shadow puppets chapter two: the Hinata encounter

After a few good months of intensive shadow clone training Naruto had gotten his chakra control all the way up to slightly below poor. It wasn't much compared to most ninja but when you took his reserves into consideration it was a monumental achievement. He had turned a firebomb into a controllable flamethrower. It wasn't up to the accuracy of a blowtorch yet but baby steps. Itachi had acknowledged his progress and told him to start generating medical chakra. He had succeeded in turning his chakra faintly green though it still lacked purpose and control. Itachi told him that if he applied it now it wouldn't do much other than flood his raw chakra into the other person which was poisonous or cause random cell growth and death resulting in odd mutations and possible death. He hadn't mastered the medical texts to do anything with it yet so was forbidden to even try it on any living creature. Naturally this made him want to experiment even more.

Naruto had set out for something easy to heal and after rejecting himself as a test subject because he healed too fast to be of any use. Not to mention the implications of repeatedly cutting himself. He had skimmed ahead far enough to know it wasn't a good thing by any stretch of the imagination so wasn't about to do it to prevent any angst about his mental condition. The most depressing part about reading a medical text other than sheer boredom was you tended to check off everything on the symptom list. Sure most clearly didn't fit but some did and then angst could set in so he wasn't about to check one off for some of the more severe mental conditions.

He had settled for a small rabbit that overcrowded the woods near Konoha. He set a few traps and proceeded to wait. He checked his traps daily and after nearly a week he got lucky.

Naruto had caught a small rabbit which he gave a small cut on his leg. Small cuts were one of the most common wounds a ninja sustains, that slowly saps their strength so it seemed like a good place to start. easy and generally useful and not a giant cluster fuck if he screwed up.

So Naruto spent a nice afternoon in the forest repeatedly healing the rabbit he had caught and injured for the seventh time in a row. The animal was staring daggers at him knowing full well he was going to stab him again once he was finished. Naruto didn't care though he was planning to eat it after he was done anyway so he wasn't scarring for the rabbit the rest of his life.

Well he actually was but his life wasn't going last much longer so it didn't really matter. His wounds had healed but not cleanly by any stretch, it seemed more like scar tissue gone wild. He also noted that the rabbit was struggling less and less indicating it was probably suffering more severe internal wounds than just the measly cut. Hmm maybe he had accidentally healed a artery or blood vein shut and his leg was dying from lack of oxygen. He also could have accidentally created a blood clot that was killing him. he wasn't really sure his book didn't cover rabbits.

So it really was a good thing he was going to perform a autopsy after he was finished. Sure he might not know what he would be looking at but it might help in future attempts.

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Hinata was watching her hero heal and reinjure the small animal, though she didn't like the animal cruelty. It showed he was practicing one of the more difficult ninja arts that even her clan respected. She herself wanted to be a medic if possible but lacked the courage to defy the laws of her clan that forbid her to learn techniques outside the clan techniques, unless given special permission.

Maybe she could learn some in secret from Naruto and maybe she could marry him after her father approved of his skill. There were some rare eye related injuries and diseases that the byakugan was susceptible to and the clan refused any outside medical help to treat those, to prevent anyone from spreading their weakness. If Naruto became well respected enough she could maybe maneuver him into becoming the clan doctor and then she could talk to him daily. And even marry him once the clan started respecting him. After all the clan doctor had to be part of the clan to be trusted with any clan secrets. That was one sacrifice for the clan she would be more than willing to make.

While Hinata became lost In her fantasy she accidentally overdid it and fainted. She fell of the tree branch she was hiding on and landed on the ground in an audible thump.

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Naruto heard the noise and went into panic mode instantly fearing someone had found out about his skills and would inform others. Itachi had warned him if that happened he would lose his books and be forced to abandon his studies. He could accept postponing fuuinjutsu but medical ninjutsu and puppeteering were crucial to learn now before he got too set in his ways.

He rushed to the source of the noise hoping to find out it was just some random animal. He stumbled through some bushes and then found a girl his age lying on the ground. He walked over to her and checked whether or not she was unconscious or not by poking her with his feet.

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Hinata woke up slowly with her hero standing over her with concern in his eyes. He seemed to be checking her for injuries.

" Easy there you might have hit your head when you fell so sit up slowly okay" she slowly complied still having trouble believing this was actually happening. She had to be dreaming there was no way her idol was nursing her back to health. He seemed a bit put off by her lack of response and held up his fingers." How many fingers am I holding up" she caught on and quickly replied" thre ee fingers Naruto kun" that satisfied him somewhat but then he asked "So why are you here in the forest alone" that was one question she could have lived her entire life without answering. But he seemed quite keen on a answer by the way his eyes were carefully examining her. She figured that his medical ninjutsu skills were a secret and wanted to keep it that way.

So she fibbed " I was gathering some herbs but I slipped on a tree branch when I was looking around" it was an embarrassing lie but she didn't want to give away that she had spied on him before and this was just the first time she got caught and saw his medic skills. It seemed to reassure him somewhat but he pressed "Did you see anything interesting?" this was a crucial moment thought Hinata either she said yes and maybe she could join him or she could say no and everything would go on like before. She wanted to say yes and take the leap but possibly worsening her relationship with Naruto scared her too.

She gathered up her courage and said meekly" Ano I saw you playing with a bunny" it was a compromise and she knew it. He could infer she saw nothing and everything from that. Hopefully she could get a clue on how he would take it and maybe gather enough courage to say yes. She unconsciously activated her byakugan and read Naruto's body language which was a Hyuuga specialty. It was useful to detect lies and the tensing of muscles before a attack. The sharingan might automatically recognize the preparatory movements to an attack but training and experience achieved the same thing. Naruto seemed to go on guard at the sight of her byakugan as it was a strong clue that she knew what he was doing. But he didn't seem overly hostile about it just conflicted. Hinata thought that the best thing now was a promise to keep her mouth shut. Ninja couldn't rely on promises as treachery was as common as rain, but still it was a start.

" I promise I won't say anything " that seemed to reassure him immensely judging by the sudden absence of tension in his shoulders. Apparently Naruto still believed in promises and Hinata wasn't going to be the one to break it. " Thanks, sorry but I promised my friend to never show it to anyone until I made chunin"

Hinata felt the ice break and took the invitation to the conversation that promised a long friendship founded on a shared secret. " Why not, do you want to surprise everyone" Hinata knew that Naruto was made fun of and people didn't take him seriously. It wouldn't be surprising if they ridiculed him all day everyday if he said he wanted to learn the very difficult medical arts. Hinata herself could never admit she wanted to learn it to anyone for fear of being mocked. It was already bad enough that she failed at the jyuuken but to fail at something else too ,would just prove she was a failure even more.

" Hmm yeah I do, I'm gonna blow their socks off once I master this stuff" he said excitedly but Hinata sensed that wasn't all. And who was this mystery friend and how did he learn it in the first place. The whole village kept any useful ninja arts away from children. You learned nothing useful in the academy really, except some basic taijutsu and weapon skills. It was mostly a slow indoctrination program where they constantly spouted the will of fire and glory of Konoha. She would have believed it herself if she hadn't had to sit through the week where they extolled the virtue of the Hyuuga clan. She could accept her clan being prestigious but they made them out to be saints or royalty. She firmly believed Hiashi or his predecessors made sure the curriculum put them in a favorable light despite the harsh truth. The rest of the village probably didn't argue the point too hard because they figured that sooner or later the kids would figure out the truth anyway. And once she recognized that as shameless propaganda she started checking the rest and realized it wasn't any different. The hyuuga clan were just the most obvious about it.

But she was getting off track, so the curriculum was worthless drivel with a few useful nuggets and no one got taught anything useful. Except off course the clan kids who got taught by their parents in their clan jutsu. It wasn't a big surprise that clan kids graduated at the top of the class given that unfair advantage despite the curriculum being geared towards civilians. So Naruto couldn't have gotten the skills from anyone in a teaching role and everyone hated him for some reason. Hinata was pretty sure Naruto had no friends despite his sunny personality and best efforts so it was an obvious lie. That only left out he had somehow stolen it and didn't want to get caught. But Hinata just smiled and nodded along and hoped that one day he would come clean to her completely. Once she proved to him she wasn't going to tell on him and get the grownups to take away his books.

she thought about it and realized the best way to reassure someone doing something illegal was to do something illegal as well. And since she too wanted to learn medical ninjutsu it was a match made in heaven. " Ano could you teach me some medical ninjutsu too" Hinata nervously asked. Naruto seemed taken aback by her question but soon shrugged it off and replied with enthusiasm" Sure I'll teach you everything I know. Just meet me here in the forest at sunrise "

Hinata suddenly had visions of the two of them spending hours alone in a forest and got really red in the face. But this was too important to mess up so she toughed it out and said " I would like that very much Naruto kun" there she had said it. Now it was official she was going to get tutored by her idol in secret in medical ninjutsu. " It's a good thing we're just kids so we have a lot of time to learn this stuff. " Naruto continued. Hinata added " Yeah we don't really learn much at the academy and don't have any duties yet."

Hinata knew Naruto had to scrounge his food together but didn't want to mention it. She also didn't have much to do except training and clan duties. But no one trusted a little kid with anything important so most of it was more ceremonial duties and dry practice to prepare her. She lost track of how many boring clan meetings with the elders she had to sit through without being allowed to say anything. She honestly couldn't understand how they could debate for hours on end about whether or not to go to a noble or clan party. It was like being seen made as much of a political statement as spitting in the leader's face. She understood it was the foundation of the Hyuuga clan's high influence in fire country. But still it seemed as ridiculous as her fellow classmates obsessing whether Sasuke liked shorter or longer hair. The debate was going just as strong as her elders and was currently leaning towards longer hair.

In her opinion any self respecting kunochi should wear her hair in a ponytail or have short hair. Long hair flowing about just screamed 'please grab me and pull me to the ground and slit my throat, pretty please '. Some high ranking kunochi did have long hair but their styles of combat made it moot anyway. If someone was stupid enough to grab Tsunade's hair and not expect to get pulverized in 2 seconds or less deserved death. The Hyuuga also wore long hair but more as a pointless point of pride than anything else. It showed how invincible they were in close quarters that they didn't have to obey basic rules. She had to admit that it really was a sensible guideline more than a rule and strong ninja liked to break all the rules just to prove they could. Hell sometimes she wondered if being unorthodox was the key to being strong as all the strong ninja in the village seemed to be weird. It would certainly make it harder to predict them but she wasn't willing to go that far yet. But more importantly she would never have the confidence to wear that green spandex suit she saw Guy offer Lee. Neji had brushed it off as inconsequential but she could distinctly notice the horror in his eyes. Maybe he had already realized he was likely to team up with lee when they graduated as he was first and lee doomed to be last. Too bad the Hyuuga pride didn't allow him to underachieve on purpose.

Naruto took her out of her musings about Neji's fate by saying " It's not just that but also medical chakra is more powerful if you learn it at a young age. I have been training my chakra control like crazy to master the basics of it before it's too late"

" What do you mean too late" asked Hinata puzzled . Naruto held up his right hand and channeled some medical chakra through it to make it light up green," Our chakra is more malleable when we are kids and changing the properties of our chakra to have healing ones is easier for us than adults. Tsunade was a genius but she also started young because she admired the shodaime hokage who was also a medic. The younger you start molding medical chakra at a regular basis the stronger it becomes. "

" You mean it could be impossible to learn once we're older. If so why don't we learn this in the academy" Naruto just grinned at her and said" You said it yourself we don't learn anything useful at the academy its mostly a basic education so the dropouts have a fall back plan and don't learn anything dangerous that could harm Konoha. But also because children don't want to learn perfect chakra control and difficult medical texts. And so they only pick it up once they become genin at the earliest but then their chakra is already a bit more resistant to becoming medical chakra. Because a medic nin still doesn't sound cool even then, the hospital only recruits the non combat oriented graduates. Which are mostly the less talented lot as they want to avoid glory and the front lines and just want a nine to five job. They become decent doctors useful for common injuries but not great ones who can fix lethal injuries. They supplement this with more chakra control and learning human anatomy and eventually can heal lethal ones too but never reach the potential they could have had if they started earlier. " said Naruto finishing his monologue with a grin

" But ninja see death frequently either with enemies or their own teammates they must realize how useful it is. Why don't they learn it sooner or later" Hinata questioned thinking that anyone could still pick it up later on if they wanted to, even a weaker version would be helpful. And anyone in their right mind would learn it sooner or later.

" They want to, but medical chakra is like an elemental affinity everyone has at birth but slowly diminishes over the years. By the time most reach chunin and take on more C and B rank missions and see more death. Their chakra is becoming resistant to medical manipulation . And jounins have no chance anymore as they completely lost the affinity despite seeing the clear need for it. The last chance to learn it, is as a chunin but even then a lot more focus on flashy jutsu that promise quicker results. " Naruto explained while shaking his head slightly at the foolishness of his fellow ninja.

" They follow the concept of kill your enemies before they kill you huh" Hinata summarized. Naruto shrugged" Yeah that's it in a nutshell and they completely ignore the inevitability of getting hurt at some point"

" That's just stupid " Hinata groaned and Naruto laughed, Hinata was suddenly self-conscious of herself for making such an unladylike sound. But Naruto noticed and waved her off saying" You looked so cute when you made that sound with your face all scrunched up, sorry couldn't resist. you looked so different from your normal shy self " Hinata thought back and had to agree she normally couldn't speak one word to Naruto but somehow she had managed to hold an entire argument. granted it was one of her more passionate subjects but still she had relaxed around Naruto which was huge progress for her. Hinata gave a tentative smile but then realized he had said she looked cute and promptly passed out again.

She was dimly aware of Naruto fussing over her but was too far out of it do anything about it or even to care.

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She later woke up inside her bed and when she asked Neji she learned that she got dropped off at their doorstep by some middle aged man. After some further investigating and worrying that Naruto had just left her there alone In the forest. She found out that the middle aged man was named Ichiraku Teuchi, it then clicked inside her head. She knew that Teuchi was a close friend to Naruto judging from all the free meals he gave him and the frequent laughs he had with him and his daughter. So Naruto must have asked him for a favor to drop her off as he was hated by the Hyuuga more than most other ninja. It wasn't quite the romantic ending where her prince charming drops her off at home but the best she could realistically expect. And it was for the best anyway, now she had a lie that she tripped and fell somewhere in the village and that a villager brought her home rather than Naruto. It was preferable to dealing with the outrage that Hiashi was sure to have. Either way she would be thought of as weak but weak and dishonoring the clan by hanging out with that boy at the same time, meant a whole lot of extra tortu- training for her. She went to bed early looking forward to getting up early in the morning with a smile on her face. Wondering if she would have time to make a bento in the morning so she and Naruto could eat together and watch the sun come up.

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i dont own naruto