new Team 7

Chapter 1

classroom shared her age, but not her personality. She kept her head down, timidly watching her former classmates. Everyone there had a close group or were at least friendly with one another. They were sitting in two and threes, talking excitedly about what they had done over the last few days since taking the final exam in the academy.

Hinata had no one to talk to; truth be told, she wasn't very good at making friends or even holding conversations with others. Even the people that lived in her house, her own family, ignored her, considering her nothing but a nuisance. The explanation for that was really quite simple…Hinata Hyuga was weak. Hinata Hyuga always gave up. Hinata Hyuga never made anyone to listen to her.

She nervously played with her fingers under the table, thinking of the only person who had ever made her feel like she wasn't a useless and complete waste of a ninja and what he could be doing. Naruto Uzumaki.

It was supposed to be a happy day for her, but she couldn't help feeling miserable that she would no longer be able to see him every day, to listen to his jokes and hear his laughter. She had only entered the Ninja Academy when she found out Naruto was going to attend it too. Her father had already given up on her by then and had no intention of disgracing the Hyuga name by allowing her to become the laughingstock of the academy. Going there hadn't been an option. But when Hinata began begging to go to school, wanting to study and prove she could be as strong a ninja as he was, his curiosity won him over and he gave his daughter the money to attend the classes where they would hopefully teach her those skills he was so desperate for her to learn. But instead he had watched her fail.

Hinata sat in the very back of the room, next to someone she didn't know. Some kid from one of the other two classes. She sighed, staring at the table, always feeling so nervous, so shy around the others.

But her luck seemed to have changed that day, because she suddenly heard a voice she knew so well…

"Hey! Hey! Can't you see this forehead protector?" Hinata raised her head and a blush rose on her cheeks as her heart starting to beat faster and she couldn't help but smile. Sitting in the row to the left, just a few tables away, she saw Naruto Uzumaki. "Starting today, I'm also a ninja!" Naruto was laughing, clearly happy. The sound of his laughter made her feel like she was floating on a cloud. "I mean, this looks really good on me, right?"

If anything could put her in the best of moods and make her forget everything that happened at home and around her, it was Naruto Uzumaki's smile.

For some strange reason, people used to run from him, as if he was afflicted with a very contagious disease. She had been forbidden from even speaking to him and on many occasions she had been lectured and screamed at for simply asking if she could invite Naruto to her house to play together. So she had watched him from the distance, always following him, but never gathering enough courage to come close enough to say 'Hello'.

And like everything she did in life, every time she thought she was ready to take that next step and approach him, she ended up giving up on it before she even tried.

Naruto-kun was able to graduate from the Academy… -She thought staring absent-mindedly in his direction. She was pleased. She had really tried so many times to find a reason to talk to him. Maybe she could have even offered to help him with his ninjutsu. Ever since Naruto had saved her from those bullies, he had become a sort of idol to her; he had become that person we admire as we grow up and she would have done anything to help him

Suddenly, as if he could hear the wishes in her heart, she realized he was staring back at her. Her cheeks burned red and her hands started shaking, as she asked herself what she should do. Could she gather enough courage to say 'hi'? Could she even manage to look at him without turning away from his gaze? Or greet him without stuttering? He was now smiling at her, blushing. It was the first time he had ever looked in her direction; that he had even noticed she was there.

But Hinata's heart fell as she suddenly realized that the shy smile on Naruto's face wasn't directed at her. It was for the girl right behind her: Sakura Haruno.