Naruto was therefore a little surprised when Hinata's five year old sister came stalking up to him while he was practicing his kunai skills.
"HEY YOU!" said the girl.
"Eh?" asked Naruto, his hand still full of kunai. "Who are you?"
"Me? I am Hanabi Hyuga, heir of the Hyuga Clan's powerful main branch!" said the little girl proudly.
"Oh? You're Hinata's sister?" asked Naruto.
"Yes! And I demand a powerup!" demanded Hanabi.
"What?" asked Naruto, feeling something was missing.
"Hinata got a powerup from you and then used that cheat to defeat me!" said the outraged little girl. "So I demand the same thing!"
"Powerup?" asked Naruto. "Oh. You mean my therapy jutsu?"
"I don't care what you call it," said Hanabi. "Just do it!"
"But I don't know you," said Naruto. "I'm not sure."
"Do it!" said Hanabi, getting as close to Naruto's face as she could. "Hinata having that power boost without me getting the same thing is intolerable! She's always been the weak one! I'm supposed to be the strong one!"
"Uhm, okay, I guess," said Naruto. "Dream Eye!"
"Huh?" asked Hanabi, staring Naruto in the eyes still as they changed. He had a dojutsu? His eyes remaining blue but spiraling inwards into some deep deep pretty sparkly - ?!
Naruto was somewhat annoyed by some of the things this girl had said. "You're competing with your sister?"
"Yes," said Hanabi, her voice half-asleep. "Father says it makes for a stronger warrior."
"Your father sounds like a dipwad sometimes," was Naruto's stated opinion.
"Father is a dipwad, sometimes," agreed Hanabi.
"I like your sister, she's my best friend," said Naruto, again not mentioning the whole 'only friend' part of that.
"You're my sister's best friend?" asked Hanabi, looking a little confused. "I don't have any friends. I don't have any pets. I don't have anyone I like."
Naruto tsked. Sounded like a mess. "Well, I can be your friend, but you got to be nicer to me."
"Nicer?" said Hanabi in that dreamy voice.
"Lots nicer," said Naruto firmly.
"Then you'll be my pet?" asked Hanabi, sounding a little confused. "Or my servant?"
"No, but if you're REALLY nice you can be MY pet," retorted Naruto sarcastically. "Or my servant."
"Oh, that might be nice," said Hanabi.
"And if you got to fight your sister cause of your father's stupid rules, that doesn't mean you can't be friendly with your sister, you know," stated Naruto firmly. Just because you had to fight someone didn't mean you couldn't be friends with them.
"But Hinata isn't a strong fighter," said Hanabi, trying to reconcile her contempt for weak fighters with being friendly with her sister.
"Hey, just because she isn't strong in a fight doesn't mean she isn't strong in something else," rationalized Naruto.
"Hinata is not a strong warrior but she can be strong in something other than fighting," said Hanabi as she found her way to reconcile the concept. Once she became clan head and fully recognized, she could have Hinata handle all the paperwork. Yeah, that worked.
"Yeah," said Naruto.
"Oh," said Hanabi.
"You look kind of beat, why don't you go take a nap or something?" asked Naruto, seeing Hanabi sway back and forth.
"Okay," said Hanabi.
(THUD!)
Looking down at the fainted Hanabi, Naruto sighed. "Why does this keep happening?"
"This is screwed up," said Naruto to the black cat, watching the past-him gather Hanabi up and settle her onto a bench.
Yeah? Ain't it? asked the black cat, sounding pleased.
After all, now Hanabi would compete with her older sister over something besides that heir position.
Hmmm. What else could he do?
"N-Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata shyly, twiddling her fingers.
"Yes, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto, noting his friend's blush but not thinking much about it.
"I'm going to have to fight my sister again later," said Hinata. "I was wondering if..."
"Oh?" asked Naruto. She needed a pep talk? Okay, he could do that. His eyes became the spiral again.
"Oh? You have a dojutsu too? What does it do?" asked Hinata.
"My 'therapy no jutsu'," said Naruto proudly.
Hinata tried not to giggle. That sounded so silly but Naruto was so solemn when he said that.
"Remember," said Naruto. "You're my really really good friend, and you'll do well tomorrow. I heard from the Hokage that good friends will make you stronger and stuff, and having people you like and who like you is a source of strength. So you're stronger because I'm your friend, right?"
"Right," said Hinata cheerfully. Of course she wasn't affected by the dojutsu. That only worked on a single individual once per season, and there were other limitations. Just the effect of the person she liked giving her a pep talk helped soothe her nervousness though.
"I really like you, you really like me, and there isn't anything wrong with that," said Naruto, sort-of remembering something Hanabi had said.
"Right!" chirped Hinata, agreeing completely with Naruto without any further reinforcement from the dojutsu.
Using stealth techniques after observing a change in behavior with Hinata and Hanabi, Kurenai Yuhi had snuck along behind Hinata to see what was going on.
That her red eyes were now a-swirl and she considered herself stronger because she really liked the little boy and considered him a friend. Maybe like a little brother she never had, right? Right.
The chunin DID have to wonder what a 'therapy no jutsu' was - and if it was what the term suggested - would she be able to get Anko some assistance?
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(Posted Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:09)
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