Naruto and Hinata arrive at the hospital, and Naruto isn’t too pleased, having many less than fond memories of being there after people presumably making attempts on his life.
Naruto’s glad to see Iruka, as well as hear that his wounds aren’t as severe as they had thought. Kurenai is there, too, on her way out.
As Kurenai leaves, she notices some ANBU arresting someone, and ponders how many "accidents" Naruto has had, some of which he has only survived because of his Healing Factor. The incidents happen just after the Village Council meetings, and Kurenai infers that in the course of those meetings, the Council plans to make Naruto’s life miserable.
Iruka finds this suspicious and vows to help Kurenai get to the bottom of this. Kurenai wonders if Ibiki also suspects anything, as it’s implied that he interrogated Kurenai regarding the death of her old team, regarding her as suspicious due to being the Sole Survivor. While he did give her advice to seek out the truth, she worries that he might be ruthless enough to kill an innocent person for the sake of the village as a whole.
Kurenai wonders if she’s falling into the opposite extreme, favoring her genin above the village as a whole. She notices that Naruto has been shunned by the village, Hinata has been abused by her father, and Shino’s clan has been relatively isolated. With this, perhaps the fic’s increasing Naruto and Hinata’s torment, and to some degree, making Shino’s isolation more apparent, has a purpose, and I wonder if that purpose sets them against the village as a whole.
Kurenai recalls her lessons in teamwork, trying to get her team to trust each other, and work well together when she is gone. She hopes that Naruto will one day become a Hokage, and become the Council’s worst nightmare.
After Naruto and Hinata’s visit with Iruka ends, with them having told their story, Hinata reflects on how Iruka cares about them, and is touched by it.
Neji approaches, and summons Hinata to meet with Hiashi (oddly enough, not calling her “Hinata-sama” or “Lady Hinata” like he does in the dub/English manga, terms of respect he feels obligated to use even if he despises Hinata). Naruto clearly anticipates how the meeting will go, and reassures Hinata that she should remember being praised by the Hokage and Kurenai.
Hiashi interrogates her on the mission, and eventually gets to the critical point- Naruto defeating the kidnappers. Hinata denies seeing anything, realizing that Hiashi would use the truth against Naruto. When pressed on how Naruto defeated his opponents, Hinata attributes it to his and his team’s extra training. In the end, all Hiashi can do is conclude that she’s useless and send her to her quarters without dinner for not reporting back to him.
It was nice seeing Hinata stand her ground in this scene, and a promising sign of her gaining confidence.
Elsewhere, the flashback of Lee’s drunken rampage in the celebratory party is shown, and it’s quite funny, with Lee making comments such as how Hinata’s nicer than Neji. Guy, while dismayed at how things turned out, concludes that this is a sign of Lee’s potential.
The Aburame clan meets, on Shino’s request, as per protocol. Suba, Shibi’s uncle, asks him to speak, oddly enough calling him by his full name even though he’s family. Shino says that he learned from his son that the clan has been party to injustices perpetrated against Naruto. Bataru, another elder, reacts to Shino revealing that he knows about the Fox being sealed inside Naruto by demanding to know who told him, which is never a good defense when you’re accused of keeping secrets. Shino concludes that no one told him, and that the chakra was the key to victory against the kidnappers.
Suba callously refers to Naruto as “it”, sparking Shino’s ire, and Shino explains how Naruto won him over. He responds that any pranks were done to gain attention, and when being told that Naruto has been accused of thievery, destruction of property and vandalism, challenges the elders to provide proof of Naruto’s offenses, learning that they were discussed at the council meetings and Bataru had no proof of them. Shino then concludes that the accusations were all part of a campaign to ruin Naruto’s reputation. He then shoots down the argument that Naruto’s “a damn demon” by saying that under that line of logic, he is a parasitic insect; this is a good argument, but the fact that the Aburames would fail to make this distinction, especially when there are several individuals out there like Naruto, stretches belief. Shino concludes by asking for emancipation from the Aburame Clan, no longer able to support what they’re doing.
While most of the clan is horrified by what Shino has said, Shibi and Misato promise to support their son. In response, Suba promises an investigation, much to Bataru’s displeasure. Shino and Shibi discuss the outcome, and are relatively optimistic. This seems to show a fair amount of disagreement among the Aburames, and is a nuanced portrayal that might have been good for the Hyuga clan.
Naruto meets Hinata again for morning training, and with Lee out of commission from his drunken rampage, the two of them spar. Guy seems to know a great deal about Gentle Fist, which doesn’t seem entirely plausible, as he seems to train Lee while Tenten and Neji often train themselves, having fighting styles starkly different from his. Guy gives them special weights, ones that Lee uses for his training to contain his speed. Naruto buys some gear before meeting up with Kurenai, who reminds them of the importance of having gear.
Going back to D-rank missions is a bit of a let-down for them, but they cope as they can, while still completing yet another cat-finding mission (Is the author out of D-rank missions to give them? He has a miniature montage to work with) as quickly and as efficiently as possible, before going to work on demolishing a building as a means of getting destructive tendencies out of their system.
The team then goes to Ichiraku Ramen, where they notice Team 7 coming by. As Kiba announces that they came back from an A-ranked mission, Teuchi (It’s good to see the author finally got his name right) notices him.
Team 7's mission was to the Land of the Waves, but with a few notable differences. The entire battle on the bridge went differently, as after Haku loses to Sasuke (who resists Haku’s needles with his leather armor) and Kiba, Akamaru latches onto Haku’s leg, preventing him from Taking the Bullet for Zabuza, which enables Kakashi to kill him. Gato then arrives, and one of his lackeys shoots Tazuna dead, which seems to be a bit of a random way of killing him off. Gato then desecrates Zabuza’s corpse, and pays for it with his life when an enraged Haku kills his men and impales him on Zabuza’s BFS. Haku surrenders and tells Kakashi to kill him if he wants, but Kakashi refuses, knocking him out and taking him prisoner.
Team 7 was not happy with how the mission turned out, and Sasuke took it especially hard. As such, when Sakura asks Team 8 about their mission, Naruto doesn’t say anything about the border patrol, believing that bringing it up would be essentially bragging, all the less appropriate when people died on both missions. The conversation trails off on that note.
As Kurenai reports to a meeting in the Hokage tower, she ponders what Shino has told her about his meeting with the clan. The meeting turns out to be nominations for the Chunin Exams, and Kakashi tells her that he will nominate his team. Kakashi is surprised to hear of what Naruto has accomplished, indicative of an unfortunate tendency in Naruto fanfiction to make him come off as worse than in canon when Naruto’s given to another team (whether because the author doesn’t like him, or legitimately believes he wouldn’t be as impressed with Naruto if he didn’t have him on his team), but is interested in seeing how Kurenai’s students match up against his as the chapter ends.
The author’s note implies that he is referring to the Land of Tea Arc when talking about the past incident that gave Ibiki his scars, and Ibiki’s past with Kurenai is related to where this fic diverged from canon.
What I liked
- Hinata resisting her father’s pressure.
- Lee’s drunken rampage, which was quite humorous.
- Shino’s performance in the argument.
- The interesting look at the Aburames, showing they're not homogeneous or one-dimensional.
What I didn’t like
- The implication that the Council outright tried to murder Naruto. I’m gradually getting used to the presence of the Council subplot, but this takes it to an entirely new and implausible level.
- The Hyuga clan is still one-dimensional.
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