Heya!

This chapter took a while to bang out. Work is getting more hectic and home life is stressful, but it's whatever. Finding time to work on this has really done wonders for my mood.

As usual, I'll save my analysis for the end of the chapter. For now, I'd like to take a moment to address a comment that I got in regards to the previous chapter.

Jiraiya isn't even close to being forgiven. I thought about how I wanted to convey Naruto's relationship with both him and Hiruzen for a while and what I settled on was "I don't hate you, but I can't trust you."

As far as Naruto understands at the moment, Jiraiya is someone who held his father's closest confidence. He was Minato's teacher, mentor, and in some ways, father figure. He's also a powerful, knowledgeable shinobi who likely has a ton of wisdom to offer, and Naruto would be a fool to completely burn that bridge over a one-sided grudge; doubly so when it's clear as day that Jiraiya's mistake was just that. Naruto believes that Jiraiya means well, but cannot trust that he will not somehow screw him over again.

As for why he isn't angrier? Naruto has had plenty of time to sort out his feelings with Kushina's aid. It wouldn't make sense for me if he was just a hostile, angry little goblin to Jiraiya. Poking fun at him or wanting space is one thing, but I'm drawing the line at him basically becoming a bully. He can dislike the man while still being decent to him. I wouldn't really enjoy writing him if he was just a jerk to Jiraiya constantly, even knowing how serious Jiraiya seemingly is about atoning for his mistakes.

TLDR, Jiraiya isn't forgiven; he just has the luxury of not being hated. There's still a long way to go before he is even close to being on Naruto's good side, as far as either should be concerned.

Thanks for letting me rant for a moment. I'll save the rest of the talk for after.


Hinata felt warm.

Most people tended to take such a gift for granted; after all, Konohagakure was centered in the heart of Fire Country, where it was warm nearly all year 'round. However, Hinata had always run rather cold; even her usual layers tended not to be enough to ward off that last bit of chill that always found its way underneath her skin.

Yeah, warmth of any kind was a rather pleasant surprise.

Groggily, she realized that she was being carried; yet another shocker. Hinata had not enjoyed such a luxury in many years, certainly not since she was young… Back when her father still smiled at her; back when her mother was still around.

Before she passed, and their family was broken.

Hinata had nearly forgotten the simple, mindless joy of letting someone else take the wheel, not knowing the fear of being let down. She had forgotten what it was like to relax, and to simply trust another person not to let her fall.

Well that wouldn't do!

All at once, Hinata's sleep-addled brain jumpstarted itself and that fear came stamping back like an elephant's charge. Her eyes flew open with an audible 'pop', and Hinata began to flail. She looked to and fro, frantically clawing at her surroundings as if trying to physically catch her own bearings. Her fingers dug into flesh, cloth, and even hair as she did so.

"Ow-ow, no hair-tugging, please. Or scratching; I just got out of the hospital, you see…"

Hinata froze as her carrier's identity made itself clear. Oh, the pitch was a bit lower than she remembered, and maybe a touch raspier, too. But Hinata recognized Naruto's voice, anywhere. The tone, the inflection, all of it was a glowing, neon orange sign pointing squarely towards the boy she knew and adored.

Wonderful, once again she felt like she was going to faint.

"Uh- you're not going to faint again, are you? Because the first time scared the hell out of me ya know!"

On second thought, Hinata was rather enjoying her current consciousness. She'd waited the better part of a month to see her crush again, after all.

Still, it was a close thing. In her anxiousness, Hinata found no words would pass her tongue. Every thought started and ceased in rapid succession, a swarm of ghosts in her head that toyed with the fumbling girl.

Naruto was carrying her- wait, more importantly, Naruto was awake! He wasn't dead and/or dying; his organs were firmly inside his body, where they rightly belonged! Her organ-inside-having crush was carrying her! It was like a dream, come true!

Wait, was she dreaming? Hinata pinched herself. No, not a dream- well, unless her dreams had become pinch-proof; oh, perhaps she was caught in a genjutsu, designed to expose her weaknesses or reveal village secrets? She didn't exactly like her odds, if that were the case.

To her endless shame, Hinata seemingly lacked any natural talent with genjutsu. Oh, she'd certainly picked up a trick or two; when you worked under the tutelage of the premier genjutsu specialist in Konoha, that was simply expected. Still, her skills were sparse, and much to Kurenai's disappointment, not even the woman's boundless expertise and wisdom regarding the art had managed to do much for Hinata.

Still, Kurenai would've tossed Hinata in a cold river if she didn't at least understand how to dispel genjutsu.

The principles were simple enough. Genjutsu operated like a virus; the caster injected their chakra into their target, allowing them to essentially 'hitch a ride' with the rest of the target's chakra as it flowed to the brain. Forcibly disrupting one's own chakra-flow could, in most cases, disrupt the afflicting chakra as well, causing the genjutsu caster to lose their hold on their injected chakra and thus causing the illusion to unravel.

Hinata tried once, then twice more before giving up. Either she was in the clear, or her hypothetical foes were simply too skilled for her pitiful, no-genjutsu-talent-having attempts to put a dent in. Which left only one other option:

Hinata took a long breath, forcing her thoughts to settle down and finally spit something out. "N-Naruto-kun?"

True enough, her carrier tilted his head, leaning back just enough for Hinata to catch the corner of his smiling lips and the most brilliant purple eye she had ever seen. "Heya. You done beating me up?"

"S-sorry," Hinata flushed, as her crush's smile widened into a toothy, teasing grin. "It's um- it's just… Well, this is going to s-sound stu-stupid." Hinata breathed out, scrunching her eyes together and practically shouting, "Am- am I in a genjutsu!?"

Naruto blinked rapidly as her question registered. God, he probably thought she was crazy.

"Nah…" Naruto then mirrored her, scrunching his eyes together in an expression that she knew meant he was thinking hard. "Well, I guess we could be, but I don't think so!"

"D-do you promise?" Hinata pushed, needing confirmation.

"I super promise," Naruto shot back, proudly.

"S-super promise?"

"Well, it's like a promise, but super, you see. We're not dealing with baby's first pinky promise anymore, Hinata; this is big boy business. The real deal, ya know."

Hinata couldn't help the snort that escaped her, at that. Yeah, only Naruto could be so goofy with such a straight face.

Which now left her other question.

"Um- where are we going?"

"Hospital," Naruto responded without missing a beat. He side-eyed her as she suddenly went stiff. "When you fainted, you uh… Well, you fell down the stairs and hit your head." Naruto blushed as he told her. Much to his embarrassment, he'd been so caught off guard by her sudden fainting spell that he'd done nothing to stop her descent. "You've got a big ol' lump on your noggin so I'm taking you to get it checked out; I wanna make sure you aren't concussed."

Quite frankly, it was a miracle that she hadn't been even worse off. Then again, she had survived having her heart stopped, courtesy of her dickhead cousin. Maybe Hyuga were simply built different.

Naruto would need to consider that for when he was beating the piss out of Neji.

"Actually, um-" Hinata stammered out, wriggling in Naruto's grip. "I-I really don't wan-want to go there." Frankly, she hoped it'd be a good couple of months -maybe even years- before she needed to set foot in a hospital of any kind.

Naruto sensed Hinata's disdain and snorted. "I get that. You were cooped up in there until recently too, what with your fight and all…" Naruto trailed off, forcing down another spike of irritation for his upcoming opponent. "But we've gotta at least get that bump checked out by a professional, ya know?"

'Ah- I'll be fine, really!" Hinata once more attempted to wriggle about in Naruto's grip, to no avail. "P-please put me down?"

"Nah."

"Pr-pretty please?" Geeze, what would Kiba say? "Um- i-if you don't, I'll- well, I'll bite you…yeah." Naruto's laugh confirmed for Hinata that she really needed to work on her threats.

"If you bite me, I'm gonna paint on your face, and you can go see a doctor with some proper clown makeup to match the rest of you," Naruto snapped back with a chuckle. "Look, I'm kind've in a no-win situation here. If I take you to the hospital, I'm a villain and a monster; if I don't take you there, I'm a bad friend."

Hinata couldn't help the short laugh that burst from her lips. "S-so you'd rather be a v-villain than a bad friend, then?" Hinata wondered briefly if she could try bribing him. Her father did it all the time…

Naruto matched her humor with a sharp laugh of his own. "Have you seen my pranks? I revel in the chaos I cause!" Then, he hiked her up higher on his back; Hinata squeaked like a mouse as her head was suddenly deposited right over his shoulder, their heads nearly touching. "And stop trying to slip money into my pockets, lady. I'm a ninja, not a whore."

Curse her intrusive thoughts!

Hinata went red, and it was a fight to keep herself from clocking out again. How was she even talking to him, right now? Hinata had rarely managed to get even a full sentence in, let alone banter with him! What had changed between them?

It was a dumb question, really. What had changed? Well, she'd nearly lost him, for one. The threat of loss tended to change one's perspective about things just as strongly as loss itself… What would she have done if Naruto had died for real? No takesies backsies, just a dead Naruto…

Well for starters, she'd have skinned Jiraiya and worn him like a chic new coat… Politely, of course. After that, well she didn't know. But Hinata didn't think she'd have kept going as she was, without her sun in her life.

"Don't spend your days wishing you'd told someone how much they meant to you. You never know how long you'll have with them before they're gone."

Jiraiya was right about that, which meant it was time for shy Hinata to take the backseat. She was Bold Hinata now! That's right! She only stuttered half as much now, and she only thought twice about everything she said instead of thrice!

What were they talking about? Oh right, hospitals!

"P-p-perhaps a c-compromise then?" She pulled herself away to make space between them, lest her poor heart explode in her chest. "K-Kiba-kun's sister i-is a trained medic-nin. Um- could we maybe go there, instead?"

"You do realize I could be doing something far more lucrative with my time right? Like -oh, I don't know, attending my shift at the hospital?"

Hinata rather hoped the young woman wouldn't be upset by the rather sudden request.

Naruto paused for a moment, then lightly sighed. "Sure, we'll stop here for a sec, though. My arms are feeling a bit numb." Naruto walked them over to a nearby bench, easily squatting a bit to finally let Hinata down. She was unsteady, and he snapped to her side to make sure the girl didn't fall again.

"Sorry," Hinata murmured, allowing him to sit her down at the bench.

Okay maybe she did need to see a medical professional… Not that she planned to admit that outloud.

Hinata shook the spots from her eyes and realized in that moment that this was the first time she was really seeing Naruto. He was taller, easily towering over her by nearly half a foot; her heart skipped a beat as she noticed this, and again as she took in his features. Naruto was- well, there was no other way to describe him other than 'pretty'. His hair was longer, easily reaching the small of his back, and tied off neatly at the middle point with a simple black band. Hinata noted the change in coloration, as well as the long fringe that covered his left eye and a good portion of his cheek as well. His hair was thicker -and fluffy, where it had once been spiky and unruly.

It was cute.

His lone-purple eye caught her off-guard, especially upon noticing the odd shape of his pupil. Regarding his eye, his lashes had gone a pale blonde; they were long and thick, and curled upward.

Letting her eyes trail down to his lips, Hinata noticed that they'd quirked into a teasing smile, and she finally lit into a furious blush. Now fully looking him up and down, she began to feel faint. Naruto had always been attractive to her, of course. Now though, he was-

She cut those thoughts off with brutality and desperation in equal measures. Her heart couldn't take it!

"Goodness, it's like everyone has been ogling me since I woke up," Naruto rolled his eyes. "What exactly is it that's got you all staring at me like a piece of meat, huh?"

"S-s-sorry!" Hinata could've died then and there. She averted her eyes to her hands, where Naruto's gift still la-wait, where was Naruto's gift? Embarrassment gave way to panic as she began patting herself down, much to Naruto's visible confusion. Hinata realized with dread that she couldn't find it anyw-

Oh… The poncho was on her. She was wearing the poncho. The poncho made for Naruto…

Was that why she was so wonderfully warm? Wow, she had done a really good job with it!

"Gaaaah!" Hinata frantically tore it off of herself, causing Naruto to step forward, concerned.

"S-sorry! I uh- I put it on you because you were running cold. I didn't mean-" Naruto stopped as Hinata suddenly thrust it toward him. "Pardon?"

"I-i-i-i-it's f-for you! I made it for you!" Hinata shouted, all but begging her crush to take it.

"For me…" Naruto stared at the gift for a good several seconds.

For him… Hinata had gotten- no, Hinata had made him a gift.

Naruto shakily accepted the piece of cloth in awe, his eyes roving over it, time and time again, as if to prove that it was real. No one his age had ever given him a gift before.

Naruto's thoughts floated to Sasuke and Sakura both; he was almost certain that neither even knew his birthday; even if they did, would they care to give him anything at all, let alone such a thoughtful gift?

It was pretty big- just eyeballing it, he could see it nearly reached his knees. Naruto noted with joy that it was orange, specifically a light pastel sort of shade, bordering on cream. Mito had known a thing or twenty about weaving, and from their shared experience, Naruto could tell it had been cut from several layers of light silk; it was thin and supple to the touch, but surprisingly dense. A few experimental gropes of the inner fabric explained to Naruto why it felt somewhat weighty. Many dense pockets and a layer of mesh armor had been tactically sewn throughout the innards of the fabric.

Naruto looked at a heavily blushing Hinata, still feeling somewhat stunned. She clearly wasn't much better; he could feel her apprehension swelling, clear as day in her chakra. Naruto wasted no time in putting the cloth on, tenderly slipping it over his head.

The poncho had no neck or shoulders to it. Both were left naked, allowing the collar and neck of his vest and his bare shoulders to peek through; the poncho instead hung off the arms just past the shoulders and collarbone area. Two sparsely decorated metal clips sat at the upper bicep-area; they were clearly meant to close around his arms, so Naruto clipped them shut, comfortably securing them. An upside-down triangle had been cut at the middle of the sternum-area, leaving only the layer of see-through mesh in that space; its lower point stopped just short of the abdomen. Six smaller triangular cuts trailed down the abdomen in vertical sets of three.

Now that he was wearing it, Naruto noticed the wide vertical slit in the back, leaving a portion of his back somewhat exposed.

Noting his attention, Hinata stammered to explain. "I- well you see- J-Jiraiya-sama told m-me yo-you'd probably need sp-space for your chains so I th-thought leaving the back open w-would be helpful." Flushing, she gripped her forearm and held it close to herself, almost dreading to see Naruto's reaction. "I know tha-that sort've d-defeats the purpose of s-something meant to cover you up but I ju-just thought that…" Hinata trailed off, stunned into silence by the look on her crush's face. "Naruto-kun… Are you crying?"

It was a few tense moments for both as Naruto continued to run his fingers along the cloth in amazement. He popped open a few inner pockets, which had seemingly been secured with magnetic, metal clasps. Then he shifted to and fro, watching as the fabric danced with his movement. A watery smile snuck its way across his face.

"This is probably going to sound kind've pathetic-" Naruto cut himself off with a hiccup, trying not to lose his composure in front of a girl he was seriously starting to adore. "But well, this is probably the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me…" Well, barring his mother. But between saving him from the Kyuubi and being there for him at the lowest moment of his life, Kushina had gone and set the bar pretty damn high.

With great effort, Naruto finally tore his eyes away from his gift to properly look at Hinata. "You visited me a bunch in the hospital too…" Nearly every day, in fact. She had stayed with him, spoken to him, even when he couldn't speak back. She'd wished him well and offered her support when he'd needed it most.

Huh… Did his heart just skip a beat?

"Oh- um, it's n-nothing, really!" Hinata threw her arms up as if trying to ward off her own embarrassment. "D-do you like it? If y-you don't, I-I could make some ad-adjustments for-"

"Hinata," Naruto's voice came out shaky and choked, completely throwing her off. Hinata had never seen her crush look so emotional before. "Hinata I love it. I love it!" All at once, Naruto began to cheer. He twirled with a surprising amount of grace, joyfully dancing before her. "It has so many pockets! And it's orange! Orange!" In a flash, Naruto closed the distance between them and swept a shocked Hinata into his arms, lifting her up and dancing about with a laugh that filled the empty street with life. "You're amazing Hinata! I really love you, ya know!"

Love?

Hinata turned into a stone, petrified by Naruto's thoughtless comment. It was too much, and she had no defense against the darkness rapidly approaching as she fainted.

"Hinata? Hina- oh dear… That one's probably on me, huh?"


"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!" A fair point from the toad sage, which unfortunately was compromised by the oh-so-punchable, smug grin on his face.

"You were thinking it!" Naruto huffed. "You were going to say something stupid like 'wow, kid you're quite the lady-killer ha-ha, hee-hee, toads and titties!'"

"Not a bad impression," Jiraiya chuckled, enjoying the young man's irritation. Still, he was still on thin ice with him, so he wisely chose to move on. "So you brought her to the Inuzukas, then?"

Sensing the olive branch, Naruto simply sighed. "Yeah, she said Kiba's sister could check her head for her. I figured it was better than trying to drag her kicking and screaming back to the hospital."

A fair point, though Jiraiya strongly questioned whether the Hyuga girl could even scream at all; he was pretty sure he'd never heard her manage anything more than a whisper. Still, that raised the question, "I would've thought you'd be hovering by her side until she woke again?"

Naruto frowned. "I wanted to make sure she woke up, yeah. But uh… I'm kind've not allowed on Inuzuka property." Naruto winced as memories of the furious Inuzuka matriarch, Tsume Inuzuka, came to mind. "I don't want to talk about it." Sensing Jiraiya's growing amusement again, he simply ducked his head in embarrassment. "I-in any case, Kiba's her teammate so I'm sure they'll take good care of her! Besides, the tournament is tomorrow and I still have to prepare as best I can with the little time I've got."

Jiraiya sensed the hidden dismissal and rolled his eyes. "In that case, I'll leave you to figure out this dump, by yourself. I'll be in the area if you need me."

"Yeah yeah," Naruto began to shoo the man out of his apartment. "If someone kicks down my door and tries to eat my face off with a fork and knife, you'll be the first to know. Now get lost!"

Jiraiya left through an open window, leaving Naruto to shut it, bolt the hatch, and close his moth-eaten old curtains.

Good grief, that man was irritating. Still, he was trying to make amends, which was better than most had ever attempted. Besides, Naruto had never quite had it in him to hold a grudge for long.

For better or for worse.

He felt the same about the old man Hokage too, really. Naruto wasn't quite sure he could fully bring himself to hate either man, least of all the latter… Still, trust was a valuable and dangerous resource to simply hand out. They had both broken it before, and Naruto had no illusions that he could simply trust everybody; Mito and his mother both had shown him exactly what came of trusting blindly. In some ways he regretted those lessons; life was much easier when you were simply oblivious to the evil of the world.

"That's a pretty dark train of thought, X'omaa."

Naruto flinched, at that. Geeze, just a few hours away and he was already missing his mother enough to hallucinate.

"That's so sweet! By the way, not hallucinating."

Blinking slowly, Naruto put the pieces together. "Mom?"

"Yep."

"I'm hearing you… In my head."

"Yes well, that's where I am, currently!"

How even- Actually, Naruto found that he suddenly could not be bothered to care.

"Well tough, because I'm going to tell you anyway! The short version is: the space that I occupy is close enough to your inner consciousness that I can reach you if I'm loud enough. You can't see me, but I'm currently screaming myself hoarse!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Why not just get closer, then?"

"Huh, good idea!" A moment passed, and Naruto groaned in pain as her voice suddenly boomed inside of his head. "HOW'S THIS!?"

"No shouting!"

"Hehe, whoops. Sorry!"

"It's fine." Naruto nursed the budding headache between his eyes, then moved his fringe, allowing both of his eyes to regard the mess that had become of his ratty old apartment.

"You live here?" Kushina sounded some combination of disbelieving and pissed, so Naruto opted not to answer that question.

Her concern was fair though. It certainly wasn't much- no, it was less than that. It was small, barely larger than a studio apartment. There was a tiny kitchen and bathroom, both of which he needed looked absolutely derelict. The walls were peeling, their paint having chipped off to the point that much of the cheap drywall could be seen underneath. The floor wasn't much better; the ruined floorboards had been the cause of many a splinter, back in his youth. The bed alone took up nearly two-thirds of the living space, leaving only the final third as a sea of filth.

"You mean to tell me that old bastard left you to fend for yourself in this pigsty!?"

Naruto palmed his whole face, trying to force down the humiliation he was currently feeling. "Please, just don't say anything." His mother thankfully heeded his request, leaving him to tackle the problem by his lonesome.

Well, not quite, actually.

"Shadow-clone jutsu." Three identical Narutos appeared on either side of him, already taking in the filthy apartment with calculating eyes. All four versions of him shared a glance, not needing any words to convey their plan. One clone began to quickly sweep the brunt of the dust and trash from the floor, leaving another to wash the handful of chipped dishes. The third clone quickly made the bed, then ran the collected trash out to the curb, outside. This left the bathroom to the original; he made short work of it, wiping down all of the surfaces with a clean rag, cleaning the toilet, and scrubbing the inside of his tiny shower.

Alone, even his tiny apartment would've taken a few hours to clean, properly. With just three clones, he had his place clean in not even half an hour. It didn't do much to solve the other glaring issues, such as the ruined surfaces or the lack of space -Naruto would need to work on that at a later date. But at least it was livable again.

Their tasks finished, Naruto's clones stood at attention. He had not yet dispersed them, and so they simply waited patiently for his next orders. Taking a moment, Naruto extended his senses, searching for Jiraiya. He was nowhere to be found, so Naruto pushed.

The Mind's Eye of the Divine Entertainment technique was a divination-type sensory jutsu, designed explicitly to make the absolute most out of an Uzumaki's natural affinity for chakra-sensing. The principles behind it were simple enough, using one's chakra as an 'antenna' of sorts, to serve as a medium through which one could extend and heighten their natural affinity for chakra sensing. By doing this, an Uzumaki could magnify their 'sixth sense' by several orders of magnitude, allowing them to sense over greater distances and with far greater detail and accuracy. Using such a technique, one could even perceive fluctuations in one's chakra to read their movements and intentions, divine lies, or even sense when one was under the effects of genjutsu.

Naruto felt a 'ping', and Jiraiya's presence was known to him once again. He was staked out, nearly a full block away, his chakra suppressed just out of Naruto's immediate range. A telescope was in his grip, watching for movement around Naruto's apartment.

Well at least he was taking his job seriously, for once.

Still, as valuable of a skill as it could be, the benefits of the technique, as was so with most jutsu, depended greatly on the proficiency of the user. Members of his clan in the past had been able to achieve crazy feats, like reading someone's thoughts through the flow of their chakra, alone.

Naruto was rather ashamed to admit that he could barely even triple his effective range, and the control required of such a skill was distracting enough that it rather limited his focus..

Of course, being an Uzumaki was all about innovation, and finding creative ways to pass one's limits.

Pulling himself back to his immediate surroundings, Naruto pointed at one of his clones. "Transform into something unassuming and keep a bead on Jiraiya. I want to know where he is at all times."

The clone did not audibly acknowledge his orders, instead simply forming the hand seals for the Shape Changing jutsu and transforming into a small insect, barely half the size of Naruto's pinky nail. It flew out of the room through a tiny crack in the drywall. A moment passed, and Naruto could once more sense Jiraiya.

Good.

Naruto turned back, regarding one of his two leftover clones. "Could you get me something to eat? Anything's fine, so long as it'll get me through the night."

"No problem." The clone took the door, leaving Naruto alone with his final clone.

The Chūnin exams tournament was likely to be a hectic event. Running through a gauntlet of problematic opponents with little room for rest would test even his impressive endurance. That went double when Naruto had no idea what kinds of surprises they may have prepared for him and their other competitors. The preparations he and Kushina had made with the information they did have would go far, but if Naruto wanted to cross the finish line he was going to need to be at his absolute best.

"Wanting to take some precautions, then?"

"Yeah," Naruto shared a grin with his clone. "That leaves us. We've got a task to do that'll be integral to the exams."


Mother had been silent since their last argument. Not had left her; not even to insult him or chastise him for failing.

It was disturbing.

He knew that she was angry. Furious, even. But he'd not expected mother to abandon him, full-stop. Anyone else, and Gaara would not have bat an eye. But Mother had been with him for as long as he could remember, always advising him; always protecting him.

Always isolating him.

But now, she was quiet, and the longer he went without her, the more Gaara grew doubtful of her rightness. Mother had once told him that she would never leave him. She had told him that she would always keep him safe. Yet she had sent him to Naruto Uzumaki, who had done this to him. Now, in this moment when he needed her most, she was nowhere to be found.

Mother had lied to him. She had abandoned him.

But that was just par the course, he supposed. Mother was no different from everyone else. Everyone who abandoned him; lied to him; took advantage of him...

For the first time in his life, Gaara was well and truly alone.

"Wake up kid. You've got visitors." The bitter snarl of Gaara's Chūnin guard woke the boy from his thoughts.

The man's words registered for him, and Gaara tilted his head ever-so-slightly; he regarded the young man with unfocused eyes, void of any life. "Who would visit me?"

Two blurry figures were escorted forward. One gripped the bars, and from them a familiar voice sounded, "Gaara?"

There was a long pause as he put a face to the voice, and a name to the face. "Temari..." Gaara rolled his eyes away from his sister, suddenly finding the lights above far more interesting. "Why are you here?" A moment passed in silence, then he added, "Were you arrested too?"

"We came to see you." That sounded like his brother, Kankuro. "The Kazekage will be here in the morning; the Hokage is going to let us take you home with us after the tournament!"

Gaara noted the emphasis in the boy's words. Kazekage... Tournament...

Ah, that's right, he had his role to play, didn't he?

The rattle of chains echoed in his head and Gaara flinched. "I don't care."

"Wha-" Temari and Kankuro both sounded so nonplussed. Really, what about anything that he'd said did not make sense?

"I said I don't care. Leaf, sand... It's all the same to me," Gaara rasped out. Why should he care? Why did they care? Were those two really so eager to mirror his own fate? "You two should forget about me."

"Wha- I..." Temari made a weird, garbled noise unlike anything he'd ever heard her made; it had Gaara finally looking at her again. He focused, trying to see on face what had caused such a sound. Her eyes were moist, like she was holding back tears. "Gaara, what's gotten into you?"

Why was she crying? She should be happy; after all, she didn't have to pretend to be his sister anymore. Gaara couldn't hurt her even if he tried -not behind these bars, damaged now as he was...

So why?

"Gaara!" He snapped back into focus, regarding Temari like the puzzle she was.

"If I leave here, I'll die." Gaara weakly shifted to his side, finally giving Temari and Kankuro his full attention. He didn't recognize the expressions on their faces; he didn't think he'd ever seen them make a face like that, for him. "If I leave here, he'll kill me."

"Who, Gaara?" Kankuro stepped up, under the heavy watch of their guards. "Who will kill you? We won't let them!"

"Naruto... Uzumaki." As if summoned by his name, the pain returned in full swing. Gaara suddenly seized, another wave of agony overtaking him. He spasmed on the bed, his shackles clanging and rattling as he did so. The sound sent him on a spiral as thousands of chains destroyed him yet again. Gaara let out a silent scream as Temari and Kankuro watched in horror.

"What's happening to him!?" Temari turned to a guard, all but begging the man for answers. He simply shrugged.

"He's been doing that since he got here. Seems to me like he fucked around and found out in the worst way."

"Can't you help him!?"

The guard simply rolled his eyes. "Kid, you do realize that he's in here for murdering several of our own in cold blood, right? What makes you think any of us want to help him?"

Temari looked like she wanted to attack the man, but Kankuro's grip on her shoulder had her refocusing onto Gaara, whose seizure was finally coming to its end.

"Haaa- I-I," Gaara stammered between shaky breaths, trying to form words. "I'm scared. I'm scared," he sobbed. "I don't want to die!"

"You're not going to die, buddy." Kankuro piped up, his tone gentle in a way that Temari and Gaara had both rarely heard from him. "Once pops gets here we're gonna take you home with us and we're going to make sure you get the help you need. I swear to you, Gaara. You hear me?"

Gaara said nothing for a moment. Then weakly, he nodded. "Okay."


Waking up in the Inuzuka compound had been a surprise for Hinata. She had woken far too late to head home and Kiba's mother Tsume had been kind enough to let her stay the night. Of course, Hinata wasn't about to complain; she'd been avoiding her father with great effort since their last talk, and she had every intention of maintaining that status quo for as long as she could manage.

"You can borrow some of my old clothes for the day," Hana had offered, smiling at her. "Not like I'm using them; I keep planning to donate them, but I always forget."

Hana had a lot of old clothes, many of which were quite fashionable. Certainly more so than Hinata was typically comfortable with. Her first instinct was to find the most unassuming pieces of clothing she could find and throw them on. Any of her clan would likely turn their nose up at her over such a thing, but Hinata had always held her father's ire for her tendency to underdress. She was fine with that, usually.

But Naruto was competing today…

"I really love you, ya know!"

Hinata went red, nearly squealing at the memory of being in her crush's arms. Regardless of how he had meant it, Naruto had been bold enough to give her such a powerful core memory; so it was time for Bold Hinata to make her appearance yet again!

Thus, it was in spite of her own embarrassment that Hinata took great care choosing from the pile that had been offered to her, choosing to represent the boy who had so thoroughly captured her heart.

Her team had planned to attend the Chunin exam finals together; originally they had all planned to watch Shino perform as a group and offer their support. Now though, it seemed like they'd all be in the stands, together. When Hinata finally exited the Inuzuka compound, Kiba was already waiting for her, once more accompanied by Shino and a smiling Kurenai.

"There you are Hinata, what took you so lon-" Kiba cut himself off as he looked his teammate up and down. "Orange, huh?"

Hinata grinned back, her cheeks tinting pink but oddly feeling no shame. "Shino-kun is out of the running, so I know exactly who I'm rooting for."

She had thrown on a set of burnt orange cotton pants; the cuffs were neatly folded off at the knees. For a top, she had chosen a white button up, over which she had thrown on a slightly oversized orange blazer, near-perfectly matching her pants. Today, she was simply a spectator rather than a ninja, and so she'd chosen a comfortable pair of black slip-on shoes.

It wasn't much, but it was leaps and bounds over her usual fit.

Kurenai was quick to step forward, smoothing out Hinata's clothes like a doting mother. "You look good. I'm sure he'll love it." Her words only made Hinata's blush gain in strength, but the girl's smile held, even as she ducked her head and began pushing her two pointer fingers together, anxiously.

"You know, my mom nearly had an aneurysm when that ass showed up to the compound last night with you on his back." Kiba chuckled. The sight of his mom in a nightgown, attempting to snipe Naruto's head off with one of her slippers was a memory that would live rent free in his head, for years to come.

Hinata gave her friend a questioning look. "N-Naruto-kun would never hurt me. Why-"

"Nah that's not it," Kiba interrupted. "My clan has had a feud with Naruto ever since he contaminated all of our ninja hounds' wet food with horse laxatives." Kiba shuddered. "I'm pretty sure my mom would've put a bounty on his head that day, if she thought she could get away with it."

Needless to say, Naruto Uzumaki was not allowed within one-hundred feet of the Inuzuka compound's walls; clansmen were on strict orders to "punt his runt-ass across the village if you even get a whiff of his smell in our territory", courtesy of Tsume, herself. As far as the Inuzuka were concerned, no amount of changing his looks would stop them from doing their sworn duty.

Hinata strongly wondered what the Inuzuka could've done to Naruto to provoke such a bridge-burning act; having gotten to meet some of her teammate's clan now, she somehow doubted all the fault lay with the boy. Prankster though he was, such a cruel prank really just wasn't his style.

Shino frowned, his thoughts seemingly mirroring Hinata's own. "Naruto has historically been considered by many to be a menace to society. Why? Because his antics have been known to get quite out of hand. However, I find myself unable to relate. Why? Because many within my clan think he is, and I quote 'pretty alright, actually'." True enough, Shino couldn't recall a single moment that Naruto had done more than mildly prank his own clanmates. The worst he could think of was the dying of many of their coats, a rainbow of bold colors. Shino recalled his father and mother both finding it rather amusing.

"Yeah? Well that's great for you, but the dude really crossed a line with us. Messing with our partners is a huge no-no." Kiba growled, compelling his teammates to back off.

Hinata made a mental note to ask Naruto about it directly, when she next got the chance. For now though, she was content to let Kurenai lead the trio to the Konoha Stadium, where the tournament was set to begin.

Just an hour now, before her crush would fight her cousin, Neji. Hinata's scarred fingers flexed uncomfortably as memories of her cousin once more overtook her thoughts. She hadn't come close to seeing his peak. Even still, his skill, speed, and intuition were all leagues ahead of her own; even more concerning was his brutality. Would he treat Naruto just as he had, herself? The thought of seeing Naruto's lifeless body, courtesy of a gentle-fist strike to the chest, sent her anxiety through the roof. Hinata had told Neji that Naruto would beat him, and she would stand by that boast. But what if her cousin hurt him like he had, herself? Would it be her fault? Would Neji attempt to kill Naruto, just to spite her?

Honestly, probably.

Unacceptable.

"-ata?"

She'd need to get ahead of their battle, then. Convince her team to help her break Neji's kneecaps… respectfully, of course. He couldn't kill Naruto if he was too busy hobbling about on stumps.

"-inata?"

Maybe take an arm too, just to be safe. It was a bit underhanded for her tastes, and Naruto certainly wouldn't approve of her interfering with his fight. Regrettable, but she'd accept him being mad at her if it meant his organs stayed properly undamaged. He needed those for living, after all. Maybe if she-

"Hinata!" Kiba's worried shout tore her from her thoughts. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

"Oh-um, sorry Kiba-kun. I was just um- I was just thinking about… lunch?"

Kiba glared at her, unconvinced. "You know you mutter when you're anxious, right?"

Oh dear. "I- well, you see…" Hinata trailed off as her friend continued to glare at her. The amused expressions of Shino and their sensei did little to help. "I-I have no comment."

"Well before you went and turned yourself into a walking red flag, I was trying to tell you that your dumb idiot boyfriend is lurking about." Kiba pointed off into the distance, and Hinata's eyes followed, catching sight of Naruto's features; he was looming atop a water tower, just short of the arena, and sitting cross-legged while watching the people below. He was wearing the poncho she'd made him! As Hinata's eyes settled on him, he suddenly glanced upwards, locking eyes with her. A brief moment passed, then he smiled and waved.

"How about you go see him, Hinata?" Kurenai gently pushed the girl in her crush's direction. "We'll find some seats."

Hinata hesitated only for a moment, then began making her way to the boy, walking up the wall and crossing some building tops to reach him.


"What are you going to do if he's faster than you?"

"I'll isolate his movements with clones and cut him down to size."

"What if he won't let you form seals?"

"Then I'll stall him out and push the offensive when his stamina wanes."

"And if his stamina lasts?"

"I scouted him out this morning and I think I've got a pretty good read of his chakra levels. If his stamina lasts longer than mine it can only mean he's controlling reserves better than I am. I'll just have to break that focus and turn him into a screaming, raging little monkey."

"How?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll insult his dead dad or something. I'll figure something out." Naruto's responses were quick and well-rehearsed. They'd been at this for most of the morning, his mother rapid-firing random scenarios and different caveats for him to plan for. Naruto's biggest regret in waking up so late was that he'd hardly had any time to research any of his opponents. "I know the Hyuga's relationship with their branch house is supposed to be pretty messed up. But I'm not sure of the details."

"You could always ask Hinata," Kushina advised.

Naruto's head snapped up as the girl's chakra entered his sensory range. Their eyes locked, and the two shared a smile. He watched his friend share some words with her team before quickly making her way over to him. "Not a bad idea, actually."

As Hinata climbed her way up the water tower that he'd situated himself on, she raised a hand in a shy wave, not quite trusting her words just yet.

"Yo," Naruto raised a 'peace' sign in response. He scooted over, making room for her to seat herself beside him. As she made to join him, his eyes roved over her choice of wear with a grin. "Repping my colors, I see!"

"Tell her she looks nice."

"You look nice!" A moment passed, then he added, "Really pretty..."

Hinata went scarlet, and Naruto could've sworn he saw steam erupting from her ears. "U-um t-t-thank you I-" Hinata stopped, taking a deep breath. "Thank you. It- um, it means a lot." They shared a smile, then she added, "I'm going to be r-rooting for you."

There was something particularly emboldening about that. Naruto's grin became full of teeth. "I can't wait to punch that jerk's teeth down his throat."

"A-are you sure you'll be alright?" As quickly as the words had left her lips, Hinata felt terrible for even asking. "N-not that I don't think y-you can! I just don't want you to get hurt and well- I…" She suddenly trained off, looking down. "S-sorry…"

Naruto tilted his head, confused by her sudden change in demeanor. A moment passed, then he threw an arm around her shoulder. Hinata yelped as he pulled her into an embrace.

It took everything she had to keep her vision straight.

"Don't be sorry for worrying about me; it means the world to me ya know." Naruto fixed her with a tender look. "I'll be fine though."

"P-promise you won't let him hurt you?" Hinata needed confirmation.

"I promise."

"S-super promise? She needed extra confirmation.

"I super-duper promise. It's like a super promise, but super-duper." Naruto squeezed her shoulders one more time then climbed to his feet, beginning to stretch. Hinata was amazed by the flexibility on display. "He won't harm a hair on my head!"

Hinata certainly hoped not. She rather liked his hair.

"I have a question for you actually," Naruto started, now dropping down to a perfect split and touching his toes. "I'm thinking of trying to deal as much psychological damage to Neji as possible so he'll lose his shit and make it easy to break him in half... Uh- figuratively, of course. Do you know any dirt on him that you wouldn't mind throwing him under the bus with?

Hinata had plenty. Still, "P-promise you won't h-hurt him too bad?" Neji was a jerk, and Hinata certainly didn't like him very much. But she still wasn't exactly keen on selling out a fellow ninja.

"How much is 'too bad'?"

"Ah- well, don't do anything he can't recover from." That was a pretty broad scope, to be honest. Konoha medics were some of the best in the world. Still, Hinata trusted Naruto not to go too far.

Naruto hummed. "So if I beat the piss out of him in front of thousands of people, it's fine. But transforming into his dead dad and giving him an atomic wedgie in front of his team is probably too far, huh?"

"I-I didn't say that." Hinata's words caused him to look at her, shocked. The smile that she gave him was full of warmth and trust. "I trust you to know when to stop."

It was humbling. "S-sounds good to me." Naruto sat himself back down, and Hinata used their remaining hour leading up to the tournament to explain to him the complicated and very questionable history of the Hyuga clan.


Hiruzen had arrived to the stadium early, as his station demanded. He took the time to organize the protection detail in advance, ensuring that all important political figures were well-protected from any potential threats throughout the exam. His ANBU special forces were flitted about in the shadows, securing every inch of the arena while two Chūnin, each disguised as mere ticket agents, checked every person that entered the location.

The Hokage stapled a polite smile onto his face, diligently greeting each foreign guest that came his way, regardless of their importance. He shook hands with a merchant, taking the moment to sample one of the gentleman's nectarines; Hiruzen offered his compliments for the delectable fruit and suggested that he'd be happy to speak further after the tournament. Then he was off, kissing the knuckles of a beautiful young woman, representing the Kage of the Hidden Cloud village. She expressed regrets on behalf of their leader, Lord A, who "truly regretted not being able to send a team this year." She suggested that his ninja were of course "Welcome to participate in the Kumogakure-hosted Chūnin exams, set for the first quarter of next year."

Hiruzen charmingly told her that it was no issue, and stated that he too regretted that the Hidden Cloud village could not send any ninja. Neither party opted to mention that A's ninja were not allowed anywhere on Leaf territory, after the terrible political scandal they'd caused, years prior. Hiruzen also neglected to mention that he had no intention of sending any of his ninja anywhere close to A or his men. Such matters were not for the public, after all.

More and more, Hiruzen felt the weight of his own age as he forced himself to wade through the sea of political friends, rivals, and enemies alike, all with a gentle smile on his face. He'd arrived hours early, and yet it was with only minutes to spare that he was finally able to rest his old bones on his seat in the VIP booth, looming over the rest of the arena.

Accompanying him was his ally and guest Rasa, the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, Sunagakure.

"Good day, Hokage," Rasa greeted him with the stiffest of bows. Clearly, he still wasn't happy about the treatment of his ninja.

"And a good day to you, Kazekage." Hiruzen shook the man's hand, noting the iron grip and promptly disregarding it. There was no need to posture back; Rasa would be on his best behavior in his presence, regardless of his feelings. He locked eyes with the man and the message was conveyed without a word needing to be said. Rasa's eyes dipped and he retrieved his hand.

"I would like to thank you for the patience and leniency you showed my foolish son, these past few days." Rasa's voice betrayed no emotion, and the veil covering his head and face left the rest to Hiruzen's imagination. "I would also like to extend my most sincere apologies for my ninjas' role in this mess. Know that we will most certainly be in talks to discuss how the Sand village can atone for this breach in your trust."

Hiruzen offered the Kazekage a brittle smile. "I appreciate the accountability you have come to me with. I truly hope that our villages can eventually heal from this tragedy, in time, and that our alliance can survive it."

The message was clear, and Rasa said nothing, knowing that forgiveness was a long way off, and their conversation was now over. Rasa's ninja guards shifted uncomfortably, looking between their leader and the Hokage. Hiruzen disregarded them, also.

His thoughts floated to Naruto; he thought of the pain in his eyes; his grief-filled glare as he poured his heart out to the old Hokage.

Yes, forgiveness was not quite so simple as a mere apology; actions spoke far louder than words.

By now, the stands were nearly full to the point of bursting, so he stood, temporarily compartmentalizing the boy to focus on his duty.


There were more people looming in the stands above than Naruto had ever seen in his life, and it really wasn't close. They were so plentiful that their faces had all blended together into one indecipherable mass, all waiting anxiously for the tournament to begin, proper.

"They're here for you," Kushina said; Naruto could practically hear the smile on her face.

'Not quite,' he thought back. 'They're here for Neji and Sasuke, really.'

He wasn't surprised or even offended by that fact. They were both the current favorites to take the entire tournament, after all. Two highly talented rookies whose reputation stood head and shoulders above that of their peers; Naruto would've been surprised if they weren't the main selling point of the tournament.

Naruto grinned. That'd make kicking Neji's teeth in, in front of all these people all the more satisfying.

"You look pretty pleased with yourself." Naruto tore his eyes away from the crowd to lock eyes with Shikamaru, one of the contestants competing alongside him. Lazy as he was, there was doubt the guy thought the entire tournament was just a pain in the ass. "How was your month-long nap?"

"Not bad. I heard you visited." Naruto shot back with a genuine smile. "I appreciate it."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Did any of your teammates ever end up stopping by?"

'Naruto simply chuckled. "Nah. I guess I'm just not high profile enough for their attention. It's fine though."

"It's not." Naruto was taken aback by the sudden heat in Shikamaru's tone. "I talked with Ino. She said Sakura 'pretty much sat on her ass, all month', and I know for a damn fact that she knew you were hurt, seeing as I told her, myself."

Naruto bit his lip, then looked up into the stands, directly where Hinata and her team sat, watching them. "I wouldn't worry about it. I'm not missing out on much; I've got a damn good cheerleader on my side, ya know."

Shikamaru followed his gaze, squinting to see what his friend was seeing. Then, he grinned. "Orange, huh?"

"Right?" Naruto tore his gaze from Hinata to finally take in his other competitors. "I'm surprised Sasuke isn't here yet."

Did the guy even know that he wasn't facing Gaara anymore?

Naruto shifted his gaze to the remaining male Sand sibling, Kankuro. With Gaara and Shino both out of the running, that left the puppet using Sand ninja to face Sasuke, instead. The molten glower the boy was sending his way. Panning over to the boy's sister, Naruto confirmed that she too was glaring at him. Both looked just short of trying to stab him to death.

Pissed about Gaara then, he supposed.

Cute.

Naruto rolled his eyes, then blew them both a kiss. The grip that Temari had on her fan had turned her knuckles white. Kankuro gripped her forearm and whispered in her ear, then she turned away from him, clearly seething. Catching Shikamaru's glare, he looked back, questioningly. "What?"

"You realize she's gonna take that out on me, right?" His twitching eye did wonders to convey his irritation.

"That shouldn't be a problem. You're better than her." A moment passed, then he added, "you've noticed it too, right?"

Shikamaru blinked slowly, then, "Yeah. Something isn't adding up with them." Memories of Gaara's rampage flooded back to him. His sickly yellow eyes as he manhandled his friends. Shikamaru leveled a glare at Naruto. "If you know something, tell me."

"Technically I'm about as in the dark as you are, but I've got a hunch or two." Naruto matched Shikamaru's glare with a grin full of teeth. "Win your match and we'll compare notes, then."

Shikamaru loved a good puzzle, even more than he hated putting in effort of any kind; it was close, though. Naruto saw the energy in his friend's eyes as Shikamaru calculated the value of his offer. Then, "Troublesome..." Shikamaru trudged away from Naruto, his eyes now squared solely onto Temari as he plotted. Naruto was now left alone with his own thoughts.

Sasuke still hadn't arrived. If he didn't arrive in time, Naruto had no doubt that it'd cause a huge ruckus. At the bare minimum, Sasuke would be disqualified and it'd end up representing his team pretty poorly. On the other end, it could reflect poorly on Konoha as a whole, if one of the tournament's most sought after contestants fully failed to show up. Extending his senses, he confirmed that Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

Wonderful... What to do, then? He could stall...

"Dragging out a fight is against your best interests, here," Kushina cautioned.

True enough. Naruto picked out Neji from the small group.

The longer their fight went on, the more energy he'd have to expend and the more opportunities Neji would have to make a pest out of himself. No, the optimal choice was to win quickly.

Of course, he and his competitors were expected to put on a show, so no one would blame him if he went and had a little fun.

Neji's gaze met his, and he sneered. He looked a bit ragged, like he'd been training up until the last minute. Looking him up and down, Naruto noted that he'd changed his clothes for the occasion, dressing in a white, long-sleeved jacket and layered hakama pants. He looked a touch more muscular than Naruto remembered him, especially around his shoulders and chest area.

Duly noted.

"Welcome everyone, to Konohagakure's forty-third Chūnin exams tournament!" Hiruzen's voice boomed out from above them, compelling Naruto and Neji both to tear their gaze from one another in favor of their Hokage. I'm sure many of us, myself included, are excited to see how these young Genin perform today, so I will keep my words brief."

First, Hiruzen nodded down to the arena. "Firstly, I would like to thank our competitors down in the field for their efforts! You have toiled hard to get to this point, and the weight of your struggles against your fellow ninja are worthy of our respect. Please continue to act in a manner most-worthy of that respect. Understand, competitors, that you not only represent yourself and your team today, but also the very village you hail from. Put your best foot forward and act in a manner befitting of your station as ninja of your respective villages."

Then, he swept his arm outward. "Secondly, I would like to thank our attendees for coming to offer your support to our contestants. I'm sure many within the stands may have a favorite to win; friends, family, or even just a good bet." Hiruzen grinned, knowingly, eliciting a few laughs from the stands in response. "That said, please offer your sincere respect to all of our contestants as they work today to show you their mettle. I will now allow the proctor to take the center-stage."

Hiruzen smoothed his robes and sat down, to the applause of many within the stadium. Then there was a swirl of leaves and a man appeared, sporting typical jonin-wear, save for a half-chewed toothpick in his mouth.

"Hey," he started, blandly. "My name is Genma Shiranui. I'm the proctor for this event; if you remember how it went in the preliminaries, then you should be good. For the sake of the crowd though, keep quiet while I go over it all."

Genma took his breath, then formed a hand sign -a one-handed 'tiger' seal.

"The rules for this event are simple. We will engage in a series of one versus one battles, tournament-style. The winner will be allowed to continue to the next rounds. Whoever makes it to number one obviously wins the tournament." Genma then started at the contestants. "You guys fight until one person surrenders or is otherwise deemed unable to compete any further. By me," he said, firmly. "Killing is allowed, but generally discouraged. Understand that I am the final authority within this arena. When I say the fight stops, it stops. Any further attempts to battle can and likely will result in an immediate disqualification. Are we understood?" When he received nods from each Genin, Genma smiled, satisfied. "Good. Then we can begin. Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga are first. You two remain while everyone else heads up to the competitor's booth." To emphasize his point, Genma pointed it out for them. Naruto noted that many of his peers had managed to get themselves situated in that general area.

"This is the only warning I will give you," Neji suddenly began as the other competitors started to leave. He leveled a toxic glare at Naruto, the veins in his eyes already starting to bulge. "Consider this an act of kindness from me to you... Relieve yourself of whatever foolish notions you have of beating me and-"

"Good god, do you ever stop talking?" Naruto interrupted Neji with a roll of his eyes. He didn't even bother to look at the boy, even as his chakra began to spike, signifying his irritation. "Fate this, destiny that. You're such a fucking self-aggrandizing little twat, you know that?"

"N-Neji-niissan hates being interrupted." Hinata's words floated about in his head as Naruto sifted through his strategies.

Operation 'get him so pissed he forgets to pace himself and absolutely destroys his chakra economy right out the gate' was coming along nicely, if the boy's seething chakra was any indicator.

Not letting Neji get a word in edgewise, Naruto pushed on, finally deigning to look at his opponent. "Look, I've got a three-o'clock appointment to go rearrange your grandma's whole hip bone, so I'll need you to keep the talking to the minimum, alright cupcake? Just shut up and listen. Hinata explicitly asked me to be safe, and since I don't respect you either as a person or as a competitor, I went ahead and super-duper promised her I'd walk out of here unscathed."

"Insolent little-" Neji snarled at him, his byakugan now fully active and pulsing at full throttle. His face had gone red and Naruto noted without concern that his chakra flow had skyrocketed. "You should know better than to make promises you can't ke-"

"Didn't I say not to speak?" Naruto interrupted him, yet again. "Dumbass, you come from a branch of slaves and you can't even follow simple instructions. If he had to deal with an insufferable little rat like you all the time, it's no wonder your dad killed himself... Or whatever it was that he did, I wasn't paying attention."

"Ouch." Kushina winced.

'I'll apologize after I've won.'

Neji's chakra spiked again, and Genma had now began to look worriedly between them as the Hyuga boy began to grind his teeth. Chakra began to rise from his skin like a thin cloud of mist. Naruto grinned back at him.

"What I'm saying, "Naruto began, planting his leg forward and leaning on it. "Is that you won't land a single hit on me."

"Proctor?" Neji's head twisted toward Genma like he was possessed. "Start the match right fucking now."


That's the chapter. It came out a bit later than I'd have liked, but I'm mostly satisfied with it, barring a few minor things. Let's talk about that:

So as I'm sure you can realize, this is mostly a big setup chapter. I wanted to take the time to establish the new 'status quo' for Naruto and Hinata's relationship. This means I kind've had to figure out how they'd interact with one another as a sort of 'default' state for them. Hinata constantly getting super embarrassed and fainting, while occasionally funny, just doesn't really work when trying to build an actual healthy relationship. I hope I did decently at making her adjustment look at least somewhat natural. Obviously I have to take some liberties when getting there, but it's whatever, really.

My main concerns with the chapter are as such: Hinata essentially giving Naruto dirt on Neji, knowing that he's going to use it to hurt him feels kind've scummy, even if it feels like something I do think she'd do if it meant helping/protecting Naruto. Doubly so considering the angle I'm taking regarding her relationship with Neji. Here, I'm trying to convey the further depths of the hostility that their relationship entails, seeing as we didn't really get to see much of that in canon. There, Naruto pretty much hit Neji with some good guy juice and Neji and Hinata got along immediately after, pretty much.

Here, we're essentially looking at them at the height of their hostilities where even Hinata has herself feeling somewhat hostile and petty with him, not just because of what he did to her, but because of what she likely knows he plans to do versus Naruto. We see in the series that Neji, despite admitting that he had no real personal issues with Naruto, was still perfectly comfortable with the idea of paralyzing or even killing him to win. So needless to say my take on Hinata probably wouldn't let that fly. With all of that said, I'm resolute that she would give info (even really personal or painful stuff) to Naruto, but it does feel kind've out of character even with that stuff established. I guess in my head I just see Hinata as too much of a gentle cinnamon roll to really vibe with something like that...

Which brings me to the bigger 'issue'. No matter how I slice it, Naruto is a dick in the later half of this chapter. On one hand, that's kind've the point. I've tried to make it clear that he really doesn't like Neji. Hell, he might even hate the guy. Keep in mind that as of right now, Hinata is one of the only people who's even given enough of a damn to visit Naruto in the hospital AND she gave him a gift that meant the world to him. As far as he's concerned, she's essentially hit the mad dash to the tippy top of his incredibly short list of precious people, and Neji deliberately tried to murder her when she was already clearly unable to fight back or do much to protect herself. As far as Naruto would be concerned, Neji is someone who looks down on people weaker or less fortunate than him, uses his abilities to hurt and oppress those he feels he can get away with hurting and oppressing, and who is cruel enough to try to kill someone just because they hurt his feelings. In other words, a loser and a bully. Naruto understands Neji's past, but is probably too fixated on how much he wants to absolutely clown on this guy for his usual empathy to kick in; doubly so when he'd recognize that just trying to 'talk it out' with Neji wouldn't work much at all, at this stage. We as the readers know that Neji is more than just a bad guy, but this is kind've what I meant a few chapters ago about how people are going to make mistakes and sometimes do things that make them look like the bad guy.

This Naruto isn't just a 'run in and kick the crap out of the bad guy' type of character. He's experienced some pretty terrible stuff, both to him personally, and from the perspective of other Uzumaki, namely Mito who lived and fought during the most hectic, hostile time to be alive in this world's history. It makes sense to me that he'd get underhanded as shit, especially if it's to keep a promise to someone like Hinata and win his fight. However even with ALL of this on the table, it still feels like I had him go too far. I don't know, maybe I'm just being overly sensitive because I really like Neji. But I came into this kind've wanting Naruto to be the asshole and instigator here. I hope that my reasoning makes sense and that Naruto's actions at least are sensible, even if you also think it's too far. Let me know what you guys think!

Next chapter, things kick off with a bang! Naruto vs Neji, but this is going to be a FAR different fight than you guys are used to. Neji is getting some serious love, and I'm looking forward to finally getting to show off all the things Naruto has cooked up while he was away. That should come in just a few days, assuming things don't get even more hectic for me. New semester is starting and I have a bunch of class material I gotta put together before that point, so updates may slow down a bit, probably to a solid 1 a week; we'll see.

Thanks for tuning in and letting me ramble. Until next time!