Chapter 3: The Lonely Days
Hinata waited outside for a half an hour, waiting for Naruto to pop up from his hiding place. Maybe they had to give him another test… Hinata thought as she looked around once again to see if she spotted Naruto at all. A lot of the kids that were in the same room with Hinata came out of the Academy with their new forehead protectors on. They chatted among themselves and were soon greeted by some of their parents. Hinata leaned against the wall of the Academy and sighed.
Iruka walked outside to stretch and enjoy some fresh air. Hinata saw Iruka and ran up towards him, wondering if he knew where Naruto was.
"Iruka-sensei." Hinata spoke softly as she approached him.
"Oh, hello Hinata," Iruka said as he finally recognized her, "Is there something I can do for you?"
"I'm looking for Naruto." Hinata replied, "He was supposed to meet me right here when he finished his exam, but I haven't seen him."
"Oh." Iruka responded, "Well, I haven't seen him since he took the exam."
Hinata looked up at him, "Did he get his headband?"
Iruka awkwardly bit his bottom lip. "No, unfortunately." he replied.
Hinata looked down at the ground, feeling a bit sorry for her friend. "Wh-what happened?" she asked her sensei.
"Sorry, Hinata, I can't go into details about other students' exams." He replied to her. He squatted down to her level so he could see her eye to eye. "I'll tell you what, I'll have Mizuki go out and find him for you. You just go home and get some rest."
Hinata looked up at her sensei and put a slight smile on her face. She nodded at his suggestion.
"Oh, Mizuki forgot to mention something to you. You must report to the top of the Hokage Mansion tomorrow to take your picture for your ninja identification." Iruka continued as he stood up properly.
"Thank you, sensei." Hinata said as she began to walk away. She looked back at Iruka, and he gave her a big smile. She turned back around and started walking home. Naruto, please be okay...
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"I'll be back home in a little while" Hinata said to her father as she started walking to the main door. Hiashi looked at his daughter and nodded in reply to her statement. Hinata walked out of the door and started walking towards the way the mansion was from her house. Maybe I should go check on Naruto…. she thought as she looked in the other direction, which was the way to Naruto's apartment. I'll get my identification out of the way first, and then I'll go see him.
Hinata was passing by her favorite clothing store and saw two women standing outside the door. She peeked in the store to see if there was anything new in stock, when she accidentally overheard the two ladies outside.
"Did you hear? That little monster was at it again last night." One of the ladies told her friend next to her. Hinata tried not to stare at them, so she pretended to look inside for a while longer.
"One of the ninjas told me what happened," the other lady responded to her friend's question, "I can't believe that brat tried to steal the Forbidden Jutsu Scroll!"
Hinata eyes slightly widened to hear that someone actually attempted to steal the scroll. The Forbidden Jutsu Scroll? Aren't the jutsus on that scroll dangerous? I wonder why someone would try and steal it…
"And on top of that he tried to run away!" The woman continued her story, "I swear that demon brat is gonna try and rebel against the leaf village with that fo-" the woman was hushed by her friend.
"You know we're not supposed to talk about that!" her friend replied. With that, the two ladies walked away. Hinata slowly backed away from the doorway and started walking on the road again.
I wonder who's this brat that they're talking about? Hinata thought after she processed the information in her head. She finally reached the mansion and looked around to see where they were taking pictures at. She walked inside the mansion and saw a chuunin standing inside.
"Hello, are you here to take your identification picture?" the ninja asked. Hinata nodded and handed her the paper Iruka gave her yesterday. "The photo station is at the top of the building. Just take the stairs until you get to the top." She informed Hinata.
"Thank you." Hinata replied to the chuunin and made her way to the stairs.
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After taking her picture and meeting with the Hokage, Hinata was free from the mansion. She decided to travel to Naruto's house and see if he wanted to have lunch with her. She finally made it to the apartment that he was staying at and knocked on the door.
"Naruto, it's Hinata." She said to ensure Naruto who it was at the door. She waited for a while before she knocked on the door again. Hmm… is he not home? Hinata thought …. Or does he just not want to talk to me after yesterday?... Hinata waited for him to reply, but no one answered. Maybe he found something to do… She sighed and slowly walked away from his door. She decided to go home and eat instead of dining out by herself.
She made it home and unlocked the door. I just hope he's okay… she thought as she entered her house.
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Hinata woke up to a bright, beautiful morning. She got out of the bed and did her daily routine of cleaning up. She put on her ninja attire and wore a slightly oversized jacket with the clan symbol on the sleeves over her solid black V-neck shirt. She seemed conscious about how she looked so she zipped up the jacket. She walked into the kitchen and met her younger sister, Hanabi. Hinata took a piece of fruit out of the basket that sat on the table and washed it off.
"Is that all you're gonna eat?" Hanabi asked. Hinata looked at her sister and nodded. "I don't think that's enough food to give you energy for your first ninja day. Father probably wouldn't approve of it either." Hinata looked down at the ground away from her sister's sight.
If father actually cared about my ninja progress… she looked back at her sister and slightly smiled. "We're not really training today. We're just being teamed up in our groups; the training doesn't start until tomorrow." Hinata really didn't want to tell Hanabi the entire truth… that their father really approved of Hanabi as a ninja and heir to their clan than Hinata.
"Oh." Hanabi replied to Hinata's statement, "Well, I hope you are teamed up with people that you like." Hinata giggled at her sister's statement.
"Tell father that I left for the ninja academy…oops, I mean, my meeting with the other ninja." Hinata smiled and her sister smiled back.
"I will." She replied. With that, Hinata left for the academy.
Hinata started walking and, out of the blue, she thought about Naruto. Naruto… Hinata thought so deeply about what happened the past few days that she didn't realize she was still walking. What the hell has he been doing these past few days? First, he tells me to meet him outside after the exams, and then he doesn't show. And Mizuki never got back with me and told me if he was okay or not… oh my god, could he have disappeared?! Hinata began to panic a little but immediately calmed down. Calm down Hinata, you don't know that for sure. How could I have not noticed that before? He's been gone for at least 2 days… or he just hasn't talked to me in two days… either way, I don't know if he's all right or if someone took him away while he was standing outside waiting for me. I've got to talk to Iruka and see if he heard from Mizuki or Naruto at all.
Hinata finally slowed down her walking and realized that she was right outside of the doors of the academy. Wow, I got here and I wasn't even paying attention to where I was walking… shows you how much I go to school… She opened the doors and walked down the hallway towards the classroom that she formerly attended. She stood outside the door and took a deep breath in. Okay Hinata, starting today you're a ninja… so let's make the first impression count. She opened the door and looked around to see a lot of her former classmates. There were only a few girls, but plenty of guys there. Hinata decided to sit in the back row and wait for the meeting to start. She checked to see if she had all of her ninja gear in her weapon's pocket. I should have done this before I left the house. Just when she was opening the pocket, she heard a strangely familiar voice. That sounds like… She looked up and examined the room to find one of her former classmates, Shikamaru, talking to a spiky haired blonde boy…