Well, not bad if I do say so myself. I got this one out pretty fast!
A little bit of training, a few set ups for later, and alot of people trying to be sneaky. That's what ninja's do, right? I will say now, though, that I'm only partially satisfied with this chapter. A good part of it I had the actions planned, but I just couldn't get a dialogue I liked. . Over all, though, it's fine. And I get to poke some fun at Jiriaya, heheh; poor guy.
Well hey, read and enjoy, and PLEASE leave a review. Please?
notice-ff style, disclaimer no jutsu!
"She's what?"
"Calm down, I told you both already. She's training for the chunnin exams under an old student of mine so she can avoid the Suna genin while she's at it. He has a unique jutsu that renders him invisible to spying techniques. The only weakness is the user, but he'll manage just fine, so don't worry." Haku glared at the wizened hokage while Anko fumed, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
"You let her go with the perv, didn't you? That's the only other male student you had, and I know it's not Orochimaru. How could you? She's not supposed to do toads anyway. I'm teaching her!"
"Anko, there is a very good reason I've agreed to let Jiriaya train her, and I trust he would be a 'ahem' pervert while she is around. She'll be good for him, and he can teach her things that no one else can; things that she in particular needs to know." Anko folded her arms and continued to star down the hokage.
"Oh yeah? What could he possibly teach her that I couldn't, eh?" Sarutobi frowned as he debated with himself for a moment.
"He can teach her her parents techniques. He knew them better than I did, and he knows how they each managed to create their unique jutsus. If anyone deserves to carry on the legacy of their jutsus, it's Naruto, and she may even be the only one who can learn their techniques." Anko stared at him open mouth. Haku merely raised an eyebrow.
"That perv knew Naruto's parents?" Hiruzen nodded. "And they trusted him?" The old man frowned.
"Anko, I hate that you're making me say this, but of all people you should know better than to distrust Jiriaya because of here say." Anko cringed but folded her arms, unconvinced. "I dare say, given how each of my students were progressing, Orochimaru was becoming stagnant. In the end, it was Jiriaya that had the most potential, and I believe that he would win in a fight between the two."
A/N-I've checked the data books, and since the beginning of the series Jiriaya has had a higher skill rating than Orochimaru, just so you know I'm not making this one up. Jiriaya actually was more powerful, despite Orochimaru being the natural genius.
"Is that your honest opinion, or are you just saying that to justify yourself?" Despite the blatant attack on his judgment the man remained calm, as if the special Jounin had asked him what the weather would be like that day. He leaned back in his chair and looked out the window.
"I have been many things in my life, Anko, and a fool is one of them. I was a fool not to kill Orochimaru when I had the chance. I have learned from that mistake. My life now is protecting my family and my village. I have thought long and hard over this particular matter since I have hoped that Jiriaya would succeed. I needed to know that he would be able to take on Orochimaru if the need arose." He turned back to the woman in front of his desk. "I have used every facet of my mind to determine, and even with surprise attacks, Orochimaru only wins once in thirty times. Jiriaya has the clear advantage, thank-goodness, and trust me when I say I have allowed myself to lean in my calculations, save those that aided Orochimaru, and even with those he looses." The kunoichi's eye twitched for a few moment before turned to walk out of the office.
"Fine, but when I see him I get to beat him into next week if Naruto says he did anything weird."
"Fair enough. Until then, however, prepare for our next encounter with Orochimaru." Anko nodded, leaving Haku alone with the old man.
"I take it there's a bit of history between her and this Orochimaru?"
"Yes, but I'll leave it to her and Naruto to tell you, if they feel they trust you. Remember, they are the ones that know you and invited you here, not me."
"It was your decision to allow me to stay, however." Hiruzen smiled.
"Yes, because Naruto needs more friends closer to her age, and I sensed you would provide it, but this is something a friend tells you about, not your friends grandfather." He gestured to the door. "I cannot aid you in finding Naruto, since we do not know when Gaara may be watching us, but I can tell you not to expect her where you might usual expect her to be. Good day, Haku."
"Thank-you, Hokage-sama."
Alright, I suppose that takes care of that, but I need to keep an eye on Naruto, even if Hokage-sama thinks she's safe. He said himself that we are friends, and Zabuza-sama made it my mission to look after her. She gave me a new chance in life, so her happiness is my own. I do not have the power to defeat this Gaara should he go after her, but I can help her to defeat him.
With those thoughts in mind she headed to the woods. Though out of practice she retained much of her original speed. She had realized that, despite Zabuza's belief, she was not the fastest shinobi out there, and speed did not always win a battle, though it could give a clear advantage if you possessed enough skill. As she continued, he thought about where she might be able to find Naruto. It wouldn't make sense for them to be far from the village. The further they traveled, the less training she would get done. So, where would one of the sannin go to train?
Haku's eyes widened as she remembered the conversation in the hokage's office and Anko's accusations of the sannin Jiriaya being a pervert.
Could it really be…it's just a cover! He's not really a pervert. Who would think to question a perverted old man, and who would think to do training near bath houses? That really is very clever, she thought, remaining in blissful ignorance. So, if I want to find Naruto, I should probably go to a location that would provide, ahem, abundant perv-ability. She shivered at the thought, taking comfort in her new take on the sannin. Well, there is that one spot by the river were miss Yamanaka told me the women liked to go sometimes to bathe. Maybe that's where they are. Her new destination Haku altered her course to head to the river. She paused again well before reaching her goal as she spied to heavily bandaged sound ninja training in a clearing.
Wait a moment…that's Kin's teammate. She said she wasn't sure what he'd do, yet. He may still try to kill Sasuke, or he may fall in line with Orochimaru again. Either way, since he's the leader of their little team, if I can get him to talk to me, I might be able to figure out if Naruto's still in danger.
"Hello; are you training for the chuunin exams?" Dosu paused, retracting his outstretched arm. He'd thought he felt someone nearby. He quickly remembered seeing the girl at the chuunin exams just before the prelims. She was Naruto's friend. And Naruto is Sasuke's girlfriend. Whatever Orochimaru wants, it revolves around Sasuke. If I can get close to this girl, I can get close to Naruto, and then to Sasuke.
"Yes, though I thought you watched the exams." Haku smiled sweetly.
"Well, yes, I did. Only part of them, though. I've been told I have a certain amount of skill but I really prefer not to fight myself. I only came to watch Naruto-chan."
"Hm." Awkward silence reigned in the clearing for a few moments. Haku shuffled her feet.
"Well, I really should let you get back to training. I have to work in a little while anyway," she said, backing away.
"Can I get you lunch," Dosu said suddenly. Haku looked at him in surprise, a slight blush invading her face accompanied with a flutter in her chest. She shook her head.
"Sorry, what was that?" Dosu sighed, his covered eye twitching. He hating trying to be social.
"I asked if you'd like to get lunch. Before work." Haku nodded slowly.
"Yes, I think I would like that."
"Alright."
"Okay."
…
"I suppose we'd better go now before you have to go to work. What do you like?" Haku smiled. This was certainly a rocky start, but it just might pay off.
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Naruto stretched, yawning before she pulled her blanket in closer. She frowned. This was fuzzy than her usual blanket. Wasn't the fuzzy blanket Konohamaru's? She peered through one eye, trying to keep as much sun light out of it as possible. Wait a second!
Naruto shot up, looking around her wildly. She didn't recognize the place she was in, but it was certainly outside the village wall. She could see the trees through the small open window right beside her. Whatever building she was in must not be too large, either. The room, at least, was only about twenty by fifteen, if she had to guess, with a second empty bedroll not too far from hers. There was a small table not too far from there with what looked like a manuscript and an ink well. The only objects in the room were two familiar looking packs. Naruto recognized hers immediately, relived to see her mother's headband, as well as Iruka's. The other backpack took a moment to place.
Wait…that's… Naruto smiled. My godfather's. I have a god father, and he knew my parents! I don't have to think of myself as adopted anymore. But, where is he? Naruto shrugged, deciding to get up and go look for her missing relative. She crinkled her nose as she sniffed the air.
Blaegh; bath first, pervy sage later.
After quickly climbing a tree Naruto spotted a nearby river not far from the house. She wrote a note in case Jiriaya came back before she was done, thinking he must have left to get them some breakfast. But why are we out here instead of back in the village? I still need to talk to Hinata again and make sure she's doing better. Not to mention I need to tell her about how I'm going to be fighting Neji in the first round. She might be able to tell me just how far he's gotten since the academy. He is pretty good, after all. I'll need every advantage I can get to beat him.
Naruto paused, frowning. That was a lot of giggling. Sighing in frustration she prepared to not be alone for her bath. She'd really wanted to keep thinking, but with all these people around, and a bath sorely needed, she didn't think she'd get the chance just yet. However, just before she walked out into the open she was stopped by yet another set of giggling. This one making her eye twitch.
And here I thought he was going to get us some food…lousy god-father he is. She walked up behind him and cupped her hands together.
"Hey, it's a pervert!" She yelled it as loud as she could…and right next to his ear. Girls went screaming and running, trying to cover themselves as well as possible before reaching their towels and clothes.
"Ow! Hey, what's the big idea! I was getting some great inspiration for my next book!" Naruto crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
"Oh yeah? Is that all you can think about is perving out every second of the day." She shook her head. "Why in the world did dad make you my god-father?"
"Hey now-"
"Hey now nothing," she said waving a finger at him. "I came with you to train, not to watch you perv out on other girls. You wanna perv? Fine! Let's get this over with and get you your fill now for the rest of the month! Sexy jutsu!" In puff of smoke later, much to Jiriaya's confusion, and suddenly a nude, more adult, version of Naruto appeared (with strategic cloud covering) and a cute look on her face, despite her inner disgust.
Jiriaya's eye's bugged out and his jaw began to drop. An exclamation of joy had just begun to work it's way out of his mouth before he slapped a hand to his eyes so hard he knocked himself over. He almost cried in agony.
"Darn it Naruto, what you doing? What kind of technique is that for a young lady." Naruto, transformed back now, though Jiriaya didn't know as he still had his eyes covered.
"Hey, it's an original technique for distraction! And since you seem to want to perv so bad-"
"Hold up there! This is different. I like a good body, yes (and I think I know a few girls you could teach that jutsu to) but I draw the line at my god-daughter! That's just wrong on soo many levels, Naruto."
"Oh? So you've had enough perving?"
"Heck no!"
"…pervert.
"SUPER pervert, thank-you very much, and author of a very successful adult series," he said, holding up a familiar looking orange book. Naruto pointed at it, shouting surprise.
"Ahh! That's sensei's book!" Jiriaya managed to open his hand long enough to see Naruto was de-transformed.
"Oh? Kakashi's one of my fans, eh? I'll have to autograph a copy for him."
"Over my dead body!"
"Oh I doubt that."
"Well it may be true if we never get any food. And here I thought you were actually being responsible and getting us some breakfast. Some god-father you are." For the first time that morning Jiriaya grinned widely and pointed behind Naruto. Looking in the indicated direction Naruto blushed got quite for a moment.
"Well, you're still a pervy sage," she finally said. "And I'll bet your fish suck." Jiriaya laughed.
"If they did I wouldn't have survived out the wild as long as I have. You actually had perfect timing. They should be done now," he said, leaning over and grabbing a couple skewered fished from the fire. "Here, eat up. We've got a long day of training ahead of us."
"…thanks," Naruto said quietly as she took the proffered meal. He lightly ruffled her hair.
"No problem," he replied.
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Over the next few days Naruto trained intensely to increase her chakra control. Though slower than Hinata, Neji would be more gifted in the rest of the Hyuuga skills, and Naruto still needed to check on her friend to try and glean information on the other gennin's skills. She found herself frustrated on this end as Jiriaya explained why they were in the forest instead of the village, but after a week of Jiriaya's food (not that it was bad, just terribly consistent) he agreed to head into the village and treat to her to a meal at a barbeque restaurant he knew. Naruto wanted ramen, of course, so her promised her ramen after the exam was over, when Gaara would be gone. She reluctantly agreed after he said they could visit Hinata after since Gaara hadn't seen the two of them together and might not associate them enough to keep his eye on the Hyuuga.
"This isn't half bad," Naruto said, grabbing another slice of beef. "I still prefer ramen, but this isn't too bad a substitute."
"Well I did tell you you'd like it, gaki," the old man said, slowly eating his rice. "This is one of the best places in town, and they have a unique sauce. They guard the recipe almost as much as the anbu guard the hokage."
"Wow, talk about paranoid." Jiriaya chuckled.
"Well, when you consider the variety of food we are able to provide based on our local and climate, it's not too surprising that we have several of the best restaurants in the elemental nations either in or around Konoha. Restaurants guard their secrets as closely as shinobi do."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense. I'd love it if I could eat Ichiraku's anywhere, though."
"Ah, and that is exactly why they keep their recipes secret. That way you have to go to them to get your best meal."
"…oh."
"Just eat up. We need to get back to training, and you still have your friend to see-"
"Naruto! Where have you been?" Naruto turned around in surprise to see Kin standing in the entry way."
"Oh, Kin. I didn't expect to see you while I was-"
"Ahem." Naruto looked at Jiriaya in annoyance.
"Oh get off it; it's not like I need to hide from her."
"Hide? You talking about Gaara," Kin asked, walking over. Jiriaya slapped his face.
"You have no idea how to keep a secret, do you," he asked.
"Hey, I keep plenty of secrets! Like…ones I can't say right now!" Kin chuckled behind a hand.
"Oh Naruto." She shrugged. "Mind if I join you."
"Sure, pull up a cha-"
"Naruto, she works for-"
"Hey, everyone deserves a chance," Naruto cut Jiriaya off, though Kin began to look hesitant.
"I don't know; I'm guessing this is your sensei. If he doesn't like me, maybe I should leave…"
"…yeah, he's teaching me, but he can't get out of it, so if he doesn't like you, too bad." Jiriaya growled.
"Alright, gaki, but you're paying!"
"Hey! That's not how being a…how this works! Jii-san always pays." Jiriaya wagged a finger.
"Well, I'm not Sarutobi. Consider this a lesson on trust. You make a mistake, you pay the price."
"Fine, whatever," the girl grumbled, motioning for the sound nin to take a seat and order. "I suppose he have a reason to hate the snake, but I still say you should give Kin here a chance. She's…nice. By the way, what are your teammates doing?" Kin shrugged.
"Dosu's been quieter than normal, and he stared getting really mysterious over the last few days. He tells us where he'll be training, then he disappears completely during lunch. I've been trying to find him, but I haven't seen you since the prelims so I thought I'd take the chance to talk now."
"And Zaku?" She sighed.
"He keeps saying Orochimaru-sama must have had a reason for what he did, but I still don't like it. Dosu isn't sharing his thoughts, so I'm just making my own. I'm staying around for the exams, but after that, I think I'm leaving." She dropped her head. "Sound is the only place I ever felt like I belonged, but after what leader-sama did, I don't think it's a good idea to stay." Naruto reached across the table to put hold the other girl's hand.
"You know, you could stay in Konoha." Kin and Jiriaya both vehemently shook their heads, though Jiriaya's was more comical since he had rice all in his mouth. He had decided to run the bill as high as possible so Naruto would learn her lesson.
"No way; this is the first place he'd look for me! No, I have to disappear completely."
"Oh…" Kin forced a smile, noticing Naruto's downcast look.
"Hey, that doesn't mean I'll lose contact. After all, a girl has to keep all the girlfriends she can get! I'll write whenever I get the chance." Naruto brightened.
"Okay, that's fine." The meal continued as the two compared their preferred styles. Kin was surprised that Naruto never did anything with genjutsus, while Naruto was shocked at how few ninjutus' Kin knew. After a while Kin thought of something else.
"Hey Naruto, since I'm going to be leaving anyway, I think your village should know something."
"Hm? What? Is it Sound's location?" Jiriaya finally leaned forward, though Kin shook her head.
"No, I have too many friends still there, people that could be hurt. But I remember Orochimaru-sama telling us about getting a new ally a few months before we came to the exams."
"Really? Who," Jiriaya asked.
"It was the Sand." Naruto balked.
"What?" Kin nodded.
"Yes; with Orochimaru's orders, I remember wondering why those Sand genin seemed to be helping you out in the forest, and why they were attacking us." She shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense to me, but there is it. What's really confusing is how protective they are of you. I mean, to be allies with Orochimaru, I'd think that they'd be your enemies now, but all them of them seem really protective of you, especially Kankuro-san."
"The Sand…that's very interesting…" Jiriaya tapped his chin with his chopsticks, his meal forgotten.
"I'm not sure I want to be around any of them anyway," Naruto said slowly. "They all seemed really nice, and I could feel what you were just saying about them, too, but then they way they fought during the prelims…that just didn't seem right."
"That was a bit harsh," Kin said. "If I hadn't trained in sound, that would have been a lot of blood, but in sound we fight each other a lot. Orochimaru-sama has some skilled healers, so it wasn't too big a deal, even if it did hurt. That's why I focused on genjutsu. It's easier to trick your opponent into not attacking you, and then you can deal the final blow."
"Only if you get caught in it, first."
"Which you would. You have no talent for excepting genjutsu. When we meet in the finals, you're going down!"
"Oh yeah! Just wait Kin; I'll show you the kind of power that ninjutsu can deliver; believe it!"
"Only if you can find me." The two girls grinned as they went back and forth on their respective powers only to be interrupted once again.
"Umm, Naruto? Is it okay if we talk to you for a moment?" Turning to see the two figures standing beside their table, Jiriaya muttered a curse under his breath. For her part, Naruto was wishing they'd gone ahead and left already. They had finally finished eating several minutes ago, but Naruto had been delaying looking at the size of the bill.
"Hey Temari, Kankuro." She stood up. "Listen, I'm not really in the mood to talk with you just now."
"But Naruto, we need to tell you-"
"Nothing; you need to tell me nothing. Gaara's still looking for me, and you'll tell him you saw me now."
"No we won't! We just need to explain-"
"Explain what?" Naruto yelled. "All that time in the forest and at the tower I thought I had you two figured out, and you seemed really nice. You're strong, too, I can tell that. But you proved me wrong. You're not nice! You almost killed those other guys, and it just a prelim match! Now get away from me!" Naruto ran out, the two sand siblings trying to follow, but Jiriaya grabbed them both by a shoulder.
"Now now, I think you should leave her be."
"But she doesn't understand! We didn't mean to-"
"Be quite. I know the lies you've been telling her, and I don't trust you one bit. The sooner these exams are over you guys gone, the better. The only reason I don't kick you out now is because of the exam rules, but let me get one thing straight for you." His hands tightened on their shoulders. "If you do anything to hurt that girl, I'll make you wish I killed you outright." A few moments later, having recovered from the killing intent sent their way, Kankuro managed to speak.
"Well, I think sis is okay, Temari. Don't think you need to worry about the 'perv' training her one bit."
"N, no, I guess you're right."
"How did you guys know he was training her?" The two jumped, having forgotten Kin's presence.
"Oh, Gaara saw her meet him a week ago. That was when he stopped being able to track her. Temari here was scared about her being trained by a pervert." Kin wrinkled her nose.
"He didn't seem like a pervert when I talked with him."
"Well, he is," Temari said flatly.
"Fine. So, what were two going to tell her?"
"Why we did what we did in the prelims. Ow!" Temari smacked Kankuro in the head. "What was that for?" Temari pointed to the girls headband with her eyes. Kankuro ignored her.
"We were a little over board, but that's because we were afraid we were being watched. Dad can be…a little eccentric, sometimes. If he thought we were being soft, then he might have us followed around, and that's really annoying. So, when we're out in the open and he can see us, we put things up a notch so we can maintain our privacy." Temari was impressed with his on-the-fly story. Granted, there was a lot of truth in what he said, but it wasn't quite true. Still, it was good. Kin could tell, of course, but the important thing was that there was enough truth to satisfy her.
Well, the sound nin thought, perhaps I can hang around them enough to figure out just what they plan for Naruto. Since they aren't telling the full truth, and Gaara is obsessed, so Naruto says, I need to find out what they still aren't telling me. She stood up.
"Well, since we're all in the finals, how about we do a little sparring together, hm? After all, none of us are fighting each other in the first set of matches, so we can afford to use our basic skills, right? And you two know all each other's abilities anyway." The siblings looked at her in surprise. Kankuro caught on first.
So, she wants to find out what want with Naruto so she's going to try and get us more comfortable with her. Well, she seems trust worthy enough anyway, and as near as I can tell she doesn't know about the invasion plan for whatever reason. If we can work on her, I can make sure she doesn't betray Naruto when it happens.
"Alright, fine. It'll be nice to see what you sound nin can do." Temari glared at him, still behind on this line of thought. "Or maybe it would be better for it to just be the two of us. Temari doesn't seem to be happy with it." The older girl threw up her arms.
"Alright, fine! Do what you want. I'm going to find Gaara. He's probably trying to find Naruto again anyway. I can keep him off her tail for a little while longer till she gets out of the village again."
"Sorry about that," Kankuro said. "Temari just doesn't like sound very much." He shrugged, attempting to be diplomatic. "After all, you guys did try to kill Naruto's boyfriend." Kin blushed.
"Hey, we were tricked!" The boy held up his hands defensively as they walked to the training grounds.
"Woah, I wasn't saying you weren't. As I keep reminding you, I wasn't there when all that went down. I'm just looking for some extra training. Naruto's safe, so I can leave it at that. That guy is serious business, so I can focus on training. She doesn't want to talk to me, anyway." Kin bit down a feeling of guilt.
"Maybe I can tell her what you guys said next time I see her," she said. The puppet user looked at her in surprise.
"Really? That would be appreciated. I'm guessing you know what we think of her by now." Kin nodded. "Thought so. I still stand by what I said the first time we talked about her. Special girl, she is, and I won't let any harm come to her." Kin nodded again. "Alright, let's get to training!"
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"And then I was all like, 'I had you beat and you know it,' and you should have seen the look on his face! Man, I had him PO'ed!" Hinata giggled as she sat in her bed at the hospital. She was actually enjoying her current stay. After all, as far as company goes, she rather enjoyed what had been proffered to her. Not that she was going to be in the hospital much longer. Despite the quick treatment she'd been given she had managed to damage her body quite thoroughly. Her muscles were still sore, but she'd been told she was healing quickly and might be released the next day. The only sore point was that she hadn't seen Naruto since the prelims. She had thought, having her friend back, that she'd be back to visit her soon. She sighed.
"Hey, you okay, Hinata?"
"Y, yes, Kiba-kun."
"Still, perhaps you should get a little more rest," came Shino's quiet, rumbling voice. "You pushed yourself very hard against Naruto, to your credit, but I would like my teammate back soon."
"Ah it's not like you'll be around us much longer anyway. You know you'll make chuunin." Shino showed no visible reaction, but if you listened closely there was a slight buzzing sound, as if his hive was unhappy with the prospect.
"Perhaps," he mused, "but it is not set in stone…and this has been a good team."
"We, we'd miss you, too, Shino-kun." Kiba shrugged.
"Yeah, we would, but you're a total bad-a, Shino. You'll get promoted no problem." If the door hadn't opened so suddenly, Hinata and Kiba might have caught Shino's embarrassed blush for the rare compliment, but it was not meant to be.
"Hinata-chan! How are you doing?" Naruto stopped mid stride as she saw the other occupants. "Oh, hey guys," she said, waving slightly, still remembering her last conversation with the Inuzuka. Shino nodded to the new comer and Kiba stood.
"Well, I, I think we should let you two catch up. I guess it's been a while since you talked." He looked back and forth between the two for a moment. "Good to see you, Naruto…Hinata…chan…finish getting better." With that he walked out, Shino and Akamaru following him.
"Soooo…things going better on that front." Hinata blushed.
"N, Naruto-chan! I, I wouldn't, that is I, I don't-" Naruto laughed as she jumped up on the bed, dangling her feet off the edge.
"Ah come on, don't be so shy. He called you Hinata-chan! Didn't you catch that?" The Hyuuga blushed.
"Well he, he has talked to me more, and, and he told me a, about his match with, with Neji." Naruto gave a snort of displeasure.
"Teme got lucky," she said. "Kiba had him to rights, but the freak got lucky and managed to score a hit on him." She cocked her head to the side. "Actually, I think sparing with you gave him a better chance at beating Neji than he would have had otherwise."
"You, you think so," Hinata asked, looking down as her hands, cupped together in front of her.
"Yeah; the way he fought, he was going at all sides pretty much equally instead of trying to stick to the back, like you would most people. You helped him know to keep going on all sides against a Hyuuga and not underestimate their ability to retaliate from the back. That, and he also tried to stay away from giving Neji the chance to hit him." She blew her bangs out of her eyes with a huff. "Stupid mutt managed to let Neji hit him anyway, but that's alright; now I get to fight 'im!"
"What?"
"Yeah, I'm fighting Neji in the first round, believe it!" Instead of excitement Hinata focused even more on her hands.
"N, Naruto-chan…he's not going to, to go easy on you. He's going to fight as, as hard as he can, since you're my friend." Naruto waved off the pessimism.
"Don't worry about that; I'm LOADS better than I used to be when we were kids, and I've got an extra special teacher now, too." Hinata looked at her friend in confusion.
"Wh, who's your teacher?"
"Jiriaya of the Sannin." Hinata's jaw dropped in uncharacteristic shock at Naruto's casual address of one of the legendary three ninja. "Personally, I'd rather call hi 'pervy sage.'"
"N, Naruto! That's hardly showing the, the proper respect for a sannin!"
"Ah, the guy's a self declared super perv," Naruto said. "He deserves it, trust me. First time I saw him, right before he agreed to train me, he was peeping at the women's baths."
"Research, I tell you, it's all research!" Naruto rolled her eyes at the muffled voice.
"Yeah, whatever," she called. "You just be glad I didn't call you out for ogling that nurse at the front desk!"
"How could anyone resist such a beautiful p-" Naruto threw a shuriken at the glass window to the room, causing Jiriaya to duck and immediately begin apologizing for the broken window to a passing doctor (unfortunately for him, it was the head of the hospital and he'd managed to catch the little exchange, so the man made sure Jiriaya was walked to the front desk to write a check for the repair payment).
"See? What did I tell you?" Hinata was at a lose.
"Well I, I guess he does seem the type too…mmm…"
"Hey don't worry 'bout him. I've got something even better to hang over his head whenever he gets out of line," she said, grinning evilly. "Oh yes, I've got him under my thumb! But enough about me, how are you feeling?" Hinata went on to explain the daily protein treatments she'd been getting for over doing it, and the small chakra exercises she was performing to make sure her charka network was recovering.
"Actually, I think it got a little strong," she said to her friend. "I, I've looked at it with the byakugan since the last time they checked, and it's a little clearer and thicker now. Somehow I, I managed to build it up even better than when I broke it down." Naruto smiled.
"That's great! I knew you'd be a good Kunoichi before, but now you're gonna really kick butt; way to go Hinata-chan!"
"Thank-you, Naruto-chan."
"Hey, Gaki, now that you've made me have to pay for the window it's time to go. We've lost most of the day and you've got a long way to go to beat that Neji kid."
"Okay okay, just a second," she said, turning back to Hinata after calling to the man standing in the doorway. "Well, guess I've gotta go. Any advice on Neji before I go?" Hinata thought for a moment.
"His network is really well developed," she said, thinking back to when she saw his network during the exam, "and from what Kiba-kun said his eyes are good enough to see individual tenketsu points. He can go right after your chakra system. He may know the 64 trigrams, if he's managed to do all that on his own already. There's a scroll on other advanced Hyuuga techniques in the drawer of my room. Hanabi might be able to get it for you, if you see her."
"Nah, she won't need that; I know most of the Hyuuga clans techniques. Fought beside a lot of them back in the last war. This way that Neji kid will have no idea that our girl here will know what's coming." Hinata nodded.
"Alright, I suppose." She reached over and grabbed Naruto's hand. "You'll be alright?" Naruto grinned widely.
"Of course! Good luck with Kiba, Hinata."
"Thank-you." Naruto jumped off the bed and walked to the door, Jiriaya leading the way.
"Hey, Hinata…if I don't make chuunin, I want to see you in the finals." Hinata smiled.
"Believe it."
So, the part I really didn't like was where Temari and Kankuro show up. I felt really dissatisfied with that, but I like what I ended up doing with Naruto's reaction. I felt it was more appropriate than what I had originally planned occurring, and it gave Kin an opening to be around the sand siblings more (which I needed to have happen for later in the story) (hint hint).
I feel half good about the conversation with Hinata, but I liked the awkward moment for Kiba there. :) He's still figuring things out, obviously, but he's paying more attention to Hinata now.
Well, that's all my thoughts, for now. Leave yours by pressing that little button that says review!
Last note-sorry to all those people who have faved/alerted/reviewed the story since last chapter. I usually PM each person sooner, but I've been busy with work, and with getting this last chapter done. I'll get to all of you soon!