Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…
Citrus warning at end of chapter… No lemons or limes yet… I am starting to introduce some time skips in this chapter to bring them up to academy graduation… That will happen in the next few chapters. Enjoy.
Chapter 11…
Naruto and Hinata woke the next morning feeling rested and refreshed as they did not have any nightmares. They again woke up next to each other. They took turns washing up and headed to breakfast. Breakfast was quiet and Naruto had remembered his manners causing both Hinata and Hana to smile at him which caused him to blush at their attention.
They headed off to the academy where the other students had assembled. A group of girls had formed before they had arrived and began to following Naruto around the grounds. Naruto held onto Hinata's hand like a life line in shark infested waters. Suddenly one of the girls approached Naruto and smiled at him this caused chills to run down his spine.
"Hi Akemi, my name is Taree. Would you like to have lunch together?" Taree asked with a flirtatious smile.
Naruto smiled and looked at Hinata. 'What do you think Hinata-chan?'
'I am not sure I trust her. But if she does not have a problem with me coming along it should be okay.' Hinata responded by thinking to Naruto.
"Sure that would be great. If you don't have a problem with Takara coming along too." Naruto said with a huge smile that appears to elicit several 'awe's and sighs from the other girls. This caused Naruto to cringe inwardly.
Taree looked momentarily annoyed but then smiled smugly. "Sure SHE can come along, Akemi-kun."
Classes went fine after they met up with Keiko. Hinata and Keiko helped Naruto with his reading as it was readily apparent that he could barely read. This did cause more of the Akemi fan girls to want to help him out. This only caused more fear in Naruto of fan girls. Naruto trusted Hinata and Keiko to help him and this lessened his worries about the fan girls and his inability to read well.
Lunch was also interesting in that Taree and the other fan girls made it a point to place themselves between Naruto and Hinata. This again caused Naruto to become very nervous and skittish as he had never had this type of attention before. "So why are all of you girls wanting to eat with me?" Naruto asked.
"You are the strongest, cutest, and coolest boy in class." Taree answered.
"Does his grandfather being leader have anything to do with all this attention that Akemi-kun is receiving?" Hinata asked as one of the other girls push her away, trying to jockey for a closer position to Naruto. Hinata saw the flash of realization of being caught in Taree and several of the other girls faces. 'Naruto, most of them are pretending to like you because of who your grandfather is.'
Naruto looked confused. 'What do you mean Hinata-chan?'
'If you had no relatives in power most of if not all of these girls would not be sitting here now.' Hinata responded.
Naruto now looked angry. 'You mean they are only interested in me because of what I am not who I am?'
Taree noticed Naruto's expressions. "Are you okay Akemi-kun?"
'I am sorry Naruto-kun. I respect you and care for you for who you are not who you are related too.' Hinata said as she gave Naruto a kind smile. 'We can talk about this later if you like Naruto-kun.' Hinata thought to Naruto as she sat up from another round of being pushed by other girls.
"I am okay but you girls should be nicer to Takara-chan. She has been my friend for a long time so please be nice to her." Naruto said as he returned her smile.
Naruto and Hinata were followed part of the way home by most of the girls in the class. They tried several times to avoid them but to no avail. They finally rounded a corner engaged their henge and walked back the other direction. Not knowing that they could do this helped them in losing the fan girl tail. When they got home they found Keiko waiting for them along with her family, Ichiro, Kikiyo and the grandparents.
When Naruto entered the house and closed the door behind him Naruto asked a couple pointed questions. "Obaasan what does it mean when most of the girls in class follow you home and they treat Hinata-chan badly?"
"Sounds like Naruto-kun has a fan girl problem. Doesn't he girls?" Hana said with a short laugh. This caused Keiko to laugh but Hinata had a worried look on her face. "What is wrong dear?"
Hinata looked down. "I am not sure obaasan, but Naruto-kun has been alone most of his life, I am just worried about him."
Hana smiled and rubbed Hinata's head. "I am glad you worry about Naruto-kun. And you should be. The real question is 'what are the girls that are chasing him after'?"
"What do you mean obaasan?" Naruto asked as he looked confused.
"I will explain it now and again later when I think you will understand." Hana said as she ruffled Naruto's hair. "Well there are girls who will like boys who have power or are associated with power. That either the family is strong, or in a family that has political power, like your grandfather and do not care much about the boy they are chasing, just the power or status they would get by being associated with the boy. They are also more interested in who they think the boy is not who he actually is. This has ruined many relationships over time."
"Take Hinata-chan for example, she likes you for you, not who your father or grandfather maybe. You like her because of who she is and what she has done for you. For the most part the other girls will want to be with you so that they are higher in social status. It is a game for them. They will say they love you but they do not. Hinata also knows your secret, how would those girls react to it?" Hana said to a very confused looking Naruto.
"Huh? I like Hinata-chan because she is nice and she is pretty." Naruto said while he blushed. "She also accepted me when others would not. I don't think the other girls would react too well to it."
"Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun and I wouldn't have him any other way." Hinata said as she smiled and hugged him.
"It doesn't hurt that you are betrothed does it?" Kido asked.
Both children shook their heads with big smiles.
"What do you mean accepted you when no one else would? And what is this secret you are talking about?" Keiko asked.
"Honey, we decided not to judge Naruto as most of the other parents in Konoha did. I am happy we did not even when the Uchiha council told us too." Haku stated. "Naruto is, special. Other than being your cousin he has a big secret and only he can tell you but I think that Takashi-sama, Hana-sama, and Kido-sama will know when it is right to tell you."
"Do you think she is ready to know?" Hana asked.
"She has kept his secret so far, she is family and it may work to help him avoid those fan girls. I don't see a reason why not. Let me go ask my father and I will be back. Until then I want all of you to do taijutsu training." Ichiro said as he left.
The children, Kikiyo, and Kido all walked towards the dojo.
Hana made sure the children were out of hearing range before speaking. "You do know what Naruto-kun contains, don't you?"
Haku held Shippo's hand. "Yes we are familiar with him being a Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. As a member of the Uchiha we knew about the clan's ability to summon the fox demon. We also knew that my brother sealed it into Naruto. We did not know he was my brother at the time or until recently. Naruto does hold his burden well. Is that why you wanted to talk to us?"
"Yes, that is why. We were afraid that you might be someone who would hate your nephew." Hana said sadly.
"Even before I knew he was my nephew we felt pity for him. If we had known he was my nephew we would have taken him in ourselves. No matter what the baka Uchihas thought. He is family, as is Ichiro-san and Takashi-sama. While I can't say that we love him yet, mainly because we have had little time to get to know him. We do care for him." Haku said as tears welled up in her eyes. "So what is this about a betrothal?" Haku attempted to change the subject.
"We will get to that in a little bit. First Naruto is the container, and you have acknowledged that. We appreciate your attitude towards him. We do so love having him here. Second there have been attempts on his life from the villagers, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga of Konoha." Hana said sternly.
Haku squeezed Shippo's hand as Hana continued. "Now for the betrothal, Hinata and Naruto were betrothed the day after Naruto's fourth birthday. According to a special source, the Kyuubi himself, it was predestined. Now there are complications, quite a few I might add."
"Complications? What type of complications?" Shippo asked.
"Well, first off there were two betrothals filed for Hinata on the same day. The one with Naruto was first and had Hinata's mother's signature, which the second one lacked. Thus as law states Naruto's will take precedence over the second and this has been decreed by our leader and the Hokage. There are several problems related to the betrothals. The big problem is that the Konoha Hyuuga clan council has a kill on sight order for both Naruto and Hinata. Secondly Fugaku has Hiashi under genjutsu. And if that was not enough, the Kyuubi is splitting the seal between Naruto and Hinata. Is that few enough complications for you?" Hana asked exhaustedly.
"Wait, the seal is splitting between the two of them? Is that safe?" Shippo asked with a worried look.
"Naruto has used the Kyuubi chakra to save both his and Hinata's life twice now. The Kyuubi has determined that she is too be his mate and will do what is needed to insure her survival. I would say now that if one of them were to die, they would both die. If not from the heartache, it would be from the connection they have via the Kyuubi." Hana raised her hand to forestall and questions. "We have sent this information to Sarutobi and asked if he would send Jiraiya to help with this. Until then we can only watch them. We have only seen the Kyuubi posses Naruto once and it was only to talk to us. We believe Naruto was unconscious so we can only trust it for now."
Ichiro returned just before dinner with Takashi. The Senju decided to stay for dinner. Takashi explained to Keiko about Naruto and that he contained the spirit of the Kyuubi. She was both excited and scared. She had a cool if scary cousin. They also discussed what they were going to do with the Kyuubi splitting the seal across Hinata and Naruto.
This information helped Hinata understand why her chakra control was getting worse and Naruto's was getting better. They just figured it would take more chakra control exercises. On another front, fan girls. Keiko had agreed with Hinata that they would help Naruto out with his girl problem. They would both claim to be his girlfriends. This confused him as he was not sure what one was and what to do with them. They assured him that it would come in time. Naruto agree to this not knowing what it meant but if it would help keep the scary girls at bay, especially Taree, he was all for it.
The next morning Naruto entered the Academy grounds arm in arm with both Keiko and Hinata. Taree immediately asked what was going on. "Keiko and I thought that Akemi-kun was too special for one girl but could not handle more than two so we both asked him out this morning and he said yes." Hinata said with a foxy grin.
"You little witch! How dare you take Akemi-kun from me! He is mine and he would me to become a good leader." Taree yelled in rage. She pulled back her fist and attacked Hinata. Hinata slid out of Naruto's arm while Keiko pulled Naruto aside.
Hinata moved into a juken stance and activated her Byakugan. Taree hesitated for a second then threw a punch at Hinata's face. Hinata easily ducked it and tapped Taree's shoulder, which fell limply to her side as Taree screamed in pain. "What did you do to me? And why does my shoulder hurt so much?" Taree asked as she cradled her left shoulder nearly in tears.
"You are fighting a Hyuuga. I sent chakra into your shoulder thus disabling it. Do not ever claim my Akemi-kun, he is mine and Keiko's and you cannot have him. I would advise going to the nurse to have that shoulder looked at." Hinata said as she bowed and retook Naruto's left arm.
As the three entered the academy heading to class Hinata and Naruto could swear that they heard someone laughing. Hinata was called to the nurse's office later that day. "Takara Hyuuga reporting to the nurse's office as requested." Hinata announced as she entered the office with several beds along the north and south walls.
"Ah yes, Takara-chan. Can you come here and sit down please?" A woman sat at the desk with long black hair said while she filled out paperwork.
Hinata complied and sat in the chair she was shown. She waited about five minutes when the nurse turned toward Hinata and looked at her. The nurse's eyes were similar to the Hyuuga's but were iridescent green and silver, instead of silver, white or lavender like Hinata's eyes.
"So you are the famous defender of Akemi-kun? And a Hyuuga too, that would explain the chakra burn on Taree's shoulder. My name is Aki Hyuuga, and would like to talk to you about your vision. I have a theory and would like to see if I am right and if so I would like to talk to your grandparents this evening." Aki said with a kind smile. "Now activate your Byakugan and tell me what you see in the areas that I point too. Can you do that Takara-chan?"
Hinata nodded as Aki pointed to a spot on her shoulder. Hinata activated her Byakugan. "I see a large chakra point that is not circular." Aki nodded and moved over her chest to near her heart. "There is nothing there other than the chakra circulatory system and a small bulge." Aki again nodded and shifted her hand to her neck near the back of the ear. "I again see a large disfigured chakra point." Aki nodded and moved her hand to the near middle of her left forearm. "Again I only see a bulge in the chakra system. " Aki nods and moves her hand to a place on her left chest above the breast. "I see a bulge in the chakra system and a bundle… near… your…" Hinata blushed. "Your nipple… I am sorry Aki-sama." Hinata lowered gaze to the ground and deactivated her Byakugan, while she turned beat red.
Aki grabbed Hinata's chin and pulled Hinata's gaze up to eye level. "You did fine Takara-chan. You verified what I thought. Thank you Takara-chan, you may return to class and I will meet with your grandparents tonight to go over my findings."
Hinata went back to class wondering what was going on. She found the lesson they were being taught was on the history of the village. Keiko got her back up to speed with the lesson. Hinata discussed what she and the nurse did earlier during the lunch break with Naruto and Keiko.
That evening Hana talked to Aki while Keiko, Hinata and Naruto worked on meditation that evening. "Aki-chan it has been a while since you came by the house. How are you and Akeno doing, will there be children soon?" Hana asked smiling.
"Hana-sama, Akeno-kun and I will be trying within the next year to have a child, thank you for asking. I did come here to discuss the finding I got when I tested Takara's Byakugan." Aki said with a smile, she appeared almost excited.
"Continue Aki-chan, I am all ears." Hana said as she watched Aki's enthusiasm almost get the better of her.
"Well your granddaughter has the healing eyes." Aki said smiling.
"Are you sure?" Hana asked as she sat forward not sure if she heard Aki right.
"I tested her, she sees the chakra points as just bulges on the chakra circulatory system. She sees the healing bundles and pressure points more easily. She is a gifted child, you must be proud." Aki said as she bowed. "I know Akeno could help train her in medical jutsu after she graduates so that she can learn how to use her eyes even better. That is if you approve."
"Aki-chan, I am not Hiashi or the Konoha clan council who only look for the combat capabilities of a Hyuuga or ninja. If she would be a good medic then we need to make sure we have her put in a group that would need her services. And as it stands I am almost certain that Akemi will need that. He is rather reckless." Hana and Aki both laughed as they both knew Naruto had made more than a few trips to the nurse's office in his first few days at the academy. They both knew that Naruto healed quickly with little or no scarring, mostly no scarring.
Hinata took her not being able to see the actual chakra points hard but Naruto was able to cheer her up even before she heard that she could see the healing points on the body. Naruto seemed to be able to make Hinata happy. She found out that this was a variant on the normal Byakugan especially suited for medical ninjas.
Over the next couple months everyone got used to the 'normal' schedule. Wake up, shower, breakfast, academy, evening training, dinner, discussion and then bed. The weekends were spent going to clan meetings, meeting with other clans and the occasional fun day.
This weekend was one of those. Hinata's birthday fell upon Saturday. She was excited but did not know what was going to happen. Naruto was even more excited as he had never really been to a birthday party, one that he was expected to attend and one that he was wanted at. Kido kept Hinata away from the house most of the day as Naruto, Hana, Ichiro, Kikiyo, and the Senju decorated the house and bought her some gifts.
Kido brought Hinata home around 3 pm as it was starting to get dark and the snow had just started to fall. Hinata and Naruto had never seen snow so they were excited by this too. Hinata arrived in the house to a banner wishing her a happy birthday and a huge hug and kiss from Naruto, which he accidentally kissed her on the lips. Both blushed as some of the academy students later teased her about Naruto stealing her first kiss. She admitted to Naruto's surprise that she was happy to give it to him.
Hinata enjoyed all of her gifts. She especially enjoyed the plush fox toy from Naruto the most. She also received a book on herbs and balms from Aki and Akeno. Naruto had marked an area for her out in the garden so that she could grow any plants she wanted. Hana and Kido also gave Naruto one also. Keiko was teased that she had lost Akemi to Takara as Hinata had fallen asleep after dinner on Naruto. Keiko smiled and said she was not worried about it, and that he was more like a brother than a boy she would want as a boyfriend, to which Naruto put up a good fake cry of grief that he had lost one of his girlfriends.
The winter was cold but the children's skills improved rapidly. Naruto had become decent at taijutsu, and was fourth in the class and heading up as he actually had sparring partners during school and afterward so that he could better learn a technique when working with a sparring partner. Hinata learned to recognize chakra points and was better able to hit them then before. Kido turned out to be a patient and loving teacher, he would correct her mistakes but would not put her down and demean her like her father had. Also Kakashi and Kurenai had made a stop by the village in mid January. They brought news that Jiraiya would be stopping by to check up on Naruto, Hinata and the fox.
Naruto and Hinata had several dreams of playing with a fox that had a collar on it but their favorite game was hide and seek during the nights in their dreams. Naruto, Hinata and Keiko started to have the local ANBU chase them in games of hide and seek. They would never win but the ANBU and the children had fun with this. The only bad thing that happened during the winter was that Naruto and Hinata were attacked by an Iwa shinobi, he was drunk at the time and thought that Naruto without his henge was the Fourth Hokage of Konoha reborn. Both the children were injured but the fox made sure that they did not die. They spent a week in the hospital.
Iwa apologized and had the ninja executed for attacking a civilian and children to boot. Also news that Kodai had died by the hands of a Kumo ninja in a drunken brawl, was welcome news that he would bother Whirlpool no more. Kodai had lost his headband and was working as a bouncer for the bar in Konoha when this happened.
The spring came and went as the children continued to improve. Naruto was coming into his own now as the second best at taijutsu, and third out of eighteen in his studies behind Hinata and Keiko. The Uzumaki, Hyuuga, and Senju were all proud of their children's success. October came and Naruto had his first official birthday party. He broke down and cried for about an hour as he didn't know how to feel. Hinata was able to console him. Jiraiya even stopped by and gave Naruto and Hinata a bill of perfect seal health as the seal continued to divide between them. Naruto enjoyed his presents and the friends he had made at school, although Taree did try to kiss him that day. Naruto continued to be scared of the fan girls that did not give up even after Hinata and Keiko had called Naruto their boyfriend.
The next couple years went by fast as the children grew and reached their tenth birthdays. The subjects were now covering jutsu and chakra control. Naruto, Hinata and Keiko all had their chakra under very good if not excellent control. They were able to do the standard henge but preferred the alternate that Naruto had come up with during training. Keiko could not do it without being drained as she had before. While Hinata worked on her juken Naruto and Keiko worked on their other senses. Naruto seemed to have a great sense of smell, nearly as good as any Inuzuka from Konoha. They both had excellent hearing but Keiko had more patience thus could isolate sounds better than Naruto.
As the year progress groups of three students would come together and seemed to mesh well together. The students took their example from Naruto, Hinata and Keiko. Naruto's one sticking point was that he could never ever produce a working clone. Kikiyo took the three aside and taught them the shadow clone jutsu as an alternative to the clone jutsu. Kikiyo made sure to explain all the benefits and the drawback to this jutsu. The benefits were that you had a tangible and thinking clone, and it would send you back anything it learned. The drawbacks were, it took a lot of chakra to initiate the jutsu, it would spread the remaining chakra across all the clones that were produced, and it could cause mental strain as the clones 'died'.
Keiko's chakra reserves were still too low to do more than one shadow clone and even then she suffered hardest from the mental strain of the clone. Hinata was not as badly bothered by the strain but could only produce about ten at the most before it would tax her heavily mentally. Naruto on the other hand was able to produce hundreds and was not strained in the least by the mental feedback. They all learned that the shadow clone was a good scouting tool, and possible training tool at least for Naruto.
News had come, that Fugaku and most of the Uchiha had died at the hands of Itachi Uchiha. All the males except for babies and Sasuke, his brother, had been murdered. Wondering if the genjutsu had worn off of Hiashi Kido visited him and asked questions about Hinata and her sister Hanabi. Hiashi was quite personable when dealing with Hanabi. He would have to fight between anger and sadness when he was dealing with the subject of Hinata. Kido had returned to report that the genjutsu was still in effect, but might break if they could find a way.
The next year Naruto, Hinata, and Keiko had discovered what they were missing from their improved henge when they went through sex education training. Naruto and Hinata were found in the bathroom standing naked in front of each other. They were caught with their pants down literally by the adults, Hana, Kido, Ichiro and Kikiyo. The excuses were as follows:
Naruto, "I wasn't going to do anything. I don't want to ruin my wedding night with Hinata-chan. This was just so we could perfect the improved henge. It's not like we won't see each other like this anyways." Naruto boasted still standing in the buff. The adults nodded as he did have a point.
Hinata had found a towel and wrapped it around herself. Hinata had blushed madly, turning a bright red. "Um… Obaasan, jiji, hakufu, obasan. We… we… were not going to do anything. I promise." Hinata admitted nearly in tears.
"Did you just call me aunt, Hinata-chan?" Kikiyo asked as she tried to not laugh at the situation.
"Yes… ma'am… You are like an aunt to me and Naruto-kun. You also seem to like Ichiro-san very much." Hinata hesitantly said. This caused Kikiyo to blush slightly.
"Okay you two get dressed now. And don't let me catch you naked again until morning. Am I clear?" Kido said sternly as he walked out of the bathroom. The rest of the adults left as the children quickly got dressed. They left the bathroom both with beet red faces.
Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Naruto and Hinata quietly went to bed and went to sleep.
--
A/N: Naruto is slightly taller in this story than in cannon as Hana and Kido make sure he has a balanced diet. Both Naruto and Hinata are stronger also. Naruto was given a chance to read and has taken this opportunity and ran with it, thus making his rank higher in his class than he did in cannon. Hinata right now would have a close fight with Neji, Neji would win as he is older, but it would be closer.
Hinata's healing sight is a variation on the Byakugan that allows her to see the healing points and nerve bundles on a person. This can be more effective in combat than the chakra points. If you hit a nerve bundle you can either ease the pain or cause excruciating pain, thus in healing you ease the pain, and in combat you make the pain a distraction or even bring it to a level that either your opponent will pass out or die from the pain.
The citrus at the end of the chapter explains what Kido was talking about, now Naruto and Hinata know what is missing from the improved henge.
If any of you are wondering if there is anything going on with Ichiro and Kikiyo… I'm not telling… I hope you enjoyed the chapter.