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 10
Hinata sat on a bench in front of the academy, as she waited for Naruto to exit the building. She wasn't alone though she had company in the form of Sakura Haruno, whether that was good or bad company depended entirely on things out of Hinata's control.
Hinata didn't know what to say to the girl and truthfully she didn't think she wanted to say anything to her. They were not friends more like acquaintances or associates.
Sakura held a grudge against her and Hinata wasn't so thick-headed as to not know why she did. It was due to her affection towards their Uchiha classmate, who Hinata had realized during the one time he and she had hung out on their own that he liked her.
Hinata found it ironic that of all the girls chasing after him, Sasuke would have feelings for her. She felt bad that she couldn't reciprocate his feelings since she could see he tried hard. Alas, she was in love with someone else and her loyalty was bound to that same person.
A relationship with the Uchiha would only cause more tension between Naruto, Sasuke, and herself. She would be dating Sasuke knowing she couldn't give him her heart, body, mind, soul, or loyalty. The fact Naruto and Sasuke were bitter rivals meant there would be a time when Sasuke would expect her to choose between the two boys.
Hinata already knew who she would choose, it wasn't even a question in her mind and it was because of that she did not even play with the idea of dating or leading him on.
"Hinata-San. I see you passed as well." Think of the devil and he shall appear. Sasuke stood there with a smile on his face as he greeted her.
"Yes I did, and I see you did too. Congratulations." Hinata replied in a friendly manner and a smile.
"Thank you Hinata-San, it means a lot coming from you." Sasuke said to the blind Hyuga, then he smirked adding." Especially since it's coming from our very own rookie of the year." Hinata giggled at that.
"Oh, ah congratulations Sasuke-Kun on uhm passing. Uhm I passed too I wrapped mine around my neck." Sakura who was sitting next to Hinata the whole time congratulated Sasuke as well while pointing to the forehead protector wrapped around her neck with her thumb.
Sasuke for his part blinked as he hadn't noticed her there before and Hinata felt a little anger at the Uchiha for that, it was rude to ignore people.
"Hn, thanks." Sasuke acknowledges replying with a grunt while gracing the pink-haired girl with a glance before turning back to Hinata. "Do you think we might end up on the same team?" Sasuke asked the blind girl.
Though Hinata could not see Sakura's expression, she could guess that the girl was hurt by the blatant dismissal. Hinata did not like how Sasuke treated her, so she decided to speak up against it.
"That is rude Sasuke-San, Sakura-San just congratulated you on passing. The least you could do is return the courtesy." Hinata said with a glare at the Uchiha.
Sasuke immediately felt bad, but not for the reasons you would think. Nope, he felt bad because, for the first time, Hinata was mad at him. He didn't want to start his genin career with Hinata angry at him so he immediately apologized. To the wrong person of course.
"Ah, y-yes your right Hinata-San sorry ." He said with a nervous chuckle and both hands in the air in surrender. Though Hinata's glare didn't let up.
"Who are you apologizing to, me or Sakura-San?" Hinata asked, her voice sharp like daggers. Sakura for her part was rather shocked by two things, one was the fact the normally quiet and composed Hyuga was showing anger toward Sasuke and the anger was on her behalf.
Two was the fact Sasuke seemed ready to beg for forgiveness, though it hurt her to know it wasn't her he felt ashamed of hurting. He did turn to her and apologize, saying it wasn't his intention to ignore her and Sakura felt even worse that she didn't even register on his radar.
"It's fine." Sakura accepted the apology, expecting Sasuke to drop it and he would have if not for Hinata. Sakura didn't see the new meaningful glare Hinata sent Sasuke's way so was surprised when he insisted.
"No, it's not fine." He said with a sigh. Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke walked up in front of her and bowed." I'm sorry Sakura-San for being a total dushbag, and I mean it. Also, congratulations on becoming a genin." Sakura blushed a shade of pink darker than her hair color and this time took the apology at face value.
Sasuke smiled at the girl before turning back to Hinata to continue conversing only to find Naruto there, a hand wrapped around Hinata's neck and shoulder as he sat on the armrest of the bench gaping at him.
"Duncan Mac duckass apologizing….wow! This deserves something special." Naruto stood up removing his hand around Hinata's neck and began clapping his hands hard, making cat calls and giving Sasuke a standing ovation.
Hinata giggled at Naruto's ability to exaggerate a situation and cause a scene. She remembered what he did to the Hokage monument and the speech he gave. Nobody forgot the stunt he pulled that day, Naruto had fans and haters alike around the elemental nations.
Especially in Iwa, their Kage had sent a personal message to Konoha with a simple message 'I like the way your raising this blond, unlike the previous one that was in your custody.' At that Hinata broke into another fit of giggles.
2 weeks after the event, Sarutobi summoned Naruto to his office and Hinata tagged along. She still had her sight at the time so she saw the message clearly, or blurry. Naruto after reading the message said he and the Tsuchikage would one day become great drinking buddies, the Hokage said that was unlikely to happen and he sounded very sure of himself.
"Stop that dobe, your causing people to stare." Sasuke gritted out with barely restrained anger. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha looking around and seeing pedestrians staring.
"What! You, people, don't have anything better to do than stare at kids?!" Naruto shouted at the onlookers. Hinata sighed, sometimes Naruto was more trouble than he was worth.
"There, you don't have to be shy anymore Duncan," Naruto said before picking up where he left off clapping his hands obnoxiously, as the crowd dispersed
"Stop patronizing Sasuke-Kun, Naruto baka!" Sakura shrieked out at Naruto, everybody placed a hand in front of their ears. The girl was loud.
"Yo, what the hell man?" Hinata looked at the new voice even though she couldn't see it, she recognized it as Kiba's who was approaching them according to the footsteps she heard. With him was a whimpering Akamaru. The poor dog must have gotten the worst of it.
"What's with the commotion? And Naruto why the hell are you clapping your hands like that." Kiba growled and Hinata noticed that yes Naruto had begun clapping again.
"I'm just proud of Duncan Mac Duckass that's all." Naruto explained and Kiba was confused, so he turned to Sakura for an elaboration said girl sighed she was about to answer when.
"It's none of your business dog breath." Sasuke dissed the Inuzuka, said boy growled openly at Sasuke.
"What did you say teme? Care to repeat that." Kiba asked the Uchiha with a threatening voice.
"You have flees blocking your ears or something mutt? I'm not repeating myself, maybe my vocabulary is too strong for you to understand. Too bad I don't speak 'butt sniffing' so I can't elaborate." Naruto stopped his clapping and laughed, Sakura was shocked and Hinata sighed. A second later Kiba pounced on Sasuke.
That was the scene Ino walked into, who now had her forehead protector wrapped around her waist.
"What did I miss?" She asked observing the two boys go at it.
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A few minutes later after Sasuke had put the wild animal known as Kiba in his place, Sasuke and the rest separated, Ino dragged Sakura away saying she had to get a new dress. Kiba left after them nursing a bruise Sasuke had personally hand-delivered to him, Naruto had dragged Hinata away by the hand saying he would buy her, her favorite dessert to celebrate her title as rookie of the year, all you can eat.
Sasuke remembered when he had made the same promise to Hinata the day he had managed to get her to accept his offer to hang out just the two of them, and Sasuke's allowance money was forever traumatized by the event.
Sasuke watched Naruto walk off with Hinata in the distance with her hand hooked around his, as she dragged him towards the bakery. How she managed to lead the way with her condition? Sasuke didn't know but it just proved to him that Hinata was worth all the effort.
"You like her a lot." Sasuke wiped his head behind him and found his classroom's assistant teacher smiling down at him.
"W-what?" That was all Sasuke was able to get out.
"You don't have to hide it, I noticed a long time ago Sasuke-Kun. Honestly, I can't blame you." Mizuki said as he placed a reassuring hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "She is an incredible young lady." He added after a second before removing his hand.
"Yes, she is." Sasuke replied after a second with a small smile, though he was trying to understand why the man approached him about this.
"Though it is admirable she wishes to become a shinobi even with her condition I always wonder about her well-being once she is out on the field." Mizuki told Sasuke in a somber and contemplative voice. Sasuke glared at the man.
"Hinata is strong, I don't for a second think she will be in any danger out there. If she was it definitely would not be because of her disability or 'lack' of skills." Sasuke defended his love interest, sneering at Mizuki for even saying something like that.
Mizuki chuckled and raised his hands in surrender, explaining to the Uchiha he didn't mean anything by it just thinking out loud. Sasuke just grunted.
"How would you like to win Hinata's heart Sasuke-Kun?" At that question, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and then squinted in suspicion.
"What are you talking about? How am I supposed to accomplish that? Do you know something I don't know?" Sasuke Uchiha demanded an answer to all his questions from Mizuki who only shrugged at the demand.
"I might know of a way to give her back her eyesight," Mizuki said slowly doing everything he could not to smirk at how easy leading the conversation was going.
"Really! How? Tell me." Hook, line, and sinker Mizuki had him now it was obvious the boy understood his line of thinking now. If he could help Hinata regain her vision she would be forever grateful to Sasuke and maybe she would even fall in love with him if not, then they would at least become closer and from there Sasuke believed he could turn that admiration and gratefulness into love.
"That is the problem though Sasuke-Kun" Mizuki said with a frown, a very fake one at that but Sasuke couldn't tell. He was transfixed by the chunin's words.
"The technique is a forbidden one and is located in the scroll of sealing." He explained slowly. Sasuke nodded waiting for him to continue. "The Hokage feels the technique is too dangerous to use, that is why he did not accept my request a year ago when I suggested we use it on Hinata." Mizuki lied through his teeth smoothly.
"But why? Is the price to pay too big.?" Sasuke asked and Mizuki shook his head in the negative, a bit of anger directed at the Hokage surfaced in Sasuke's mind for not wanting to help out a child in need, though the man always preached about the will of fire, and bonds. Yet wouldn't help another even when the solution was available to him.
'The hypocrite.' Sasuke thought bitterly with a sneer. Mizuki didn't need to read minds to know what was going on in the young Uchiha's head. The boy was easy to read, his attempts at hiding his emotions were futile to a ninja such as himself who studied psychology to get the teaching gig.
"Where is the scroll?" Sasuke asked with determination burning in his eyes and Mizuki almost giggled like a schoolgirl. He cleared his throat and played his part.
"Sasuke I must warn you, that you could get in a lot of trouble if you are caught and I could get thrown in jail for giving you this information, although my intentions are good I don't think they will see it that way." He 'tried' to reason with the boy.
"Just tell me, where the scroll is Mizuki. I'll get it then you will teach me this forbidden Jutsu so I can help Hinata." The little prick was demanding things now, but Mizuki had to play his part. Tolerate the boy's rudeness for the greater things to come.
So with an exaggerated sigh of defeat Mizuki 'reluctantly' told Sasuke all he wanted to know about the scroll of sealing and its location in the Hokage tower, for his part Sasuke didn't bat an eyelash when he heard where the scroll was located and after Mizuki finished. Sasuke promised him there and then that he would have the scroll before the day ended, Mizuki gave Sasuke a meet-up location after which the Uchiha left.
For a backup plan, it worked out better than Mizuki thought it would, he just wished Sasuke didn't get caught. His first plan was to hire the slippery Nara who had been causing a ruckus in Konoha's illegal stage but the man had left him a letter at his place that said he wouldn't be taking the request not worth the hustle and planning to execute.
Mizuki made his way back to the academy, he had to act normal and follow his usual routine but come the end of the day he was heading home to pack up his things, and at midnight whether Sasuke succeeded or not he would be leaving the village.
««««"»»»»
"Ugh. Mother!!" Ino exclaimed in exasperation as she sat crossed-legged on the floor in her bedroom with her back to her mother who sat on her bed as she did Ino's hair into a bun. Sakura who was sitting on a stool a few feet from her snickered.
"All I'm saying Ino is that you should be careful with that boy. He is a known delinquent, you remember what he did to the Hokage monument?." Ino groaned as her mother continued lecturing her.
"It was a harmless prank." Ino defended. "And besides you were laughing the entire time, your book club spent a full week discussing it and laughing, well maybe except for Yoshino-San, but you mom were the ring leader." Ino reminded her mother who had the nerve to blush at the reminder.
"We'll just because it was funny doesn't mean it was right Ino." The woman replied with some sage words which Ino knew was her attempt to save face.
"Are you done yet? I really want to try the new dress again, before Goldie-Kun shows up."Ino changed the subject and Sakura couldn't help but smile at the free relationship the mother and daughter had.
"It's almost done Ino, and It looks great." Sakura told her best friend as she stood to examine Ino's hair which was braided into one thick tail which was then wrapped into a bun on the top of her head with a fringe on each side of her face-framing her head.
"You look pretty Ino." Sakura told her friend who smiled beautifully at her "and knowing Naruto, he will be telling you that the whole evening." Sakura ended with a smirk, Ino blushed and her mother squealed in delight.
"Done!" The woman exclaimed as she stood and walked around Ino so she could face her daughter and immediately cooed as she hugged Ino and buried her face between her breasts.
"Don't mess up the hair." Ino's muffled cry was barely heard between her mother's bosom.
««««"»»»»
Naruto wasn't nervous, nope not even a little. No seriously, he wasn't nervous as he sat there in the Yamanaka household with Ino's father who was trying to scare Naruto away with his eyes alone. Naruto just copied the biggest smile he's ever seen and pasted it to his facial features and hasn't removed it since walking into the house.
"What are your intentions with my daughter?" Inoichi asked the blond and Naruto replied immediately.
"To show her a good time." The smile never faltered from Naruto's face even when he moved his lips to form words. Inoichi blinked at that then got angry at the implications of the words.
"Now look here young man…….." he couldn't really finish his threat as someone practically skipped every single step of the staircase leading to the upstairs rooms and landed gracefully at its base before rushing forward. Naruto stood up and opened his hands wide finally removing that unnerving smile from his face as he grinned.
Immediately a blur of sky blue and yellow came crashing into the awaiting hands which caught it and did a twirl with the blur now recognized as Ino in his hands. The girl giggled and laughed with no care in the world. Inoichi felt his stomach twist and turn before tying itself into a knot as he recognized the joy in Ino's laughter, it could only come from a woman in love, who has acknowledged the fact she had fallen and was happy about it.
'Shit.' Was the first word to pop into his head. "I'm screwd." Was the words that came out his mouth before he coughed into his hands to gain the two teen's attention. The first cough didn't do it, the second as well and the third, until the fourth cough turned into an actual coughing fit did his daughter acknowledge his presence in the room.
"F-father!" Ino jumped off the boy's embrace and quickly ran to her father's side patting him on his back. "Are you okay, do you need some water?" She asked worriedly. Inoichi noticed the new hairstyle and the dress suited his daughter she looked so mature.
"I'd like some water please." He requested and with one last rub on his back, Ino left the two males alone while she went off to the kitchen to get some water for her father. The moment Ino was gone Inoichi turned to Naruto ready to open his mouth.
"I know what you are going to say." Naruto cut him off and Inoichi shut his mouth, the boy had a very serious look in his eyes that Inoichi did not expect. "To answer your threat, sir, ill make you a promise today. Ino is a very sweet and intelligent girl, I know sometimes she behaves ditzy but I know she is very observant. That's why she left the two of us now because she could see there was something we had to get out of our chests." Naruto spoke and Inoichi felt like he was talking to another blond with the same eyes he knew long ago.
"I Naruto Uzumaki, will never intentionally bring your daughter harm or let harm come to her. I will gladly put my life on the line to protect her and that is a promise of a lifetime." Naruto told the father honestly and with a big goofy grin appearing on his face.
"I will hold you to that." Inoichi replied with a sigh accepting that the boy was being sincere. Not a second later Ino returned with a glass and jug filled with water pouring some and handing it to her father, before going to stand next to Naruto winking at him when she got to him. Her mother and Sakura joined them a moment later.
Inoichi, his wife, and Sakura escorted Naruto and Ino to the entrance of the Yamanaka household.
"You look beautiful Ino. Am I to assume you finally blossomed into a beautiful exotic flower or am I gonna wake up one day and find you even prettier than you are right now.?" Naruto questioned the girl once they reached outside the house. Ino swayed a little at the compliment with a blush on her face.
Ino's mother cooed at the sweet words and began giggling uncontrollably, Sakura wondered if Sasuke had a smooth mouth on him too and Inoichi frowned, the boy was good with his words no wonder his daughter liked him so much. He stroked her ego as easily as he drew breath.
"Oh stop it, golden boy." Ino said as she wrapped her arm around his hooking them together. Inoichi knew his daughter well enough to know she didn't mean what she said she was just acting humble.
"Thank you for dressing up for our date Naruto-Kun." Ino added seriously as both of them left the Yamanaka household and compound. Naruto wore a navy blue long-sleeved t-shirt with two burnt orange stripes running along its front from shoulder to hip, with a black hip-length hoodie on top. He had on a pair of charcoal gray ankle-length shinobi pants with a giant sunflower that ran on the right side of the pants leg from thigh to ankle and the look was completed with black shinobi sandals.
"You're welcome, Well since you always look great I'd say today you look perfect Ino-Chan and I could stare at those legs of yours the whole day in that dress." Naruto replied with a sly smile scanning Ino's body in the dress his eyes lingering on her legs.
Ino squirmed in place and blushed as Naruto checked her out. She had on a sky-blue sundress that reached her mid-thighs, that had little yellow suns running around its length from the sides, blue ninja sandals, and her hair tied in a braided bun.
"You don't mind if I take charge of our date do you?" Naruto asked Ino since it was her who invited him out he had to ask for permission to take control. Ino just smiled and nodded.
"Great! But first things first let's complete the sexy outfit you are wearing." Ino blinked in confusion as Naruto walked them down a different street and Ino just let the blond enigma take the reins, all the while wondering what he had in mind.
Authors note
It's a date. Naruto and Ino are about to have their first serious date, will it work out or will luck-Chan decide to be a bitch.
Mizuki is using plan B which just so happens to involve Sasuke Uchiha and Sasuke is too eager to please Hinata to notice his getting played.
On an unrelated note ...why do haters of Hinata take it so far? You would think she had personally come out of the manga and slit their mother's throat while they watched.
Next chapter we have Sasuke on the move and Ino being adorable.