a/n- Hello, everyone! Time for chapter 6!

Sorry for the delay (again)! I am feeling much better now, my palms are fully healed, and the stitches on my chin are gone too. The delay was because, well, I was hit by the Laziness no Jutsu. Sorry again.

OK, let the chapter Begin!

Konoha's Orange Maelstrom

Chapter 6

A whole week had passed since Naruto's chakra control training with Kurama had started. Right now, Naruto was standing right in front of a very big tree he had found in the woods surrounding his training ground. The tree was at least 70 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It didn't have too many branches, and all of it's branches were at the top of the tree. The birds were chirping, as they usually do when the sun rises. Naruto had a determined look on his face. He had only one thing in his mind at the moment. Reach the top of that tree.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and relaxed. His clothes were torn almost everywhere, and very dirty due to the constant falling. He wore the same clothes for training everyday, as he didn't want to get more than one set of clothes dirty. He still had his bandage wrapped around his head, which too had become very dirty. Naruto's face was dirty as well, as he had been training for about an hour prior to this. Naruto slowly released his breath and opened his eyes.

'Ok, I can do this. I can reach the top. I will reach the top!' Naruto mentally reassured himself, as he prepared himself for climbing the tree.

Naruto channelled chakra to his feet as he raised one leg and put it on the bark of the tree, sticking to the tree pretty well.

'Ok, so far, so good. Now the other leg.'

Naruto then raised the leg that connected him to the grassy ground, and put it on the tree's bark as well. Naruto was now standing perpendicular to the tree.

'Ok, I got this. I will reach the top!' Naruto reassured himself again, as he proceeded to walk up the tree, step by step, slow and steady. He was sweating, but not too much, as the cool morning breeze was cooling him down. About a minute later, Naruto was about 5 feet from the top of the tree, by which he meant, the highest climbable part of the tree, also known as right below where the tree branches off.

'Yes! Almost there! I've got this!' Naruto thought as he slowly walked the last 5 feet, with a smile widening on his face with each step he took.

When Naruto finally got to his goal, he was really happy. He felt like he was the best in the world.

'Yeah! I did it! My training paid off!' Naruto thought as he jumped for joy.

Wait a minute! Jumped for joy? Jumping while standing perpendicular to a tree? While you are almost 70 feet high? That's never a good idea...

That was exactly what Naruto thought as he plummeted to the ground.

"Aaaaargh!" Naruto shouted as he plummeted to the ground. Thankfully, his experience with falling as much as he did that week had left him with a reflex to land on his feet while falling. And, thanks to that, and the fact that academy students were taught how to land after falling from such a height, Naruto could land safely, although his legs did hurt a lot.

"Ouch! My legs!" Naruto weakly said as he turned to limp home. He had come to train early today, because academy would start again that day and he wanted to get this done before he went back to the academy. Now that he had finally completed his training, maybe he could beat Sasuke-teme? Naruto couldn't wait to see how much improvement he had made!

About half an hour later, Naruto was back at home, eating breakfast, which was, as usual, cup ramen. Naruto had taken a bath, and he was now wearing a clean set of clothes. He was greedily eating his ramen at a speed which most would find unbelievable, and after eating 5 cups, he was satisfied.

'Ah! Life is good as long as I have ramen! Oh, I better meet Kurama now.'

Thinking this, Naruto concentrated on entering the sewer seal while still sitting on the chair he had been eating on. About a minute later, he was standing in front of Kurama.

Kurama was lying down in his usual position, with his head rested in both of his forearms, like dogs do some of the time. He was looking at Naruto with a tiny smirk. Kurama was happy that Naruto could finally get his chakra control right. It was really embarrassing to be a chakra monster with a jinchuuriki that could barely control chakra.

"I see that you have completed the tree walking exercise. Good. Now you should have better chakra control than the average academy student." Kurama said with a tiny smile on his face.

"Cool! Now I can totally beat Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted, very happy that Kurama praised him.

"Oi, Naruto, don't get too carried away. Better chakra control doesn't mean that your taijutsu and kenjutsu will improve, and I know for a fact that the only spars you have with the Uchiha are taijutsu spars." Kurama said matter-of-factly.

Naruto sighed at that in disappointment. "Aww... I was looking forward to kicking his ass... Hey, you will train me in taijutsu right?"

"No way! I don't know anything about taijutsu! Why would I know taijutsu? The only reason I know this exercise was because I found it funny when your mother fell from the tree's again and again, and for once, I paid attention to what was happening."

"Oh... OK. Hey! You find it funny to see people falling from trees? Are you some sort of sadist?" Naruto asked Kurama with a hint of anger evident in his voice.

"Who knows... maybe I am a bit sadistic... Hahahahaha!" Kurama laughed out loud, and Naruto was left thinking- 'Is he crazy as well as sadistic?'

Naruto and Kurama had become much more friendly over the week, and Naruto's parents were no longer a sore subject between them.

After the laughter died down, Kurama said- "Oi Naruto... Don't you think it's time for you to go to that academy of yours?"

Realisation dawned on Naruto's face as he yelled. "Oh no! I completely forgot! Bye Kurama! See you later!" Naruto said as he vanished from the sewer seal.

Seconds later, Naruto was back in his apartment, and he quickly got out of his chair, knocking the chair over in the process. He took a look at his alarm clock by his bed, and he knew that he was done for. Class would start in five minutes! Naruto quickly ran to the front door, put his sandals on, got out, fumbled with his keys as he closed the door, and he was off at the speed of a flying kunai.

A few minutes later, Iruka had entered his classroom in the academy to find all of his students seated... except for one...

"Has anyone seen Naruto?" Iruka asked, but he received no reply from his class. However, the reply he did get was of the noise someone made while running outside the classroom.

Seconds later, the door to the classroom slid open, revealing a very tired Naruto, sweating and panting from the high-speed race against time. Iruka was a bit concerned for Naruto when he saw the dirty bandage around Naruto's forehead.

"Naruto, what happened to your head?"

Naruto mentally let out a sigh of relief. Iruka-sensei was not getting angry for his late arrival. Naruto's wounds had healed pretty fast but he decided that he would wear the bandages until he found a replacement for his broken goggles. However, telling Iruka that he had cracked his head against a tree while running was going to be a bit embarrassing. So... he was going to twist the story just a bit.

"That umm... Iruka-sensei... You see... I.. umm... was trying to save a pussy cat from a bunch of dogs who were harassing it, and I intervened, and beat up many of the dogs when..." Naruto was interrupted by Kiba.

"Hey! Dogs are way stronger than that! I bet just one of them could easily rip you to shreds!" Kiba protested, and a tiny Akamaru barked in agreement, while some of the class slightly shuddered at that mental image.

"Shut up!" Naruto retorted "I knocked out about 5 dogs before their boss knocked me off my feet, and I hit my forehead on the wall and got knocked out!"

"Then why are you still alive? That dog should have eaten you for all that I know." Kiba questioned, and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto cringed a bit at this. He had not thought out this part of the story. He desperately tried to come up with something to cover that mistake up when he gave the best reply he could- "Someone saved me from the dogs and drove them away and then took me to the hospital." Naruto said quickly.

"Oh! And who was that?" It was Iruka's turn to ask the questions now.

"I umm... don't know!"

"And why do you not know who it was?"

"I umm... woke up in the hospital after being knocked out, and I found out that the someone had taken me to the hospital, and I forgot to ask them who it was." Naruto replied while rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Oh... I think I understand... Next time, remember to ask somebody's name when they help you, OK Naruto? Now you may go to your seat." Iruka said, not fully believing Naruto's story, but he decided to go with it.

"Roger that Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said enthusiastically and proceeded to walk to his seat.

On the way, Naruto noticed a certain white-eyed girl sitting at the back of the class looking at him, who looked very worried... That was when he remembered a very important thing-

'Oh, yes! I need to talk to Hinata! I need to ask her why she ran away when I found her.' Naruto made a mental note of this as he sat down on his place.

"OK students, now that all of you are here, we can start class. We will be starting the day with a surprise test on the second great shinobi war."

Oh boy. This was going to be a long day...

After class was over for the day, Naruto was looking forward to going to Ichiraku's and getting some ramen. The surprise test went awful for him, and so did the rest of the classes. He needed ramen to cheer up. He was running through the corridors of the academy, eager to get out. It was when he reached the academy gates that he remembered something.

'Ah! I almost forgot! I need to talk to Hinata!'

Remembering the task he had to do, Naruto grinded to a halt. Naruto decided to wait for Hinata to come, and he waited, leaning on the wall outside the academy.

After some time Hinata came through the gates, walking like a normal person should, wearing a yellow hoodie and blue pants. She was unaware of Naruto's presence, and looked like she was thinking really hard about something.

Naruto decided to play it safe and decided to get close to her before he made his presence known. After all, she could run off like she did last time. And so, Naruto walked up behind her, creeping like a ninja. Fortunately, the streets were empty when Naruto started getting closer to Hinata. It was a good thing for him because if anyone saw what was happening, he would have been reported to the police for stalking (Ironic isn't it?). Also, Hinata was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice Naruto. Naruto kept on creeping until Hinata was within arm's reach. Then he decided to make his presence known-

"Oi Hinata!"

The last thing Hinata expected when she was walking home was for her crush to come up behind her and give a shout. So, naturally, she did what most girls did in this situation. She froze. She was starting to sweat a lot, hoping that Naruto didn't see her that day, and there was a bright blush on her face, from the close proximity of her crush.

Naruto was puzzled by Hinata's reaction. The first time, she ran off when he noticed per, and now, she wasn't moving. She wasn't even standing properly. It was like, she was hit by a paralysing genjutsu while she was walking, and now, she is stuck mid-step with one foot behind and one foot in front, and her arms by her side. Naruto decided to go in front of Hinata, as she still hadn't turned around. That was when he noticed that Hinata was sweating profusely and was really red in the face. Naturally, he thought that she was not feeling too well.

"Uh... Hinata, you don't look all right. Are you sick? You better go to the hospital." Naruto said, a bit worried for her.

Hinata was glad that Naruto didn't seem to remember seeing her that day, and that he was concerned for her. She gathered her bearings, stood straight, and started to twiddle her fingers as she usually did when she was nervous. Then she spoke, stuttering a little-

"N-No need for that N-Naruto-k-kun... I am f-feeling well. T-Thank you"

"You sure don't look OK." Naruto said, still not sure that Hinata was alright.

"T-Trust me, I am O-OK."

"OK, fine then, by- oh, I almost forgot." Naruto decided to go straight to the point. "Why did you run away when I told you to stop that day? And why were you spying on me?"

Hinata was shocked. Naruto knew that it was her! She was sweating a whole lot more than before. Naruto was waiting for a reply. A few moments passed with Hinata trying to make up her mind on what to say. Hinata gathered all of her courage and said, while bowing her head-

"S-Sorry for t-that. I-I was w-walking through the w-woods when I h-heard y-you training, a-and I was w-watching what y-you were d-doing, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata was stuttering heavily, thanks to her super-nervous state when she said this. After all, who wouldn't be when you are the cause of your crush's head injury? Hinata proceeded to give the second part of her answer-

"W-When y-you threw that k-kunai at me, it h-hit my h-head and then I d-didn't know what I-I was d-doing..." Hinata's head lowered even further "T-Then, I s-sprinted off and only s-stopped when I h-heard y-your h-head hitting t-the tree... A-And I g-got very scared and I c-carried you to the h-hospital." It was by a miracle that Hinata had not yet broken down. She however, needed to ask for one thing... "I k-know that y-you are v-very a-angry at me for w-what I have d-done... But if it i-is at all p-possible, p-please f-forgive me N-Naruto-kun!" By the time Hinata finished, she had bowed as low as she could, hoping that Naruto would forgive her.

Naruto was standing silently listening to Hinata's explanation, with a lightly shocked expression on his face. He didn't think that Hinata would be the one who took him to the hospital. He was even more shocked at how much she was apologising. If he had done something like that, he wouldn't apologise nearly as much as she did, and he doubted that anyone else would apologise like that. He then spoke-

"Hinata, I am not mad at you... I actually owe you an apology for throwing that kunai at you, and I owe you two thank yous- one for taking me to the hospital and another for creating the opportunity to meet my best friend! So please Hinata, stop bowing, there is nothing for me to forgive, because you are not at fault." Naruto was smiling genuinely when Hinata stopped bowing and looked at him in the face.

Hinata was overjoyed when she heard what Naruto said. Although she didn't know who this 'best friend' was, she was just happy that Naruto wasn't mad at her. If she were any other girl, she would have hugged Naruto already, but Hinata being Hinata, all she could do was just smile back at him.

Then, they were interrupted by Naruto's rumbling stomach.

"Oh, I must get going. I am getting a bit hungry. I was going to tell you about my best friend, but I guess I'll tell you all about it when I see you again." Naruto said, a bit embarrassed.

"Okay N-Naruto-kun, bye!"

"Bye Hinata!" Naruto said as he ran off towards his favourite ramen stand.

Hinata continued her walk home, much happier than she had been before her conversation with Naruto.

'I am so stuffed... my stomach hurts...' Naruto thought as he laid down on his bed in his pyjamas. He got a bit carried away while eating his ramen, and this was the result- A Naruto that looked like he was pregnant.

'I'll go meet Kurama... It's not like I can sleep any time soon with this stomach. Oww... It hurts..."

Naruto then closed his eyes, still lying on his back on the bed, and a minute later, he was standing in front of Kurama.

"Oi Kurama! What's up dattebayo?" Naruto asked, his voice a bit weaker than usual.

"You really shouldn't overeat like that, Naruto. Eating ramen all the time isn't good for your health. You should pay attention to your diet." Kurama said while sitting in the very same position he had been sitting in in the morning.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay attention to my diet starting next year." Naruto said, a little annoyed that Kurama wanted to cancel his ramen privileges.

"Anyway, there are two things I need to tell you, Naruto" Kurama's face became a bit serious. "First, the ANBU which had been tailing you is gone now. I can't sense him anymore."

"Ah, finally, he is gone after one whole week. He must have run away after he found out how boring Iruka-sensei's classes are! Hahaha!" Naruto laughed at how hilarious he was.

"The second thing I want to tell you is that... before I tell you, I want you to remember that I am telling you this only because I don't want you to be asking 'Why didn't you tell me that?' OK?" Kurama said in a bored tone. "That girl you had been talking to, Hinata, has a really big crush on you."

"Whaaat?!" Naruto shouted, completely shocked to hear that a girl that he barely knew liked him.

"Don't shout like that gaki! You are hurting my sensitive ears!" Kurama shouted back.

"Oh, sorry about that, but are you sure that she likes me?" Naruto asked, not believing that a girl liked him and not Sasuke.

"As sure as I am that you are an idiot."

Naruto didn't respond to the snide response Kurama gave. He was too busy thinking about this new situation...

Naruto eventually gave up. He would think something up when the time came. Right now, he was suddenly starting to feel sleepy. His stomach has big mood swings.

"Thanks for telling me that Kurama... I think I'll go get some sleep now... Good night!" Naruto said as he vanished from Kurama's sight.

'Heh, this should be fun... I wonder what the kid will do...' Kurama mused, as he closed his eyes.

Finally! Chapter over! That took longer than I expected... I am trying to fix the issue with the pacing of my story, as one of my reviewers pointed out... I hope I get it right by the time Naruto becomes genin...

And, yeah, maybe I did go a bit overboard with Hinata's stuttering...

And, yes, Please do let me know what you think of this chapter!

I really do hope that the Laziness no Jutsu doesn't strike again