The second chapter begins with Kurenai pondering the state of her team, and the various things she will have to work on. She hopes Naruto will bring Hinata out of her shell, a natural hope, and one that seems plausible for Naruto to accomplish.
Of course, she also suggests that Naruto is, in spite of his bluster, as insecure as Hinata is, which isn’t entirely true. Canonically, Naruto has a bit more confidence than Hinata does, and in this fic, Naruto never quite falls as deep into the depths of despair as Hinata does.
Kurenai finds all the Jonins-Might Guy in particular- to be fairly quirky, which is an interesting and true observation, although there’s also the fact that Naruto got the least quirky of the Konoha 11’s senseis, and Kakashi’s quirks are presented as serious flaws. It’s pointed out that Guy’s madness rubbed off on Lee, although in some flashbacks, Lee doesn’t seem as quirky at first glance.
Kurenai and Guy then discuss collaborating to help train each other’s students, such as helping Naruto with his taijutsu while Kurenai helps Tenten with genjutsu. Naruto is said to keep up with Lee because of his “jonin level” stamina, whatever that means; the databooks provide some insight on the ninjas’ stats, but it’s indicated that they’re all somewhat relative, and more useful for determining what kind of ninja one is (for example, a Glass Cannon or a Lightning Bruiser) and to a lesser extent their overall skill (a Jack of All Stats or Master of None) than how two ninjas compare with each other.
Kurenai goes for a cup of coffee, which is inexplicably called a "Western" drink despite the fact that neither Japan nor any of the other "Western" nations exist in the Naruto universe, then reports in for a meeting with the Hokage. She informs him of the villagers’ discrimination against Naruto, and is dismayed when he reveals that he is well aware of it.
Apparently, things are even worse than what Kurenai thought, and some villagers want to exile or execute Naruto. This makes no sense given how the Jinchuuriki work, and the fact that the Nine-Tailed Fox is a strategic asset to the ninja villages, one part of the balance of power between the hidden villages. Putting Naruto out of the village means that the fox is up for free pickings, and can be obtained by a rival village or even by the Akatsuki (which the Third Hokage mentions, if not by name). And if Naruto is killed, the Nine-Tailed Fox will reincarnate elsewhere; this is proposed during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but only as a means of delaying Tobi’s plans, and it’s fairly quickly shot down.
It’s also implied that the masterminds behind this are ordering their subordinates to do the same. The canon explanation is more nuanced and more realistic; the children of the village may not know that Naruto is a demon, but they see their parents hating and denigrating him, and are influenced to do the same. It can thus be extrapolated that in the face of such widespread ostracism of Naruto, very few people want to go against the grain and be supportive of him. Perhaps that might play into why Hinata has difficulty approaching Naruto, something that goes against a good portion of the village, whether she’s fully aware of it or not.
Apparently, some villagers, upset by grief, made attempts on Naruto’s life. While it is reasonable that some of the village would bear resentment toward the fox, it’s clear that most understand what a Jinchuuriki is, even if they think Naruto is an abomination against nature. Iruka, while Naruto’s first friend in Konoha, points out that he hates the Fox for killing his parents, but considers Naruto a comrade. One would also think Naruto would be aware of such attempts on his life in canon, the same way Gaara was, to the point at which he could actually count how many there were when he faced his resurrected father.
The Third Hokage favors Naruto getting some training in how to defend himself, which is why he made sure Naruto was admitted to the academy. He also seems impressed with Kurenai’s plan to get genin training from outside their team, which is unconventional. This seems to follow a mistaken assumption (often held by Kakashi bashers) that genin learn all their skills from their jonin senseis; the senseis’ work seems more related to teaching them how to do missions and work as a team, while the students develop their own jutsus or learn them from their families. Only a few of the senseis have skills that they can pass on to their students, much less nearly identical fighting styles similar to the one Guy and Lee share.
Kurenai meets with Naruto in the morning, and informs him about his training sessions with Guy in the mornings, as well as setting the guidelines for Guy’s tutelage of Naruto. She then takes him on a shopping trip, and in response to the shopkeepers refusing to sell to Naruto, and making disparaging and sexist comments toward her, threatens to send them on a tour of Yomi with her Genjutsu.
Kurenai tells Naruto about the roots hate has in fear, and says that there are those who will still not accept him even if he becomes Hokage. As true as it is, I hope that it doesn’t lead to Naruto completely abandoning his idealism and desire to protect the people of the Leaf Village.
Kurenai then discusses the man’s sexism, and asks Naruto whom he would rather face in a fight between the members of two male-female pairs. He chooses Hinata over Shino because she wouldn’t use Gentle Fist on a teammate, and chooses Sasuke over Sakura because Sakura hits hard(Keep this in mind for the future).
Kurenai takes Naruto to a tailor named Ikitaro, who goes about making a new outfit for Naruto. The outfit seems fairly practical and useful, but one has to wonder why other characters aren’t getting a makeover like this.
Naruto, wearing the clothes for the first time, seems to realize the seriousness of being a ninja, which is a good touch, if a bit sooner than in canon. It’s worth noting that the ninjas are fairly young children, so perhaps Naruto's canonical initial excitement and immaturity before he's started fighting for his life are him acting his age.
Naruto goes to a weapon shop run by Tenten’s father and gets a lecture about ninja weapons. It’s also indicated that Naruto paid higher prices for lower quality weapons compared to most people, which seems to be yet another case of gratuitous discrimination against him.
The scene then shifts to Hinata, who is depressed over her recent performance in taijutsu sparring. She recalls how neither of them were included in the afternoon sparring sessions at the Academy- he because of being ostracized, and she because her father didn’t want her showing off the Gentle Fist in front of “commoners”- which is implied to be everyone except the Hyuuga clan. While ninjas have understandable qualms against showing their techniques to others, it’s more out of a desire for keeping their trump cards secret than out of mere arrogance.
Hinata descends into another fit of misery and self-loathing, along with hints that her father is much crueler than in canon, and wonders if her dying nobly would make up for all her failures. Her belief is somewhat similar to Jiraiya’s hope in the internal monologue toward the end of his life, which was one of the more moving parts of Naruto.
Hinata, in an attempt to get her mind off her father’s rejection of her, thinks about how there seems to be some sort of tension between him and Kurenai, as if they have some history. He’s disappointed to hear that Hinata’s not at the top of the class, and when asked about her team, is indifferent to Shino, but is furious to hear about Kurenai and Naruto. All this seems to paint him in a very negative light, and he
For the first time, Shino gets a POV scene, and he thinks about the logic of his placement, among other things, and realizes that his two teammates are, for various reasons, quite emotional. While Shiho is canonically intelligent, thoughtful, and somewhat emotionally detached, this makes him come off as a Vulcan.
With the information at his disposal, Shino concludes that there is much more to Naruto and Hinata’s lives than meets the eyes, and that Kurenai, a new jonin, taking all three under her wing was no coincidence, even if he doesn’t yet know why.
Naruto puts on his new outfit and ponders how people in the village don’t recognize him anymore.
Naruto considers Kurenai a breath of fresh air compared to his other teachers besides Iruka, who did not provide helpful answers to his questions in class. I have to wonder whether Naruto would be the sort to ask questions in class, considering his canonical approach to schoolwork.
He also realizes that Kurenai’s training schedule is meant to keep him too busy to do pranks, although it should be noted that once he canonically actually gets people to pay attention to him in a good way, combined with him growing up a little, the pranks no longer serve their purpose. She points out that his behavior now affects the team’s reputation, and while this would come off to him as fairly pragmatic, he appreciates being thought of as a member, and of the rest of the team thinking of him as such.
Naruto hopes that his team will become close, but notes that the danger of death is omnipresent, and it might claim the lives of one of his team. He thus becomes especially determined to prevent anything from happening to the first friends he’s ever had.
Kurenai, inexplicably knowing Naruto’s entire thought process, silently approves, and dedicates herself to helping him achieve his goal.
An author’s note follows the chapter. Among other things, the author clarifies that the point of divergence is when Kurenai’s team was killed and offers to discuss some things about Team 8 in the Yahoo group that he can’t say in the author’s notes without risking a ban, but does not explain why.
What I liked
- Naruto’s sense of devotion to his friends.
- A fair amount of description and attention to detail in training ninjas.
- The village’s cruelty to Naruto being played up beyond what is canonical or even reasonable.
- Naruto and Hinata angsting much more than in canon.
- Hiashi being shorter-tempered and crueler to Hinata
- Shiho’s excessive focus on logic.
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