I read this story around the 2018, when it had 22 chapters or so. For whatever reason I dind't follow the next chapter till today, and I really glad I did so.
I really like the natural built up of the NaruHina relationship you have going on. In so many other NaruHina fics they are so ooc really soon and doing all kimd of things with 12-13 years that is really hard to believe.
Or if the story begin in shippuden or after the war they are so full of drama, angst and misunderstandings that if you don't really like those things arereally heavy to read.
However, here they both are evolving individually as persons/characters without need to rushing them in a loving relationship to develop.
The only thing that kinda bothers me are the power scale. Clearly this Naruto is more skilled than canon, but I feel him weamer at the same time.
I mean, Naruto is really an unpolished diamons in canon, undertrained and neglected as he is. However you correct those here, he is without a doubt better trained since the begining of his genin career. With the senseis, Jiraiya and over all Hinata being helping him. But for this same reason I think THis Naruto should be more already.
I understand not making him overpowered so soon, I don't really like either when Naruto at 12 could mop the floor with Orochimaru or ohers. But things like in this last chapters, that Sasuke copies the Daitoppa of Naruto and is better. Why? Because better control? But Sasuke elements are raiton and katon, the oposite of wind. It should be never be better.
I know that power isn't probably the main concern in this story, but I find that is really important in Naruto fics.
And Naruto using Kurama's ckakra felt really weak. Maybe against jounin and above that it wouldn't make a diference, but against Neji, genius kr not, like in canon, it would be really overwhelming.
I read your opinion about the canon fight and I understand, but this is only what I think about it.
Sorry about the long rant, like I said at the beginning I really glad I read again this great fic and I hop3 to read the next chapter not much later! My regards.

This is a great fic so far! Keep up the excellent work!

On thing of note is the portion in this chapter that has more of the Sasuke/Shino fight after two fights following it was a bit off putting. I’d recommend moving that portion ahead of the other parts.

Other than that, great job, and I look forward to the next few chapters!

I read your story from beginning to end in the last four days. Actually, I mostly listened to your story while I was doing other things (LoL).

I recall reading your story several years ago, and I must admit, I don't remember leaving any comments. Back then, I was more reserved. But please know your story left a lasting impression on me.

The positives: The story and concept are cool, and the Naruhina is top-notch. The characters are presented in a very believable way, with little to no OoC. The few instances of OoC can be justified by the changes that they went through in the story.
There are a few changes concerning the Cannon that I don't really agree with (but that aren't negative), like Hinata having water affinity, the whole "lightning affinity is important to gentle fist" thing, and Hiashi opening up "quickly" to Hinata. Still, you justified the changes, which seem fundamental to the story you want to tell.
The idea of a Naruto with more confidence in Sasuke and Sakura to take over Kurama in the pre-time skip is very pleasant, even more so when this was encouraged by Hinata, who had the pleasure of being the first one to whom he entrusted the secret (although more so because she "saw it").
The friendship between Hinata and Naruto only strengthens them. When reading the story, I often think it would be cool if Naruto and Hinata could support each other in this part of the story in Cannon (and that's not even because I'm a fan of Naruhina).
The story had few OCs, and that's a good thing. I can't say I liked the OCs, but considering there were a lot more leaf ninjas in the wave mission, it's understandable.
Finally, I agreed with all the victories and defeats in the preliminaries of the third phase, even Hinata and Neji fight. In the logic of your story, the improved Hinata should still lose to Neji. I'm just happy that She seemed less "physically injured" from the event and had the strength to help Naruto train for the finals.

The negatives: The story is very long and can be different from that. You are very descriptive, and when we combine this with the fact that it is a story with a lot of focus on dialogue, we have a recipe for story inflation.
Sometimes, the characters keep talking for so long that it stops being believable and becomes a lecture. In the Jonnin classes, it's understandable, but there are moments of extreme exposition in the story that aren't necessary.
In fact, exposition is a strong problem. Everything is explained, sometimes to a much higher degree than required, with characters thinking about how to shape an explanation for a given character.
Honestly, I might have given up if I didn't have my TTL app to read the stories to me a lot of times. There are several instances where I increased the sound speed to 2 or 2.5 times (still understandable) simply because I thought, "Is this part really necessary?".
Many things could be cut without harming the story, making chapters shorter and more pleasant, greatly improving the story's pacing. It also helps with progression. It's very impressive (in a bad way) that more than 5 years after last reading this story, it's only now that he's in the finals of the chunin exam. I know you had problems, but perhaps the lack of progress toward some "story goals" is also discouraging you from writing, probably because you want to write a very descriptive and explained chapter that ends up being huge and damages the story's pacing.
I'm not much better than you, as I also tend to stretch things out unnecessarily (see this comment). While I was doing my doctorate, my advisor called my attention several times, saying that my problem was that I didn't know how to stop. I spent so much time resolving minimum and minimum details in my research that he always said that I already should have about three publications on my current topic and should be moving forward with new advances in research. Well, he was right. I even managed to get multiple publications, but some of them were so long that they could have been two or three if I had published at the right time (after all, it is unethical to divide research into multiple articles when it has already been completed). This would improve my CV and give me more time to focus on other important research.

Last chapter: I liked this one. I felt that the pacing was good and the length adequate. Despite this, I still think we know what a lot of people are thinking when it may not be necessary

Small things that may be problems: I am attending some Japanese classes (first semester), and I see that sometimes Hinata refers to her father as Ojii-sama. This can be incorrect, as her father would be Otou-sama. I don't know if she refers to her father in the anime in this way, but well...

Heck of a cliffhanger, I am so curious on "how "the things going to happen in the Suna's invasion.
Things that I would like to talk about , the things I liked the most is the Neji and Naruto's heart to heart moment with Hinata and her dad listening it, for a bit I thought that she was going into the room with her father, anyway I love this part, and the ending moment, where team Guy visit Neji and Naruto , I hope to read more Naruto and team guy interactions. I am interested in the reference on Shino and Tenten. I hope to read more of them .
Sasuke and Shino’s fight was interesting to read, their interaction welcomed change, because Sasuke interacting normally and regularly with the rest of the Konoha 11 is essential to his healthy development. Reading about him being loner, outcast and sidelined by them was getting repetitive and cliche.
I agree with you about your comment on Naruto and Neji’s fight, I liked it better than the canon version, it is more compelling for me.
Thank you so much for this update. It is really good to read it first after a long break from fanfiction .

I must say, I *heavily* disagree with your choice to have Hinata lose to Neji for three main reasons

A) it invalidates the entire arc you have spent hundreds of thousands words building- yes she performs better, but she still loses to Neji. There is a reason Naruto beats Neji in canon, it’s because his ideology as a protagonist is stronger than Neji,
B) a ‘training arc’ should conclude with that training significantly helping the person who does it. Hinata here has spent nearly as much words as the entirety of lord of the rings training; and she loses the most important fight. It’s unsatisfying for the reader in a shonen style story (which despite the more relationship focused spectacle ofc almost any Naruto story is)
C) this isn’t a major dig at you; but I personally find in Naruto fanfics there is a trend that female love interests like Hinata here tend to be “saved” by the male lead, I think the trend is incredibly unsatisfying to read and invalidates their progress as ninja. There is a reason nobody likes the way female characters are written in Naruto.

Personally I think you should have had her fight Neji in the finals and either beat or lose to him there. Having her lose now means we don’t follow her progress in the tournament similar to Sakura in canon.

Ngl. I actually really liked seeing Hinata get some spotlight time. Shika too.
Interesting dynamic between them.
Heh. The envy angle makes sense too, even if it I do have a hard time seei g it. Then again, it's not unbelievable either. It fits her, or at least a version of her, yet still feels like Hinata.

Stumbled across this story and read it all in 2 days, very impressive fic! I am looking forward to how the rest of the Crush arc goes and finding out how loyal to the Leaf Danzo is in your story.

You got a follow and favorite out of me

I like the story! But honestly I don't like one of the couples and Kurenai's scene didn't sit well with me. It felt like you purposely wrote her in a way that she would have less common sense than she should, so that you could get a somehow romantic for that particular couple. And a less experienced student bickering against Kurenai's decision and furthermore, the adult taking it with the head down. It honestly felt very unnatural.

I didn't get how such a strong reaction happened to one of the characters when she was compared with Naruto. If she is so angry that she would be willing to act out against her crush then the matter should be a big deal. Rather it makes it look like she believes she is too superior to Naruto and that is very petty.

Reading about Team 8 was great and some of the dialogue as well, but it wasn't so enjoyable reading about Team 7.

Fun read, it's been a while since I found a new fanfiction worth reading

Sorry I didn't post any review all along. Don't have anything to say but thanks, This is a nice story so far

Only one complaint about this chapter: Kiba, Ino, and Hinata’s last scene indicates Chouji’s fight is starting but then we get Sasuke still fighting. Swap those around and it flows better and avoids confusion.

Gai’s subtle sabotage of Lee’s wheelchair was a sneaky way to keep all the genin who fought or shouldn’t be on the frontlines like Lee in the infirmary. But you almost feel sorry for any Sand or Sound ninja who attacks that group, especially if Hinata, Ino, Kiba, and the rest catch them from behind!

This chapter more or less killed a lot of my interest in what cones after. As someone who really doesn't like the sequel, throwing Boruto into a chapter that wasn't necessary for the story at all almost made me stop reading at once. Doesn't help that the addition of Haku's OC sister has kept this from being one of the more positive Wave Arc adaptations I've seen

Great chapter!
The talk between Naruto and Neji was really good and is a good start of Neji "redemption" (mellowing out).

Also perfect description of Orochimaru, I love the detail that Hiruzen thinks he sound like a pedo.
10/10 on the build up, Hiruzen being on high alert, Danzou actually fighting alongside him (first time since escort mission?), genin in the hospital being like huh?, Might Guy being serious.

I would like to see 15th gen InoShikaChou's and Baki's thoughts before or early on in the invasion, mainly because that would make for an interesting lead (especially Shikaku and Baki).

Love this. I know that there’s probably gonna be a timeskip where Naruto and Hinata might grow apart (looking forward to seeing what you do with that, btw) but with their current rate of development I don’t see how they won’t become a couple at least partially through Shippūden. I mean, Hinata is Naruto’s confidant, Naruto is Hinata’s inspiration, they fight for each other, care about each other, they went on an almost date, blush around each other, and are figuring things out pertaining to each other. All in, before, and around the chuunin exams. Not saying that I want them to grow apart, just sharing some thoughts. Thanks for another great chapter, keep it up! Now waiting… Yep.

This story is still one of my favorites to read. Definitely looking forward to the next update!