Chapter 7

That afternoon saw Naruto upon the front entrance of the Yamanaka shop whilst his mother set out upon meeting the Hokage. Naruto had told her about the Root situation in his old world and advised her to not let anything of importance spill in Hiruzen's office. She told him that she was a big girl and could handle herself, much to his amusement.

She also apparently ran a fuinjutsu seal shop in the same clan district but had already arranged a manager–who she said had been desperate for the position–to look after it.

He opened the entrance door, peeking his head in to check if the store was open despite the sign displaying so. It was actually a habit from being kicked out of one too many stores during his childhood where he just walked in without seeing the invisible 'no kyuubi brat allowed' sign.

Ino had spotted him immediately.

"Hiya, Yuki–kun!" She called out.

Naruto waved a hand at her, "Yo!"

She bounded up to him and placed her arm behind her back to peer at him. "Where's Lady Uzumaki?"

"She's with the old–I mean the Hokage for a meeting," Naruto answered.

"Umu," Ino nodded, checking around to make sure "the coast is clear then."

Naruto looked at her, his head tilted. "Eh? What do you–Agh!"

Ino grabbed his arm and placed it between her bosom, leading him further inwards.

Naruto blushed. "Yamanaka-san? What're–"

"I'm giving you a tour!" She cut in, smiling cheerfully.

There was something in that smile, Naruto realised, that made him feel like a deer before a hunter. His spine tingled. "R–right…"

They spent an hour and a half just looking at which flowers worked for what occasion. Naruto had admittedly learnt a lot from Ino as she explained one flower after another to him and honestly found it all quite interesting. He could see the passion she had for her plants and he, too, did a little gardening at home–though they were mainly fruits and vegetables–so he could appreciate the hard work that went into growing these gorgeous plants.

In the end, Naruto left with a bouquet of Hydrangeas and a few sunflowers for his own personal preferences. "Thanks In–Yamanaka–san."

This time, Ino had caught his slip. She blushed. "D–did you just try to call me Ino?"

Thinking up an excuse on the spot, Naruto came up with: "A–ah, sorry, in my village, people just called each other by their given names rather than surnames. I guess old habits die hard. Aha haha hahahaaaa…"

He had to admit, that was a pretty good excuse. He needed to congratulate himself with a bowl of ramen for lunch.

Ino was still blushing, then she grabbed a lock of her hair and played with it. "I–mind–i.." She mumbled beneath her breath.

"Sorry, what was that?" Naruto asked.

"I–I don't mind it," Ino said, louder.

Naruto smiled. Score, now there was one less person who he didn't have to catch himself from calling them what he did before. "Great. Thanks for today, Ino, you can just call me Naru if you want dattebayo."

Ino gave him a wobbly smile and nodded, seeming almost giddy.

Naruto left the store, smiling, before heading home to leave the flowers in a spare vase his mother had first. Then it was Ichiraku ramen.

Before long, he was whistling to himself when entering his beloved ramen stall before he spotted yet another person he recognised.

'Iruka-sensei.'

Naruto stopped in his tracks before reminding himself that this was a new world, and they have no connection between each other whatsoever.

'Play it cool, Naruto. Play it cool.'

"Welcome," This time it was the upbeat voice of Ayame who greeted him. "Oh! It's you again, welcome back! I'm glad we left a good enough impression on you for you to come by!"

Naruto smiled. "Ichiraku's the best ramen stall in the world, dattebayo!"

Teuchi laughed at that and Ayame beamed, both taking pride in their work.

Iruka, who was the only other person in the stall, turned and smiled at the jubilant nature of the new customer before going back to his bowl.

Naruto decided to order his true favourite this time, Miso Chashu Ramen. 3 bowls. He decided to save his stomach for the dinner he was promised by his mother.

He was about to speak up and make conversation with Iruka when a voice called out from behind him.

"Heya! Sensei, Fancy seeing you here!"

Naruto glanced backwards and saw that it was Kiba. The Inuzuka clan heir ignored him. Out of all the Konoha's dream team members, Naruto was least close to Kiba. There was sort of a rift between them ever since Naruto had one-upped him in the preliminary chuunin exams and despite Naruto's denseness, even he noticed that the Inuzuka held unrequited feelings towards Hinata, who in turn, liked Naruto. He could sympathise with Kiba, with him having feelings of his own towards Sakura. There was a lot between them that prevented them from forming a close relationship, although he was still one of the people Naruto would gladly have to guard his back on the battlefield.

Naruto decided to stay quiet and see how the interaction would play out.

Kiba took the chair to the opposite side of Iruka from where Naruto was sitting.

"Oh! Kiba, congratulations on passing the exam! Are you excited to be a genin?"

"Osu!" Kiba agreed, "I'm just excited about who'll get to be our instructor! Hopefully it'll be jonin Kurenai…"

At this, Kiba had a dreamy look on his face, to Iruka's annoyance.

"Baka!" Iruka slapped Kiba on the head, "Don't talk about your potential sensei's like that!"

Naruto listened to their conversation with a sort of strange mix of jealousy and relief. He was jealous because it was he who Iruka used to treat like that but he was also glad that Iruka had a close connection to anyone at all. In the end, he found that he didn't really mind that it was the way it is. He was glad that Iruka was happy and he had his mother now, who can take on Iruka's role of watching over him.

"Here's your first bowl of miso ramen!" Ayame said, placing the steaming bowl of goodness in front of him.

She then walked over to Kiba, "Welcome! What would you like to order?"

Kiba smirked. "Well, I'd love to have you on my plate, so I can have the pleasure of eating you out."

Four things happened simultaneously as the words left Kiba's mouth.

Naruto almost spat his ramen out…which was a sin against nature.

Iruka smacked Kiba so hard, he was likely to have a concussion.

Ayame…ayame looked on the verge of committing murder in front of her.

And Teuchi was about to hand over to her his cleaver.

"I see…" She said, her eyebrows twitched dangerously "Dear Customer, we only serve ramen here. If you'd like to explore more…tasteless options, do explore establishments elsewhere from here. Now, if you aren't going to order, then I'd suggest you leave."

Iruka apologised frantically. "I'm so incredibly sorry miss, I'll take my foolish student and go, a–and here's a tip for your troubles."

With that, Iruka dragged the semi-conscious, foaming-at-the-mouth Kiba out of the stall and made his way elsewhere.

Naruto just watched on in morbid fascination.

'That was…'

'That was…'

'That was funny as heck!'

Naruto held in his laughter though, not to irritate the already irate Ayame any further.

She glanced over at him and Naruto discreetly proceeded to chow down on his ramen, pretending like he saw nothing.

Ayame sighed. "Kids these days, no manners or courtesy…"

Naruto put his empty bowl down and raised his eyebrow. "Are you including me in that statement?"

Ayame was flustered in the realisation that she might've directed that at him as well, "N–no of course not, dear customer, you've been nothing but polite."

Naruto laughed, "I sure hope so. I'd hate to be kicked out of one of the only stalls serving the food of the gods, but you don't look that much older than us, miss, perhaps that was why he was trying to have a pass at you."

Ayame looked surprised at the underhanded compliment. She giggled "Oh! My! Even still, he shouldn't have said anything that…crass."

Naruto raised his cup of water. "To that, we can both agree. I suppose I'll have another serving on his behalf, a gesture to the lost customer."

Ayame smiled in her usual warm, sisterly way. "Coming right up!"

Then she muttered under her breath. "Perhaps chivalry isn't dead after all."

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Naruto didn't really have anything to do after lunch, so he set out to the training grounds as he did yesterday, hoping to get some work in. He didn't want to get too rusty despite only being two days since his most recent life or death battle. He wanted to get used to his new arm!

Eventually he arrived oddly at the same place he met Hinata yesterday.

She wasn't here, and for some weird reason a small part of him was disappointed. He'd wanted to meet his friend again, get to know her a bit more. Alas, he continued with his plans.

He did his dynamic stretches, getting his muscles warm and joints loose. His mother had graciously paid–despite him being perfectly capable of paying–for a few sets of clothes for different occasions and the outfit he was wearing now was meant for exercise. It was cheap and he could get it wrecked without feeling too guilty. He'd never really cared too much before but now that the very things he was wearing became a gift rather than just a possession, he had reservations against trashing it.

Once he was ready, he approached the training log and struck with the fist of his newly attached arm. The log broke.

…

…

"Uhmm…" Naruto looked at his fist in confusion. Then he grabbed another log and did the same thing with the other arm.

It, too, broke into tiny splinters.

"That's weird, I don't remember being this strong…" Naruto muttered. "In fact…Sakura was usually the strong one."

Naruto's physical strength was something he'd always been proud of but it was never something this…effortlessly strong. He wondered what changed for it to be this way.

He thought of his skill set, though he didn't dare test his more…extravagant jutsus in public–he had no idea whether someone was watching him even at this moment. He wondered if he could still do a rasengan or sage mode or … or summon the toads…

Alright, that was the exception. He needed to test it out.

He bit his thumb, formed the hand signs, channelled just enough chakra to summon a small toad and with fierce deliberation, he slammed it on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

…

…

…nothing.

He tried it again with various degrees of chakra channelled into it.

And again.

And again.

Still nothing.

Naruto slumped, almost disappointed that he wasn't able to get it to work. It made sense, he supposed, that this world's toad summoning scroll was yet to have his name written on it and thus he was unable to summon his beloved companions.

He suspected though, that he could still use sage mode and rasengan just fine, considering it took no effort at all to use his shadow clones.

"A–Ano," A voice called out from nearby and Naruto's soul had almost departed from his body with how startled he was. He was so focused on getting his summoning jutsu to work that he wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings at all.

Naruto whipped around but relaxed once he saw that it was the same person he met here yesterday.

It was none other than Hinata Hyuga. She was wearing a simple black training garment this time, with a long sleeved shirt that had a modest neckline, as well as long pants that went all the way to her heel. What it didn't hide though, were the bountiful…assets that she had. Naruto blushed, thinking that perhaps this was why she wore jumpers all the time.

Hinata, being as astute as she was, didn't miss how Naruto's eyes had momentarily bounced towards her generous bosom. She blushed red, but managed to hold herself together in order to get what she was here for. "H–hello again, friend Yuki-san."

"..."

"..."

Naruto arched an eyebrow at her. "Did you really just call me 'friend Yuki-san'?"

Hinata felt like she wanted to run away again. She really, really wanted to. Friend Yuki-san? Could she have not made it any more awkward.

To Hinata's embarrassment, Naruto burst out laughing but he was quick to apologise. "Aha–oh–Kami–Ahaha–I'm sorry."

It took a moment for him to gather himself and it was just in time too because Hinata was feeling like she was going to faint with the blood rushing to her head.

"Ah…that was honestly adorable," Naruto said, controlling himself, "It's great to see you too, friend Hinata."

Naruto absolutely forgot that he had to address Hinata as Hyuuga–san.

He realised his mistake immediately as she did, in fact, faint on the spot.

Thankfully he grabbed her before she collapsed, mumbling: "what's with people fainting around me these days?!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took Hinata a few minutes to regain consciousness.

She'd had the terribly embarrassing dream that her next interaction with her new friend would go to the bad-case-scenario-#34 route that she'd meticulously mapped out. Her bleary eyes looked up into beautiful tree branches that rusted with the wind.

Naruto's face appeared above her. "Yo!"

Hinata shot up and almost headbutted him in the jaw. Then, to her mortification, she realised that the interaction she'd just witnessed wasn't a dream at all.

She wanted the earth to eat her alive, to make it painful before she was swallowed so that she would at least not go out in shame.

"Oh kami, ohkami-ohkam- ohkami" the words came at a rapid pace as she freaked out.

"Hey! Hey! Look at me!" Naruto said, grabbing her shoulders. His grip was strong, and as steady as anything she'd felt in her life. "Take it easy on yourself, alright? I know you're new at this friendship thing so I'm not judging. Don't freak out, dattebayo."

Hinata took a moment to compose herself before she nodded. The beaming smile he sent her way somewhat set her anxiety at ease.

"So are you here to train?" He asked, changing the subject and successfully distracting her.

"E-eh?" Hinata wished she was more affluent in the art of not making a fool out of herself.

"You're wearing training clothes," Naruto pointed out, "I'm guessing you're here to get some sparring in."

"Ah, H-hai," she nodded, "I just lost another spar and was hoping to come here to work on what I did wrong."

At this, Naruto contemplated. "Hmm, Ah I know! Why don't you practise on me!"

Hinata looked at him wide eyed. "I–I couldn't possibly–"

Naruto interrupted her. "Trust me it'll be fine! Plus, I'm pretty good at this, ya know? It'll just be slow and steady practice, no jutsu or chakra techniques. Just pure taijutsu–so no byakugan. What do you think?"

Hinata did not want to hurt her friend. She didn't want to take any chances, really, that might potentially scare him away. She really needed to check on her 'interaction with friends' notebook.

Before she could reject, however, Naruto put his hand on top of hers, making her gasp.

"It's alright, ya know? You can trust me dattebayo."

Hinata felt like she was about to melt…in a good way this time. She asked herself whether she really wanted to do this, to potentially put their relationship in jeopardy. Friends don't come by her often, and she would be damned to let this one go.

But wouldn't refusing also mean that she didn't trust him?

She decided to take the gamble.

"A-alright, just light sparring then? No jutsu or chakra?" She confirmed.

"yosh!" Naruto cheered, "It's been a while since I had a friendly spar."

'Spars to the death aside.'

Hinata nodded shakily before standing up and going towards a clearing where there were no protruding rocks or hidden roots that might cause a person to slip.

With Naruto, all that was going on in his head was: 'This is for her, so don't punch her like you did that log, Naruto. Nice and easy. Love taps–No–Baby taps. Palms open. No fists. Alright. Control yourself, Naruto.'

He breathed once he got into position. Then he smiled at her. "Are you ready?"

She nodded, getting into the classic Hyuuga juuken stance, though she didn't activate her byakugan, abiding by the rules.

Naruto put his arms up, though unclenching them to make open palms instead of fists. He had no style as the No.1 most unpredictable ninja, but over the years, he refined his no style type of taijutsu into something that could adapt to just about anything thrown at him, rather than just random moves like he did in his youth.

Hinata was the first to make a move, dashing in and sending a juuken strike to his chest, choreographing her attack so he could see it coming. Naruto dodged, side stepping and grabbing her wrist and using it to do a simple hip throw, being as gentle as possible. It seemed to be the right amount of strength as she didn't grimace or shout in pain.

A second later, Hinata found herself staring at the sky, surprised. She knew that the initial spar against a new partner required them to feel each other out so she took it slow in her first move. She just didn't expect for him to so easily come up with a counter this quickly.

She got back up and reassessed her opponent. She'd been in many spars with those who far exceed her ability in taijutsu but this person had moved with such ease that it was as if he'd lived and breathed fighting for a long time.

"Are you a genin ninja yourself?" she asked.

For some reason that made her opponent slump.

"Yeah, sort of…" Naruto answered. At this rate, he'll be the new eternal genin. Then he shook his head and put his attention back on her. He got into his stance once more, signalling that he was ready.

This time Hinata's attack came faster but he still evaded it. Two strikes. Four strikes. Eight. Sixteen.

Naruto was hesitant to fight back due to being unused to his strength but that was the main purpose of his fighting style. Adapt.

He slipped another Juuken to his ribs, grabbing her wrist and tripping her.

Hinata was on the floor again. She was…she was baffled.

She'd been defeated before by her cousin and her sister but at least it could be considered a fight. She'd never been taken down with such ease, byakugan or not.

She stood back up. "H–how?"

Naruto looked surprised at her question. "Well…I grabbed your wrist and used your momentum against you."

He wasn't the best at explaining things.

"No, I mean how are you this good?" She asked, taking deep breaths to recover after her barrage of strikes.

Naruto looked forlorn. "I may not look like it but I've been through a lot for my age."

Hinata scrambled backwards in her speech. "I–I didn't mean to accuse you of anything–"

"–No, no," Naruto shook his head, "It's completely fine. You should be asking questions but I'm afraid I can't share the details with you yet. Would…would you be patient with me?"

"Of course," Hinata responded immediately, "I'm grateful actually, that you're taking the time to help me out. I know I'm not much–"

"-Don't say that," Naruto interrupted to her surprise, "don't put yourself down like that ever again, alright? No friend of mine is ever useless or incapable or weak. Believe in yourself, dattebayo."

Hinata could only nod, overwhelmed by the encouragement that her friend gave her. Honestly, out of every terrible thing that happened today or for the past week, even just those words alone had turned out to be worth everything she'd endured. "I–Th–thank you, Yuki–san"

"Naruto."

"E–eh?"

"My real name is Naruto," he said, "it's one of those secrets from me that I ask you to be patient with. If you don't mind, I'd like to put my trust in you, if that's alright?"

The main reason Naruto made up a fake name in the first place was because he was heeding Kurama's advice when infiltrating the village. Then the reason evolved to whether there was another 'Naruto Uzumaki' who existed in the world. Now that he confirmed that there wasn't, he was comfortable sharing his real given name but still chose to omit his last name, especially to those who he got a read on. Especially if she was someone as genuine and kind as the person he saw in front of him. She was trustworthy.

She looked at him strangely.

…

…

Then Naruto caught on to the unasked question. "Hey! I'm not a spy! So don't freak out, alright?!"

Hinata kept staring at him, then she let out a giggle, then a laugh.

It was the first time Naruto had seen her laugh since coming here. He hadn't even caught her laughing often–if at all–in his old world. Only smiles and giggles. She was so reserved around him. Now though, he felt like he'd just told the world's funniest joke.

He joined her in laughing.

"Th–that's what a spy would say," She got out, in between her chuckles. "Then again–you'd be the strangest spy I'd ever met."

It took a moment before it died down.

Hinata contained herself, blushing at her outburst. "I know we've only met just yesterday, Yu–Naruto–san, but I don't think you're a bad person. And the fact that you told me this after two days, despite whatever reasons you may have to use a fake name, shows me that you'd be a rather terrible spy if I'd ever seen one."

Naruto looked like a kicked puppy, much to Hinata's subtle amusement.

"But I think you're straightforward and genuine," she continued, "so if you trust me enough with your secrets, then I will trust you as well."

"Hinata…" Naruto said, and again, his use of her first name slipped out.

She blushed…again.

"S–sorry, I'm used to calling people I consider friends by their first names," Naruto said, scratching his head as he usually did when unsure. "Is that too forward? I can go back to–"

"--No!" Hinata intruded, still red from ear to ear, "I–I don't mind at all."

"Great!" Naruto cheered. Now there were two less people to get names mixed up.

They went back to sparring again. As time passed, Hinata was becoming more and more comfortable with the training session. Her strikes came at full speed, knowing her opponent could easily dodge it, though she could tell he was holding back.

"Naruto-san?" She inquired, pausing in her strikes.

"Hm?" He responded, relaxing his stance, "Just Naruto is alright, dattebayo. It feels weird to be addressed in an honorific title."

"Ah, A–alright, Naru–Naruto-kun…" She finished. At this point, Naruto chose to consider 'blushing a lot' to just be a feature of hers but his heart almost stopped at the name she gave him. It was the same one as the Hinata of his world gave him.

Now, it was his turn to blush. "Jumping the fence, already? Alright then, Hinata–chan."

He wondered if their relationship was going too quickly in this new world. Perhaps it was borne from Hinata's desperation to have a friend. He didn't mind it, he just hoped that she wouldn't be as quick to trust someone…less trustworthy.

Oh, Hinata was utilising her blushing feature again. It was even redder this time than all the previous times. She put her hand on her cheek and sat down in a crouch, placing her burning face to the gap between the top of her knees.

"Hinata–chan?" Naruto enquired, tilting his head, "Are you okay?"

She gave the smallest nod imaginable but Naruto took it for confirmation.

"Alright…what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Eh?" Hinata poked her head out of her little human hedgehog-like ball. "A-ah! I was just…I was just wondering why you were holding back. You're not even hitting back at all."

Naruto looked like a kid who got caught stealing from the cookie jar. "W–well you see, I don't really know how to put this, but I just recently came upon this new found physical strength. Strength that I'm currently unable to control safely."

Hinata's eyebrows scrunched, thinking. "I see…well I'm looking forward to seeing what you can really do in the future then, Naruto-kun."

The blush was still rosy on her cheeks but Naruto could tell that she was slowly getting used to addressing him that way.

Naruto smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "And i'm looking forward to when you're right there with me, helping me kick names and take asses…"

Then his eyebrows scrunched. "...wait, that's not how that goes."

Hinata guffawed as she got up. "Kick…names…take asses!"

Naruto found that when she wasn't concentrating on how she comes off as towards everyone else, she was rather expressive, especially when she was laughing…even at his expense.

Naruto rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. "Are you ready for another round?"

Before Hinata could answer, he was right on top of her, grabbing her wrist and treating her like a puppet on a string.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You know, you're rather rigid when fighting, " Naruto stated from observation. He remembered that Hinata had adapted her fighting style to suit her rather than the start method of approach that most of her clans used.

They had finished their training and were leaning against a tree, next to each other. It seemed that the more time Hinata spent in his presence, the less self-conscious she became. To Naruto, that was major progress.

"Hai, the juuken requires rigidity to perform precise, accurate and effective strikes," she said, almost as if reading off a book.

Naruto shook his head. "You know you can experiment right? You don't have to fight like the rest of them."

Hinata shook her head. "My father would scold me if I swayed from the fundamentals."

Naruto felt the urge to go over and punch her dad…as rude as that sounds. "That doesn't seem right."

"Eh?" Hinata said, surprised.

"Experiment," Naruto encouraged enthusiastically, "Try new things if it doesn't work for you. That's how I learned."

"But my father said to focus on the things I need to do right, not to stray from what I already know…what I've already been taught."

"You know, Hinata," Naruto said after a moment of contemplation, "if you only do what you can do, you'll never be more than what you are now."

Naruto got that quote from the vision of a wise…turtle? It was a strange dream he had.

Hinata looked at him for a moment, taking in his words. Then her face lit up like she had heard something truly enlightening. "That was…you're right, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at her. "How about this? What do you say if we meet up at around the same time tomorrow? Then we can practise trying out new styles for you, or even just adapting the techniques you've already learned!"

Hinata stared like she couldn't take her eyes off him if she tried. "I–I would love that."

Ah, and she was blushing profusely again.

Yet Naruto found that the way her face lit up was rather pretty…

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