Chapter 31: Resolve

It was very early in the morning when Naruto had heard footsteps stepping on leaves and brushing passed grass. He was very tired but still awake.

He stood quickly to his feet when he saw his sensei walking towards him with Nia on his back. He was a bit banged up and had a few tearings on his clothes, scrapes and bruises on his body, and a bit of dirt on his face. Nia, on the other hand, had everything Kakashi had but was bloody, beaten up, and clearly unconscious.

"Kakashi-sensei! What-"

"Calm down, Naruto. She's fine. We just need Sakura to heal her." Kakashi informed his student before looking left and right, "Where is Sakura?"

Naruto pointed behind him, "Over here; You guys took so long everyone fell asleep."

"Hmm? You don't look like you've got some rest, Naruto."

"Not at all. I was very anxious for you two to be done with the whole exam thing."

Kakashi nodded, "I see."

He then looked at Nia and silently thought, 'I was right. Naruto was waiting... didn't I tell you?'

When everything was situated and everyone awoke, Sakura used her medic skills to heal both her sensei and Nia. During this process, the Raikage had appeared with Darui and took Kakashi some place else to have a word with him while Sakura worked on Nia.

"So Kakashi, how did it go? Did Nia meet any expectations?" The kage asked, though he seemed to know the answer to his question.

"To be honest, Lord Raikage, she struggled very much. During the fight, she heavily relied on taijutsu and even seemed to be cowardice at times. I questioned myself a few times if she was cut out to be a shinobi and wondered if her heart was into protecting her own village..."

Raikage made a face then said, "I see. I'll send her straight back to the academy at on-"

"However..." Kakashi interrupted with his usual blank expression.

He seemed as though he had more things to discuss.

•••

The kage and jounin appeared in front of the rest of the group and stared directly at Nia, who was fully healed and sitting down with a unsure expression on her face.

"We've come to give the results of your exam, Nia." Kakashi began with his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, this exam determined your future as a shinobi of this village." Raikage added.

Never before did Nia's heart pump so much with anxiousness. She reflected on all her effort throughout the test and kept thinking of if she did more wrong than right and vice versa. She hid her hands in her sleeves.

"She passed, right?!" Naruto sprung up.

"Be quiet, Naruto." Raikage glared at the teen.

Sakura quickly threw her hand over his mouth and pulled him down to the ground, "Narutooo! When will you ever learn to shut up in important moments like this!"

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" The genin struggled to free himself out of the girl's grip.

"You bet you won't do it again, you knucklehead!"

"You should be quiet too, young lady! You're acting just as bad as Naruto is." Lord Raikage scolded Sakura as well.

Immediately, Sakura released her victim and apologized profusely. Naruto groaned then tried to get himself comfortable again.

Man, Sakura really isn't lighting up on me anytime soon...

"Nia." Raikage called, "Stand."

"Yes, Lord Raikage." The girl did as she was told.

Naruto looked up at her for a second then back at the kage.

'This is it,' he thought, 'she's either going back to the academy and staying here or ranking to chuunin and being transferred to the Hidden Leaf with me and everyone else.'

Raikage furrowed his eyebrows and stood tall, "Kakashi told me that you struggled deeply against him, that you used taijutsu the majority of the time, acted cowardice at times, and even had him questioning if you were cut out to be a shinobi and if you even desired to protect the people in your village..."

At this deliberation, Nia felt all her hopes and dreams crash to the floor beneath her. It took all her strength just to keep herself from crying. Everyone but Naruto, Iruka, and Kakashi, gave the girl a sympathetic look as they all believed that she would have to go back to the academy.

"However..." Raikage continued, "He also told me that you were able to use multiple ninjutsu and was able to fight through your fear of being killed like a true shinobi. In secret, Darui and I watched your battle with him and saw the enormous effort you put into trying to defeat a fierce opponent such as Kakashi."

Nia looked straight back at her leader with wide eyes as did everyone else who believed she would go back to the academy.

"Because, you proved that you had indeed kept up with your training and improved drastically from what I've last seen, I hereby promote you as chuunin and because I made an agreement with Iruka and Naruto, you too will be transferring over to the Hidden Leaf as one of their shinobi."

"Whaaaat? N-No way!" Nia completely froze.

All was quiet till suddenly, Naruto cheered very loudly all while saying, "Didn't I tell you, Curly Brow?! With enough determination you can do anything, ya know!"

As everyone else began to cheer as well, Nia stared at Naruto as he now talked with Iruka. Her mind was blank. She didn't even know what to think.

She's chuunin and transferring to the Hidden Leaf?!

"Wow..." She mumbled as she slightly trembled, "I did it... I actually did it..."

"Your parents and siblings have already understood this agreement thanks to Iruka's visit to them earlier and even believed in you enough that they already packed your things." Raikage spiked once more, "Your travel to the Hidden Lead begins today so you won't be able to see your family for quite some time, so I strongly encourage you to say your goodbyes to them for now."

"Of course!" Nia bowed then went straight in the direction to her home.

Iruka, wanting to see his uncle, aunt, and cousins one final time, prepared to follow Nia but then was stopped by Naruto.

"Absolutely not!" He immediately said, "You know how they view you, Naruto. You can't come."

"I know but I don't care." The blonde refused, "besides, I wanna give my thanks to the people who protected you during the Nine Tail's reign on the Leaf."

"Naruto..." Iruka looked down at his former student.

"I have to thank them because if they hadn't done that, I wouldn't be the person I am today, Iruka-sensei!"

"Fine..." Iruka gave in to Naruto's heart felt words, "Lets go."

•••

Teacher and student land gracefully behind Nia as she hugged her parents. When they pulled away however, her dad glared straight at Naruto then pushed his daughter aside and pulled a kunai out.

"It's you! The Nine Tails! Why are you here?! I won't let you lay a finger on my family!" He yelled.

Naruto kept his composure.

"Uncle, this boy poses no threat to us." Iruka talked first on Naruto's behalf.

"Iruka!" Jin responded with a deeper tone, "Did you forget what he did to your parents?! To my brother and my sister-in-law?!"

Iruka looked to the ground as a shadow covered his eyes, "I will never forget what happened to my parents..."

He then curled his fist in a ball, "But...."

"Naruto isn't the Nine Tail's, Uncle. He's not the one who ravaged the village and killed my parents and everyone else."

Nia saw the sincerity in Iruka's expression and the honesty in his voice. To her, she found his caring nature towards Naruto as sweet and a total change to how he used to view the teen.

"Iruka-sensei is the reason why the Nine-Tails hadn't taken full control of me at a younger age," Naruto suddenly commented, "He saved me from becoming so bitter and was the first to accept me for who I really am. He's the first to show me what it's like to have someone truly care about you. He even almost died trying to protect me at one point."

He then paused then said, "I came here to thank you... to thank you for protecting Iruka-sensei during the Nine-Tails attack."

As it did Iruka, everyone was shocked by the boy's gratitude. Jin especially would've never thought in a million years that the host of the tailed beast would one day be at his doorstep to thank him for his heroic actions the night of the attack, but here he was.

"Dad," Nia faced her father, "Iruka's right; Naruto's not a beast. He would never hurt innocent people. He's kind and gentle! He even protected me before from all sorts of really messed up people. There's no reason to keep a grudge at someone who never did single wrong to you!"

"Don't talk to me like that, Nia. Remember who you're speaking to!"

"But-"

"Be quiet right now!" Jin yelled at his daughter.

Nia bit her lip; her anger increased but she kept quiet as her father approached the blonde.

Iruka, however, stepped in front of the jinchuuriki, "I won't let you lay a finger on him, Uncle."

Jin frowned, "Don't get in my way, Iruka."

The two argue a little longer before Naruto finally spoke again.

"Old man..." He caught Jin's attention, "One day... i'll bring peace to this world... there'll no more be any villages conflicting with one another and we'll all work together peacefully some day."

Again all eyes landed on the sixteen-year-old.

"You know that could never happen, kid." Nia's father replied, "There's way too much going on between the great nations. How do you plan to change the way this world works."

"I... don't have answer to that yet." The genin replied, "However, all I know is this... before I become hokage... I will get rid of all the hatred that this shinobi world carries. I promise that on my life." Naruto pointed his thumb at his heart.

Seeing that Iruka was too focused on his student, Jin took the chance to push his nephew out the way and throw a punch at Naruto's face.

However...

His fist stopped right at the bridge of Naruto's nose. The boy hadn't even flinched as if he knew the man wouldn't go through with his attack. Instead he stood right where he was with an intensity in his eyes.

No one's eyes left the two. Jin stared at the fierceness and determination in Naruto's face.

'That look...' He thought, 'it looks just like Minato Namikaze's and Kushina Uzumaki's...'

Their memory brought a great sense of regret in Jin as he realized something phenomenal.

This boy... He's the son of the fourth hokage...

Slowly his fist lowered to his side. Everyone but Naruto watched with with wide eyes. No one expected Jin to drop his fist.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." he spoke, "This dream of yours... make it happen... Now I can see why the fourth placed the beast within you. You're the only one who can prevent it from breaking out of it's cage."

Though a bit surprised by Jin's change of heart, Naruto nodded anyway, "You have my word, Curly Brow's Dad."

Nia sweat dropped then threw a fit, "Do you really have to call me that in front of my family, Naruto?!"

"Ehh?" Naruto sensed the dark presence, "But that's your name, Curly Brow-"

"IT'S NIIIIIAAAAAAAAA!" The girl had flames in her eyes.

Naruto's face turned blue then he turned to stone

"..."

"Okay good, i'm glad that's situated." The sixteen-year-old smiled then turned to her family, "I promise to send you guys a letter once I make it to the Leaf."

"Please don't forget," Nia's mother talked, "We'll miss you sweetheart."

"I'll miss you guys too."

"As will I." Iruka gave his goodbye.

"Iruka, I trust you in protecting my daughter with your life." Jin said.

Iruka nodded, "Of course."

Taking her things from her family's hands, Nia and Iruka say goodbye one last time before taking their leave. Iruka had to carry Naruto on his back as the young man was too stunned by Nia's sudden personality change to return back to normal.

----

Whew, finally that's finally done lol. Took me a wile to type and everything.

In case you guys haven't seen my post on my Lost Memories book, I have been working on multiple projects for you guys. One of them includes an MMD of Narunia and Tsunade. You can watch it down here: (I also prefer if you guys comment your thoughts on the youtube page instead of here and maybe even give the video a like if you want to see more)

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Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading and please comment and vote before you go. Thank you!