The war is over and Konoha, along with other destroyed villages, has been rebuilt. A year has passed. The rookie nine (minus Neji) are back, stronger and more mature. That includes Naruto. Anyway. Naruto is given a six-month assignment to teach at the Academy, which further matures him. All the Rookies are jonin now. Sasuke's still a missing nin.

Lee and Tenten are 19.

Naruto and company are 18.

Now, on to the story…

Prologue:

Naruto stood on top of a poorly-built, yet still adequate, stage in the middle of a still-being-repaired Konoha. His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he gazed at the villagers; civilian and shinobi alike; who were all cheering, roaring and applauding, for him. The only reason he could hold back tears was because of the much-larger approval he'd gotten immediately after the war, from all the villages, the Allied Shinobi Forces as a whole. Only, then, everybody had gotten their fair share of applause. But his had been special. So much more special.

He bowed once again, a tear slipping down his chin on the ground.

"Arigatou." His voice was meek, yet everyone understood.

Tsunade's face was dripping with tears too, and she patted him on the back as he stepped down.

Wiping his face and taking deep breaths to regain his composure, Naruto smiled at his friends.

"Hinata-chan, could I talk to you?" He asked softly.

Hinata, blushing, nodded.

He smiled and gestured, "Right this way."

He led them to a secluded rubble-filled area.

"I wanted to talk to you about that day you fought Pain."

Hinata blushed harder, staring at the ground and suppressing the urge to poke her index fingers together.

"Um…"

"I won't say I expected it. In fact, it was completely unexpected and surprising for me. In fact, as dense as I am, I probably wouldn't have figured it out until someone told me."

Naruto took a deep breath, "I regret that I don't know you as well as I'd like to know you. However, I am sure of the fact that you are a beautiful, kind, gentle, nice, admirable woman and a damn strong kunoichi, and of course an excellent friend. And, though… I'm not sure where my feelings for Sakura-chan stand at the moment, though I do know that they are, maybe, getting a little weaker. So, I… I… I… um, I would like to give us a chance. Get to know you a little better and go out on a few dates. Hopefully, I'll be able to return your feelings to some extent after a while."

"O-Of course, N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata said immediately.

Naruto smiled, "Arigatou, Hinata-chan."

Hinata looked away, blushing again.

"For everything." He said quietly.

Naruto realized soon, that the more he got to know about Hyuuga Hinata, the more he liked her. She was nice, kind, gentle, sweet, cute, graceful, strong and very beautiful. More than that, the thing that struck him most was that she had always been there for him. Always.

They progressed past the first-date, though things were a little awkward. It was on their sixth date that they experienced their first kiss. It was beautiful, it was sweet, it was mind-blowing and numbing. It was amazing.

Slowly and gradually, Naruto began to find his feelings for Sakura were diminishing and his feelings for Hinata were getting stronger with every encounter.

When the first time he told her he loved her, she cried for ten minutes and fainted. After she woke up and told him she loved him too, oh, and after their make-out session, he realized how lucky he was for having such a wonderful woman by his side through the troubling times to come.

R & R please. No reviews, no updates (considering you guys actually like the story... but I hope you do.) I promise I'll do my best to finish this one. About my other one... well... i've kinda lost inspiration.

Oh, BTW, FINALLY some Naruhina! I read the latest manga on Narutoget, and I went, finally finally finally finally! I was very sad that Neji died, though.