Chapter Text
Now there are many, MANY things that Naruto Uzumaki is as a person.
Rash, immature, rude, kinda dumb sometimes, a little malicious, and dense when it comes to romance and the like.
But that’s only surface-level stuff, for he is kind, loyal, honest sometimes and optimistic....however, he is also known by a smaller known trait.
He’s good at picking up things most don’t notice.
And right now, as he waited for the first portion of the Chunin Exams to start, the genin looked towards a corner of the room that was unblemished by the bodies of other genin teams....and lo and behold.
He was staring at the team from Otogakure...he was looking at her.
The girl with the hair of ebony.
She was....beautiful.
Her skin was as fair as snow, her hair....long, silky, without any blemish. Her eyes were like pools of darkness. That smile...confident like she was.
Her clothes, while themed around a snake and akin to camouflage...just made her look even more divine. The violet bow matches her inner cuteness perfectly.
The way she talked, the way she laughed....the way she moved without hesitation or fear by the numerous genin around her....
Her body, mature...large yet toned...in certain areas....
....she was like a kami on earth, no, a goddess on earth....and for the first time in his life.
Naruto Uzumaki, the former prankster of Konoha, the only user of the Shadow Clone Jutsu and perceived ‘Kyuubi Incarnate’....
Was in love.
It wasn’t a crush like what he had with Sakura, no that was just attraction....
This was something else, something that made his heart leap for joy and his very soul ache.
He....He needed to know more about her, he MUST know more about her!
And perhaps that guy with the glasses might help him, he has those weird cards after all.
Slowly, the genin turned his head towards Kabuto, the eternal genin, and walked towards him, making sure to not get his teammate's attention, as they were busy talking to the other Konoha teams.
“Oh? Uzumaki-san? What-”
“Hey, I know you said that there’s no info on the Oto-nin.” Naruto interrupted, his tone barely above a whisper. “But can you tell me about the girl with the long hair?”
“....her? Why?”
“I just want to know who she is, that's it.”
“....wait, are you-”
“Just tell me about her, dattebayo!” he said in a low whispered yell, his patience slowly cracking from all the time spent on stupid things like questions on his motives.
“....well you’re in luck, I did ask them for some info for my cards, but again, it's not the full story and you might not truly understand her unless you talk to her outright.”
“I might do that AFTER you tell me what info you have on her first.”
The gray-haired genin sighed, really not wanting to do this but had to maintain appearances, as he added some chakra to one of his cards and looked upon its limited contents. “Her name is Kin Tsuchi. She’s fourteen years old, height 150 cm, weight 39 kg, blood type O, a Pisces apparently. She has the Yin Release nature type and uses senbons and genjutsu related to sound to defeat her enemies. She is the only member of Team Dosu that’s a female and....huh, she doesn’t have any history before becoming an Otonin.”
“What?”
“Apparently, her personal info and past are an enigma even to me. But from what I can see from her mannerisms, she’s a serious kunoichi with a sadistic streak, one that might have overconfidence issues.”
“....does she have any likes, dislikes?”
“Not that I can see but she seems to be protective of her hair, despite hating kunoichi that favors boys and fashion over training. Heh, a hypocrite if I ever did see one.”
“Ah, thanks four eyes.” Naruto said while taking the card and pocketing it away, much to the other genin’s disbelief. “I owe you one.”
‘....he didn’t need to take that card, they are worth a fortune to make.’
Steady steps, calm your heart, don’t act stupid...these were the words that entered the Uzumaki’s mind, his body language trying to remain calm despite the internal panic inside.
After all, this was his first time talking to this....girl, this Kin Tsuchi, he had to be on his best behavior.
And....it was hard, given his nerves.
......but he MUST stay calm, don’t be an idiot Naruto Uzumaki, don’t be an idiot!
‘Ok. She’s not looking and from the looks of it, neither are her teammates. Just walk over, say hi, compliment her and don’t act stupid. You got this, dattebayo!’ he thought to himself, pepping him up for the eventual conversation, as he quietly and without anyone realizing his presence walked over and stood on the Oto kunoichi’s left side. ‘Huh, really tall. Normally I’d be annoyed but if it's her....I’ll stomach the fact she’s taller than me.’
“I’m telling you, this mission is going to be an easy one.”
“Zaku, keep it down. You might draw attention to us.”
“Oh relax Dosu, no one’s paying attention to us. And even if they did, Kin here will just put them all to sleep for a moment.”
“Heh, at least you admit that my genjutsu skills are second to none.” Kin said with a smirk.
“Not really, the genin here are just on your level, weak.” Zaku said in a mocking tone.
“How dare you!”
“Enough.” Dosu said with a frown behind his bandages. “Stop acting like kids, especially you Zaku.”
“Yeah yeah, it’s not my fault Kin is an easy target.”
“You better knock it off Zaku or I’ll stab you right in the balls.”
“I’d like to see you try!”
“Yo.”
And within a fraction of a second, the three genin from Oto turned towards Naruto’s direction, the blonde’s left hand raised upwards in an attempt to look cool, and felt a fair amount of fear rushing down their spines.
For HOW did he appear next to them without them NOTICING!?
“What the hell, what-when-HOW did you sneak up on us!?”
“Easy, I walked.” Naruto said while rolling his eyes at the gauntlet user, knowing the guy was like Sasuke if he didn’t refrain from making outbursts twenty-four-seven. “You guys must suck at sensing other’s presences.”
“Why you-”
“Zaku, don’t. He’s not worth it.” Dosu said with a narrowed eye, making the taller genin flinch and refrain himself from starting an augment. “And you, why are you here? Don’t you have a team to talk to?”
“Yeah, but I wanted to say something to your teammate.” the Uzumaki said while pointing to Kin, who blinked in surprise but kept an air of confidence to mask her confusion. “It’ll be quick.”
“It better be.”
With a roll of his eyes, the genin turned towards the visiting kunoichi and gave her a smile, not his usual grin or anything like that, but a calm...mature one that he saw a few people use for situations like this.
Although to be fair, this....was hard for him, since he never TRIED to act cool in front of a girl before, not even in front of his former crush Sakura....who usually ignores his normal antics....
Just how does Sasuke deal with this stuff anyway?
“So.” Kin said, her expression slightly confused yet trying to show some confidence in front of this....sneaky Konoha nin. “What exactly do you want to talk to me about? No really, just why are you wasting-”
“Your hair is very beautiful, like a silk trail.”
The chatting of other teams slowly died down to a razor-thin static as Team Dosu just stood there, slightly dumbfounded, as....
Kin’s face flushed bright red and instinctively grabbed her ponytail like a safety line.
“W-W-W-What?! Why would-”
“Because you have nice hair, duh.” The Uzumaki said with a serious tone, not realizing that Kin’s sudden exclamation got everyone's attention, including his own team. “Matches you in general, the beautiful part I mean.”
“B-Beautiful, what are you even saying? What game are you trying with me!?”
“Nothing, just saying that you’re beautiful. Nothing is being ‘played’ with here.” he said while putting both his hands behind his head. “I just wanted to say my keep.”
“But-”
“By the way, if we survive the exams, maybe we can hang out before you guys leave. Have some friendly ramen or something? How about that, dattebayo?”
And just like that, the Oto kunoichi felt her entire face turn red as a tomato as the Konoha genin, without saying another word...just walked off back to his team, like nothing was wrong in the world.
....and all the while she tried and failed to make any sort of retort to her enemy, the words getting jumbled in her own head every time she tried.
‘...huh!? Wait, what just, how in, why!? Why!? WHY!? Beautiful, me!? But-how-I-what!? GAH! That brat-OOOOH! He’s so weird-no, CONFUSING! GAH!’
“Huh, the kid has balls just walking up and calling ‘No Romance Kin’ beautiful.” Dosu said in confused disbelief.
“HA! Oh, this is hilarious, the first genin that MIGHT die here has a crush on you. Oh, he’s SO doesn’t know anything about you at all!” Zaku laughed while ignoring his teammate’s nasty glare.
“Oh shut up you humanoid porcupine!”
“WHAT!? How dare you!”
“I dare, now shut up or I’ll stab you in the eyes!” Kin growled, face still flustered as she, from the corner of her eyes, saw....the blonde fool talking to his team....his blue eyes occasionally staring at her with a sense of....longing, pride, something like that.
And it just....made her so confused.
“What was that about, usuratonkachi?” Sasuke said with a frown.
“Nothing, I was just asking for a friendly outing.”
“She’s an enemy ninja!”
“Yeah, and your point is what?”
“We aren’t here for romance, we’re here to become chunin.”
“Can’t we do both?” Naruto said with a deadpan expression. “Just because you don’t want to do it, doesn’t mean I can’t.”
“Um, Sasuke has a point.” Sakura said with a false smile, though it was tinged with concern. “We can’t just do that...and why DID you do that anyway?”
“........” the Uzumaki sighed while not noticing that the lone Hyuuga of Team Eight was currently catatonic and lying on the ground in a daze, her teammates panicking at her current condition. “Maybe because I found my ebony string of fate or something?”
“....oh....OH!”
“Yeah, I still like you Sakura-chan. But I guess....my feelings just moved elsewhere.”
‘Oh...so he found that someone then....well, that’s nice I guess?’
“ Shannaro! That’s the best news all day, now Sasuke is mine-wait, if he likes that Otonin...oh no! Hinata’s going to be devastated! ’
‘Too late.’ Sakura thought as she saw Hinata being slapped away by Kiba, to no avail. ‘...I did hope they became a couple, but hey, life is strange sometimes. Maybe she’ll find someone else to love and just be friends with Naruto...hopefully?’
‘ If she turns into a yandere, I’m blaming the idiot. ’
‘Same.’
“You are just an usuratonkachi.” The Last Uchiha grumbled while pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You know that right?”
“Meh, love is love. Can’t stop or change it...anyway.” Naruto said with a grin. “Let’s get this exam done and over with so we become chunin, I get a shoo-in to become Hokage and I get friendly ramen with Kin-chan.”
“.....”
“....”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Sasuke said while deciding to ignore him, his gaze turning towards the red-haired Suna ninja and his team and envisioning himself fighting him.
Yet as the team started to settle back into routine, the only Uzumaki of Konoha kept his gaze fixated on the ebony-haired kunoichi, making note of her flustered embarrassment and how....adorable it was in his eyes.
Yes, he knew he was two years younger than her, he knew she was from another village and he knew that this was....sudden for both of them.
But he was willing to try and get this relationship started.
....however, he wouldn’t just go down the fanboy route like those Sasuke fangirls, pining over someone is fine but NOT when it involves actual feelings at play. He isn’t going to just jump in kunai blazing and freak her out by being a simp, he’s not THAT stupid!
He’s going to try and start as friends, hence the friendly ramen date.
If that goes well then he’ll do more dates, maybe long-distant letters and visits to her village.
If she feels the same, good, if not....oh well, it didn’t work. After all, this is his first TRUE feeling of romantic love for someone....
Sometimes love plays tricks that make or break a relationship.
He, the next Hokage, just has to learn how to love someone the hard way....even if it will hurt.
‘...I better make sure she doesn’t see me as a creep or something. Ugh, this romance stuff is so hard, dattebayo!’ Naruto thought while looking at the Oto kunoichi with a faint blush on his cheeks. ‘....so beautiful.’
‘ Not another blonde with a hair kink. One was enough in this lifetime. ’
‘Wait what?’ The Uzumaki thought in surprise as he blinked and....felt like something dark entered his mind for a moment, but it was so abrupt that he assumed it was just something random his mind made up on the spot. ‘....mmmm, must've been my imagination or something. Oh well, better keep on watching before the exam truly starts...oh kami, that sounded creepy in my mind! Bad mind, BAD!’