Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Naruto or any characters in this story; it belongs to masashi kishimoto.
Chapter 8: Academy Showdown
Hinata sat quietly in the academy classroom as she finished taking notes, the bell had just rung, and all the other kids were going out. She wished she hadn't gotten distracted during class and could go to lunch now; she was starving. Not many people knew, but Hinata had a massive appetite despite her petite build, and right now, it was only increasing.
A sweet and somewhat familiar scent made its way into her nose that made her mouth water, and a deep craving for her favorite meal started to rise.
'I must be imagining things.' Thought Hinata as she tried to keep her hunger in check and shook her head.
She tried to ignore the next whiff of that sweet and delicious scent, but her will wasn't strong enough this time. She looked up only to see Naruto seated next to Shikamaru with what she knew was the thing that was causing her to feel extremely hungry.
Cinnamon rolls; her favorite meal.
"Come on, Shika! Let's go outside!" said Naruto as he poked Shikamaru on the arm, who was resting his head on the table.
Shikamaru mumbled something barely understandable.
"What was that?!" Naruto screamed into Shikamaru's ear, which seemed to wake him up enough.
"I said not today, troublesome blonde. It's hot outside, and I rather stay here and sleep."
"You always rather just sleep, lazy ass."
Shikamaru just nodded, acknowledging Naruto's point.
"Oh, come on. Let's go outside and try the cinnamon rolls your mom helped me bake." Naruto shook Shikamaru violently back and forth to no avail.
"Screw you then! I'll find someone else to eat them with me!" Naruto started scanning the empty classroom until he locked eyes with Hinata and smiled at her. Hinata went deep red and tried to wave at Naruto, but instead, she ended up making an awkward movement with her hand.
He picked up the cinnamon rolls and approached Hinata. Although they weren't friends like with Shikamaru and Chōji, Iruka always put them together in class activities for some reason. In Naruto's opinion, she was timid and a little weird, but he liked her well enough compared to the other girls in his year.
'Naruto-kun is coming here?!' She thought as she panicked inside.
"Hi, Hinata!" Naruto said with a brilliant smile.
"H-hello N-Naruto-kun." She answered shyly as her blush increased.
"You see, I made more of this than I wanted, and Chōji is sick because of something he ate that had already expired." He threw Shikamaru a look and pointed at him. "I would share them with that sloth over there, but he is too lazy to go outside. Wanna eat them with me? They are cinnamon rolls!"
'I must be dreaming.' Was the thought that went through young Hinata's mind.
"Hinata?"
Naruto's voice brought her back from her thoughts, and she became too flustered to answer. Thankfully, her stomach did the answering for her. With a loud rumble, Hinata's stomach announced that she was indeed hungry.
Somehow Hinata became even more red than she had been as Naruto laughed out loud. "Come on, Hinata! I know where we can eat!" he said, grabbing her tiny hand and dragging her to the academy's rooftop. The moment their skin had made contact was the moment Hinata lost consciousness.
A smirk formed on Shikamaru's face as Naruto exited the classroom with Hinata in tow. "That idiot."
If you asked Hinata if she was dreaming, she would have said she was. She was eating her favorite food with her crush as she sat on a bench on the rooftop of the academy.
"So, did you like them?" asked an anxious Naruto after Hinata had tasted the first roll.
Liked them? Hinata loved them. Not only for the taste thought, she had had better in the taste department, but this felt special for some reason. She could recognize the recipe by just smelling them. Her mother had written down the recipe in her cooking book, the one she had given to Naruto. Just to know that Naruto continued to use the book made her smile.
"T-they are r-really good, N-Naruto-kun, thank you so much."
Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "I've been trying new recipes from a book I have, but most of them are too complicated for me to do them alone, so I asked Yoshino Oba-chan for some help."
"They are d-delicious." Commented Hinata.
Naruto smiled at her and changed the topic. "So, are you ready for the taijutsu exam later today? I just hope I get paired with Kiba; I've wanted to kick his ass for some time! How about you? You always win in sparring against all the other girls!"
Today they were going to have a sparring session against a classmate that was going to be evaluated by Iruka. It would be a significant part of their final grade in the subject. Naruto was jumping with excitement at the prospect of sparring. He missed his spars with Lee. They really helped him know how much he was improving, but ever since Lee graduated, he had only seen him a couple of times.
Hinata blushed at the praise. "I-I don't always w-win."
"I literally don't remember the last time you lost! Maybe Iruka-Sensei should let you spar with us! You are pretty strong. I'll bet you could beat most of the guys too!"
Hinata's eyes widened at Naruto's words before her father's voice rang inside her head. As quick as her happiness had come, it had gone away.
"I-I don't think I'm t-that strong." She said in a depressed voice.
"Why would you think that?! You are only behind Ino and Sakura in grades, and I would like to see them try to lay a hand on you. Anyone would have to be an idiot to say you aren't strong." Naruto tried to cheer Hinata up, but he didn't succeed much.
"My c-clan thinks I'm w-weak."
Naruto mentally cursed himself. It was all going well enough, and now he just called the whole Hyūga clan a bunch of idiots to her face, though she didn't seem to mind or at least didn't take that much offense.
They fell into an awkward silence. Not really knowing what to say, Naruto told her what he told himself almost every day.
"Whoever says you are weak are wrong; you just have to train and work hard to prove them they are -ttebayo!" he said with his trademark grin.
Hinata seemed to take Naruto's words to heart, and she nodded just as the bell rang.
Later that day
The girls went first in the exam as everyone watched. In Naruto's opinion, there hadn't been any exciting fights yet. In his opinion, the only two fights that stood out were Hinata's against a girl Naruto didn't even know the name of and Sakura's and Ino's match. Hinata's match stood out because she easily defeated her opponent and Sakura's and Ino's... well, let's just say that some of the insults they threw at each other got rather colorful.
Naruto was practically jumping, waiting for his turn after the rest of the boys started their sparring. Shikamaru had "accidentally" stepped out of the regulated area, and Shino fought a long and rather dull fight against another kid.
'Please let it be Kiba!' he mentally wished as he imagined himself kicking the shit out of Kiba.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Step forward, you two." said Iruka.
A predatory grin developed on Naruto's face. 'Even better! That so-called Uchiha genius is going down!' he mentally screamed.
"G-good l-luck Naruto-kun." He barely heard Hinata's voice among the screams from other girls who were cheering on Sasuke. Naruto turned to give Hinata a smile before walking towards Iruka.
With a blank face, Sasuke calmly made his way to the center as he ignored all the screams.
"You are going down Uchiha!" said Naruto. He had stopped calling Sasuke by his name a while ago, and without knowing, Sasuke did exactly what Naruto wanted.
"You wish, Uzumaki."
Hearing his last name made Naruto's hand twitch with excitement. When he won, he didn't want people to only hear his first name. Oh no, he would slowly bring back his family name to where it should stand.
It was ironic that the raven-haired kid across from Naruto thought similarly. He didn't mind being called exclusively by his family's name, not at all. It helped him know that the people hadn't forgotten how great his clan had been before their downfall at the hands of the man Sasuke had sworn to kill.
The last Uchiha and the last Uzumaki on Konoha stared deep into each other eyes. A silent battle would be fought without ever being acknowledged. The last two members of once-great clans fought with similar objectives on their minds. One fought to make sure his clan wouldn't be forgotten, while the other fought to make his clan known again.
"Come on, let's start this!" Naruto said with determination.
"Naruto, wait! You need to make the proper hand sign before you two begin. I've already been over this before; it's the proper etiquette."
"I don't think the Uchiha cares too much about etiquette." Said Naruto as he nodded toward Sasuke.
"Hm" was the eloquent response from Sasuke.
Iruka sighed. "Just do it already!"
Both Naruto and Sasuke brought their dominant hands forward as they signaled to each other their intention to fight.
Iruka's eyes Iruka traveled from Sasuke to Naruto. He knew that Naruto had improved, but he didn't like his chances against the Uchiha prodigy.
"Hajime!"
Naruto took the initiative as he rushed towards Sasuke with surprising speed and directed a right roundhouse kick at his left side, which Sasuke blocked. Sasuke responded with a right hook, but Naruto caught the punch in time and pulled Sasuke towards him. The Uchiha managed to evade the elbow that Naruto directed his way at the last second, breaking Naruto's hold on his hand and trying to gain some distance.
"What do you know? The Uchiha genius does bleed." Naruto pointed to Sasuke's left eyebrow.
A small gash could be seen at the end of Sasuke's eyebrow. It turned out that Naruto had managed to graze hard enough, but the wound was merely superficial.
Sasuke brought his hand to his eyebrow and then glared back at Naruto. "That's the only thing you will land on me, Uzumaki." He said as he once again fell into his stance. Sasuke was mentally scolding himself; it seemed that he would have to take Naruto seriously.
Naruto didn't waste any more words as he initiated an onslaught on Sasuke. Much to his surprise, Sasuke was forced onto his backfoot for the next two minutes. He could see several windows where he could counter one of Naruto's attacks, but he needed to block a knee, kick, punch, or elbow before he could take advantage of those openings. Although a part of Sasuke was pissed off at being put on the back foot in the fight, another part of him was excited about the challenge. He couldn't remember the last person to have lasted this long against him.
Naruto continued his attacks by trying to knee Sasuke in the stomach, but he brought his hands in time to catch it and used Naruto's leg as support to knee Naruto in the mouth.
Not having expected the counter, Naruto received a mouthful of Sasuke's knee. Naruto jumped backward to gain distance after being caught off guard. The taste of iron was present in his mouth, and he spat towards the ground, blood coming out. He centered his eyes again on Sasuke, only to find him smirking.
"Temē!"
Naruto started approaching Sasuke again, but Sasuke didn't let him take the initiative this time. Sasuke rushed in this time, and after getting close enough, he aimed a roundhouse kick to the blonde's head.
Naruto managed to duck just in time as he felt Sasuke feet graze his hair and pass without causing damage. Naruto quickly kicked Sasuke's support leg making him stagger for balance.
'You are mine now.' Though Naruto as he saw Sasuke briefly struggle for balance.
He again started to pressure Sasuke back after snapping his momentum. The off-balance Sasuke was having a harder time completely blocking Naruto's attacks now, none of them landed flush, but his tired arms weren't fast enough to completely block them. Sasuke knew that he was running out of space in the practice circle. He was also aware that if he didn't do anything sooner rather than later, one of Naruto's punches would land flush on him.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, and he started to be more offensive and tried to break Naruto's momentum. Still, it was as if Sasuke was caught in the middle of a maelstrom.
'How can this Idiot be so good. He used to be a loser a year ago.'
His ill-performed attempt to regain control of the exchange earned him a hook to his ribs that made him wince in pain, and again he started to be driven backward. Sasuke knew he wouldn't be keeping the pace that much longer, and he had an idea.
Sasuke stopped trying to lose ground and let Naruto drive him to the edge of the circle.
Naruto saw that Sasuke was about to step out of the fighting area. 'Oh no! I'm not winning like this!'
Naruto threw a right hook with the sole intent of knocking Sasuke out, and a big grin developed on his face as he felt it connect with Sasuke's jaw.
Naruto waited to see Sasuke fall unconscious when suddenly his vision turned upside down, and he suddenly felt his back crash onto the floor painfully.
'It worked.' Was Sasuke's thought as he tried to remain standing on his wobbly legs while he heaved violently. The punch had hurt him more than he realized.
It took him a few seconds to process what had happened. Sasuke had rolled with the punch and had used Naruto's momentum to hip-throw him out of the regulated area and into the floor.
Iruka was in shock, both due to how Naruto performed and how Sasuke won. I took him a moment before he remembered to announce the winner.
"Uchiha Sasuke wins." Iruka announced.
"Sasuke-kun!"
"You are so great Sasuke-kun"
"He is so strong and handsome!"
Almost all the girls started praising Sasuke, but for his part, the last Uchiha was brooding as he glared at the ground. 'I almost lost.' his eyes then turned to Naruto, who had punched the ground in frustration. 'He used to be a complete loser, but now he is giving me a fight.' Sasuke's fist tightened. 'What have I been doing all this time? For him to catch up to me in a year, I need to train harder.'
'Fuck! How could I lose?! I was so close to knocking that asshole off the pedestal, dammit! Stupid out-of-bounds rule!'
"Now make the unison sign." Ordered Iruka
Naruto and Sasuke looked like they rather continue beating the shit out of each other rather than make a peace sign, but they begrudgingly did it.
"Sasuke, go to the infirmary and check your eyebrow out."
"I'm fine."
"I told you to go. I didn't ask you." Iruka said pointedly.
After Sasuke left, Iruka paused to look over Naruto for injuries but found he didn't have any visible ones, so this time, he did ask. "Do you need to go to the infirmary Naruto?"
"As if! I was kicking his ass; he only won because of the stupid out-of-bounds rule!"
"Naruto, it isn't a stupid rule. A shinobi must always be aware of their surroundings. On a battlefield, they must attempt to use the battlefield to their advantage whenever possible. Sasuke's victory wasn't a technicality. Out there on the field, you could have been thrown off a cliff instead of going out of bounds." Said Iruka in a lecturing tone.
"Tch!" Naruto, deep down, knew that Iruka was right, but his temper was running too hot for him to acknowledge that fact.
Naruto went and sat down next to Shikamaru. Shikamaru knew better than to say something right now. His friend was simply too angry to listen at this moment, so he remained silent for now.
Naruto waited for the rest of the fights to be done so Iruka would dismiss him for the day. He wanted to get out of there and let out his frustration at his usual training spot. All the while, Hinata had a worried face as she looked toward Naruto. It didn't sit well with her when Naruto wasn't his usual bright self. Typically Hinata would have just remained at a distance, but the interactions from lunch had filled her with enough bravery to overcome her shyness.
'I'll talk to him after class ends, I promise.' Hinata mentally promised herself to do it.
After class was dismissed, she was about to approach Naruto, but Iruka did it first.
Iruka approached Naruto, not really having a plan on what to say. Still, he wanted to offer the blonde some comfort before relaying another message.
"Naruto? Are you okay?" Said Iruka as he caught up with Naruto as he left the academy.
"I'm fine Iruka-Sensei. It's just... I'm mad at myself! I had him, and I lost."
Iruka smiled at how far along Naruto had come up since a year ago. "I got a message from the Hokage's office; Hokage-sama wants to talk to you. How about after you go there, we go get some ramen? Sound good?" Iruka offered.
'What the fuck does that liar want now?' Naruto mentally groaned at the prospect of having to see the Hokage before he answered Iruka. "I'm not really in the mood for ramen, but maybe another time, Iruka-sensei." He said a little harshly. Having to go see the Hokage didn't help to improve his mood.
"Naruto... you don't have to be so mad at yourself. You did great today, you got top marks in taijutsu, and Sasuke is a genius. You shou-"
"And what gives if he is a genius! Does that mean I can never beat him or surpass him?! Just like I won't ever be able to surpass the yondaime!" screamed Naruto before taking off.
"Naruto, wait! I didn't mean it like that!" said Iruka as he saw the blonde leave for the Hokage tower.
Iruka just pinched his nose and let out a sigh before turning back. To his surprise, as soon as he turned, he locked eyes with one of his students, Hyūga Hinata.
"I would wait to talk to him if I were you... he isn't in a good mood at the moment."
Hinata reddened at how Iruka had seen her intention of talking to Naruto. "H-hai"
Hiruzen sighed as Naruto left his office, as he let his age show a bit. He had called the blonde to talk about the latest wave of pranks that had hit the village, which he had absolutely refused to take the blame for. To Hiruzen, Naruto's antics were always amusing. Still, his stunts had gotten out of hand in the past several months. They were no longer the inoffensive pranks of a child seeking attention. These pranks seemed more motivated, elaborate and caused more problems for everyone than they had done in the past. Also, there was the fact that Naruto hadn't been caught doing any of them, but the whole village knew he was the one behind them.
'I hoped that once the academy started, the pranks would stop, but they didn't; the only effect it caused was that they happened with less regularity than over the break, but they still happened, and they suddenly increased again for Naruto's birthday.'
He had consulted with Iruka about Naruto's behavior in class, and other than a few incidents that would be normal for a hyperactive child Iruka had no complaints. In fact, he actually seemed to be more than happy with Naruto's progress in the academy. Besides pranking during the break, Naruto had trained and even studied diligently. Sharpening his skills in taijutsu to the point he was near the top of the class in that aspect. In Ninjutsu, Iruka had reported that although Naruto couldn't perform a proper bunshin yet but his kawarimi and henge were some of the best in his class. Iruka had gone a little red when he praised Naruto's henge.
'It is evident that he no longer pranks for attention. If it was the case, he wouldn't go to the lengths he goes to avoid getting caught. I think he is doing it more to get back at the villagers than to get attention or entertain himself.'
That was a thought that deeply worried Hiruzen. Whether Naruto did it consciously or not, Hiruzen couldn't say yet, but it was easy to see that Naruto's animosity towards the villagers has been growing. Someone less clever than Hiruzen might have dismissed it, but he knew better than to do that. It really made Hiruzen worry, and the icy blue eyes he had met just a few minutes ago didn't encourage him in the slightest.
Had Naruto been antagonistic? Not precisely. He seemed in a bad mood, but when asked, he said he had lost a sparring session at the academy. Although Hiruzen had accepted that, he still felt that there was something else for him to be in such a foul mood.
'His usual brightness and carefree attitude toward me no longer exist. Now he is formal and actually addressed me just like all the villagers would, honorific and everything.' Hiruzen mentally pointed out with a frown.
A leader of the stature of the Sandaime Hokage wouldn't have batted an eye at that treatment, but this was Naruto. A child he had always had a relationship that went deeper than just leader to subordinate. But now, Naruto's eyes showed no sign of the warmth and affection he had become familiar with. It pained him to hear and see Naruto treat him as if he just was a village leader.
Hiruzen truly cared for Naruto and wanted to have a genuinely good relationship with him, not just because he was Konoha's jinchuriki. The Jinchuriki and Kage of a village often had close relationships to further ensure the Jinchuriki's loyalty and give the Kage more might.
'The Yondaime Raikage and one of their Jinchuriki are adoptive brothers. Onoki has been friends with one of their Jinchuriki for ages. In Kiri, their Jinchuriki is also their Kage, and in Suna, the Kazekage made his son the Ichibi Jinchuriki. They probably have a relationship just like...' He turned his head to look at a picture of Minato. 'I'm sorry, Minato and Kushina. I have failed you.'
The peace and tranquility you usually expect in the middle of the forest were currently being disturbed by the loud sounds of grunting and extremities hitting wood. Naruto was currently taking his anger out on the log he usually practiced his taijutsu on.
He was no longer practicing the taijutsu taught in the academy. Instead, he practiced the style he had seen in his mother's scroll and the one he had used today at the academy. The Uzuken was a style that focused on wearing down your opponent by going on the offensive and using your knees, elbows, feet, shoulders, and hands to deliver debilitating blows from multiple angles. The style used the Uzumaki clan's endurance to wear down the opponent until they could capitalize on an opening and end the fight. A master of this style became lethal with every part of his body. It shared similarities with the Gōken, but the Gōken tended to be more precise and focused on delivering a one-punch KO. Both styles required extreme conditioning and physical strength, but the Gōken's always aimed to finish the fight as early as possible.
'Stupid Uchiha, Stupid old man, and stupid geniuses.' Thought Naruto as he continued to kick and punch the log with all his might.
After finishing training, Naruto was panting with his hands on his knees. Seeing the Hokage after losing to Sasuke that day put him in a foul mood. Each time he saw the Hokage was one more time, he was being lied to. Furthermore, he didn't understand what was the big deal with his pranks. He didn't prank anyone who wasn't an asshole to him first, and even then, once his last academy year had started, he didn't prank as often as he did.
'Stupid old man. Not a word about my parents, my clan, or the Kyūbi.' Naruto thought bitterly before sitting down against a tree and pulling out a brown book. The book was an introduction to fūinjutsu he had bought at a library to learn something without taking the scrolls out of the cabin. A scowl developed as his eyes landed on the name of the author, that simple name made him want to burn the book to a crisp. The author was Jiraiya, his godfather. He refrained from burning the book simply because it gave Naruto a good learning source aside from his parent's scrolls. Besides, there were other books written by his godfather to burn.
Flashback
A few days after first meeting Yoshino, he remembered that she said Jiraiya had written a few books. He got curious to see what his godfather had been up to all these years and decided to look for the books. So, he went to one of Konoha's libraries to see if he could find it. Strangely enough, the old librarian that had received Naruto as a customer was pretty normal. She treated him just like any other customer until he asked for Jiraiya's latest publication... oh that was a mistake. He had never been kicked out of a place that fast in his life. The librarian had screamed at the top of her lungs that he was too young to even know what kind of book that was, let alone read it.
Naruto was too stunned and confused to do anything at the moment, so after the sun had set, he decided to henge into a version of Iruka to buy the book. Naruto, as Iruka, received a disdainful look from the librarian before she begrudgingly pointed to where he could find the books. The look she gave him made him doubt if his henge had worked properly, but once she pointed the direction, his doubt was cleared. Naruto found the books he sought, but they were nearly sold out. He had just grabbed a red-covered book when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. Naruto froze, not knowing what to do until he heard a voice.
"Iruka-san, I didn't know we shared the same tastes regarding literature." An unknown voice said in a hushed tone.
Naruto slowly turned around to see an unfamiliar man. The man had clear skin and sunglasses and wore his hitai-ate in a bandana that covered his head. To top it off, he wore the regular chunin outfit minus the flat jacket.
Naruto didn't know what to do or say to the man. At least it seemed that his henge was good enough.
"I-I..." For some reason, the words failed him. He didn't want to say something that would blow his disguise.
"You don't have to be ashamed with me, Iruka-san. Those books have a truly engaging plot that depicts the bond between men and women in such a captivating way." the man started to giggle pervertedly as a trickle of blood started coming out of his nose before he regained his composure.
"Jiraiya-Sama really blessed us with his latest series. I just wish more people would be public with their appreciation. That way, we wouldn't have to hide and buy his books at night."
Naruto was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say to the random man, so he told the truth. "I honestly haven't read them yet. I heard they were good, so I thought of giving them a try -ttb." Naruto had to bite his tongue to avoid his verbal tick from showing.
The man seemed to analyze him for a second.
'Shit! I blew my cover!'
"If you want to start reading them, I suggest you start with the series' first book. I like the second one better, but the first one is still great." The man said as he pointed to an orange book on another shelf.
Naruto wanted to let out a sigh of relief but refrained from doing it yet, so he just nodded and went to grab the orange book titled Icha-Icha Paradise.
"You should pay fast and get out. After all, we have a reputation to maintain."
Naruto didn't know what the man meant but agreed with the earlier part of his statement. He waved to the man, went to the counter, and paid for the book as quickly as possible.
Naruto breathed a massive sigh of relief as he closed his apartment door. 'It was so close... I wonder who that man was?' he thought before directing his eyes to the orange-colored book with the picture of a man and woman on the cover. He turned it around to read the synopsis of the book.
"The main character and heroine, both new to love, begin dating, and their eyes gradually open to grown-up love." He read out loud. "What the fuck is this?" Naruto asked himself.
Deciding to figure it out, Naruto opened the book and started reading. Five minutes later, a blushing Naruto threw the book across the room. "What the hell! All this time he has been gone, all he was doing was writing fucking porn! Mission out of the village, my ass! No wonder that old lady kicked me out." Ever since then, Naruto developed a deep seeded hatred for the erotic novel.
Two days later, Iruka and Naruto could be found dining at Ichiraku's. Iruka didn't remember how or when it started, but he decided to treat the blonde to their favorite meal one day. Since then, they have gone together every couple of weeks or so. They laughed and chatted as they shared stories of past pranks; Naruto even confided in him how he did some of his latest pranks. Iruka would laugh and shake his head, though he reminded him to turn it down a notch. As they continued to chat, another man entered the ramen stand. A man both Iruka and Naruto recognize.
'it's the closet pervert.' He thought as he recognized the bandana and sunglasses.
"Hello, Ebisu-san" Iruka greeted the man.
"Good evening Iruka-san." He responded cordially before turning his gaze to Naruto. Even though he couldn't see his eyes, Naruto could still feel the glare behind his sunglasses.
Naruto just rolled his eyes and started eating his ramen again. "So, the closet pervert is of those people. Why I'm not surprised? I would be saying something to this four-eyed pervert, but I don't want to take a client away from Teuchi Occ-chan.'
Naruto continued to eat his ramen as the two ninjas established a conversation. "So, tell me Iruka-san, have you enjoyed the book?"
Iruka just stared at Ebisu strangely. "What book?"
"You know... The book." He said between giggles.
"I really don't know what you are talking Ebisu-san."
Feeling the conversation was getting awfully dangerous, Naruto slurped his remaining ramen in one go before silently waving goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame.
Ebisu ordered a bowl of ramen and explained how he had met Iruka at the library searching for Jiraiya's novel. Iruka instantly went a deep shade of red but was too stunned to speak as Ayame glared daggers at him due to having overhead parts of the conversation. He sat in silent shock as Ebisu ate his ramen.
He was brought out of his stupor when Ebisu told him good night. He instantly turned to his right, only to find Naruto was long gone.
"NARUTO!"
Oh, the chewing the blonde had gotten at his apartment was legendary. After scolding and reminding him that impersonating a ninja of Konoha was a crime, he asked if Naruto still had the book. Naruto pointed to the trashcan, and Iruka went and searched for the book.
"What are you going to do with it?"
Iruka's body instantly became rigid. "I'm going to the library and getting a refund. You bought it as me, so I'm getting the refund, and be grateful I'm letting you off easy.
Naruto didn't find any fault in his logic. Still, he felt Iruka wasn't being honest, but let it go. He would find a way to confirm his suspicion about his academy teacher.
Flashback ends
After resting and reading enough, Naruto put the book away before pulling out a kunai and four sets of prayer beads with seals written on them. He put the prayer beads around his ankles and wrists before making a tiger seal.
"Fūinjutsu: Shishi Jūfūin (Four Limbs Weighting Seal)."
Instantly the prayer beads began glowing white, all four of his extremities felt like they were made out of lead, and moving became a much more strenuous task. With extreme difficulty, he started to swing methodically at the air. He was now practicing the second variation of his dad's style.
He had tried the first variation for a couple of weeks, but after a spar with Lee, in which Lee used him like a punching bag, he realized he wasn't nearly fast enough to use that style. So, he decided to focus on the second variation and used a training exercise his father used to increment speed. Shishi Jūfūin had five levels, and the beads glowed differently depending on the weight they added to the user. It went from white to blue, green, yellow, and finally red.
He hadn't done the seals for the beads, although he seemed to have an affinity for Fūinjutsu. Those were far too complex for his level. Instead, he found the seals on the beads in his father's taijutsu scroll. He felt like he had advanced a decent amount in his Fūinjutsu studies considering how complex it was supposed to be. He could activate a few seals like the Shishi Jūfūin and make storage scrolls of several seizes, but he couldn't release any seals yet. Naruto realized that releasing or removing seals was one of the biggest pain in the ass as far as fūinjutsu went. It was far more difficult to break or remove a seal than to make it. In most cases, you needed to study the seal or have previous knowledge of it; well, you could also overpower the seal, but that was in some regards more difficult and definitely way more dangerous.
Naruto was stuck creating explosive tags. He realized that although most people categorized them as a fūinjutsu, they were wrong, well at least partially. Minato's scrolls had gone deep into the explanation. The explosive tags fell under the category of jutsu formulas, and the same could be said about the Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Jutsu).
Jutsu formulas could be considered a branch apart from fūinjutsu since they lacked the first thing about fūinjutsu. They didn't seal or restrict anything. It was an understandable confusion since many things overlapped, but the core principle differed. It was a rather obscure and pretty unexplored branch of study in the already dying art of fūinjutsu. Explosive tags were hard to make hence why Naruto was stuck there.
Naruto continued going through the movements his father's scroll had indicated, with the beads slowing down his movements until the muscles in his arms gave out. Naruto tried to bring his hands together to release the weight that currently restricted his movements but could no longer lift his arms under the weight, and if the feeling of his legs being on fire was a sign, he wouldn't be standing too much longer.
Just as he had thought, his legs failed him, and he unceremoniously fell to the ground with a loud thump.
"Shit! I can't move!" he screamed in frustration into the wild, not really hoping for anyone to respond.
"N-Naruto-kun?" he heard a soft and familiar voice.
"Hinata?" he started moving his neck around to catch sight of the
lavender-eyed girl.
'I swear that I heard Hinata's voice.'
'He heard me?!' Hinata panicked behind a tree. She had been looking for him to talk to him for a while to see if he was doing okay and just found him when he started training. 'Calm down Hinata, take a deep breath and calm yourself.'
"Hinata! Hello? I need you."
Hinata blushed at Naruto's choice of words, but she steeled herself. 'You promised yourself you would talk to him. Just go and help him and try not to stutter.' She said to herself before getting out from behind the tree.
"H-hello Naruto-kun, are y-you okay?" she asked as she played with her fingers.
"Hinata! I knew I heard your voice! Can you come and help me?"
Hinata nodded and approached the still lying down Naruto. "What can I d-do?"
"Can you bring my hands together? I need to undo a jutsu."
Hinata immediately started blushing and sweating. "W-w-what?"
Naruto studied Hinata's reaction with concern. "Hinata, are you feeling sick?"
Hinata didn't answer as she was to concentrate on calming herself down to help Naruto. 'It's just his hands. It's not like we are going to be holding hands. Just brings his hands together so he can undo whatever jutsu he used.'
"Eep." Hinata let out as she touched Naruto's hands and brought them together. She started to feel faint but refused to lose consciousness now. His hands were warm like she had imagined, but what surprised her was how soft and unblemished they were. She had expected Naruto's hands to be extremely callous due to how much she thought he trained, but she didn't find any scar tissue in them.
"Hinata, can you let go of my hands? I kind of need to make the hand sign?" Naruto said sheepishly.
Hinata released another strangled noise as she let go of Naruto's hands and embarrassedly closed her eyes.
"Thanks, Hinata! You are the best!" he said before forming the tiger hand sign. "Kai!"
Naruto sat up as he stretched his arms and removed the beads. "Ah, much better! Thanks, Hinata, you are a lifesaver. I don't know how long I would have been stuck there." He turned to Hinata, who was still blushing with her eyes closed.
Naruto put his forehead against Hinata's. "Huh? Hinata, you are burning up!"
Hinata opened her eyes only for them to lock onto Naruto's cerulean orbs and note the proximity of their faces. That and everything that had happened until that moment was too much for Hinata's enamored brain to handle, and she passed out.
Hinata felt a cool breeze on her face and comfortable warmness enveloping the rest of her body as she regained consciousness. She opened her eyes to see that the sky was beginning to show hints of orange, signaling that sunset wasn't that far. Her eyes turned downwards only to see her body wrapped in a similar orange. Naruto's jacket was covering her as she lay against a tree.
Hinata's eyes quickly scanned for Naruto, but he was nowhere in sight. She stood up and folded the orange jacket with care but was surprised when a small book fell out of it.
"The lost art of fūinjutsu." Hinata read the title with curiosity after
picking up the book. 'I didn't know Naruto-kun was interested in fūinjutsu.'
She had been introduced to the art when she had been taught to activate the cursed seal of a branch family member. Although the process of learning how to activate the seal was rather unsavory, she had been curious about fūinjutsu since then.
Curiosity got the better of her as she opened the small book and read its content.
It hadn't been thirty seconds of her reading when Naruto appeared upside down in front of her. "Hinata, you're awake!"
"..." Hinata dropped the book without even noticing as her eyes were again staring straight into Naruto's; his face was also extremely close to hers again.
"Huh, you seem better. You really scared me when you fainted out of nowhere." said Naruto before putting his palm against Hinata's forehead just to be sure.
Hinata's brain restarted the moment she felt Naruto's skin touch her, and she let out a scream before accidentally headbutting Naruto in the face causing him to fly right into another tree.
Funnily enough, although the situation had been similar to the previous one, this time it was the other party who had ended up unconscious.
"Naruto-kun!" A preoccupied Hinata screamed after seeing Naruto's body unconsciously hit the tree.
'Oh no! I'm so stupid! he is going to hate me now!' she thought as she tried to wake up Naruto.
Naruto slowly recovered consciousness. "Ow... Dammit! I thought I had already mastered it! Did I fall off the stupid tree again?" He sat up and turned towards Hinata expecting an answer.
Hinata's worries that she might have caused brain damage to the blonde started to rise. "N-no. I a-accidentally headbutted y-you." Said in a very sad voice as she prepared for Naruto to scream at her.
"Ah, so that's what happened. Well, at least it means I didn't fall off the stupid tree again."
"Y-you are not m-mad?" asked Hinata reluctantly, still expecting Naruto to be mad at her.
"Why would I be mad? I just mastered this stupid chakra control exercise! Look!" Naruto jumped and started rushing into a tree. Hinata by now was just about to cry because she was sure Naruto had some sort of brain damage.
She saw that Naruto was about to run straight into the tree, and she ran to try to stop him. "Naruto-kun..." her scream died in her throat as she saw Naruto run along the tree trunk without falling.
Naruto came to a stop. "See! I told you I mastered it!"
Hinata stood in shock and amazement as she saw Naruto define the laws of gravity and stand at a ninety-degree angle. Remembering Naruto had said something about chakra control, she went through the hand signs and activated her Byakugan. She saw a thin layer of chakra gathered at the bottom of Naruto's feet.
Naruto jumped from the tree and landed next to Hinata. "Pretty co- Wow! What happened to your eyes?" Naruto said after seeing the bulging veins around her eyes and temple.
Hinata instinctively deactivated her dōjutsu and covered her eyes.
"Was that the Byakugan?" asked an excited Naruto, who had yet to read Hinata's discomfort. 'It's the Hyuga's kekkei genkai, just like the adamantine sealing chains from my clan! Oh man, how I wish I could use them.'
Hinata nodded in confirmation of Naruto's question but kept her face hidden.
"Hinata? What's the matter? Why are you covering your eyes?"
"I-it's just some p-people say my e-eyes are ugly."
"I never understood why people told you that. I always thought that they were pretty, you know." Naruto said casually.
Hinata, as usual, went bright red at the compliment. "Y-you r-really think s-so."
Nodded excitedly. "And your Byakugan makes you look super scary." Hinata's mood instantly dampened. Naruto saw it and tried to fix his mistake. "I mean the good kind of scary. Like I wouldn't mess with her kind of scary."
Hinata's mood brightened, but there still seemed to be some doubt in her.
"So, what sort of things can the Byakugan do?"
Hinata went on to explain the basic capabilities like the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision it provided and the ability to see chakra and even tenketsu.
"I c-could see t-the amount of chakra you h-had concentrated on your f-feet when you were walking on the tree."
"That's awesome! I wish I could see the proper amount of chakra I need to use every time! My chakra control would be way better, and I wouldn't have to spend a week doing stupid exercises like climbing trees. I bet you could climb a tree by the end of the day!
"Y-you thinks s-so?"
"Yeah, it isn't that difficult, I guess. I just suck at chakra control. Try it; you just have to focus a little chakra at the bottom of your feet. If it's too little, you will slide off the tree; if it's too much, you will be pushed away, and the tree will crack like that." Naruto pointed at several trees that seemed to have suffered due to Naruto's training.
Hinata nodded but still felt unsure that she could do it, but she would try. She gathered the amount of chakra she remembered seeing in Naruto's feet, took a deep breath, and slowly started climbing the closest tree.
Naruto saw that Hinata had already climbed a good portion of the tree, around 22 feet. 'I expected her to be better than me at this, but not by that much! It took me days to reach where she is!'
"Way to go Hinata!"
Naruto's voice distracted her just enough for the chakra on her feet to change, and she slipped off the tree and fell.
Hinata closed her eyes and was prepared to hit the ground hard, but the pain never came. She reluctantly opened her eyes only to see Naruto smiling at her.
"Don't worry, I got you." He said as he held her bridal style. Hinata let herself get lost in the moment, and in Naruto's eyes that were as blue as the clearest sky, and didn't even notice when he put her down.
"Try it again." Naruto encouraged her.
During the next two hours, Hinata tried and tried the tree walking exercise until she got a good hang of it.
"See! I told you would have it done by the end of the day." Naruto told a panting and exhausted Hinata. "You got it even faster than I thought you would! I wish I could be as good as you at chakra control." Naruto said in exasperation.
"I d-don't t-think you are that b-bad at it, Naruto-kun."
Naruto appreciated the compliment but knew it wasn't the case. He didn't have the natural feel to know how much chakra to pull and use. Naruto would often gather too much chakra and use too little of it, which caused him to waste chakra, and the technique to be received less than needed to work correctly. It's what caused his bunshin to look underfed and sick.
But all the training Naruto had gone through wasn't pointless. Whenever he did the bunshin now, he could create three copies. According to Iruka, one would be good; the second would come out barely passable, and the third would look deathly sick.
"Thanks Hinata." He said before, an idea popped into his head. "Hey! There is another chakra control exercise I was planning on training on now that I'm done with the last one. Would you like to help with it?
"Y-you think I could help you? I don't want to s-slow you down." she said in her regular timid voice as she poked her index finger together.
"Oh, for sure! You are already better at chakra control than me, and have your Byakugan! Besides, we could even train in other things! I used to train with a guy named Lee, but he was one year above us, and ever since he graduated, I have only seen him a couple of times. But I had such a good time training with him and improved a lot, so I wanted to train with someone else. I could never convince Shikamaru or Choji, so what do you say?" he said excitedly at the prospect of having a training partner again.
"Hai!" said an excited but still timid Hinata.
"Awesome!"
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Naruto remembered a question he had been meaning to ask. "Say Hinata, what were you doing in the forest? No one only ever really comes here?"
Hinata got extremely flustered. "I-I wanted t-to see h-how you were doing a-after today's s-sparring?" Hinata stammered quickly.
Naruto let out a sigh. "It's just... I want to see my efforts pay off, and losing against Sasuke stings more than anyone else for whatever reason."
"You were pretty close to W-winning; I'm s-sure you will win next time."
"That's what bothers me the most." He said as he tightened his fist in frustration." It's always, next time I'll get it, but when next time comes around, I mess it up like today. All I do is mess up. I guess I'm not really that strong." He finished dejectedly.
Hinata really didn't like seeing Naruto like this and tried to comfort him. "It's not like that!" she said in a surprisingly loud voice that caused Naruto to look up. "Even if you fail, you always get back up and do it with a smile. I think that's what makes you the strongest!" she said without stuttering or being shy.
Naruto stopped in his tracks and stared at Hinata before a smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you, Hinata" he said honestly before they continued walking.
Author's notes:
Hello everyone! It took longer than I wanted but here is the next chapter! I'm currently traveling with my family so it's harder to find time to write, but it should be over soon, and the next chapter shouldn't take as long as this one to write. Hope y'all enjoy it and remember to comment and review! Thanks to Jonathan Cardoza Sanchez, Arkanim94, Ovleer, STAG98, and LuisAM21 for your comments!
Special Thanks to the flare blade for the feedback and Thanks to MN306 for being the beta!
I do have a question for y'all. I still don't know what cover image to choose for the fic. I like the one I choose, but I think it doesn't fit completely so I you have any suggestions, please DM me, Thanks!
