"Just because I'm a boy? That's it?" Natsumi was incredulous at the reason Kakashi gave her.
"It probably has less to do with Naruto and more with Hinata," Kakashi figured.
"What was the first clear memory of Hinata do you have?" Kurenai picked up on Kakashi's line of answering.
"She offered me lunch during our first year in the Academy after I tried to save her from bullies. I failed, though," Natsumi answered. Hinata nodded to agree with her statement.
"Have you ever asked Hinata about her crush on Naruto?" Kakashi asked Kurenai.
"No, I never did," she shook her head. "Hinata's attraction to Naruto never had any negative effects on her performance. It's always been positive for her so I never dug deeper."
"I'm sure the two Hinatas as well as Naruto and Natsumi have led the same lives respectively until they first met if the only difference is the gender of our blonde here. Naruto probably did try to save Hinata from bullies but since he only knew of her as his Academy classmate, it's safe to say he doesn't remember that incident or Hinata in particular. Otherwise, I don't see a reason why our Hinata would have a crush on Naruto if he didn't do something significant for her. I highly doubt she's the type that goes for looks."
"That's actually quite the relief," Kurenai nodded in agreement. "I'm going to ask our Hinata for some confirmation and clarification. What about you, Kakashi? Are you doing the same with Naruto?"
"Maybe," he shrugged. "I can ask but I doubt he remembers one of the many things he failed at." He turned around and opened the door. "Let's make our report to Hokage-sama. I think our lost Genins don't have anything more to add to their case," he said.
"Alright. We just have to get the rest of the information on our own," Kurenai made to follow Kakashi. "Follow us, you two. We want to trust that you two will behave on your own but..."
"We understand, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata replied. "Let's go, Natsumi-chan."
"Sure," Natsumi shrugged and followed behind the two Jounins.
When they arrived at Tsunade's office, the two Genins stood at attention with some fidgeting from Natsumi while the Jounins made their report to Tsunade and by extension Shizune since the latter was her aide. They reiterated the stories of their two dimensional visitors and said they mostly checked out, requiring a bit of confirmation from their counterparts for everything to be sorted out. There was a look of skepticism on Tsunade's face when Kakashi supported the theory that Hinata and Natsumi were from another world but she gave him the benefit of the doubt. As outlandish as it sounded, she doubted Kurenai would agree to Kakashi's claim if she had not been convinced as well.
"Kurenai, bring our Hinata here. Kakashi, question Naruto about what he remembers of the time he supposedly tried to rescue Hinata from bullies. If he doesn't have any or too little recollection of it, drop the subject. Make sure not to let him know that it's related to them. We don't want any potential bias on his part," Tsunade gave her orders. The Jounins responded with an affirmative and left with the use of Shunshin. "As for you two," she turned her attention to Hinata and Natsumi. "the both of you stay here. Behave, or else."
"Yes!" both the Genins stood ramrod straight in fear of Tsunade's wrath.
"Good. Now occupy your time with something because I'm not letting you out of this office until Kurenai and Kakashi return. And don't mess this place up or annoy me, got it?"
"Yes!"
"Here," Tsunade tossed something to Natsumi. When she took a look at it, it was the necklace she was given by the Tsunade in her dimension. "Even if I don't believe your stories, that's still yours. That was given by to you by another me, right? Take good care of it, you hear?" she finally gave a small yet genuine smile to Natsumi.
"Baa-chan...!" Natsumi was very grateful and the emotion was very clear on her face. Of course, the way Tsunade was referred to wiped that small smile right off her face.
"And now I have two people calling me that..." Tsunade gritted her teeth to avoid lashing out while Shizune smiled in fond amusement.
"In a sense, it's still Naruto-kun calling you that," Shizune placated her master.
"I suppose," she sighed. They both looked at the Genins in front of them where Hinata was offering to fix Natsumi's disheveled hair. Natsumi made a clone and had it transform into a hairbrush for Hinata to use. When she untied Natsumi's hair, both women were heavily reminded of a certain woman from the past. With her hair down to her knees, Natsumi would have perfectly resembled that woman in her youth if not for her whisker-like birthmarks. An audible gasp from a wide-eyed Shizune caught their attention and they turned to look at her.
"Something the matter, Shizune-nee-chan?" Natsumi asked.
"Shizune!" Tsunade called her aide in a stern tone.
"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune responded but froze when she saw the warning look in her master's eyes.
"Go get some sake from the store now. I need some to get rid of the headache these two brought me," she ordered.
"Yes, immediately!" Shizune was quick to leave the room. The two Genins just looked at her in confusion before turning back to Tsunade.
"So what was that all about?" Natsumi asked curiously.
"Why did Natsumi-chan's appearance surprise her?" Hinata asked.
'Leave it to a Hyuuga to be this observant,' Tsunade thought irritably. Because of Shizune, she had to think up an excuse to get them off the topic of why she was surprised. "Nothing much. She wasn't expecting you to have hair that ridiculously long." She watched with a raised eyebrow when panic set on Hinata's face as she immediately held Natsumi back by the arms from behind, pleading with her to calm down.
"You take that back! My hair isn't ridiculous!" Natsumi raged with one arm raised in protest, only for Tsunade to chuckle in amusement. The childish rage at the slightest insult was just like Naruto. "What's so funny?" Natsumi demanded.
"I just didn't think you'd have an ounce of femininity in you, considering who you are," Tsunade said. And there it was, the listless look Naruto had whenever he did not understand something.
"What did baa-chan mean by that?" Natsumi turned to Hinata for help. Seeing as she was now calm, Hinata returned back to standing at her side.
"Tsunade-sama is saying that if your life was exactly the same as Naruto-san, you wouldn't take good care of your... um... female requirements," Hinata explained.
"I totally would've!" she denied the implied suggestion that she could not.
"You didn't know about our monthly periods, Natsumi-chan. You still don't know how to keep track of its cycles and I'm doing it for both of us."
"That one's complicated! You can't blame me for not knowing that!"
"...I suppose that is the hardest part for girls to adjust to," Hinata admitted. "But you didn't even know the proper undergarments. I had to force you to wear them."
"I would have learnt about them!" Natsumi defended herself before deflating lamely. "...Eventually..."
"That's pretty sad," Tsunade shook her head in pity for Natsumi.
"It is sad, Natsumi-chan," Hinata agreed.
"Why are you both teaming up against me like this? It's not fair!" Natsumi whined, sounding like a kicked puppy, triggering Hinata's kind nature to rise to the surface.
"It's alright, Natsumi-chan," Hinata comforted her best friend. "I'm here for you after all, right?"
"Thank you, Hinata-chan! You're the best friend anybody could ever have!" Natsumi engulfed her in a huge hug as she rubbed her cheek against hers with grateful yet comical tears pouring down from her eyes.
Tsunade just watched the two girls fondly as a blushing Hinata tried to pull Natsumi off her with no real effort behind it, looking like she was enjoying being showered with Natsumi's affection. Naruto did try to give that same affection to Sakura but he got denied every time, sometimes violently. Come to think of it...
"Naruto's trying hard to give that same affection to Sakura because he has a crush on her," Tsunade mentioned. "What about you? Since you're a girl, how is it with Sakura?"
"He has a crush on Sakura? But why?" Natsumi was very surprised to hear about Naruto's crush on Sakura, as was Hinata.
"What do you mean why?" she asked with furrowed brows. The missing honorific from Sakura's name was very clear to Tsunade as well. "He has the same crush on her just as she does with Sasuke. What's weird about that?"
"No, it's just that..." Natsumi trailed off, her face turning sour at remembering a certain memory. "...Kakashi-sensei said Sakura was a bully."
"Kakashi did?" That was a bit of a shocker. "Did he explain why?"
"I don't really remember what he said exactly. I think it was something like if somebody tried to hit somebody else on purpose outside of sparring, then it was called starting a fight?" Natsumi had her eyes squinted as she tried hard to remember.
"That's correct," Tsunade agreed with Kakashi's words. "What else did he say?"
"Kakashi-sensei said the reason I don't feel bullied is because I know I can defend myself when Sakura tries to hit me. But because I never did anything to get back at her, he said that's why she feels safe to continue trying to hit me. Then he called Sakura a bully after saying all that."
"So Sakura tried to hit you? Why is that a problem when Naruto's fine with getting hit by her since he gets her attention?" Tsunade was met with incredulous looks from both girls.
"How is getting hit by anyone whenever they feel like it fine?"
"You probably did something silly or stupid, right? That's why she tried to hit you. To get you to behave."
"I'm just being myself! Why do I need to get punched for that? It's not like I'm purposely trying to make her angry or anything."
"...Have you gotten hit by her?"
"She tried. I always avoided her attacks."
"...Let me think for a second," Tsunade said, pausing the conversation. She closed her eyes to process the information she received. Naruto never avoided any of Sakura's blows before. He could have if he wanted to but he never did. He also never complained about getting hit violently by her. According to Natsumi, her version of Sakura tried to hit her too for the same reasons but she never took any of them. Why was such a disparity there? Sakura was annoyed by Naruto's attempts to woo her, so there was a small justification there. But what about Natsumi's version of Sakura? Surely it was not because Natsumi tried to woo her? "Do you feel there's any reason for Sakura to not like you?"
"It's because I claimed Sasuke to be my rival. She hates me because of that, according to her," Natsumi frowned angrily.
"You're not even friends with her?"
"I guess... not? I don't know. I find out she's being a bully towards me and she breaks off her friendship with Ino because they both like Sasuke. They've been best friends for as long as Hinata-chan and I have been best friends, and Sakura just throws that away for such a stupid reason! You don't treat your friends like that!" Natsumi went from uncertain to ranting angrily.
"Calm down, Natsumi. What do you think your friendship with Sakura is at?"
"Poor. We're still comrades and members of Team 7, so I try to get along with her."
'Why is such a disparity there?' Tsunade wondered. She had read up on the Genins under her command and what Natsumi said was true. If she cross-examined what she just heard with Kakashi and Kurenai's report, there were no contradictions. Naruto and Natsumi shared the same past and the first divergence seemed to be when Natsumi became friends with Hinata while Naruto did not during their Academy years. If she looked from Sakura's perspective, she could see why Sakura was annoyed by Naruto's persistent attempts to woo her for dates. If she looked at the other Sakura, she could see why because while every girl other than Hinata pined for Sasuke's attention even as he ignored them, Natsumi forced him to look at her because she boldly stepped up to him as her self-proclaimed rival. Naruto accepted her blows because he was smitten with her, but Natsumi avoided her blows because she had a low opinion of Sakura because of her broken friendship with Ino. It was written in the Third Hokage's notes that Sakura claimed to hate Naruto, and Tsunade clearly knew why. But what about the other Sakura? "During team introductions, what did Sakura say about you?"
"She said she hated me because I was bothering Sasuke," Natsumi answered.
"And you took offense to that?"
"Of course I did! I did nothing to her! She's even worse than most of the other villagers who hated me! She hated me for a stupider reason than they did!"
"Natsumi!" Tsunade shouted with authority. "You know that the Third Hokage's law prohibits you from talking about that in public. I imagine this law is also present in your world."
"...Yeah, but we're not in public," Natsumi muttered.
"Hinata is not privileged to know that information!"
"But she already knows about the Kyuubi in me. So it's fine," she brushed off Tsunade's concerns.
'She already trusts Hinata that much to reveal her secret to her?' Tsunade was shocked at the revelation. 'Even now, Naruto trusts no-one around his age enough to reveal his secret.' She glanced at Hinata who did not look shocked or surprised in any manner at the mention of the Kyuubi inside Natsumi. That just proved Hinata did know about the secret already. "Sorry. Let's forget about the issue with your secret now."
"Naruto-san hasn't told anyone about the Kyuubi yet?" Hinata figured out why Tsunade was so alarmed earlier. She could not but feel worried for him because he was Natsumi in a sense.
"Other than you, I kinda understand why he doesn't want to tell anybody about this guy," Natsumi patted her stomach. "I just don't get it. What made him want to go after Sakura? What's so different between us besides me being a girl and him a boy?"
"I'm also wondering why the me in this world didn't become your friend when we were in the Academy. We have the same past, so why..." Hinata was frowning from her worried thoughts.
'To think there's all this difference just because one person is a different gender...' Tsunade thought. 'Is it truly the only reason for all the differences between our worlds...?' The only left to do was to wait for the follow-up report from Kakashi and Kurenai so until then, she told the girls to occupy themselves with something. That something turned to be Hinata playing with Natsumi's hair with hair ties she carried around with her. When she asked, Hinata explained that besides the basic hair care of shampoo and conditioner she was the one who maintained her friend's hair which included having spare hair ties in case Natsumi did not have any with her. Natsumi added that she trusted no-one except Hinata to handle her hair, not even hairdressers. Considering her relationship with the village, that was understandable. Even at first glance Tsunade could see she kept way better care of her hair than Naruto did for his. When she asked who did haircuts for her, she was surprised to find out Hinata was doing that too. The girl blushed in embarrassment when she was given praise.
Tsunade watched with amusement as Hinata practiced different hairstyles on Natsumi's hair. Hinata could make beautiful braids and hair buns, even combining the two in several different combinations. She even attempted to replicate Tsunade's own twin ponytails but it did not look quite right on Natsumi since her hair was so long. Hinata eventually started playing around and made as many tiny braids as she could without Natsumi's knowledge as she was simply enjoying the feel of Hinata's touch on her hair. The fact she could sit completely still for any period of time was surprising to Tsunade too. It eventually got so ridiculous that Tsunade could not hold back a snort of amusement. The door to her office opened to reveal Shizune with the requested sake bottles, who just stared at the scene in front of her. Even she had to hide her face in an effort to stifle her giggles which she failed at. When Natsumi asked what was so funny, she deposited the bottles on the desk and Henge-d herself into a full-length mirror to show Natsumi.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!" Natsumi's outburst was clearly heard even from the Academy next door, startling everyone there. Kakashi who was just returning to make his follow-up report heard it too.
"Is something the matter, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked as he opened the door. He saw the two women with looks of amusement as Hinata helped Natsumi to remove the silly amount of braids present on the latter's head. Hinata was still giggling as Natsumi pouted childishly at having her hair played with.
"Don't say anything about my hair, Kakashi-sensei," Natsumi glared at him, daring him to say anything.
"Yes, yes," he played along before changing his mind. "I didn't know hair could go that many ways at the same time."
"Kakashi-sensei!" she yelled childishly at him, only to yelp when she accidentally pulled her own hair while Hinata had a braid in her hand. She resorted to just pouting at him while tears pricked at the edges of her eyes from the pain in her scalp. When Hinata was done undoing all the braids and started brushing out Natsumi's hair with the transformed hairbrush, Kakashi sucked in a sudden breath at the near exact replica from a woman in his youth.
"Kakashi, don't say a word about that," Tsunade warned, fixing him with a hard look. From how Natsumi clearly resembled that woman with her hair down, that only strengthened her claim that she was just a gender-bent Naruto flung here from a genie's errant wish with her world's Hinata. "Well? Did Naruto remember anything about the time he supposedly helped Hinata from bullies?"
"He hardly remembers anything about that incident. He only remembered seeing bullies and stepped in. He didn't remember who was being bullied, only that he failed in trying to stop them," he reported. "More importantly, everything on Natsumi's side has checked out. There's enough evidence that at least she has been telling the truth."
"All that's left is Kurenai's report then," Tsunade nodded. "We'll wait until Kurenai returns. We still have things to discuss."
"Yes, ma'am," he acknowledged the order. "Shall I bring them to the lounge to wait?"
"No need. It's fun watching Natsumi get messed with by Hinata of all people," she chuckled, ignoring an angry protest from said girl.
"Very well."
***Break Line***
As they made their way to the Hokage's office, Kurenai learned from Hinata then the memory of being saved by Naruto from the bullies was deeply engraved in her mind. It was something Hinata was grateful for and still was. She admitted she still felt she had not done enough for Naruto to repay his kindness all those years ago.
"Kurenai-sensei, may I ask why Hokage-sama wishes to see me?" Hinata asked, anxiety already making itself known from the way she seemed to curl into herself.
"You're not in trouble, Hinata. Hokage-sama wants some clarification from you regarding our two visitors," Kurenai explained.
"The other me... and... that girl..." she mumbled under her breath. Kurenai noted she still had some difficulty in identifying who Natsumi was.
"Will you say she looks similar to Naruto?" Kurenai asked.
"Maybe... I wasn't paying much attention to her appearance," she answered.
"I see."
The rest of the way was filled with silence until they stood just outside the Hokage's room, stopped by voices from inside.
"You don't have to use those big words Kakashi-sensei said, Natsumi-chan. But you should at least know what they mean and how to pronounce them. Otherwise you'll look foolish when you're Hokage and you don't understand the reports you receive from other ninjas," they heard the other Hinata's voice.
"The other me..." Hinata whispered, clearly uncomfortable by the fact there was another her.
"I'll test your knowledge of big words and sentences. Let's play janken(AN: Rock, Paper, Scissors) verbally, and you have to respond to what I say, okay?"
"Bring it on!" Natsumi replied confidently.
"Rock. Please don't win."
"...Scissors!" There was a pause before she answered.
"Correct. Scissors. Please don't lose."
"...Rock!" The pause was longer there.
"Correct. Rock. Please make me lose."
"Um... Uh... Paper, paper!" This was a hint of desperation in her voice now.
"Correct. Paper. Please be careful not to lose."
"That's so confusing! Why are you making it sound so hard, Hinata-chan?" Natsumi was at her limit and started complaining about the rising complicity of the other Hinata's instructions. The other Hinata giggled lightly because she had not even begun using big words yet.
"Give me an answer, Natsumi-chan. Think carefully, and don't give up. You can do it," she encouraged. An agonizing groan coming from Natsumi was heard before she finally answered with scissors. "Correct. Scissors. Please endeavor for a mutual outcome." The groan turned into exaggerated wailing, making Kurenai laugh softly.
"That's enough unintended entertainment. Let's go in," Kurenai said she opened the door. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I have arrived with Hinata." The first thing they saw was Natsumi clutching her head in distress as she rolled back and forth on the floor, complaining about why Hinata had to make their game of verbal janken so hard. Kurenai saw from the corner of her eye that the two Hinatas were staring at each other. Kakashi greeted her as he held an open scroll in his hands. He had apparently been the one to read its contents which led to the game the pair inside the room were playing.
"H-Hello..." the other Hinata (AN: Now referred to as N-Hinata when the scene is not focused on Natsumi's or her own perspective) greeted timidly, raising a hand for a small wave.
"H-Hello as well..." Hinata could only nod her head meekly as a response. When Natsumi finally stopped rolling on the floor in mental anguish, she stood up and looked at them.
"Oh, the other Hinata-chan! How are you doing?" she happily and boisterously gave her greeting. Hinata flinched from the way she was referred to. Upon seeing it, Natsumi's mood plummeted. "Oh, yeah... You don't like that, right?" she tried to laugh it off but she was clearly upset. Hinata did not know how to respond, but her silence only made it worse. "You don't even want to talk with me, huh...?"
"Hinata, step forth!" Tsunade commanded, sensing the heavy atmosphere in the room and dispelling it instantly. Both of them responded to her call and she had to sigh. "Not you," she gestured for N-Hinata to stand down. "Hinata," she looked squarely at the correct girl. "I'm going to ask you some personal questions. It may be embarrassing to you but it is important you answer them. Answer me truthfully, do you understand?"
"Y-Yes!" Hinata stammered an affirmative.
"When was the first time you met Naruto?"
"During our first years in the Academy," she gave her answer and Tsunade noted it down on a blank scroll.
"Has he done anything for you since that time?" Hinata blushed bright red as she recalled the incident that caused her to start admiring him. She started mumbling in a very soft voice and not making make sense. "Speak up! I can't hear you!" Tsunade boomed, not in the mood to entertain such behavior.
"I'm sorry!" Hinata quickly apologized as she stood straighter. "Naruto-kun... He protected me from some bullies during our first year..." she answered.
"What can you remember about that?" Tsunade asked. So the first meeting was the same for the two pairs. She was now thoroughly convinced that Natsumi and N-Hinata were telling the truth that they were brought here from their own world. The only thing remotely suspiciously about their situation was that they claimed to have been brought here by a genie's doing. Kakashi supported that claim though, and he was one of the most loyal Konoha ninja. According to him, he had indeed organized a grill party for the involved Genin teams and everything played out exactly as they said with the only difference being what happened at the very end, which led to their current situation. Shizune had found the scroll granting permission for his request, and agreed with Kakashi that their two visitors were telling the truth. All that was left to figure out was what happened to cause the disparity between the two pairs.
"I remember... three boys. Naruto-kun jumped in to stop them. He tried to fight them but he was outnumbered and beaten unconscious. They ran away when my caretaker came to investigate the noise their fight caused," Hinata recalled.
"And? What happened after that?"
"I tried to ask my caretaker to help Naruto-kun, but he pulled me away. He insisted that Naruto-kun was bad company to be with and told me not to go near him." Natsumi made an irritated sound at Hinata's statement.
"Quiet, Natsumi," Tsunade told her. "Did you try to do anything to repay Naruto's efforts in any way? Or did you heed your caretaker's words?"
"I tried to approach Naruto-kun the day after. I wanted to offer him lunch as thanks, but I... failed."
"Failed? Don't you mean that you couldn't, or that you didn't?" Tsunade questioned.
"I-I tried but..." Hinata trailed off.
"But? Was something stopping you from approaching Naruto at all?"
"No, there wasn't. It's just..." Hinata trailed off again, annoying Tsunade.
"Just what? Stop stalling and answer my question!"
"I-I approached Naruto-kun, but he didn't notice me."
"No-one, not even Naruto, would miss anybody approaching them with the intention to talk to them," Tsunade found the error in her statement. "You didn't even attempt to talk to him or get his attention, did you?" Hinata hesitantly nodded at her guess. "Alright. So you failed to talk to him that day," she concluded, catching the shocked and alarmed looks on both Natsumi's and N-Hinata's faces. Hinata nodded to agree with her conclusion. "Did you try again the next day, or any other time since?"
"N-No... I didn't..." Hinata admitted.
"Why?" Tsunade pressed.
"I... couldn't find the courage to approach him. When I tried to, I was too embarrassed. Naruto-kun often got in trouble, and our classmates made fun of him a lot... So I didn't know how..."
"So the pressure of potentially being affected by the negative attention towards Naruto prevented you from approaching him again for all the years you spent in the Academy?" Hinata nodded again, now looking towards the floor and unable to meet Tsunade's eyes. "And as time passed, you began to develop a crush on him while never approaching or attempting to talk to him? Admiration doesn't last for years if you're not impressed by something about Naruto. Has he done anything else that left a strong sense of admiration since the day he tried to help you from the bullies?"
"Sometimes, when I have some free time, I search for Naruto-kun," Hinata said.
"For what purpose?"
"I observe him training to improve himself. Watching him persevere for hours inspired me to try and grow stronger myself," Hinata said, raising her head to look at Tsunade. She had a look of great admiration on her face.
"And you never took however many chances you had to talk with him whenever you went to watch him train?" Tsunade asked. Hinata immediately shrunk in on herself and lowered her head again. "I'll take that as a no. Even when he was alone and away from prying eyes, you still didn't approach him. I'm going to assume that because you were starting to crush on him, it felt even more embarrassing to even try speaking with him. I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that the only reason you didn't go through with your plan to offer Naruto lunch during the first and only time you actually tried to talk with him was because he's a boy and you're a girl? You felt awkward because the both of you have different genders. Will you say that what I guessed is plausible?"
"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama. That could be it..." Hinata agreed.
"No... No way..." everyone in the room heard N-Hinata's horrified gasp. They all turned to her and she was clearly shocked. Natsumi had hung her head, her bangs covering her eyes. "So... the only reason why the me in this world and Natsumi-chan's male counterpart aren't friends... is just because Naruto-kun is a boy...? It isn't anything fundamentally different between myself and the other me?"
"N-No! Naruto-kun and I are friends...!" Hinata tried to correct her counterpart's statement.
"The both of you aren't close friends, Hinata. You know Naruto fairly well from observing him, but he barely knows a thing about you. That's hardly called being friends," Kurenai told her. "How many times have you spoken to him on your own accord without him talking to you first or when you are forced to interact with him such as during missions?" Hinata could only hang her head in response, unable to answer the Jounin's question.
"I did tell you two that it was a possible reason," Kakashi told N-Hinata and Natsumi.
"What is this...?" Natsumi asked in a whisper but everyone heard her. "You followed the boy me for years and you didn't even think to say hello even once? What's with that...?"
"Natsumi-chan...?" N-Hinata could almost feel the negativity coming from her best friend and foreboded a bad outburst from her.
"You claim to have watched the boy me for years, right? Then have you seen the crap we've been through for all that time? Have you seen how desperately we wished for somebody to be our friend without pretending to be all cheerful? How we desperately wished for somebody to acknowledge us? How it got to the point that he believed getting hit by Sakura is an acceptable price to pay? Answer me, the other Hinata-chan."
"I-I saw them... But I didn't know how to talk to Naruto-kun..." Hinata answered.
"WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT!" Natsumi yelled in explosive anger, causing Hinata to take a step back in fear. Kurenai shifted, ready to defend her Genin subordinate but Natsumi stayed in position. "So you'll leave him to suffer alone while you hide and admire him for fighting through his dark times when you could have supported him? That's the same as watching somebody who doesn't know how to swim drowning and instead of helping, you hide and then admire them when they somehow manage to learn to swim to save themselves!"
"I don't think I can call your lack of actions as hesitance from shyness anymore..." N-Hinata spoke up timidly but there was a hint of disapproval in her eyes. "It sounds like you just don't want to leave your comfort zone. You say watching Naruto-san gives you courage, yet you can't seem to take the first step yourself for so long. You wish for Naruto-san to notice you, but if you truly knew about Naruto-san's suffering, you would know that he can't reach out to anyone for friendship. It's not that he doesn't want to take the first step in finding friends; he simply can't."
"That is..." Hinata could not find herself disagreeing with her counterpart. As much as she wanted to deny it, everything N-Hinata said was true.
"Even Kiba-kun and the other rookies kept Natsumi-chan at an arm's length. They were cordial with her, friendly at the most. But in some degree, none of them respected Natsumi-chan's dreams of wanting to be Hokage until after the Chuunin Exam. I believe the same applies to Naruto-kun too."
"That's right. Kiba was mocking Naruto and his dream during their fight in the Chuunin Exam," Kakashi mentioned.
"All the other rookies fully expected Naruto to lose except for Hinata," Kurenai added. "You won't root for someone you don't believe in, after all. In a sense, that can be considered as not respecting Naruto's dream of being Hokage."
"I can understand being embarrassed to talk to the person you have a crush on, but what about all the times before your admiration for Naruto-kun turned into attraction? How is it embarrassing to just talk to a classmate you feel positively for? I don't understand that..." N-Hinata's shock had not completely worn off yet.
"As I've said before, it's probably just the fact that you are a boy here, Natsumi," Kakashi reminded them.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Natsumi snapped. "You expect me to believe something like that!"
"It's the only thing left," he shrugged. "Well, besides a crippling level of shyness that prevents our Hinata from lending a helping hand to someone she cares about. Embarrassment is a shallow reason for not being able to help."
"Kakashi, that's too much," Kurenai admonished her fellow Jounin when she saw Hinata shrink into herself further.
"It is a valid criticism however," Tsunade agreed with Kakashi. "Shizune, bring me the records for Team 8."
"Here, Tsunade-sama," Shizune handed her the scroll after a short minute of searching. Tsunade spend a moment reading through the reports before rolling it back up.
"According to the Third Hokage's records of Team 8, majority of the feedback from your clients are positive. The negatives are mostly towards Inuzuka Kiba for general rowdiness and to a lesser extent, Aburame Shino's general disinterest for interaction with the clients. But let's not focus on the two boys."
"What do the clients say about Hinata, Tsunade-sama?" Kurenai asked calmly but she was inwardly nervous.
"Clients say she is the most polite among the three Genins and the most willing to attend to the clients' wants. Those are the positive feedback. For the negatives, they have noted that she has the most reluctance when it comes to helping her teammates. As such, their feedback are mostly uncertain, wondering why a seemingly kind girl was the least co-operative and unwilling to help her teammates. Among the uncertainties are concerns of if she was a target of bullying from her two teammates when not under supervision from their Jounin instructor and was threatened to not tell her. That can potentially spread false negative rumors about Kiba and Shino and damage their reputations. From what I have heard today, those criticisms and concerns are sound."
"That... That's not true... I never..." Hinata said with a choked voice.
"What do you have to say in your defense?"
"Kiba-kun and Shino-kun are more capable than me, so sometimes they offer to take the bulk of the work. If I finish my share of the work first, both of them never looked like they needed help so I..." she trailed off.
"So you stand back and watch," Tsunade finished for her sternly. "Exactly the same when it concerns Naruto. Because they appear fine and capable of bearing the burden, you decide they didn't need your help so you never gave it, even though all signs indicate that they would be grateful for the help." She linked her fingers together in front of her face, covering her mouth from view. "Hinata, have you heard of the term 'cruelty through inaction'?"
"Tsunade-sama, that is not what Hinata intended to do!" Kurenai defended her Genin.
"Of course I know that. I'm not accusing her of it. I'm just letting her know of it," Tsunade replied before looking at Hinata who was close to tears. "You are getting closer and closer to the point where that term can eventually be applied to you, Hyuuga Hinata. The only reason I'm not giving you a negative mark on your record is because you did not do it with ill intention or with willful ignorance. I want improvement, Hinata, but take your time. I have high hopes that you'll improve to be a better person and kunoichi. I'm expecting to see less comments from Team 8's clients about your supposed lack of teamwork. Don't disappoint me."
"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama..." Hinata answered with a whimper, not wanting anyone in the room to hear her sob.
"Were you unhappy when you were not in the same team as Naruto?"
"Yes..."
"Be glad, then. That was your silver lining. If you had been in Team 7 or Naruto in Team 8, you would be marked. After all, you were actively avoiding Naruto since you two were young, just for different reasons than majority of the villagers. Consider yourself lucky you two weren't teamed up. You're dismissed."
"...Yes," Hinata bowed and left while tears finally spilled from her eyes.
"Kurenai, look after her."
"Yes," Kurenai obeyed and left with Hinata.
"...The same goes for you, the other Hinata," Tsunade looked pointedly at N-Hinata. "You appear to have more self-confidence than the other you but since you claim the both of you are fundamentally the same person, this warning goes for you too. I'm sure similar feedback are in your world's records as well."
"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama..." N-Hinata murmured her acknowledgement but she stood her ground better than her counterpart.
"That could have gone better but what is your conclusion, Tsunade-sama? Do you believe the story of these two?" Kakashi asked the important question.
"Yes, I do," Tsunade answered. "The bullying incident that led to their first meeting matched up perfectly. Everything changed starting from when our Hinata failed to approach Naruto while this one did with Natsumi. Tell Kurenai of my decision when you have the time."
"Of course," he acknowledged. "What shall we do with them now? Can we assume they'll be stuck here until we find a way to return them to their own world?"
"What about living quarters? I doubt they have anything with them when they were brought here," Shizune added.
"I'll get them a room in a hotel for until we manage to find a solution to their problem," Tsunade quickly settled the issue.
"You'll really help us, baa-chan?" Natsumi asked with hopeful eyes, immediately snapping out of her angry mood.
"Keep calling me that and I'll leave you on the streets," she grumbled with no real heat behind her threat.
"I knew I could on you, baa-chan! You're the best!" Natsumi dashed past the table and swung her arms around Tsunade for an impulsive hug. She was immediately hammered on the skull and brought to the floor with swirls for eyes.
"Natsumi-chan!" N-Hinata exclaimed in worry and fussed over Natsumi as she looked over the huge bump on her head.
"Don't just touch me whenever you please, you little brat!" Tsunade snapped at the knocked out blonde, much to the amusement of Shizune and Kakashi.
"Natsumi-kun appears to be more affectionate than Naruto-kun is, doesn't she?" Shizune noted.
"I never expected a female version of Naruto to give anyone hugs," Kakashi agreed. "It could just be female hormones, or her growing up with Hinata by her side since their early childhood allowed her to have a more positive outlook."
"Byakugan!" both of them were interrupted by N-Hinata's activation of her doujutsu. All three adults widened their eyes in surprise when N-Hinata's hands were covered in green chakra as she focused on the bump on Natsumi's head.
"You've already learned the Shousen Jutsu?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes," N-Hinata answered as she kept her eyes and focus on healing Natsumi's injury.
"Who taught you?"
"You did, Tsunade-sama. I requested it of you during our return trip to Konoha for your inauguration as the Fifth Hokage. I was given instruction soon after you were officially announced as our new Hokage."
"You weren't with Jiraiya and Naruto when we... Oh," Tsunade stopped herself. "You were with Natsumi and Jiraiya during his mission to retrieve me, didn't you?"
"But wasn't Sakura Tsunade-sama's first apprentice since we returned?" Shizune asked, not used to the differences between the two worlds.
"Huh?" That surprised N-Hinata enough to distract her from her task as she raised her head to look at Shizune. The loss in focus ruined the healing jutsu as it turned volatile from the loss of control.
"Don't lose your focus when you're healing!" Tsunade went straight into 'Master Mode' as she snapped at N-Hinata.
"Y-Yes! I'm sorry!" N-Hinata was heavily startled by the scolding and returned to concentrating on the healing. Unfortunately, the jutsu had turned volatile enough to actually cause a cut on the bump and causing blood to leak from the fresh wound. Natsumi was forcefully awakened by the sharp pain on her already painful bump and let out a comical scream. "S-Sorry, Natsumi-chan! Please stay still!" N-Hinata pleaded with her friend.
"Hurry..." Natsumi whimpered as she clutched the sides of her head. Fortunately, with no more distractions, the rest of the healing proceeded without any more hitches.
"You're wasting chakra," Tsunade criticized Hinata's work. "You did well on healing that injury but the activation of your doujutsu shouldn't be necessary."
"Yes," N-Hinata nodded meekly. "Our Tsunade-sama has instructed me to practice performing the Shousen Jutsu without the aid of my Byakugan. I take too long converting normal chakra into healing chakra without my Byakugan to make sure I'm doing it correctly."
"I see. Keep up your training."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"
"So Sakura was the one who accompanied the boy me when Ero-Sennin went to find you?" Natsumi asked.
"No. Naruto-kun was the only person Jiraiya-sama brought along with him," Shizune replied to which Natsumi made a dismissive sound.
"We got great lessons from Jiraiya-sama, didn't we?" N-Hinata recalled fondly.
"We did learn the Rasengan, but you got more out of it than me. My chakra control didn't improve much at all," Natsumi said with a pout.
"You learned the Rasengan too?" Shizune exclaimed.
"Um, no. I can't do it alone. I never completed the Rasengan training. I don't have the chakra necessary to form a Rasengan without submitting myself to chakra exhaustion."
"Naruto does the Rasengan with the help of a Kage Bunshin," Tsunade mentioned. "What about you, Natsumi?"
"I do too. But making the Rasengan is so much easier with Hinata-chan as my partner!" Natsumi replied excitedly. "You should have seen Hinata-chan! She was amazing! Besides her chakra problem, Hinata-chan learned the steps for the Rasengan super fast!"
"You output the chakra, and Hinata controls and shapes it for you. Is that how it is?"
"Yeah! Well, in a way I am cheating by having a Kage Bunshin help me too. But if Hinata-chan had the chakra for the Rasengan, she'd do it perfectly!"
"I've read that when two people are very used to working together to form a single jutsu, their chakra starts to resonate with each other, allowing them to meld together easier over time," Shizune remembered a vague study of chakra in her younger years.
"It's a theory based on how chakra between direct family members resonate very easily with each other," Tsunade remembered that study as well.
"But it doesn't explain how this Hinata took the Rasengan from Naruto," Shizune pointed out.
"If she has trained with Natsumi and regularly controlled her chakra for her, it does make sense. Natsumi and Naruto have the same chakra, being the same person."
"But Naruto-kun has never had Hinata, let alone anyone else, control his chakra for him."
"There was resistance on Naruto-kun's side when I tried taking the Rasengan away from him. It was exactly like the first time Natsumi-chan and I started practicing how to perform the Rasengan together," N-Hinata spoke up. "I gambled on the idea because he and Natsumi-chan had the same chakra."
"It clearly paid off for you since it worked," Tsunade said.
"I was able to coax Naruto-kun's chakra into allowing me to guide it. Coupled with his poor chakra control that is shared with Natsumi-chan, I was able to create an additional shell over the Rasengan with my own chakra, allowing me to claim ownership of it," N-Hinata explained. "With Natsumi-chan, we can pass the Rasengan to each other without needing me to create that extra layer for me to take and use the Rasengan for myself."
"Since we're talking about it, can't you use the Rasengan too, baa-chan? If Ero-Sennin can use it, that means you can too, right?" Natsumi asked.
"No, but that's only because I don't care enough to learn it," Tsunade replied. "If I tried, I would've gotten it down in less than three days and with only one hand."
"Don't rub in it..." Natsumi's eyebrow twitched in anger when she saw the smirk on her face.
"L-Let's go, Natsumi-chan. We have to get checked in the hotel..." N-Hinata nervously pulled on her arm to get her to drop her anger.
"Fine," she dropped the issue with a huff and turned to leave with a relieved N-Hinata.
"Good job on having Natsumi whipped, Hinata. Keep up the good work. I don't need more headaches from a second Naruto," Tsunade praised N-Hinata.
"Huh? Whipped?" Natsumi was unaware of what she meant.
"It's nothing important, Natsumi-chan! Thank you for your kind words, Tsunade-sama. We'll be taking our leave now," N-Hinata bowed hastily to Tsunade with an embarrassed face because she caught the friendly insult towards Natsumi and did not have the heart to explain to Natsumi just what being whipped meant. Their relationship was not like that at all! It just so happened that she was able to keep Natsumi from blowing up too much from her short temper and calm her down. Natsumi gave a casual wave of her hand to bid goodbye before she closed the door.
"Hinata has Natsumi-kun whipped, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked in slight disbelief.
"You should have seen how obedient she was to Hinata," Tsunade smiled fondly. "I never thought I'd see the day where any version of Naruto can listen quietly to anyone. It kind of makes me curious if our Hinata will ever make a move on Naruto and if she can turn him obedient."
"I don't think it will ever turn out the way you think it will..." Shizune sweat-dropped at Tsunade's vision of Naruto's future.
***End of Chapter***
I'll admit, I procrastinated heavily on this chapter and I must apologize. A combination of games, watching the new Boruto series, and doing research for all future chapters of my stories. As well as thinking of so many admittedly stupid things I wanted to add to this original arc, writing it down, and then finding that I completed ruined the flow of this story. An example is I actually drafted out a scenario where the Rookie Nine find out that Natsumi and N-Hinata, with the original Hinata as an unintended extension, are very capable singers after catching them at a karaoke joint where they were simply passing the time. The two of them got scouted by a passing-by talent agent and in a short matter of time, they become Konoha's singing idols during their stay in the original dimension until they find a way back to their own dimension. It was supposed to be a reference to Japanese voice actors being able to sing as well. And what a huge time waster it was when I read it and found that I got completely sidetracked by what I wanted this OVA to be.
In this chapter, I pointed out the differences between the two Hinatas. And let me point out that yes, I do find Hinata's shyness to be crippling and that's a flaw. Shyness is endearing to a certain degree but any more than that and it becomes a flaw. I don't know how bad it actually is for Hinata since her most crippling moments only involve Naruto pre-time skip, but I decided to expand upon this to hopefully give more depth to her character. This applies to both Hinatas, although a little less for N-Hinata since she is a bit more confident. I made Natsumi mad at the original Hinata because she's getting a third-person perspective of Hinata's case of never approaching Naruto. I felt this could be a possible reaction because of one reason. Remember way back in the Land of Waves and Naruto went all dark for a moment towards Inari because the kid was being a complete coward? I used that as the basis for Natsumi's anger. Naruto/Natsumi don't like the attitude of never even trying to fight for a better future or for your dream. From a third-person perspective, yes, one could interpret Hinata never even trying to approach Naruto as cowardice and a refusal to fight for her dream which was to be with him.
In any case, the next chapter will wrap up this OVA. And like all Naruto OVAs, it is always concluded with a big fight. And then we will get back to the normal story! Shippuuden is only a few more chapters away!
I look forward to getting more readers who like this story. Do Follow/Favourite/Review this story, and big thanks to those who are kind enough to do so!