Chapter 2: Fruits of Devotion
Lucky for him, he was good at predicting the stupidity of his team mates. Neither had wondered how he was able to get the drop on Kankurou several hours ago. So of course they wouldn't have thought too much about him actually going to train. He figured Sasuke just didn't care, with that whole superiority complex of his, and Sakura followed him blindly with that whole obsession complex of hers. Also going by things that he was good at predicting, he expected Hinata to be finishing her team training and being on her way to stalk…watch him.
He stood up, wiping sweat from doing push-ups. He turned towards the stone pillars where he knew Hinata was hiding. She was most likely watching with her byakugan. Chuckling, he pretended not to notice her, creating several clones before taking a fighting stance. He was used to it, and under the watchful gaze of the Hyuga heiress, Naruto felt he could train in peace. No one would come to disturb him without Hinata noticing, and when he felt her lower her chakra, he would know something was up.
After several minutes of light sparring Naruto finally stretched and looked directly at the pillar. "Hey, Hinata, you can come out at any time if you want to practice before the exams."
A small squeak was his only reply. He chuckled, holding back full blown laughter and walked towards the starry eyed girl. She blushed profusely, amazed that her long time crush had known she was there. She looked up at him, wondering if it was the real Naruto.
For reference, Hinata Hyuga was, and still is, the shyest girl to walk the Hidden Leaf Village. So as the image of her crush, puppy love or not, seemed to descend from the heavens themselves, one could only imagine that the girl was completely, utterly, speechless. As the gears in her head cranked into overdrive to prevent the pre-teen from falling back and most likely smacking her skull onto hardened soil, she let out what Naruto could only describe as a pleasure filled moan of bliss known only to those who have felt complete in more ways than one, yet contained all the virtue of an angel.
As overdramatic as it seemed, it was exactly what happened.
'Naruto-kun…he's talking to me!'
The only thought that crossed the princess's mind, of course, was on this trifle event. Naruto, on the other hand, was debating running from the now dream induced girl. He was currently waving his hand in front of the spaced out pre-teens face, hoping that her conscious wasn't on a one way trip to obsession land.
"Yo? Hinata! Wake the hell up!" He called shaking the girl slightly. The girl shook her head before looking directly into Naruto's eyes…
And diving right back into the blissful ocean of her mind.
'Well shit! We aren't gonna make any progress like this.' Naruto picked the girl up, carrying her towards a tree. He began to sweat as the girl incoherently mumbled something along the lines of 'Don't stop Naruto-kun.'
Setting her down by the tree, he sighed before going to continue his own training.
"Actually, maybe I should've thought that one through a little more. I hate to admit it, but she may be almost as bad as Sakura in her own little way."
Naruto really liked Hinata, more than Sakura no doubt, but he couldn't ignore the fact that she was just plain weird. He was insightful, yes, but still held his adolescent mind. There was a lot the boy knew about love and romance, though it seemed he still didn't completely understand the term 'shy' and the concept of 'being too afraid of rejection to actually confront my crush and/or love'. Hinata Hyuga fell into both categories.
So until the young teen actually began to understand the true depth of the feelings Hinata had for him, he would never truly be able to accept the girl's heart. Nor would he be able to open his heart in the same way…
"Uhn…" The Hyuga heiress began to stir in her semi-conscious state. "N…Naruto-kun?"
Naruto paused from his exercise and smiled at the princess. He dispelled the remaining clones and walked over to the girl. Of course, she blushed, and a flurry of questions ran through her mind.
'Is that really Naruto-kun? He looks so…different! Where's the orange?'
"Yo, Hinata, if you keep fainting on me like that, we'll never get any training done." Naruto called flopping down next to the girl. Her blush grew at the close proximity, and she suddenly found herself holding her breath. It was unbelievable, to actually be having real interaction with the blonde. Though she hadn't spoken one coherent word the entire time, now's better than never.
"N-Naruto-kun…" And she had nothing. Nothing could come to her to describe exactly what she wanted to say to him. She didn't know herself.
In the back of her mind, she wanted to speak up, to engage a conversation or anything, instead of just sitting there like a choking ditz. Her irrational side was telling her to be reckless and admit her feelings on the spot. However, the Hyuga could have a level head, to some degree and could easily push that thought away. The fact that Naruto was taking his time to talk to her meant that he was interested in her, even if just bordering slight curiosity.
She knew she wasn't very articulate to begin with, and her courage was just a shot above none. So tears came to her eyes as she realized that she wouldn't be able to speak to him comfortably at that time. She cursed herself on the inside, feeling weak and helpless. Unable to confront Naruto in a simple conversation, and unable to stand up to her father over her own usefulness.
Pathetic.
She felt pathetic, in her own right. All the talks of her being useless and being shunned by her own family. She was finally starting to think that maybe there was a reason. How would she change her entire clan if she couldn't even talk to her crush? Now she couldn't even look at him. He must have felt the same way. Everyone around her thought she was pathetic. Her father, her sister, Neji, her teammates…and now even Naruto.
Naruto froze in shock as tears streamed down the pre-teens face and she rose, darting from the area before Naruto could utter a single word. His gaze followed the girl until she was gone from his sight. Half of him thought that the girl was of course, being weird. However, a sliver of acknowledgement showed that he was seriously worried about the girl. He hoped he hadn't done anything to cause the sudden emotional change in the girl.
"Yeah, you just fucked up kit." The Kyubi barked in a calm tone, as calm as a bellowing demon could get.
"What? What did I do? What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked, hoping he could find a way to fix whatever had just happened.
"She's hurting kit. That's all I can tell you. This is a problem you will have to fix on your own."
Naruto frowned. Maybe he did come on too strong. He startled the girl, but why would she run off crying? For a split second, he wondered if Hinata felt just like the villagers. He wondered if she had hated him all along…
"Stop it kit. It's not like that at all." The fox coaxed the blonde as the thoughts began to sadden him. He could care less about what many people thought of him, but he had thought Hinata admired him the entire time. The demon knew that Naruto was still young, so he couldn't completely blame the blonde for being oblivious. "Focus on your training for tomorrow."
Naruto silently nodded his head, knowing that dwelling on the girl would distract from his training. Of course he wouldn't just push her to the side, opting instead to find out what was wrong with her during the chunin exams. Besides, maybe pushing her away now would be a good thing.
The thought itself both confused and hurt him. She was one of the only kind people to him, so he didn't want her to vanish from his life all together. But if she were to be away from him, then he'd be able to get stronger and re-build whatever bond they had over time.
"Kit, if you continue to practice tonight, you will be able to master the Tatsumaki Rendan. You will have enough time to practice those other moves you've been working on as well." The fox was trying to re-focus him, albeit, with a bit more effort for his comfort. He'd be damned if Naruto was killed during the chunin exams because he continued to neglect his training.
"Okay…" Naruto sighed and created five clones. The clones looked at their creator with worry, all still feeling what he was. Drawing a kunai, Naruto lazily slid into his own little fighting stance. He held the kunai reverse handed, his arm sticking straight out. His legs were spread wide and his other arm was pressed to his side. It was like a kenjutsu variation of judo.
The clones sighed themselves before rushing the original all at once. Naruto spun effortlessly, plunging the kunai into one of the clones. As another one drew close, he brutally front snap kicked it into smoke. Spinning one more time, he used his forearm to block a jump kick from the third clone. The fourth clone used the distraction to sweep Naruto. Using the momentum from his backwards motion, he planted his hands on the ground and vaulted into a backflip. In the air, he flashed through hand signs before putting his fingers to his lips.
"Fuuton: Kaze Yari!" (Wind Technique: Wind Javelin!) After taking a deep inhale, Naruto fired one swift stream of wind down onto the two clones, destroying them instantly.
As he landed, he cursed. The sounds of sizzling paper surrounded him. The last clone had surrounded him with exploding tags. Desperately looking around, he spotted the clone hiding in a tree. Quickly, he flared one last hand sign. The clone's eyes widened as it was switched with the original in a substitution jutsu, and was destroyed by its own trap. Naruto dropped from the tree, sighing in indignation.
"That's good kit. Quick and efficient. You're starting to show the true prowess of you shinobi."
Naruto didn't respond for several seconds, mind drifting to everywhere and nowhere. Two days of training still wasn't enough for him to dominate in the chunin exams, but he had one small advantage. Everyone that knew him would be thinking that he's still the same weak, dead last. With the element of surprise and deception, he could at least catch many people off guard.
"Hey…fox, if I master Tatsumaki Rendan, I won't be efficient with that last jutsu. I can practice my Kaze Yari up to the point where it's strong enough to do real damage. I won't always be up against kage bunshins. Then I can focus on doing that last jutsu. I'd rather go into the exams with at least two decent jutsus and one experimental one."
"If that is what you wish."
Naruto nodded, feeling grateful that the fox wasn't bothering him as much as usual. He kept his mouth shut, knowing that it wasn't permanent. His mind kept focused, trying desperately not to think of Hinata. The whole ordeal confused him greatly. Shouldn't he had just kept trying for Sakura? No, he couldn't do that. He knew he would never truly fall in love with Sakura, and she would most likely never give him the time of day anyway. Maybe the whole time he had been fooling himself. Using Sakura as an excuse to not get close to the Hyuga.
But he couldn't do that anymore. He was changing. Holding onto that part of his past wasn't going to help him grow. Whoever accepted the new him and respected the old him. They would be part of his future. Several people he knew were already going to be cut from his life.
'I guess…this is it. Whatever happens from this point on…I can't look back.' He created fifty shadow clones and began his final preparations for the chunin exams.
"Where the hell IS he?" Sakura's piercing voice roared from in front of the academy. Many participants entering the building gave the girl a deadly glare before continuing on their way. Sasuke grunted in annoyance at both Sakura's shrieking, and Naruto's tardiness.
"Maybe Kakashi-sensei's rubbing off on the dobe." He huffed. Thinking back to the day before, he remembered his teammate saying he was going to talk to that red-haired kid behind the academy. Sasuke had shown up, hoping to catch the conversation but the two only seemed to be standing there, staring into each other's eyes. It freaked him out for the most part, because they stood in place, unmoving for a half hour. Then they parted ways without a word, plunging the raven haired boy into confusion.
"Naruto-baka! Where've you been?" Sakura screamed, bringing Sasuke back to reality. Naruto had the same attire as the day before, though cleaner. His gaze was down and his attention seemed to be far from the chunin exams. Even Sakura's voice wasn't enough to bring the teen out of whatever thought he was having.
"Dobe, what's the deal?" Sasuke prodded. Naruto slowly looked up, a look of worry on his face for only a second before it was replaced with a passive look.
"Nothing. Has Kakashi-sensei shown up yet?"
"At your service!" Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves, eye smile in place. "Did you need me Naruto?"
"Yea…" A quick glance at his teammates and he sighed. "No. Just wondering if you had shown up on time for once." Naruto's tone was low and even, as if he were depressed. Because of this, it was obvious that he was hiding something. Kakashi rose an eyebrow, though he wasn't interested enough to prod further into the situation.
"Well, I'm glad to see you've taken a step towards becoming a real shinobi Naruto. Those dark colors will keep you hidden well!"
All three students sweat dropped.
"Is there any other reason you're here other than to annoy us sensei?" Sakura dead panned. Kakashi chuckled.
"Well, I was going to wish you luck. The first test will be in room 247. These exams aren't all fun and games. Your life will be in danger. I wouldn't have entered you if I didn't have complete confidence that you coul-"
"Save it sensei, we're late." Naruto interrupted and began to walk towards the building. Now Kakashi was alerted.
'Something's wrong here…'
Sakura and Sasuke looked after their teammate in shock. He was acting strange. Stranger than normal. Kakashi looked at the two and then back at Naruto. He couldn't confront him their without raising a ruckus. He'd have to wait, but he was going to find out what was going on. What could make the usually hyper active blonde so solemn?
"Well, get going you two." Kakashi faked a smile and waved, vanishing once again. Sasuke began walking towards the building, ignoring Sakura's attempts to ask him what he obviously didn't know. Neither could possibly understand what was making the blonde act the way he was.
Inside, Naruto stood waiting by the stairs. He was looking down a hall towards a large group of genin standing in front of a door. Sasuke and Sakura walked up, following his gaze to the group.
"Naruto-ba-" Before Sakura could begin screaming, Naruto had grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth.
"Stop being so loud or you'll draw unnecessary attention. Now go, the boss is upstairs." In a silent puff of smoke, the clone dispersed. Sasuke frowned, though part of him wanted to laugh, seeing the disheveled and fuming Sakura. Sasuke began to head upstairs, Sakura only following because it was…well, Sasuke.
Naruto stood in front of a similar looking room.
"Baka, what the hell was that stunt back there?" Sakura cried stomping forward with a ready fist. She swung…and hit air. In the next second, Naruto had her arm twisted behind her back and she was pinned against the wall. Sasuke's mouth dropped and Sakura grew motionless.
"Save your strength for the exams. And stop trying to hit me, or I'll start retaliating." All of his words were even. It made her shiver, knowing that he could give her advice and threaten her all in one tone. Her mind was far behind the thought process of the position he had her in.
"Dobe, we're already late! What the hell did you drag us up here for?" Sasuke called. Naruto pointed to the room number on the wall next to the door.
"That was the first floor. Kakashi sensei said the room was 247. I'm pretty sure everyone else just saw the group down there and instantly decided that was the testing room. You can't just follow the crowd or you'll end up dead." Naruto was once again subject to the shocked gazes of his teammates. Blushing slightly, he turned from them and opened the door.
They entered a wide room, full of chunin exam hopefuls. Naruto spotted Gaara instantly leaning against a wall. The sand genin nodded towards Naruto and Naruto nodded back ever so slightly. No one caught the movement. Naruto was about to begin scanning the competition until a blur of purple and blonde soared past him.
"SASUKE-KUN!" A voice almost as loud as Sakura's shouted out. Without even having to turn around, Naruto knew Sasuke's number 2 fangirl had latched onto him.
"Beat it Ino-pig!"
'Yep. Ino.' Naruto thought with a sigh. 'She's pretty much a female version of me with a bad obsession problem and a tendency for sadism...'
"I'll gut you!" Sakura yelled out.
'I take that back. Sakura's the sadist...'
"Yo, Naruto! You guys made it too! What's with the new get-up?" Shikamaru lazily asked while lazily trudging forward, showing the world exactly how lazy he was. A few steps behind Shikamaru was his forever eating friend, Chouji.
This team, together, was a force to be reckoned with, Naruto knew. With Shikamaru's brain, Chouji's brute strength, and Ino's…well, loud annoying voice, they would definitely be an obstacle were they to come across each other. On nice terms, Naruto had his exact opinions about all three.
Shikamaru was the coolest person he'd ever met, hands down. Lazy as all living hell, but everything he did do, he made it look effortless. Plus the pineapple haired teen was also one of the only nice people to Naruto. They were good friends. He wasn't sure if he could beat the Nara in a one on one due to his superior tactical thinking.
Chouji was jolly. That was the only way he could describe him. (Mainly for the fact that Chouji tried to smash Naruto every time he called him fat.) They were friends because of Shikamaru, though they did have a few things in common, a.k.a Ichiraku's ramen. Without knowing what type of training he's been through, Naruto didn't know if he could win. But if Chouji hadn't worked on his speed, then Naruto would have no problem.
Ino. He almost rolled his eyes thinking of the girl. She may not have been as bad as Sakura, but damn she was almost as annoying. They had shared little to no interaction during the academy, except for eating lunch together once. And that was because she had almost passed out from dieting. He never knew if she really appreciated what he had done for her, and as of late didn't care. Sasuke was all she thought about. She would be too easy to beat.
"Hey, looks like the old rookie nine is back together again!" A series of barks followed the brash voice. Kiba and Shino walked towards the small group, Akamaru in its partner's jacket.
"Yo! It's dog breath and Akamaru!" Ino called happily. Kiba scowled at the blonde.
"Hey, where's Hinata?" Chouji asked. Naruto's eyes widened and he looked around, noticing that she was indeed missing.
"She said she would await seeing everyone until the exams have started. She has…undergone a change you could say." Shino spoke in his usual monotone.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, speaking for the first time since entering the room. Several of the genin jumped.
"Whoa, Naruto! Is that you?" Kiba asked. Naruto ignored the boy and looked at Shino for an answer to his question.
"It is hard to explain Uzumaki-san. Please await the exams to see for yourself."
Naruto frowned, hearing the saddened tone in Shino's voice. In the back of his mind, he had a feeling that whatever was wrong with Hinata was his fault.
"Naruto, what are you wearing?" Ino asked, actually detaching herself from Sasuke to his and Sakura's delight.
"Just normal clothes. Nothing flashy." He replied. Naruto walked away from the group, leaning on the wall. This brought up questions in all of the genins minds. Naruto didn't care for the looks, though he did catch Shino looking for a split second longer than the rest.
Shino had what could be called a silent friendship with Naruto. Until recently, he never knew what the boy was feeling. But now, just looking at small body movements, Naruto could tell what the bug user was feeling, if only slightly. With his clans techniques, Shino would be a big problem. He wouldn't be surprised if he had already put a bug on every single last participant in the room already.
Kiba was almost just like the old Naruto. The only difference was that he actually had his own strength to back up…most of his words. And he was ten times cockier. Actually, he was cockier now than he was in the academy. They were good friends in the academy but now, Kiba had followed the crowd. He was underestimating Naruto too. Because of his brashness, he would be a mediocre challenge, a little more than a warm-up for Naruto.
Naruto frowned as the last person was Hinata. In the academy, she had won every single sparring match against the girls. Actually she only ever lost to Sasuke. Outside of that, he didn't know any of her skills. He cursed himself, starting to understand why he should've been training with the girl. She was far too timid to actually utilize any of her latent abilities. But Shino had said she changed, and the way he spoke meant it was for the worse.
"Hey, you guys should be a bit quieter. You'll bring unnecessary attention to yourselves. You're making it obvious that you're new to the exams!" Naruto looked up to see a gray haired older teen talking to his friends. He didn't move, analyzing the newcomer. Something just didn't feel right about the teen. Naruto could have sworn he smelled snakes all around the boy. In his musings, he found out the teens name was Kabuto.
'Gotta remember that. I've never seen him around the village at all. Maybe he's…' Naruto's thoughts trailed off. The sound of vomiting brought him back to his senses. Kabuto was on his knees, coughing up whatever had just occupied his stomach. A sound ninja wrapped in bandages stood over him. Naruto ignored what was happening, taking this time to move closer to the sand team since everyone else's attention was on his group.
"Pretty cold of you to ignore your friends like that." A female voice stopped Naruto in his tracks.
"Pretty cold of you to ignore your teammates in the midst of so many enemy ninja." Naruto called back, turning to face the girl. She was the sound kunoichi that had come with the other two. She had long dark hair and wore camouflaged pants.
"Why aren't you over there with the rest of them?" She asked with folded arms.
"Why do you care?"
"We aren't gonna get answers if we both stand here asking questions." The girl said with a smirk.
"True. To answer your questions, I have other things to do than entertain anxiety driven children. Now how about you answer my question." Naruto smirked back at the girl.
"I care because you're actually kind of cute."
"I'm flattered and impressed that you'd be so straight forward with an enemy nin."
"We're not enemies until the exams start right? Besides, you seem different." Her face became serious.
"How so?" Naruto asked, tensing at the statement.
"I don't know. Something about you is familiar…"
"Kin! Get your ass over here!" One of her teammates called.
"Shit. Got to go. I look forward to seeing you again." She said with a wave and ran to her team.
'Fox, should I know that girl?'
"No. However, you are more connected to her than you know. When the time comes, I will reveal why to you."
Naruto didn't pry further. He knew that the Kyubi was trying to keep him focused on the exams, so he would worry about the Kin girl later. Seconds later and the proctor for the first part of the exam had entered the room. Morino Ibiki, head of the T&I Division of Konoha's ANBU. He informed the genin that the first part of the exam was a written portion, consisting of nine questions, and in the end a final tenth question.
The genin began to file into another classroom, taking assigned seats. Naruto sat down at 4C and looked around the room as more and more people entered. Wolf whistles drew his attention to the back of the room and his eyes widened. Hinata walked down the row, her winter jacket nowhere to be seen. She was left in her black short sleeved under shirt and her black ninja pants.
'Holy…her rack is HUGE!' Naruto's jaw hung open, getting snickers from several of the ninja around him. In reality, they too wondered how a twelve year old could develop that fast.
Hinata never noticed the people around her due to her being focused on the paper she held. Her assigned seat, 4B…Her heart skipped a beat. Naruto's gaze made her blush, but it also brought tears to her eyes.
'Why…why Kami-sama! Am I really to be punished so?' She ignored his gaze and sat down next to him, hands in her lap and eyes on the desk. 'No…I don't care anymore…'
"Hi…Hinata…" Naruto stammered out. She shifted slightly, gazing at him out of the corner of her eyes. She held a passive look, but it was just short of a scowl. Naruto felt his stomach sink. Hinata's eyes looked dead. She held his gaze for several seconds. Seeing that he had nothing to say, she looked away sighing in disgust. 'Okay, that actually hurt…'
Naruto looked away as well. Now he was truly worried. The two didn't look at each other as the test rules were explained, the test were handed out, and even when silence enveloped the room.
Hinata felt like crying. She had told herself she would stop harboring feelings for the blonde, but it was getting harder every second. Just being around him was bad. The words on the paper began to blur as tears entered her eyes.
'Why…why am I pathetic to you Naruto-kun?'
No matter how much he wanted to fix things with the young Hyuga heiress, he knew he needed to focus on the test. Scanning over the paper, he almost immediately came to a single conclusion.
'I can't do this shit.'
It was impossible. Nothing on the paper had been taught to them at the academy. Of course, Kakashi had taught them jack-shit so that probably factored in as well. Seriously, the questions weren't meant for genins. So Naruto narrowed down the results to two single options.
Either they really expect us to answer this shit, and me, Sakura, and Sasuke are going to fail miserably because of a neglectful bastard sensei.
Or the more likely, they want us to cheat our asses off without getting caught, the way ninja would take a test.
Naruto was about to do exactly that until he noticed a smudge at the top right hand corner of the test. His brow furrowed and he looked at it closer. It looked like a tiny N.
'What the hell?'
Looking at the illustrations to some of the questions, he began to find more smudge like letters. At first, he thought they were typos, but then he began to put the letters together.
'N.O.R.I.G…' He continued on until he could find no more. His eyes would have widened but he didn't want to draw attention to himself or be suspected of cheating. The message was clear.
'No right answers…'
"Good, Kit. Good!"
'That's it? There are no right answers? Then what's the purpose of this crap then?' He paused. 'That really is it then! They want us to cheat without getting caught. Which means, someone here isn't a genin and has fake answers. They would know we were cheating without even having to catch us!'
As time passed, Ibiki spoke up, prepared to give the tenth question. He sprayed bullshit about quitting now and taking the exams another year. Naruto paid it no attention, knowing that it was all lies. A majority of the room raised their hands and gave up on the spot. All of the rookie nine remained.
"Now then. On to the tenth question. Everyone that stayed…has passed." He smirked at the shocked expressions on the faces of the genin.
"What the hell? What do you mean we pass? What about the tenth question?" The Suna Kunoichi Temari asked, showing more frustration than she usually let show.
After an explanation on information gathering, Ibiki effectively made the genins lose their appetites. His head was covered in scars, and some looked ready to re-open at the touch of a feather.
"Sorry I asked." Temari groaned dropping her head to the table.
"Hinata, whatever I did yesterday, I'm sorry." Naruto whispered. The Hyuga heiress froze up, eyes widening slightly.
'He's…apologizing?' The Hyuga heiress instantly went pale. 'He doesn't even know why I'm upset with him! Oh Kami-sama, what have I done?'
Before the starry-eyed girl could explain herself, a blur of tan crashed through the windows. Two kunai lodged into the upper parts of room, revealing a banner over head.
"What's up chumps! I'm the deadly, sexy, Anko Mitarashi, and I'll be your proctor for the second part of the exams!"
Silence enveloped the room. Crickets chirped…getting Shino several glares from his teammates.
"Uh…too soon?" The special jonin sweated and looked at Ibiki.
"Like always."
Anko's demeanor instantly changed, and she smirked evilly at the group of genin. "Well, looks like we've got a decent turnout. Not too many, not too few. This is going to be fun! Everyone of you chumps meet me at the entrance to the Forest of Happy Kittens and Rainbows in half an hour!"
"Don't you mean the Forest of Death?" Ibiki asked.
"Exactly!" She called with a sadistic chuckle before shunshining from the room.
"Holy shit, that chicks almost as scary as my mom!" Shikamaru called, getting nervous chuckles from friends and foes alike. Everyone began to leave, save Hinata and Naruto.
"I need to talk to you Hinata." Naruto whispered. Hinata's gaze held his, and though she was listening finally, he could see that she still held indifference towards him.
'She never hated me...that was foolish to think that. But why can't I figure out what's wrong with her now?'
"Naruto…" Naruto's heart ached at not hearing –kun at the end of his name. "Forgive me. I may have misunderstood our positions yesterday. But please, give me some time to think."
"This is the first time you've actually talked to me." Naruto said, not wanting the girl to go.
"Wha…" Shock settled in as she realized that it was. She couldn't put together a sentence the day before but now here she was telling him that she wanted to be away from him. She looked away sadly.
"Hinata, for the record, I like you a lot. So if I gave you any doubts about that yesterday, I'm sorry."
"I figured." She said silently. "Just now, I had a feeling that it was all in my imagination." She laughed sadly, tears starting to fall. "I went home and told my father to go fuck his self."
Naruto rose an eyebrow. "You did what?"
"I thought that you thought I was pathetic. I thought that you were looking down on me too, Naruto." Wiping tears away, she looked at him. Her gaze was more calculating than before. "If you felt that way, then nothing else mattered. So I finally went off on my father. And you know the funny part? He acknowledged me for it! He actually said that I was acting like a Hyuga!"
'Shit, I think she's lost it…' Naruto gulped.
"I started to think then. If acting like a Hyuga was the only way to get acknowledgement, then I should start acting like it." Her fists were clenched. "But you say that you like me now, and I'm wondering should I be happy and go back to how I used to be, or should I give up on you and continue to get the acknowledgement of my father…"
"Do both." Naruto said quickly, not wanting an answer to that statement. Hinata looked at him confused. "Hinata, don't give up on me. I know I did things wrong…I should've been there for you. It took me this long to figure out that the world doesn't revolve around me. I should've talked to you the moment I knew you were watching me train." The Hyuga blushed deeply, wondering how he could have known the entire time. "Be my friend and still get the acknowledgement of your father. If you proved yourself to him last night, then you know that you're not pathetic. You just needed to fall before you could truly stand on your own. I'm sorry that it was me that had to make you fall though."
Hinata's mind was developing like Naruto's now. She was thinking more than she used to. So analyzing everything Naruto had just said, she realized where her mistake lied.
"Naruto-kun, it wasn't your fault. I preemptively thought that you were looking down on me. I know now that you weren't and I'm happy for that."
"But…" Naruto added sadly. He was happy that she wasn't upset with him anymore but he was sure that she had more to say.
"You know what I feel about you." Naruto nodded at her statement, a small blush forming on both of their faces. "I can't…I can't pursue those feelings knowing that I'm only going to make you weaker. I want to get stronger, Naruto-kun, so I can be of use to you and to myself. As of now…" Her next words would haunt Naruto for the duration of the day. "We just aren't compatible."
He knew it was true. They both were waking up as ninja, a little too late. They wouldn't be able to do anything with their current conditions. Hinata needed to be able to stand up for herself more and Naruto needed to get stronger.
"Hinata-chan, I'm not waiting though. I don't want to go about like this. It shouldn't have taken so much for us to start feeling this way. Let's get stronger together, until we are compatible."
"Naruto-kun, I don't know what the future holds anymore. I had always thought that your determination would make everything better. But my doubts yesterday made that vanish. I can't go back to that anymore and the reality is that my future is going to lead to more pain." She shivered as the thoughts brought more tears to her eyes. Naruto was respecting her more and more. She wasn't blindly throwing herself on him how he thought she would've done the day before. For the first time, she was thinking of herself over everyone else.
"Hinata-chan, I can promise you that things will always get better, no matter how bad they get! If you want to look towards the future, then take my hand!" Naruto said extending his hand.
"Naruto-kun…"
"We may not be compatible now, but if we get stronger together, I want to be…" He trailed off, a blush crossing his face. Hinata turned red as well and took his hand.
"Until we're stronger, then we're just friends…" She said with a hint of sadness.
"Then you're still willing to be more later?" Naruto asked. Hinata's blush grew and she smiled, nibbling on the tip of her finger. Naruto smiled warmly. Seeing her do that reminded him of the sweet girl she was in the academy. He had caught her before she had completely lost herself.
"I don't know Naruto-kun… it depends." She said slyly.
"On what?" Naruto asked genuinely confused. A devious grin formed on her face.
"If you can keep the new me interested!" She said before rising and leaving a stunned blonde in her wake. Ibiki looked at the scene silently.
"Well, kid, looks like you got a game of 'hard to get' to start playing." He called with a chuckle. Naruto looked back and forth between the door and Ibiki.
"Fuck the chunin exams. This is gonna be much harder…"
A/N: Well, it turns out, this chapter was...meh, to me.
Naruto: Well duh. First off, you skipped the scene where Rock Lee pwns Sasuke, thus, failing to introduce four important characters, you introduced a problem with Hinata and solved it damn near right away, you made Sakura less violent this chapter and overall, this chapter was just plain dull.
TSU:...Uh...first off, fuck you. Now, I skipped the Rock Lee part because Naruto had already come late, plus they didn't go to the fake room. Hinata's technically the second main character, so I'm putting more emphasis on her developement as well as Naruto's. Plus, I feel if Naruto rejected Hinata, she'd either kill herself or go off on the next person to say something wrong to her, a.k.a her father. I had to have Naruto talk to her because it wasn't too late to stop her from completely plunging off the deep end. Sakura was shocked that you of all people would threaten her, and by the time she remotley realized it, Ino was clinging to Sasuke, thus, taking her focus off of you. As for the chapter overall...well, compared to the last chapter it was quite dull...BUT! I needed to progress the story since I have so many things to introduce and so little time.
Naruto:...You better do better next chapter. I want to see me kicking ass!