so do you remember how I promised that this chapter would be the beginning of the chunin exams? yeah... about that.
I intentionally lied to all of you, to get your hopes up and crush them.
SO ENJOY THIS FILLER CHAPTER!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
as Sasuke finished his kunai throwing practice, Kakashi had noticed that Hinata was unusually quiet today and looked like something was on her mind.
before he could ask the Hyūga, certain blonde appeared, panting heavily.
"I'm... here..."
Kakashi looked at the blonde, it had been a week since Lee declared that Naruto was his eternal rival, and the two had participated in various activities and challenges, akin to the ones he and Guy would do.
"so who won today?"
"I... did..."
"ah, I think that it's, 10-9 now?"
the blonde shook his head "11, we did an additional challenge to keep a egg safe, with just our pinkies."
"ah. I see." Kakashi said "so question, how are the weights?"
the blonde grinned "I'm wearing as much as Lee now. heh so much for me having to catch up with you, eh Sasuke?"
the Uchiha scoffed "I'll get there eventually. not all of us can heal as quickly as you."
the blonde chuckled.
Kakashi then spoke up "unfortunately, there's no mission for us today. so today-" Hinata interrupted.
"are you sure? there's not another out of village mission that we can do? preferably one that'll take say, another month?"
everyone stared at the Hyūga "what's wrong?" Kakashi said.
"what do you mean?"
"don't play dumb with us, Hinata." Naruto said "there's clearly something wrong. what is it?"
Hinata sighed in defeat "my father has requested that my teammates come over for dinner."
everyone stood silent.
Naruto rubbed his forehead "ugh, they are already complaining."
when Naruto explained his jinchūriki status, he had also explained that he had befriended seven of the nine bijū.
they were all shocked, to say the least, but they accepted the fact that the blonde had befriended the chakra beasts.
besides, the benefits that the blonde received, once he told them, were clearly worth it.
Hinata was quick to respond "why?"
"cause to quote Kokuō" he had also told them their names after being given permission by the bijū "Uchiha arrogance is only rivaled by Hyūga arrogance."
the Uchiha scoffed, but said nothing.
Hinata wanted to defend her family's honors, but she couldn't. cause deep down she knew that it was correct.
sighing once again, Hinata continued "I'm worried about how the dinner will go. no offense, but you guys don't exactly... mesh well, with my clan's tradition."
Hinata then looked at team. seeing the things that her clan disliked and what made them, them.
Kakashi was very laid-back and lazy, true, when he became their sensei, his laziness had significantly decreased, but it was still there. Whenever there was relatively simple task, he would usually let them handle it on their own, while he laid-back and read his book. said book reading was also something that they weren't a fan of. Kakashi also didn't take a whole lot of things seriously.
Naruto was a very loud and expressive person. not afraid to voice his opinion. he also didn't get along with serious people, like her cousin Neji, telling them to pull a stick out of their you know what. Naruto also didn't take a whole lot of things seriously. sure, these were qualities that made her fall in love with the blonde, but they were qualities that the Hyūga clan frowned upon. Naruto's jinchūriki status wasn't exactly appealing either.
Sasuke was an Uchiha, a clan the Hyūga infamously didn't get along with. sure, after the massacre, the clan had gave their condolences, but that didn't mean they now liked the Uchiha. infact, many of the clan's elders were happy that the massacre had happened. Sasuke also respected very few people, sure she was one of them, but that didn't translate into respect her clan. on top of that, if Sasuke didn't respect you, while he wouldn't outright say it, he would make it very clear.
"so, you're worried that your clan will force you out of team 7 cause of how we act." Kakashi said.
the Hyūga heiress nodded.
Kakashi sighed "okay. I think I can handle not being myself for a little while. Naruto, Sasuke?"
the two looked at the ground, clearly not happy with the options they had.
"hn. if it's just for dinner, I suppose I can put on a mask. but only out of respect. I will not lower myself like this again."
"ugh. fine, I'll put up with their attitude."
the indigo haired girl smiled "thank you."
"alright it's settled. I'll go get something nice to wear. Sasuke, I'm sure you have something, somewhere" Sasuke grunted "Naruto, I think it's time you went shopping for an outfit."
the blonde frowned "what the hell is wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"nothing, it's just that your cloak is your shinobi attire, not something you wear at dinner if you're a guest."
the blonde grunted.
"well then" Hinata said while smiling "I'll see you all at the Hyuuga compound."
as the blonde made his way to the clothing store, he couldn't help but think negative thoughts.
'Kami, I don't how I'm going to handle a whole room full of those oh so serious bastards. how Hinata ever came from them, I'll never understand."
"just follow our advice, and you'll pull through." Kokuō reassured.
'thanks, Kokuō.'
while walking, Naruto sensed three oh so familiar chakra signatures.
'maybe, he can put a smile on my face.'
Naruto slowly turned around and surveyed the area "That rock wasn't there before, and rocks aren't that square."
it was then three kids jumped out of the box "aw, we were doing so well."
the blonde chuckled "Hey Konohamaru."
"Hey boss, how you've been?" He asked while smiling.
"I've was doing well up until the day decided to screw me."
Udon raised an eyebrow "how?"
"you see my teammate, Hinata, said that her father wants her team over for dinner. at his place."
"wait, is she the Hyūga one?" Moegi asked.
the blonde nodded.
"aw, that sucks. those Hyūgas are such stuck up jerks. like Hanabi." Konohamaru said while crossing his arms.
"yeah, pray for my sanity, you three."
it was then Ebisu appeared "there you three are." he said in a very tired voice.
as the sunglass wearing sensei walked towards his students, he took notice of the jinchūriki "oh, hey Naruto."
the blonde raised an eyebrow "Hey Ebisu, are you okay?" he asked, dropping what he usually calls him.
"I have a massive headache today. I think I'm going to call it a day and get some sleep." he said while rubbing his forehead.
"ah, well... you go do that. I have to go get prepared for dinner at the Hyūga's."
"you have fun with that, Kami, am I glad no one has yelled or screamed today."
"UZUMAKI NARUTO!"
"why did I speak?" Ebisu said while crying crocodile tears.
it was then, that Lee ran up to his eternal rival "YOU MAY HAVE BESTED ME TODAY, BUT COME TONIGHT, YOU WILL-" Lee's mouth was covered by Naruto's sand.
"two things, Lee. 1. I know that you love to scream about your youth, but Ebisu has a headache, so please keep it down. 2. as much as I would love to see what crazy challenge you came up with. I have to attend a dinner at the Hyūga's."
Naruto then removed the sand from Lee's mouth "I see. firstly, Ebisu I am sorry. secondly, well then, how does tomorrow sound?"
Naruto gave a simple thumbs up.
Lee smiled "very well, tomorrow you will know defeat, until then, I shall run 100 laps around Konoha." Lee then bolted off.
Konohamaru looked back at Naruto "boss, I have no idea, how you handle that guy."
"me too sometimes... me too."
"what a surprise to see you here, Naruto."
Naruto turned his attention away from the mirror "oh, hey Shizune-san." he said while smiling.
it was then, the black haired girl noticed the harois Naruto was holding "my my, what's the occasion?"
"oh, Hiashi his invited us for dinner. and I am trying to pick which between orange and blue. can you help?"
Shizune rubbed her chin before noticing a third option "how about that one, over there?" she said while pointing.
Naruto looked to see a blue haroi with orange stripes running along the arms.
Naruto gasped "it's perfect."
"come on, I know it's here somewhere." Sasuke muttered to himself.
Sasuke was currently trying to find his black and red haroi.
"ugh, I need to sort my clothes, and soon."
after much more searching, he had finally found it.
he sighed to himself "guess I should prepare then."
Hinata was putting on her purple kimono, dreading for what's to come.
especially what might happen with Naruto and Sasuke. though she loved the former and was friends with the latter, she couldn't deny that at times, they were both hot-headed, either towards others or each other.
the Hyūga elders made no effort to hide their disapprovement on who her teammates were.
'will they try to get a rise out of them?'
thoughts on how this could all go wrong were interrupted by a knock on her door "Hinata, are you ready?"
mentally? no. physically however' "yes, father."
she opened her door to see her father.
"you're team is here, let's go greet them." he said in his usual serious voice.
'here goes nothing.'
they both went to the front entrance of the compound.
there she saw her teammates. Sasuke looked okay, Naruto meanwhile looked amazing. though that may be a bit biased.
their sensei, wearing gray haroi, spoke "hello Mr Hiashi. thank you for inviting us for dinner." he said with an eye smile.
"It's good to see that you came." Hiashi responded.
Hiashi then looked towards Naruto.
"is there something wrong, Hiashi-sama?"
the byakugan princess sighed in relief at her crush's use of sama. when it came to honorifics, Naruto wasn't a fan of using. it wasn't cause of disrespect or thinking he was superior, he just wasn't a fan. there were very few exceptions such as Kakashi-sensei, Shizune-san, or Tsunade-chan.
"yes, I'm curious as to why you have brought your bamboo jug, some knives, and your gourd."
'oh Kami, it's all going wrong already.'
Naruto looked to see that he did indeed bring those items "oh this is embarrassing" the blonde turned to face Hiashi again "forgive me Hiashi-sama. I didn't mean to bring these items with me, it's just that leaving the house with these items is just second nature to me. I don't even think when I do it, I just do it." he said while bowing.
Hiashi nodded "understandable, all is forgiven. I am going to ask that you leave these items in a box inside the compound, except for your gourd as my clan is curious about something."
everyone was confused at that last part.
"my clan wishes to see, if your sand can defend itself against the 64 palms."
"ah, well thank you, Hiashi-sama."
the four went inside and Naruto placed his bamboo jug and knives in the box.
as they went into the dining hall a hyuuga elder spoke "ah, so this is the rest of team 7."
Hinata responded "yes Hariruno-sama, they are."
it was then that Hinata's sister came in the room.
Hanabi looked towards the blonde that Konohamaru told her so much about.
"ah, you must be Hanabi. nice to meet you." Naruto said while smiling.
"likewise, hey is it true that you use bubbles to attack people?"
the blonde nodded.
"may I ask how?"
'guys'
"Just give some lame excuse that they're very special bubbles." Gyūki told the blonde.
"they do come from me after all." Saiken said happily.
"well you see, they're very special bubbles."
Hanabi nodded, deciding to leave it at that.
another Hyūga elder spoke "you must be Sasuke."
the raven haired boy nodded "yes, nice to meet you..."
"Hisanoda."
"Hisanoda-sama."
"likewise." it was then Hisanoda put on a sad face "it's still sad to see the last Uchiha."
Sasuke froze.
'oh Kami, please help.' Hinata thought.
Sasuke took a deep breath 'you can do this, you're a Uchiha. don't let him get to you.' he then sighed "it's harder being the last Uchiha." Sasuke said in a calm matter.
everyone took their seats. with Naruto sitting right next to Hinata.
as everyone waited for their food, another Hyūga elder spoke "so Naruto."
the blonde looked at him.
"my name is Hataba. I've been hearing a lot about you, recently. specifically that you've developed a brand new taijutsu. one that can hold its own against our gentle fist."
"use this opportunity to pamper up to them." Isobu said.
the blonde smiled "hold its own against your clan's gentle fist? people have been saying that?"
Hataba nodded.
"huh, well if that's true, quite frankly, I'm honored that my taijutsu is able to handle its own against the best Konoha has to offer."
Hataba lightly chuckled "yes, it is quite hard for a taijutsu to much less keep up with the gentle fist. never mind hold its own. I'm curious as to what you plan on calling it, and if you would be willing to spar against a fellow clan member in a pure taijutsu match?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head "um, can that spar happen tomorrow? I'm renting this outfit."
Hinata was quite sad that her crush was renting the haroi and she would likely never see him wear it again.
"no, not at all." Hataba reassured.
Hiashi then spoke "you've still haven't told us what you plan on calling it."
the blonde then went wide-eyed "oh my Kami, in my challenge with Lee today, I actually forgot. Thank you so much for reminding me, Hiashi-sama."
the blonde then looked towards his sensei "Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi then looked towards his student "yes, Naruto?"
"I finally came up with a name for my taijutsu. I call it, the beastly fist." the blonde said while giving his traditional foxy grin.
Kakashi restrained himself from rubbing the blonde's hair for how happy he was "that's very nice."
"yes" Hisanoda added "and quite fitting for who you are."
everyone froze.
Hinata though she gave a neutral face, was furious that he had said that.
Kakashi was half tempted to throw a kunai into his skull. he did technically break the third's law, but unfortunately it was just vague enough for him to use the excuse that he meant something else.
Sasuke was also upset. Naruto was one of the few people, that he respected, and after Naruto told him about his jinchūriki status, he was furious by people treating him like a monster. that and, even though he wouldn't admit, he saw his blonde teammate as a close friend.
a friend that he wouldn't kill for mangekyou. yes, even though he still wanted to kill his brother and needed a mangekyou to be able to stand up on him, Sasuke couldn't find it within himself to kill the blonde.
besides, in his mind, if he were to kill his friends, he would be no better than Itachi.
no, he would unlock mangekyou another way, how? he didn't know, but killing his friends wasn't an option nor a answer.
the blonde caught on to what the Hyūga elder meant and wanted to retort. but he didn't, cause he knew that's what the Hyuuga elder wanted. instead he smiled "yes. I have been called a beast in combat, eh Sasuke?"
the raven haired boy was confused but caught on to what the blonde was trying to do. he smirked "yes, you're quite the opponent." he said in friendly tone.
Hisanoda scowled, upset with how he didn't get the reaction he wanted.
the food then finally arrived.
Naruto leaned into Hinata and whispered "if this is how your family eats everyday, then I'm going to have to find a way to be apart of your family." causing the Hyūga heiress to blush.
the Bijūs groaned at their jinchūriki's oblivious remark.
'what?'
"nothing, nothing at all." Matatabi said.
as they ate, Hiashi then decided that now was a good time to get into why he had called team 7 over for dinner.
"so I heard that a week ago, you've completed your first C-rank mission, correct?" putting a slight emphasis on C-rank
Kakashi nodded.
"funny, cause the pay Hinata received is more akin to that of a A-rank mission."
Kakashi froze.
'so that's why he wanted us over.'
"care to explain, Hatake Kakashi?"
knowing that there was no way to dance around it, Kakashi sighed and explained everything.
Hiashi frowned "care to explain, why you didn't turn back as soon as you met the demon brothers? and instead continued to endanger my daughter?"
"Mr Hiashi. I wanted to turn back at first, but I thought your daughter, along with Sasuke and Naruto, could handle it. I've tooken her training seriously, like you requested. but even then, I offered the team to turn back and they also believed they could handle it. and we did. Hinata, along with Sasuke, helped free me from a water prison, Hinata defended both Tsunami and Inari, and overall handle it amazingly considering her rank."
Hiashi stood in silence and turned to his eldest daughter "is this true, Hinata?"
Hinata nodded "yes father."
"may I ask why didn't you request to go back?"
"because I didn't want to embarrass our clan by turning away from my first real mission."
Hiashi said nothing, just stared before finally sighing "very well, Kakashi I am sorry for causing a scene."
"It's okay."
"and Hinata, I'm glad with how you handle the mission. anyways hopefully dessert can lighten the mood. it's cinnamon buns, your favorite."
Hinata beamed.
"umm, Hiashi-sama." Naruto said.
"yes. Naruto?"
"where's the bathroom?"
"down the hall, past the kitchen."
"thank you, I'll be back."
as Naruto walked down the hall, his enhanced sensing picked up bad emotions in the kitchen.
he placed his ear against the door.
"So, are we doing this?"
"yeah, she can't be allowed to become clan head. she is against traditions. if she becomes head, she'll want to get rid of the bird cage seal, and she'll be too strong to be opposed."
"yeah, right. on the plus side we get the benefit of killing the bijū brat and the Uchiha too."
"yeah, yeah, just add the stuff."
the two Hyūga elders walked in with the dessert.
as they finished placing the cinnamon buns down, Naruto looked at them, angerly.
one them then asked "is something wrong?"
Naruto then let off a bit of killer intent "oh, nothing. I just want to know, what's in the dessert you both made?"
everyone stared at the blonde with confusion, while the two elders started sweating.
"Naruto, why do you ask?" Hiashi asked, curious as to why the blonde looked ready to kill.
"oh, you see Hiashi-sama. while walking to the bathroom, I overheard them speaking about removing Hinata as clan head, by adding some 'stuff' to today's dessert. said stuff would also have the benefit of getting rid of 'the Uchiha and the bijū brat' as they put it."
everyone stood silent.
it was then, the incriminated elders were drown by a wave of killer intent.
"do you two wish to explain why it sounds like you both tried to poison my daughter and our guests?" Hiashi asked with fury in his voice.
the two attempted to make a run for it, but were quickly stopped by sand wrapping their legs.
"and where do you both think you're going?" Naruto asked with a cheerful looking smile.
after all was said, everyone left. except for Naruto.
"I wish to thank you, Naruto." Hiashi said while handing him a piece of mail "I hope this will be more than enough."
the blonde smiled "you're welcome, Hiashi-sama."
the blonde then went to home.
OH, YOUR SADNESS FILLS ME! I KNEW YOU WERE ALL EXCITED FOR GAARA, I KNEW YOU WANTED TO SEE HOW HE WAS LIKE WITHOUT SHUKAKU! AND I JUST DENIED YOU!
anyways, sorry for such a cruel tease.
next time, the chunin will begin and we'll finally meet Gaara. our favorite red haired boy. I promise.