I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics, even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise. Whether I will have Oc's in the fic or not depends entirely on how the story goes.
Chapter 16
Naruto was struggling, but he would never admit it out loud.
Now he couldn't hide it with a pure will of determination that let him take hits and shrug it off like it was child's play while racking you up a good one, two, three combo.
Sasuke could now glide through those combos like Naruto was the snow in the princess gale movies. It got so bad that Sasuke began chanting
"Slide, slide, slide" Naruto grit his teeth when Sasuke dodged his first hook by going low, his rising left knee, by simply leaning to the left, and before Naruto could raise his right leg, Sasuke brought his right leg in its path and tripped him.
"Stop doing that!" Naruto shouted as he stood back up and attacked again.
Naruto came close summoning a clone, they ran side by side reaching Sasuke in seconds before they sidestepped in different directions one to the left and the other to the right.
Sasuke's Sharingan covered irises with 1 tomoe on the left and 2 tomoe on the right scanned every part of both replica's bodies in a matter of seconds. They twisted around and attacked as one, one went low performing a wide leg sweep, and the other went high with a rising kick.
Sasuke smirked and jumped a little, tucking his body into a ball and showing his flexibility while doing a side flip. Naruto hated how he saw it all in slow motion and from two different points of view, in both those angles Sasuke's smirk was prominent.
Sasuke landed in a squat as he quickly drew a kunai holding it in a reverse grip before turning and stabbing 1 Naruto 4 times in the neck in quick succession, his turn continued as he rose with it and brought the kunai against the other Naruto's neck stopping it just against his neck as a trickle of blood slid down.
"Sorry dobe, my bad." Sasuke mocked as he drew his kunai back and flicked it before twirling it and stashing it back in his pouch.
Naruto ground his teeth as he came up to Sasuke and squared his shoulders knocking his chest against the Uchiha's. Sasuke not one to back down squared his shoulders and stood his ground, glaring at Naruto with a frown looking down on him with Naruto glaring at him in anger and frustration.
"You wanna go again?" Sasuke asked in a deeper voice since his voice was finally breaking.
Naruto was about to accept the challenge but their sensei spoke.
"That's enough." Itachi said and Sasuke turned his back on Naruto walking away. He walked over to Hinata and stood in front of her sitting form.
"Do you wanna spar Hinata?" Sasuke asked gently as he offered her a hand. Hinata looked over to where she could sense Naruto but couldn't see how the blonde grit his teeth and look away in shame.
Hinata reached out her hand and Sasuke took it in his gently helping her stand before leading her to the ring by hand, eyes never on Naruto as he spoke softly to Hinata. Naruto was unable to hear anything while Hinata nodded.
When they fought each other it was like a dance, with Sasuke finally able to keep up with Hinata and keep the fight even.
Sasuke kicked out his right leg low aiming to hook it around Hinata,s left ankle and yank, but the Hyuga raised her left foot dodging the sweep then quickly followed it up by raising her right then her left, and finally her right again while moving backward.
Then Hinata stepped forward into Sasuke's guard throwing a left palm, Sasuke was in the process of dodging to the right a second earlier so he dodged it cleanly, then repeated the process in the opposite direction dodging another Palm strike by leaning his head to the left.
Sasuke's hand came up to catch Hinata's outstretched hand a second before she bent it at the elbow and brought it back around aiming for the Sharingan welder's throat, it got slapped away and the leg that tried to sweep Sasuke's feet from the side was jumped over.
Bringing his leg up Sasuke kicked at Hinata's abdomen with all his strength but she raised both hands and placed it in the way catching Sasuke's leg in her grip she grunted in pain but raised a hand with two fingers out ready to strike at his tenkentsu. Sasuke saw the chakra on the tips of her fingers form a shakra needle ready to attack a chakra point.
His eyes widened as he jumped doing a corkscrew flip breaking out of the hold and at the same time bringing his free leg up with a kick aimed at Hinata's shoulder she ducked under it and Sasuke landed with his back to her and quickly had to bend to his knees to narrowly dodge a spinning roundhouse kick.
Hinata stopped her kick in mid-swing and then brought it down to strike The crown of Sasuke's head. Sasuke rolled forward escaping the impact zone then turned to face Hinata with a challenging grin on his face.
While she took back her jukken stance and smirked at him challengingly.
Sasuke dashed at her with great speed reaching her faster than she could blink throwing a feint with his right before attacking with his left it was a useless tactic because Hinata wasn't bothered by feints she couldn't see so she paid it no mind and parried away the real threat, she then parried 4 more in quick succession before weaving through the last one with a spin and when she was facing Sasuke again her katana was out.
Naruto knew the match was now in Hinata's favor as Sasuke dodged the first swipe by chance while his t-shirt got a clean cut running in a straight line revealing the mesh shirt under.
Hinata quickly changed her grip on the blade and brought the sword up with Sasuke jumping back. Hinata's upward strike cut a diagonal line across Sasuke's t-shirt, she took a step forward and changed her grip again swinging the blade back towards Sasuke's neck which he tried to dodge but cursed when he saw it stop in mid-swing informing him it was a feint.
His leg got pulled under him and he found himself falling, he hit the ground hard blinking on impact only to find a blade pointed at his Adam's apple, he gulped and raised his hands in surrender.
Hinata nodded at him and her blade faded out of existence like a mirage as the katana returned to the seal on her left arm. Sasuke jumped back onto his feet not even looking bothered to lose.
"Match, good job you two." Itachi congratulated them as he jumped off the tree branch he was perched landing on the ground and approached the Uchiha and Hyuga who stood side by side waiting for him.
"Come Naruto-Kun." Itachi called over the boy who stood in the distance. Naruto sighed in resignation and stood next to Hinata on her right subconsciously standing a bit further away from her than he usually did. Hinata noticed this by the lack of his warmth.
She wondered why he stood away from her when on the other hand Sasuke stood so close their hands would touch if any sudden movements were made.
"Hinata-Chan, you are taking to kenjutsus very well, and because you are a jukken user your wrist has that flexibility that makes it possible to switch grips in mid-swing and in a moments notice" Itachi praised the Hyuga girl. "Continue working on your swings, if you can speed it up your jukken strikes will speed up as well." Itachi ended with some advice.
"Sasuke-Kun, congratulations on another tomoe, your Sharingan is evolving well and you are getting better and better at using it to predict moves and dodge accordingly." Itachi told Sasuke then pointed at the boy's eyes. "What is the Sharingan to you?." Itachi asked and Sasuke stood straight as he responded.
"The Sharingan is only a tool, it should not be relied on too heavily. it is only as strong as the body and minds wielding it." He recited word for word his brother's teaching.
"Good, always remember that lesson." Itachi nodded." Work on your overall speed and reaction time so you can dodge faster." Itachi told Sasuke and the boy nodded seriously.
"I'll train harder Sensei." Sasuke replied with determination and Itachi nodded.
"Naruto-Kun, you need to work on your techniques and speed, you also need to control your emotions, getting angry or frustrated will only lead to mistakes." Itachi told the Uzumaki.
"How is your fuinjutsu training going?" Itachi asked as he looked over to the 2 clones who were too concentrated on their scrolls to watch the matches or listen in.
"I don't know, I'll find out when they dispel." Naruto answered and although he tried to hide the bitterness in his voice the whole team caught it. Hinata felt like taking her best friend's hand and squeezing it to reassure him he wasn't alone and it was okay, but he stood away from her.
"Don't keep them out too long or you will get a migraine when they dispel." Itachi informed The blonde before turning back to the whole team.
"Now each of you go to a tree and practice the tree walking exercise we started yesterday," Itachi commanded his genin and they each made their way to a tree. Naruto chose the furthest one from his teammates.
Naruto got in front of a tree and ran chakra down the soles of his feet before stabilizing its flow and taking off in a sprint. Running 7 steps up the tree on his 8th step he slipped off the trunk, quickly bringing down a 9th step to catch himself Naruto used too much chakra and is blown off the tree leaving an imprint of his ninja sandal behind, he flipped in mid-air and landed on his feet a few feet away from the tree.
Looking over at Sasuke he found the Uchiha going more than 15 feet up before he would blow himself off the tree doing a flip and Landing on his feet.
Hinata got 17 feet up before slipping off the trunk. Sasuke approached Hinata and began speaking to her with her responding. Naruto continued his exercise while keeping an eye on their conversation.
Getting blown off the tree on his 8th step again. He took a breath and was about to take another running start but caught Hinata and Sasuke nodding to each other from the corner of his eyes. He stopped and watched as they both went back to their respective tree and took a running start before dashing at the tree Naruto watched as the two ran all the way up the tree in one go.
Hinata reaching the highest branch stopped standing on it upside down and Sasuke though he slipped on his last step quickly grabbed his last branch and grabbed onto it with a hand. Hanging like a monkey would on a branch.
"Good job Hinata-chan!" Sasuke called out from his tree.
"I take it you made it as well?" Hinata asked raising her voice so it could reach Sasuke from her position on the branch.
"Thanks to your advice on how to regulate my bursts of chakra." He called back with a smile the girl couldn't see.
"Your advice on how I should keep my chakra flow constant helped, thank you Sasuke-Kun." Hinata replied as she released her chakra flow and let gravity take her, she flipped and landed on her feet.
Sasuke followed suit, releasing his hold on the branch and dropped down from one branch to the next until he reached the ground floor.
Naruto felt like he was being left behind. When Sasuke unlocked his Sharingan their fights became harder for Naruto but at least he could still graze him because he couldn't dodge well enough.
Now that Sasuke's eyes had evolved even if by just one tomoe their fights had become one-sided Naruto couldn't touch him anymore and he quickly learned that making a battalion of clones only got them a big ass fireball.
That was the only combat-ready jutsu he owned, Sasuke wouldn't give him the time to set up seals, it's not like they would help anyway, he only had barrier seals for fighting purposes.
Naruto trained for another hour pushing hard to reach the highest branch as well, Hinata and Sasuke after repeating the exercise a few more times to show they had mastered it sat on the grass waiting for him.
Hinata had taken her katana out of the seal and was cleaning it while Sasuke sat with her as they conversed.
"That's enough for today Naruto-Kun." Itachi said at noon exactly. "Let's head over to the Hokage administrative building and pick up a mission.
"I can continue." Naruto argued and Itachi shook his head in the negative.
"Maybe next time Naruto-Kun." He told the boy gently as he walked back toward Sasuke and Hinata with Naruto reluctantly following.
"Let's head to the Hokage tower." Itachi informed once he got closer and both genin stood up with Hinata resealing her katana.
Naruto began walking away when he saw Itachi March off. Following his sensei Naruto left Hinata behind as the girl stood there waiting for him to take her hand in his to lead the way or just close enough so she could grab onto his sleeve.
"Naruto-Kun?" She called out to her best friend but the boy was so deep in thought it never registered.
"Don't worry I got you Hinata-Chan." Sasuke came up to her and took her hand.
Hinata hated being blind at that moment more than she did in a long time as Sasuke led her by the hand. Why wasn't Naruto there to offer her a hand? She had wondered, why was he distancing himself from her she had thought sadly, Why did she feel such overwhelming sadness from him? She had thought.
'What's wrong Naruto-Kun?" Hinata wondered in her thoughts.
When they reached the Hokage tower, Hinata immediately took her hand from Sasuke's grip and made her way up the stairs of the tower heading up to where she could sense the Hokage, Iruka, and Naruto's chakra which was as large as the village leader's if not more so.
Reaching the office door, Hinata knocked three times and waited until she heard Iruka's voice telling her to enter. Hinata took a deep breath and pushed the door open entering quickly and closing it behind her.
"Ahhh Hinata-Chan, I was just asking Naruto-Kun where you and the rest of your team are." The 3rd Hokage greeted with a grandfatherly voice and a gentle smile.
"Good afternoon Hokage-Sama." Hinata greeted with a bow as she turned to where Naruto's chakra signature stood. "Naruto-Kun was quick to rush here Hokage-Sama, our team is on their way now." She answered her village elder, and not a moment later The remaining members of team 7 arrived.
"Yes good, I can finally say Good afternoon team 7" Hiruzen made light humor and not a soul-cracked a smile.
"Tough crowd," Hiruzen muttered softly to himself.
"Am I to believe you are here for a mission Itachi-Kun?" Hiruzen asked changing the topic from his joke.
"Yes, Hokage-Sama," Itachi replied smoothly to the oldest man in the room.
"Iruka, give them the C-ranked escort mission for the bridge builder." The Hokage instructed his assistant for the day.
"Are you sure Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked with worry in his voice. "They barely became genin a month and a half ago."Iruka continued pleading his case.
"Don't worry Iruka-Kun, I'm sure they can handle a simple escort mission to wave," Hiruzen said dismissing Iruka's worries, before turning to Itachi.
"Do you think they are ready Itachi-Kun?" Hiruzen asked the sensei of team 7, Itachi went quiet as he thought about it before shrugging.
"Let's wait for the mission report to answer that for us." Hiruzen laughed at Itachi's response with an aged laugh.
"I see you have gained a sense of humor since you've begun teaching Itachi-Kun, maybe I should have made Danzo a sensei to a genin team." Hiruzen cracked up at his joke than his laugh slowly died away as not a soul laughed.
"Tough crowd indeed." He muttered again under his breath.
"Here you go Itachi-San." Iruka said handing the scroll to Itachi. "All the mission parameters and the client's details are in there." Itachi nodded while unrolling the scroll and quickly scanned through its contents.
"Return here in 3 hours so you can meet your client, and do pack for a long journey maybe a month." The Hokage informed.
"Hai Hokage-sama." They all chorused except Naruto who was lost in thought at the time and only jumped in shock at the sudden loud voices.
««««"»»»»
Naruto quickly rushed out of the Hokage monument turning the corner of the building where the streets was strangely empty. Naruto tried to rush home but before he could leap off he felt a hand grab onto him. He recognized its owner immediately and he flinched away from the touch.
Naruto turned around and saw the betrayed look that crossed Hinata's face as her eyes widened.
"Naruto-Kun?" She asked and Naruto looked away from her hurt face in shame.
"Sorry Hinata." He said and cursed when he didn't add any suffix after her name, no 'Chan or Hime'. "…..Hime." He added slowly after a second, though the damage had already been done.
Hinata began poking her fingers together in an old habit of nervousness and self-doubt as she looked down in confusion with a frown that explained how lost she was not knowing why Naruto was behaving like that to her.
"What's wrong Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked taking a step forward and Naruto took one back on instinct.
Naruto looked into her sad eyes that looked in his direction and he felt like a jerk. Why was he so jealous, he had Ino so why would he try and keep Hinata from finding someone of her own?
But he couldn't imagine Hinata with someone else, not just Sasuke, the thought of Hinata depending on anybody but him, laughing with anybody but him, or having her hands in someone else's hand brought him nothing but fear and sadness.
"Naruto-Kun.."Hinata's voice was breaking now as she moved closer to him while he moved back only to bump against a wall. Hinata tried to make eye contact.
Naruto never said anything, but whenever Hinata tried to look him in the eyes she always managed to look just past him, he hated the fact she was completely blind now. He tried so hard to find a way for fuinjutsu to help her regain her sight but nothing ever came up.
Naruto felt differently now and it shocked him that he could think that way, he felt glad that Hinata couldn't see how badly he lost to Sasuke, how he failed to complete the tree walking exercise, or how he probably looked like a jealous hypocrite in front of her at that moment.
Hinata stepped closer feeling his warmth and tried to reach for his whisker-covered cheeks. Naruto watched as her hand came closer and closer to his face, his heart beating harder in his chest by the second until he was audibly breathing deep and hard.
Hinata's hand finally reached Naruto's whiskered cheeks and she caressed them.
"Please speak to me?" She said trying to hold strong to her emotions.
Naruto tried to speak, he did. He tried to say anything but his mouth wouldn't open he had nothing to say because he didn't know what to say, he was confused.
"D-Did I do s-some-something wrong?" Naruto's eyes widened when Hinata asked him with a sob escaping her lips, with tears welling up in her charcoal-colored eyes he immediately opened his mouth to answer when…
"Goldie-Kun!" Ino's voice came from the distance and Naruto felt Hinata's hand slide off his face. He watched as it slide down his face, down his jaw going down his chest before finally dropping down on her side.
Then he watched how she brought both her hands up and rubbed the moisture out of her eyes.
"I'll see you later Naruto," Hinata said walking away with balled fists and Naruto wanted to punch the wall behind him. She didn't even call him 'Naruto-kun'.
'I deserve it.' Naruto thought with anger building up aimed at himself.
"Where is Hinata-Chan going?" Ino asked when she got closer giving him a beautiful smile and a hug while adding a peck on his lips.
"She's going to pack for a mission." Naruto answered her still looking at Hinata's retreating form he wanted to follow her and apologize, explain himself, and crack a joke to see her laugh, or name something and make her giggle at the name.
Then he blinked and saw Sasuke walking beside her with a hand around her shoulders kissing her on the cheeks like he usually does. His blood boiled but when he blinked again the image of Sasuke he saw wasn't there anymore just Hinata walking home her hands wrapped around herself.
"Woah, you guys have a mission outside the village already?" Ino asked him in awe and Naruto had to force his eyes to tare themselves from Hinata's retreating form.
She looked so small in the distance it reminded him of the first time he had seen her at the academy.
Naruto and Ino spent some time together catching up, buying lunch, and eating together. They met up with Sakura and her team after they were done eating and began walking again.
They talked and shared stories but Ino noticed that Naruto wasn't like himself and only spoke when spoken to. After more than an hour Naruto told her he had to go and pack up, when she offered to help him he said his place was a mess and he didn't want her to see it like that.
At 3 pm Naruto stood at the gates of Konoha with Itachi sensei as they waited for Sasuke and Hinata to arrive. The client was with them as well. The man had complained when he saw Naruto and heard he would be having two more kids 'protecting' him but Naruto paid him no mind as Itachi explained to him that they were capable and well trained.
In the distance, Naruto saw Sasuke and Hinata approaching them side by side Sasuke tried conversing with the girl but she shook her head and said she needed some space with a friendly smile that Sasuke saw barely hide her pain.
Sasuke and Hinata reached their team with Hinata barely glancing up at Naruto like she usually did, instead quickly walking off and stand next to Itachi, with Naruto on the other side of their sensei.
Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration at the distance between them and her sadness.
"Your such a useless sore loser." Sasuke whispered as he walked passed Naruto to stand next to Hinata.
"I know." Naruto muttered in shame though nobody heard him.
"Let's move out team, we won't be taking the tree tops so we are moving at a local pace to Wave, we will arrive there in an estimate of 2 days." Itachi informed as they stepped outside the gates. "Take defensive positions." He instructed and they moved into a diamond formation.
Itachi in front, Sasuke to the back, Naruto to the left, and Hinata to the right.
AN
Naruto is not happy with his progress Sasuke is kicking his ass Hinata is kicking his ass he feels useless like Sakura once did in canon ...and wow people can make you wanna take a break on writing.
Next chapter?
Shrug