Naruto slammed his fist into the stump without hesitation. He didn’t make a sound but Hinata saw the way his eyebrows twitched when he inhaled sharply through his nose.

“Again!”

He hit the stump even harder with almost perfect technique, leveraging more of his weight into the blow.

“Again!”

Hinata gritted her teeth. The sight reminded her too much of her taijutsu lessons with her father. Palm techniques were the Hyuuga’s main weapon, which required their hands to become weapons sharper and more lethal than any blade. Conditioning was also something they did daily at the Academy where they went through the forms of the Leaf’s basic taijutsu style on training logs.

However, Naruto was taking it too far—way too far.

“Again!”

He slammed his fist into the log, and when he pulled it back, bloody dots had begun to seep through the ivory fabric. Naruto didn’t stop. At Asuma’s calls, he slammed his fist into the log over and over again. Choji looked squeamish as the exercise went on, and even Hinata found herself frowning.

“Enhanced!”

Hinata wondered what the change in command meant. Naruto closed his eyes and took a breath. The wind picked up, drawing a soft breeze across the clearing. He snapped his eyes open and punched, driving his weight forward. The stump cracked and groaned, giving way to Naruto's fist burying itself halfway into the stump.

“What the hell?” Choji whispered. “Hinata, what’s he doing? He hasn’t used chakra like that before.”

“Maybe he’s applying chakra repulsion differently?” she mused, activating her Byakugan.

Asuma Sarutobi circled the stump and stood in front of Naruto. “Harder. The goal of today is to see how far you can push it while keeping control of your chakra.”

“And if we get a dislocation like last time?” Naruto asked dryly.

Hinata frowned and mouthed, “Dislocation?”

“You won’t,” said the jonin. “You know what you’re doing now. When I say crank it up, I don’t want you to stupidly pump chakra through your body. Carefully guide it and let it explode out of the necessary tenketsu only at the last moment.”

Naruto nodded and raised his fists. Hinata watched the flow of swirling chakra move from his gut up his chest and down his shoulder. At the same time, he went through the motions of a punch, guiding it down his arm.

She peered closer, almost leaning forward in anticipation. When he threw the punch, the gathered chakra exploded out of his fist, both empowering the actual blow and acting as an attack on its own. Now that she was looking at it, the punch itself wasn’t enhanced, as Asuma Sarutobi said, but a setup for a delayed chakra attack.

Choji blinked owlishly at the rough, fist-sized hole carved into the top of the stump. “Can you explain that, please?”

Hinata raised an eyebrow. “I could, but it’s pretty self-explanatory.”

“Super strength?”

“...Basically,” she said.

He leaned back onto his palms and chuckled. “Damn.”

Hinata was inclined to agree. She wasn’t confident enough in her chakra control to pull off an enhancement of that kind of magnitude, but she was sure she’d be able to do it one day. The Gentle Fist did the same thing, just with less chakra, and aimed at disabling tenketsu instead of pulverising the target. Watching Naruto destroy chunks of the thick trunk with every punch was so mesmerising that it almost made her forget that he was destroying his hands.

He pulled his arm back, clenched his jaw, and threw his entire body forward. His fist collided with the deep indent he’d pummelled into the bark, and it exploded in a burst of woodchips and dust. Naruto stood still, the blood leaking through the linen wraps and dripping onto the floor.

“...Alright, that’s enough,” said Asuma.

Naruto sounded breathless and there was a hysterical lilt to his voice. “How did I do? I think I did alright. It wasn’t as strong as I imagined, but that’s fine. I have a lot of chakra and can probably make it stronger.” He tightened the wraps, completely oblivious to his mangled and bloody fists. “What are we doing next?”

He lightly thumped the top of Naruto’s head. “Next, you’re going to get your hands looked at by a medic.”

“What? I don’t need a medic. I’ll be great after a good night’s sleep.” Naruto tightened the bandages around his hands. “Dunno why, but my body heals quickly. I’m not stupid, Asuma; I know my limits. I haven’t broken anything and hit them just hard enough to condition my knuckles.”

Hinata didn’t believe him, so she took a look at his knuckles for herself. They were bruised and bloody, but not broken. It should’ve been relieving, but Naruto being completely aware of what he was doing to himself scared her even more than the alternative.

“If you didn’t, I would’ve stopped you, but I needed to make sure you weren’t overextending yourself,” said Asuma. “Now, get out of here. We’ll be sparring next week, so make sure you rest. No training at all today, and make sure you don’t go overboard afterwards. Keep it light.”

Naruto gave a lazy two-fingered salute and vanished into the canopy. Choji released a sigh and stared at Hinata. “I take it back. This is not going to be great for him, not with the way he is now. He doesn’t know when to stop.” He got up and climbed onto a branch. “Come on, let’s go and catch up to him.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Hinata nodded numbly, scanning the forest. She found him hopping between branches, swinging from tree to tree as if his hands weren’t injured. He didn’t seem to be in pain, nor did he express any discomfort to Asuma. Naruto wasn’t like this before. Sure, he was obsessed with training, but he was the first person to make sure she took proper breaks, stayed hydrated, and watched out for injuries.

What had made him so reckless?

“How about you two come and talk to me instead of running around in circles? You’re friends with Naruto, right?”

Choji looked down at her with wide eyes. She stood petrified for a few moments, looking at the silent question in his eyes. Running wasn’t even an option; he would catch up to them in an instant. But if they stayed, who knew when they’d find Naruto again?

“What’s it going to be, kids?”

Hinata looked up at Choji. “Let’s talk to him.”

“What about Naruto?” asked Choji, looking ready to leap into the forest. “This is our chance.”

“Would he even listen to us? Do you know how many times we’ve brought up his training habits to him before?” She shook her head. “He apologises, but he never really changes. Asuma Sarutobi is his teacher. Maybe it’s sad, but I think that Naruto is more likely to listen to him than he is us.”

Choji searched her face. “So, what are you saying?”

“I think we should tell his teacher everything we’re worried about and have him bring Naruto to us. We shouldn’t have to chase him around just to have a conversation, Choji.”

“...I know,” he replied, landing beside her. “Alright. We’ll talk with him.”

Hinata nudged his shoulder. “You’ll have to talk to him first, you know.”

“What, why?”

“Because you’re the one who said your clan has a good relationship with the Sarutobi.”

“Yeah, the clan, my father, not me,” said Choji. “I don’t know the guy!”

“Well, you’re at a better starting point than me.” She nudged him forward. “Go.” He looked back and glared at her. Hinata held his gaze until he sighed in defeat. “Thank you, Choji.”

He threw his hands up behind him as they emerged from the thicket. Asuma stood head-on, his arms folded, and carefully assessed them as they got closer to him.

“Um… hello, sir?” Choji stumbled over his words and took a moment to gather himself. “I’m Choji Akimichi and my friend is Hinata Hyuuga.”

“I think I can tell,” said Asuma, smiling. “You’ve got the markings and she has the Byakugan. I’d like to know why you guys are stalking my student. He can be a bit of a stick in the mud, but I don’t think he’s the type to be an asshole, is he?”

“No, nothing like that, sir—”

“Drop the “sir”, kid. Just Asuma is fine. I was never one for formalities.”

“—Asuma, then. We’re Naruto’s friends.”

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Friends that… stalk each other?”

“When said friend avoids us when something goes wrong, yes.” Hinata stepped forward and accepted the burden of Asuma’s curiosity. “He had a big fight with another friend of ours about a week ago. Since then, he’s vanished. He hasn't been in school all week, but because he’s at the top of the class, none of the teachers are complaining all that much—but we know he's not okay.”

“At first, we thought it was because he was embarrassed and was taking time off to gather his thoughts,” said Choji. “The friend he fought with was the same, but he was at least willing to be around us at school.”

“And now?” asked Asuma. “Why do you think he’s avoiding you?”

“We think he’s avoiding us because he’s forgotten about us,” said Hinata. “Naruto was always the kind of person to get carried away and lose track of things. He takes training to a completely different level—he’s obsessed with it.”

“Last summer,” Choji interjected, talking faster and faster. “He took a week off from his morning runs with me to apparently work on his chakra control. He never asked how I felt about it, and sure he apologised, but something similar happened not even a month later.”

The jonin was openly frowning, and Hinata could see the displeasure on his face.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad friend. The fight with our other friend happened because Naruto gave him genuine advice but because he was too immature to take it and grow, he lashed out at Naruto, who did the same.” Hinata ignored Choji’s glaring—Shikamaru was wrong to slap Naruto’s help away. “Naruto just… loses track of his priorities sometimes.”

Even without Choji’s pointed staring, she knew how flimsy the argument sounded, but Naruto wasn’t a bad person. Hinata knew that. He helped her when no one else would, and it seemed that now, she had her chance to do the same.

“Don’t excuse it.” To her surprise, it wasn’t Choji who said those words, but Asuma. Something that looked awfully similar to regret flashed across his face for just a moment. “He put training over you.”

“Exactly,” said Choji, nodding firmly. “That doesn’t mean we don’t want to be friends with him, though. He’s still one of my best friends—just not a very good one at the moment.”

“Yeah,” said Hinata.

Asuma folded his arms. The clearing was quiet for a few moments. Choji and Hinata squirmed nervously under his gaze, forced to remain still until he gave his verdict.

“Okay, thanks for bringing this to me. I understand that he can take training too far, and I knew something had happened with a friend of his because he complained about a Nara when I first met him. I’m guessing that’s the mutual friend?”

They both nodded.

“I’ll make sure he stops avoiding you. There’s no excuse for it, especially since it seems like all you two want to do is help him. Whether he’s avoiding you on purpose or by accident doesn’t matter. He’s still in the wrong at the end of the day.”

She made sure to look away from Choji’s triumphant brown eyes.

“What are your names again?” asked Asuma.

Hinata gave him a shallow bow. “I’m Hinata Hyuuga. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jonin Sarutobi.”

“...I’ve changed my mind. Naruto might be a stick in the mud but you? You’re an entire tree.” Asuma chuckled and Choji joined him. “You’re an Akimichi, but I want to know which one.”

“I’m Choji.”

“Alright then. Thanks for bringing this to me, Hinata, Choji. I’ll make sure that Naruto knows exactly how you two feel.” He frowned for a moment before his easygoing smile returned. “And I’ll be giving him a piece of my mind too.”

She wondered whether they’d got Naruto into trouble with his teacher but quickly shook the thought free. It wasn’t her fault that he decided to go dark on them, and she didn’t intend on running into his jonin teacher.

As far as she was concerned, it was Naruto’s fault.

“Do you think it’ll work?” asked Choji on the way back to the village.

Hinata hummed. “I don’t know. None of our talks with Naruto have worked.”

“...True.”

“But,” She smiled, “I think that this has the highest chance of working. It’s a jonin, after all.”

Choji laughed. “Also true.”

She hoped it would work. Hinata enjoyed Naruto’s friendship, she valued his company, and Choji most likely thought the same. That said, continuing a friendship with someone who obviously didn’t value them was a foolish thing to do.

And if there was something Hinata Hyuuga was not, it was a fool.