Short version
In the hospital, Hinata despairs at her loss to Neji. Naruto, Shino, and Neji train hard for the third exam round. Kurenai visits Hinata and chastises her suicidal effort against Neji, reminding her of how her friends care for her. Naruto visits Hinata and learns about her suicidal feelings and that Kurenai may remove her from the team. He confronts Kurenai, who says Hinata's mental state puts her life at risk. Shino suggests Naruto may be able to help Hinata by talking to and listening to her. Naruto revisits Hinata, who reveals the truth of the Hyuuga clan. Naruto asks Iruka for advice, who says he tries to make his students in abusive homes comfortable and open to discussing their problems. Naruto treats Hinata to ramen and says she's his best friend.
Longer version
Hinata awakens from unconsciousness. Realizing she is in the hospital, she despairingly recalls her loss to Neji, and mourns that she could not honor her clan with victory, or at least die with honor.
Naruto is antsy about Hinata and somewhat unwilling to train, but Gai and Lee impel him to do so. Gai tells Naruto they owe him a debt for warning them about Gaara's skills, which saved Lee from being seriously injured, and they choose to pay the debt by training him arduously for his next match.
Shino also trains for the tournament, using his kamas in new ways, and wishes it was him facing Neji instead of Naruto. Nonetheless, he expects his teammate to defeat the Hyuuga - and if not, he will pick up the slack.
Hiruzen Sarutobi reads several petitions that demand that Sasuke be allowed to continue in the tournament in spite of his loss to Naruto, but even if he could, the Sandaime will not bend the rules to fit the Uchiha - who would probably reject the offer. Sarutobi notes that Kakashi is training Team 7 much harder than before, and laments that some even blame Naruto the pariah. He considers how the extra freedom he granted the civilians has benefited Konoha (in contrast to the authoritarian shinobi of Iwagakure), but this freedom has been abused to persecute Naruto.
Hinata wakes up again to see Kurenai, who tells her she is under a chakra suppressing seal to give her chakra coils time to heal. Hinata apologizes for her failure, but Kurenai tells her she fought well, and asks her if she was trying to die. Hinata cannot deny it, and Kurenai warns her that she may remove her from active duty due to her suicidal mindset. She accuses Hinata of not caring for her teammates.
Hinata tries to protest, but Kurenai tells her that she did not consider how Naruto - who may be planning to kill Neji during their fight - and Shino - who is willing to do it should Naruto lose - would take her death. Hinata is taken aback, but asks why they care for her, calling herself worthless. Kurenai expresses her anger at Hiashi, and asks Hinata how Naruto, perhaps the one who knows her best, sees her. Hinata considers the possibility that Naruto's admiration of her is right.
Kurenai runs to the nearest bathroom and vomits from the combination of the nauseous smells in the hospital and her fury with Hiashi Hyuuga and his cruelty.
Neji trains under the eye of Hiashi. The clan leader, who is quite supportive of Neji's development, had commended Neji's preliminary performance and forbade any family from visiting Hinata. Although Neji thinks little of the grave injuries he caused Hinata, he considers (and dismisses) the disapproval of his team, along with Tenten's warning about Naruto and Shino's desire for retribution.
Kurenai meets Naruto after one of his training sessions with Gai and Lee, and tells him Hinata may receive visitors. Naruto sends a clone to buy ramen at Ichiraku, which he brings to the hospital. Accidentally waking her with his killing intent towards Neji, he offers her the food, which included a get-well-soon note from Ayame. Hinata starts crying, and Naruto awkwardly tries to console her. She admits she kept fighting Neji because she'd rather die than lose, and that Kurenai may remove her from the team. Shocked, Naruto declares he won't let that happen and storms out.
At the hospital entrance he finds Kurenai, who tells him to meet her at the training grounds. On arrival, Kurenai declares that Hinata's mental state puts her at lethal risk. Naruto recognizes this as another problem caused by her terrible family. The conversation deeply unsettles him, enough that Gai tells him the next day to take a break. He sees Shino leaving the hospital. When Naruto expresses his desperation to help Hinata, Shino tells him he is the person she best connects with, and that he should simply ask questions and listen. Naruto visits Hinata again, and tells her that he doesn't understand why she hates herself, but that he perceives something is wrong with her family. When he asks about them, Hinata admits the truth of the Hyuuga clan.
Hinata has few positive memories of her family, save her mother. When Naruto briefly mutters his desire to kill Neji, she begs him not to, explaining how the Hyuuga branch family is essentially enslaved by curse seals. When she was three, she was nearly kidnapped. Her father killed the culprit, a diplomat from Kumogakure. The Cloud Village demanded the life of the killer. Neji's father Hizashi was sacrificed in Hiashi's place. When his mother died, Neji was adopted by Hiashi and trained under him, proving more talented than Hinata. Uncertain of the cause for Hiashi's bitterness, Naruto wonders if he blames Hinata for Hizashi's death.
Wandering Konoha's streets, Naruto encounters Iruka, who treats him to ramen. Iruka earned a lot of money betting on Naruto in the preliminaries. Teuchi expresses his wish to visit Hinata. While they eat, Naruto asks Iruka what he would do if he found any of his students had trouble at home. Iruka says he tries to offer them a haven of relief, and does the best he can to make them feel comfortable and willing to open up about their problems.
The following day, Naruto lets out his frustration while sparring intensely with Lee, only to get a broken bone that heals incredibly fast. After Naruto gets an x-ray, Gai soon sends him on his way. Naruto brings Yamanaka flowers, a taijutsu book, and some ramen to Hinata. When she asks why he did this, he just answers that he wants to have lunch with his best friend.
Tropes:
- Best Friend: Shino notes that Hinata listens to Naruto more than anyone. For his part, Naruto flat-out calls Hinata this at the end of the chapter.
- The Chains of Commanding: Hiruzen is simultaneously aware that the extra freedom he has granted his civilians has benefited Konoha overall compared to the other villages, but has resulted in free persecution of Naruto.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Gai engages in one of his usual "fires of youth" speeches with a doctor checking on Naruto's broken arm, and swipes the x-ray while doing so. Naruto wonders if Gai planned this.
- Death Seeker: Hinata's determination to keep fighting Neji is revealed to be an attempt to get herself killed for being unable to defeat Neji.
- Everyone Has Standards: For all his hatred towards Neji, Naruto feels a bit sick of what the Hyuuga main family does to those of the branch families.
- Friendship Moment: Naruto tells Hinata that he will not let Kurenai remove her from Team 8. Then calling her his best friend.
- It's Personal: Not only Naruto, but Shino also did not take Neji's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Hinata well.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Iruka, who has believed in Naruto from the beginning, bets a lot of money on Naruto's victory against Sasuke and comes out of it ten times richer.
- Mundane Utility: Naruto uses his Kage Bushin to go buy food and flowers.
- Out-of-Character Moment: A very obvious one is Hiashi's unusual interest in Neji's development. In canon, Hiashi was hardly even aware of just how talented Neji was, and it wasn't until much later that he contradicted tradition and started training with him. In this fic, he is already training Neji to prepare for the final Chuunin exam. The author's notes in chapter 18 say that out-of-character moments, including those for Hiashi, have a reason due to For Want Of A Nail.
- True Companions: No matter what Hinata may think of herself, Naruto and Shino consider her their teammate and friend and will tell her so as many times as is required.
- The Un-Favourite: It turns out Hiashi showed not just Hanabi, but even Neji interest and attention over Hinata.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kurenai expresses her intense hatred for such a mindset.Cruel necessities, no matter how needful, were still cruel.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Naruto calls Kurenai out for even considering to drop Hinata out of Team 8. Kurenai replies that, as long as Hinata holds onto her Death Seeker tendencies, she cannot accept Hinata within the team.
