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 9

"Do you want me to hold your hand, Hime?." Naruto asked Hinata as he stood with her in front of the Hyuga compound.

"Yes please Naruto-Kun." Hinata said and immediately after that, she felt her hand get enveloped by one bigger and rougher than hers as he entwined their fingers together.

"Thank you, Naruto-Kun. I'm sorry if I'm a border." The moment that sentence was finished Hinata felt a soft slap on her forehead that sounded worse than it felt, Naruto had slapped her forehead with his free hand.

"Don't say that your my best friend and if you need help all you have to do is ask and I will be there to do your bidding." Naruto said then raised their entwined hands and kissed Hinata's hand."So don't say such things okay? They hurt my feelings." Naruto spoke softly to which Hinata nodded to his words.

Hinata's illness had finally done what it had set out to do, And now Hinata was as blind as a bat. She took it better than anybody had expected and when asked how she managed to stay strong she only answered in one word. "Naruto."

Said boy was her support mechanism, her first friend, her best friend, and her first love. But Hinata did not want to be a burden to him and having to live with her forever with her condition she felt it would be selfish to put the boy she loved through all that.

'And besides, he has Ino, I'm sure they would make a great couple.' Hinata thought with a smile thinking of a happy Naruto with a family of his own.

"Hinata, good luck on your exams, and Uzumaki-San I wish you luck as well, and please look after my daughter." Hinata could not see it but she was sure Naruto nodded to her father.

They left the compound hand in hand walking down the streets of Konoha. Naruto began describing to her in great detail the day-to-day goings of the villagers and the things they passed. Everything from how the sky was looking to what the person who walked passed them wore and looked like.

"You know, you don't have to do this for me Naruto-Kun." Although it was endearing Hinata did not want to trouble Naruto. " It's just silly things, it's okay," Hinata explained. She felt Naruto's grip on her hand tightens, as he replied.

"I know it's silly." He began. "B-But I don't want you missing out on anything and if I can share my sight with you, even if it's just by explaining to you something as silly as the shape of a certain cloud, I want to do it for you." Naruto explained.

Hinata could feel Naruto's hand trembling In anger. She knew if there was anyone who hated her condition more than even she did it was him. He was overprotective of her and would hurt anything that so much as looked at her the wrong way. Hinata didn't mind her illness anymore since she had come to terms with it a long time ago. She squeezed Naruto's hand reassuringly and decided to indulge him.

"I hear a cat meowing, what color is it and what is it meowing for?" Hinata asked as she placed her head on his shoulder. Naruto's trembling immediately stopped, and he began telling her about how a little kid was keeping the brown cat's milk out of reach with the cat meowing in complaint and Hinata laughed at that along with Naruto.

Their walk to the academy was peaceful and uneventful.

««««"»»»»

Not first, not second but third place in the academy. Sasuke still remembered that day 6 years ago when he had made plans of being top of his graduating class. He remembered all the wishful thinking he did, how he was gonna become 'Rookie of the year.' Then go out to do a bunch of s-ranked missions for the Hokage himself.

Sasuke accomplished none of that, and when he thought about Itachi he felt he had proven nothing. Itachi was Jonin and there were talks about him taking a genin team. He was 19 and had accomplished so many things, he became genin at the age of 7, and awakened his Sharingan around the same time. Became chunin at the age of 10, joined Anbu at age 11, and at age 12 he became Anbu captain now stepping down, with his track record Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if his brother was being considered for the Hokage seat.

Yet, what had Sasuke accomplished? he hadn't awakened his eyes, he was only now taking the genin exams. He couldn't win a fight against the 'dobe' and the one person he loved who was everything he would ever look for in a life partner and more, beautiful, courageous, empathetic, and a strong kunoichi didn't feel the same way.

So nobody could blame Sasuke when he got mad at himself and trained until he dropped. Nobody could say otherwise when he called himself useless because he was nothing like his brother and nobody had the right to tell him he didn't have to be like his brother only to gossip about him behind his back.

"Fire style: flame dragon Jutsu!." Sasuke weaved through hand seals before he spits out a torrent of fire into the lake he stood next to. The fire began to take shape the snot was being formed before the technique failed and Sasuke dropped to a knee breathing hard.

"Damn it." He punched the ground hard, frustration settling in. He was practicing a new Jutsu, and on some days he had better luck than others. It seemed today was one of those bad days.

"What is Chakra Sasuke?" And there he was, another reason Sasuke was a ball of nerves at that moment. Fugaku Uchiha stood at a distance as he observed his son. Fugaku never said it before but Sasuke thought the man saw him as a disappointment.

"Chakra is the resulting form of energy when two other forms of energy are mixed. The two energies are "physical energy" and "spiritual energy."Sasuke recited the teaching drilled into him since before he even knew how to mold the damn thing. Fugaku nodded.

"With that in mind, why do you think the technique you are trying to accomplish is unresponsive?"Fugaku asked, and Sasuke began contemplating the reason in his head.

Fugaku might have been a strict man, but above anything, he was a loving father. Though his love was the kind shown from a distance, the reason for that was the fact he wanted his boys to grow independent of him. Find their own goals, strive for their own future, and make their own decisions.

Fugaku saw that Sasuke seemed to have some internal struggles going on within himself, and if he had to take a guess he would sight Itachi as one of its causes. Fugaku could not blame him, if he had a brother like Itachi he would be feeling overwhelmed and frustrated as well. That was why Fugaku was there today, offering his son personal training on the c-ranked Jutsu he planned on adding to his arsenal.

"Physically I'm fine and I've been molding my chakra just as the scroll instructed. I have the hand seals memorized. Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger." Sasuke began his answer after thinking it over a few times.

"So the problem must be in my spiritual energy then, I must not be…." Sasuke frowned trying to think of the perfect word to use." ugh at peace with myself?" Sasuke tried.

Fugaku showed no outward emotions as he approached Sasuke, and when he reached his son he did something Sasuke never thought he would ever experience from the man.

"That's my boy." Fugaku said as he ruffled his son's hair and smiled down at him. Sasuke was gaping openly at the man. "Now of you go, you have a genin exam to pass, you can continue your training after." Fugaku turned around and left.

Sasuke just stood there gaping at the man 'that's my boy' Sasuke thought with so much awe you would think he saw the sage of Six paths himself. Then his awe left and a big grin spread across the boy's face before he turned and glared at the lake in front of him.

'Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger' Sasuke recited the hand seals in his mind as he slowly made them, took a deep breath, and roared" Fire style: Flaming dragon Jutsu!" and a big majestic dragon made of flames shot out of the young Uchiha's mouth, causing the lake to hiss as the heat from the technique had it evaporating.

Fugaku smiled in the distance, he didn't even bother looking back at the display because he held faith in his youngest.

That day Sasuke had an extra swag to his steps, that if anybody noticed would point out Sasuke's Uchiha smug had been dialed up to a hundred.

««««"»»»»

Ino was tired of a certain blonde boy playing with her feelings. She figured he would have asked her out already, people had a harder time believing they were just friends and an easier one that they were a couple.

Ino couldn't blame them, because they were more like a couple than they were friends, even her mother and father gave her the 'talk' while she adamantly told them she and Naruto were not an item.

'You don't have to lie to your mother Ino, I support you' Ino groaned as she replayed her mother's words in her head, parents were a pain.

So Ino as the free-spirited and outgoing girl that she was, decided to take matters into her own hands. She would ask Naruto out on a date, just the two of them, and although they had gone on many dates just the two of them before. This date Ino was gonna make sure ended like one of those princess Gale movies he liked so much.

Ino began blushing as she fantasized, about her and Naruto taking a walk through the park, hand in hand with her head resting on his shoulder after they had just shared a lovely dinner date. The sunset bathing them with its orange hue and just when Ino would think it couldn't get any better. Naruto would stop walking with Ino looking at him in confusion, then he would place a hand on her cheeks looking at her with those beautiful blue eyes of his before he would move in to seal the deal with a kiss.

"Ino stop making kissy faces in the streets your weirding people out." Ino jumped as her daydream broke into a thousand shards of glass and she found herself in reality once more with some people giving her weird looks. Her face immediately turned a darker shade of pink, she looked at the person who spoke and she found Sakura looking at her with a smirk.

"Daydreaming about kissing Naruto I see." Sakura stated, she did not ask and Ino's blush deepened.

"W-what-what?! Of course not don't be silly Forehead.!" Ino defended, though with the blush on her face, the way she stammered and the fact she couldn't look Sakura in the eyes her defense was weak.

"So why haven't you guys made it official yet?" Sakura decided to ask and Ino's demeanor immediately changed into an angry glare in the distance which Sakura would bet was directed to Naruto.

"That baka!" Ino exclaimed with a fire of righteous fury burning in her eyes. Sakura took a few steps away from the girl who was releasing some potent bloodlust for someone who's never killed before.

"I don't know what goes on in his head, I've given him so many signs, the only thing left is to put a note on my back saying 'ask me out' maybe that will make him understand I'm interested. That …. that blonde Baka…..his so" Ino continued ranting, getting angrier and angrier until she was growling out her words.

Sakura was gonna try to calm her best friend down, coming closer to put a hand on the girl's shoulders when Ino did a complete 180.

"His so…..that Goldie-Kun, with that big cheeses grin of his a-and those cute whisker marks that remind me of a cute animal when he wrinkles his nose while deep in thought. His spiky sun-kissed hair that is so soft, and lets me braid whenever I want." Ino gushed as she now had both her hands on her cheeks with a dreamy look on her face and a renewed blush adorning her face. Sakura's sweat dropped.

"Those big strong arms, and his kisses. And his flirting, ohh my log his words. I could listen to him compliment me all day." Ino was ranting now and Sakura sighed. Naruto had her best friend in the palms of his hands. Ino couldn't even stay mad at him for longer than a minute and if Sakura was being honest he was a great catch for her friend.

"Yeah, yeah Ino. I get it your in love." Sakura said rolling her eyes, she would have gagged at the whole love thing but if she were being honest with herself and she was, she wished she could have that too.

"L-love-Love?" Ino stammered out with big wide eyes. Sakura looked at her friend in shock at that.

"Wait, you mean to tell me you didn't realize it? Ino your head over heels for the guy!." Sakura exclaimed placing a hand on Ino's shoulder who stopped walking and froze in place.

"I-I L-Love Naruto?" Ino asked no one in particular, maybe she was asking herself Sakura couldn't tell but she nodded at her friend's question anyway. Ino stood there for more than 10 minutes if Sakura had to guess, and then a big beautiful smile blossomed on the Yamanaka girl's face.

"I think you are right Sakura." Ino finally said and Sakura saw her friend glow when she admitted her love for her fellow blonde. Sakura couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't have such a love as well, or at least why her object of affection couldn't seem to bring out the same kind of feelings of happiness from her.

"Come on Sakura let's hurry up to school! I wanna see Goldie-Kun!" Ino shamelessly admitted with a big smile and a joyous laugh as she grabbed Sakura by the hand and ran off in the direction of the academy. Sakura just let herself get dragged while wondering if Sasuke would be different towards her after they became genin.

««««"»»»»

Iruka Umino had a special class filled with clan heirs and heiresses and all his students showed great talents, the one he was most proud of was the Hyuga heiress who despite her disadvantages still shined like a bright sun in the sky. She was his best student, not just in academics but in practicals as well she excelled in hand-to-hand combat with no one and he meant no one in his class was able to defeat her in the ring including the two runner-ups Naruto and Sasuke.

The day she walked into the classroom with a katana in her hand Iruka was shocked, he wondered why she had it and so he asked her why she had one. He was further surprised when she said that she had taken to kenjutsu and had been training with the blade for 3 years already at that point, that was a year ago.

Iruka was skeptical at first but when Naruto started boasting about how Hinata was a 'badass with the blade' his words. Iruka had to take both their words for it. A blind swordswoman, Iruka thought that sounded like a legend ready to be made.

It seemed like Naruto believed so too, as he had said he would find the perfect monicker for her. Speaking of the blond. Naruto had snuck his way into Iruka's heart, when Iruka had joined the academy he had told himself he would be fair to all his students but he planned on giving the Kyuubi Jinchuriki a wide breadth.

Watching the boy throughout the years, Iruka noticed that although Naruto carried the kyubi. He was just a kid and seeing the way he interacted with others his age Iruka found himself not looking at the boy as the Kyuubi container but as Naruto Uzumaki.

Then there was Sasuke Uchiha, the boy was too hard on himself. Iruka noticed how the Uchiha tried too hard like there was an enemy on the horizon that only he knew of and he was trying to get strong as fast as possible. Iruka found the behavior unhealthy, especially for a growing boy. He hoped his next sensei would be able to curb the behavior out of him.

"Good morning, class." Iruka greeted with a smile, he could see the fire burning in each of his student's eyes. They were eager to become official ninjas of their village 'The will of fire burns bright in this generation.' Iruka thought.

"Today is the day you have spent the last 6 years preparing for. Are you ready to become genin?!!" Iruka asked loud and clear to his students who all showed their readiness in different ways. Some smirked, others balling their fists, and others grinning as they all chorused.

"Hai sensei!!" They all chorused out loud Iruka would let the noise slide today it was a special occasion.

"Good," Iruka said with a nod.

"First is the written exams." Iruka said and openly laughed when more than half the class groaned." It's your final written exam I would think you'd be more excited." Iruka teased.

"Boooooo! down with papers," Kiba said with a thumbs down, the class snickered and Iruka sighed he guessed they were still just kids even though they got taller and bigger from the first time he laid eyes on them.

Iruka went around dropping test papers face down in front of each student. Hinata's test page was written in Braille because of her condition. When he was done he went back to his desk took a sit and spoke.

"The test will last an hour and a half, please do your best I believe in you all. Begin." Immediately the students turned their papers and quietly began answering questions, some faster than others.

By the 45-minute mark, Hinata had turned her test page over and Iruka didn't even bother to tell her to revise her answers the girl had been acing his tests since he had stepped foot in the academy.

Sasuke was the second to turn his test paper over 10 minutes after Hinata then a minute later Shikamaru did the same, followed by Sakura, Shino, ino, Kiba, Amy ( AN: I don't care for the other fodder characters), choji and a minute before timeout Naruto turned his, wiping away a little sweat. Iruka smiled, the boy always revised his answers and added more things or removed some to better his marks.

"Pens down, and test papers face down." Iruka instructed as he stood up from his chair and went around collecting all the test papers before handing them over to his assistant and best friend Mizuki.

"I hope you all answered the questions to the best of your abilities." Iruka told his students as he clapped his hands together. "You will be called into the back room one at a time and while Mizuki marks your test sheets I will be evaluating you on the academy 3." With that said, Iruka called a random civilian boy who followed the man looking as nervous as they came.

««««"»»»»

Naruto watched as slowly but surely his classmates were called into the back room never to return. Sitting next to him was Ino who looked like a bundle of nerves, occasionally sending him sideway glances which he would catch wink and blow her a kiss with a smirk. The girl will become a blushing mess then would regain her composure and glare at him.

"Hinata Hyuga." Naruto heard Mizuki call out the assistant teacher had his head peeking out through the door leading to the back room. Hinata stood and Naruto grabbed her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze which she returned.

"See you on the other side Naruto-Kun." Naruto heard her say as she let go of his hand and walked towards the back. Naruto always thought Hinata was amazing, the fact she could walk with such grace and in the right direction without her vision was just plain awesome to him.

As she entered the back room Naruto sighed. "She will do great you know." Naruto turned to Ino who was playing with a strand of his gold locks in her finger twisting it around. "She's rookie of the year and those jutsus are child's play to Hinata." Ino continued with a smile, which naruto returned.

"Thanks, Ino, I needed to hear that." Naruto said grateful for his fellow blondes' words.

"Umm. Goldie-Kun." Ino began, and Naruto raised an eyebrow at how timid she suddenly became still playing with his hair in her fingers.

"What's wrong Ino-Chan?" He asked with a frown worried something was bothering her.

"Ohh nothing is wrong Naruto-Kun . I-I w-was just wondering if you wanted to go to ichiraku's later tonight just the two of us." She asked him with a bright blush on her face.

"Kiba Inuzuka!" Mizuki's voice called out.

"Sure! Like a date ?" Naruto agreed and asked her that embarrassing question with a teasing smirk, which was quickly wiped out of his face by the serious expression that adorned Ino's face.

"N-Not like a date, I'm asking you to go on a date with me Goldie-Kun." Ino told him and although a blush blossomed on her face she kept her serious expression.

"Shikamaru Nara!" Mizuki's voice had become background noise at that point.

"Ohhh." Naruto was at a loss for words, Ino now had some of his hair balled in a tight fist though it didn't hurt because she was not pulling. "Well I can't say no to you Ino and I definitely can't say no to Ramen." Naruto grinned at the girl who immediately lost all her pent-up anxiety and gave him a big beautiful smile.

"Great, pick me up at my place at 7?" She asked him and he nodded. She squealed giving him a big kiss on his cheeks and ran off to go sit with Amy, they immediately began whispering to each other and Amy squealed at something Ino told her.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Naruto looked over to the Uchiha who stood up, he caught Naruto's gaze and smirked as he went behind the door. Five minutes later Mizuki's face peeked out the door again.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto sighed and stood up walking toward the door, he ended up passing Ino and Amy. Naruto jumped when he felt a hard slap on his backside. Reflexively his hands went to grab onto his ass and he turned to see who would do such a thing only to blink when he saw Ino with a smirk on her face.

"You looked stressed." She said as though that was supposed to explain everything. Naruto decided she would live to regret that stunt as he entered the back room a little more relaxed.

"Welcome Naruto, take a stand inside the little white circle and wait for instructions." Iruka said and Naruto did what he was told he noticed Mizuki pull out a test sheet and begin marking it.

"Okay Naruto, you will be performing the academy three starting with the transformation followed by the substitution and finally the clone technique," Iruka said and Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Please perform the henge." Naruto went through the hand seals, molded his chakra, and in a puff of smoke, his appearance became that of Mizuki. At Iruka's nod, Naruto released the transformation.

"Good. Now kawarimi with that log over there." Naruto decided to show off a bit and molded his chakra accordingly and performed a sealless substitution with the log before letting it take his place and taking its place, before repeating the process to return to his previous location.

Iruka's eyes widened at that and wrote down some notes.

"Now perform the clone technique." Iruka instructed and Naruto wished they wouldn't come around trying to poke at his clone. He made the cross seal and in a puff of smoke, a clone appeared next to him.

"Mmh good, good very realistic looking, I see you worked hard to improve on the execution of the jutsus from the last time I saw it." Iruka said with a chuckle from the memory and Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a nervous chuckle before dispelling the clone.

"Congratulations Naruto, you are now a genin of Konoha," Iruka said with a smile as he threw Naruto his brand new forehead protector, Naruto grinned as he caught the item and looked at it. His reflection looked back at him from the shining metal surface.

"Thanks, Iruka sensei." He said to the man and Iruka smiled at him.

"You can exit from the other door and please return in two days for team assignment." Iruka instructed but Naruto wasn't listening as he tied his Hitai-ate. In seconds he was out the door.

Authors Notes

The Academy arc is done. I think I did a good job of character building for the first arc and character relationships for the four Important characters Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura

In the next arc, I'll concentrate a little more on Ino and the rest of the rookies and introduce more characters like team 9 ... and other Jonins.

During the genin arc, we will meet some new members of Naruto's budding organization. And see Naruto's darker side or I'll call It his crime lord mode where he gets things done consequences be damned

Shit 5k words

2 days, 9 chapters.21 followers and 18 favorites thanks fam

Fixed more spelling and grammar thank you to a certain reader who took their time to inform me...