Chapter 52: Kiba's Shallowness

"Come on Naruto, let me get through." Nia said as she tried to pass through a door but kept getting blocked by the genin each time she attempted to do so.

They were facing opposite of one another. Nia took a step to her left but Naruto would block her by going right. She would then try going to her right but he would step to the left. He blocked her way into the door a few more times before the girl sighed.

"Naruto..."

"If you wanna get pass me, you gotta fight through that shyness first and kiss me real quick, ya know?" The genin gave the girl an ultimatum as he then leaned forward and tried to peck her on the lips.

"I don't wanna kiss right now," Nia hid away in her hands, "You're just making me feel shy with how you're acting."

"Oh come on, it's not that hard. I know you want to."

"I do, but-"

"Then let's kiss already, ya know..."

"But we were just kissing before we got here. We've pretty much been kissing ever since we confessed earlier."

"Yeah well, that gives you an even worse excuse to be shy," Naruto replied as he puckered his lips and inched closer to the girl, "Come ooon, I know you want to, Curly Brow. Don't be so shy! Show me how you feel, ya know?"

"Maybe next time." The girl stepped to her left once more.

"Nope!" The blond got in the way again.

"Please?" Nia moved again.

"Sorry." Naruto moved also.

Again, he puckered his lips.

"I'm waiting..."

"Okay okay," The girl grew some courage and leaned forward until her lips met with Naruto's for a few seconds before pulling away and placing her face back into her hands as she began to blush deeply.

"Better," Naruto made a squirmy smile as hearts appeared over his head. He then removed the girl's hands away from her face, winked, then said, "but not good enough, ya know?"

Nia looked at him in surprise as he softly pressed his lips against hers and moved her closer to him. Out of shyness, she broke the kiss and lightly pushed away from him but Naruto only smiled wider and punished her by placing his lips onto hers again and deepening the kiss even more.

Her heart pounded as he kept being assertive, but even if he was, she was beginning to fall victim once more to his advances. She began to kiss him back and pulled him closer to her.

Behind them, Kakashi and Jiraiya sighed as the two teens seemed to be making out once more.

"They're blocking the doorway..." Kakashi said as he held a volume of Jiraiya's book in his hand, "How long are they gonna keep at it this time? The others are waiting for us to go in there."

Jiraiya had his arms crossed and smiled, "Being a youngster is rough. You gotta deal with all those raging hormones passing through you. It's hard to control yourself."

"You can barely control yourself Master Jiraiya and you're decades older than they are." Kakashi shot back.

"Oh watch it, Kakashi. You don't wanna go that far, trust me." Jiraiya warned.

"And what happens if I do?"

Dramatically, the sannin took out a brand new volume of his makeout series book and held it in front of the other ninja as a spotlight placed itself on him.

"This you see here... is something I've been working on for the past few months!" The long-haired man started as Kakashi stared in delight at what he was seeing, "I've put my blood, sweat, and tears into making this, but..."

Kakashi's eyes began to sparkle and his jaw began to drop.

Jiraiya smirked then added, "I have yet to finish it! If you want a free copy when it comes out Kakashi, you better watch your tongue, my friend, because what you're seeing here... is my all new... next installment... of my brand new Makeout book... Makeout: Passion."

Immediately, Kakashi was stunned to hear such news. He wasn't expecting a new book for at least a few more months. So badly he wanted to touch it. He was like a child eager to touch a kunai for the first time. However, when Jiraiya wouldn't let him get a peek, the jonin bowed then said, "My humble apologies, Master Jiraiya. I spoke much too harshly. Forgive me."

"Now see... that's what I thought," The Toad Sage laughed with his tongue out.

Back where Naruto and Nia was, they had finally broke out of their kiss. Nia looked to the ground as she hid her hands in her sleeves. She was trembling slightly out of nervousness and her face burned like never before. She didn't really know what to do.

Naruto sighed and placed his hand on her head softly in the hopes she would look at him. When she did, he smiled and said, "I'm a bit too straightforward, huh?"

Nia nodded.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "You know... Pervy Sage has been telling me a whole bunch of things..."

"What kind of things?"

The blond grinned creepily behind his hand and chuckled, "Hehe! Oh, you'll see soon enough. That's for sure."

Nia raised a brow.

I wonder what he means... what has Jiraiya-sensei been telling him?

"Naruto? May I pass through now, please?" The girl asked as respectfully as possible.

"Yeah..." He smiled as he stepped out of her way and allowed her to walk forward, "Go ahead."

However, as she did, he spotted something disturbing on the left side of her neck. Quickly, he stopped the girl and pulled down at the collar of the jacket he had given her.

"Curly Brow!" He freaked out as he saw that her neck seemed to be injured, "You have a bruise on your neck! What the heck happened, ya know?!"

"Huh? I do?!" The teen girl freaked out also and placed her hand on the spot that was a bit sensitive for her to touch.

She quickly felt it and winced. It sorta hurt.

"I thought... I felt sorta tender right here."

"Pervy Sage! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto dragged Nia by the arm and showed them the bruising on her neck, "Look! How in the heck did this get here?! This wasn't on her neck earlier."

Upon looking at the injury, Kakashi immediately recognized what it was and sweatdropped.

"Oh boy... Iruka is not gonna like the sight of this..."

When Jiraiya took a look at it, he immediately grinned widely and slapped Naruto on the back.

"You animal!" He said proudly as he couldn't believe what he was seeing, "You really are growing up, kid! You gave her a love bite!"

"A what what?" Naruto tilted his head.

"He means... a hickey." Kakashi clarified.

Immediately, Nia became embarrassed and squatted as she placed her hands over her face while steam poured out from it.

"Ohhh my gooooosh..." She said quietly to herself as she thought back on how she must've gotten it.

"Err... what's a hickey?" Naruto replied rather innocently.

"It's caused when someone is biting or sucking on another person's neck and blood vessels in the neck clot and causes a bruise to appear on the spot where that action took place." Kakashi explained.

"EH?!" Naruto's eyes widened as soon as everything was explained, "Biting and sucking on the neck?!"

"That's right, Naruto!" The sannin threw his arm around his pupil, "You really weren't holding back down there at the training grounds! You were giving her the time of her life!"

"Please stop saying that." Nia nearly died from the embarrassment she was feeling.

Naruto began to redden as he remembered just how aggressive he had incidentally became when they made out for the first time.

"This is just great! You should be proud, Naruto. That was made because of you." Jiraiya encouraged Naruto to feel a certain way.

"In order to give someone a hickey, you pretty much have to hurt them in order to do it though..." The jonin commented.

Immediately, Naruto bent down on his knees and hugged the kunoichi pretty tightly.

"I'm so sorry," He apologized as he quickly realized the mistake he made, "I was too rough with you. It's my fault you're hurt like that. I won't do it again. I feel so bad."

"Giving someone a hickey is good! Why're you apologizing?" Jiraiya became confused, "It shows the other person just how attracted you are to them."

"I still hurt her," Naruto shot back as he held onto the girl, "That's going too far in my book."

He then looked at the trembling girl again.

"Curly Brow... I'm sorry."

Nia didn't say anything. She just placed her hands on his shoulders and pressed herself against him as she trembled.

'Damn,' Naruto watched as the kunoichi seemed really nervous and a bit uncomfortable, 'I really should be a lot more gentle and show more restraint. I'm making her feel really uncomfortable and sorta frightened a little. She really has gotten shy with me. I need to be careful or she'll probably start changing the way she feels about me. I'm too aggressive.'

The two stayed like that for a while before Kakashi said, "Why don't we go through the hall now and walk through that second door so we can go greet everyone? I'm sure they're wondering what's taking so long."

"Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed as he then looked to Nia and said, "Listen, just pull the collar up and zip the jacket up. That way, no one will be able to see that thing."

Nia nodded slowly and did as she was told. Naruto then helped her up and apologized again.

"It's all right," Nia forgave him, "Let's just go greet everyone."

"You're not nervous?"

"I am. I'm just trying to be a bit more brave and optimistic about this so that I can change into a better person."

Hearing this, Naruto and Jiraiya smiled.

"Well, it's about time, kid." The sannin placed a hand atop the girl's head, "Think positive and you should be fine."

"Yeah, Curly Brow!" Naruto eagerly agreed, "You're doing so much better. You really are trying to change."

Nia nodded but her hands still trembled as the four walked through the hall to get to the last door.

Deep breaths, Nia. Deep breaths.

The teen tried to collect herself as everyone continued to inch closer and closer to their destination.

Just forget about those douchebags from the Cloud and just do your own thing. You don't even have to see them everyday anymore so it's about time you start healing yourself. Just be confident, smile, and be nice. Hopefully, these guys will treat you equally as kind.

Upon approaching the door, Nia shook her hands to prepare herself and took another deep breath to calm her nerves. When the door opened, many of the chuunin and jonin were in a long line and blew on their party poppers as soon as they seen the new face walk into the room.

"WELCOME TO THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES, NIA!!!" They all yelled as the confetti paper fell onto the floor and even on the girl herself.

A few people blew on some party horns while Tsunade, who left the office to Shizune, made her way to the front.

Nia just stared at everything in shock. She knew there was gonna be a gathering, but she didn't expect anything to turn out the way it had.

These people... they're just so... they're just so...

"What took you all so long?" The blond woman had her hand on her hip, "Sakura made it through the door five minutes faster than you all did and you were all following behind, were you not?"

"We're sorry, Lady Hokage." Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck apologetically, "We just got stuck helping Nia gain the confidence she needed to get to where we all are now is all."

Immediately Jiraiya, Naruto, and Nia all narrowed their eyes at the copycat ninja and sweatdropped.

'What a liar...' They all say at once in their head.

"Well, whatever the case may be, I do hereby declare Nia Umino as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf! She is to be treated with respect and I will not tolerate anyone acting any other way toward her! This village is one who treats everyone in it as family no matter who they are or what they look like! Do I make myself clear?!"

"YES, LADY HOKAGE!"

Tsunade then looked to Naruto, who then nodded. The older woman took a headband out from where she had kept it out of sight and gave it to the genin. He then turned to Nia and began tying the headband around her forehead.

"You're not the lonely, misunderstood, mistreated girl everyone hated anymore, ya know?" He tightened the headband, stepped back, then grinned, "You're a member, friend, and comrade of the Hidden Leaf: Nia Umino."

At this, Nia began to get emotional. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she gazed across at all the smiling faces looking back at her.

Teams Guy, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma all seemed to be quite friendly. However, there was someone who made her feel rather uncomfortable and unwelcoming. It was Kiba and his dog. They both sorta looked at her as if they were forcing a smile.

However, Nia was no stranger to people who hated her that pretended to accept and like her. She was no fool. The look in his eyes told everything. He had no intention of making her feel at home at all.

•••

Naruto and the guys all sat at one large table while the girls sat at the opposite end. They figured Nia may grow more comfortable getting to know the ladies before speaking with the guys and so set up the seating arrangement to make her feel just that.

At first, the girl was a bit tense as she sat in between Tenten, who sat to her left, and Hinata, who sat to her right. Ino was sitting opposite of the girl and was in between Sakura, who sat to her right, and Tsunade, who sat to her left.

It was intimidating for the kunoichi. They were all so pretty and beautiful. Nia felt completely out of place and had doubts on rather or not these women would accept her. She wanted to fit in. She wanted to be treated well and kindly and not be seen as inferior or someone to be pitied after. She wanted to be normal.

However, when they began to show an interest in her and who she was, Nia began to talk a bit more and ended up sharing a few laughs with the girls.

Back at the guys side, made up of only the teens while the adult men just hung around a corner drinking and having a conversation, Naruto had his elbow on the table with his cheek on his palm as he gazed at the girl's side while the others talked.

However Kiba, who sat across from the genin, noticed his behavior and quickly looked in the direction he was staring.

Immediately, a groan escaped his breath as he rolled his eyes.

'How can he be staring at her?' He thought as he narrowed his eyes at the toffee-skinned girl, 'What's so special about her? She's so ugly! Naruto's dumb to have an interest in a girl like her. I can't believe this!'

"Naruto, I hope you're not staring at who I think you're staring at?" Kiba let out his frustration.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto looked at him, "And what if I am?"

"You're an idiot to like her."

"You're an idiot to not like her."

Kiba nearly busted out laughing, "Are you kidding me?! She's ugly! The ugliest girl I've seen! She has no value! Why would you like her?"

"What's your problem?!" Naruto became angry and glared at the Inuzuka, "What gives you the right to decide who's worthless and who isn't?! You don't even know her, ya know! Maybe if you'd bothered to get to know her, your opinion might change!"

Again, Kiba rolled his eyes, "Yeah sure... cause a hideous face can just change if they're nice. She'll always be ugly to me no matter what she says or does. Nothing could ever get me to be attracted to her. She's nothing to catch nor is anything to lose."

"What was that?!" The genin stood up and grabbed at his friend's collar roughly.

Immediately, everyone's eyes went straight to him.

"What's going on over there?" Tsunade shot a death stare at the boys.

Quickly Naruto went blue in the face, released Kiba, and sat down, "Oh, we're doing just fine, Granny! No troubles here!"

"Good." The woman said as she once more turned her attention to her food.

Shikamaru, who sat next to Naruto, decided to pitch in the conversation.

"Why don't you just leave the poor girl alone, Kiba?" He nonchalantly asked, "Stop giving Naruto a hard time."

"Yeah Kiba," Chouji, who sat next to the Inuzuka, agreed as he swallowed his barbecue rib, "Just because someone doesn't have the perfect appearance doesn't mean they have no worth."

"You're just saying that cause you're fa-"

Shikamaru quickly covered Kiba's mouth as Chouji's eyes widened in anger.

"Were you... going to call me fat?" He asked in a sinister-like fashion.

Everything became rather frightening. That word was absolutely unforgivable for the young man and anyone who dared used it to insult him was better off jumping off a cliff.

"No, he wasn't." Shikamaru talked for the guy, "He was trying to say you're factual."

"Oh!" Chouji fell for the lie and smiled, "Why thank you. I misunderstood you."

Shikamaru sighed in relief.

Man, that was a close one. He almost said it.

"What he was trying to say," Sai, who sat to Naruto's right, leaned forward and smiled softly at Chouji, "Is that you are indeed-"

This time, Naruto was the one to shut the guy up with his hand, "Are you crazy, Sai?! Why do you always have to open your big mouth like that?!"

"Tch! You're one to talk, Naruto! You've always called Chouji fat. Don't act like you never judged someone's appearance and laughed at it." Kiba lowly growled loud enough to where only the blond could hear him, "You're just as bad as me."

"Yeah well, I don't go around calling some girl ugly or that she's the ugliest girl in the world, ya know! I have some decency, unlike you!"

"Decency? You wanna talk about decency?"

At the other end, sitting to Shikamaru's left, Lee could hear the entire conversation and decided to join in.

"I'm sorry for my sudden intrusion, but I too have something to say!" He started as he looked to the arguing boys, "I do believe that it is wrong to make cruel remarks on only someone's physical appearance, for you do not know what they're hiding underneath their rough exterior. They can be possibly everything you've ever dreamed of."

Kiba crossed his arms, "Yeah right. As if she can ever be anything desirable."

"You're really starting to piss me off, ya know!" The blond once more slammed his hands on the table and risen out of his seat, "You shouldn't ridicule someone over something they can't change!"

With that, the genin stomped out of the room and into the hall.

"What was that all about?" Ino questioned as everyone watched their friend leave in a fit of anger.

"I don't know, but Naruto looked really angry." Sakura replied.

Nia looked over to where the guys were at and sighed.

I hope they weren't arguing over something stupid...

She then got up, but was stopped by Shikamaru.

"Don't worry about Naruto, I'll take care of it. This is your celebration so take it easy." He said to her as he then walked out of the area.

Man, what a drag...

"But-"

"Shikamaru will handle it," Tsunade reassured Nia as she took another shot, "You just stay here and enjoy yourself."

Nia sighed and decided to place her confidence in the black-haired boy. After all, Ino did tell her about how well put the young man was and how he's usually the one to set everyone straight. However, that didn't stop the girl from feeling worried.

Next to her, Hinata stared at her for a bit before eyeing the door which Naruto stormed out of.

'Naruto...' She also worried for the boy.

In the hall, Naruto had his back against the wall as he crossed his arms. Shikamaru found the genin and approached.

"That went a little out of her hand back there, huh?" He talked as he placed his hands in his pockets.

Naruto didn't say anything. Shikamaru sighed.

"Listen, I don't know anything about that girl besides the obvious fact that she escaped from her village and was put into the dungeon here with you not too long ago. I have no idea what kind of relationship you have with her or exactly how long you've known one another..."

Naruto still kept quiet.

"What I do know is that she was wearing your jacket and seeing as how defensive you got over Kiba's remarks about her and how you were staring at her for some time, I can only deduce that... you two either have a thing for each other or are in a relationship we don't know about." The Nara boy shared his opinion.

Naruto glanced at him then went back to looking in front of him, "Yeah... you can say that."

Again, Shikamaru sighed and went to stand on Naruto's right.

"So, she's your girlfriend then?"

Naruto smiled a little to himself and scratched his cheek as he lightly blushed, "Oh... erm... you can say that I guess."

"You guys haven't made it official, huh?"

The genin sweatdropped, "No."

Shikamaru chuckled, "So then you two just have a thing..."

Naruto nodded.

"Listen Naruto, I'm not really one to judge, but if this girl managed to move your attention away from Sakura after all those years of you chasing after her, she must be pretty damn special."

Again, the genin smiled.

"Not only that, but you know I'll always be here for you. Besides, I'm more concerned about how she treats you or how she makes you feel. I couldn't care less if she's hot or not. All I care about is if you're happy or not. If you're happy, I'm happy. I'll support you every step of the way."

"Thanks, Shikamaru."

"Sure thing. Oh yeah, one more thing: Don't stress yourself over Kiba. He has no real reason to pick a fight with you. Just don't let him get to you."

"Yeah... you're right."

"So then... what's this girl like? What about her drew you to her?"

Naruto cheered up again as he thought of his reasons.

"Okay! Here's the run down, ya know!"

The two talked for a bit. Well, Naruto did most of the talking while Shikamaru listened. He could see from the gestures and expressions he was making while talking that his friend truly did seem to have an interest for the girl. After he finished, Shikamaru leaned against the wall.

"So... she's had it rough too, huh?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah... it's sorta messed up, ya know?"

"It is..."

It was quiet for a bit before Shikamaru then said, "I guess the fact that she could relate to how you felt back when you were shunned as a child in some cases must've made you two feel as though you can understand each other in some ways."

"Yeah," The genin agreed as he then placed his hand over his heart and turned to the black-haired boy, "That's why I became her friend in the first place, even if she wasn't very responsive to me. I just didn't think she would wind up developing feelings for me and have me not notice it for months."

"I'm guessing you didn't expect to fall for her either, huh?"

"No. I never saw her as anything more than someone that I wanted to help make feel better about themselves." The blond admitted, "but then when she started to warm up to me, I started feeling something but I ignored it since the feelings I was developing was a bit too difficult for me to understand. I continued to go after Sakura until Curly Brow confessed her feelings for me."

"What happened then?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck as he began to feel embarrassed about a certain event that had passed.

"Well, at one point, she called me her hero and that really stroked my ego, but then she sorta latched onto my arm and uh... umm." He began to blush.

"What?" Shikamaru grew impatient.

"I felt... how big her boobs were and... she begged me to sleep... with her."

"You're pulling my leg. There's no way she could be that straightforward. She seemed like a really self-conscious person."

"It's true, ya know?!" Naruto responded, "Except, she really meant to say... she wanted to sleep next to me..."

"She gave you the wrong idea," Shikamaru sweatdropped, "Why am I not surprised?"

Naruto chuckled awkwardly, "Well... she really made it seem that way."

The Nara boy sighed, "So you only returned her feelings so you can have your way with her? I didn't know you were like that, Naruto. Sure, you're a bit perverted with your sexy jutsu and your previous attempts to peak at Sakura when she was bathing at a hot spring, but to think you'd really return a girl's feelings so you can nail her is pretty low, don't you think?"

"THAT'S NOT WHY I RETURNED HER FEELINGS!" The genin lost his temper before he calmed down, "I returned it because Pervy Sage helped me to understand I was developing feelings for her for quite some time also."

"Master Jiraiya helped you? Why couldn't you determine your feelings by yourself? It's not difficult to realize when you like someone. I mean, you did it for Sakura."

"Yeah well, that's because Sakura was ultra pretty to me. I'm not very good with romance or recognizing someone's feelings so I asked Pervy Sage to help me understand what it was I was feeling. In the end, I realized I didn't really like Sakura's personality in a romantic sense. She was too rough with me and difficult to please. Her feelings for Sasuke was too much. Even if she were to fall for me, I would feel that she only did so because... Sasuke's not around anymore. I would feel second best."

"Isn't Nia second best to you then?"

Naruto shook his head, "My feelings are genuine. I have more reasons to like her than I did with Sakura. Basically, my feelings for her eventually overcame my feelings for Sakura."

"I see..." Shikamaru nodded then pointed his thumb toward the door, "How about we go back inside now? Everyone's probably worried."

Naruto took his back off the wall and grinned, "Yeah. Thank you for being there for me, Shikamaru. You're awesome, ya know?"

The older boy smirked, "Yeah yeah. Even though that was a drag, I'm glad you're feeling better. If you need someone to talk to, don't hesitate to come to me. I'll listen."

"Right!" Naruto nodded as the two boys went back into the restaurant.

----

A/N - That's the end of this chapter guys! The fanart at the top was drawn by kawaiiJazz22

She drew Nia (in the middle) with her own two OC's to the side of her and all I gotta say is that SHE IS BEAUTIFUL! THIS IS BEAUTIFUL! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ FABULOUS JOB 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Remember, if you guys wanna make a one shot or fanart of this story, you can always do so and I'll give you a shoutout on this book and share what you made to everyone.

Another person who made a one shot of this story is Hopeless-Chan

If you wanna read her one-shot, just go over to her profile and you'll see it! Anyway, thx for reading! Please comment and vote and have a great day ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

QOTD: What makes Nia beautiful in your opinion?