Author Notes: I'm glad to see you are all enjoying this! =)
First, thank you all for all grammar and spelling pointing out. Okay, I clearly don't share Naruto's sharp learning curb, however everything you point out I am less likely to make said mistake again!
A few responses to clippings of reviews are:
To Evilshroom who wrote
"Your Hinata seems somewhat less capable than the canon one. Someone who was able to go toe-to-toe with Neji and stay up as long as she had in taijutsu-only combat is not someone who would have lost a taijutsu spar to Sakura, of all people, not but a year AT MOST earlier."
Of course! Hinata was inspired from Naruto since the beginning of the Academy days having first met him when he saved her from bullies not long before they began attending. Without that positive influence around who had been there to show her she can change from being the 'weak' 'failure' she was told she was? There's your answer.
EvilShroom also wrote
"Sasuke himself isn't much of a bastard. I'm curious why- Hinata's decreased combat ability can be attributed to a lack of motivation with Naruto's absence in her Academy years. Sasuke's personality adjustment seems more out of convenience than reason. You wanted to write a likable Sasuke, so you did."
Ripples is the answer. So Naruto wasn't in the academy. But what else does that mean? In regards to Sasuke in particular. I could be wrong, but I think that without Naruto around to be his rival, but also and more importantly his friend. Lord knows we see enough flash backs that as kids, Naruto and Sasuke met, though didn't appear to have a verbal relationship, they clearly regarded each other well, recognising each other with a smile. Without this sort of outlet, I imagine Sasuke to be at this time a little longing for a bond. I could provide more details, but this is a point in the right direction enough.
To sasumiofjp who wrote:
"how old are naruto and hinata in this fic?"
The answer is currently; Twelve years old.
To Serena530 who wrote (a LOT, but here's a small section):
"Question. Does Sasuke have his fangirls in here? I'm just wondering because I wondered if Sakura is all in love with him in here, and if she is if that will be problematic with him being on a team with Hinata? I mean problematic in that Sakura will be jealous of Hinata for getting to be around him all the time even though it would be clear that she would have no feelings for him. So maybe I'm thinking it'll be some kind of rival between the two girls. Of course we might learn all of this if you put her on the team as well, but i was thinking that they always make the team with 2 boys and 1 girl."
While the fangirls in the actual Naruto series are not quite as…. Obsessive as they are in many fanfictions, it is shown that Sasuke is something of a heartthrob with the young ladies of Konoha. So, yes, sort of I suppose, he has 'fangirls'. I have my teams planned out already and they are set to 1 girl and 2 boys per team. I won't spoil who is with whom. Thank you for your review it's nice to see someone give this much feedback! =)
Finally a personal thank you to your impressively patient returning readers who are all writing me reviews and PM's about how happy you are this is continuing. It does mean a lot to think that people have remembering this fic for that long and still care to see it finished. And yes Chewie Cookies, there is a lot more than 'guts' written in that scroll!
Now, enough chin-wagging. It's Monday, I imagine many of you need a pick me up so that the week doesn't seem so gloomy. Here's hoping this does just that!
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Naruto Sempai: Chapter 9 – Hinata's Question, Naruto's History
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"Come on Hinata!" Naruto urged. "Stay on your toes"
Today had been the same as all her training sessions lately. She was breathing hard, and felt completely exhausted. She pushed herself back up. She couldn't stop now. There wasn't any time to waste on being tired. Time was slipping away and she had only begun to get the hang of this new training.
"Good, now, move with me" Naruto said, continuing the moves she had been trying to imitate for hours now. She was getting it slowly, but it was proving both tricky to keep focused on so many things at once, as well as entirely exhausting. She was aching is muscles she didn't even knew she had!
He hopped over his weight onto his left foot. As she tried to follow, she lost control and fell over. This time Naruto caught her.
"Alright" he said reassuringly "It seems you're too exhausted to continue for now" Hinata tried to push him away, and gain her own balance
"N-No, I can-" She tried
"That's enough, Hinata" He repeated easily, holding onto her. She sighed in defeat, and let herself fall back into Naruto.
"We still have all day, there's no sense in destroying yourself now" he said, pulling her arms around his shoulder, and lifting her up. He carried her to the streams edge.
"Just relax for a bit." He instructed "Here, eat something" he said, a clone coming into sight carrying a basket. Within the minute the clone had helpfully set up a small picnic area. Hinata had just been trying to catch her breath enough to even think about eating. She stood the time to look about their new training ground.
Due to the chuunin exams, most of the usual area's had been assigned to partaking genin, including the visiting teams. As such Naruto moved their training ground to a small area just outside Konoha. It was a wooded area with a few open areas, along side a small river, with a waterfall around the corner. When she had asked him, he told her this was a nice nostalgic place for him, and was where he met with his own Sensei whenever he was around. Hinata assumed that meant his Sensei, likely a jounin, was often away on missions, with Naruto back and forth also, it must've been harder to pick out times.
Naruto was glad she didn't ask. Explaining his current Sensei was a ninja who had somewhat left the village could be a delicate subject.
"I know it's not as ideal as the actual training grounds. But it's not that bad, right?" he asked, with a grin. Hinata gave a tired smile
"I don't mind it at all" she answered honestly "Actually I kind of like it" Naruto gave a nod in agreement, as he took a bite of some of the food he had prepared.
"Naruto-Sempai?" Hinata asked, after a minute's peace.
"Yeah?" he said, not looking up from picking off crumbs from his vest
"What do the chuunin exams consist of?" she asked, her mind having wondered back to the cloud ninja. Naruto looked up with a thoughtful frown.
"Well, you say consist of? By which you mean… what?" he asked, studying her as she thought about what she was asking.
"Well, I was wondering. Was there any special reason the cloud ninja come here to do it? And how does it differ from the genin exams?" she asked, looked back at Naruto with an expression of interest.
"Bit of a question then." He said with a smirk "Well it's like this. All countries ninja attend the same exam. They are graded together, and take the test together. There are multiple reasons, but it can be simplified down to hidden village relations." He explaining, pausing to make sure she understood so far. She nodded, so he continued.
"The test itself is broken down to 3 stages. A mental test, a physical test, and then the matches, though I suppose you know all about the final stage?" he asked, knowingly. Again, Hinata nodded, having been taken there with her father every time a Hyuuga had been participating. After it was apparent Naruto didn't have anything left to say she decided to ask another question.
"What were your exams like?" she asked, a curious smile forming on her lips. Naruto looked at her thoughtfully.
"Difficult would be the word. I took mine in Kirigakure, which I suppose I could only describe as interesting. And wet, obviously." He said, leaning back, and looking up at the cloudless sunny sky. "Mostly I wonder if I was lucky more than anything, I ended up passing the first time around all the while I never had much of an idea what I was really doing. Just put everything I knew into it and by the end of it someone apparently thought I should be a chuunin." He finish scratching his head. "Come to think of it, I only won my first match in the third part"
Hinata tilted her head in surprise. It hadn't occurred to her that he didn't win the tournament. Not that she thought you had to; the idea of only 1 possible chuunin promotion every 6 months would be silly, but even so. From everything of him she had seen so far, it was hard of her to imagine him losing.
Naruto thought back, closing his eyes and remembering that time. He gave it everything he had. They had to call the match because he wouldn't stop getting back up. He could even remember his frustration at the ruling. Even though now he saw he was just being a stubborn kid. Victory was just impossible. But he knew he'd do the same thing again. Never go back on your word. And he had the other promise to keep.
He felt the wind shift around him. He opened his eyes, to see Hinata lying back apparently soaking in her resting time. In that moment he came to a realisation. When the same time came, she would be the same. She had already proven a number of times that she's ready to break the rules when it came to her limits. Of course that wasn't always an admirable trait so much as a foolish one. But then… Who ever said there was anything wrong with being a fool?
"Naruto-Sempai?" She asked sitting back up from her position.
"Yes, Hinata-san?"
"I was wondering if I may, I would like to use one of those questions now" She asked, looking him with a level of seriousness, but also curiosity.
"Sure then, shoot" he said with a grin.
"How did you become so strong?" She asked. Naruto's grin persisted as he scratched the back of his head
"Well, I guess I should of seen that one coming" he admitted "It was a combination of things to be honest. First thing to know is that I lived with my god father when I was smaller. We moved around a lot and his… business involved spending time with others. In short, as cold as it sounds but he needed me to grow up a bit faster. But it wasn't bad or anything. He'd spend hours showing off all the things he could do because of chakra control and other things that it really built a strong drive for me to learn to do those things myself. What kid wouldn't work to walk on walls or to create as many play mates for themselves as they wanted?" he said, his eyes unfocused on the present entirely.
Hinata smiled at the idea of a little Naruto gasping in awe at the abilities of a ninja, and his expression as he tried to imitate them.
"So I guess you could say that as a kid I spent my time relentlessly trying to develop those sorts of skills. Apart from that all I can say is maybe I picked it up fast? Either that or I just spent more time on it than anyone else my age." He continued with a uncertainty "But of course being able to take care of myself also meant other things, like he taught me basic fighting moves, though I was incredibly unskilled" he said with a chuckle.
"By the time I got back to Konoha it would've been time for me to enrol. However given my development I guess special arrangements were made. As lame as it sounds, I'm sorry, but I don't recall the full details. After that it was just me. Ero-ahh, my godfather left, deciding that it was time I took my own path, however his place was not here" He said, coming to a pause. Hinata felt sad for Naruto at this point. He was all alone?
"Naruto-Sempai…" she whispered, wanting to say something. But words failed her. Naruto waved it off
"It's not all bad, despite what most people think. It gave me time to get settled in myself, without having to worry about that big per-" He caught himself "Without having to worry about anything else."
Hinata's saddened expression was unchanged. Despite his efforts to dress it up, it still sounded terribly lonely. Just a child to be left to look after himself… It was a thought she could barely stand.
"Anyway, with all that time, I could just focus on the important stuff. Getting down the stuff I was missing and progressing to being a genin. It wasn't even until I did that and was asked about my dreams and ambitions I wanted to make as a ninja did I really even think about what I was doing." He blinked, with a slight frown forming, he looked up at Hinata "To tell the truth, I really was just a kid playing ninja. But even a kid stops to think when you ask him what he wants to do with his life." His expression flickered back to one of happiness "Naturally, first thing out of my mouth was 'Hero'. That was my goal. After all, I was a nobody. No family, no friends, no one to recognise me at all. Heh, attention. Maybe I was developing all along for that very reason. If I mastered whatever he shown me, he'd have to take the time and show me something new…" He trailed off, his eyes revealing, only for a moment the innate emptiness. He looked back up to Hinata, and forced a smile.
"I think we're all the same there though. We all want to be recognised, especially by the people we look up to. Anyway, rest time is over, let's continue, Hinata-san" he instructed, pulling himself back up.
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Over a week had passed since Hinata had asked Naruto her first question. The answer it seemed had truly taken her by surprise. She found it constantly being at the front of her mind. Often playing back what he had told her over and over. From the single question a million more had been born. And yet, she could not bring herself to ask any. She found herself often drifting between the details of what he said.
One additional thing that she felt she had realised by asking the question was why he disliked answering them. It wasn't that it was private information as much as she initially had assumed, but that he was hiding feelings from the world. Maybe it was easier to pretend they didn't exist if his real emotions were undisturbed.
But knowing his loneliness made it that much more impossible to leave it be. She felt alone like that too, all the time. Her father had cast her aside when Hanabi had bested her. Her family was stern and distant. Emotions were weakness to a ninja, and where not to be shown. Of course, beneath the surface she could sense the deep reservoir of feeling. But even since mother had passed away… the surface had truly frozen over.
Maybe that was the reason he had taken her up as his apprentice of sorts. That he was simply lonely, and maybe he recognised that in her?
"Uchiha Sasuke" Iruka called out. Hinata snapped out of her thoughts to watch how Sasuke would perform. No doubt he would excel as he always did. Today they were testing out a more 'real' taijutsu test against Mizuki-Sensei.
As the test began Sasuke was immediately on the offensive, delivering lightning fast strikes, easily able to twist his body to rise the momentum of his strikes. And seemingly was freely about to control himself even whilst performing aerial attacks. Clearly Mizuki-Sensei had a tougher time dealing with him than any of the other students. Seeming to having to exert actual effort to avoid all of Sasuke's attacks
She smiled at the almost typical reactions of her fellow classmates. Many of the boys sat there dejectedly as Sasuke had clearly out done them, some even making comments at him. Whilst many of the girls were only staring and gasping at his abilities. Though Hinata could not deny, Uchiha Sasuke was impressive. His strength after all, was unequalled in their class in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu or shuriken techniques. But even with all that considered, she still didn't quite feel the same way as the other girls, not including the fact she wasn't actually attracted to the Uchiha. She sometimes wondered if it was because she held more respect for him as opposed to affection. Which at least might explain why she could respect him, yet not in the same manner as some of her classmates.
"Hyuuga Hinata" Iruka called out. She resisted the groan she felt on the inside. To follow Sasuke was always the worst time to do anything in front of anyone. She took her stance.
Upon the beginning of her test, she held her ground. Hyuuga arts didn't support a full frontal assault after all. Meaning that Mizuki came to her. She tried to dodge and evade his attacks as best as she could, blocking whenever she needed to.
"Good defences Hinata, but don't be afraid to go on the offence!" Iruka called out. Hinata gritted her teeth. That was easier said than done. Maybe it was against Sasuke Mizuki's blood got pumping, but he certainly felt faster and a whole long stronger than he had looked from the side lines!
During what felt like the onslaught of attacks she was barely managing to avoid she looked carefully. She watched his movement in the same way she had Naruto's when they trained. But it was no good, even when she felt like she could keep up with the speed, her stance was too rigid to be able to move inside her striking range. She blinked as she realised. Her new training practised just that!
Iruka had been about to call it when something unexpected happened. Hinata broken her stance and disengaged, leaping backward.
She remembered Naruto's words
'Stay on your toes´ She envisioned him before her, the way he seemingly floated on his feet. The way his body moved weightlessly. How he seemingly simply weaved out of her strikes.
'What's with that stance?' Sasuke thought with a furrowed brow. Hinata used juuken, a style he'd seen plenty before, which was still and very reactive. But Hinata wasn't in that stance. Instead her fists were clenched, and raised before her. As Mizuki made to strike her she bobbed to the left, seemingly bouncing to the left of the attack as she did so. As she regained footing Sasuke saw her swing her right arm towards Mizuki.
"Enough" Iruka called out. Hinata froze. She had nearly done it. In that moment her strike had been inches away. The look of surprise on Mizuki's face confirmed it. That attack would've actually hit. She slowly turned her head toward a silent class. Apparently they all had seen it.
Sasuke could only blink.
'Is that really Hinata…?' he thought in sheer disbelief.
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Author Notes:
A shorter chapter than I was aiming for, but I got in what I wanted, and I don't want to flesh it out more and risk anyway just for that.
The next chapter update will be Friday, however look out, because I'm aiming for a big one for the 10th chapter.
I am listening to your reviews, so please keep them coming and I will keep doing my best to appease the popular stuff!
I am also now on the lookout for a Beta Reader. Having just worked out how to find one, I feel I would have to search for a long long time to find someone I could work with. So if you either are a Beta reader, or know one that would be interested, please don't hesitate to contact me on it!
Until Next time!