Author Notes: Hey howdy hey folks! Well I figure it's due time we push on with the story a bit, yeah? Fantastic, knew you'd agree.
I want you all to give a thank you to my new Beta-Reader Curse. He's reading awful grammar, so you don't have to! =)
In celebration to the glory that is a Friday, today's chapter will extra large! Enjoy!
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Just a list of responses to reviews:
Reponse to Uzumaki Ricky who wrote:
EXCELLENT JOB! WHEN'S THE NARUHINA ROMANCE GONNA START?
Well romance is difficult to create between two people when neither participant loves the other ;p
Remember, Hinata is meeting and being around Naruto for the first time. It's his character which she falls in love with him for. Give 'my Hinata' time to fall for him, then the romance will fall thick and fast I'm sure.
But because I'm as awesome as I am, I'll fit some in, inside this chapter, just for you. One off though!
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Reponse to JayTang who wrote:
Hmmm, its a very good start so far, but I am curious: where did you get the idea for this story?
It just so happens I have almost this exact scenario as a choice for a poll on my profile on what I'm going to write next (along with about 70 other choices), and I have most definitely seen authors immediately start ripping off my ideas. If you did happen to get some inspiration from my poll, that's fine, but if not, well... I guess great minds think alike, neh?
The idea came to me after reading Hinata's Confession. Upon that I reflected and re-watching episodes that highlight that Naruto in the canon series has been a sensei to Hinata all along, just not directly. It's really just an expansion on that. Though the development of Naruto's character is more complex, that is how the story came to mind.
Don't worry about other author's 'ripping' on your idea's, that's just proof that your idea is a good one. Take a look at my fanfic Missing Memories. Certainly to my knowledge it's the first of its kind (though I never finished it). But you shouldn't get angry or upset that others saw it and thought
"You know what? YES, I'm into that"
It's really a compliment =) Best of luck in your writings my friend!
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Naruto Sempai: Chapter 4 – Date at Ichiraku's!
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Hinata looked at Naruto in shock, awed at what had just taken place. She looked down at herself, unable to form coherent thought. What just happened? Her body had reacted on its own, moving before she'd even realized what was going on. It was all just...instinct.
"Scary isn't it?" Naruto said, his usual smile in place. All Hinata could do was nod slowly in agreement.
"You always had the capability. I mean, I knew from the first time I saw you that you had the potential," he continued in a casual tone, his smile still in place, "You're the latest in a long line of Hyuuga warriors, taijutsu specialists. But you feel inferior, like you're falling behind the rest of your age group...so you train twice as hard." He walked towards her, a knowing look on his face that proved to her he had her totally figured out. She could only look at him, unable to form a reply.
"It's just like when I told you to look people in the eye...if you do something enough, it becomes automatic. The forms become imprinted on your muscles, so your body can act without you telling it to." He said casually, passing it off as if it wasn't a big deal. "But it's just a taste of what I know you can do," he said, leaning against one of the training stumps, "And I know you've been thinking about quitting on me...So, what'd you think?"
Hinata continued to just look at him blankly as she digested what he said.
"Still want to quit?" Naruto offered quietly, provoking a slow shake of the head from Hinata.
"N-no, I…" she began. She swallowed hard and tried again "I beg your forgiveness Naruto-Sempai!" she blurted out, bowing low. Naruto paused, then chuckled. He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair gently.
"There's nothing to forgive, silly" he said with a smile. He let his hand drop to his side, and she straightened up. "It's natural to get frustrated when you don't see yourself moving. But I told you I'd have you beat Uchiha Sasuke in Taijutsu, and that is a promise I'm going to make good on." He said, smiling warmly. For the first time in over two weeks, she smiled back.
"Now, we need to get busy!" he announced clapping his hands together, and moving away into the open field leisurely. "All that stance-dancing is good, but it does have a way of eating the time. From now on any practice you do when you aren't with me will be strictly stance practice until I say otherwise. As for our time, I think it's time we got more physical" He turned back to face her, a small distance between them. "Okay, now show me what you've got" he ordered, gesturing her to 'bring it' with a gesture of a hand. Hinata blinked, before assuming her pose. She then dashed forward and attacked with several fist strikes and kicks. In the middle of her assault she was stopped by Naruto stopping a punch with his finger tips of an open palm. She looked at him to find him looking at her with a slight frown.
"How did I stop your attack?" he suddenly asked. Hinata blinked smartly.
"You used your hand?" she half asked. Naruto lowered his hand and shook his head
"Did I stop your hand physically?" he pressed, trying to see if she could figure it out.
She couldn't.
"Okay, well, let me explain it then." He said folding his arms "I didn't stop your attack, I just put something in front of it, and eased pressure onto it. Which means you stopped your own strike…" he said, letting her absorb what he was saying.
"I-I…" she began, but Naruto cut her off by putting his finger on his lips.
"The reason is you're afraid to hurt me" Naruto told her "Which is…. Well it's a bit rubbish really" he said with a shrug. Hinata looked down at her feet.
"Don't do that" he said, lifting her chin "Don't look down, never look down, there's only bad things down there." He gave her a reassuring smile, before letting go. Hinata couldn't help but smile back as she looked into his great blue eyes. By now looking into peoples eyes as they spoke had become quite natural. She rarely looked away from them when in conversation, but still had a weakness of looking away when she didn't have anything to say. But she was working on it slowly.
"Here's how we are going to do this then." Naruto said "How do you feel about getting wet?" he asked with a smirk.
"Eh?" was Hinata's intelligent response.
The training, Naruto revealed, was simply performing her moves without striking, standard performance and repetition. Well, not so simple, the catch was to do it while submerged up to the shoulders to neck in water.
Moving water.
Moving water that she was facing towards.
Needless to say Hinata was fighting to keep her footing, let alone even attempting to perform her stances correctly. She slipped and splashed under the surface again. As she spluttered to the surface she rubbed her hair out of her face. It didn't help that the water was cold.
"Keep it up Hinata! It will be hard at first, but just keep at it and it will get easier!" Naruto called out to her. She gave him a small smile, acknowledging his support, before again attempting to stand herself against the current. After struggling to get footing, she braved another strike forward, causing the water to splash onto her face thus causing her to loose a split second focus, resulting in her falling under again.
Naruto sighed. It would take awhile, but this would prove to being essential for her to master. She'd never even make a passing grade if she didn't mean her attacks, or allowed minor things to shake her focus. If only she could be rid of them she would atleast make a decent grade in her taijutsu. After that all he'd have to do is bring her up to a higher standard, how hard could that be?
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The next morning, Hinata had a stuffed nose and a throbbing head. She had taken some medicine for it; however, they only succeeded in dulling the effects slightly. That had to be enough for the time being, as the academy wouldn't be stopping for anyone, least of all the inept little Hyuuga girl. As she preceded through her morning rituals she reflected on last night. Over which she felt a number of emotions power powerful and subtle.
The strongest of which was definitely her happiness, which mainly stemmed from the sudden realisation that the past two weeks though being very unusual training, had actually been very worthwhile. Something Naruto had proven very strongly. She was also very excited. It was like the day at the academy when Naruto had taught it all over again. She felt that she had taken not only a step, but a full stride forward. That was how it felt in contrast to other days at least.
On the other hand she was not tired, her muscles still felt the current pushing against her, making her movements awkward and over-powered.
'Even if it's strange, I know now that Naruto-sempai is a person to be trusted' she thought to herself as she made her way to the academy. 'I never would have believed that practising my stance in the manner I did would be so effective. But then… it was' she mused to herself. Even now Machinate was slightly disbelieving of her own actions on Automatic last night. She couldn't fight that well when she tried. She could only take Narrator's word for it that what happened was a result of her unused skills being surfaced because there wasn't time for it to be hindered by her apprehension. It was certainly the only explanation that made any sort of sense. Yet it was still somehow striking a cord of disbelief, despite her being there first hand. She had even wondered if it was some beautiful generous, but that was even more far-fetched she supposed.
She sat herself on her usual chair, ready for another day of whatever was about to be thrown at her. She sat looking out the window at the grey skies as she twiddled her fingers on the desk. She didn't notice someone sit down next to her, far to busy in her own head wondering what her new tutor was doing right about now.
"Hey" came a cool voice from her right. She turned to see Sasuke sitting next to her in his usual fingers crossed, hands together style of sitting.
"G-Good morning, S-Sasuke-kun" she greeted unable to fully suppress her slight confusion.
"Yeah, Good morning" he said almost in a scoff as he glanced out at the grey skies. Hinata flinched slightly at his response, not being able to help but take it personally. They sat there for a minute in silence before Hinata opted to speak again.
"A-Ano, Sasuke-kun, why are y-you sitting back here?" she asked, deciding anyone would be curious. Sasuke glanced at her without moving his head before responding.
"Because I wanted to talk with you" he responded. Hinata waiting for him to continue, but it seemed he wasn't about to. Inwardly she sighed. He wanted to talk, and he wasn't talking. She hated to say it, even mentally, but; Typical Uchiha Sasuke.
"Wh-What is it you would like to talk about?" she pressed. Sasuke paused before answering, clearly not something he was comfortable about talking. Well he wasn't comfortable with talking socially at all, but this it seemed was even less desirable.
"Uzumaki Naruto" Sasuke said. It was Hinata's turn to pause. She herself had been wanting to speak to someone about him. Far be it from her to gossip, but the boy was an enigma to everyone.
"O-Oh" was all she said in response. This time she couldn't think of anything to say herself, and so the two proceeded to sit in silence.
"I've seen you two together" Sasuke randomly stated. Hinata looked at him with a blink. "At that ramen stand; Ichiraku's" he finished, answering Hinata's silent question of where. She breathed a sigh of relief, she would be mortified if Sasuke had seen her doing her training. For some reason the idea of speaking to Sasuke about it embarrassed her.
"Oh, it s-seems that is one of Naruto-sempai's favourite p-places to eat" she explained unsure of what else to say. Sasuke turned his head to look at her for a moment, before returning his look ahead.
"Are you two going out?" he asked. Hinata froze. She felt her cheek heat up, and her body go numb, then she snapped back into control.
"S-Sasuke-kun!" she squeaked. "It's not like that!" she insisted, earning a confused look from the Uchiha. She turned to look out of the window again, all too aware of the heat on her cheeks. She wasn't sure why the question embarrassed her the way it did, but she couldn't help how she reacted. Sasuke seemed surprised by her response too, earning her a minute silence
"So, what do you know about him?" Sasuke asked, now seemingly attempting to make casual conversation. Hinata glanced back before answering still feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"W-Well, not much." She admitted "Just that he's a chuunin ninja who likes ramen." She continued, feeling herself starting to speak more freely "I've been trying to find out things about him, b-but he's not really into talking about himself so much" she finished, surprised by how much she enjoyed saying it, to Sasuke of all people. He nodded in acknowledgement
"I see. I too have been trying to learn about him." He confessed "Someone our age who is so advanced…" he trailed off. Hinata smiled shyly
"S-so he interests you then?" She poked. Sasuke glanced at her as if to question her choice of words but didn't press on it
"I suppose you might say that" He said. Hinata couldn't help but think to herself that Naruto might be in trouble if Sasuke admirers heard Sasuke say that. She smiled to herself at the thought.
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As the day went on Hinata was surprised by how much she spoke to Sasuke. He'd never said more than two words to her before, but there he was talking to her freely. They mainly spoke about Naruto, both supposing idea's as the certain facts about the blonde. Sasuke, it turned out, believes that Naruto was a scout type Ninja based upon his mastery of the shadow clone jutsu he displayed on the first day. He didn't really believe Naruto was a combat type ninja due to his age, and his appearance given his rank he found it too difficult to believe.
Hinata listened with interest to Sasuke. She didn't admire him as other girls in their class did, but she did respect Sasuke, and was quite surprised in a positive way that he'd chosen to speak to her so much. He even spoke to her about their taijutsu practice, attempting to help her by explaining what he felt she was doing wrong, which was much the same as what Naruto at told her; afraid of hurting the other person, even when blocking. Together she might've actually said they had a good time. It certainly helped the day speed along
She did how neglect to tell him Naruto had become her mentor out of hours. Deciding that there wasn't really any need to divulge such information, and that if might only have a negative effect. Even if that wasn't true, she would be embarrassed to tell Sasuke, the top of the class, that she was taking extra lessons to help her pass the test.
As she walked home from the academy she was thinking of Sasuke. Her opinion on him had changed in the space of a day. Before she had felt he was very elitist, and had no time for anyone who wasn't as talented as he. But now she saw him as an introvert, not unlike herself. He just wasn't that confident in confiding in others. Something she didn't have a problem relating to in the least. She never would have thought the two had anything in common before today.
"Hey, Hinata!" a voice came from ahead. She looked up from her feet to see Naruto himself come running towards her.
"Good Evening, Naruto-sempai, i-is there something the matter?" She asked, given that she wasn't due to see him again until tomorrow evening. Naruto grinned at her with his cheeky fox-like grin.
"Nope, nothing what so ever, Buuut!" he said moving his hands behind his back. "Basically they are giving discounts at Ichiraku's ramen for couples, tonight only!" he explained, his grin in place. Hinata rapidly began heating up "So, what do you say, want to be my date for the evening?" he said offering his arm. Hinata just looked at him
"Na-Naruto-sempai…" she whispered in embarrassment. Naruto could see it. He chuckled
"Ohh come on, hey tell you what, if you do I'll let you ask some questions about me, I know you've been wanting to" and with that he took her by the hand and lead her toward the stall. Hinata was just crimson. She couldn't help but notice how warm Naruto's hand was, and then soon after how hot and sweaty hers felt.
All too soon Naruto was seating her down, before sitting next to her.
"Hey, Old-man! I brought my date!" he called out, Hinata focused on the chop sticks infront of her, like they were the most interesting thing in the world. Anything so that she wouldn't have to look up.
"Well, what do you know! Naruto, I never knew you had a girlfriend" he teased. Hinata wanted to die.
"This is Hinata-chan" Naruto said proudly, "Come on Hinata let old-man Teuchi see your pretty face." He nudged.
Smack
Hinata's head hit the table. Naruto looked at her for a moment, wondering what happened. He lifted her up to see she had just fainted. He frowned for a moment before sitting her upright against the wall on her chair. He thought she'd have a better tolerance than that.
He left her there, keeping an eye on her as he ate his discounted ramen happily. Due to how much he could eat Hinata woke up before he was finished.
"Ahh, they were go" he said with a smile "Thought you were going to miss out on all the food for a minute there" Hinata blinked dazily as she re-gathered her bearings.
She remembered.
The suddenly wished she didn't.
Naruto called her pretty, for some reason that gave her a very uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, like a soft, light tickle. It was a very strange feeling.
"So, Hinata what do you want?" Naruto asked. Hinata looked at him before shrugging slightly
"N-Not sure y-yet" she murmured, as she picked up a menu and hid behind it, trying desperately to calm herself down. She succeeded as much as she was going to in the space of a few minutes. She was just glad Naruto seemed to understand, or at least grateful that he really didn't. They ate quietly for a few minutes before Naruto spoke.
"So, what I said earlier. I take it I am right in thinking you do have question you'd like to ask them, yes?" he asked knowingly. Hinata flushed, embarrassed to be caught out as to being so nosey.
"We-Well, sort of" she admitted, poking her fingers together. Naruto smiled
"Understandable. I get allot of that sort of thing. But as you've probably guess, I'm not so much a fan of answering. So I've decided you can earn the answers." He said with a grin. Hinata looked at him, with a less-than-great feeling in her stomach.
"Don't worry about how, I'll fix it into your training. But for now, you can ask me one, after all you did come along here, a little less than completely willingly." He said. Hinata looked at her ramen, one question? She had a million
"I-I'll save it, until I can think of something g-good" she said looked at him. He smiled at her.
"A wise choice" he said with a grin. She smiled back, a faint blush still tinting her cheeks pink.
"So what would you like to talk about?" He said, getting back to his bowl "How was your day at the academy?" he asked, proceeding to 'fill up' on noodles.
"G-Good. Odd too though, S-Sasuke-kun sat with me, and spoke to me most of the day" she said looking at her own bowl again.
"Ahh, good lil Sasuko eh? Hows he doing? Still calling himself Sasuke?" he asked, Hinata smiled a little, remembering the event and nodded "Bless" was all Naruto cooed in response "So I take it he normally doesn't sit next to you?" Naruto checked. Hinata nodded. "Hmm, odd, maybe he's got a crush on you" he teased. Hinata blinked, looking at Naruto.
"N-No I don't think so, he actually wanted to talk about you" she said thinking back to it.
"Me? Huh, weird" was all Naruto said "Still, I suppose he's curious, and I expect Mr Top-of-the-class thinks he's nothing better to do" He mused aloud. They sat in silence as Naruto ate, and Hinata occasionally took in a mouthful until she decided to ask about how much might 'earn' the other questions.
"Ano, Naruto-sempai, how will I be e-earning the extra questions?" Naruto grinned
"Now Hinata, that's for me to know and you to find out, you naughty little devil" Again, she felt an odd heat rise in her cheeks.
"Don't worry yourself about it. As I said, I'll tied it into your training. So if you do so well, you can ask another, or something." He said "I'm really not fond of answering questions, but I understand you're curious and it gives you a reason to trust me, so this is me negotiating." He said, laying it before her. She considered, it seemed fair enough, as in truth he didn't have to tell her a thing about himself.
Through the rest of the evening Hinata sat with Naruto in a comfortable silence, occasionally she would say something, or ask and he would respond, but the conversations died out quickly. Perhaps it was that there were there as a 'couple' or that Hinata was trying to think up a question, but she couldn't seem to hold a conversation quite so well tonight for a reason she couldn't pin point.
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Over the course of the following weeks Hinata would struggles in the river, trying to performing the exercise Naruto had set for her. Struggling at the academy as per usual, however she was sensing a slight change in her performance in Taijutsu, though only minor. But she push onward, having faith that Naruto was leading her forward, she kept at it, hours upon hour of practicing in the water, and subsequently falling down in it.
She went through several colds, though getting better soon enough it was only a temporary state under she had another, the only consolation of which being the time in which she spent with the colds was slowly getting shorter. However, as with her previous training, she felt no improvement from doing the exercise. She was just running on blind faith in the blonde-boy-ninja.
At the academy life ran on much as it had done for all the years past. Though she notice on occasion Sasuke might have something to say to her, in most cases some form of advice. This was something she couldn't explain. Perhaps the one day they spent talking together had made her more to him than she would've thought, but she couldn't tell. He was quite mysterious in his own way. Fortunately he rarely spoke of Naruto to her again. She was oddly afraid he might find out about her extra lessons with him. Partly due to embarrassment and partly due to her believe Sasuke might see it as her being deceitful having not mentioned it.
Mostly Hinata tried to keep to herself and step by step try her best to improve herself, no matter how futile it seemed at the end of each day when she saw how little she was able to do.
However stressful and hopeless it seemed she pushed on, just hopeful that Naruto would be able to conjure some sort of a miracle with her, which is what it seemed she would need at this point. Every day she was with him she would walk straight into the river and try her best to do what she needed to. She could feel herself making slight progress. She wasn't falling down after every strike anymore, and was able to fix herself back up much faster than she was able to at first. But in even so, she hadn't been able to see the point of it. All she knew was that Naruto had been right before.
She stood before the river again, looking at the water flowing down stream. She knew she would spend the next few hours in it, and fighting to stay on top of it. She was just about to walk into the water when a hand on her wrist stopped her.
"Not tonight" Naruto said, letting go "Tonight we're going to see the results of your training thus far in effect"
Hinata nodded, and smiled slightly, glad that the time had come. After the previous example of his teaching she would probably of continued with it up until the exams themselves, but she was all the gladder to stop and see the effects of why she had been doing what she had been doing. Suddenly several clones appears next to Naruto.
"You're going to take on my clones, in a series of one on one fights. And I must stress, you must come at them with the will to hurt them. They are clones, and so there's no reason you shouldn't strike to hurt. Now come! For each one you break you can ask me one question." He said, all the clones grinning. Hinata gulped hard, taking her stance.
The first clone stood before her, taking his own stance. She looked him over, the stance he was using was much the same as the one they taught at the academy, at least she would have familiarity on her side.
The clone leapt forward
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Author Notes: Okay chapter ends there.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Before I leave I present to you a opportunity for interaction!
Naruto in this will be an enigma, it will be awhile before I make any plans to explain anything about him. So you get to vote in;
What do you want Hinata to ask Naruto?
The answer will be chosen based upon believability, creativity and the all important fun-factor!
Until Next time!