The One

Chapter 1

The last day

It was a nice sunny morning in the village hidden in the leafs. The sound of chirping birds combined with the smell of many different flowers from every direction and the small and gentle breeze made the village looking almost like the perfect place on earth.

Naruto Uzumaki would have maybe enjoy the wonderful sight much more if he wouldn't be so damn late. Today was the last day of his third year at the academy and also the day of the third year's final exam. Because nobody in his class knows what kind of exam it would be this year, Naruto stayed up all night long trying to study some scrolls.

He awoke in the morning he felt a terrible headache and almost thought his head would explode any minute but after he looked as his clock beside his bed he instantly subdue his agony because he noticed that he only had 30 minutes left before Iruka-sensei would start class.

Now normally Naruto didn't care if he was late but today would be his chance to show what he got. He had done some very hard training sessions in the last few months after school because this year he wanted to surpass his personal rival Sasuke Uchiha and finally he wanted his big love Sakura Haruno to notice him.

Naruto quickly got dressed and rushed out of his little apartment and ran towards the academy at full speed. On his way he almost tripped a few times because he hadn't ate breakfast this morning and because of that damn headache.

He arrived at the classroom a few minutes later and saw that his teacher wasn't there yet. He saw Sakura talking with her friend Ino and Sasuke sitting in his usual seat next to the window.

"Good morning Sakura-chan!" he shouted across the room with a big happy smile.

"Get out of my sight 'dead last'" Sakura snapped back at him before she continued her conversation with Ino.

Naruto's smile vanished instantly and he slowly walked towards his seat with a sad look in his face. After he reached his destination he set down on his seat and placed his hands on his head because his headache suddenly reappeared.

On the other side of the room Hinata Hyuuga quietly sat on her chair thinking about her secret crush only a few rows in front of her. Her big pale eyes had followed him since he entered the classroom and showed signs of anger after Sakura had insulted him. Ever since the day she met him, Hinata desperately wished that he would see her the way he saw Sakura or at least noticed existence but because of her shyness she never had the guts to approach him and every time she tried to talk to him she would either blush tremendously or even worse, faint instantly.

Before she got lost in her thoughts involving herself and Naruto, Irkua-sensei and Mizuki-sensei entered the classroom.

"Alright class eyes front . . . as you all know, today we will hold the final exam for all the third year students. This year the final exam will be a Taijutsu tournament and in the interests of fairness all matches will be picked completely at random which means your opponent can be anyone and you won't know who it will be."

After hearing his statement almost everyone in the classroom gasped because they feared that they had to fight against one of their friends.

Naruto on the other hand couldn't be happier because random matches meant that he could end up fighting Sasuke and teach him a lesson or two.

Hinata had almost fainted because she pictured herself fighting against Naruto-kun. Granted she had no problem fighting any other girl in her class and could easily beat her because of her Hyuuga fighting style but fighting against Naruto would mean that she had to touch him . . . and he would touch her.

(AT: ok ok . . . I know that touching and punching are two completely different things but hey . . . she is young . . . so deal with it)

Iruka looked around and saw many different expressions on the faces of his students and again wondered why Mizuki demanded on the taijutsu exam this year. Iruka knew his students and he knew that most of them didn't want to fight against their friends but the Hokage agreed with Mizuki's proposal so he couldn't really do much against it. After he saw the horrified expression of some of his students, he suddenly had an idea to calm them down a little.

"Now for the rules . . . of course the winner from each match will automatically pass the exam . . . but if the loser fought with everything he or she had they will also pass. So don't worry if you lose your match because there is always a chance that you could pass the exam even if you lose."

Iruka finished his explanation and smiled a little because he saw that almost everyone in the class gasped in relief. He simple loved working with children because with only a few words he could calm them, frighten them or simple made them happy.

Iruka spotted a happily grinning Naruto and again wondered if anything would ever make him depressed. Like everyone from the older generation Iruka was aware of the demon spirit inside his blond student but unlike the rest of them he actually liked the boy because Naruto grew up without a family just like him.

'Maybe I should treat him for lunch after the exam' Iruka thought as soon as the school bell announced the lunch break.

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Mizuki watched as the last group of the students left the classroom and smile inwardly. His plan had worked perfectly so far but that little stunt Iruka pulled a few minutes ago angered him.

'Even if that demon brat would somehow manage to win his fight it won't matter in the end' he thought and left the classroom with an evil smirk.

Naruto was walking through the academy towards the training area. The exam would take place in less than an hour but he couldn't wait and decided that it wouldn't hurt to do some warm-up exercises. During his exercises he thought about who he would end up fighting with.

Suddenly he saw five students from the fourth year walking towards him.

"Hey guy's look . . . the future Hokage" one guy said while pointing at Naruto.

"Yeah you're right and he's trying to do some warm-up's" another one said.

"Hey I have an idea. Maybe we should help him. I mean he is such a nice guy and it would only be fair after he pulled those stupid pranks on us" a third one stated.

"Good idea buddy. Because of him I almost got kicked out of the academy" a fourth said angrily.

"I heard that this years final exam for the third year students will be a taijutsu match so maybe we can teach him a few new moves like . . ." a fifth one said, dashed forward and punched Naruto in his stomach ". . . trying to avoid a hard punch . . . " he raised his foot and kicked Naruto's face " . . . or a kick."

Naruto had been prepared for their assault but the first two attacks were simply to fast for him to evade. After he got punched in the stomach it felt as if he suddenly lost all the air in his lungs and the kick in his face almost knocked him out cold but he somehow managed to stay conscious. Soon after his body hit the floor of the training ground his five attackers began to kick and punch him without mercy. They punched his stomach, kicked his private parts between his legs but what hurt him the most were the kicks aimed at his head because his headache suddenly became much worse than before.

Finally after a few minutes what seemed more like a few hours for Naruto, his attackers had enough and simply walked back inside the academy if nothing had ever happened.

Naruto watched them walking away and while he tried to gain some air back in his lungs and slowly stood up he again asked himself like so many times before 'Why are they doing this to me . . . what did I ever do to deserve this?'

Meanwhile on the other side of the training field Hinata Hyuuga was hiding behind a big tree and had watched the whole scene. As soon as she saw those bullies attacking her big crush Hinata tried to move her body and help him but she simple couldn't force her legs to move. She tried desperately to scream for help but somehow nothing came out of her mouth after she opened it. Without being able to move, speak or even looking away, Hinata was forced to watch those five assholes beating the shit out of her Naruto-kun.

Hinata had tears in her eyes because after she started following Naruto around the town and she saw how the villagers treated him. They shunt him, throw things at him and on many occasions trashed him in large groups but Naruto never ever fought back.

After those five bullies disappeared and Naruto slowly went into towards the toilette Hinata finally could speak again.

"Why Naruto-kun" she asked herself quietly "Why are they doing this to you? Why do you never fight back?"

Hinata remembered that every time some villagers attacked him and someone asked him at school what had happened he simply said that he overdid it during his training. Because nobody ever really cared about him they believed his story without second thought but Hinata could never understand why he didn't told them the truth.

After Naruto vanished out of sight Hinata made a decision.

'Tomorrow I'm going to ask him why everybody is treating him so badly . . . and I'm going to tell him that I love him.'

With that in mind Hinata finally moved herself away towards the academy dojo were the final exam would take place.

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Naruto had finally managed to wash away all the blood from his face and arrived at the academy dojo just in time to witness Sasuke walking away from his opponent who was lying on the ground out cold.

'Damn . . . Sasuke already had his match' Naruto thought while he searched for a place to sit down. He tried to push the twinges in his head aside so he could watch the next match.

"Alright . . . moving on to the next match" Iruka began while he picked two random cards out of a small box in front of him. He read the cards and announced the next match.

"Sakura Haruno vs. Yamanaka Ino."

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. He maybe missed the match of his personal rival but now he would be able to watch the fight between two of the most beautiful girls in his class. After the girls stepped on the fighting mat he tried to cheer his Sakura-chan on but before he could open his mouth he again felt a strong pain in his head and dropped on his knees while pressed his hands on his head. He desperately wanted to scream because the pain wouldn't fade away and he even could taste some blood in his mouth but he didn't want to look weak in front of the whole class.

After a few moments the pain finally disappeared and Naruto slowly looked up until his eyes returned to the mat. What he saw shocked him deeply. Sakura . . . his Sakura was lying on the fighting mat holding her stomach while Ino simply raised her fist and shouted something towards Sasuke.

"Winner: Yamanaka Ino"

'It can't be . . . not only did I miss the fight but . . . Sakura lost. How could she have lost . . . she is so smart and strong and beautiful . . . how could she have lost?'

During the fight between those two girls Mizuki watched Naruto and saw that the demon brat was for some unknown reason in great pain.

'Now is my chance' he thought and walked over to Iruka.

"Hey Iruka . . . I think you should take the Haruno girl to the infirmary while I'm going to continue with the exam."

"I think your right Mizuki. Ino punched her pretty hard back there."

With that Iruka went over to the Haruno girl and carried her out of the dojo.

"Ok . . . now for the next match."

Mizuki quickly reached inside his pocked and grabbed the two cards in there.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba."

As soon as Hinata heard those names and saw that Naruto was still in pain because of the violent beating he took only a few minutes earlier she quickly turned around and search for Kiba. She saw him only a few meters in front of her and walked over to him.

Kiba couldn't believe his luck because against the 'dead last' he simply couldn't lose. As he began to start walking he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around only to see the one girl he had a crush on since the first day at the academy.

"Hey there Hinata . . . are you going to wish me luck?" he asked with a stupid grin.

Hinata took a deep breath before she spoke to him.

"Kiba-kun . . . could you do me a favour please?"

"Sure sweetie. What can I do for you?"

Hinata gulped because of what she was going to do but couldn't think of any other option.

"Could you please . . . finish the fight fast?"

"HUH?!"

"I want you to . . . win as fast as you can. Please."

Kiba couldn't believe what he just heard. He knew that Hinata had a major crush on that blond idiot but now she practically begged him to finish him of . . . and fast too. Suddenly Kiba thought that maybe Hinata finally realised that she liked him more than that stupid blond and because of that she asked him to finish him of quickly. Kiba thought about it for a moment and suddenly he got an idea.

"Hmm . . . tell you what. If I'm going to do that . . . you will let me take you out on a date afterwards."

Hinata's eyes instantly widened.

'What? Is he trying to force me on a date? But I didn't even like him. What should I do?'

Hinata looked back and saw Naruto dragging himself on the mat and she knew what she had to do.

"Ok . . . but only one date and."

Kiba's grin grew even wider.

"Perfect . . . now if you'll excuse me . . . I have to wipe some dirt from the mat" he said and jogged away.

Naruto somehow had managed to move his body towards the fighting area and because Kiba wasn't there yet he used the time and looked around. He saw Ino sitting next to Sasuke trying to gain his attention.

'That jerk . . . what does he have and I don't?' he asked himself. Suddenly he saw a beautiful young girl with pale eyes and short dark hair looking at him. She had her hands clenched together at her chest and a worried expression on her face.

'Hey that's Hinata . . . but why did she look so worried . . . wait a minute . . . could it be that she's worried about me?' Naruto thought and didn't even realise that Kiba already reached the fighting mat and assumed his fighting stance.

'Could it be that Hinata actually . . . .'

"Begin."

Naruto instantly snapped out of his thoughts. He looked over and saw Kiba's elbow flying towards his face. He tried to move but suddenly his world went dark and the only thing he felt was this damn headache again.

"Winner: Inuzuka Kiba."

Hinata sight in relieve because Kiba didn't hurt Naruto to much but she somehow felt sad because now Naruto wouldn't pass the exam.

Kiba suddenly appeared in front of her with a huge grin.

"So what do you say sweetie . . . quick enough for you?"

Hinata could only nod because she knew if she would answer him she would tell him the truth about her feelings.

"Now let's see . . . I think I'm going to take you out on Saturday around 7pm and I would be happy if you wore something nice."

With that he walked away and Hinata suddenly began to sweat.

'What did he mean by that? What's wrong with my usual outfit?'

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Naruto slowly awoke and found himself in a strange place. It was dark and cold and the floor was completely soaked. He looked around but saw nothing but walls around him and a big steel cage door.

He tried to sit up and thought about what had happened to him. The last thing he knew was that he was thinking about Hinata and then he felt Kiba's elbow on his forehead but after that . . . nothing.

"What the hell happened and why I'm I in such a strange place?"

"AHHH . . . MY JAILOR HONORS MY WITH HIS PRESENTS. I THINK I'M GOING TO CRY."

Naruto jumped up and tried to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" he asks and jumped up.

"DON'T YOU KNOW . . . HUMAN?"

Naruto turned around and suddenly froze in place because behind that big steel door he saw two big red eyes starring down at him. He walked a few steps back and saw that those eyes belong to a big . . . fox . . . or something.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked afraid.

"I'M THE REASON WHY EVERYONE HATES YOU. I'M THE KYUUBI AND THE FOURTH HOKAGE SEALED ME INSIDE YOU."

Naruto suddenly understands why everyone hated him so much without a reason . . . but the reason was right in front of him . . . right inside of him.

He began to scream.

Next time: the misunderstanding