, causing him to return one.
"Yes, I think it has" she said, admitting to herself that she was able to be more open with him than she might otherwise allow herself to be.
"Brilliant" Naruto said enthusiastically nodding "Confidence is a big one. Once you've nailed that, I think you'll find it will really open all sorts of doors for you. I mean, you're fearless at asking a guy out, but not so much at everything else." He grinned. Hinata fought to maintain eye contact, but the faint pink tint crept into her cheeks
"I told you, I didn't mean it like that!" she pleaded, to which Naruto just laughed.
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Throughout the rest of the meal there was a much more general topic of conversation, and of course all whilst maintaining eye contact. Something Hinata actually found very difficult to do, especially given how remarkably blue Naruto's eyes seemed the entire evening. She asked him about a few academy related things she didn't understand or wanted a better idea of, Naruto happily obliged. Hinata also learnt Naruto could put away a ridiculous seven bowls of ramen, which after comparing bowl sizes to Naruto himself she was certain was several times the size of his entire digestive system.
He walked her back to the Hyuuga grounds before departing his own way. Hinata found herself smiling the rest of the night. This time, she knew full well it wasn't the weather which was causing it, but rather a certain blonde.
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Author Note: That's all folks! I don't think think this chapter is as funny as the first, but maybe it will give you a little insight to Naruto in this fanfic, something I gather a few of you were interested in.
Reminder vote if you want, or don't want Naruto to have a genin team. Full details remain at the top of this chapter.