Densetsu no Yonnin (The Legendary Four) - Chapter IV (Rework in Progress)
Disclaimer: I didn't create Naruto, so I don't own it
(Second Year of the Academy)
(Ninja Academy)
"All right class, settle down!" Iruka called out as he and Mizuki walked into the classroom. The class, however, didn't quiet down so he tried again. Once again, his attempt to gain the class's attention failed. "HEY! EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Iruka shouted as his head enlarged to epic proportions. This finally silenced the class. "Thank you," Iruka's tone was calm again.
"How did he do that?" Naruto muttered.
"You saw his head grow, too?" Sasuke asked.
"It must be some sort of genjutsu," Sakura analyzed.
"Guys, Iruka-sensei's speaking," Hinata pointed out and the other three stopped their conversation to pay attention.
"Welcome, to your second year of the academy," Iruka proclaimed, and Mizuki just regarded the class with a nod. "While last year was more focused on theory, this year, we will be starting the practical portion of the academics," Iruka announced which got the class's attention. "Now, we will start teaching you taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and kunaijutsu."
Most of the class perked up at this announcement including Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, Shino, and Chōji while Naruto and Kiba were vibrating in their seats with excitement and Shikamaru just grumbled about fighting being troublesome.
"Alright, class let's go outside to the training grounds for your combat lessons," Iruka stated, and the class followed him outside.
Once they arrived outside, Iruka explained to them how to throw kunai and shuriken. He showed them the proper way to hold them and demonstrated throwing them. He hit the target dummy in all the vital points which amazed the class. The class was handed kits with kunai and shuriken by Mizuki and now they were practicing throwing them.
Most of the class did poorly in weapon throwing including Ino and Sakura. Sakura was disheartened by her performance and the mediocre performance of the rest of the class didn't help. Kiba, Shino, Chōji, Shikamaru, and Hinata did fairly well since they hailed from ninja families, although, Shikamaru barely put any effort into it.
Sasuke demonstrated his mastery of throwing weapons by having most of his weapons hit the target. This impressed most of the class including the instructors and earned him cheering from the fangirls.
"Sasuke-kun is so amazing!"
"Sasuke-kun is the greatest!"
"Sasuke-kun, marry me!"
Sasuke grimaced at all the cheering. Everyone else winced and rubbed their ears from the high-pitched squeals.
"Pfft! That's nothing. I could do way better!" Naruto proclaimed which silenced the squeals.
Ignoring the indignant cries from the fangirls, Sasuke addressed the blonde's proclamation, "Really, you think you can beat me?"
"Yeah! I can do way better than you!" Naruto exclaimed with a cocky grin.
Sasuke stared at him for several seconds before a smirk crossed his lips that made the fangirls swoon. "All right, loser. Show me what you got"
Naruto obliged and entered a stance to throw the shuriken and kunai. The class quieted down to watch the spectacle. Hinata twiddled her thumbs in nervousness and wished Naruto luck. Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead. 'What is he doing?' she thought. "Being an idiot," Inner Sakura answered.
Naruto threw the shuriken with all his might. Unfortunately, none of them hit the target. Several soared past the dummy, two flew into a bush, and one of them would've hit Iruka had he not blocked it with his clipboard. Naruto just stood there frozen.
"I don't think you did it right," Sasuke stated with a smirk.
Naruto snapped his head towards Sasuke with a glare. "Shut up, jackass. I'll do better with the kunai!" Naruto shouted. He picked up his kunai and like before, threw them with all his might. However, like before, none of them hit.
"Well, at least you didn't almost take out our teacher," Sasuke's smirk was still present even as Naruto glared at him. Their staring match was halted when they noticed the reaction of the class.
Half of the class was laughing at Naruto's display. The other half commented on how he shouldn't have stood up to Sasuke. Naruto lowered his head in sadness, Sasuke's smirk morphed into a frown, Hinata also frowned, and Sakura silenced the laughter with a glare, though there were a few stray snickers. "Works every time," Inner Sakura stated proudly.
Naruto's somber face changed to a grin, "Ah, don't worry about that I had a kink in my wrist." Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura could tell that their friend's grin was fake.
"All right, calm down class. None of you did perfectly, but that's okay. It's only your first day," Iruka reassured. "Now, follow me so we can begin the sparring," Iruka stated, and he began to lead the class to the other side of the training ground where there was a large white circle drawn on the ground. "This is where you will spar with a classmate. Two of you will be chosen and both of you will fight each other in this circle. If you manage to get your opponent outside the circle or force them to give up, you win," Iruka explained. "Now we are going to have spars you assess everyone's combat abilities, and it's Taijutsu only."
The floor was handed to Mizuki, and he began calling up the students to begin the sparring. Most of the children from civilian backgrounds did poorly since they had no experience in combat. The only kids that did adequately were the ones from ninja clans.
Kiba faced off against Shino. The Inuzuka clan specialized in taijutsu combination attacks with the help of their ninja dogs. The Aburame clan, however, didn't focus on taijutsu since they used long-ranged attacks with their insect partners called Kikaichū. Shino chose to surrender to Kiba since he realized that he would not win in a taijutsu fight against him. Kiba didn't like Shino giving up, so he began taunting him to get him to fight. However, Shino didn't respond which angered the Inuzuka even more. He was about to attack him, but Iruka put a stop to it, and Kiba reluctantly let it go.
Next up, Shikamaru faced off against Chōji. The Nara clan specialized in utilizing their shadows in combat; most often to paralyze their opponents. The Akimichi clan can convert their high calories into chakra to increase their physical size. Chōji would have won the spar if it wasn't for his hesitance to fight his friend. It also came as no surprise when Shikamaru gave up, although he still received a lecture from Iruka about taking spars seriously. Shikamaru just yawned and muttered about fights being a drag. Iruka rubbed his forehead in irritation and told Mizuki to continue.
Next up, was Sakura and she was assigned to fight one of Sasuke's fangirls. The fangirl began to daydream about how she would beat Sakura and Sasuke would declare his love for her. She had hearts in her eyes as she imagined the wedding and Sakura just sweat-dropped at the display. "Just kick her ass and be done with it," Inner Sakura stated, and Sakura agreed.
To put it nicely, the spar was below average at best. They both came from civilian backgrounds, so they had no fighting experience. The fangirl was hesitant to get her hands dirty, so she resorted to hair and clothes pulling. Sakura, however, had no such limitations. She was throwing punches, kicks, she even kneed her in the gut. The fangirl's hesitation wore off when she saw that Sakura was beating her, so she resorted to the same tactics as Sakura. The fight went on for five minutes, but Sakura managed to push her opponent out of the ring.
Sakura was declared the victor, but her haggard state told her that it was a costly one. "Well, that could have gone better, but at least we won," Inner Sakura stated. "Shut up!" Sakura replied. She walked over to her friends and sat down, not saying a word. Her three friends noticed her depressed state and tried to comfort her, but the next spar was announced. Hinata was up to face Ino. As Hinata walked to the sparring circle, Sasuke eyed Sakura for a bit before returning his attention to Hinata's fight.
As Hinata walked up to the circle shake began to get anxious. With everyone staring at her and her earlier lackluster performances, she couldn't help but fidget. The students' gazes may have held neutrality, but in Hinata's mind, they were looking at her with contempt. The students began to transform into older people with pale eyes and brown hair. Hinata's fidgeting was halted by a familiar loud voice.
"Hinata-chan! You can do it! Kick her ass!" Naruto shouted while ignoring Iruka's chiding on his language.
Those simple words dispelled the illusion Hinata's mind conjured. Hinata turned her head to Naruto in shock. 'He believes in me?' she questioned in her head. She saw the energetic blonde giving her a beaming grin. A smile graced Hinata's lips and her shaking completely ceased. 'Yes, I will win.' She turned to face Ino with her nervousness completely vanished. Ino was surprised at the usually shy girl's determination, but she shook it off.
The spar began and to call it one-sided would have been an understatement. The Hyūga clan specializes in a taijutsu style that can decimate opponents from the inside. The Yamanaka clan specializes in attacks on their opponent's mind including taking it over or destroying it. Fighting against a Hyūga in taijutsu usually guarantees defeat, so Ino didn't stand a chance. It also didn't help that she focused more on her looks rather than her training.
Hinata's attacks left no room for Ino to fight back. No matter how much of a fight Ino put up, she couldn't match Hinata's Gentle Fist. It didn't take long for Hinata to push Ino out of the circle and she was named the victor. Hinata snapped out of her combat-induced daze as she walked over to her friends. Naruto picked her up and spun her around, "That was awesome, Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted.
"Yeah, you really showed her," Sakura congratulated.
"Hey, Naruto, put her down before you hurt her," Sasuke pointed out with a smirk. Naruto stopped spinning and noticed that Hinata had swirls in her eyes.
Naruto placed Hinata on the ground with a sheepish expression. "Sorry, Hinata-chan."
"I-It's fine, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied as she shook out of her daze.
The next spar was announced and much to their shock, it was Naruto against Sasuke. The two boys in question's shock turned into eagerness.
"You should just give up," Naruto taunted as they walked to the circle.
"Really, and why is that?" Sasuke humored his friend.
"Because I'm gonna win."
"As if. You won't be able to land a hit on me, loser."
"I'm gonna beat you even if it's the last thing I do, jackass."
The two friends stared each other down all the while ignoring the various comments from the other students. Both students readied themselves and Mizuki began the spar.
The fight was over in a flash. When Naruto charged, his form was very sloppy and Sasuke capitalized on this by ducking a punch, sweeping the blonde's legs from under him, and pinning him with a fist raised to strike. Naruto was shocked by how quickly the spar ended. He knew his friend was strong, but he didn't think he was this strong.
'Holy crap,' was all the blonde could think.
"Do you give up?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. 'That was way too easy,' he thought.
Naruto wanted to refuse but he knew that in the position he was in, there was no way he could win. "... I give up," Naruto reluctantly muttered.
Sasuke got off Naruto and helped him to his feet. Before he could gloat about his victory, he noticed the reaction of the class. Once again, half of the class was laughing at him, but this time it was louder and accompanied by degrading remarks on Naruto's abilities as a shinobi. The other half was praising Sasuke for his performance.
"That was amazing Sasuke-kun!"
"Sasuke-kun is so cool."
"Of course, he won; he went up against the dead-last."
"Yeah, any one of us could beat him."
Naruto lowered his head as the remarks continued. He was expecting this, but he still hoped he could put up a good fight against Sasuke. In his mind, the students shifted into dark shadows with glowing eyes. Their comments were even crueler.
"He'll never amount to anything in his life."
"I bet his parents abandoned him."
"I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to be around a monster either."
Despite it all being in his mind, Naruto couldn't stop himself from shaking, though he managed to restrain his tears.
Hinata frowned at remarks from the students. She also managed to catch Naruto's reaction. He initially had a depressed expression, before it changed to neutrality. Hinata saw this and became concerned.
Sakura tried to silence the students again with a glare, but it didn't work as well. She silenced some of them, but the majority were too caught up in their obnoxious guffawing. She then cracked her knuckles and growled, this finally shut up the other kids.
Sasuke felt both anger and guilt. Anger at the students for ridiculing his friend and guilt for embarrassing him. When Naruto challenged him, he chose to make the fight quick. Now that he's looking back on it, that was not the best idea.
Naruto shook off his sadness and forced a smile. "Eh, I was holding back. If I went all out, jackass over there would've been on the ground," he proclaimed.
Most of the class didn't believe him and some called him out on this. He ignored them and went to sit with his friends, followed by Sasuke. He stared at the ground for several moments as more spars took place before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw that it was Hinata who was giving him a reassuring smile. Naruto smiled back and his visions of the shadowy beings faded.
When the final spar finished, Iruka called the class to go inside the academy. The rest of the day was uneventful and before the quartet knew it, it was time to leave.
Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura were about to say their farewells, but Sasuke stopped them. "Hey, guys."
"Huh, what's up?" Naruto for the three of them.
"Can you guys meet me in Training Ground 3?" Sasuke asked.
"What for, duck-butt?" Sakura asked.
"I just want to talk to you for a while," was Sasuke's vague explanation. He at first scowled and told her to stop when she started, but he quickly got over it after she refused to let up.
"What do you need to talk about?" Hinata asked.
"I tell you when, you get there just meet me at Training Ground 3," Sasuke replied.
"Ok. I'll head there right now," Naruto stated, and he started toward the training ground. Sasuke headed toward his house to pick up some supplies. Sakura and Hinata stayed behind to explain to their mother and bodyguard, respectively, about their plans.
Hinata told her bodyguard where she was headed and what she was doing but left out the part about Naruto. She knew the clan wasn't fond of the Uzumaki, so whenever she spent time with him, she had to keep it a secret. She wasn't surprised when her bodyguard (A/N: Not Ko Hyūga), allowed her to go with her friends. Ever since her spar against Hanabi, the Main Branch's belief in Hinata being weak was solidified. They started to dismiss her entirely and focus more on her little sister. This resulted in her father's eyes showing nothing but disappointment when he looked at her, her spending less time with her sister since most of Hanabi's time was devoted to training, and even more snide comments from Neji.
Sakura told her mother about her plans, and she allowed Sakura to go. Mebuki's opinion of Naruto was unknown at this moment, but Sakura was grateful for her mother's approval. When she got home after Sasuke's fangirls attacked her, Sakura explained to her mother about what happened. She was expecting her mother to lash out at her, especially when Mebuki frowned after Sakura said her hair was cut. But she surprised her by smiling in pride. Mebuki said that she was proud of Sakura for standing up for herself and that if she wanted to be friends with the Uzumaki, she could. Sakura was joyful but her Inner self noticed a hidden undertone in her mother's words when she said she could stay friends with Naruto. Inner Sakura decided to stay vigilant whenever she mentioned her blonde friend.
After these explanations, the two girls headed to Training Ground 3.
(Training Ground 3)
Naruto was the first one to the training ground followed by Sakura and Hinata. The trio was now waiting for Sasuke. A few minutes later, Sasuke arrived but not empty-handed. He was carrying two boxes: one filled with kunai and the other with shuriken. He also had a wooden sword strapped to his back. The trio noticed the stuff he was carrying and became curious.
"What's all this for. I thought you said you wanted to talk," Naruto asked.
"Well... in a way, we are," Sasuke explained. "I'm going to help you guys train."
This shocked the trio. "You're gonna train us? How?" Hinata asked.
"I may not be a teacher, but I can help you with your fighting skills," Sasuke elaborated.
"What's wrong with our fighting skills," Sakura asked. "Oh, stop kidding yourself," Inner Sakura spoke up.
"Not much is wrong with Hinata's fighting, but she's going to need a sparring partner," Sasuke stated.
This confused Naruto and Sakura. "What about her family? Isn't someone gonna help her train?" Naruto asked.
"Umm... it's complicated," Sasuke told Naruto as he and Hinata shared a glance.
"Huh? What's that mean?" Naruto asked.
"Baka-chan, it means a lot of stuff is going on, so we should drop it," Sakura explained since she noticed the two's glance. Naruto nodded in affirmation.
"Now, you on the other hand," Sasuke pointed to Naruto, "Your skills in taijutsu are terrible."
"What!" Naruto shouted indignantly. "My fighting skills are fine!"
"Naruto, when we sparred, I noticed several openings in your stance. Some of them were mistakes that not even a rookie would make. Your taijutsu skills are terrible... at best," Sasuke explained.
Naruto crouched to the ground and started drawing circles in the dirt as a depressed aura surrounded him. After staring at him for a few moments, Sasuke moved onto Sakura.
"The same can be said for you Sakura," Sasuke started.
"What? But I won," Sakura cried out.
"Yes, but just barely. If it was someone who could actually fight, you would have lost," Sasuke stated.
Sakura joined Naruto in the depressing aura. "Why is duck-butt so mean?" Sakura muttered.
"He's a jackass, that's why," Naruto spoke. Hinata and Sasuke couldn't resist the sweat-drops that formed on their heads.
"I think you might have been too harsh," Hinata told Sasuke. Sasuke silently agreed and tried to fix his mistake.
"You two may suck at fighting," the depressing aura started to grow, so Sasuke hurried to continue. "But that's why we're here. To get better. I guarantee that if we train here daily, we'll definitely get stronger."
The aura started to subside as Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "You need to work on giving speeches."
Sasuke grew a tick mark, "Look, I'm doing the best I can, loser."
Naruto shot to his feet and glared at Sasuke, "Don't call me a loser, jackass!"
Sasuke glared right back, "Then don't call me a jackass, loser!"
"Jackass!"
"Loser!"
"Jackass!"
Loser!"
"Guys!" Sakura shouted, "Focus!" Naruto and Sasuke sent one last glare at one another before they calmed down.
"Back to what I was saying, we're not going to work on just taijutsu. We're also going to work on shuriken and kunai throwing," Sasuke explained. "Naruto, you almost hit Iruka-sensei, so don't tell me you're doing fine." Naruto slowly put his hand back down, but he still looked hesitant.
Sakura noticed this and decided to give him some motivation, "Well, you're the one always going on about how you're gonna be Hokage. How can you be Hokage if you can't even throw a shuriken right?"
Naruto thought on this for a few moments and realized that they were right, "...Fine."
"Now that I think about it, you haven't been saying that a lot lately," Hinata pointed out, which was true. For the past several months, Naruto has been shouting out his dream less and less.
Naruto scratched his head when he realized this fact. "I don't know actually. I guess since I shouted it so much, I thought people got the point," he offered and the rest of them just shrugged. Naruto then noticed the other thing Sasuke was carrying. "Hey, Sasuke, why do you have a stick on your back?" Naruto asked.
"It's not a stick, you idiot. It's a practice sword," Sasuke stated while ignoring the shouting from Naruto.
"Why do you have a practice sword?" Hinata asked.
"Oh... uh..., it's just something I picked up," Sasuke explained and refused to explain the true reason. "While you guys are practicing your shurikenjutsu, kunaijutsu, taijutsu, and your Jūken, Hinata, I'm gonna practice my kenjutsu." When he received nods from the other three, he continued, "Now lesson 1: How to Hold a Kunai and Shuriken."
For the next several weeks, the quartet would meet after school to train. Sasuke would teach them how to throw kunai and shuriken and help them develop a basic fighting style. Things were tough at first: Naruto struggled with the kunai and shuriken and Sakura struggled with the taijutsu. This frustrated the two of them since they felt that they were getting nowhere. However, encouragement from Hinata and Sasuke kept them from throwing in the towel. Slowly but surely, Naruto and Sakura began to excel.
Naruto could hold his own in a taijutsu match against Sasuke for 2 minutes and Hinata for 1 minute and thirty seconds. His accuracy with kunai and shuriken also improved. He could now hit a target 5 out of 10 times. Sakura could now hold her own against both Sasuke and Hinata for 1 minute. Her accuracy also improved: she could hit a target 7 out of 10 times. It wasn't perfect, but it was a major improvement.
Sakura now had brawn to go along with her brain and Naruto now had a bite to back up his bark. His brains on the other hand...
Well, it's a work in progress.
(Library – Several Weeks Later)
"What are we doing here, Sakura?" Naruto asked as they walked into the library and ignored the glare from the librarian.
"I have decided to help you with your studies," Sakura proclaimed.
Naruto immediately turned around and began to walk out of the library. "No thanks. I'm good," Naruto called back to Sakura.
"Oh no you don't," Sakura grabbed onto Naruto's collar and dragged him behind her.
"Sakura, I don't want to study!" Naruto whined as he struggled to get out of Sakura's surprisingly strong grip.
"Naruto, you just barely passed last year and you're off to a bad start this year. I'm not gonna let you slack off," Sakura stated before she plopped Naruto in a chair at a table. "Besides, how can you be Hokage if you failed the academy," she pointed out.
Naruto paused and considered this point. "...Okay," he muttered.
"Great!" Sakura's attitude switched from annoyed to cheerful. "Just sit here. I'll be right back," Sakura stated, and she walked into the library leaving Naruto to grumble to himself.
Several minutes later, Sakura returned and Naruto paled when he saw what Sakura was carrying. In her hands were 6 textbooks on math, writing, and history. She dropped the books on the table and Naruto flinched from the loud thump the books made.
"There, that should be good," Sakura stated.
"...You can't be serious." Naruto was still staring at the books in horror.
"Of course, I'm serious," Sakura claimed.
"You expect me to read all this!" Naruto broke out of his horror-induced trance to shout at the pink-haired Haruno.
"Yes. You need to get better in the academics department and I'm gonna help you with these books," Sakura explained.
Naruto was touched by Sakura's willingness to help him, but he was still hesitant toward the idea. "I'm not doing this."
Sakura became frustrated, "Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!" Naruto crossed his arms and turned in his seat to the side.
Sakura's eye began to twitch as she struggled to keep cool. She took several deep breaths and tried to think of a way to fix this problem. She couldn't force Naruto to read it because that would ruin the purpose of this. So, how could she get Naruto to read textbooks?
Her eyes snapped open when an idea appeared in her head. She smirked when she realized the plan was full proof. "Oh, that's good," Inner Sakura commented with the same smirk.
"Alright, we don't have to do this," Sakura spoke up which caught Naruto's attention.
"We don't?" Naruto wasn't expecting Sakura to cave in this quickly, although he wasn't going to complain.
"Nope," Sakura started to gather up the textbooks, "I mean, I should've expected this."
Naruto became confused, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I should've expected you to back down... since you can't do it," Sakura stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.
Sakura noticed this and managed to keep a smirk off her face. "I mean this is too hard for you, there's no way you could've read these books." Naruto's face twisted into a scowl. "I bet Sasuke could do it. He could probably read all these books in a month," Sakura commented, and that was the final straw. Naruto snapped his eyes to her with a fire lit inside them. "Hook, Line, and Sinker," Inner Sakura stated.
"You don't think I can do this!" Naruto's eyes were blazing as he gazed at Sakura, who finally let an infuriating smirk take residence on her lips.
"No."
"Why you-! I'll show you! I'll read all these books in a month!" Naruto proclaimed before he grabbed a book from Sakura and slammed it open on the table. Sakura was grinning now at her plan succeeding while Inner Sakura was cackling.
True to his word, Naruto managed to read all 6 books within a month. He probably read more in a month than he did his entire life. Sakura was right there with him to help him understand the content in the textbooks. As the weeks passed, Naruto started to do better in his academics. Whenever Iruka asked him to answer a question, he answered them and most of the time he was right, which impressed his sensei. He no longer failed every test; now, he just barely passes them, which is still a remarkable thing. Naruto was no longer the dead-last, he was now in the middle, and he had Sakura to thank for that.
(Training Ground 3 – 2 Months Later)
The four were sitting in the training ground doing their daily practices. Naruto was sparring with Hinata, and he was handling himself adequately against her superior skills. Sasuke was reviewing a kenjutsu scroll to make sure his stances were correct. Sakura was reading a textbook on poisons, which she took an interest in after a lecture from Iruka about the different weapons ninjas use.
Sasuke paused his review of his scroll to observe the spar. Naruto was fairing quite well if he did say so himself, although that could be because of Hinata's hesitance to hurt her friends. He really needed to help break her out of that mindset. Yes, not wanting to hurt friends was endearing, but when it hinders your training, it becomes a handicap.
Sasuke increased his focus on the spar when he noticed something off about Hinata's fighting. He let the spar continue for another minute before he spoke up. "Hey, guys. Stop, for a second," his interruption of the spar got everyone's attention.
"What is it, duck-butt?" Sakura questioned.
"You two, I want you to do something really quick," Sasuke addressed Naruto and Hinata. "Naruto, throw a punch at Hinata, and Hinata, I want you to block it."
"What for?" Naruto asked.
"Just do it. I think I noticed something," Sasuke stated and the two complied with his request. Naruto threw a punch at Hinata, and she strained herself to block it. "Ok, stop. Now, this time, Naruto, throw a punch at Hinata again, but this time, Hinata, I want you to dodge it."
The two were briefly confused before complying again. This time Hinata dodged the punch but with more grace than when she blocked. This did not go unnoticed by Sasuke.
"I was right," Sasuke muttered.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked since she heard him.
"I think I know why you're not doing well with the Jūken: When you blocked Naruto's punch, you looked like you were forcing yourself to do it. But when you dodged it, you did it with more ease," Sasuke explained. "You said that you need a rigid stance to perform the Jūken-" Sasuke started but was cut off by Sakura.
"But she can't perform it because she's naturally flexible," Sakura finished.
Sasuke was mildly irritated at the interruption, "Yeah, what she said." Sakura looked down sheepishly.
Hinata stared at her feet in sadness, "So they were right. If I can't learn the Jūken, then I really must be weak." She couldn't help but think back to all the degrading remarks from her family. She can't perform her family's Gentle Fist, so their comments must be true.
Her line of thinking was put to a stop by Naruto, "Hinata-chan, don't you dare call yourself weak! You are strong!"
Hinata was taken aback by Naruto's shouting but still held onto her belief. "But Naruto-kun, I can't perform the Jūken, so I must be," Hinata was cut off again.
"What did I say?" Naruto asked.
"But Naruto-kun-"
"What did I say?" Naruto's tone was firmer.
"...I'm strong," Hinata finally relented.
"And don't you forget it. So, what if you can't do your stuck-up family's fighting style? That just means you'll have to get stronger some other way," Naruto proclaimed. This finally brought Hinata out of her somber mood and she smiled at the blonde.
Sasuke regarded the blonde's words with a nod, "Couldn't have said it better myself."
Sakura also smiled before a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "Get stronger some other way," she kept repeating this in her head before a lightbulb went off and she snapped her fingers. "Of course. Naruto you're a genius!" Sakura shouted.
"Huh? What did I say?" Naruto asked.
"Get stronger some other way. I know how we can do that," Sakura stated.
"How, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.
"We can help you create a version of the Jūken that uses your flexibility," Sakura explained.
Hinata pondered over this idea for a moment. A new Gentle Fist style. The idea did have merit but there was one major problem. The Hyūga elders would not approve of this. In their eyes, anything that went against clan tradition was preposterous. However, since she can't learn the traditional Gentle Fist, she would have to find a way around that problem. She decided to give the idea a try.
"Okay, but how are we going to do that?" Hinata asked.
"I... actually hadn't thought of that?" Sakura stated.
"Why doesn't she show us her Jūken and we can make changes to the style," Naruto offered. The three turned to him in surprise, "What?"
"That's actually a good idea," Sasuke spoke.
"Hey, I can have good ideas," Naruto protested.
"Yeah, once in a blue moon," Sasuke stated and ignored the glare from Naruto. "But there's one problem: It's a clan secret and showing clan secrets to outsiders is forbidden."
"Oh," Naruto became dejected before he bounced back, "Then we'll just have to keep this a secret."
"Naruto-kun, I don't think this is a good idea. What if the clan finds out?" Hinata asked.
"They're not going to find out." Hinata wanted to protest but seeing the conviction in Naruto's eyes made her feel that this could work. She nodded her head and Naruto grinned back at her.
"Hey, it's getting late, we should start heading home," Sasuke pointed out. The other three looked up and noticed that the sun was setting. The quartet said their goodbyes and went on their way to their homes.
(With Naruto)
Naruto was walking to his house while ignoring the glares and whispers from the villagers. Training was successful today and now they are starting a new project. He frowned when he thought back to Hinata thinking that she was weak. He couldn't understand why she refused to admit that she was strong. From what he saw, she could give Sasuke a run for his money, and he was at the top of the class. He vowed to break her out of that mindset.
"I just realized something," Naruto stated to himself. "Hinata, Sasuke, and Sakura all have their own gimmicks. Hinata has her Jūken, Sasuke has his funny eyes, and Sakura is studying poisons. When am I gonna find something I like?" he grumbled the last part to himself.
In the corner of his eye, he saw a large figure sitting on the rooftops. However, when he turned his head to look at it, it was gone. He dismissed the event entirely and continued his way to his home.
When Naruto got to his apartment, he was surprised to find a textbook lying in front of his door. Initially, he was put off by its presence, so he picked it up and tried to throw it away. However, he stopped when he saw the title of the book.
"Fūinjutsu: Volume 1?" he read. The book had a weird spiral pattern on the cover which caught Naruto's attention. "That's the same as the thing on my belly," he realized as he looked to his stomach. He looked back at the book and decided to give reading it a shot. "Eh, maybe I'll read this and see what this is all about," he stated as he walked into his apartment.
Unknown to him, a mysterious figure was watching the whole spectacle with a grin on its face.
After fixing himself a dinner consisting of instant ramen, Naruto sat on his bed with the textbook open on his lap. "Fūinjutsu. The Art of Sealing. Fūinjutsu are techniques that enable the user to lock away or seal various items. Fūinjutsu can also be used to restrict movement or unseal objects either from within something or someone. The presence of a seal is marked by the appearance of formations of technique formulae, kanji, or else other kinds of symbols (likewise with Summoning Techniques)."
Naruto began to get more invested as he read about the Sealing Arts. "To use fūinjutsu, the user has to either use a special type of ink that can conduct chakra and a paintbrush to write out the symbols for a seal or use chakra in place of the ink and channel it to their fingers to write out the symbols. In a similar fashion to genjutsu, fūinjutsu can be undone by combining specific seals and a Fūinjutsu: Release Command. Items that can be sealed include weapons, ninja techniques, bloodlines, the ability to move, and even chakra entities like the Bijū." Naruto's eyes went wide at that information. Thinking back to Iruka's lecture on the Tailed Beasts and how powerful and destructive they are, he didn't think anything could stop those monsters. According to the book, his thinking was false. "Fūinjutsu can also be used to create chakra barriers. These barriers are made of chakra and can be used to prevent someone from entering through it or it can be a detection barrier, which is invisible, but lets the user know when someone passes through." 'Hey, this is kinda cool.' Naruto was getting more excited by the minute as he read.
"Fūinjutsu are one the most difficult techniques to learn. They require complete focus and expert calligraphy. The slightest mistake can disrupt a seal. This can lead to results ranging from a seal simply not working to it blowing in your face, literally. Most shinobi choose to dismiss fūinjutsu entirely because of how hard it is. It also isn't a good idea to stop and write kanji while in battle. However, fūinjutsu are also one of the most versatile techniques to learn. There is almost no limit to what can be sealed. In fact, the XXXXXXX clan specialized in fūinjutsu." 'Huh? Why is this part cut out?' Naruto wondered in his head when he saw the black box that covered the name of the clan. 'That's strange.' he decided to figure that issue out later and kept reading. "The clan was one of the most powerful clans in the world, although that wasn't entirely because of their fūinjutsu. Unfortunately, that power led to their destruction and the XXXXXXX clan no longer exists." 'Oh, that's a shame' Naruto sent the unknown clan his condolences before reading on.
"To learn Fūinjutsu, you must put all your effort into learning it. That includes sweat, tears, and blood." 'Okay...' Naruto thought while blinking at the text. "However, if you can learn this art, you can become a powerful shinobi. That is guaranteed. So, are you ready to learn Fūinjutsu?"
"Of course, I am! Bring it on!" Naruto shouted. He didn't let the difficulty discourage him from learning the awesome art. He saw the difficulty as a challenge instead of a blockade, and he was going to complete this challenge no matter what.
"Lesson 1: Storage Seals."
(The Next Day – Training Ground 3)
"Where is he?" Sakura was tapping her foot as she waited for Naruto to show up. Sasuke and Hinata were there too.
"I'm sure he has a good reason for being late," Hinata offered.
"Yeah, you're probably right, but he's usually the first one here," Sakura stated.
"Just give the loser some time, he'll show up." Shortly after Sasuke said those words, Naruto entered the clearing.
Sakura was about to chew him out for being late until she caught sight of what he was doing, and she froze. Sasuke noticed this and turned his head to Naruto, then he also froze. Hinata saw this and turned to face Naruto, and she couldn't keep the surprise off her face.
Naruto was reading a textbook on his own.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke up.
"Oh, hey, guys!" Naruto waved to his friends, but Sakura and Sasuke just stood there. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"...Who are you and what did you do with the real Naruto?" Sakura slowly raised her finger to point at the whiskered boy.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"The real Naruto would not willingly read a textbook," Sasuke stated.
Naruto grew a tick mark, "What's that supposed to mean, jackass!"
"I think what they mean is they are surprised by you reading a textbook on your own," Hinata elaborated which calmed Naruto.
"Well, I found this book yesterday on something called Fūinjutsu, and I just can't put it down. I wound up reading the whole thing last night," Naruto was cheery as he gave his explanation.
"So, that's why you kept falling asleep in class today," Sakura realized. "Okay put the book down, let's start our training."
"Can't read it just one more time," Naruto whined which surprised the trio again.
Sakura slowly put her hands in a seal and muttered "Release". Nothing disappeared, so this wasn't an illusion.
"Naruto, we need to train. The book can wait," Hinata insisted.
"Never thought I'd hear anyone say those words," Sasuke commented.
"Okay," Naruto muttered dejectedly and the four began their daily training.
From then on, the quartet would continue to improve in their abilities. Hinata would develop her version of the Gentle Fist, Naruto would read more books about the Sealing Arts, Sasuke would improve in his kenjutsu, and Sakura would learn more about poisons and medical ninjutsu. These improvements did not go unnoticed, though. The Hyūga clan often saw Hinata walking with a slightly more confident aura. The villagers would see Naruto walking around reading a textbook and Sasuke carrying around a wooden sword. Finally, Mebuki would catch her daughter reading about poisons in her house. Everyone watching the four had a small idea as to what caused these changes, so they vowed to keep an eye on these four.
A.N.: And done! If these first few chapters seem slow, my apologies, but I need to establish the quartet's friendship before we start getting into the good stuff. But I promise you, this arc is almost over, there is just one more chapter.
I have noticed that there is a lot of confusion in the Naruto fanbase as to what is canon and what is fanon in Naruto. So, I have decided to start a segment in my story called Canon v. Fanon. At the end of each chapter, I will explain any changes I make in my story that differ from the canon storyline to clear up any confusion. I'll also explain any common misconceptions that I've noticed on Reddit. These facts will be according to Narutopedia because I don't have time to go through the manga and anime to fact-check. Without further ado, onto the first segment.
Fanon v. Canon
F: Hinata cannot learn the Gentle Fist because she is too flexible.
C: In canon, Hinata does not have this hindrance. She is simply hesitant to hurt her family, which is why she was deemed unworthy to be the clan heiress.
Thanks for reading.
Date: Nov/12/2021