Chapter 9: Saving Hinata From Bullies
{ From now on I will use [[[-----]]] to mention a place,time or a date and <-------> to mention any pov change. Enjoy the chapter.}
[[[ 2 and a half months later – December mid ]]]
[[[ Year 70 ]]]
The whole area was painted white, and it looked magnificent. Figures made of snow were placed here and there. Scarves and gloves could be seen on every person walking the streets. Many children were throwing small snowballs at each other while running around the village. It was a peaceful sight.
A blonde kid could be seen running around the village with another girl not much older than him. The blonde kid was chasing the girl all over. She was also running like her life was on the line while putting out her tongue to tease him. They were none other than Naruto and Tenten.
These few months, Naruto has been very busy. He learned many different things from Kurama. His most notable improvement was in his chakra output control and manipulation.
Now he could manage to control them without losing control for the most part.
Kurama commended him for achieving that much control over a short period of time. But after that, he started nagging Naruto about how he had missed fundamental parts because of his exceptional handling of the chakra. This was followed by repeated training sessions given by Kurama.
It was pure torture. But Naruto knew he should not be too hasty, as he still had many years to perfect them. So he decided to take it slow and enjoy his life a little.
What's more, he got close to Tenten during this period of time. Naruto occasionally gave her subtle hints to make her follow in her own footsteps. Seeing that it was working, he was pretty satisfied with himself.
The funniest thing happened to him a few weeks ago. Hiruzen came to his apartment. He tried to act like a loving grandfather. Naruto was unwilling to be second, so he also started playing the depressed kid character.
He also told Hiruzen about his daily life. He did it in such a way that he would not be suspicious of his routine, like going to the river. So Naruto made up some bullsh*t about how calm and happy he feels. Hiruzen also accepted his words, believing there was no way he could be lying as there was no sign of it whatsoever.
Naruto also revealed to him how he could control the chakra a little in a roundabout way so that he would not be suspicious of him. He knew that there was a great chance someone would notice him using chakra as there was an increase in Anbu who observed him. So he made up his mind to reveal his powers gradually over the years to come.
It's not like he wants to hide his power forever, right?
Nevertheless, he was not a fool. He knew that if he showed too much potential, it would be detrimental rather than do him any good. Naruto made the decision to show his powers to a level that he was a genius but not an uncontrollable threat.
<Naruto's Pov>
After I played with Tenten, I walked her home at the time her mom mentioned. Her mother was very kind to me and even invited me for a meal many times. Of course, I didn't say no.
But I only visited them a little as it could attract trouble for them. After realizing this, Tenten's mom treated me even better than before.
I had a hard time breaking from a hug, as always. But I somehow managed to escape. I'm not going to lie; I really enjoyed the feeling. Sometimes I went so far as to act like I was struggling by making use of my disguise ability, while in reality, I was not.
I know… I know… I'm not proud of that. I'm just kidding, mwuu-hahahaa.
Putting all the stray thoughts aside, I walked toward my favorite place. You guessed it: the iconic swing. When I reached there, I had a hard time spotting the swing for a while.
I finally saw it covered in snow all over. So I went up to the swing and shook it a little to get snow to fall. Following that, I sat on it. At that moment, it was just me, the swing, and the serene environment. I felt satisfaction wash over me.
However, it was rudely broken by three brats who were some distance away from me. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. When I looked closely, I saw they were bullying a girl I was pretty familiar with from my memory. Yes, it was the girl who would be my future wife in the previous timeline.
To be honest, I was exceedingly impressed with her devotion. Just the fact that she was willing to sacrifice everything for her lover was admirable.
How can I say no to something like that? Maybe I'm just manipulating her, or maybe not. Who cares?
So I got up from my swing and ran towards the three bullies.
<Pov End>
[[[ Bully scene ]]]
"If you are Hyuga, show us your byakugan."
"Yeah, show us your byakugan."
The bullies took turns mocking her while poking her forehead.
"Can't you show it? Then you are just a white-eyed freak."
"Haha, good one, bro."
"White-eyed freak... White-eyed freak... White-eyed freak...
They all shouted in unison, making Hinata cry for being unable to bear the insults.
"I'm not a freak," Hinata retorted with tears in her eyes.
Then the three of them, including Hinata, heard a sudden shout behind them. As they looked in that direction, they found Naruto standing there with his finger pointed toward them.
"Leave her alone, you retards."
Naruto said while looking at the three bullies calmly. But they couldn't understand the gravity of the situation.
"Hehe, let's see if your face is as great as your mouth."
Unable to bear the insult, one of the bullies directed his hand towards Naruto's face, which he dodged without difficulty as he also trained his body every so often.
However, he didn't let the bully recover as he punched the bully's stomach hard. Just as he bent forward, hurting from the punch to the stomach, Naruto quickly gave him a full-blown hit from his knee to his chin, making him unconscious.
'Kurama's taijutsu tricks work quite well,' Naruto thought.
Seeing how his friend was being beaten, the other two bullies were scared sh*tless. They hoped for nothing but to get away from there.
"What are you looking at? Get your friend and get out of my face."
Not wanting to be battered, they quickly went away, taking his friend while they were shivering. Whether it was due to cold or fear, only they know.
Only after solving the bully problem did Naruto notice his black scarf was gone. Then he saw Hinata picking up his scarf, all the while behaving like a little rabbit that had lost its way.
He walked towards Hinata and offered his hand to her. After she took his hand, Naruto helped her get up from the ground and brushed the snow off her shoulders.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?"
"I'm Hinata. Hinata H-Hyuga. T-thank you for s-saving me."
She spoke with a meek voice while wiping her tears. Her face looked flushed from all the crying.
Noticing that her scarf was torn apart by the bullies, Naruto took his scarf from her hands and wrapped it around her neck of Hinata, surprising her. He doubted that she could go on much longer with no scarf and without catching a fever.
At that moment, she felt a warm feeling in her heart. She felt really grateful to Naruto for protecting her. Then she turned towards him with a look saying, 'Can I really keep it?'
"Haha, you can keep the scarf. It's not too cold for me."
Naruto said while patting her shoulder with one hand.
"Thank y-you again."
"No problem, and you can call me Naruto."
"Naruto... you call me Hinata."
Hinata was silent for a while, hearing Naruto's name like she was trying to engrave it in her mind.
"Then I got to get going now. It was nice to meet you."
"It was nice to meet you too, N-Naruto," Hinata said, fiddling her fingers.
After that exchange, Naruto then ran in the direction of his apartment after parting with Hinata. He had to meet Kurama for his daily session, which was already late.
He had a headache, remembering that he would have to hear Kurama's nagging because he was slacking off these days by going all around the town sightseeing.
What can he say?
"Boys gotta do what they gotta do."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Zorvog
Zorvog Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone