Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ People Lie ❯ People Lie: two ( Chapter 2 )

o/~

 

 

“Anko-neechan!” Naruto called as he approached the dango shop. He'd already been to the ANBU building and her apartment, and had bought dango at one of her favorite shops, but, sure enough, when he finally found her she was at yet another dango vendor.

 

Anko looked up, chewing on a bare stick. “Hey, Naruto-kun! I was beginning to think you were avoiding me!”

 

“Not big sister Anko!” Naruto replied, using his outgoing public persona. “I even brought you a present!” he added, holding up the two paper boxes with their sticks of dango inside.

 

Anko brightened. “Hey, Kobayashi's! I've been meaning to go by there.”

 

“Sorry, no severed heads or blood of the innocent today,” Naruto said.

 

“Aww, you always know just what to get me. Thanks, Naruto-kun. Now what do you want?”

 

“Talk? Private?”

 

Anko gave him a measuring look and he gave her the boxes of dango. Anko definitely felt she got the better end of the deal.

 

“Alright. Roof of my place, or inside?”

 

His eyes narrowed, and for a moment his serious self peeked through. “Inside,” he said.

 

Anko's apartment was just like Naruto's own, except it had feminine clothing strewn here and there and looked like she hadn't picked up after herself in a week. He ignored it. He'd acquired a trait of keeping an almost obsessively neat home from Ibiki, but Anko was special in a lot of ways.

 

“Alright, whatcha got?” she asked without preamble, sliding one of the sweet treats off the stick with her tongue. After a moment's hesitation, she offered Naruto one of the sticks, but he shook his head.

 

“I've been studying personal interactions and how people relate to each other,” he began.

 

Anko wrinkled her brow. “Which means?”

 

“I've been following people, mostly women, around for the past two weeks learning how they act.”

 

A mad grin spread across her face, one that had nothing to do with the tasty tasty dango rolling around on her tongue. She swallowed. “Aww, has little Naruto-kun finally discovered girls?” she said in a cutesy voice. She faked shock. “Don't tell me… you want to have,” she gasped theatrically, “sex!? And you need me to tell you how to do it?! Aww, Naruto-kun, I'm honored. Of course big sister Anko will tell you ALL you need to know.”

 

Naruto looked at her seriously. “I already know about sex.”

 

She dropped the act with a moue of disappointment. “Yeah, you would, but only one aspect, so remember that.” She paused. “And damn you are hard to tease.”

 

Naruto ignored her complaint. “For a long time now, I've had a problem with people. Everyone seems to know who I am, and they whisper and point and are usually pretty unfriendly. It's hard to fade into the background when everyone seems pissed at me for some reason,” and here he let real irritation in his voice, “and no one will tell me why.”

 

Anko nodded. She knew it probably had to do with the nine tails, but the Hokage's injunction stood. And it was a pretty serious one, one she'd obey despite firmly believing that not only did Naruto have a right to know, he would probably handle it well.

 

“Since I couldn't blend in, the only option was misdirection, so I made myself really, really visible, but easily dismissed. I learned the henge some time ago, and I can see applications for it, but until recently I haven't put time into learning to use it effectively. I've come up with this.” He formed a seal. “Henge!”

 

Naruto was transformed in an instant, from the short, blond boy in orange, to a slightly taller, rather mousy looking girl with brown hair in a combination of the armored mesh fishnet and deep blue pants and vest.

 

Anko gave him a puzzled look.

 

“From what I've seen, plain looking girls are the most inconspicuous type of person. Guys rarely compete with girls in strength, and the more attractive women don't consider them a threat, either,” Naruto explained.

 

Anko leaned forward and poked Naruto's new form sharply in the shoulder with her now bare stick. The henge disappeared with a poof.

 

“Naruto, it sucks,” Anko said bluntly.

 

“Okay,” he replied calmly. “Why, and how should I fix it?”

 

She wandered away into her apartment, only to return a few moments later with a cup of water, which she drained in a thoughtful sort of manner.

 

Naruto watched patiently.

 

“Well,” she began. “I could tell it sucked when I first saw it. Your henge is okay, but it's easy to see through. It won't stand up to touch. But really, it's your look that's the problem. You're too plain. No one is that… medium.”

 

Naruto frowned. One girl was. It was why he'd picked her as his base look.

 

Anko patted him on the head. “Look, you're going about this all wrong. You're just not a guy meant to blend in. Becoming a girl isn't a bad idea I suppose, if you get the mannerisms right, since most people do henge into the same sex, that'll help obscure your real identity even if someone does see through it. But you're just a stand out sort of person. Misdirection. Visible, yet dismissed for all the wrong reasons, right?”

 

He nodded slowly.

 

Anko grinned, a light springing in her eyes. “Now, who's the most visible woman you know?” She cupped her breasts for effect.

 

“You.” Easy answer. Anko delighted in her effect on others. “But scaring the hell out of people will attract the wrong kind of attention.”

 

“Ah, but what did your little peeping sessions tell you about how pretty girls get treated?”

 

“Men are invariably nicer, hoping to seduce the woman, women tend to either be neutral or subtly hostile.”

 

Anko nodded. “Subtly hostile, is that a problem in most situations?”

 

Naruto shook his head. “No, it seems pointless.”

 

“Ah ah, you underestimate the importance of securing your place,” she said, wagging a finger. “But never mind, that only applies if you're going to keep that place. Unless,” she added, raising an eyebrow, “you're planning on becoming a girl permanently?”

 

Naruto shook his head. “No, I'm looking for an easy way to move through the village without drawing notice.”

 

“That's just it!” she exclaimed. “Draw attention. Be sexy. Make the girls jealous and the guys drool. Any decent ninja will be suspicious if you suddenly start coming onto them, but so long as they think it's their idea, they're a lot easier to manipulate. And the girls? Feh. Most will be more jealous than suspicious, and their snide little insults don't mean anything.”

 

Naruto's eyes unfocused as he though seriously, then he formed seals. “Henge!”

 

This time, Naruto looked a lot like the busty chunin who'd caught him peeping and threatened to cut his balls off. He looked at Anko expectantly.

 

She considered him for a moment. “Eh, not bad I suppose, for a general look. But you look familiar, I think I've seen someone…” She trailed off as he nodded. She shook her head. “Don't look like anyone else unless you're impersonating them specifically. Causes too many potential problems. Make it a bit shorter, add some hip. Change the hair color.” She considered. “Leave the tits alone, those are some first class hooters.”

 

Naruto dispelled the henge, then tried again. This time, there was something… off.

 

Anko winced. “Okay, you need to practice that. I see why you picked someone you'd seen before.” She tapped her lip thoughtfully. “In fact, I think I have something better.” She headed for her bedroom, and Naruto could hear rustling around in there. “I've been forbidden on pain of boring ass missions from teaching you my jutsu, but this one ain't mine.”

 

Naruto watched with anticipation as she emerged, holding a dusty scroll case.

 

She handed it to him. “This is a scroll for hensou no jutsu, an ANBU infiltration technique. Henge is just a minor genjutsu, but hensou is a ninjutsu, harder to see through, since instead of using chakra to change how someone sees you, you change yourself to look a different way. You'll burn more chakra that way, but if you focus hard enough and use enough chakra, you can keep it from being dispelled.”

 

Naruto's eyes lit up. Finally, something beyond academy level techniques. This would take some study to master, and he was excited by the prospect. “What are its limitations?”

 

Anko laughed at his excitement. “While it may feel pretty easy to maintain at first, you burn chakra pretty fast when you use it, so don't get stuck in a situation where you have to use it for a long time and then have to fight. Enemies love it when you try to fight with no chakra.”

 

“What about maintaining it while unconscious or asleep?”

 

She gave him an appraising look. “Why, planning on sleeping with someone?”

 

He didn't rise to the bait. “No, but I can't predict every situation I'll end up in. One day I may have to sleep with a target to kill him at his most vulnerable time. And if getting knocked out while transformed dispels the jutsu, it'll be harder to maintain cover in a fight.”

 

Anko shrugged, reminding herself that he was very, very hard to tease, and for a moment wondering why she put up with him. But then, most kids his age were inexperienced and insecure in all sorts of ways. Naruto was almost exactly like that damn Ibiki. Cold. Very cold. The first time Anko had killed, she'd been hot. Pumped on battle. Naruto had not only made his first kill three years younger than she had, he'd done it almost clinically, with only a faint hint of satisfaction to show that he did feel something.

 

“Well, that's a part of its weakness, really,” she clarified. “If you keep putting chakra into it, it'll stay activated. And part of training is learning to keep putting chakra into it while you sleep. But while you sleep, or go unconscious, you'll just keep draining your chakra. And chakra exhaustion can kill you. So while it's great for infiltration, it's a really really good idea to drop it before you get into a fight.”

 

Naruto nodded.

 

“Go for it. And let me have a look at you when you get it figured out.”

 

Bowing low, Naruto thanked her and headed for home. Something new to learn, on a nice, easy to understand scroll. No more `experience', this was actual instructions written down.

 

Oh, thank you Anko-san.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Ibiki wasn't the most fatherly of people, Iruka learned, but that didn't stop him from taking a certain amount of pride in the accomplishments of his accidental student. In fact, the story Ibiki told him brought a certain smile to the scarred man's lips, and a look of horror to Iruka.

 

He heard how a violent, failed genin had played on Naruto's naivety and spent three days using Naruto as his personal, breakable toy, before nearly killing him and burying him in the woods in a shallow grave.

 

But Naruto had been exceptional for a small child, and had not only managed to survive, he'd dug his way to freedom despite terrible wounds and found help. He spent several days in the hospital before the doctor allowed him to be interviewed. Despite his traumatic experience, he'd been calm and helpful, easily identifying the man.

 

And when the Hokage had passed the worst judgment down possible, Naruto had wanted to be there. Insisted. And somehow talked the Hokage into allowing him to be present for the man's death by torture.

 

Ibiki's eyes softened as he recalled the young boy falling asleep that first night from exhaustion, despite the screams, and how he'd covered him with his thick black coat and let him sleep on a couch in ANBU headquarters.

 

Iruka nearly gagged, and not because it was sweet or precious.

 

Ibiki recounted how Naruto had been extremely inquisitive, with literally hundreds of questions, but when each one was answered, he really listened. Had Iruka ever had a student who seemed to hang on every word he said, really seeming to absorb the material? Yes? It was a wonderful feeling, and Ibiki found himself sharing more of his trade than he'd ever done before. Before he knew it, Naruto was known throughout ANBU for his bravery, resistance to trauma, and fortitude in facing down the man who'd hurt him. Not everyone, even in a hard bitten organization like ANBU, approved, but some did, and all respected him for it.

 

What was more, besides just watching as Ibiki carried out the sentence, he'd even wanted to help. Offering suggestions, like some of the things that had been done to him. And even having his hand on the knife. It had actually been Naruto who had carefully cut the man's throat at the end. He'd had an audience, and some of them had clapped.

 

Iruka wanted to throw up. A six year old boy should never have had to see anything like that.

 

Ibiki put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting sort of way, though it was anything but.

 

The thing is, he'd said, when a child goes through an event like what had been forced on Naruto, the childhood is over. Most break, often so completely they can never recover. Even the ones who don't go irretrievably mad are changed by it. Naruto had identified with his attacker, the man with power. That was outside anyone's control, even Naruto's. What Ibiki had done was give him someone else to identify with, someone with even more power, the one thing the helpless Naruto had wanted above all things.

 

Iruka didn't want to listen to the madness, but Ibiki pressed on.

 

Naruto had two choices. He could either become a vicious, cold blooded killer, a menace to everyone around him, or he could become a vicious, cold blooded Konoha ninja, a useful member of Konoha's elite and completely loyal to his comrades.

 

Ibiki had helped him make his choice.

 

But that was just it! Naruto was not completely loyal to his comrades, because he had none. The boy had created and enforced a loneliness Iruka wasn't sure he could ever break. He had no friends, because he didn't understand what it meant to be a friend. All he understood was how to be a ninja, however well that might be. He ranted at some length. Underneath the goofy exterior, underneath the serious, cold eyed young man, there was a little boy so scared of being hurt he wouldn't trust anyone to break his loneliness.

 

And, when he'd finally ran down and stopped, breathing heavily and giving Ibiki the maddest, most accusing glare he'd ever given…

 

Ibiki had agreed. And hung his head.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Noodles. Broth. Pork. Vegetables. Ramen was a simple meal, and the girl went about preparing it with a gentle smile, carefully slicing the vegetables and adding them six minutes after the pork had come to a rolling boil, so they wouldn't get overdone before he added the noodles. Food was easy. Find a recipe, follow it. If only everything in life was so simple.

 

Naruto wasn't lazy, but he had a strong belief that everyone made things more complicated than they had to be.

 

Food. He liked food. Ramen had turned out to be pretty good. Iruka had treated him again, one day after school, and given him a new, very special homework assignment.

 

Be a friend to someone. Not to worry about having a friend in return, but be a friend to someone. If nothing else, fake it really well.

 

He hadn't been enthusiastic at first, but Iruka had added something to that.

 

“I talked it over with Ibiki-san. He feels that this is a good way for you to understand this lesson we've been trying to teach you.”

 

Well hell, that wasn't fair. Naruto had allowed himself one brief internal gripe, then nodded. And ate his ramen. Ichiraiku was pretty damned good. He'd even treated himself to a ramen tour of Konoha, kind of like Anko's dango tours, and he had to admit, Ichiraiku was the best. He'd told the old man, too, and he seemed to appreciate it. Statement of fact, compliment, acceptance, genial relations.

 

Why couldn't he just be a friend to an adult? They were so much easier to deal with.

 

But noooooo… Iruka insisted that it had to be a classmate. Gah.

 

So far, it hadn't worked out to well. He apparently hadn't thought out all the ramifications of his cunning plan to disguise himself as an idiot for his classmates. None of them seemed to take him seriously now, and his, admittedly awkward, attempts to improve relations hadn't worked out so well. The Uchiha fangirl Sakura thought he was hitting on her, Chouji had just given him a puzzled look and not said anything, and Kiba had said something about not wanting the scent of loser rubbing off on him.

 

Note to self: the weakness of long term plans is that situations change.

 

Of course, he could always fail this little extracurricular assignment. Certainly the Uchiha boy didn't seem to suffer from his lack of friends.

 

But that would be too much like giving up. Naruto hadn't found anything he couldn't do, and this wasn't going to be the first.

 

At least the hensou no jutsu training was working out pretty well. His food budget suddenly stretched twice as far when he went shopping as a girl.

 

Nice.

 

Of course, the week he spent with a constant headache from trying, again, and again, and again, to focus the jutsu correctly and manipulate his appearance to what he'd wanted had left him in a pretty grouchy mood.

 

Ahah. Perhaps that was part of why his attempts to `make friends' had failed.

 

Finally he'd gotten the jutsu down pretty well, but the concentration required to maintain it made it nearly worthless. Yeah, he could look however he wanted, but he found out pretty quick that staying that way and following a conversation were mutually exclusive things. One embarrassing incident at a market on the other side of Konoha left him with the thought that that particular form wasn't going to be a character he wanted to use again.

 

Enhancing his own look, however, now that was a lot easier. So now, instead of a short, thin, blond haired boy in orange clothes making ramen, it was a six inch taller, curvy, cute young blonde girl in a blue yukata stirring in the noodles. His clothes were piled neatly beside his bed. The hensou no jutsu relied on an additional henge to change clothes, as they weren't a part of the actual body.

 

Reaction to her had ranged from gentle smiles and nearly patronizing conversations he supposed was meant to reassure him, to interested looks and in one case an outright sexual proposition.

 

Even Anko had approved, and her only complaint, if anything, was that Naruto had the cute girl act down a little too well.

 

 

“Come on, kid, you're a boy! At least be a little awkward about this!”

 

Blushing, she had toed the ground slightly and held her hands behind her back. “D-do you mean, erm, like this?” she said in a hesitant, breathy voice.

 

“Oooh, sexy sexy.” Anko narrowed her eyes. “You keep acting like that, and you're practically begging for someone to come molest you.”

 

Naruto widened her eyes theatrically. “Oh no!” she gasped. “But… but everyone has been so nice to me! Why, if someone were to... accost me, I think I'd scream! Surely someone would save me!” She sounded positively horrified at the thought.

 

Abruptly, Naruko disappeared and Naruto stood there with a cold eyed look. There was a kunai in his hand. “But if not, I'm sure the authorities would admit to a girl's right to defend herself.”

 

Anko grinned. “That's my Naruto.”

 

 

Naruto carefully served himself and sat down to think as she ate.

 

Clearly, this was not something he was going to figure out in a day. Perhaps this random selection process wasn't what he needed. What he needed… what he needed was the perfect candidate.

 

He'd just have to keep hunting until he found one.

 

 

o/~

 

 

The kunai sank two inches into the dense wood of the target log, and Naruto back flipped from the imagined attack, then drew one of his most recent acquisitions, a fourteen inch aikuchi style wakizashi, from behind his back in a reverse grip and slashed across the log at head height for his imaginary enemy. Aikuchi style blades didn't have a tsuba to guard the hand, instead having a smooth profile from the sheathe to the hilt. Kunai were excellently designed throwing knives, but they weren't ideal for hand to hand, though many ninja used them exclusively. Naruto had discovered a book in the public library that offered a reasoned approach to blades, and he'd decided that a blade made for slashing attacks would suit him. The longer blade might also prove an equalizer due to his short reach, and the straighter profile would help should he decide to throw it.

 

Accordingly, he'd bought three, and had two slid under his shirt angled for a right hand draw, and one angled for his left. He'd also managed to pick up a better quality set of kunai, and a stack of cheap shuriken.

 

It was amazing what some money saving tricks like shopping as a girl could do over the course of even just a few weeks.

 

He'd had his eye on a roll of good wire, but it'd be another two months before he could afford that. Good ninja wire was hard to make, and cost appropriately.

 

Fighting with his right on a dedicated knife meant he only had his left free for throwing, but practice was ironing out the kinks, and he was getting as good with his left as he'd been with his right.

 

After an hour, he picked up his weapons and stretched hugely, then decided to go for a cool down run.

 

About a hundred steps after he ran out of the training ground, however, his stomach rumbled. Suddenly, the cool down run, which wasn't really for training, more for easing his muscles into rest, didn't seem like such a pressing matter.

 

Without a single step of hesitation, he made a loop around a tree and took the more direct route back to the village.

 

He ran with an easy lope, using the bare minimum of chakra required for a mild running pace. Amazingly, however, he spotted someone on the trail in front of him, also going back to Konoha. The training ground was the only thing out that way, so Naruto came to the obvious conclusion.

 

“Hey,” he called, using his friendly voice. “I'm done with the training ground, you can have it.”

 

The figure, he could see it was a girl about his age now, made a sound like `eep' and immediately ducked behind a bush.

 

That was odd. Naruto stopped as he neared.

 

“Hello? I was just saying I'm done with the training ground. Don't you want to use it?” he called.

 

A head popped up from behind the bush, short, dark hair framing a red tinged face. Weird, nearly white, pupilless eyes. “Ahhh… thank you, no…” she stammered.

 

“Hinata Hyuga? You don't want the training ground? Why are you out here then?” he asked, honestly curious.

 

He knew her name! She blushed, for that was what it was making her ordinarily pale face seem so red, even more and tapped her fingers together. “A-ah, I was out looking for herbs and I thought I saw one behind this bush.”

 

Naruto blinked. “Really? What was it?” Konoha's forests were full of plants with interesting applications. He'd read a couple books on the subject.

 

She glanced around. “A-ah, akebi.”

 

Naruto's expression grew serious as he tried to remember what akebi was.

 

Seeing the look on his face, she pulled a length of vine out of the branches of the bush and held them up for his inspection. “Akebi. Chocolate vine.”

 

“Oh.” No wonder he didn't remember. It had no ninja applications.

 

Hinata looked away. Of course he wouldn't be impressed by something so useless. Like her.

 

“Hey, what's wrong? You got this look all of a sudden…” He trailed off. That was an odd reaction.

 

“N-nothing. I-“ She broke off.

 

Naruto raised one eyebrow, not at Hinata, but at himself. Wow, he really needed to learn how to talk to people. No wonder he still hadn't completed Iruka's assignment.

 

“So what were you going to do with the akebi?” he asked suddenly. She seemed to do best with direct questions.

 

“Ahh, I was going to plant some at home,” she said hesitantly.

 

“Why? What's it good for?”

 

She looked down. “Not much.”

 

Naruto nearly walked away in frustration. “But it's got to be good for something, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have wanted it, right?”

 

Hinata was about to pass out from the stress. Here he was, TALKING to her, and she couldn't even answer his questions. He probably thought she was an idiot. “Well,” she began finally, “you can eat the berries when they're ripe. And it smells like chocolate...” She glanced at Naruto's face, and her heart sunk. He was bored and probably only talking to her to be polite. Frantically, she ransacked her memory to come up with something he might be interested in.

 

“A-also, you can add it to things you want to smell like chocolate, like p-poisons, if you want.” Oh, great, now he'd think she was some scary poisoner girl. No one liked people who used poisons.

 

Her heart leapt as Naruto perked up and looked interested. It worked!

 

“Really?” he replied. “I guess I kind of thought that it was a useless vine, but I can see uses for that. So you really know your plants, huh?”

 

She blushed more. Now he'd think she was arrogant. “Not really,” she said shamefaced.

 

“Oh, come on. You knew what akebi was, that's more than I know. Know any good local poisons?”

 

Shyly, she nodded. “There's a mold you can find sometimes that's really deadly-“

 

Naruto shook his head. “Nah, I know that one, and it's too easily countered and too hard to concentrate. What I want is a nice paralytic poison, something that won't kill, but can stop.”

 

Hinata nodded thoughtfully.

 

“The best would be aconite, but it doesn't grow around here. I'd have to buy it, and it's too expensive.”

 

“The Grass village has some really good poisons,” Hinata replied, “but you'd have the same problem.”

 

Naruto nodded. “Yeah, they have some good ones, or so I've read. And Sand has some good ones, too, scorpion venom and snake types.”

 

Hinata remembered something she'd saw one, when reading about edible mushrooms. “Ano, does it have to be a paralyzing poison? Because there's something called a tiger mushroom that you can sometimes find near Konoha. It causes severe pain and convulsions.”

 

Naruto blinked. “Hey, that would work pretty good. Where can I find tiger mushrooms?”

 

Hinata poked her fingers together and blushed, but this time in pleasure. “Damp, shady places, mostly, just like other mushrooms. They have dark stripes like a tiger on their undersides, but they're pale white on top, just like a lot of other types.”

 

Naruto smiled at her. He smiled at her!

 

“Hey, thanks, Hyuga-san. I'm going to get something to eat now. Good luck on finding herbs!” Giving her a jaunty wave, he jogged away towards Konoha.

 

Less than a minute later, he smacked himself in the forehead and turned around again. This time, however, he couldn't find the Hyuga girl.

 

 

o/~

 

 

Warily, Naruto watched the dark haired girl in class. She was quiet. Really, she said less of meaning to her classmates than he did, and up until recently, Naruto had never been anything but frivolous.

 

She was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in something he really didn't understand.

 

Hell, she seemed to be the most powerful of all the kunoichi, not that, admittedly, that was saying much. Her grades were good, but not as high as Sakura's perfect scores. Ino was better at civilian blending skills, but Hinata wasn't ignorant. And when it came time for sparring, she seemed to have lightening reflexes for taijutsu. Her chakra control seemed nearly perfect, as well.

 

But then she'd nearly invariably lose on points.

 

Weird. It was almost as if…

 

Naruto's eyebrow raised.

 

She wasn't really trying.

 

Fascinating.

 

What reason could she have for hiding her abilities? He knew why he did it. But something about the brief conversation he'd had with him didn't seem right.

 

So, time for more research.

 

 

o/~

 

 

A week later, he had to admit, he hadn't learned much. His hensou no jutsu was useful for following her around without being noticed, but she seemed basically impossible to follow without being seen whenever she left public areas, almost like she had eyes in the back of her head. Once, she seemed to go to the training grounds, but when he `happened' to show up, she was nowhere to be found.

 

And the rest of the time, she was in that damned high walled place she called home. No way to sneak in there.

 

But he'd learned a few things. The Hyuga were an old, rich, powerful clan. The oldest, the richest, the most powerful in Konoha. And, they had a bloodline limit, the byakugan, which enabled them to see much better than any other shinobi, save possibly the Uchiha, which explained why it was so damned hard to follow her.

 

Lastly, she seemed to be just about the most insecure person he'd ever met. He'd developed a theory that the reason she didn't try wasn't because she didn't want to tip her hand, it was because she was somehow afraid.

 

Which didn't make any damned sense.

 

Okay, the time for intel gathering was past. Time for an assault.

 

 

o/~

 

 

“A-ano, you wanted to meet me out here, Naruto-kun?” she asked weakly. A thousand scenarios had ran through her head since he'd asked her to help him find the tiger mushroom after school.

 

“Yeah. Like I said earlier, I can't seem to find a tiger mushroom anywhere around here.” He scratched the back of his head and chuckled lightly at his own stupidity. Really, he hadn't even tried. “You've got that amazing vision thing, right? What's it called?”

 

“Ah, it's called the byakugan. It's the Hyuga clan bloodline limit. Of course I'll use it to help you find the mushroom.” She was flattered he'd even asked.

 

“Lead the way, oh beautiful Hyuga princess,” he intoned, bowing low.

 

*thump*

 

“Hinata? What the hell?”

 

A minute later and some not completely kind slaps to her cheeks brought her back around.

 

“I'm so sorry, really! I'm really terribly sorry about that,” she exclaimed, horribly embarrassed.

 

God she was annoying. “No, no, it's okay. Why did you faint, anyway?”

 

“..eep!”

 

Rolling his eyes where she couldn't see them, he shook his head. “Ah, never mind. If it makes you that uncomfortable. Anyway, onward to the mushrooms!”

 

For a while, he let her search in peace, watching curiously as she formed seals and channeled chakra to her eyes, making her vision seem freakishly intense. She would point out groups of mushrooms, and he'd obediently go and investigate, though so far they hadn't found a rare tiger mushroom.

 

“So, what's your family like?” Naruto asked.

 

“What?” she asked in shock, dropping her technique.

 

“Sorry, I was just curious and wanted to know some more about you. I don't have a family, you know,” he replied offhandedly.

 

She dropped her head. “I know,” she whispered.

 

He picked up on her mood. “Eh, it's not great, but it's not too bad. I mean, it'd be nice to have a mother or father, I guess.”

 

She nodded, slowly. “I lost my mother when I was very young. I miss her, sometimes.”

 

Finally, some answers. “And your father?”

 

She took a while before replying. “Father is the head of the entire family. He is very… strict.”

 

Interesting word choice. “Yeah, I guess it'd be nice, but it is kinda nice to not have someone always nagging at me.”

 

She bobbed her head, then resumed her search.

 

A little while later, he tried a more direct approach. “Hey, Hinata?”

 

“Yes?” she asked softly.

 

“You seem like you could be a really good fighter, but you always lose your sparring matches. Why is that?”

 

She blushed. “I-I'm really not very good at fighting.”

 

He gave her a puzzled look. “But you could be. You're faster than anyone else with your hands, I've seen you. You should be kicking ass.”

 

“I can't,” she replied helplessly.

 

“But why?” he pressed, getting irritated.

 

She wrung her hands in consternation. “I just can't!”

 

“That's not an answer,” he pointed out reasonably.

 

“I'm just not like you, okay?” she snapped. “I w-want to be like you, I want to TRY like you, but I can't!”

 

Naruto blinked, stunned, then, before he could help himself, laughed.

 

Mortified, she turned and bolted.

 

“Shit!” This wasn't going according to plan. He'd already put a lot of energy into this, and he wasn't going to see it wasted just because of some weird girl. He bounded after her.

 

Fortunately, while Hinata had lightening quick punches, she was only an average runner, and Naruto managed to catch up to her and tackle her from behind. They fell into a skidding roll, and he suddenly found himself with a wildcat in his arms. She flailed about frantically, and her blows, while glancing hurt more than they had a right to.

 

“Hin-oof-ata, wait oww! a minute! Stop you're OWW hurting me!” he gasped, trying to keep the panicking girl from escaping. Her own breath seemed to be coming in hitches and sobs, and her struggles, if anything, were getting stronger and faster.

 

Finally, in desperation, he let go with one hand, taking the stinging blow to his chest in favor of a nice over arm swing that bonked his fist off the top of her head. She went limp in his arms.

 

“Finally, crap,” he gasped, rolling off her unconscious body. “Crazy bitch needs to calm down now.”

 

After a moment to get his breath back and massage feeling back into the places she'd hit, he rubbed his head. “Alright, now what?”

 

 

Hinata awoke to another series of stinging slaps to her cheeks, and she gasped and struggled to sit up. However, there seemed to be someone in bright orange clothes sitting on her chest, and her arms were tied behind her back, and her feet seemed to be tied together as well. “NARUTO!”

 

“Calm down, Hinata, I just want to talk, okay? Just take a deep breath and calm…” he said, demonstrating, “down.”

 

After a moment's struggle, she did as he commanded.

 

“Now. I don't know what I said to upset you. I'm sorry I laughed. But I wasn't laughing at you.” Tiny lie, there. “Now, could you please tell me what's wrong?”

 

“I… You laughed at me,” she said plaintively.

 

He sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I was laughing, err, at myself.”

 

“What?”

 

“At myself,” he repeated, warming to his story. “You see, I'm not really trying at the academy. I'm kinda afraid to.” Oh, what a lie, he thought. Those famous eyes really don't see much, do they?

 

She struggled to sit up again, looking at him with wide eyes, then gave up. “Afraid? Why? Of what?” she asked, shocked.

 

He shrugged, because, honestly, he didn't know what to tell her.

 

“But, you've always tried so hard!” she proclaimed, trying to make sense of his words. “When we were learning the shadow shuriken technique, you stayed out there practicing it for days!”

 

“Hinata, I figured it out in about ten minutes. I just didn't want everyone else to know that I could do it.”

 

“But, why?”

 

He shrugged again. “So if I ever fought one of them, I could use the technique and it'd come as a complete surprise.”

 

She shook her head. “But why would you fight one of your friends like that?”

 

“They're not my friends,” he replied honestly.

 

“Not your friends?! What do you mean?” Concern was easy to see on her face, and he frowned.

 

“I don't have any friends. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot, and I've put a lot of work into making them think so.”

 

“A-ano, I don't think you're an idiot, Naruto-kun,” she said hesitantly.

 

One corner of his mouth quirked up. “I guess so. And here all this time I've been trying to be your friend, too.”

 

Her eyes widened in shock. “Trying to…!” Her head made a soft thump as it hit the ground.

 

“Hinata?” he asked, poking her cheek with one finger. “Hinata?” Pause. “SON OF A BITCH!”

 

 

o/~

 

 

“I want you to hit me.”

 

“Huh?

 

“Hit me,” Naruto replied. “Come on, don't you want to know what it's really like? I hit you earlier. Pretty hard, even. Knocked you out. So hit me.”

 

“But, I don't want-“ she began.

 

“Come on, Hinata, you'll never know what you can do if you don't ball up that fist and HIT someone with it.” He jumped in front of her and stood unguarded. “Come on. Hit me, right here,” he said, tapping his jaw.

 

“But, Naruto, it'll hurt you,” she protested.

 

I can take it, he didn't say out loud. “It's okay, I probably deserve it. Come on, Hinata. I know you've got it in you, you just need to release it. Now do what I say, and hit me.”

 

Dubiously, she clenched her fist and looked first at it, then at him. “A-are you sure?”

 

“Come on, free shot. I won't hate you, I won't get mad at you, in fact, nothing would make me happier than for you to hit me. So come on.” He tapped his jaw again, then settled his stance, bracing himself. “Hit me.”

 

She raised her fist, then half lowered it, fear writ plain on her face.

 

“We've really got to work on your following instructions. HIT ME.”

 

Slowly, Hinata raised her fist again, took a deep breath, and swung like a cobra striking out at a mongoose.

 

Suddenly the world was all in gray, and he was looking at it sideways, the grass covering about half his vision, and Hinata moving frantically, calling out to him in some sort of weird, frantic, totally silent way.

 

“Hey,” he protested weakly. “You hit me in the ear…”

 

Blackness.

 

 

o/~

 

 

 

It turned out, there were a whole host of problems with being `friends' with a Hyuga.

 

For one, Naruto was basically persona non grata to the Hyugas, who prided breeding and class almost as much as they prided power. And after one pointed comment to Hinata one evening, just from a shopkeeper whom Naruto had once dumped a powder made from poison ivy leaves on his hanging laundry, it became clear that just his presence could hurt Hinata's standing. So he avoided her in public, and she took his explanation well enough, though she looked sad.

 

Another, and rather more difficult to solve, issue, was that she was expected to train at her home nearly all of her time outside the academy, which he'd already knew, but hadn't considered.

 

Although, it wasn't like he wanted to spend a whole lot of time around her, but he had certain obligations he needed to fulfill if he was going to solve this tremendously difficult problem Ibiki-san and Iruka-sensei had given him.

 

Naruto didn't complain, though. He could see the utility. There almost certainly would come a time when he'd have to `make friends', either to gain an ally, or deceive an enemy.

 

Too bad he had no talent for making friends.

 

But, hey, he could fake it.

 

So he listened to her dreary problems. He sat through her blushing, stammering explanation of why she looked up to him, which took an hour longer than it had a right to. He discovered that she actually had a longstanding interest in him and would often keep track of his movements and activities, to a level that, quite frankly, scared the hell out of him at first, though he quickly warmed to the possibilities inherent in a Hyuga ally. At some length he realized that where most girls in his class had an infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata had a mad romantic crush on him. He nodded seriously when she told him that she was the weakest member of the Hyuga, and how her father wouldn't acknowledge her.

 

And while he listened, he thought. And came to a conclusion.

 

Everyone's looking for something. Figure out what that something is, and offer it to them, and you have power over them. Power that can be used for all sorts of interesting things. This was why everyone was so upset that he didn't understand why he needed friends. And, really, that was kind of a childish, silly thing to think. By not having friends, he was limiting the heights he could reach as a ninja.

 

Naruto had some things he wanted to do. Things he would need friends for.

 

So, finally, at the end of yet another conversation where Hinata found herself pouring out her fears and secrets to this boy she barely knew but had admired for so long…

 

Naruto clapped one hand on each of her shoulders and looked her square in the eye, pouring every ounce of seriousness, of conviction, of force of personality he possessed into the look he gave her, and said three little words.

 

“I acknowledge you.”

 

Her smile was small, but genuine. There was even a tear in her eye. And Naruto turned and walked away, confident she'd follow.

 

And she did.

 

Because that was what she was. Now to make her useful.

 

 

o/~

 

 

“I have an assignment for you, Hinata. A… schoolwork assignment, if you will.” Naruto smirked at her, his eyes both hard and knowing.

 

It made her shiver. She'd always known Naruto was the type to never give up, and he was stronger than everyone gave him credit for, but she'd had no idea how strong. He'd given her a glimpse. She wanted more.

 

“Yes, Naruto,” she replied, regretting how short their time together was. Between school and her training at home, she was lucky to see him at the training grounds twice a week, and then often for only an hour or two. But, while he'd shown her the strength she really possessed, and shown her how to compensate for the weaknesses that daunted her, the most amazing things were what he'd taught her about what it meant to be a ninja.

 

“I want you to lose a fight.”

 

Her eyes widened.

 

His smile widened in that knowing way he had, as if he were twice her age rather than a few months younger. “You've shown that you can hide your abilities, even from yourself. You've gotten better at learning what you're actually capable of. But you're still afraid of losing. You're still afraid of what people will think of you, right?”

 

Hinata wanted to protest, but Naruto seemed to know her better than she knew herself. And she knew that it wasn't a question he'd asked her. She nodded.

 

“People are often fools. They see what they want.” He raised his eyebrow at her. “In some cases, they see what they don't want. You're still afraid of failure. So, you fail. Like a rabbit so afraid of the snake, all it can do is stare and shiver as the snake slithers up and eats it. You have to accept failure. Some of the time, you are going to fail.”

 

“Ah, Naruto, but you've never failed when you didn't mean to,” she said hesitantly.

 

He shook his head. “Actually, Hinata, I've failed a number of times. And I was really, really, close to failing what I've been told is the most important lesson a ninja can learn.”

 

“What's that?”

 

“The importance of friends,” he said with a tight smile. “You're helping me learn that lesson. And I'm going to help you.”

 

She felt her cheeks warm, and her chest felt tight, but it wasn't a bad thing. It actually felt… good.

 

“So, here's what I want you to do.” He put a hand on her shoulder, like he always did when he was being really serious. “I want you to lose a fight,” he said, exactly the way he'd first brought it up.

 

“I don't understand.”

 

“Lose a fight,” he repeated. “I want you to pick a fight with someone at school. Someone weak. I want you to start a fight where you won't be the hero. And, I want you to lose.”

 

“B-but,” she started, then shut her mouth. What if her father found out? A Hyuga, losing a pointless fight, he'd be furious! There was no telling what sort of punishment he'd make her do.

 

Naruto's eyes got hard as she made a word of protest, then softened as he saw her resolve firm. “Yes, that's it, exactly. Whatever consequences will be, will be. We may lose a fight with an enemy one day. If so, we will die. It's as simple as that. But if you're afraid of dying all the time, you won't have the will to win.”

 

He was right. Wordlessly, not trusting herself to speak, she nodded. She would do it. Because Naruto told her to, and Naruto was always right.

 

“Now, let's spar. Show me you know how to lose, and make it look good.”

 

She nodded, then paused. “Ah, I think I made a mistake yesterday.”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“When I beat Shikamaru in that taijutsu spar,” she explained softly. “He looked surprised, and he had shifty eyes. I think he suspects I've gotten better.”

 

Naruto rubbed his nose. “I was wondering about that, I watched the whole match. I don't think it's an issue, Shikamaru isn't very strong, but if you say he looked suspicious, I'll keep an eye on him.”

 

She blushed in pleasure. Naruto hadn't been disappointed in her.

 

“Now, come at me like you hate me.”

 

 

o/~

 

 

There were collective gasps from all around her, students who couldn't believe that Hinata, the shyest girl in class, had just said that to INO, the loudest.

 

“W-what?!” Ino spluttered, shocked beyond thought for a moment at the insult coming from HINATA of all people. But never mind who, it was what she said that pissed her off. Beside her, Sakura and Tsuki, a brunette who lived down the road from her family shop, also bristled at the comments, unsure who it'd been directed at. But it was Ino who'd responded first.

 

Oh no, this was incredibly hard. She didn't have anything against Ino. But she'd gotten scared the first day, and while Naruto hadn't said anything, she could feel his disapproval burning into her as she'd walked home. And today, when Ino had been squabbling with Sakura and Tsuki over some imagined trait of Sasuke, she'd just blurted it out. Now she wanted to sink into her chair. The eyes of the entire class were boring into her, but only one mattered. She briefly locked gazes with Naruto. He had a smile.

 

“I asked what you said, Hinata,” Ino repeated, her voice low and dangerous. “Or don't you have the guts to say it to my face?”

 

Taking a deep breath, Hinata steeled her nerves and mustered disdain into her voice. “Sorry, I didn't realize you were deaf and stupid. I said, `Will the blonde screeching harpy Uchiha fangirl ever sit down and shut up?' Which wasn't what she'd really said, having actually referred to `all the stupid Uchiha fangirls'. But since Ino made herself a target, she could paraphrase.

 

Wow. It was really kind of neat watching the flicker of changing expressions on Ino's face as she went from pissed to completely irrational in the span of about five seconds.

 

“You…! You…! YOU BITCH!” Ino screeched, her voice hitting those high registers she was infamous for when she got mad.

 

Hinata winced theatrically and dug a finger into her ear. “Alright, alright, I apologize. You can keep looking like an idiot as you throw yourself at Sasuke all you want. Just shut up, please, no one wants to hear it.” Several people around her, all male, chuckled appreciatively. Two were looking at her with raised eyebrows, and one was Shikamaru. He looked, it was hard to say, smarter than usual.

 

Ino spluttered in fresh rage, then lunged abruptly. She barely made it three feet before people around her grabbed her and held her back.

 

Hinata yawned, covering her mouth politely, and turned away as if bored. It took a moment, because her heart was pounding, but, with a struggle, she managed to resume her usual blank expression.

 

“HEY! Don't you look away from me, you bitch!” Ino cried, visibly struggling with her attackers. Hinata didn't bother looking around, but as a Hyuga, her peripheral vision was extraordinary. “What the hell is wrong with you, Hinata?!” Ino forcibly calmed herself, then turned catty. “I guess even little miss prissy gets pissy `that time'.”

 

Hinata winced inside. She didn't want to hurt Ino. But she had a mission. She could feel bad about it later. Maybe she'd even be able to make it up to Ino later.

 

Instead, she shook her head slowly. “No, Ino, only little girls let their bodies control them,” she replied, putting enough disdain in her voice at `little girls' as she turned and looked at the blonde that there was no doubt who she was referring to. “But I guess it is amusing that everyone around you knows when you're in `that time',” she added mockingly.

 

“I'm gonna kick your ass!” Ino screeched, and lunged anew.

 

Surprisingly, Hinata felt herself warming to the exercise. She gave Ino a full force look from her byakugan. “You could never touch a Hyuga, Yamanaka. These eyes miss nothing. Like the padding on your chest.”

 

There were scattered snickers at that, but most of the class was looking at Hinata like she'd grown a second head. She wanted to wilt under the mutters and the glares. Apparently, she'd succeeded in more than just getting Ino mad enough to want to fight.

 

“You and me! Right here!” Ino called, and Sakura actually let go of her friend's arm.

 

Hinata shrugged as if it didn't matter. “Nah. I'd want a challenge. Besides, Iruka-sensei will be back soon.”

 

“After class, then, bitch!”

 

“I'll be there.”

 

Iruka walked back in to a class abuzz with tension. He tried to figure it out, but other than some hostile glances here and there, directed, as near as he could tell, at no one in particular, he ended up passing it off as kids being kids.

 

The rest of the day was pure torture for Hinata. She had to fight Ino later today. And she had to lose, and lose badly. Yesterday, it had just been Naruto's disapproval she had to deal with. But today, everyone hated her. In just a few minutes, she'd gone from being ignored, just a dark, weird, shy girl, to being an arrogant bitch that no one liked. Even Naruto- wait.

 

Yes, he did look at her. And his face was just as stony and hateful as the looks everyone else was giving her.

 

Then he winked at her. Fast. Just a flutter of his eyelid. And Hinata knew that the only person who mattered knew what she was doing. And approved.

 

She could do this. She could! For Naruto. And herself.

 

 

“Alright, bitch, ready to get your ass kicked?!” Ino spat viciously. She'd spent the entire day stewing, getting angrier and angrier. To make her even more furious, Hinata seemed almost bored.

 

Hinata, for her part, was anything but bored. In fact, she was incredibly nervous. Frightened, even, but she covered it up by concentrating on the weariness she felt from having been tense for two days straight. Instead of looking tired, though, she looked bored.

 

Almost their entire class stood around, minus a few who'd had to leave for various reasons, but plus a few accidental audience members who'd tagged along out of curiosity.

 

“Kick her ass, Ino!” Sakura called. Her sentiment was echoed by quite a few other girls, most of them irritated by Hinata's disdain for `Uchiha fan girls'.

 

“Oh, I will,” Ino replied, gritting her teeth and stepping lightly into the informal ring the audience had formed. Most of them were distinctly on `her' side of the arena. “Watch me kick her ass, Sasuke!”

 

“Sasuke isn't here, Ino,” Hinata answered. “I guess he didn't feel like seeing you get humiliated today. After all, he sees it every day you throw yourself at him.”

 

“DIE!” Ino screeched, and charged.

 

Hinata had never faced such an angry enemy before. She'd fought faster, in fact, everyone in her family was faster, and Naruto was no slouch, either. But Ino had a ferocity to her motions that made her rather intimidating. She dodged the first punch and slapped Ino's snap kick away on reflex, slipping into her training for an instant.

 

And, for a brief moment, she saw it. She saw an opening as Ino stumbled away, she could hit the blonde full in the chest with a juken, then dominate the fight from there. It was tempting, after all, Ino really wanted to hurt her. Hinata's hand flashed out… then slowed.

 

Ino leapt away, breathing hard and massaging her calf where Hinata had slapped it.

 

Hinata shifted back to a normal standing posture, not a stance, her hands at her sides. Even without her byakugan activated, she could have ended the fight. And, for the first time, she understood what Naruto meant when he said hiding your abilities took more effort than displaying them.

 

But, she wasn't as good as Naruto. It was only through Naruto's guidance that she had become willing to hurt other people at all, which basically meant beating the hell out of Naruto in most of their practice sessions. Did she have anything to hide?

 

Ino charged again, throwing a series of quick punches to her torso, forcing Hinata to clench her hands to avoid countering and dart to each side and backwards to avoid being hit.

 

“But I'm supposed to-” she whispered to herself, stopping before she said anything Ino might pick up. She was supposed to lose. Because Naruto said so. It was her mission to lose.

 

Ino's leg connected with her thigh with a meaty thwack as Hinata slowed for a moment. Pain lanced up her leg, and Hinata jumped to one side and rolled away, nursing her injured leg. The girl wasn't anywhere near as strong as Naruto, but she'd picked probably the worse, or perhaps the best, time to get hit. It had been a full force blow, right at the maximum extension and speed.

 

“Hah!” Ino exulted. “Not so cocky now, are you? I guess the Hyuga aren't all that after all!”

 

Hinata crouched, breathing fast and shallow as she dropped one hand to feel of her leg. Up until now, she'd been almost totally passive, responding to the attacks only. Time to attack.

 

She leapt from her crouch at Ino, arms outstretched as if to tackle. Ino dodged to the side easily enough, though without time to counterattack, and Hinata landed on her hands and flipped into a roll, coming to her feet in an instant. Spinning to avoid the knee aimed at her kidneys, she launched an uppercut at Ino's face. Fortunately for Ino, who had one hand ineffectually on Hinata's shoulder, and her other blocked by Hinata's forearm, Hinata deliberately missed to the left, brushing her cheek with the edge of her hand. After all, she had been the bully, and she didn't deserve to win.

 

And Ino head butted her in the nose.

 

“OW!” Hinata cried, stumbling back. The blonde must have been well and truly pissed to risk damage to her own face just to hit Hinata.

 

“That's for being such a stuck up Hyuga,” Ino called, though she clutched at her own forehead.

 

The crowd cheered, immensely entertained.

 

“GO INO!” Sakura called. “That's using your FOREHEAD!”

 

“Sorry, Sakura!” Ino called back, turning slightly. “Didn't mean to steal your secret technique, forehead girl!”

 

That had hurt, Hinata thought to herself as she clutched her now bloody nose. It didn't feel broken, but just touching it brought spikes of pain and made her eyes water. Okay, forget losing, forget winning, forget whose fault this fight was, Hinata was pissed.

 

So she darted forward, following Ino's rapidly retreating steps and flailing hands, and punched the girl in the stomach, barely remembering to not use the juken, but not pulling the strength any, either.

 

Ino folded up over her hand and retched in an instant, vomit splattering down Hinata's leg and shoe.

 

Still pissed, Hinata grabbed Ino's ponytail and proceeded to knee her in the head several times, the first time pretty hard, the second and third much more gently, more for show. Of course, this had the effect of smearing bits of Ino's lunch all over her face. Some of the crowd cheered for that, too, but more catcalls and insults flew her way than anything.

 

Hinata released Ino's hair and allowed her to slump to her hands and knees, spitting bile into the grass. “Come on, Ino, is that all you've got?!” Hinata raged. “Is that it? You get hit and you quit? You really are pathetic, you know that? Get up! Get up and hit me!” Unconsciously, she repeated the same thing Naruto had told her in their first real sparring session together.

 

Ino retched one last time, then lifted her head as she wiped drool and blood from her lips with the back of one hand, glaring at Hinata from beneath disheveled bangs.

 

“Come on!” Hinata taunted, shocked at the words coming out of her mouth. “Or just quit, go home. I've got no use for someone who won't FIGHT!”

 

Naruto, she thought. Naruto's words, my mouth.

 

And I used to be such a nice girl.

 

Ino launched herself like a charging boar, a wordless scream of fury exploding from her throat as she leapt for her tormentor.

 

Not thinking, just knowing that it was time, she braced herself for the impact, holding out her hands to meet the rush.

 

Ino planted one foot right before she hit, using that leg for extra power as she hit upwards, head down, arms outstretched. As a fighting technique, it sucked. But Hinata didn't move, she took it, head hitting between her breasts, arms wrapping around her, everything.

 

The two flew together, and somehow Ino ended up with her knees in Hinata's stomach, driving the air from them with a tremendous ooof as they hit, Hinata flat on her back.

 

The first punch hit Hinata's bloody nose with a feeling like a starburst in her head. Everything was kind of muted after that, with Ino screaming imprecations and pounding fist after fist into Hinata's face, before finally, the screaming, snarling she-beast was pulled bodily off Hinata's limp body.

 

Time passed.

 

A number of figures surrounded her, hard to see through her swollen eyes, a strange sensation for a Hyuga.

 

More time passed.

 

The figures went away, except for one, who crouched down beside her.

 

And he spoke.

 

“Today, I watched a girl do the hardest thing I've ever seen. Everyone wants to be the hero. Everyone wants to be right. But sometimes, we need to do things that aren't right. Because they have to be done. It takes a lot to be a bad guy when you don't mean it. It takes a lot to lose when you have to. Today, I watched a girl, a silly, blonde thing obsessed with boys and her hair, walk away from a victory, her bloody face held high in pride. She's probably never known a victory before. You gave her that, Hinata, and no one will ever know it but me.”

 

He paused, and bent down closer. Hinata wasn't sure, her lips seemed swollen and numb, but he may have kissed her. She'd have blushed, but her cheeks were turning an ugly shade of blue not suitable for blushing.

 

“Yours will be other victories. For now, enjoy your defeat, and know it was right.”

 

Moaning softly, Hinata allowed him to pick her up and carry her to the hospital. Naruto's kiss burned on her lips.