Disclaimer: I don't Naruto.

Apologies in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have made, I was rushing to finally get this chapter done.

Chapter 6

The Third Hokage leaned back in his chair, slowly smoking his pipe. A mountain of paperwork sat on his desk, most of it unfinished. He knew that he should concentrate on his work, it was important no matter how much he hated it, but he simply couldn't focus on it right now.

As the leader of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, he had naturally dealt with many strange and difficult problems before, but the current situation far surpassed any he had encountered in his long years. The First and Second Hokage had trained him to be a strong ninja and how to be a wise, capable leader. But they never mentioned what he was supposed to do when a God was running amok in the village.

Sarutobi let out a long puff of smoke. In truth, the situation was not as bad as it could have been. Nobody had been killed or injured by Kamashin as of yet, and he hadn't made an appearance in three days. With any luck, he would stay quiet until the at least the end of the Exams.

A long sigh that contained a few wisps of smoke escaped the aged ninja. The chances of that seemed slim. He may not have known much about the man, but it seemed like trouble and excitement followed people like him around all the time. He was similar to Naruto in that respect.

Sarutobi leaned back and closed his eyes, placing his hand to his temple, as if trying to draw out the memory form his old, tired mind. What he could remember was fragmented and hazy, but it was enough.

Flashback

A young boy, only around 6 or 7 years of age, was practising his throwing technique on a wooden post in one of the training ground within a village that was almost as young as he was. The Leaf Village's vaunted academy had not yet been founded, so the training of young ninja was far more informal, largely restricted to clan teaching.

The young Hiruzen would have normally have been training in the Sarutobi clan compound, but after overhearing his father complaining that he was lagging behind, had decided to train away from prying eyes. This private training wasn't making much improvement, as less than half of the thrown shuriken and kunai had hit the target and none at all on the bulls-eye.

As he went to the training post and began to remove the embedded projectiles, the frustration that had been building up for the last several weeks burst out as the boy couldn't stop his fists from hitting the wooden post over and over again. Blood was dripping from his knuckles onto the ground by the time he could force himself to stop.

He sat down on the ground for several minutes, failing to stop the tears from forming in his eyes.

Why couldn't he get stronger? He was training as hard as he could. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to prove that he was strong enough to lead the clan, to gain his family's recognition and respect. If he could have those, they what was the point of being a ninja?

It took a few more minute for the tears to stop, but Hiruzen was eventually able to put on a brave face. It was getting late and he had to get home soon or else he would get scolded again. With a final look at the training post, he pocketed his weapons and turned around to begin the trip home.

He only got a few steps before something caught his attention. As the young boy was still despondent, he had been keeping his eyes down, looking at the ground. It was there that he noticed a pair of black boots standing in his way to the Village. Looking up, he saw those boots were attached to a man, clad in a pitch-black cloak. A pair of golden orbs was all that pieced the darkness encased in the hood of the cloak.

Those golden eyes looked at the boy and Hiruzen felt utter fear and insignificance before the man. It was like he was only an ant before this man in black and that if he took any action, he would be squashed effortlessly.

The hooded head turned and that soul-piercing gaze left Hiruzen, allowing him to breathe again. This moment of respite was short-lived as young ninja realized where the stranger was now looking.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha, was just beyond the training fields, large parts of it still under-construction. It was a truly monumental sign and a great symbol. While far from being the largest city in the world, the Village still housed an unprecedented number of ninja. Before, such a large group of shinobi could only be found on the battlefield; but here, they could live side-by-side peacefully. The size of the First Hokage's vision and accomplishment was clear even to one as young as Hiruzen. A full-fledged ninja village truly marked the beginning of a new era.

Although his face was hidden and his eyes little more than bright sphere of light, Hiruzen could tell that the man didn't hold the same level of wonder and awe towards the Leaf Village. Indeed, the feeling that the ninja-in-training was getting was more along of the lines of dislike, perhaps even hatred. At the very least this man was no Leaf ninja, and that meant he must have infiltrated the village for some purpose.

Fear filled Hiruzen again, but this time not for himself. His family and his friends were down there in the village. Everyone who mattered to him was there, alongside many other innocent people. He couldn't, he wouldn't, just stand there and let this stranger be a threat to them.

No matter the cost, he had to protect those dear to him.

Hiruzen still had a kunai in his hand from his earlier and he brought it up before him. It was a sloppy stance, with this kunai positioned so it was neither effective for defence nor offensive. His father would have scolded him fiercely for this, shouting that he had been taught better. Hiruzen had known better and should have held his weapon in a better grip, but perfect form was not the first thing on is mind.

Just getting a weapon in up and doing anything to stop this man before he hurt his village was all her was thinking about.

The man noticed the young boy's hostile movements, but did nothing more then turn his head back towards him. Those golden eyes bore into the child ninja, seeming to peer into his soul.

Hiruzen took only one second to think, one second to reconsider his options. If he attacked this man, he would surely die. But there was no way he could live with himself if he just did nothing. He squared his shoulders, planted his feet firmly on the ground and threw his kunai with as much force as he could muster.

The force of the throw threw Hiruzen off balance, despite him grounding himself. He went down to his knees and closed his eyes, waiting for the stranger to attack and end his life. Several minutes passed before Hiruzen lifted his head and opened his eyes.

The man was still standing there, having not moved an inch. What had moved was his hand; held in front of his face and caught between two of his fingers was the kunai. If he hadn't caught it, it would have stuck him right between the eyes.

It was the best throw Hiruzen had even done.

The stranger flipped the kunai into the air and caught it easily in her hand. He looked at it briefly before looking at the fallen child.

"Looks like you can hit a bullseye, Monkey-boy"

Hiruzen was shocked by the man voice, not by the strange echoing quality to it, but that it lacked any kind of anger or desire to kill. He almost sounded proud.

The stranger in black walked slowly towards the kneeing boy. Hiruzen was still too shock by all that was happening to move. He just silently watched as the man approached him. When he was standing just in from of him, the man flipped the kunai around and held the handle towards Hiruzen, offering it to him.

"Training and fighting for yourself won't do you a lot of good. Fighting for the sake of others, for something greater then you, can help you reach greater heights". A bright smile become visible under the mask of darkness and the golden eyes no longer held any animosity of any kind.

Hiruzen didn't know what to do or how to reply. This was something he had never been trained for and he was utterly unprepared. But the man words struck a chord with him. Maybe there was something to them…

"Hiruzen!" the shout brought the young Sarutobi out of his thinking and he looked over to see who it was that was calling for him. It was someone he knew, someone important, but everything was going hazy now. He couldn't make out any coherent shapes as the clear parts of this memory ended and were replaced by those still shrouded in the mists of time and old age.

End Flashback

Sarutobi let out a sign of frustration. He couldn't remember anything beyond that point with clarity. It was clear that he had met Kamashin when he was a boy, but he was sure that there was far more to it than that. He could just feel it, that there was something important hidden just out of his reach. Something that had to do with the Village's early years.

Sarutobi smoked on his pipe for several minutes, mulling his options over. He then summoned one of his ANBU and gave them an order for the Intelligence Division. They were to focus their research on the founding and early days of the Village, but should specifically focus on what wasn't there. The key to the missing piece of this mystery may be to find out what was missing in the first place.

With someone like Kamashin, Sarutobi figured that an out-of-the-box approach would be the best. He only hoped he could find the answer before it was too late, and that those answer would not do more harm the good.

He had a bad feeling that while important, whatever had happened all those decades ago had been forgotten for a reason.

The early morning in was a peaceful and serene time, perfect for quiet reflection. Such notions were not on the mind of one young ninja, as he ran through the forest in an orange blur. He was usually not this active or excited so early in the day, but how could he not be. He was finally getting some real training from a veteran ninja; no weird or unclear test or methods, just straight-forward training.

He had been all kinds of mad when he had gone to the spot by the waterfall and found a note for the Pervy-Sage. He said that he would be too busy with his 'research' for the next few weeks and he would have to train on his own.

First Kaskshi-sensei bailed on him in favor of Sasuke, then Closet-Pervert got knocked out and now the Prevy-Sage had straight up abandoned him. Three teachers in under a week and the second half of the Exam were just around the corner. Not that he doubted his super awesome ninja skills wouldn't help him beat the snot out of Sasuke, but he still wanted to be prepared for anything.

So far, all he could do was walk on water and summon a little tadpole. Three teachers and not one had taught a killer jutsu. He had screamed for several minutes about the uselessness of perverted sensei and was about to storm of in an attempted to find his wayward teacher when Kamashin suddenly appeared right next to him.

The surprise of seeing the tall man right there had sent Naruto falling to the ground, landing un-ninja like onto his butt. While he was getting up, Kamashin had asked what was getting him so worked up. Naruto explained his situation and to his delight the so-called God of Shinobi had offered to teach him again. It would only be until he Pervy-Sage could be found, but Naruto was happy either way.

He felt that he had learned more in that one session with Kamashin then with any of his other teachers.

Plus spending time with Hinata was always fun. She was a bit weird, with her face always going red, but he honestly enjoyed spending time with her.

Kamashin told him to meet with him and Hinata the next day at the same clearing as before. Naruto eagerly agreed and spent the rest of that day with his own training, consisting mainly of fighting his Shadow Clones and summoning more tadpoles. He wasn't discouraged by this lack of progress, as he just knew that tomorrow he would finally get some real training done.

So Naruto, very out of character, went to bed very early and got up at the crack of dawn. He got his morning ramen and was out the door, barely able to contain his excitement.

What would he learn today? Spitting fireballs from his mouth? Splitting the earth in two? Or maybe shooting lighting from his eyes?

Naruto had never been this eager for a day of learning.

He reached the clearing in record time and was surprised to find Hinata already there. He had really expected to be their first, given how early he had gotten up, but it didn't matter much. He waved to Hinata and started walking up to her.

"Hey! Hinata! Good Morning. Where's Kamashin-sensei? I want to get started on training!" Naruto gave his greeting and question in her usual way, by shouting it as loud as he could. He saw Hinata practically jump out of her skin in surprise. Wasn't her speciality being able to see everything at once or something? Maybe she was focusing on some super-secret technique of something. Maybe he could convince her to show him how to do it, that would be so cool and…

Naruto's thoughts were cut off as he suddenly found himself being thrown into the air. He spun around widely, trying in vain to find his balance. He was unable to find it before his face was acquainted with the ground.

Naruto rolled around on the ground, clenching his face in pain. What the hell just happened?

His question was answered as he saw a pair of black boots, ones that were attached a certain God that was responsible for Naruto trip into the air.

Kamashin looked down at Naruto and gave him a crooked grin.

"You got to be on guard more if you want to stay alive. Even in friendly territory, if you don't watch your back, your ninja career could be very short" Kamashin ignored the glare from both Naruto and Hinata, who had rushed up to help the fallen boy. He causally walked towards a fallen tree at the edge of the clearing.

The pain in his face faded quickly and Naruto was back onto his face, running after Kamashin and asking a hundred questions about what he was going to learn today.

"So you want to learn a super-powerful jutsu that will defeat you opponent in an instant?" Kamashin barked a laugh as he sat down on the tree, "You'll need to get good with the basics first" the God of Shinobi said as he began to take off his trench-coat.

Naruto began a loud retort, saying that he knew all the boring basic stuff and wanted something better. He cut himself off as Kamashin placed the trench-coat beside him on the tree. This left the God in his sleeveless black shirt, exposing his arms. Each limb was visible powerful, with thick cords of muscle baring witness to intense training. But what caused Naruto to pause were all the scars.

There were hundreds of small, white lines covering each arm. There seemed to be more scar-tissue then normal skin. Naruto had seen many veteran ninja from around the village display prominent scars, but never saw so many on one person before.

Kamashin noticed Naruto's staring and gave a rueful smile.

"If you don't want to get all sliced and diced like this, I recommend you get a firm grasp of the basics" Kamashin gave a sharp glare, "If not, then I'm not wasting my time with you."

Naruto simply nodded, not able to take his eyes away from the scars.

"How…" Naruto simply gestured to Kamashin's arms.

Kamashin opened his mouth to reply before closing it. He seemed to think for a moment before giving his answer.

"Here's a special piece of advice; never go charging in an army of crazy fanatical samurai all by yourself. It will end badly." Kamashin said this will no emotion, simply looking Naruto in the eye. The young ninja didn't know how to respond to something like that and simply gave another nod.

He missed out on the sharp, inquisitive look that Hinata gave at her sensei.

Kamashin's jovial mood returned as he gave both children a smile.

"Excellent. First of all, I want you to spar with Hinata. She got plenty that she can teach you herself." Kamashin gave these instructions as he got himself comfortable on the log, intending to take it easy for the time being. "After that, maybe we'll move on to some jutsu".

Naruto chose not to argue against this, still a bit stunned and thankful for any kind of training. He turned around and began walking to the centre of the clearing with Hinata.

"Stop"

Naruto turned around and saw Kamashin had his hand extended, palm up.

"Your headband; you'll need to take it off before we train. No exceptions." Kamashin's voice and look were very stern and it was clear it wasn't going to take not for answer.

Naruto was understandably reluctant to part with his treasured headband. It was a gift from Iruka-sensei, visible proof that he was a real ninja and not just a child playing at it. It was a symbol of all that he wanted to be, what he would become no matter the obstacles set before him. It wasn't something that he could just give up.

Hinata noticed Naruto hesitation and intervened before a fight broke out.

"Naruto, you headband could get damaged while we train. It would be best to take it off for now, so you don't have to worry about it" she smiled at Naruto, hoping her reasoning would mollify him.

Naruto thought about that, nodding as he saw her point. He had noticed that, along with her trademark jacket, Hinata didn't have her headband around her neck like she usually did. Looking around, he saw that it and her jacket were neatly placed on the end of the log that Kamashin was sitting on. He figured that it was just something that they did and it did make some sense.

With only some slight hesitation, Naruto untied his headband and handed to Kamashin. The God of Shinobi gave the item a very peculiar look, something that Naruto couldn't place, before placing it safely beside him.

Naruto and Hinata walked to the centre of the clearing and got into a fighting stance. Naruto's was more of a poor imitation of the Academy's basic stance. His feet were poorly placed and his fist held out in front of him that would both easily telegraph his attack and left little room for defense. Hinata simply stood sideways with one palm at her side and the other outstretched towards Naruto.

Naruto did remember his previous lesson and waited a full minute before attacking. His patients had its limits and Hinata wasn't making any aggressive moves of her own. As he charged forward, Naruto started to worry that he might accidentally hurt her. He knew she was strong, her match against Neji and her pushing him into the tree proved it, but he really didn't like the thought of causing her pain. She had always been such a quiet and shy girl and it was difficult to not see her as fragile. Naruto decided that he would pull his punches just a little bit.

That decision last about 3 seconds, when Naruto's face was again reunited with the ground.

He shook off the pain and waved away Hinata's concerns about stopping. He got up and went into another bout, doing everything he could do to land a hit. Nothing work; all his punches and kicks never hit. Hinata wasn't even really fighting back, just deflecting all his blows and constantly making him lose his balance. Even summoning Shadow Clones didn't help, as she effortlessly deflected and redirected all incoming attacking, causing the clones to collide into each other.

After an hour of this, Naruto collapsed to the ground, breathing hard and sweating profusely. He was getting his ass handed to him by Hinata, who wasn't even winded. Strangely, he didn't feel any kind of anger or resentment towards Hinata, like he would have if it were Sasuke beating him down.

Instead he felt anger and frustration at himself, for not being able to do better. He looked up when he saw Hinata offering her hand to help him up, a small smile on her face. Naruto didn't hesitate to accept it and quickly got back to his feet.

"Wow Hinata. You're really, really strong. How did you do all that? You're not even a little tired from this are you?" Naruto smiled at the girl as he asked this, causing her to blush. That blush deepened as she realised that he was still holding her hand.

Hinata quickly removed her hand from Naruto's grasp, taking several deep breathes to calm her rapidly beating heart. Naruto chalked this up to her simply being her usual weird self.

"W-well, I wasn't doing anything fancy, Naruto. I was just deflecting you attacks. That uses less energy than blocking and it's a good way to tire your opponent out" Hinata was saying this simply to fill the void with conversation and give her a chance to hide her embarrassment. This was first-year level knowledge and Naruto probably knew this already. She hoped she wasn't insulting him or anything.

To her surprise, Naruto was listening with rapt attention and nodding at her explanation. It was like this was the first time he was hearing this information, information that was crucial for any ninja.

What had the Academy done when he was attending? What had his Jonin-sensei been doing? Did nobody care to teach this boy anything that would keep him alive?

Hinata knew the answer to that and it was that over anything else that made the gentle girl's blood boil.

"Hey Hinata, do you think you could teach me this deflecting-thingy? It sounds super useful" Naruto's request pulled Hinata back to the present. She took a second to compose herself before answering.

"S-sure…It's no problem. It's all really simply anyway. You just need the right posture…"

Hinata proceed to explain the basic of how to deflect an opponent's physical attacks. For some reason, Naruto was able to follow and understand what she was telling him with no problem. With other teachers, it always took a while for things to stick, if they ever did. But Hinata was able to explain it in a way he could understand.

It was really simply anyway. Slap you opponents hand away before it hit you to avoid getting hurt, knocking them off balance and set them up for a counterattack. You needed to be paying attention to see where the attack was coming from. Ideally, you'd want to dodge the attack completely, but if you couldn't you should try and deflect it away. Blocking was a last resort, as you would still take damage.

Naruto looked back over to Kamashin, who was sitting leisurely on the log. The scars on his arms were still visible from this distance. He could only imagine how much it had hurt when it got them. Naruto was no stranger to pain, but had been lucky to have never been too seriously injured before, not even during the mission to the Land of Waves.

Naruto returned his attention to Hinata's lesson with renew vigor. Learning to avoid getting hurt like that seemed like a really good idea.

Hinata had noticed Naruto looking at Kamashin and narrowed her eyes at her sensei as she too thought about those scars. Hinata had learned to multi-task very well and so was able to run Naruto through the techniques and stances best suited to deflection while pondering on her god of a teacher.

She had seen those scars on his arms before and knew there were more all over his body. She had naturally asked where he had gotten them, many times in fact. Each time he simply waved it away or gave a half-baked answer that was obviously false.

But this time, this remark about an army of samurai, was the most detailed he had even given on the question. Hinata was sure that he wasn't lying about that. She couldn't explain it and wouldn't be able to put it into words if asked, but she just knew that Kamashin was telling the truth. Not the whole of it, but it was a lot coming from such a secretive man.

Hinata decided to worry about it later when she had the time. She needed to focus on helping Naruto.

She felt a little guilty; the specific style that she as showing Naruto was a modified version of the Hyuga's Gentle Fist and she knew her father would be furious for teaching a clan outsider any of it, no matter how altered it was. Still, this small act of rebellion was exhilarating in its own way and she as destined to get an earful from her father after the Exams anyway.

Helping Naruto get stronger at the cost of making her father even angrier at her? That was a price well worth paying in Hinata's books.

The two Genin spent the rest of the morning on this training, with Hinata showing Naruto the basics of this different style of fighting. By the time noon arrived, Naruto was beginning to get the hang of it. His movement and technique were still very sloppy and wouldn't be much use in a fight against a competent foe, but it was still a huge improvement.

Kamashin watched the two children as they trained, unable to keep a smile from his face. In only a few hours, Hinata had helped teach a boy widely regarded as a complete idiot to grasp a fundamental aspect of combat. A few more days of training and he would have it down pat, ready to move on to the next step.

He felt that this further justified his choosing of Hinata as his apprentice. She was able to help people reach their potential in a short period of time. She had a lot more to learn before she was ready to make his place, but she was well on her way there.

This morning's training also justified his taking over of Naruto's training from Jiraya.

Having lived a very long time, Kamashin had managed to amass a sizable fortune spread across multiple anonymous accounts that he could access when needed. All it took was greasing a few palms and suddenly there were steep discounts on all services in red-light district. That was more than enough to get Jiraya out of the picture for the next few weeks.

Naruto would need that time for actually serious training, not learning to rely on the Nine-Tails power. He could understand Jiraya's thinking, but firmly believed that Naruto should focus on his own skills and power instead.

He would need all of it if he was going to survive what was coming.

Kamashin called for a break and the three shared a lunch that Hinata had made. She blushed so hard at Naruto compliments towards her cooking that Kamashin was sure she would faint. The fact that she didn't told that her self-control over her 'secret' crush had improved, slightly.

Naruto was back on his feet after the meal and began pestering Kamashin over his promises of teaching him an awesome new jutsu. Kamashin calmly pulled a white piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to him.

"What's this" Naruto asked as he looked at the square piece of paper in his palm, poking it with his finger.

"It's a special type of paper, made from a tree that was fed with chakra. It will help determine which of the elemental affinities you have."

The look of utter confusion on Naruto face to this explanation surprised both Kamashin and Hinata. Not knowing a proper fighting stance was one thing, but elemental chakra was a very elementary subject. While it wasn't taught at the Academy itself, that being at the discretion of clan-heads or Jonin sensei, the basics of it where explained in detail.

"Naruto…" Hinata said gently, "an elemental affinity determines which type of elemental chakra you are naturally suited to. The five elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightening. Your elemental affinity tells which of those types of jutsu you will have the easiest time mastering." she gave Naruto fairly intense look, "We had several readings and assignments about this at the Academy."

Naruto immediately lowered his eyes and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"W-well I, um… must have forgotten about that. Didn't seem important at the time and, um, you know I'm not really a reading guy, so…"

Kamashin and Hinata both narrowed their eyes at these words. Naruto wasn't acting like he normally would, where he would simply brush it off. The notion of him not knowing about this, something out readings, seemed to really upset him.

"A-anyway, how do you use this paper-thingy anyway? I want to start learning some awesome jutsu right away" Naruto's voice appeared to have the same energy and exuberance as before, but the other two could tell it was forced. Naruto really wanted the matter dropped and for them to move onto something else.

Kamashin and Hinata shared a quick look and a nod. They would deal with this later.

"Okay. It's really simple. Just channel some of your chakra into the paper and what happens to it is based on what your affinity is" Naruto nodded at Kamashin's instructions, obviously happy to move back to training. He channeled his chakra and the paper suddenly split in half.

"Well, that means you have a Wind affinity. That means I'll be teaching you how to use Wind Style jutsu"

Naruto's eyes lit up. He could just see it now; him going into the Exams and literally blowing Sasuke away with a giant tornado. Sakura would surely be willing to go out with him if he showed off enough.

"First, you'll need to grasp the basic of using wind chakra. There's a specific exercise that can help you", Kamashin looked over to Hinata "you know the one, right?"

The dead-pan expression on the normally shy girl almost moved the God of Shinobi to laughter. She remembered the damned exercise, using her chakra to cut a leaf. Her affinity was Water, so trying to make her chakra grind together to cut something was fairly difficult at first. It wasn't as bad as the Fire training, she didn't burn herself, but it was still a frustrating and tedious exercise that took her weeks to complete.

Judging by Kamashin's gesturing, he was expecting her to take charge of this lesson. While she wasn't happy to repeat the exercise herself, if it was for helping Naruto, it was well worth it.

Hinata stood up and brushed herself off.

"Okay Naruto. The basis of Wind jutsu is grinding your chakra together to it can cut. The best way to practice this is using a leaf so…"

The sun had long set by the time Naruto had gotten back to his apartment and got ready to settle down for the night. He had just finished his dinner of instant ramen when he heard a knock on his door.

That was very strange. No one ever came to visit him, ever. He had always been alone; from as far back as he could remember. If he had ever wanted company, he went out to find it; even if those people didn't want him around. No one ever came to him.

Naruto didn't really know what to do, so he simply got up from the table and walked to the door, opening it.

To his surprise and confusion, it was Hinata standing in front of his door, wearing a set of casual clothes and holding a bag in front of her.

Why on Earth was Hinata visiting him at his apartment? He had just said goodbye to her a few hours ago. Was it something about his training? He felt that he was making progress, especially after Kamashin suggested he make some Shadow Clones to do the leaf cutting exercise as well. When he dispelled them hours later, he had retain their memories and found that his progress had greatly improved. He could consistently cut halfway through a leaf each time and was sure that he could cut it completely with just a little more training. Both Kamashin and Hinata had praised him for his progress and he felt a warm feeling in his chest that he only felt a few times before.

He really couldn't wait until tomorrow.

But at the moment he had no clue why Hinata was here, or even how she knew where he lived. He never told her. This was all a new experience for him.

"Hey…Hinata. Can I…help you with anything?" he didn't get an immediate answer to his question, the girl simply looking down with her face turning red. It looked like she was trying to say something, but words weren't coming out. She instead thrusted the bag forward, right in front of Naruto's face. He slowly took the bag and looked inside.

"Books and scrolls… Why are you giving me this?" Naruto looked between the bag and Hinata, hoping for an answer.

"Intellectual stimulation my dear boy"

The sudden answer from Kamashin, coming right behind him, startled Naruto so much that he instinctively leaped forward and wrapped his arms around Hinata.

"Waaah! Kamashin-sensei don't surprise me-Hey Hinata what-" Naruto tirade was cut off as Hinata, being held by her crush, promptly fainted and dragged Naruto down to the floor.

Naruto was completely flabbergasted by this turn of events, but was able to put that aside when he noticed Hinata's condition. Her face was bright red and it almost looked like steam was coming out of her ears. Whatever it was, it looked really serious and Naruto wasted no time in untangling himself and carrying in friend into his apartment.

This would be much easier if Kamashin wasn't just standing off to the side, laughing his ass off.

Kamashin couldn't stop himself, not with this riot of an act going on. He had definitely made the right call in training both of these kids; the sheer entrainment value he was getting out of it was worth all the effort.

Poor Hinata, she had been planning this little visit for a while now. She knew of the lack of knowledge Naruto had towards many important aspects of being a ninja. She had been there at the Academy, where he repeatedly failed tests and assignments and received hardly any help from the instructors. She knew the reason for it and what desperate to help at the time, but couldn't pluck up the courage.

She had been thinking about it recently, since Naruto had passed the first part of the Exam. There was much vital information she was sure he didn't know and he would need it to succeed as a Chunin. It was what she had been thinking of so hard that morning when Naruto had surprised her. His blanking on elemental chakra had finally convinced her to take action and visit him after training.

Kamashin had watched from afar as the girl paced for several minutes outside the apartment complex before working up the nerve to enter, only to pace again in front of his door. The whole notion of going to the home of the boy she liked at night-time was playing havoc with her nerves. With their training schedule this was the only time she could do it, but her imagination was still running wild.

Having Naruto answer the door in only a t-shirt and his boxers did not help her at all. His suddenly wrapping his arms around her in surprise, combined with Kamashin's deliberate choice of words, was more than the girl could handle.

Naruto carried Hinata bridal style into his small living room, placing her on the couch. Kamashin noted the care and gentleness the normally brash boy used as he set Hinata down. He had more than one layer to him that was for sure. It was actually adorable watching him get Hinata comfortable, feeling her forehead while trying to figure out what to do for her. If Hinata could see this, she would probably faint all over again.

But, this visit wasn't for fun and games. They had a job to do and Hinata needed to be fully conscious for it to happen.

Kamashin walked towards the couch, placing a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder. The young boy looked up; hoping that he could help Hinata with whatever illness was affecting her. The smile that Kamashin gave him actually did calm him down. Surely there was nothing to worry about with such a knowledgeable and powerful ninja here. He could definitely help Hinata through whatever was ailing her.

Such great faith in God of Shinobi was quickly dashed as Kamashin summoned lighting to surround his hand, before striking the unconscious Hinata in the chest. A significant, though non-lethal, amount of electricity entered her body and succeeded in waking her up. She flailed around before sitting up straight and her hair stood on end. Hinata stared forward for a few seconds, before turning her head and giving the nastiest look she could at Kamashin.

The fact that her hair was all a frizzled mess made it more adorable then intimating.

"Hinata, I'm so glad you're okay. What was wrong? Can I get you anything?" Naruto barraged Hinata, wanting nothing more than to make sure she was okay. It was odd; they had only spent time together over the last few days, far less then what he had spent with Team 7, but he felt a strong connection with her. He liked Iurka-sensei a lot and Hokage was nice to him, but with Hinata it felt like there was something strong, something mutual there.

Was that what it felt like to have a real friend?

Hinata quickly took stock of the situation; she was inside Naruto's apartment, she was on his couch and his face was merely inches from her own.

Instead of fainting, her body decided on the opposite course of action, springing into motion. Faster than Naruto could blink, Hinata leap off the couch and retreated to the far wall, desperately trying to fix her hair. This was so embarrassing; she had come here to help Naruto and all she had accomplished was to make a fool of out of herself. There was no way he would want her help now.

Naruto was not having such negative thoughts however. He was relieved that Hinata was okay and was willing to chalk up her actions to her just being weird.

Kamashin smiled at his apprentice's antics, picking the fallen bag off the floor and closing the door. He could honestly watch this all night long, but they only so many hours to burn. It they wanted to make any progress, they would need to start right away. He loudly cleared his throat, getting both Hinata's and Naruto's attention and held up the bag of books. The girl nodded in understanding and did her best to look Naruto in the face.

"Naurto… I, well we were thinking… discussing how to, well-" Hinata was stuttering, falling over her words as she tried vainly to find a way explain her proposal without insulting Naruto. Kamashin had no such qualms and simply spun the confused boy away from the sputtering Hyuga to face him instead.

"Naruto" Kamashin spoke with a grave intensity, making Naruto pay close attention, "You…are not very smart."

Silence reigned in the apartment as Naruto looked at Kamashin with indignation while Hinata had a look of horror on her face. Kamashin quickly moved to stop any yelling that would have been directed at him.

"But, we're here to help fix that problem. Every evening after training, Hianta and I are going to help you get caught up on all the academic material that you've fallen behind on." Kamashin reached out lightning fast and grabbed Naruto by his shirt, lifting him up to his face. "There will be no arguing or debating. This is part of your training and you will put everything you have into it. No wiggling out of it." Kamashin gave the boy on last hard look before moving towards the kitchen table, Naruto still in hand, and set him down on one of the chairs.

Naruto looked to Hinata for help, but she only gave him a sheepish look as she took a seat next to him. There was no help coming from her. His dread mounted as a large book was placed on the table before, Kamashin opening it to his first page.

"Now, we're going to start simple; just read these first few pages" Kamashin leaned forwards and placed his finger on the first word, tapping it a few times for emphasis. Naruto grumbled a bit before looking at the words, eyes narrowing in focus.

Kamashin watched closely as Naruto read the passage, noting how his face scrunched in concentration. The God could tell that Naruto was struggling to comprehend the written word, but it wasn't for what the information being conveyed; he was trying to comprehend each individual word.

Kamashin let out a sigh; he had feared this, but had honestly hoped that the situation wasn't this bad. He tapped Naruto on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Naruto…can you read this?" the boy nervously muttered a garbled half-answer. He obviously was not going to tell the truth, so Kamashin would have to be as blunt as possible.

"Naruto…can you read?"

Naruto immediately slammed his fist down and stood up, looking at Kamashin with absolute anger in his eyes. He was visibly shaking, almost like he was just an inch from punching Kamashin. He was completely furious and that was more than enough of an answer for Kamashin and Hinata.

A gasp caused Naruto to turn his head. He saw Hinata had her hand to her mouth, her pale eyes wide. Naruto glanced back and forth between his two guests, the two people who now knew.

He fell back into his seat, covering his face with his hands as sobs began to rake his body. He had tried so hard to keep this a secret; he got made fun of enough as it was. He couldn't stop people from knowing about the Nine-Tailed Fox within him, but at least he could prevent people from learning of his illiteracy. It was such a shameful thing and unlike the Demon Fox, he knew growing up that it was not normal, that it was something that separated him from the other people.

It wasn't his fault. Nobody was there to teach him; the instructors just placed the tests and readings in front of him and when he failed, they simply assumed that he was either deliberately not trying or was just plain dumb. He couldn't tell anyone or ask for help; he couldn't trust any of the instructors, not even Iruka-sensei at the time. Not being able to read may have been a good enough cause to kick him out of the Academy and end his dream of being a ninja.

But he had passed and earned his headband. He was a full ninja and learning to read didn't seem very important now, not when he was going out on missions. The written portion of the Exam had scared him, but simple guts and determination had seen him through. That had gotten him through his entire life and he didn't see it changing.

But now he had been found out, and by two people he had come to greatly respect. They were probably not going to train with him anymore; who would want to be around someone so worthless that they couldn't read. Nobody would want to-

He depressed thoughts were interrupted by a sudden and unfamiliar sensation enveloped his body. He opened his eyes and through his tears he saw that Hinata was hugging him, very tightly in fact. No one had ever embraced him before like this and he had no idea how to respond. He felt a weight on his shoulder and looked to see Kamashin's hand resting there.

Both of these people knew his secret and were giving him comfort. For Naruto, so used to being shunned by people, this act was overwhelming. His emotions boiled over again and went back to crying for several minutes, letting all his grief out.

When he was finished, he wiped his tears away and looked at both Kamashin and Hinata. The God of Shinobi's face was impassive and impossible to read, but Hinata was as red and tear-stained as his own. Why was she crying? This was his pain and sadness, not hers

He didn't understand at all, but it felt nice to have someone there for him.

"Naruto…maybe you should get some more appropriate clothes on." Naruto looked back to Kamashin, seeing a small, knowing smile on his face, "It not considered good manners to be wearing boxers with having guests over"

Naruto thought on that for a few seconds, before slowly standing up as Hinata removed her arms. He made his way to his bedroom, taking his time to get some pants on. Despite what people thought, he wasn't stupid. He knew Kamashin was giving an excuse to be alone to collect him-self. He didn't know why, he had already broken down in front of them, but he appreciated the gesture none the less.

He walked back to the kitchen, trying to think of what to say to those two. His emotions were still a mess when opened his bedroom door and saw that his entire kitchen/living room area was completely covered in paper. The ceiling, walls, floor and even his furniture was covered by what looked to be a single long roll of a scroll. Every square inch was covered in intricate black designs that Naruto couldn't begin to understand. All he could do was stand there and look at Hinata with a dumbfound expression on his face.

Hinata simply smiled at him, happy that he was looking a bit better and motioned for him to stay where he was. She and Kamashin could walk easily on the scroll, but Naruto couldn't. He would have to stand there until Kamashin was done.

Speaking of the great and all-powerful God, he was currently walking back and forth along the length of the room, looking at each seal. Hinata could faintly hear him muttering, trying to remember where he had placed 'it'. What 'it' was, she had no idea, but was confident it was to help Naruto. Why else would he have bothered to unravel his scroll?

Kamashin was looking mid-way up one of the walls when he gave a whoop of triumph, placing one finger on a set of storage seals. He channel a small amount of chakra into the seal, creating a large cloud of smoke the temporally obscured him. Naruto leaned as far out from his bedroom threshold as possible, curious as to what was going on.

Both his and Hinata's jaws dropped when the smoked cleared, for different reasons.

There was Kamashin, with a perplexed expression on face, holding a pair of huge serrated blades. They were the most vicious looking weapons either of the two Genin had ever seen. There were glowing orange runes on the sides of the blade and long chains were hanging from the ends of short grips. It was a weapon that radiant power and sheer badass-ness.

Naruto was almost drooling; this was the coolest weapon he had ever seen and he so wanted to swing it around himself. Hinata on the other hand was outraged; how could Kamashin think such a thing was what Naruto needed at emotional time? It was totally irresponsible and she was one step away from giving him a piece of her mind.

That would be unnecessary, as Kamashin seemed to realized that he had made a mistake.

"Whoops, that wasn't what I was going for. You'll both need many more years of training before you're ready for weapons of this calibre." He placed the two blades back into the seal with a small puff of smoke, ignoring the sign of relief from Hinata and the whine of disappoint from Naruto.

He looked back at this section of his scroll. "I was sure it was stored there. Where else could it be…Aha, there it is; just one space above." Kamashin tapped another seal and, when the smoke cleared, was left holding a stack of books. He held them towards the two kids.

"A complete set of Introduction to Literacy, the perfect tool to help someone learn basic reading and reading" Kamashin explained with pride in his voice. The two Genin simply stared, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Why…" Hinata looked at her sensei with narrowed eyes, "to you have those of all things in your scroll?"

Kamashin looked back with a look of indignation "Because I like to be prepared for any and all situation that may arise. Take note of this; being ready for anything, even something that seems impossible, is vital and can save your life."

He tapped his foot against the paper-covered floor and the paper began to move, receding back into a single large scroll that promptly flew into Kamashin's hands. He casually walk back to the now normal-looking kitchen, placed the books on the table and took a seat. He looked over to Naruto, waiting with an expectantly look.

Naruto was about to take a step forward, but hesitated. By going out there, he was openly admitting to his weakness, a personal shame he had been hiding for so long. Why were these two helping him? What were they going to get out of it? He hadn't questioned when they offered to train him; he wanted as much help with his ninja skills as possible. But this was an extremely personal issue, so why would two people he didn't know very well be willing to go so far for him?

Hinata noticed Naruto's hesitation, and calmly walked towards him. She gently took his hand, keeping her blush to a minimum, and simply smiled at him.

Naruto may not have been the smartest ninja, but he was able to understand what Hinata was doing. She wanted to help him because that what she wanted to do. She wasn't trying to take advantage of him or get a favour out of him later. She was helping him because she was just that nice of a person.

A person like that was someone Naruto wanted to spend more time with.

Slowly, Hinata pulled Naruto forward, leading him towards the table. He looked back and forth between Hinata and Kamashin, noting the patient looks on their faces. They were willing to put in the time for him. The least he could do was to do his best. He took a seat in the middle, with Hinata and Kamashin on either side of him. A book was placed in front of him again, this one with much larger and simpler text.

"Okay Naruto, we're going to start with the alphabet before dealing with Kanji. It will be a bit tricky at first, but I know you'll catch on. So first we'll…"

Kamashin proceed to begin Naruto's first proper lesson on how to read and write, with Hinata helping to explain when he didn't completely understand. It was slow going, but all three continue onward. The night worn on and while the simply task of reading was being taught, a powerful was being formed, a bond that would have a great impact on the world.

Author's note: Well…better late than never. I'm extremely sorry that it took me 4 years to get this chapter out, a very embarrassing thing given how short these chapters are. A combination of school, writer's block and a growing lack of passion have hindered me greatly.

Naruto and NaruHina will always have special place as the first major anime and manga series I followed and Naruto and Hinata were one of my first ships. But my passion to write for this as definitely waned and I can't promise when or if the next chapter will be released. I'll try to keep chipping away at it, but I can't make any promises.

I do plan on starting some more stories, namely for RWBY and Gundam Seed. I have a lot of ideas that I want to write down, but I'm not going make any kind of promises. I'm simply going to try and get out what I can, when I can.

Read, Review and tell me what you think.