Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Finally Found ❯ New Team ( Chapter 5 )

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By: frib

Chapter 5- New Team

“My sources have informed me that Akatuski is currently pursuing another target and has no immediate plans for either Konoha or Naruto.” Jiraya was sitting in the chair opposite Tsunade's desk. He had been summoned to the Hokage's office early that morning because Tsunade wanted to know why Naruto had not come to her office asking for a mission. This struck her as odd.

When Jiraya heard of Tsunade's concerns he couldn't help but laugh. For over a year she had been worried that Akatsuki might attack Konoha to get to Naruto. This sudden change made Jiraya feel good knowing that his old friend could be worried of such comical matters in these stressful times. “Relax Tsunade, he's probably just walking Hinata to training again.”

A slightly surprised look came over Tsunade's face. “Hinata Hyuuga? But both Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame are on missions.”

“Oh that's right,” he had not yet told her of his request, “she showed up at my training session with Naruto and has agreed to remain with us until her teammates return.”

“Is that so? Jiraya, how much do you hope to accomplish in such a short time with a …” she did not know how to finish her question. She did not consider any of Konoha's shinobi weak, but other than the fact that she was crazy about Naruto, which everyone except Naruto couldn't help but see, she did not know much about Hinata. Tsunade pretended to read a document placed on her desk. “You are aware that Hiashi Hyuuga has requested that Hinata be secretly restricted from going on missions?”

So, Jiraya thought, that's why her teammates were gone and she remained. “Why is that?”

On regular grounds, Tsunade would refuse to divulge information about a request so personal, especially one having to do with a clan so esteemed as the Hyuuga. But this was Jiraya, and she could not keep much from her old friend. “He sees his daughter as a failure and believes that any mission she is on can only be a failure.” She shook her head.

Jiraya was not shocked at all by this. The Hyuuga clan was very proud and saw weakness as shameful. The Hyuuga genius Neji had been named a Jonin and was prasied by all, but even though Hinata had recently been made a chunnin she was seen by most Hyuuga as weak.

“Tsunade, she is not weak. There is something special about her.” The Hokage shifted her eyes from the document to Jiraya. “Tsunade, I want permission to train Hinata Hyuuga… permanently.”

“Jiraya…” Tsunade knew that keeping Jiraya and Naruto off missions was impossible, and if she agreed Hinata would have to go too. Openly opposing the personal wishes of the head of the Hyuuga was something that even the Hokage could not do without backlash. She looked at Jiraya with the intent to deny his request, but he had gotten up from his seat and walked to the window. She knew what he was looking at, and she knew she couldn't deny him.

“Tsunade, you know how well I can see the potential in people.” He was looking at the face of his former pupil carved into the side of the mountain,” There is something special about her… just like Naruto.”

Tsunade didn't know what she should do, and then she had an idea. “Jiraya,” he was still staring at the Fourth's face, “I will grant your request on one condition. You may train Hinata if she herself allows it.” Jiraya turned and looked at Tsunade.

“Then it's decided. Now, I'm already late for training, if you'll excuse me.” He had started walking to the door when Tsunade stood up.

“Wait. Jiraya are you sure Akatsuki will not be coming after Naruto anytime soon?”

He turned around to see her, “Yes I'm sure.”

“Well, just in case Hinata agrees…”

“Ero-sennin, you're late!” Naruto was sitting cross legged by a large tree.

“Uh yeah, sorry… Hello, Hinata.”

Hinata was standing a little ways from Naruto, “Hello, Jiraya-sama.”

“Oh,” Jiraya smiled, “I see you've gotten that little stuttering problem under control.” Hinata tried to hide her embarrassment by staring at the ground.

“Let's get started already.” Naruto crossed his arms and scrunched up his face. “I'm not gonna get stronger just sitting here.”

“Just a second Naruto.” Jiraya jumped up and removed a very large leaf from a tree branch. “Hinata come over here please.”

Hinata walked over to Jiraya who had laid the leaf on the floor and pulled out a large scroll from his bag. As Hinata looked at the scroll she saw small markings on the outside of the scroll. Jiraya noticed her looking at the scroll. “Hinata I want you to activate your Byakugon.”

She did as she was told, “BYAKUGON!” She looked at the scroll as the parts covered in marking started to glow a faint blue.

“Can you see them?” She nodded. “Good, these markings radiate a faint glow similar to the way your Byakugon sees chakra. This will help train your Byakugon use and focus as well as your chakra control.” He wrapped the leaf around the scroll and tied a string around the top. He tied the other end of the string to a nearby branch and spun the scroll so it rotated quickly.

“Hinata, each marking will disappear if you strike it hard enough, but you are not allowed to harm the leaf surrounding it. Gather chakra in your hand and use your Jukken technique. Your Jukken strikes are decent, but this training exercise will greatly improve them. You must successfully remove every marking and if the leaf is damaged in any way you much rewrap the scroll with a new one. We will keep track of how many leafs you had to use. Now go ahead and try.”

Hinata walked up to the spinning scroll. It was spinning so fast that she could not focus on the blue spots. She was nervous about looking like a failure, but she did not want to let Jiraya or Naruto down. She forced herself to concentrate as she gathered chakra in her hands. She struck the scroll and it went flying in a large arc, still tied to the string. The leaf fell to the floor; it had been split in two.

“Hinata, you need to control your chakra, and you need to focus. You didn't even hit a marking.” She stood there. She had failed, and in front of Naruto.

Naruto stood up and jumped onto the branch he was sitting under. He tore a leaf off and went over to where the scroll was hanging. “Try it again Hinata.” He wrapped the leaf around the scroll, “I'm sure you'll do it this time.” He smiled at her.

His confidence in her made her feel great. “Right!” She had to do it, and he made her feel like she really could.

Naruto spun the scroll and jumped back. Hinata concentrated on the markings again. She struck the scroll with more speed and power then previously, but the scroll had barely moved. She had done it. One of the blue spots had disappeared, but upon a closer view Hinata saw that the leaf area surrounding the spot she had hit had been torn from the rest of the leaf.

“Yeah Hinata!” Naruto was jumping up and down punching the air. Hinata felt a little dejected as she still did not do it right, but with Naruto so excited about what she had accomplished that feeling quickly dissolved.

“Much better Hinata. Now try again.” Hinata nodded and got a new leaf to wrap around the scroll. Naruto and Jiraya watched her attempt it two more times. Both times ended with the leaf splitting in half and Naruto shouting words of encouragement.

“Hinata, I want you to continue this training exercise for 5 hours. If you finish early come and join Naruto and myself. Naruto let's go.” Jiraya started walking into the large clearing where the three had fought the previous day.

“Good luck Hinata.” Naruto started to walk towards the clearing. He took one look over his shoulder at her and a weird feeling came over his body. He did not want to leave; he wanted to stay there with her. He tried to shake the feeling, but he couldn't get himself to walk any further.

“KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!” A thick cloud of smoke engulfed Naruto and when it subsided there were two of him. One started walking towards Hinata as the other started running towards the clearing yelling, “Good luck Hinata,” before disappearing around a tree.

Hinata stood there in shock. He had sent one of his shadow clones to help her with her training. The clone got several large leaves and replaced the damaged one for her. “You can do it.” The clone was encouraging her. “No,” she thought, “Naruto is encouraging me.”

A new sense of confidence washed over Hinata. One, two, three successive strikes. They were very quick and strong and only on the third strike did the leaf show any damage.

“That was great Hinata. I told you you could do it.” The clone Naruto spoke to her as he replaced the near-mint leaf.

“Thank you Naruto-kun…” This was not like talking to the real Naruto. She didn't feel nervous in front of the clone, nor did she feel like stuttering. She just felt good.

“Naruto,” he had finally reached Jiraya, “we are going to work on increasing your chakra level and maintaining it at its highest level.

“But Ero-sennin, you said yourself I have a high level of chakra already. Why do I need to increase it?”

“Because, when you start running low on chakra,” he pointed to Naruto's stomach, “you resort to that.” Naruto's hands went instinctively to the seal on his stomach that had had trapped the Kyuubi inside of him.

“You do have a high level of chakra,” he continued, “but how much more can you do with even a little bit of that extra chakra? I'm gonna help you feel that way without having to risk losing control, and I'm gonna help you maintain it.” Naruto was a little excited about having more chakra, but he was a little disappointed that Hinata's training seemed much cooler. “Plus,” Jiraya could sense his disappointment, “you'll need to greatly increase your chakra level if you wanna learn the new jutsus I'm going to teach you.”

This had worked just as Jiraya had hoped. Naruto's eyes grew wide and he started dancing around, “I'm gonna learn a new jutsu. Yeah!”

“Naruto stop!” He looked ridiculous. “Now look.” Naruto had finally stopped dancing and started to pay attention. “I want you to create fifty shadow clones and fight me. But every time a shadow clone is destroyed you need to immediately create another one so that there is always fifty of you.”

“Easy Ero-sennin, KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!” Fifty Narutos suddenly filled the clearing.

“Ok, just remember that there should always be fifty clones, no more, no less for the entire five hours. Go!” Jiraya jumped and kicked two clones, destroying them, but Naruto made two more. Naruto managed to keep up well with Jiraya for over three hours before he started to lag.

Jiraya had just destroyed five clones and saw that no more had been created. “Naruto, “ he destroyed two more, “there should be fifty clones!”

“I can't…” he was straining to get more chakra.

“You can Naruto,” one more down, “just focus.” POOF! Eight new Narutos popped out of midair.

Naruto managed to keep it up until very close to the five hour mark. He was completely drained of chakra and Jiraya was still destroying the clones by the handful. Finally only one Naruto was left panting heavily in front of Jiraya. “Ya did good kid.” Naruto just smiled at him as he fell to the floor and disappeared in a puff of smoke. “What?” Jiraya was confused.

There was no sign of Naruto all throughout the clearing, so Jiraya decided to check on Hinata. When he reached Hinata he noticed that, although the leaves had really piled up, only a few markings remained. He noticed something else that made him smile: Naruto.

Hinata had been attacking the scroll with two, three, or four strikes before she damaged the leaf. Naruto's clone would replace the leaf and tell her how impressed he was with her, to which she would reply, “Thank you Naruto-kun.” She had been around him for five hours and not stuttered once.

Even Hinata believed that she was getting better, and she had Naruto and his clone to thank for that. After five hours she had only four markings left. “Hinata, you can finish it here!”

“Right Naruto-kun!” One, two, three, four. Every mark was gone from the scroll and for the first time the leaf had remained unharmed. “Thank you, Naruto-kun.” She knew he was the reason she had done it.

“Good work Hinata.” Jiraya took the scroll and put it back into his bag.

“Jiraya-sama, where is Naruto-kun?” She thought that when Jiraya came back Naruto would come with him.

“Hmm I don't know Hinata.” Jiraya shot a look at Naruto's clone.

Naruto knew he had been caught. He stood there scratching the back of his head, “Um… well…” Hinata's eyes grew to an enormous size. Nartuo had sent his clone to train with Jiraya and remained there with Hinata the whole time.

-- It was the real him the whole time!

“I just wanted to… um…” Naruto couldn't tell them why he had stayed. He didn't care what Jiraya thought about him, but he didn't know what Hinata would think if she knew how he was starting to feel.

“Naruto-kun…” her jaw was almost on the floor. She didn't know what to say to him. She wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him how much he meant to her, but she couldn't.

“HEY YOU TWO…” Jiraya screamed, he couldn't take the scene. “… good I have your attention. Hinata, do you know that your father has asked the Hokage to ban you from any further missions?” Hinata's eyes went from Naruto to Jiraya, her jaw still on the floor.”

“Wh-what?”

He had to tell her this, she had to know. “Yes, and as such you have been removed from you team.”

Hinata's face was covered in disbelief. “Kiba-kun… Shino-kun…” She started to tear up. “Why?”

“How could he do that?” Even Naruto was stunned by what he heard. His face contorted into anger. “He can't do that!”

“Hinata,” he knew this would be difficult, but it was all for the best. “listen to me very carefully.” Hinata was still crying. She tried to stop, but when she looked up at Jiraya tears were still coming from her eyes. “Hinata I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to think about it carefully before you answer.” She was still crying, but he had gotten her attention. He had Naruto's attention as well.

“I have received permission from the Hokage to take over your training permanently. This would mean that you will be training with me and Naruto daily, as well as accompanying us on the missions we will be assigned. We will be a team. Me, you, and Naruto. But Hinata, because your father does not want this to happen the Hokage has decided to let you decide. I, personally, want you to join us, but the choice is yours.”

Hinata couldn't believe it. Training with Naruto for the past two days seemed like something that could only happen in a dream. Her eyes hit the ground as a million thoughts went through her head. Without realizing it, Naruto's eyes were on Hinata as he thought about what this could mean. He would be spending a lot more time with Hinata, and something in his head was praying she would say yes.

She wanted to yell “YES!” but she was told to think before she answered. Her father had personally tried to stop her from going on missions; he thought she was weak. She should have been distraught, but she wasn't. She had the opportuninty to not only train with a legendary Sannin, but all she could think about was being closer to Naruto.

Hinata stood there. She finally looked up at Jiraya, “Jiraya-sama…” her gaze drifted over to Naruto who was looking at her like she had never seen before. “I want to join you and Naruto-kun…”

Both Hinata and Naruto's were filled with a strange feeling. Neither knew what to say or how to react.

“Ok then,” Jiraya broke the silence that had fallen, “tomorrow you will meet me at the front gates of Konoha at 7am for our first mission.” Jiraya hoped that this bombshell would break them from their daze.

“Wha…” both Naruto and Hinata spoke at the same time.

“A mission?” The look on Naruto's face became one of utter excitement. “What kind of mission?”

“We are going to escort a man to a village on the outskirts of the Sand Country where it is rumored that his son has run away to.” That didn't sound like the most interesting of missions to Naruto, but it was a mission none the less.

“All right! Hinata did you hear that? We're going on a mission!” Hinata was still stunned. This was all happening too fast for her. Her father, Jiraya, Naruto, she was lost in thought. She looked over to Naruto who had resumed his dance from earlier. She couldn't help but smile and felt her worries wash away. She was going to go on a mission with Naruto tomorrow.

It was not too late, but the sun had already begun to set. “You two get home and get some rest. I want you two to be ready tomorrow.” They were dismissed.

Jiraya waved good-bye to them and started off to inform Tsunade of what had happened. Naruto and Hinata began to walk towards the Hyuuga complex together. Naruto was telling Hinata why he thought the man's son had run away. “Maybe he's a jerk or maybe his dad's a jerk or a killer.”

Hinata said nothing. She couldn't get any words out and before she knew it they were already at the gates of the Hyuuga complex. “Hinata…” who had not really been listening, looked at Naruto, “I'm really… well I'm really glad you said you would join us.” She was stunned.

“Oh… well… me too Naruto-kun…” she said it without stuttering. “Good bye… Naruto-kun…” She turned around and started walking into the complex.

“Hinata…” she turned around. He didn't know why he was telling her this. “… do you… um… do you want me to meet you here before the mission? So we could… um… walk to the gates… together?” He had not meant to ask her this, but the thought came at the last moment and he really did want to walk with her again. They may not talk much but it felt good.

“Naruto-kun…” he wanted to walk with her. “Yes Naruto… I will wait here for you…” she feared that she sounded to awkward but that didn't matter when she saw a large smile on Naruto's face.

“Good-bye… Naruto-kun…”Kunoichi

That night neither one slept well. Neither could wait until the next morning when they would once again be together, but both fearing what the other would do if they knew how they felt.