Disclaimer: Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an animé adaptation. The manga, during its original run, was published by Shueisha in Japan, and Viz Media in the United States, Canada, and UK, and was serialized by Weekly Shōnen Jump, formerly Shōnen Jump. The animé was directed by Hayato Date, produced by Pierrot Co., Ltd. and Aniplex in Japan, and licensed by Viz Media in the United States. My co-author and I also do not own any of the profile pictures we might use in our fan fictions, nor do we make any profit from writing them.

However, if I did own Naruto, one of the things I would have made sure of is that Studio Pierrot did not screw up their adaptation of the final Naruto manga arc, nor the Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness, Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, and Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise light novels.

Chapter 1: Breaking the Sun

It was a cold, snowy day in the hidden shinobi village, Konohagakure no Sato (the Village Hidden by Tree Leaves). Most of the inhabitants felt it would be better to stay indoors, curled up under their blankets and sipping hot drinks, than to venture outside for any unnecessary reasons.

Uzumaki Naruto was not among them. He never had been, and if the villagers continued to have their way, he never would be.

Naruto was shorter than average for his eight years of age, the result of poor dietary habits enforced by the tendency of most shopkeepers and merchants to throw him out of their stores or market stalls. He wasn't quite properly dressed for the winter weather, which wasn't all that surprising given that snow was something of a rarity for most locations in Hi no Kuni (the Land of Fire): he donned blue short pants and black shoes, a cream-colored jacket with brown sleeves worn over a green T-shirt with a white version of the Uzumaki crest printed on the front, a lengthy red scarf around his neck, and green goggles over his forehead that he wore to protect his blue eyes whenever he was getting back at one of the aforementioned shopkeepers/merchants with one of his pranks. Those blue eyes, along with his spiky blond hair, were traits that were rarely seen in Konoha outside of the Yamanaka Clan, and they already gave Naruto somewhat of a distinctive look, but it was the birthmarks he bore, three whisker marks on each cheek, that really stood out.

Unless it was to sleep, Naruto had no reason to stay at home, no matter the weather. Because no one was there for him. He was an orphan, but unlike other orphans he had not spent his first years in the village's orphanage, instead being raised by various elders, and the only thing he knew about his parents was that they had died shortly after he was born. Even the system the Third Hokage had set up had eventually fallen apart last October: Naruto was deemed old enough to take care of himself, and with other recent losses suffered by the village, they could not afford to spare any personnel to care for him any longer. That October, for his eighth birthday, Naruto had been set up with a small attic-like apartment and a monthly pension that would allow him to purchase his own food, clothing and other necessities. The apartment itself was not a bad place to live. It was just that it was so empty and lonely all the time, so Naruto went out of his way to avoid staying there whenever he could get out.

Currently, he was seated on the swing just outside the Konoha Ninja Academy, where he would be officially enrolled starting in the spring. The Third Hokage was one of only three people who had ever shown Naruto any real kindness, and that made him the closest thing to a friend Naruto had, but since his duties to the rest of the village made it difficult for him to visit Naruto more than once each month, Naruto could not be sure that the Hokage was actually a friend. But Naruto had learned quickly that the position of Hokage was one that commanded the admiration of the rest of the villagers and instilled inspiration in them. He saw how everyone else who interacted with the Hokage would only show him the utmost respect, a respect that even Naruto's caretakers had denied him. Even at such a young age, Naruto knew that the only reason his previous caretakers had taken him in was because the Hokage had ordered them to, not out of any genuine act of compassion. He was an outcast, after all, even if he didn't understand why. But seeing the old man hold such influence over the rest of the village made Naruto determined to gain that influence himself. Naruto reasoned that if he were to become Hokage, everyone else would have to stop treating him like he doesn't exist. They would have to start treating him like he was important, like he was someone who mattered.

But the Hokage was also supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the village, which meant that they had to be really good at using a lot of powerful jutsu. So far, Naruto only knew how he was supposed to perform one jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and that was only because he had caught an accidental glimpse of an Anbu using that jutsu a while back. And for all the effort he had put into trying to master the jutsu, he was still a long ways away from getting it to work.

"I'm gonna have to get that jutsu down soon if I wanna make it through school," Naruto lamented with a deep sigh. He would have continued brooding on the swing, were it not for his noticing a trio of boys stop right at the gate. He focused on them and saw that they were circling around a little girl.

This girl also had unusual hair, only hers was dark blue and styled in a hime cut, with two bangs that framed her cheeks. Her pale skin, even from this distance, looked perfectly smooth, and the exposure to the winter air caused a tiny blush to adorn her cheeks, something Naruto thought looked very cute. Then Naruto noticed her eyes, and they were the strangest thing he had ever seen. He couldn't get that great of a view while the other boys were in front of her, but from what he could tell, her eyes had no pupils and were tinted lavender, making them look almost like crystals. He didn't know what to make of this until he heard one of the three boys speak up.

"If you're a Hyūga, then show us your Byakugan!"

What's a Byakugan? Naruto thought.

"I bet you're really a monster!" another boy accused.

"Yeah, a Byakugan monster!" the third added with a laugh. This proved too much for the girl and she burst into tears. Naruto had also heard enough and jumped off the swing to confront the bullies.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" he shouted. The three bullies spun around and gave him a nasty smirk.

"And who are you supposed to be?" the first bully demanded.

"Trying to play knight in shining armor for this creep?" the second bully added, further angering Naruto as he saw the girl had fallen to her knees, trying to hide her tears. Naruto scrambled to come up with a grand introduction, one that would be sure to command their respect and make them stop bullying the poor girl. It became doubly important when he noticed her lift her head up, gazing upon her would-be savior. What he said now, would determine how he would have to live the rest of his life.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna become Hokage!" Naruto yelled with vigor. The way he said it made him fully convinced that it would happen, almost as though the words themselves carried some sort of latent power. The girl seemed to believe so as well; she looked at the blond boy from behind the bully trio and felt her heart skip a beat at his words. How could this boy carry so much confidence that he could make anything he said seem possible?

The bullies, however, were not swayed. They stared at Naruto for a few seconds, dumbstruck by his audacity, and then burst into laughter.

"You, the Hokage?" one of the bullies said.

"Hey, I've heard about you! You're that brat my dad says is always causing trouble! What could a runt like you do to become Hokage?" another taunted.

Naruto growled at the bullies as he formed the Ram hand seal with his hands. "I'll show you! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled, making them tremble in fear at the ninjutsu he was attempting to use…

…only to be completely underwhelmed when the two puffs of smoke created by the jutsu attempt cleared to reveal a pair of miniature clones.

"Come at me!" one of the mini-Naruto clones yelled, but due to its tiny size it sounded more like a squeak.

"Y'know!" the other chibi clone yelled/squeaked. The bullies lost it and burst into even harder laughter than before.

"And I thought he might actually do something!" one of them mocked.

"Let's teach this bastard a lesson for messing with us!" another shouted, promptly connecting his fist with the face of a Naruto who was too stunned by the failure of his jutsu to be able to react to his attack. The punch instantly caused swelling around his right eye and bloodied his nose, and caused him to fall backwards into the snow, sending the bullies into their biggest laughing fit yet.

"Future Hokage, my ass!" the tallest one shouted. It didn't take long for his peers to come up with more ideas to laugh at Naruto's expense.

"Let's mess up this nice scarf of his while we're at it!"

"Yeah! He must think he is so great wearing something like this!"

All the while, the girl Naruto had tried to defend could do nothing but watch as the trio unwrapped the red scarf from around his neck and began to tear it apart. First they formed a triangle and stretched it as far as they could on their own, then they hung it from the branch of a nearby tree and swung around, and finally they threw it back into the snow and stomped on it until they grew bored.

"Aww, it's no fun if he isn't awake for it. Let's go," the bully who had punched Naruto earlier said right as Naruto was starting to recover.

"Yeah, let's leave the two losers alone," the tall one agreed. "We stick around them too long and we might get infected by their lameness." And they walked off, giving their victims and the ruined scarf one last look of disgust as they left the school grounds.

Naruto blinked a couple of times and shot straight up to his feet, not noticing that the bullies were already gone. "Hey, wait! I'm not done yet! This time I'll make a really strong clone and…" but his voice failed him when he finally realized that the bullies were nowhere in sight, and the pain from that single punch that had been landed on him finally registered, forcing him to kneel down and moan. "Ow, ow, ow…"

"A-Are you okay?" the girl asked. That was the other thing Naruto hadn't noticed until now: the girl he was trying to save was right next to him, also kneeling down with him and still sniffling a little as she held the remains of his scarf in her arms.

Naruto still hurt as he carefully turned his head to look at her. "Yeah, it's okay, I'm used to it," he said, rubbing the side of his face the bully didn't hit. He was about to stand back up, but he found that he couldn't take his eyes off hers, and it wasn't because he thought they were weird. It was something else, a feeling so alien that he had no hope of figuring out what it was.

"Those three boys, they…they ruined your scarf because you helped me…" the girl lamented, beating herself up over how her own weakness had caused this really nice kid to suffer. "I'm really sorry…"

Naruto sighed and waved off her apology. "Nah, forget it," he said, pushing down on both knees with his hands to push himself back to his feet. This drew out a protest from the girl, who couldn't just do as he said and let the incident go.

"B-But they wouldn't have bothered you if you hadn't tried to stand up for me! And besides, we don't even know each other! Why would you help me?"

Though Naruto wouldn't know the whole story for years to come, this girl was part of one of the largest, most prestigious clans in Konoha, but she was universally despised by her clan for her failure to meet any of the standards they imposed on their members. They all scorned and ostracized her to the point that she was convinced she would remain a failure forever. It felt so much colder to her inside her clan's estate than it did being outside in the snow. The absence of warmth at home planted many troubling thoughts inside her head, and she was seriously questioning whether it was worth it to keep going on…to keep living, if that was all her existence would ever mean.

So when Naruto smiled at her, the feeling of warmth she felt from him already deeply affected her. The innocence in his expression made her heart throb madly. And his answer to her desperate question would leave her changed forever:

"Do I need a reason to help someone?"

The girl felt a fresh wave of tears escape from her eyes, and she quickly turned away to wipe them off so he wouldn't see her crying. But in those few seconds it took her to recompose herself, Naruto was already running off. She couldn't let him leave, not without telling him just how much his kindness towards her today meant to her.

"W-Wait!" the girl said quietly, reaching out and grabbing one of Naruto's hands before he could leave.

"Huh? What's the matter?"

The girl let go of his hand and blushed slightly as she forced herself to speak up. "Hinata…my name is Hyūga Hinata, and I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for what you did for me today. Thank you very much," she said, bowing deeply as a further gesture of her gratitude.

Naruto was frozen in place for a few seconds, and it had nothing to do with the weather. His mind was in a frenzy as he tried to process her words. Again: with the exception of the Third Hokage and the two people who ran the Ichiraku ramen bar, no one had ever shown him any true kindness. And yet this girl had just thanked him, even though he hadn't done anything that was worth thanking him for. He didn't understand it…and yet he couldn't help the happiness that was about to burst out from his heart.

"Hinata…" Naruto whispered in awe. "That's a pretty name, you know." And then he grinned madly, expressing his happiness in the only way he knew how. "I'll see ya around, Hinata!" he shouted, a final conveyance of the happiness her words to him gave him before he turned back around and made his exit, wanting to let the other three important people in his life share in that happiness.

The girl whose name was Hinata held the torn scarf close to her chest and smiled softly as she watched her blond savior run into the distance. She had no way of knowing that one day in the not-so-distant future, she would save him the way he had just saved her.

"Uzumaki Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered to herself, dangerously close to entering a trance.

Three years and ten months later…

Regrettably, the happiness Naruto had felt from Hinata's gratitude was overwhelmed by his extreme mortification over what he viewed as an immense failure, causing his mind to repress the memory of saving Hinata from the three bullies. It also did not help his attempts to retain that memory when contact between the two since that winter morning was very limited, despite her being placed in the same class as him at the Ninja Academy. Sometimes, Naruto thought there was supposed to be something there, something that was missing, but it was a thought he never dwelt on. There was always a more pressing matter which required his attention.

Today was no exception. Today was the day he would be assigned to a platoon and finally be recognized as a Konoha ninja. It was his next major step on his road to becoming Hokage. In his excitement, Naruto rushed through his morning routine and even skipped breakfast because he was so anxious to arrive on time and find out the team to which he was assigned. And after an incident involving every single one of a certain moody classmate's fan girls, he was eagerly awaiting his teacher's announcement of the team placements.

"First off, I want to congratulate all of you for graduating. You have all worked hard these past few years to make it this far, but I must warn you that your lives will only become more difficult from here on out," the teacher, a chūnin named Umino Iruka who was only ten years older than his students, announced to the class. In almost every aspect, Iruka was the definition of an "average" shinobi: nothing stood out about his physical appearance aside from the scar that stretched across the middle of his face, and his skill level as a ninja was nothing to write home about, unless you factored in his experience in chasing down and disciplining Naruto after the mischievous blond was caught in the middle of one of his many pranks. Those pranks, however, had helped create a bond between Iruka and Naruto that went beyond teacher and student.

"Come on, Iruka-sensei! Just tell us the teams already!" Naruto whined.

"I will get to it, Naruto. Be patient," Iruka instructed.

"You're being more annoying than usual today, usuratonkachi," one of Naruto's classmates muttered. Naruto's head quickly snapped to the side to face the origin of that voice: the aforementioned moody one with all the violent fan girls, Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke was taller than Naruto (though that didn't say much, since Naruto was the shortest student in his class), with blue-tinted, jet black hair that was spiky in the back and had bangs hanging over his face. He kept his clothing simple, wearing a blue T-shirt with the symbol of the Uchiha Clan emblazoned on the back, along with white shorts and arm warmers. From day one at the Academy, Naruto and Sasuke had been at each other's throats. Naruto detested Sasuke for his extreme popularity among his classmates and the village in general, and for his status as a prodigy. Sasuke had everything Naruto desired, and Naruto had decided after being humiliated in their first spar that the best way to earn that all for himself was to defeat Sasuke decisively and prove his superiority. But even the few times Naruto had beaten Sasuke over the course of their bitter rivalry had failed to garner him any positive attention.

And the worst part of it all? Sasuke didn't like the attention he received. He even went out of his way to belittle the girls who fawned over him. That pissed Naruto off like nothing else.

"Temee! No one asked for your opinion!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that, Naruto-baka!" one of Sasuke's fan girls, the pink-haired Haruno Sakura, screeched into Naruto's ears, making Naruto cover them in response. Sakura was yet another reason Naruto couldn't stand the so-called Last Loyal Uchiha. Physically, Sakura was the only one of Sasuke's fan girls Naruto had found attractive. Her pink hair was an exotic trait, accentuated by her fair skin and emerald eyes, and Naruto thought she had the best fashion sense out of all of Sasuke's fan girls with her favored red qipao dress; but the real reason he had a massive crush on the girl was because he had found himself empathizing with her desire to be acknowledged by Sasuke. But it still made Naruto angry when Sakura fawned over Sasuke or jumped to his defense. He never acted on that anger, because when he and Sakura were left unsupervised, Sakura would occasionally use physical violence against him, and Naruto lived in fear of the next time he would meet with a hard fist to his head from her.

But not this time. Sakura and Sasuke were ruining Naruto's good mood and he wasn't about to let them continue.

"Just get over him already, Sakura! What the hell is so great about that jerk, anyway!?" Naruto shouted at Sakura after his ears recovered from her verbal abuse.

"I couldn't even begin to list everything that makes Sasuke-kun better than you'll ever be," Sakura sneered at Naruto. "Baka," she couldn't resist adding the habitual insult.

"Alright, that's enough!" Iruka snapped at the class. "Quiet down or you'll all stay here for another year!" The room instantly went silent as most of the students cowed in fear of the threat from their teacher. Iruka shook his head at them and sighed deeply before going on, "You really need to work on getting that bickering under control. When you are assigned to your teams, your jōnin instructors will not tolerate any lapses in your teamwork."

"What's that supposed to mean, Iruka-sensei?" another of Sasuke's fan girls, the blonde Yamanaka Ino, asked. Ino also had a short temper and a massive crush on the Last Loyal Uchiha, but unlike Sakura, was more provocative with her clothing choice, relying on a sarashi to cover the large amounts of skin that would otherwise be exposed by her purple vest-like blouse and apron skirt. Naruto honestly thought she was the most annoying girl in the class.

"It means that should your jōnin instructors choose to do so, they can still fail you and prevent you from becoming a genin," Iruka explained. This caused almost the entire class to scream in protest, complaining about how it wasn't fair that after how hard they'd worked to pass, it could still amount to nothing. "Quiet down!" he shouted again, his head comically growing to several times its normal size to make his students cower. "It is completely fair for them to make that choice if they are so inclined. Teamwork is emphasized in your shinobi training for a reason, students. How can you expect to complete a mission you're assigned to if you can't rely on your teammates?" He waited for almost fifteen seconds to see if any of his students would issue another complaint, but they all remained silent. He gave them a nod, appearing satisfied that his message had sunk in. "Good. Now then, I expect that you will accept your team assignments without any further complaints and that you will obey the orders of your new instructors without question," he finished, glancing at the clipboard that he had kept in his hand since his arrival. "Team One…"

As Iruka began listing off the teams, Naruto let his mind wander off, tuning out Iruka's voice as he contemplated the meaning of what his teacher had just said.

After all that, there's still a chance I might not become a ninja? Naruto wondered. Nah, that can't be right. I'll be fine, I've trained way too hard to fail now! There's no way I won't pass any tests they might throw at me now! His thoughts were interrupted when he heard some of the other girls in the class, whose names he didn't care to remember, express their displeasure with the teams to which they were assigned, but Naruto wasn't bothered in the slightest, because none of those teams were his. As long as Sasuke-me isn't on my team, I'll be fine. I really hope I get Sakura-chan, though! He was pulled out of his thoughts altogether when Iruka began to read off the second half of the teams, not noticing the slight grimace Iruka had when his eyes glossed over the next team on the list.

"Team Seven will consist of Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto heard from Iruka, making him start paying attention again, "Haruno Sakura…"

"Yes!" Naruto shouted, jumping up out of his seat.

"I'm doomed," Sakura moaned, head sinking down onto her desk in gloom and horror over having the blond idiot as a teammate.

"…and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka finished, making Sakura jump up in excitement (and with more vulgarity than Naruto had done a few seconds earlier), while Naruto momentarily fell into the gloom Sakura had felt when her name was announced. But unlike Sakura, Naruto's depression turned into anger.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted, standing up and slamming his right hand on his desk while pointing his left hand at Sasuke. "Why does an outstanding shinobi like me have to be on the same team as that prick over there?!"

To his credit, Iruka held himself back from sighing. "The way the teams are formed takes into account the individual strengths and weaknesses each member has shown during their classes here at the Academy. Each team is designed to be balanced. And the reason you and Sasuke are on the same team is because Sasuke had the highest grades out of all twenty-seven graduates in this class…and yours were dead last. You do understand the importance of balance, right?"

"Hmph," Sasuke grunted, folding his hands on his desk. "You'd better not get in my way…dobe," he couldn't resist insulting Naruto.

"What did you just call me?" Naruto shouted at Sasuke.

"Give it a rest, Naruto!" Sakura screamed directly into Naruto's ear.

Now Iruka sighed. This team is a disaster in the making, he thought as he watched the three students assigned to this year's Team Seven lapse back into their usual misbehavior. I don't know what Hokage-sama was thinking by putting those three together. I just hope they can pull through somehow.

Naruto decided to wait outside on the swing, watching from this distance as his classmates either hung around the premises or left. He had no desire to be around either of his teammates at the moment, not after learning the disappointing news that he was stuck with Sasuke on his team. He would have been fine with anyone else but Sasuke, and having Sakura on the team without Sasuke would have been a bonus, but with both Sasuke and Sakura together, he had serious doubts about his future as a shinobi of Konoha.

Damn you, Sasuke-me. Damn you, Sakura. And damn you too, Iruka-sensei. You know how much I hate Sasuke-me and you still did this, Naruto cursed his teammates and teacher in his mind. He wondered if Iruka had done this as payback for all the pranks he had pulled up until now, and as that thought lingered, he imagined Iruka retreating to somewhere private and laughing at his misery and quickly decided he couldn't let his teacher off the hook for making him team up with someone he couldn't stand being around. I'll get you back for this, Iruka-sensei! I'll make you buy me ramen at Ichiraku every day for a whole month!

"U-um, ex-excuse me Naruto-kun," a soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts. Naruto then felt a small hand just barely touch his hand that was gripping the chains of the swing and, startled by this, jumped out of the swing to face the voice's owner.

"H-Hey! Don't scare me like that, you know!" Naruto shouted.

"I-I'm sorry," Hinata stammered, taking a few involuntary steps backward.

"Nah, it's alright." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember who this girl was. "But, um, what was your name again?" he asked. He knew he should have remembered this girl. All of her facial features—dark blue hair, small round face, and lavender eyes—reminded him of someone he had met long ago, but for some reason, he couldn't make the connection.

"I see," Hinata said, her face showing the same expression of disappointment it had earlier when she and Naruto were assigned to different teams. "So Naruto-kun doesn't remember me."

Naruto laughed nervously. "Yeah, sorry. I mean, I see you around class but every time I tried to talk with you, you seemed like you were too busy."

Hinata shook her head. "Please don't apologize, Naruto-kun. I didn't make it any easier on you. You see, ever since that day we first met, I have always been nervous about talking to you."

"Oh really? Why is that?" Naruto asked. He was genuinely curious about how this girl knew him and he knew that he recognized her from somewhere, but he still, for the life of him, could not figure out where.

Hinata's head lowered and she started poking her index fingers together as her shyness worked against her. "It…it was…"

"Huh?" Naruto said, but the girl seemed unresponsive. "You gotta speak up, y'know," he said, waving his hand in front of her. This startled her and she jumped back a couple of steps, then took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves before doing as Naruto asked.

"It was almost four years ago, and it was the only time we have ever talked until now, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you don't remember me," Hinata answered. "We hadn't started attending the Academy yet. It was snowing, and the red scarf you wore was ruined when you stood up for me against a trio of bullies."

"Hmm…" Naruto squinted his eyes and moved closer to the girl, holding his right hand above her head as he examined her, trying to recall the event she told him about. After about a minute, he was about to let his mouth run off with the first thing that came to mind when his eyes opened and focused directly into hers. It was those eyes, those strange lavender crystals, that made her so familiar to him. Naruto remembered the strangeness of those eyes from back then and now he found himself getting lost in them.

And that was when his brain finally put the pieces together.

"Hinata!" Naruto was having difficulty holding back his excitement from recognizing her. "It's you, it's really you!" he shouted, placing his hand on top of her head and ruffling her hair a little.

Hinata, for her part, also had some difficulties with holding back her own feelings. As it was, her eyes were sparkling when Naruto remembered their meeting on that day, and she blushed when she felt Naruto touch her hair. "Yes, that's right. I'm so glad you remembered, Naruto-kun."

"Hehe," Naruto chuckled awkwardly and gave Hinata a wide grin. A few seconds later, his grin vanished and he was back to drifting in thought. "But that's so weird, you know. I should have remembered something like that right away." He turned away slightly before adding, "Wonder why I forgot…"

"Please do not blame yourself," Hinata said. "The important thing is that you did remember me, even if it took you time to remember."

"Well, either way, I'm sorry. I tried to remember, but after what happened with those jerks, I didn't get to see you much."

"As I said just now, please don't blame yourself for that, Naruto-kun. If anything, it's my fault. Partly because I was so nervous about seeing you again."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier, but why were you nervous?"

Hinata couldn't answer that question. There were a lot of reasons why she was nervous, and she felt like it would take her several days if she tried to list them all. The most important reason, of course, was the problems she faced within her own home, from her own clan. But she couldn't bring herself to tell Naruto about the pain she suffered in her home, either. Besides, this wasn't about her, it was about him. The reason she had approached Naruto was to try to lift his spirits.

"It's not important," she lied.

"Huh? But—"

"A-Actually, Naruto-kun, I-I wanted to congratulate you," she interrupted.

"Huh?" Naruto went back to being confused. "Congratulate me for what, Hinata?"

"Well, for passing, of course! I-I was so worried when we took that test this last weekend that you were going to be held back another year. But when you finally succeeded in using that jutsu, the one you tried to use for me the day we first met, and received your hitai-ate from Iruka-sensei, I was so happy for you. You deserve to be congratulated for your efforts, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blushed slightly from her praise as he grinned. "Yeah, well, it was obvious I was gonna pass from the start," he boasted. "After all, I'm gonna be Hokage someday, believe it!" Hinata giggled at his bragging, making his heart skip a beat at how pure and innocent her voice sounded.

"I do believe it, Naruto-kun," she replied, catching Naruto completely by surprise.

No way. Did she just… Naruto stuck a finger in his ear, telling Hinata that he couldn't believe what she'd just said. There was just no way he could have heard her right. He was so used to people dismissing his dream or only pretending to agree with him just to make fun of him that to hear someone claim that they believed him, and mean it…no, it just wasn't possible.

"Hey…are you trying to make fun of me, Hinata?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing at her.

Hinata gasped at his response. Her eyes, which had been so vibrant, were starting to dull from the hurt she felt from Naruto's accusation. "W-Why would I make fun of you, Na-Naruto-kun?" she stammered out her reply.

Unfortunately for them both, she did not get a chance to clear up this misunderstanding.

"Hinata-sama!" a voice, unfamiliar to Naruto but painful to Hinata, called out. Both of them turned to their side to face a man with similar, yet completely different eyes from Hinata approach them, and even before he finished walking up to them, Naruto decided that he did not like this person at all.

"Kō-san," Hinata addressed him. "Isn't it too early for you to be here?"

"Clearly, I didn't arrive soon enough," the now-identified Kō did not make any effort to hide his contempt for his charge's crush as he replied. "Hinata-sama, you were warned by the elders to stay away from that child. Once I inform them of your disobedience, you will be punished severely." Every single word he spoke fueled a burning rage inside Naruto even as Hinata wilted from their sting. It was just like that time with the bullies, only now it was one bigger bully instead of three. Naruto didn't care who this person was; he wasn't about to let him get away with this.

"Don't call me 'that child'! I have a name, y'know!" Naruto screamed at Kō. "And don't you dare hurt Hinata! She didn't do anything wrong!"

Kō acted decisively to shut down Naruto. He turned to face the blond and activated his Byakugan, freezing Naruto in place with his fierce glare and murderous aura. The jinchūriki still needs to learn his place in this village, he thought with no small amount of disdain. He did not know nor care how much pain his actions here would bring upon Naruto.

"Uzumaki," Kō intensified his glare as he addressed Naruto. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Hinata-sama."

Naruto tried to move, tried to do something, but this was even worse than the incident with the bully trio. The bully wasn't attacking him, but at the same time, he didn't have to attack. He was drowning in the bully's aura, his body refusing to obey his commands to move and use that jutsu so he could stop him and save Hinata. All he could do was watch as the bully grabbed Hinata's wrist and forced her to start walking away. And all Hinata could do was give Naruto an anguished look as she was taken away from him.

By the time Naruto recovered, it was too late. Hinata and that Kō person were long gone. He had lost his first real friend again and he hadn't been able to do anything to stop it.

And unbeknownst to him or any of the other few people who cared enough to do something about it, his life was only about to get even worse.

Naruto sank into a deeper depression than ever as he sat back down on the swing, watching as the rest of the students left. For the second time in his life, he had let himself get lured by the false hope of finally making a real friend, and his mistake reminded him of his eternal loneliness. What made it worse was that somewhere in his heart, he felt like Hinata wasn't pretending to be kind just to hurt him. But someone else had still objected to their friendship. Someone who had the power to make sure she couldn't be his friend.

I can't let this get me down though, Naruto thought, trying to shake himself out of his depression. Once I get some ramen in my stomach, I'll feel much better! Then I can figure out what I'm gonna do about this. Satisfied with this, he hopped off the swing and started walking towards Ramen Ichiraku to order himself several bowls of the divine, heartwarming meal.

Only to stop and take several steps backward when he saw Sakura sitting by herself on a stone bench to the right of the Academy's front gate. And from his perspective, Sakura appeared to be waiting for someone. It wasn't difficult to guess who.

She probably thinks Sasuke will come along any moment now. Naruto knew better than to delude himself like Sakura was evidently doing to herself. If Sasuke had told Sakura to wait on him, his intent would have been to make sure he rid himself of Sakura once and for all.

That thought gave Naruto an idea. Realizing that Sakura had not noticed him starting to walk out of the gates, he took several more steps backward, hiding behind a tree for extra cover, then made the hand seals required to perform one of the three ninjutsu he was taught how to use at the Academy, the Henge no Jutsu. A few seconds later, Naruto was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, which quickly faded to reveal a perfect physical copy of Sasuke. Hehe! This is my chance to win Sakura-chan over for good! he thought to himself, feeling triumphant as he casually approached the object of his affections, who was now paying full attention to him and smiling widely.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura greeted in her usual manner.

"You don't need to yell all the time, Sakura," Naruto-as-Sasuke softly chastised her. Inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't slipped up and attached the affectionate suffix which the real Sasuke never used.

Sakura blushed as she shyly replied, "Oh, well, it's just that I didn't think you would actually come, so I kinda got excited."

"Why would you think I wasn't coming?"

Naruto's question caused Sakura to respond by looking away to hide her embarrassment, which he found to be cute. "Ever since that day, you've always been so distant. I still remember what you were like before then, back when we first enrolled at the Academy. You were different back then. You were friendly. And to be honest, I was surprised when you asked me to wait for you out here. It didn't seem like you. But it also gave me hope. Hope that I might be able to help you."

Those were some of the few days that Naruto remembered well. Shortly after the Uchiha Massacre, Naruto had found Sasuke sitting by himself near a pond, but due to his pride, he had been unable to approach Sasuke. But for all the animosity between them, Naruto was perhaps the only one in their class who truly understood what Sasuke went through every day since that day. And yet Sakura had known a different side of Sasuke from before Naruto first met the jerk. And finding this out about Sakura had only increased Naruto's own determination to win her over. Like him, Sakura wanted to be acknowledged. She just hadn't figured out yet that Sasuke would never acknowledge her.

"Actually, Sakura, that's bothered me for a while now," 'Sasuke' said. "Why do you even like me in the first place?" He didn't really care what answer she gave to that question. The asking was simply part of his plan to convince Sakura that the real Sasuke would always reject her.

"Well, what's not to like about you, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura answered. "You're basically everyone's dream boy. Always acting so cool and collected, excelling at everything you do. It'd be more surprising if people didn't admire you." It was the typical response of a fan girl, of someone who only saw Sasuke as a trophy husband. But Sakura had also reminded Naruto just a minute ago why she was different enough from all the other fan girls that she wasn't a lost cause, like they were. If she could just be broken out of her obsession with Sasuke, she would be the ideal girlfriend.

And Naruto had decided this was the perfect opportunity to break Sakura of her obsession.

"If that's how you really feel, then you're just wasting your time," Naruto-as-Sasuke said, taking care to make sure his words were something the real Sasuke would have told her. "What you want to have with me, it isn't going to work out."

For what seemed like an eternity, an expression of disbelief was frozen on Sakura's face as she tried to register what 'Sasuke' had just told her. Once it sunk in that 'Sasuke' was rejecting her to her face, her thoughts turned to a mixture of panic and outrage.

"WHAT?" Sakura nearly screamed.

"To be honest, you're not the problem," 'Sasuke' continued, trying to make this fake rejection as painless as possible for Sakura. "It's actually me. I just can't be with anyone right now. Sorry."

Sakura's face dropped as her mind absorbed those words. "Oh. Is that how it is?" she asked, and 'Sasuke' nodded. "I see. I'm sorry for being such a bother, Sasuke-kun," she added, and was about to get up off the bench and walk home when 'Sasuke' stopped her with his next question.

"Why don't you give Naruto a chance?" Naruto-as-Sasuke asked. "He may be an idiot, but he's the only boy in the class who actually likes you. I'll never understand why, though." It was supposed to be the perfect plan. Belittle Sakura just as Sasuke would do, in such a way that she would have to take the advice given to her, if only out of spite.

But any seasoned shinobi would have known that no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. In this case, the enemy was Sakura. And she was an enemy Naruto had badly underestimated.

"Are you kidding me?!" Sakura screamed, shooting up from the bench and leaving 'Sasuke' stunned with how much offense she took to his suggestion. "Who would ever want to go out on a date with…with him?!"

"What makes you think that, Sakura?" 'Sasuke' was now demanding more than asking. "What do you really think of Naruto?"

"Oh, please! You know perfectly well what I think of him, Sasuke-kun! As you said, Naruto's an idiot! He's always so annoying! Going on and on about how he'll become Hokage someday! He's like a broken record! Does anyone even take that pointless drivel of his seriously?! And don't even get me started on his diet! Every day it's always the same thing, ramen, ramen, and more ramen! He's such a picky eater, it's disgusting! Doesn't he know how unhealthy it is to eat so much ramen? Doesn't he know there's other kinds of food he should be eating instead?"

But no one will even let me buy anything else, Naruto wanted to tell Sakura, but as much as he needed her to understand the truth, as long as she remained fooled by his Henge no Jutsu into believing he was Sasuke he had no choice but to remain silent and endure her rant.

"Then when he's training he always messes up, but he doesn't know when to quit! It's embarrassing and quite frankly it's pathetic. Not only that, but he goes around pulling all these pranks on people and starting fights with you and most of the time he doesn't even get in trouble for it!" Sakura lifted her arms up in exasperation and closed her eyes before continuing her rant, but in a softer voice, "I guess it makes sense since he doesn't have any parents to give him a normal childhood. Actually, I'm kinda jealous of him for that. Naruto's lucky he doesn't have any parents to tell him what to do. If I tried to pull even a tenth of the stunts he tries, my parents would ground me forever!" Then she grew visibly angry again and put her hands on her hips before resuming her shouting. "But then again, his parents probably knew what he would turn out like so they abandoned him on purpose! Would anyone really want to raise someone like him?"

But my parents are dead, so they couldn't have… Naruto felt like he was drowning in negative emotions. Sakura's rant challenged what little he thought he knew about the family he'd never had. Was she right about him? Was he really so pathetic, annoying and disgusting that no one would ever want anything to do with him?

But it was Sakura's next words that would truly shatter Naruto's soul in such a way that the pieces would be nearly impossible to put back together.

"Honestly I don't think anyone would miss Naruto if he disappeared. He'll never become Hokage and he'll never have any friends! Why can't he just GO AWAY?!"

If there were any pieces of his soul left to be shattered after Sakura finished her rant, Naruto felt them all shattering like the most fragile glass. He had put so much of his efforts into winning her over, yet she truly believed, just like everyone else, that his very existence was an unforgivable sin. Sakura had laid it out for Naruto in painful detail: there was not a single redeeming quality to him. Everything about him was wrong, and nothing he could do would fix that.

"What did I do wrong, Sasuke-kun? Why are you crying?"

Naruto hadn't even noticed until Sakura pretended to start showing concern that her rant had brought him to tears. Fearing that he would be discovered now and she would tear through him to break what hadn't already been broken, he turned on his feet and ran away as fast as his legs would allow, leaving Sakura bewildered at what she had said to upset her crush.

Naruto neither knew nor cared where he was running. Even if he had tried to look, his vision was too blurry from the unending wave of tears flowing from his eyes. The only thing he knew was that he had to run away, as far as humanly possible, and never look back. Everything Sakura said about him back there made sense—too much sense. All the villagers were actually right to hate him and there was nothing he could do that would convince them they were wrong.

When his legs finally gave out, he fell face-first into the dirt and continued bawling his eyes out. He hated himself for being such a crybaby, having learned a long time ago that no one would comfort him when he felt the need to cry, but he couldn't make the tears stop. There was just too much heartache.

Once the tears slowed down enough that Naruto's vision cleared, he realized that he had been crying for so long that night had fallen over Konoha. And furthermore, when he looked down he realized that he had run all the way to the top of the Hokage Rock. Naruto quickly scrambled backward. If his legs had carried him just a few meters further, he would have run right off the top of the stone carving of the Fourth Hokage's head and fallen to his untimely demise.

Naruto took several deep breaths to calm himself and then hopped down off the cliff and onto the Fourth's head, and carefully moved closer to the edge of one of the spikes of the Fourth's hair. In a way, it made sense that his natural instincts would bring him here. He had always idolized the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth had given his life to save Konoha during its darkest hour, the night the Kyūbi no Yōko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) attacked. It just so happened to be the same night Naruto was born, presumably also the night his parents were killed. That is, if they had actually been killed…

"So this is how a Hokage sees the world, huh?" Naruto thought aloud. From this spot, the highest location in Konoha, he had a perfect view of most of the village below. From the abandoned Uchiha district on the outskirts, haunted by the murders of its residents, to the lit up and lively market district closer to the center of the village, Naruto felt like he could see everything in the village he called home. And he couldn't help but wonder if the previous Hokage were still able to share the view Naruto had from his seat atop the monument. "But I guess I'll never know for sure," he said in his depression. After all, as much as he had wanted to become Hokage, he now knew that his dream was dead. Just as he had come so close to being.

Naruto's sight focused on a tiny figure at one of the market stands. He couldn't tell for sure since he was so far away, but it looked like a little kid, and just behind this kid were two other figures who Naruto could only assume were the kid's parents. Yet even from this distance, it looked like they were all enjoying themselves. Like they were all happy.

"Were my parents like that? Or would they have hated me too? Was I so much of a burden on them that they really just abandoned me like Sakura claimed?" Naruto did not know what to believe anymore. A big part of what had kept him going was the hope that his family, had he been able to have a real family, would have given him the attention he needed so desperately. But now all of his hopes and beliefs were broken. Was he nothing more than a mistake his parents shouldn't have made? Had he really grown so arrogant in his misguided belief that someone like him could transform himself into a symbol of leadership and admiration by becoming the Hokage?

All he had ever wanted was for people to stop treating him like he didn't exist. He wanted to feel like his existence mattered. He wanted them to let him help them so that he would feel like he was needed. Was that really so wrong? If he was to allow Sakura's hatred of him to decide the truth, then he already had the answer. And if that was really the case…then the only way people would ever acknowledge his existence…

…was if he ceased to exist.

This time, he knew it was the perfect plan. If Naruto just went away like Sakura wanted, she and everyone else would be much better off without him. No one would have to deal with his pranks and other nonsense anymore, no one would ever look at him with contempt. They might even go so far as to thank him for finally leaving them in peace.

"I guess there really wasn't much of a point in becoming Hokage anyway," Naruto thought wistfully as he stood up. "I just wanted people to acknowledge me. But now I know that even if I did fulfill my dream, they'd still find a way to ignore me." As he stood at the edge, just centimeters away from falling off and bringing his short and miserable life to an end, a memory flashed before his eyes. For that brief moment, he was back at the Academy, receiving an assignment from Iruka.

"If the world were going to come to an end tomorrow, who would you like to spend your last day with?"

At the time, Naruto had brushed it off as a silly question. There was no way any of the ways Iruka had described for the world to end were going to happen. But now that he was facing his own death, he thought he finally understood the purpose of that assignment. He closed his eyes and tried to think of someone, anyone who mattered enough…or more specifically, anyone who felt he mattered enough.

He had no memories of his parents, and had deliberately forgotten his other caretakers because of the lack of affection they had given him, so they were out of the question. He tried to think of his fellow classmates, namely Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chōji. While it was true the four of them had often skipped class together to go fool around, Naruto didn't feel like they had ever truly been his friends. Even his fellow 'dead lasts' had only seemed to tolerate him at best, taking more interest in how they were choosing to fool around than the fact they were doing so together. Everyone else treated him like he was the plague. Well, everyone except for Hinata, but that Kō person had made it clear that she wasn't allowed to have anything to do with him. And even if that weren't the case, she seemed like such a nice person that he knew he couldn't burden her with his sins. To do so would be selfish of him, and horrible for her.

The thought of Hinata still lingered in his mind, though. Now that Naruto remembered their first meeting he was tormented by the memory and his inability to understand why he had forgotten it for so long. But given what had happened in that meeting, he felt he was unworthy of her friendship. Why else would he have neglected to seek her out during the time they attended the Academy? And yet…there was something about Hinata that made him hesitate, just for the slightest moment, and want to reconsider what he was about to do. Naruto was convinced of his own worthlessness, but perhaps in another life, he might have been allowed to pursue Hinata. Sure, when she wasn't showing her cute blush she looked fairly plain compared to some of the other girls in his class, but she was far more gentle than they were, and…Who am I kidding, Naruto quickly derailed that train of thought. Sakura made it clear that no one would ever like me, least of all someone like Hinata.

As for Sakura, now that she had opened his eyes to his cruel fate Naruto no longer knew why he had ever sought out her affections. Empathizing with her desire for acknowledgment wasn't enough to explain it anymore. Had he simply been so desperate to prove he could win someone over that he had latched onto the person he thought he had the best chance of convincing? If that were the case, then he had been so very wrong to try, just as he had been so very wrong in everything else in his life.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he simply did not deserve to be acknowledged, let alone loved. Being alone his entire life, Naruto had no way of understanding what it was like to be loved. His need to discover that feeling drove him to single out Sakura and emulate the crush she had on Sasuke, but it worked a little too well: Sakura rejected him every time, just as Sasuke rejected her and everyone else every time. That wasn't supposed to be what happened. Love was supposed to be a good thing, but as Naruto reflected on it, the shattered pieces of his soul continued to break apart as he remembered every time he had been shunned by others in his pursuit of love. All he had ever wanted was to find someone who would fill his empty heart with love, someone who would help him get the rest of the village to accept his own love. But there was not a single person alive who was capable of giving him what he needed most. And because of that, just as he had always lived alone, he would ultimately die alone.

No matter how hard he searched his feelings, Naruto could not find an answer to Iruka's question. All he could find was the pain of loneliness, and it was a pain he could no longer endure.

"Damn it! I still can't think of anyone!" Naruto shouted, trying in vain to force back the tears that were as stubborn as he was. He took one last look at the village below him, then reached behind his head to untie the hitai-ate Iruka-sensei gave him for passing his final exam at the Academy and let it fall first. "I won't even get to die as a true shinobi," he lamented, his last words that no one would either hear or listen to. He closed his eyes for what he thought would be the last time and allowed himself to plunge into the depths of the hell he was convinced he deserved.

He did not fall very far before hearing a cry of anguish, and his fall was stopped just as quickly as it had started.

Stunned that his fall had been broken so soon, Naruto opened his eyes and looked up to see that someone had jumped off after him, and was grabbing onto one of his arms while trying to use her other arm to pull them back up onto the top of the Fourth's head. And to his complete horror, it did not take Naruto as long as it had the last time he saw her to recognize his would-be rescuer.

"What are you doing here?!" Naruto cried.

The girl who was trying to stop him from falling to his death, but would also die if she failed, was none other than Hinata…

A/N: Well, since it has been almost two years since I last posted story content on this site, I guess I should answer some of the concerns my readers may have here.

First off, to those of you who are still following my main story, An Uzumaki Scorned. Unfortunately, I have been forced to put it on hiatus as I am unhappy with the direction the story was taking and need time to plan out a rewrite, which isn't easy given my massive case of writer's block and IRL issues. I apologize for my ongoing procrastination. I am a horrible person. Trying to make up for this by focusing my efforts on assisting other authors during the past twenty-two months does not make me feel any less horrible.

Second is the similarity of certain scenes in this chapter to what was shown in canon, the first two scenes in particular. Yes, they are very similar, but observant readers should be able to spot the important differences in those scenes that contribute to the very large divergence from canon in this AU.

And third, would probably be the bashing issue. Part of the reason why it has been so difficult for me to get past my writer's block on my main story is that since the last update, I have come to utterly despise a majority of the common fanon misconceptions and will no longer read any story where the authors willingly succumb to them, and wish to avoid them in my own writing to the best of my ability. Some authors call it "the perfection bug" and it has played its part in bringing my writing to a halt.

However, while both me and the person who was willing to put up with me long enough to be my co-author for this story happen to strongly dislike character bashing (along with many of the other misconceptions), in this particular scenario a certain amount of bashing directed towards some of the usual victims might be unavoidable. We are still trying our best to keep it down to a minimum if and when it occurs.

Anyway, enjoy if that is what you wish. Unlike AUS, which has put a lot of pressure on me as a struggling writer, this story should hopefully feel more like a project of passion as it progresses.

Oh, and before I close this out, can you do a fellow author a favor? Go check out Emotwo's ongoing pseudo-crossover My Hero Academia story, "The Spectacular Spider-Deku". Admittedly, I haven't read it myself since I know precisely nothing about MHA, but the author granted me permission to use one of his old pieces of fanart as the cover image for this story, so recommending one of his current ongoing stories is the least I can do in return.

Link to story: www . fanfiction . *** /s/12017840/1/The-Spectacular-Spider-Deku

Link to fanart source, since FF won't show the full image: emotwo . deviantart . *** /art/Naruto-n-Hinata-Sorrow-n-rain-6298398

And now it's time to disappear, hopefully not for another twenty-two months.