Title: What could've been

Author: Kurotsuki-Tenchi

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: NaruXHina,

Genre: Action, Romance and a little bit of comedy.

Rated: M for Language, violence, and sexual content.

Disclaimer: All Naruto characters and stuff belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and therefore can only make-make believe stories about them being real. Sigh.

Authors Note: I am heading into chapter 2 and I am very happy with this story, I am actually surprised that I made it this far. Anyway I am glad you are enjoying my story, if you are. If you find any flaws feel free to critique it, I'm also and artist so I'm used to people insulting my stuff and passing it off as trying to help.

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Chapter 2

Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop, looking for the training grounds. He looked everywhere but he could not find them. The only place he's ever trained was in a small clearing he found in the forest behind the Hokage monument. He sighed in frustration, stopping to rest on a medium sized building close to the Hokage's office.

He looked at the watch he purchased at a cheep price and sighed when it said 5:48. At this rate he was never going to find the training fields, and who knew what his new sensei would do to him for being late.

He looked down at the street in defeat, that was until he noticed a dark haired figure walking down a somewhat deserted road. Happiness flooded him when he noticed that it was Hinata, surely she knew how to get to the training grounds.

"Hey Hinata!" He yelled jumping down and running up to her, she turned to look at him with a slightly flushed face. "Wait for me!"

"N-naruto-kun," Hinata spoke softly to him, he never really realized how soft her voice was. "H-hello." Naruto kind of wondered why she stuttered but dismissed it.

"Do you know how to get to the training grounds?" Naruto asked her, looking at her expectantly. "Because I don't know how." Naruto confused when her face flushed, the only time anyone looked at him with a flushed face was when they were angry with him and yet Hinata didn't look angry.

"Unfortunately no, I-I've been w-wondering around looking for it." Naruto face planted into the ground after hearing her say that, depression descended upon her. "I-I'm sorry."

"No it's not your fault," Naruto got back up and looked at her, scratching the back of his head. "How don't you know where they are? Don't you train there?"

"N-no I-I train at m-my family's d-dojo." Hinata stuttered out weakly, her face reddening every time Naruto got too close.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed as though some new concept was reveled to him. "So you've never trained at the standard training grounds, well never have I. I have my own training area hidden in the forest, so I've never been to the village's training grounds."

"S-so w-we're both s-stuck looking?" Hinata asked, clearly dishearted. "W-we'll never find it before 6 ." After every word she seemed to lose more and more hope.

"Hey don't think like that! Don't worry we'll find it no matter what!" Hinata looked at him, a small glimmer of determination glowing in her eyes. She nodded, to overwhelmed to speak. "Now all we have to do is..."

"Hey." Naruto froze at the voice, a shiver going down his spine. He turned to see none other than Shino standing behind him, looking at them calmly.

Naruto jerked around and faced him, "How did you do that?! I didn't even hear you walk up!" He yelled pointing to the dark haired boy accusingly.

"If you weren't so loud, you would've heard me," Shino turned to Hinata and bowed. "Good morning." She in turned returned his greeting.

"Oh." That single word seemed to tell them everything, Naruto calmed down after his discovery. "Shino, do you know how to get to the training grounds?"

Shino nodded turning away and started to walk north. Naruto and Hinata run up to walk beside him. "Thanks Shino! Neither me nor Hinata knew how to get there!" Shino just nodded again as they continued to walk.

They proceeded down the road, Naruto telling them about anything and everything. It wasn't until they started to walk by people did he fall silent. Both Hinata and Shino turned to look at their partner discreetly, surprised that he was suddenly quiet.

As they entered a more crowed part of the city, Naruto's smile seemed to falter somewhat. The lapse didn't go unnoticed by his two teammates, who were observing Naruto closely. As they walked down the street every adult glared at Naruto and looked on Shino and Hinata in pity, some muttering as they passed.

But Naruto just kept smiling even though both Hinata and Shino could tell it was fake. Even more surprising is that Naruto was silent, not a word escaped him.

Hinata looked more closely at the villagers as they literally glared daggers at Naruto, she saw 2 people on the street when they spotted Naruto the tallest one turned to her companion and started whispering. An idea came to her mind and she knew this was her chance, she'd had been practicing reading lips and it finally looked as though it will finally come in use.

She concentrated on the women and worked to decipher their lip movements, what she got shocked her. The taller started by saying, 'Look it's the demon boy.' which had the other replying back, 'Yeah he became a ninja, can you believe that?' the tall one spoke again, 'I know, those two must be his teammates.' the shorter one replied back again, 'Yeah I feel so sorry for those poor kids, being teamed with that demon brat.'

"Hinata?" She looked to see Naruto and Shino about 4 steps ahead staring at her curiously, evidently she had stopped walking to observe the 2 women's conversation. "Is everything ok?"

She nodded slightly flushed and caught back up, but as they started walking Shino looked at her and she nodded slightly. He nodded back and continued walking, evidently everything Kurenai-sensei had said was true.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

Flashback

The Day before

As the three genin left the meeting spot for the introductions Naruto sprinted off to Ichiraku ramen, he was hungry after the day he had. "See you guys tomorrow!" He yelled out a hasty good bye and disappeared around a corner.

Shino and Hinata however were a little slower in leaving, they were both in deep thought as they walked. They almost reached the street when a figure jumped down in front of him they both looked up at the sudden appearance.

"Kurenai-sensei? W-what are you doing here?" Hinata asked, she didn't stutter as much when she talked except when she was around Naruto. "I-I thought that t-the meeting was over."

"It is but there is something I want to talk to you guys about." They looked at her curiously, "I want you to follow me I have something to talk about."

"Why isn't Naruto here?" Shino asked, Hinata blushed lightly and looked at Kurenai expectantly. "As the member of our team, I think he should be here to discuss this."

"This issue is about Naruto," the two genin looked at their sensei confused. "Now lets find somewhere more private before we talk." Kurenai took off down the road.

Shino and Hinata looked at each other and nodded, then they both ran to catch up to their sensei. As they both walked behind Kurenai they both were deep in thought again.

Hinata's thoughts were on a certain blond headed boy, but not in the way you'd think. She was trying to figure out why all the students disliked him so much, every since she could remember he was always picked on. Yes he pulled pranks all the time but she doubt that was why, because something her father told her long ago bothered her.

She remembered that day as though it was yesterday, it was the first day of the academy and her father said he wanted a talk with her. She was kind of suspicious because her father was acting more cold than usual. He told her there was a student that was going to be in her class and warned her to never associate with him, he described him as a blond with blue eyes and scratches on his face that looked like whiskers. She was confused at first until her father told her he was a monster in human skin, and to stay far away from him.

But when she met him on the way to school he accidentally ran into her knocking her over. Well she was terrified to say the least meeting the boy her father said was a monster but he apologized, and helped her back up. He even help dust off the dirt and gave her a Band-Aid for her scratched hand, (he said he carried them around because he was always falling down and getting hurt.) As Hinata watched him ran off she was even more confused, her father said he was a monster but he was nice and apologetic. And after that day she had always looked up to him.

Shino himself was thinking of his blond teammate also, and why the teachers and almost everyone else hated him. He noticed after he started school, yes he was told to avoid the blond boy by his parents but after witnessing the event with Hinata and Naruto on the first day of the academy he had his doubts.

He had been walking to school when it happened but he saw the blond boy help up a small girl he probably ran into and apologized, and after seeing this there was no way he was evil.

So after that day he had started to observe the teachers and how they reacted to Naruto, what he saw surprised him. almost all the teachers except for Iruka-sensei were mean to him, didn't let him answer questions and if he even fell asleep he was harshly punished even though other students slept and didn't get in trouble. But it was more than the teachers, the janitors tripped him, called him names and would accidentally hit him with their mop poles. But the worst was the lunch lady who gave him food from 2 days ago, while everyone else got food freshly made.

And the strangest part was when some adults were talking were they didn't think there was anyone near they'd talk about Naruto as though he was a demon and speak harshly about him but as soon as someone got near they'd hush themselves. Shino was curious and when he was curious he did everything he could to find out what it is he was curious about.

"Here we are," They were both snapped out of their thoughts as Kurenai spoke up. The both looked to see that they were all in a secluded clearing in a forest. "Now please have a seat."

They both sat down on the ground and looked at Kurenai expectantly, she sighed and sat down too. "As you both probably noticed, not a lot of people like Naruto." They both nodded. "Well its more than that, frankly almost the entire village hates Naruto."

They both turned to stare at Kurenai, neither had though it was that bad. "W-what do you m-mean?" Hinata asked, her eyes curious and yet sad.

"Well both of you remember the story of the nine tailed fox attacking the village right?" They both nodded again, "Well it happened 12 years ago, on October 10th."

"Yeah m-my f-father told m-me the story," Hinata spoke up. "H-he told m-me that a giant nine tailed demon called Kyubi attacked t-the village and t-the fourth Hokage killed him but d-died in the proceeds. B-but what does this have to do with N-naruto-kun?"

"Naruto was born on October 10th," Both of the genin looked at her in shock. "The villagers lost one of the best Hokages in history, and felt helpless and felt the need to blame someone." Well it was mostly true, "Naruto unfortunately lost both his parents that day, no one knows who his parents really are and was sent to the orphanage. And considering Naruto was born on that day, the villagers started to blame Naruto for the attack."

"How could t-they!?" Kurenai was shocked when Hinata stood up and shouted, "H-he lost h-his partners and yet h-he was blamed for doing something h-he couldn't have done, h-he was just a baby!" Hinata was panting due to the exertion of herself and had a very pink color in her face. Kurenai was surprised that the soft spoken Hyuga could yell and she didn't stutter as much, she must have more than a crush on the Uzimaki boy,.

"They don't understand him is all," Kurenai said hoping to calm the distraught girl. "That's why I have a mission for you two."

"A mission?" Shino spoke up, "But don't we get assigned missions by the Hokage?" Shino asked, both he and Hinata looked at her questioningly.

"This will be a personal mission and will probably last for about a week." She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I want you two to hang out with Naruto and observe how people react to him and how he reacts to them, and every day I want you to report your findings to me at the ending of the week."

"Um Kurenai-sensei, m-my f-father wouldn't approve of it." Hinata said, her voice sad. She was actually looking forward to hanging out with Naruto all week.

"Neither would my father, I was told to ignore him." Even Shino sounded a little sad about what Naruto was going through.

"Don't worry about your fathers, if they have any questions than the Hokage would be more than happy to talk with them about it." Kurenai said evilly, she actually smiled.

"Okay than I'll help," Shino said. As long as he wasn't disobeying his father he was happy to help Naruto. Kurenai smiled happily.

"M-me too," Hinata said, glad that her father won't be able to come in between her hanging out with Naruto. "I-I'd be happy to help N-naruto-kun."

"Good, you guys can start tomorrow. For now you guys are dismissed, oh and guys..." They stopped and looked back at their sensei. "Be prepared to receive glares from hanging out from him, just associating with him can condemn you in their eyes." She sighed, "I would understand if neither of you would want to do this."

"I-I won't give up on h-him no matter what!" Hinata said, her voice literally dripping with determination. Shino just nodded approvingly.

"Good, he needs friends like you." And with that she faded and disappeared, the two turned and headed through the forest.

"Hinata, I guess you've noticed it too." Shino said, "How the teachers in the school treated him, as well as other adults in the building.

"Y-yeah, and all the students always p-picked on h-him too." Hinata said quietly as they both emerged from the forest. "M-my f-father called h-him a m-monster in human form, and yet I-I know h-he's not."

"Well Naruto will just have to become Hokage so everyone will respect him." Shino said repeating what Naruto had said earlier.

"A-and I-I want to help h-him to do that." Hinata said as she walked beside Shino, who in turn turned towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really like him don't you?" Shino asked, even though he already knew the answer. Hinata blushed a deep red, and started to push her fingers together.

"I-I guess so," She looked at Shino desperatly. "P-please don't tell h-him!" Hinata pleaded with him, Shino smiled at her knowingly and nodded.

"We have to believe in him and help him, there isn't a lot of people that would help Naruto." Shino said his hands in his pockets.

"I-I know, and I-I will do everything in m-my power to help N-naruto-kun to fulfill h-his dream." Hinata said determinately, Shino nodded in agreement.

As they arrived in the village they said goodbye and split ways, they both needed sleep if they were to prepare for tomorrow.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

At the Training grounds

Kurenai looked on as her students ran for the field, all three of them sprinting to get there on time. She almost giggled when Naruto stumbled after hitting a root, but he managed to stay upright. They were about 4 feet from her when an idea occurred to her and she smiled evilly to herself.

"You're a minute late!" She yelled as the three students froze in mid step in front of her, all three of them looked at her nervously. "And do you know what I do to those who are late?"

Kurenai looked at the three genin standing before her, laughter bubbling up but she managed to hold it in. The three of them looked at her in horror, probably fearing what she was going to do to them. Hinata's eyes were wide and focused on her, Shino looked a little unsettled, but it was Naruto's reaction that caused her the most mirth, he was staring at her with wide eyes and he had a look as though he just met the devil himself.

"Just kidding," she said, her laughter erupting. "You should of seen your faces!" She continued laughing when Naruto looked at her in confusion.

"Um Kurenai-sensei?" Shino asked, looking a little less calm than usual. Evidently they didn't know that their sensei could act that way. Hinata looked relieved that she wasn't in trouble, and Naruto just stood there confused still.

"You mean you was just tricking us?!" Naruto yelled, "I thought you were mad at us!" Evidently Naruto wasn't used to this kind of prank.

"Settle down," Kurenai said, calming herself too. "Okay, the test you will perform today will determine if you are ready to become genin or not." She looked at the three expectant students before her.

"What exactly is the test?" Naruto asked first, his expression eager until a thought occurred to him. "Is it a written test?" Naruto's face suddenly fell. "Please don't tell me its a written test, I hate written tests."

"No, it isn't a written test." She almost laughed at the relief that descended upon Naruto's face. "The test today will test you all in many areas that you learned about in the academy, but it will also involve knowledge that you haven't learned in school."

"Then how are we suppose to know them?" Naruto asked again, obviously confused. "If we didn't learn them, then how can we use them?"

"Through observation and information recall." Kurenai said, she raised her hand in a school teacher way. "Those two skills are imperative for ninjas, and you can't learn them. They are skills that you acquire through practice and experience."

All three nodded, she was surprised that they all knew what she was talking about. "Umm K-kurenai-sensei?" Hinata raised her arm to get her attention.

"Yes Hinata?" She looked at the girl who flushed a little at being addressed, Naruto turned to look at Hinata too and she flushed darkly at his stare.

"W-what is t-the a-actual test?" Both Shino and Naruto nodded in agreement to her question, they all wanted to know what the test itself was.

"The test will be this..." She tossed each of them a scroll in which they all caught in mid air. "You each have a different scroll, and I have the scrolls that corresponds with them." She then held up the other three scrolls.

The three looked at the scrolls, Hinata had a scroll with Heaven written on it, Shino raised his eyebrow when he saw that his said Earth, and when Naruto looked at his she heard him mutter 'of course', because written on his said Hell. She looked at him in sympathy, she actually didn't plan it out that way it just happened.

She raised her arm to get their attention. "Each of you have until noon to capture the scroll that matches yours. But after two of you get a scroll the challenge is over and the one who didn't get a scroll has to go back to the academy."

"What?!" They all yelled at the same time, even the quiet Shino actually yelled out. All three of them were gaping at her in horror, hoping that what she said was a lie.

"Your not serious are you!?" Naruto burst out, disbelief written all over his face. "One of us have to fail no matter what?!"

Kurenai had to fight to keep a strait face, laughter was threatening to spoil her act. "Yes, and one more thing..." She paused for added effect. "No one is allowed to eat until this is over," Right as she said it all of their stomachs growled, reminding them that they haven't eaten anything this morning.

"But why would you want us hungry if you want us to try our hardest in the test, wouldn't it be logical if we had full stomachs?" Shino asked, Naruto and Hinata nodded to his question.

"Because the second part of this test is that the one who doesn't get a scroll will not get lunch, I think that is motivation enough to get you to give your all in this test."

They looked at her in disbelief, more than ever was she on the verge of laughing. She manage to keep her face and emotionless mask, and stifled the smile that was threatening to show. Kakashi was right, this was a riot! "Oh and here's a tip, if you want the scrolls come at me as though you are trying to kill me."

"B-but Kurenai-sensei, how can w-we do that y-your o-our teacher?" Hinata stuttered out weakly, Kurenai sighed, they really have to do something about Hinata's lack of self-esteem.

"Right now I am not your teacher but your enemy with something that you want," She held up the scrolls again. "And I want you to try everything in your power to take them from me."

"Okay if that is what I need to do then I will!" Naruto yelled in enthusiasm which had the other two nodding, even Hinata had a glimmer of determination in her eyes.

Kurenai nodded approvingly and latched the scrolls on three hooks located at her waist. "Now that you know what to expect I think its time to start." She paused as she saw them tense up ready to attack. "The challenge will begin..." She paused again, "Now." then disappeared into thin air.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

"Where did she go!?" Naruto yelled out at the empty spot were his sensei just was. "I didn't even see her form any hand signs!" He looked over to see both his teammates with a similar look of confusion on their faces.

"Byuakugan," Hinata whispered, veins bulged at her temples and she looked around. "Kurenai-sensei i-isn't anywhere n-near." She deactivated her bloodline ability and turned to the others.

"Wow Hinata! How did you do that!?" Naruto was practically vibrating with energy, Hinata blushed when he looked at her.

"Hinata's family's bloodline limit is the Buyakugan, she is able to see the chakra system and has nearly 360 degree vision." Shino spoke for her, he could tell she wouldn't be able to come up with an explanation with Naruto so close to her. "And she can see through a variety of objects."

"Really? That's so cool!" Naruto turned to look at her again, "I wish I had an ability like that!" Naruto turned around again, imagining what it would be like to have the ability to see through things. Hinata looked at him in surprise, she considered her ability a curse and here he was saying it was cool.

"Anyway," Shino said, drawing both of his teammates attention. "She never told us we had to find her first." Shino pointed out, "And she is a jounin, this wont be an easy task to complete." Hinata nodded in agreement as Naruto just stood there looking around.

"I-it almost seemed a-as though s-she was b-being vague with u-us o-on purpose." Hinata said, her voice barely loud enough to hear.

"Your right!" Naruto said and looked at Hinata in surprise. "It's as though there is another purpose to this mission than the one she said." Hinata turned beat red as Naruto got closer to her, when she started to feel light headed she panicked.

"Naruto," Shino said directing the blonds attention from the poor flustered girl. Naruto turned to him with a questioning look. "Due to the fact that you failed yesterday, I want to know if you can do bunsins?"

"No," Naruto said with a smile. "I can do something better, kage bunshin!" He yelled out his hands formed the seals and two Narutos appeared. "Unlike bunshins these are actually real!"

'But Kage Bunshin is a jounin level ability! How is he able to do that and not the normal bunshin?' Shino thought, looking at Naruto with surprise. Shino thought of another thing, this could help them in capturing the scrolls.

"T-that's really c-cool N-naruto-kun." Hinata manage to stutter out, when Naruto turned to her with a smile she almost fainted again.

"We need to come up with a plan to capture the scrolls," Shino said as the other two gathered around him. "But first we need to sort out everything we've learned about Kurenai-sensei."

"Something about what she said yesterday keeps coming back to me," Naruto spoke up, rubbing his temples hoping to remember. "She said her goal in life is to be the best genjutsu user in the world, doesn't that mean she is a genjutsu user?"

"Good job Naruto," Shino said, he crouched down picking up a stick and wrote 'genjutsu' in the dirt. "Anything else?" They all went back to thinking.

"S-she's able to m-make h-herself invisible," Hinata stuttered out, remembering yesterday's discussion and how she faded away when she left.

"Very good Hinata," Shino wrote 'invisibility' beneath the first word. "I myself noticed that she is very observant, remember yesterday in the hallway?" They both nodded as he added 'observant' to the list. "Anything else?" They both shook their heads. "Next thing is to figure out her fighting style and what she's capable of."

"I can do that!" Naruto said, "My shadow clones are able to gather info and when they poof out of existence I am automatically given the info they gathered."

"R-really?" Hinata looked at him. Naruto nodded, "C-can you t-teach m-me how t-to m-make Kage Bunshins?" Hinata asked him.

"Sure! But it took me a long time to get it." Naruto explained. "But if you try your hardest I am sure that you'd be able to do it!" Hinata blushed and nodded.

"Back to the topic at hand, first we need to find her." He turned to his pale eyed teammate. "Hinata, can you use your Buyakugan to find her?" She nodded, he looked to Naruto. "When we find her send some of your shadow clones at her and We'll observe how she reacts and fights back."

"So is that all?" Naruto asked, looking at the words that were written in the dirt. "It looks as though we have a plan," Naruto said smiling looking up at his teammates.

Shino took out a kunai and stabbed it in the ground, "When we are finished with the information gathering you are to report back here." He held out his hand to them, "If any of you are unable to report back here these bugs will automatically let out a scent that my bugs can recognize and I can come give assistance, if it is I who is in trouble than the bugs you have will let off a chirping sound and lead you to me. " The two bugs flew and landed on their shoulders, neither of them even blinked.

"Okay!" Naruto yelled out, straitening from his crouched position. "I say we get to work!" Both Shino and Hinata said a 'Hai' and jumped into the trees.

End Chapter

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