Six Months Later; In Konoha)
At the ninja academy, all of the students were of various age groups were gathered together outside in the training yard. Many Chuunin teachers, the headmaster and even the Sandaime were there. Today everyone was gathered together outside to demonstrate their newly learned jutsu or fighting styles, be it from the academy or their respective clan.
Many of the would-be Genins were all talking and conversing with each other about how they intend to prove their strengths to whoever their opponent was. Sasuke (age 9) was brooding by himself to the side with most of the girls of this age group drooling over him; all but one Hyuuga Hinata (age 9), whose eyes and heart was drawn to the class clown and village pariah, Uzumaki Naruto (age 9). Speaking of Naruto, he was off to the side hiding behind a tree reading a book of some sort, one of a series of books he had to keep from being found. Hinata couldn't help but notice that a blush would frequently appear on Naruto's face with a couple of giggles escaping his mouth when he read those books.
'I wonder what he could be reading in those books,' Hinata wondered, but never grew the courage to ask him personally, 'It must be an interesting book.'
Hinata wasn't the only eyeing Naruto. At another spot, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime, was looking over at Naruto who distanced himself away from the rest of the class. Not for the same reasons as Sasuke, but because he was up to one of his mischievous antics. It was no secret to Hiruzen what Naruto was reading, even though he wondered what triggered Naruto's complete change in character nine months ago.
"Attention everyone," Iruka said, grabbing everyone's attention, "Please assemble with your class as we're about to commence today's event, the Academy Field Day."
Despite being engrossed in his book, Naruto closed and put his book away before making his way back to his class. As he did so, Sakura (age 9) and Ino (age 9), along with some of the other girls, were competing over who was going to stand next to Sasuke, much to the other boys' and teachers' annoyance.
"All of you please knock it off and give the headmaster and Hokage a professional impression of yourselves," Iruka (age 23) berated, "You all are future ninjas of this village so please play the part professionally!"
That got them to quiet down and a pay attention up front.
"You certainly have a way with words Iruka," Hiruzen remarked with a chuckle. Iruka scratched the back of his head with a small grin.
"Nah," Iruka replied, "I'm just trying to help them become the best ninjas our village can produce."
"Such modesty," the headmaster commented as he made his way over to Iruka and Hiruzen. The headmaster himself was a B-A Class Jounin ninja.
"I'm honored that you chose to be present for today's event despite your very busy schedule Sandaime-sama," the headmaster said.
"Well," Hiruzen said, "Even I need a break from all of my work. Besides I personally wanted to see the progress everyone has made so far while attending the academy."
"I made lots and lots of progress jiisan," Naruto yelled enthusiastically, "Just you wait. After today, you'll be begging to pass down that Hokage hat and robe to me as your successor! Dattebayo!"
"Knock it off Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "This is not a time for one of your jokes! If anything, Sasuke-kun has a better chance at the title Hokage than you do! Ain't that right Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn," Sasuke grunted with his hands in his pants pocket.
"Well Naruto," Hiruzen smiled, "I'm sure with Iruka's help you've made some improvements. So please do your best. And that goes for all of you here."
All of the students nodded their heads. The headmaster stepped forward to address the students.
"The purpose of the Academy Field Day is to gauge the progress not only you as future ninjas have made but also to assess where your strongest and weakest points are and how we can work on strengthening where your weaknesses are."
"Those with weaknesses aren't fit to be ninjas," Sasuke remarked, "They'll just get in my and everyone's way."
"Sakura-chan," Naruto remarked, "What was that comment about Sasuke making Hokage before I do? Because I doubt that jiisan would name someone as cold and arrogant as him as his successor."
"Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that," another girl said before Sakura could give a retort to Naruto.
"Everyone stop this petty argument and stay focus on the purpose of today's activities," the headmaster stated firmly. He waited until he had everyone's attention.
"Good," the headmaster said, "Now, we'll start with taijutsu. Each of you will be given a spar partner and both you and your sparring partner will demonstrate your taijutsu skills. No weapons, ninjutsu or genjutsu will be allowed during your taijutsu match. Seriously injuring anyone is not permitted. Disobedience to these rules will result in immediate disciplinary actions. After your taijutsu match you'll be tested in the use of weapons. Your third test will be your ninjutsu test. Is there any questions?"
"Are all this troublesome fights between classmates really necessary?" Shikamaru asked boredly.
"At least show some enthusiasm in performing in front of your Hokage, Shikamaru," Mizuki said. Shikamaru simply shrugged. Next to him was Chouji who was eating a bag of potato chips.
"Now we'll divide and pair each of you with your sparring opponents," Iruka said, "First match, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."
"Hn," Sasuke grunted.
"Alright!" Naruto cheered excitedly, "I'm first to show jiisan how far I came in my training!"
"The only thing you'll show is how far your training will crash you down into the ground on your face Naruto," Kiba (age 9) mocked causing everyone to start laughing at Naruto.
"Shut up!" Naruto retorted, "At least I know when to take showers so as to not smell like the pets you sleep with!"
Now everyone was laughing at Kiba, who was now fuming at Naruto.
"Why you-"
"Kiba that's enough!" Iruka yelled, "The same goes for you too, Naruto! Now Sasuke, Naruto, step forward and give each other the tradition shinobi greeting, a sign to show good sportsmanship and no hostility."
Naruto and Sasuke both made their way to the front where the match was to be held. Naruto made the hand sign of friendship but Sasuke gave no regard in doing likewise. He just looked at Naruto as someone who was inferior and beneath him.
"What's the matter Sasuke?" Naruto asked with annoyance, "Too high and mighty to follow directions?"
"I'll only do so with someone who I consider my equal," Sasuke replied, "You're not such a person Naruto."
"You're right teme," Naruto remarked, "I can never dream to equal or rival your selfish, undisciplined arrogance."
Sasuke snarled at Naruto who in turned snarled back at him.
"Show the dead last a thing or two Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled.
"Don't take that crap from him Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. Many of the other girls and even some of the boys were cheering Sasuke on to pummel Naruto. Hinata was the only one in the background cheering Naruto on, though not as audibly as everyone else who was cheering for Sasuke.
Naruto turned and looked at Sasuke's fan club with disgust and irritation. Hiruzen sighed to himself seeing such displays before him. He knew Sasuke behavior was a problem and clearly no progress was made in changing his character.
"Sasuke, Naruto," Iruka said, "Be professional about this before your Hokage! Now prepare to spar!"
Sasuke said nothing at he assumed his battle stance. Naruto stood there as though he knew of no stance to take. Everyone in the crowd expected to see a quick match, with Naruto as the obvious loser. Sadly, even Hiruzen admitted to himself that Naruto wasn't at Sasuke's level in many things in regards to being a fighter. But with regards to everything else, Sasuke failed when compared to Naruto.
"Ready," Iruka said, "Begin!"
As expected, Naruto charged head first towards Sasuke at a fast speed. He threw a quick right punch at Sasuke, which was easily avoided, as Sasuke side stepped Naruto to the left.
"Predictable," Sasuke mocked as the maneuver caused Naruto to seemingly trip forward, making him appear like he was about to fall to the ground. Things changed however as Naruto turned on his right foot and swiftly brought and swung his left foot up, effectively catching Sasuke's face in his range as he, Sasuke, passed him by. Sasuke was sent spinning and sailing to the ground with a facial bruise and busted lip as Naruto managed to regain his balance and keep from falling to the ground. Everyone was left stunned and utterly speechless after seeing how Naruto within mere seconds made a fool out of the now dazed and humbled Sasuke who was struggling to get back up while nursing the injury Naruto just inflicted on him.
"Did that just happened?" Shikamaru (age 9) asked, too shocked to believe what he and everyone else saw.
"That's what I'm trying to believe," Chouji (age 9) remarked.
"He caught Sasuke completely off guard," Shino (age 9) commented, "An outcome I was not expecting at the very least."
"It was a lucky shot!" Ino replied in denial, "There's no way Naruto could have hit Sasuke-kun that easily! It was just a case of extreme dumb luck!"
Regardless of what was being said, Hinata looked very happy and pleased that Naruto won the first match against Sasuke, though she never expected it to end so soon in Naruto's favor.
"First blood and round one goes to me Sasuke-teme," Naruto said with a large grin, "Ready for Round Two?"
Sasuke, hot with anger by what just happened, got back up and spat blood to the floor. The pain from the assault was still biting where he was struck with blood still trickling down from his busted lip.
"You're gonna regret that dobe," Sasuke replied as the got back in his fighting stance.
"Ready when you are," Naruto said. Iruka began the next match between the two boys. Naruto and Sasuke engaged in combat again, but after three minutes it ended with Naruto being flipped and tossed down to the ground on his back with Sasuke standing over him. All of the girls, but Hinata cheered for Sasuke, while the guys laughed at Naruto.
"I told you it was dumb luck that Naruto won that time," Ino said.
"There's no way Naruto would have beaten Sasuke-kun that easily," another girl said.
"But…Naruto-kun didn't take…as long to win the first match with a single blow," Hinata thought out loud, which caught all of the students' attention, including Sasuke's. Sasuke was about to give a retort to Hinata when…
"That much is true Hinata," Hiruzen spoke up, earning the attention of those hearing him, "During the first match, Naruto gave the deceptive display that he was attacking full hearty in recklessness. But from what we saw, Naruto's moves were clearly timed and calculated to the letter, totally catching Sasuke off guard. I'm led to believe that Naruto had it all planned out."
Hearing that acknowledgment made Naruto spirit soar the skies; Sandaime and Hinata both were giving him positive attention.
"But Sasuke came back and gave Naruto a good bout," Sandaime added, "In the past surely Naruto would have lost easily to Sasuke. But from what I'm seeing Naruto has truly came a long way and improved if Sasuke is being made to take Naruto serious."
Everyone knew that Hiruzen wasn't saying those things just to stroke Naruto's ego or to make the blonde look good in front of everyone. Sandaime was telling the truth. Turning to Naruto, Hiruzen said seriously, "But don't in any way let what I said go to your head Naruto."
"Of course I won't jiisan," Naruto said as he stood back up, "I'm just happy that you're proud of my improvements."
Sasuke was listening and thinking about what the Sandaime was saying about Naruto.
'Naruto hid his improvements well enough to fool all of us,' Sasuke thought, 'But still there's no way Naruto should have been able to still hit me and keep up with me, even with his improvements!'
"OK everyone," the headmaster said, "We'll next move on to our next two opponents."
The sparing sessions continued until all of students had their turns. Some of the matches ended in a draw while others either won or forfeited after being overpowered or outmatched.
"Good job everyone," Iruka said, "Next up, weaponry. Each of you may select a weapon of choice, whether it's a kunai or shurikens."
The students were led to the tables that held the mentioned weapons. After selecting their weapons of choice, the students were told that they would be taking turning attacking the human shaped wooden dummy posts. Some were able to hit bull's eyes while Sasuke, managed to hit all directed areas on target dummy. Naruto came up next and with his first kunai, with a small portion of his chakra added, he aimed and threw it hard at the practice dummy, only for the kunai to be deeply embedded into the dummy's crotch. The males that saw this couldn't help but mentally put their hands over their crotch, some literally.
"You missed the objective area to strike Naruto," Iruka said while hiding the cringe that wanted to appear on his face.
"I know," Naruto replied, "But at the very least I castrated him in the worst way. If that dummy was a real man, he'd die horribly and painfully."
Iruka and the others couldn't argue against that though none of them would want to die such an agonizing death.
"Next time aim for the heart or skull," Iruka said, "It might help if you visualize an enemy in place of that dummy post."
"That was why I aimed between the legs in the first place," Naruto remarked. Iruka blinked and looked at Naruto again.
'What kind of enemy did he visualize,' Iruka wondered.
(Later That Day)
After the students were allowed to take a break and go for lunch, they returned back to the training yard.
"All right everyone," Iruka said, "We're now at the third and final part of today's event. Each of you will demonstrate one of your most effective or strongest ninjutsu. They can be those learned from the academy or from your respective clans. Keep in mind that this third event is not to be used as an opportunity to show anyone off. If your ninjutsu requires a target, one of our instructors will volunteer to be used. However no fatal jutsus are to be used on anyone, am I clear?"
All of the students nodded.
"Nara Shikamaru," Iruka called out, "Please step forward and demonstrate a ninjutsu."
Shikamaru shrugged with a bored expression and performed a henge, changing himself into the Hokage.
"I find today's events to be troublesome and a bother for all of us here," Shikamaru said imitating Hiruzen's voice, "I decree that you all can leave and go cloud-watching for all I care."
Naruto and the others started laughing and cracking up at Shikamaru's antics. Iruka was all but amused though Hiruzen took it in good humor as a chuckle escaped his mouth.
"Alright Shikamaru," Iruka said, "You did good."
Shikamaru dropped the henge and walked back to Chouji.
"Nice one Shikamaru," Chouji said.
"I'd have done the same but you beat me to the punch," Naruto added.
"I was just expressing how I feel at this point," Shikamaru replied. Most of the students performed one of the jutsus they learned at the academy. For Sakura, she performed Bunshin No Jutsu, and Ino performed one of her clan's jutsu's and took control of one of the adults' bodies for a couple of seconds before returning back to her own body. After several students went, Sasuke went and took his turn.
"Alright Sasuke," Iruka instructed, "Please perform a ninjutsu of your choosing."
Sasuke simply nodded without saying a word. Going over to one of the wooden target poles, Sasuke performed a few hand signs and fired a stream of fire from his mouth straight into the wooden pole, effectively setting it on fire. All of the girls cheered while Hinata though not among the cheering girls admitted that it was an impressive jutsu. The other boys were also impressed while Naruto just looked bored.
"Very good as always Sasuke," Iruka said, "Well done."
"That was nothing!" Naruto stated, "I created a powerful jutsu that will effectively take all of you out with a single blow, leaving all of you in heaps of your own blood!"
"You're all talk Naruto!" one of the students remarked, "Quit wasting our time with your garbage!"
"Don't believe me?" Naruto shot back, "Fine! Let me go next and I'll demonstrate my new creation!"
"Fine," Iruka said with annoyance, "Just get on with it."
Naruto hurried and stepped forward.
"All of you ninjas watch closely and including you jiisan," Naruto said with a mischievous smile. From the smile alone, Hiruzen knew that Naruto was up something, and by something, he knew it was going to be a stunt he was going to regret allowing to take place. Hinata was curious as to what jutsu it was that was as lethal as Naruto declared that he created by himself.
"I bet Naruto screws up in just the attempt," Kiba joked, "We all know he sucks at even creating a perfect bushin and doing a henge the right way."
The students started laughing while Naruto ignored them.
"Alright now," Naruto said, "Prepared to be taken out!"
Gathering the required chakra, Naruto clasped his hands together and made a hand sign before bursting into a cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared…
"Ah, excuse me," said a new, very sweet and shy-like feminine voice in the clearing smoke. When the smoke cleared, it revealed an extremely beautiful long haired blond young woman with large breasts completely soaked with water with the remaining smoke covering only parts of her breasts and genitals. The nude 'female' asked shyly and nervously, "I lost my clothes and I'm cold from the pouring rain. Would one of you men, please be so kind as to use your body to keep me warm?"
The result was instantaneous and extremely effective. Males of various ages and ranks were blown back and off their feet from nasal bloodloss, and the Hokage himself was no exception. True to his words, many of the ninjas were knocked out with blood coming out of their noses. Naruto dispelled the jutsu seeing that it accomplished its designed purpose.
"Oiroke No Jutsu!" Naruto laughed, "I warned you that my new jutsu is dangerous! I can effortlessly kill all of you right now in the comatose state I put all of you in!"
The girls weren't amused at all by the stunt Naruto pulled just a moment ago. But they were even angrier at how Naruto proved his point as he pulled out his kunai and acted as though he was slitting the throats of all of the knocked out males as he hurriedly passed them by, though he only gave each of them a small cut on their neck. Though Hinata was impressed that Naruto was able to knock out all of the ninjas around him however, she too frowned at the method in which he did so. The girls were expecting the older kunoichis to lash out against Naruto for what he did, but were surprised that they didn't do anything to reprimand him.
"Aren't any of you kunoichis going to punish him," Ino screeched, "That perverted stunt he pulled-"
"Was very effective," one of the kunoichis interjected, "It even knocked out the Hokage."
"Never knew the old man of his stature is as big a pervert as all the other men in Konoha," remarked another kunoichi.
"Girlfriend where have you been," whispered another kunoichi, "There was a rumor years ago that he used to peek in the women's bathhouse with his pupil Jiraiya-sama."
"How come none of you are angry at Naruto?" Sakura asked indignantly, "He made us girls look bad!"
"Exactly how ignorant and naïve are you really about the world of ninja?" asked another kunoichi, "I don't know what Iruka is teaching you girls, but the real life of the ninja isn't fun and games. Cunning, planning and deception are among the many tools ninjas must have in their arsenals and sometimes we must use unfavorable methods to achieve and complete our assigned missions. And there are occasions when seduction and sexual incentives are among the tools that we ninjas have to use also at our advantage.
"Naruto clearly demonstrated his understanding of what I'm saying when he got the males and even the Hokage to drop their guards against him. I know he's the least favored boy in this village but today's event shows that he holds promises."
"I'm more disturbed by the fact that Naruto can play the role of a slut so convincingly that all the guys can fall for him," Sakura remarked.
"Would that happen to include Sasuke seeing that even he was caught off guard by Naruto's jutsu?" the same kunoichi asked pointing to Sasuke. Sakura and the girls turned and saw what the kunoichi was talking about.
"Looks like Naruto knows more about what kind of girl appeals to Sasuke than any of you girls do," the kunoichi joked as the other kunoichis laughed at the younger girls' expense seeing that all of them continuously failed to get Sasuke to notice them. The girls, minus Hinata, didn't take too kindly to the implications of the kunoichi's words as they wondered what about themselves they were lacking in, in terms of feminine appeal.
After another minute, the males gradually woke from their induced slumber. When they all did, they found that the females gave them all dirty looks.
"You're all dead and disgraced!" Ino barked.
"I can't believe all of you fell for Naruto's perverted jutsu!" Sakura added indignantly.
"Hey," Naruto replied with a large grin, "It got the job done! So what do you think jiisan? Ready to hand over that Hokage hat to me seeing that I took you and all of the male ninjas out with a single blow? If all of you take a moment to feel the cuts I put on your necks, it shows that if I were serious, you all be dead now!"
Hiruzen felt his pride deeply wounded from Naruto's latest stunt and remark. He knew that he and along with all the others was going to be the laughing stock of the entire village for who knew how long. Looking for a way to save face, Hiruzen said, "There's a lot more to being Hokage than just performing the strongest or the most effective jutsus to take out your enemies Naruto. And it's not about getting your way all the time just because you possess governing power. As the Hokage, I serve the village, not the other way around."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked curiously.
"As the Hokage," Hiruzen elaborated, "You must love, nurture, and protect the village and everyone living in it, young and old. And most importantly, you must be ready to lay down your life for the village at a moment's notice."
"But isn't that what all of us ninjas are supposed to do in the first place jiisan?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen nodded, "Yes Naruto, that much is true. But as the Hokage, I have to take on weighty responsibilities that affect the lives of everyone living in the village. The ninjas and civilians of the village rely on the Hokage not only for leadership but guidance in preserving the morale and stability of our society while developing future adults like yourselves who will be the next generation to step up in preserving and protecting Konoha and the foundation it was built on."
Naruto took a moment to take in everything Hiruzen was telling him. Though the others, were listening also, Naruto felt that Sandaime was talking more to him than the others.
"If I learned to do all that," Naruto asked, "Would you stepped down as Hokage and let me take your place as your successor?"
"Only time will tell Naruto," Hiruzen said with a smile, "But you still have a long way to go in your maturity and development."
"Just you wait," Naruto grinned, "I'll prove to be the best choice as the future Hokage!"
"We'll see," Hiruzen said as he turned to everyone else, "Everyone here did well today, and I'm happy to see all of the excellent progress you all have made. I hope all of you continue in your advancements and become the new leaves that will blossom and radiantly flare with the will of fire of our village."
After the Hokage's concluding words, Iruka directed the students back into the building. As the Hokage was watching the youths go back into the building, he noticed how the kunoichis were whispering and snickering about how he managed to narrowly escape looking bad in front of the young female students after the stunt Naruto pulled.
"It'll be a while before I hear the end of this," Hiruzen sighed with dismay.
(Later That Day)
Everyone was going home for the day about their day at the academy was over. None of the girls really said anything about what Naruto did and how even Sasuke had succumbed to Naruto's trap. The guys grumbled at how Naruto made them look bad while Shikamaru really didn't care more or less. Sasuke wasn't at all pleased at how Naruto twice caught him off guard with the second stunt being worse than the first one.
'How could I have slipped so badly and allowed the dobe to make a fool out of me twice in one day in front of everyone,' Sasuke wondered, 'He even managed to outwit and make a fool out of the Hokage and all of the other ninjas that were there today! He even showed that he had the advantage to kill all of us after he-'
"Sasuke-kun," a feminine voice called out him. Sasuke turned to see Sakura approaching him.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked. Catching up to him, Sakura said, "Don't feel bad about what Naruto did. You still did very good out there."
"I don't need your concern," Sasuke said emotionlessly, "I'm fine."
"That's good to hear," Sakura said, "I'm happy to see that Naruto's childish prank for a jutsu didn't get your spirits down."
"I lost to Naruto twice today," Sasuke said with a harden tone, "And the second time he showed that he had the chance not only to kill me but all of the other ninjas there! I see nothing childish about that!"
Sakura flinched at Sasuke's angered tone.
"Leave me alone Sakura," Sasuke said coldly as he walked off, "I have much to think about."
Sakura watched at Sasuke left without so much as giving her a glance.
"Hey Sakura-chan?" Naruto called out as he ran over to the pink-haired girl, "You busy? I was hoping that-"
Naruto was cut off when Sakura turned and tried punch him in the head. Naruto ducked at the last second and back away from her.
"Hey!" Naruto asked defensively, "What did I do?"
"What did you do?" Sakura barked, "You made Sasuke-kun look bad and messed up my chance to really to talk to him!"
"I don't see how that's my fault," Naruto replied, "Sasuke's failures is his own fault. You can't blame me that I managed to draw blood from him twice. And I wasn't going to let him look good while everyone else was expecting me to look stupid and be laughed at."
"Whatever," Sakura retorted, "Still, you have a long way to go before you can begin dreaming of measuring up to Sasuke-kun!"
"I don't see what's there to measure up to after seeing how low Sasuke fell for me as the hot "girl" I turned into," Naruto mocked, "Maybe he's also seething at the very fact that I'm not actually that "girl" he passed out for. But on the plus side of things, I personally confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sasuke-teme isn't gay. To be honest, I was starting to wonder seeing that he has never given any of you girls so much as a look."
Sakura felt her feminine pride deeply wounded from Naruto's stinging comments. It wasn't long before Naruto felt bloodlust building up within Sakura.
"NARUTO!" Sakura roared as she chased after Naruto who was now on the run from a raging Sakura, "YOU'RE DEAD!"
Once outside, Naruto turned to the left and ran around the corner with Sakura in hot pursuit.
"Get back here Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she continued running after him and out of the academy grounds. A figure jumped down from one of the tree branches after seeing the two figures running from the academy grounds.
"That should keep her busy for a while," Naruto said to himself with a grin, "I don't know how I learned Kage Bunshin, but that jutsu sure comes in handy."
Naruto found that for the past couple of months, memories of years of training, studying, research and new understanding have been appearing and integrating into his mind. He couldn't understand why this was happening to him but from what he was experiencing, he loved what was happening to him and how he was slowly changing, but both mentally and physically. He found that he was smarter, faster, and stronger and for some reason he couldn't understand, he enjoyed adult-oriented readings and had desires to peek in women's bathhouses, which he had to fight off. Hell, he even had a better understanding about his body and that of females.
For a while, Naruto wondered if it was some kind of unknown bloodline limit that was awakening within him. He thought about telling the Hokage about it but in the end he decided against it and decided that the few who knew about his changes and new found knowledge the better.
Going back to the academy's training ground; Naruto returned back to the human-shaped wooden post he embedded the kunai in. After seeing that no one was around, Naruto, summoning chakra and the required strength and speed, performed a swing kick at the post, effectively breaking the post in half with splinter shards flying all over the place with the main chunk of the post flying far from where it originally was until it hit the ground.
"Aaaaaahh," Naruto relaxed with large smile on his face, "That got the pent up anger out of my system; now for some well-deserved ramen!"
Naruto hurried out of the training ground and over to Ichiraku. While on the way, he pulled out his orange book and resumed where he left off at. A blush and perverted giggle escaped his mouth while reading his book and making his way to his next destination.
Unknown to Naruto was that a female figure was watching him from the shadows behind the trees the entire time and was shocked by the display of power and strength Naruto demonstrated, including when he eluded and tricked Sakura into chancing after a kage bushin he created.
'Naruto-kun,' Hinata wondered to herself, 'You're stronger and smarter than you let on. Why do you hide your real self from everyone? Could I ever be as strong as you?'
Hinata wondered this as she watched Naruto happily make his out to his next destination. Before long…
"Hinata-sama," a masculine voice called to her. The Hyuuga heiress turned to see Neji (age 10) approaching her.
"It's time to return home," Neji said with a neutral tone, "Your father wouldn't want you to be late for your Jyuuken lessons."
"Yes niisan," Hinata said. Truthfully, Hinata wasn't looking forward to her lessons and her progress in her clan's Jyuuken wasn't manifesting in the least much to her father's disappointment.
"Hanabi-sama (age 4) shows more potential than you Hinata-sama," Neji remarked coldly, "I don't see any reason for you to even bother to attempt to change what can't be changed about yourself."
Neji words pierced Hinata deeply. Normally she'd have given way to tears but watching Naruto had always given her the needed courage and strength to keep trying as hard as he does, especially today's events. Without saying a word to Neji, she left and made her way home with him escorting her.
While on her way, her mind drifted back to Naruto and everything she witnessed both with and without Naruto's notice. What she saw moments before Neji's arrival aroused an even deeper curiosity in Hinata about Naruto. She had to find out more about him that he sought to hide from everyone.
The Academy Field Day is over and now everyone knows where everyone stands…or so it would seem. Sasuke is humbled and angered by Naruto's actions and Hinata knows that Naruto is hiding his true potential and seeks to know why while wondering if she too could be strong like him. What will become of these new developments, especially with Naruto not fully understanding why he's undergoing the changes that's happening to him? Find out next time.