Chapter 3:- The 0.1% difference

Naruto and Hinata were sitting together in the training ground 7. This was the place where Naruto and his team once used to train or where his team used to meet before taking any missions. But that was a long time ago. 

Both of them were sitting under the shade of a tree. Hinata was sitting next to Naruto. 

As for Naruto he just lay under the shade of the tree with his palms under his head. Now that he was with Hinata, for some reason regardless of whatever happened and whatever the future was for him in this world, he didn't feel worried. He forgets about all of his otherworldly matters. It was as if just having her by his side erased all of his worries.

Naruto finally felt at peace. 

Sitting next to Naruto, from time to time, Hinata would take a sneak peek at Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes were closed. He was enjoying this peaceful moment that he found with Hinata. 

Hinata was staring at Naruto's face. The more she looked at his face, the more she wanted to stare at his face. But when Naruto opened his right eye their gaze met. 

This really embarrassed her. Like a frightened bunny, she averted her gaze and stopped looking at him. Seeing this Naruto grinned inwardly. 

'Now that I have a chance to look at her. This world's Hinata is even more beautiful. Her body is much more developed and seductive.' Hinata looked extremely seductive even though she wore very modest clothes. 

[Hinata's Pic]

'But most importantly, Hinata looks like she is around the age of 15. But how is that even possible? When we were 12, Grandpa Hiruzen died in the invasion. But since Grandpa is still alive, this could mean either of two things. First, the invasion is yet to happen and second, the invasion happened but in this world, things went differently.'

'But this also brings up another question. Why Hinata was silently taking the bullying from those scums. She should be strong enough to easily crush those scums yet she was so timid and shy that she didn't even take any action. She is just like the small Hinata that I saved from the bullies back in my world.' 

'There are so many questions, I am not sure from where I should begin to search for answers.' Naruto thought in his mind. 

"Say.....!!! Why did you remain silent and let those scums say whatever they wanted?" Naruto asked while observing her reaction from the corner of his eyes. 

Hearing this Hinata hugged her knees and stared at the flowing small river that was 100 meters away from them. 

"I have gotten used to this. After saying some mean things, usually they just leave. But today I didn't expect that they would even raise their hands on me." Hinata said in a timid tone. 

Remembering what happened, Naruto clenched his fists in anger. 'How dare they? Maybe I was too soft. I really should have killed them.' Naruto thought in his mind. 

"This is the first time someone has stood up for me. Thank you." Hinata said in a very low tone but Naruto was able to hear her. 

"The name is Naru.....!!!" Naruto almost carelessly gave out his real name but doing that without knowing the whole situation and timeline of this world could get him in real trouble. 

"Naru...!! That's a strange name!!!" Hinata said.

Hearing this Naruto looked away in embarrassment. He already had fired the gun. There was no way for him to take back what he said just now. 

Seeing his reaction, Hinata giggled causing him to look at her. "My name is Hinata. Hinata Hyuya! It's really nice to meet you Naru-kun." When she said Naru-kun, the smile on her face was just too damn cute. 

"Cute...!!!" Unconsciously this word slipped out of his mouth as he stared at her in a daze. 

But hearing this Hinata's became instantly flushed red. She quickly averted her gaze and covered her ears with her beautiful long hair. 

'How is she so cute, beautiful, charming, tempting, seductive, all at once? It's unfair.' Naruto thought while staring at her. Naruto really wanted to hug this girl and protect this girl for his whole life. 

"Hina-chan, are you still an Academy student?" Naruto made this guess seeing that Hinata did not have the leaf headband. This meant that she either did not wear the leaf symbol or she did not get one. 

However, Naruto's way of addressing her instantly made her blush. Although Naruto couldn't see her face as she was covering it, he knew that right now this girl looked too damn cute. 

Naruto realized that he made a mistake with her name. "Sorry, if that was too personal." It was understandable since this was Hinata's first time meeting him.

"Should I call you Hyuga-san?" Naruto asked with an understandable smile. He was determined to forge the same connection that he had with the Hinata of his world and this time take their relationship even deeper. 

"No.....!!!" Hinata said in a slightly high-pitched tone. 

Naruto was staring at her with a question mark above his face. 

"I mean....." She couldn't look into his eyes. She looked down and said in a very low tone. "I don't mind." 

Hearing this a big smile appeared on Naruto's face. "Alright from now on I will call you Hina-chan then." The way Naruto called her made her blush once again. Hinata felt her heart racing and her cheeks getting warmer. 

"Now back with the question, Hina-chan, are you still an Academy Student?" Naruto asked. 

"Yes. We are going to graduate this year." Hearing her response Naruto was surprised. 

'Graduate this year!! Does that mean she joined the Academy late or the age of the graduation has been pushed back?' Naruto remembered that the system never said that this world was going to be a 100% copy of his previous world. In the 0.1%, maybe the age of graduation is different from his world. 

"Really!! That's awesome. My grandpa said that Ninjas graduate at the age of 12. I guess my Grandpa was mistaken then. Since I am from a very small village near the land of Snow, I don't know much about Shinobi and their custom." Naruto already had thought of his background story. He was going to need one if he was going to stay in this world. 

"Naru-kun, before the death of Lord 4th, the graduation age was 12 but later it was pushed back by 3 years to give the Academy genins more time to develop their skills. Sending 12-year-olds to the battlefield or to do dangerous missions often results in the deaths of genin." 

"Before this rule was passed, every year around 25% to 30% of all the genins that graduated used to die but now the death rate has dropped. And over time, the other villages also have adopted this system." Hinata patiently explained to Naruto without suspecting his words. 

"Oh really!!! That's nice. But how did Lord Fourth die?" Naruto asked since the topic of Lord 4th was brought up. 

"Around 15 years back, the nine-tailed Fox was released somehow. While saving the village, Lord Fourth lost his life." Naruto closed his eyes and accepted what he was hearing. Hearing about the death of his father wasn't so pleasing at all. 

But her words confirmed that the current timeline was 15 years after the Nine Tail incident. 'But this also means that all the important events such as the invasion, Sasuke going rouge, the Akatsuki, all that still hasn't happened yet. That's good. I still have time on my hands.' Naruto thought with a smile. 

"Unfortunately, that night, Lady Kushina not only lost her husband but also her newborn child." Hearing this Naruto stopped breathing because he was so shocked. He widened his eyes and blankly stared at Hinata. For a moment he lost his cool there. 

Fortunately, Hinata was looking at the river so she didn't notice Naruto's gaze. 

"Lady Kushina is the wife of Lord Fourth. She is the most talented Fuinjutsu Master that the village has." Thinking that Naruto did not know who Kushina was, Hinata explained slightly bit about Kushina. 

'That means mom is still alive.' Naruto's heart trembled in emotions. He thought even in his second life, he had lost his parents but this wasn't the case. 

'I have to see her.' Naruto made up his mind to find his mother once he was done there. 

"Naru-kun, are you a shinobi?" Hinata asked as she remembered as Naruto used wind elements to cut that scum's hand. 

Hearing this Naruto almost wanted to that once he was the strongest Shinobi in the whole world but he stopped his thoughts. "My grandpa was a Shinobi. As he raised me, he taught me a few of his Jutsu so that I could protect myself from Bandits, rogue Shinobi, and dangerous animals that live in the wild. Though I am far from being a real Shinobi. What I did back there was one of the tricks that I picked up over the years. Pretty cool isn't it?" Naruto ended his words with a small laugh. This was something that Hinata found herself liking very much.