At the Village Naruto was the main attraction.
Instead of 'Hero Of The Leaf' he was now named 'Savior Of The Ninja World'.
Some even dared compare or even call him The Sage Of Six Paths.
He had grown quite popular amongst everyone, but...especially the girls. He was having trouble even getting to Ichiraku's without being attacked by a herd of girls.
Sasuke was back, in the middle of fighting he had decided to change his ways for Itachi; but he wasn't welcomed as warmly as Naruto was having been a rougue Ninja for almost 4 years now. He was heavily guarded by Anbu in the shadows watching his every move and catching his every breath. Sasuke didn't complain. He understood why they didn't trust him but now he was back and he had changed.
Sakura was happy. She was glad that they had won. She was glad Naruto was alright and that her surviving friends were too. She was glad Sasuke was back and that Team 7 was actually...Team 7. Although she was happy she had mixed feelings about her team. She had told Naruto she loved him, and now it was as if Kami really put her to the test because Sasuke was back and she was starting to realize that Naruto was right.
Anyway Lee was injured during battle, Tenten had confessed, Neji and Tenten were finally together with Neji admitting his feelings as well, InoShikaCho were thankful for surviving but eating a resturant at the moment, Kiba and Akamaru were reunited with Hana (his sister) and his mother, Shino had found the survivors of his clan, Sai was getting to know Sasuke, and Hinata had been given an apartment by Tsunade who felt it best if she lived on her own. Naruto had also been given a brand new space and it looked great. Everything was much bigger and he liked it compared to his old apartment.
The apartment door to Naruto's house closed softly as he trudged in. It was only 3:00pm but he felt like laying down and never getting back up.
He had woken up fairly early at around 5:30 and left his house at 6:15 heading to Ichiraku's for breakfast ramen. He had been chased along the way. at around 8:30 he finally got to start his training. He was trying to practice chakra control which wasn't something he usually did but he needed to do it if he wanted to learn a new trick from Kakashi.
But on top of the fact that he couldn't grasp the concept there was a group of, oh I don't know 30, 40, girls watching him which was really weird. Try training while you have that many eyes on you it's like trying to sleep with people standing over you.
The training was very hard so he decided he would skip lunch and head straight home, but that's not what the girls decided. Training had worn him out completely and on top of that when he was on his way home to take and afternoon break he was chased again for about an hour. All he wanted to do was slee-
*Knock Knock*
his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door.
He opened it and saw the person he least expected. She was standing there and she smiled at him sweetly.
"Konichiwa Naruto-kun" she said as sweetly as possible.
"S-Sakura-chan" he stuttered.
"Naruto-kun good afternoon" a blush painted her cheeks.
'Whats up with Sakura' thought Naruto 'She said Naruto-KUN and she's blushing...BLUSHING!'
"Hi Sakura whats up?" He questioned casually.
"Naruto I've been doing a lot of thinking and now that the war is over I thought maybe it's time I move on. Naruto I will allow you to take me on a date" she said nicely.
Naruto stood there frozen.
"N-Nani?" He stuttered once again.
"I said we can go on a date" she repeated.
Naruto shocked asked her another question "Even while Sasuke's here?"
Sakura nodded.
He wanted to be happy but he just couldn't it was difficult. He didn't know what to think. He was completely surprised 'Sakura wants to go on a date with me so why am I feeling this way I feel upset?' He thought questioning himself.
"Sakura come in" He invited her in.
Sakura was taken aback by the sudden invitation, he didn't say Sakura-chan.
He led her to the round dining room table.
He sat down just as she did and just stayed silent. 3 minutes had gone by until Sakura had decided to say something.
"Naruto are you...thinking."
"Hai" he said.
"...Why are you thinking... I thought that you felt the same way? Do you not love me anymore Naruto-kun? Do you love someone else, who is she?" Sakura blurted out question after question.
"I don't love anyone else... but...I don't love you.
Silence.
"N-nani?" She asked shocked.
"I'm sorry Sakura I can't feel the same way."
"Naruto, listen do you know how hard it is for a girl to confess her love?" She said a bit louder.
Naruto was sitting there but then a realization hit him and he suddenly felt pained. 'Confession, Love, Feelings?' He thought. Out of nowhere he stood up and slammed he hands on the table angrily.
"Hard!" he yelled "It's hard for you to confess your 'feelings'" He asked still yelling at her.
She just sat there shocked completely.
"YES" She yelled back louder. "Of course it's hard for me to confess my feelings!"
"Why what are you afraid of?" He yelled back.
"I-I-I I'm af-"
"Rejection? HA! You knew how I felt about you why would you be afraid of rejection?" He cut her off.
Sakura sat there with her head down looking at the patterns on the table that had suddenly become interesting. He had made a point and she couldn't think of any reason that she was afraid. In fact she remembers that when she first confessed she felt... nothing. She remembers her only goal was to convince him to stop searching for Sasuke. So now she knew she wasn't one to talk so she didn't talk and the tension in the room died down.
"Sakura...I know you still love Sasuke so please...be with him. It would make me happier if you were with him because then you'd be truly happy." He told her calmly once again.
She was crying. Tears had stained the table she was looking at and her hands were curled into fists on her skirt.
"A-Arigatou Naruto..."
She got up and left, but Naruto was still at the table standing there thinking.
'I'm so stupid I mean on our way back from the battlefield 2 months ago I told myself I'd talk to her and I forgot. I completely forgot! She probably hates me or thinks I'm a jerk. I need to find her before...'
He then stormed out of his house.
Hinata was training at training ground 8. She had a lot on her mind and trained constantly to keep herself distracted from most of her other thoughts. Hinata had gotten her own fanclub as well. There was an abundant amount of males who watched her especially while she trained. Hearing of her tale of how she helped the Savior Of The Ninja World attracted more than before. She didn't pay attention to them though. She was still hoping that a certain someone would acknowledge her.
That certain someone came running through the streets yelling "Hinata" at the top of his lungs.
"Hinata, Hinata where are you?" Yelled Naruto.
This made her...fanboys- snap their necks to see who in the world was calling their girl.
"N-Naruto-kun" She said shocked by the speed that he was running towards her, but the boys wouldn't let Naruto get so close so easy. Next thing you know there are hundreds of clones fighting back and the original grabs Hinata while the clones distract the 'others' and runs.
He was running quickly with Hinata's hand in his,
"Naruto-kun where are we going?"
"To my house" He smiled at her.
"T-t-t-to your h-house" she stuttered surprised again.
Hinata was sitting at the same round table with her hands on her lap looking intently at Naruto as he got her a glass of water.
"There you are" he placed the water on the table. She took a sip and placed the glass down gently.
Neither of them said a word for 2 minutes then she spoke.
"Naruto-kun...whats wrong why do you need me?"
"Hinata I'm so sorry to keep you waiting I just..."
"Naruto-kun what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about pein and the battle at war." He said.
"Oh...Naruto-kun don't worry you didn't keep me waiting...I already knew the answer."
"N-Nani?" He asked.
"I already knew that you weren't interested in me Naruto-kun, I know you love Sakura so I didn't expect you to suddenly love me. In fact I don't want you to think about it. I don't expect anything from you I don't want you to love me out of pity. I want you to make your own decision just like I made mine. Everything I did was my decision, my choice. I chose to jump out and try to protect you, to fight against Pein, to confess. I chose to jump in save you from obito when he was trying to make you think so little of yourself, and persuade you to give up. I know how you feel about Sakura and I don't want my confession to cloud your feelings. I didn't hate Sakura after I found out she confessed to you. I'm only mad at myself Naruto-kun, that it took the thought of me dying to confess my love for you, and for bothering you with something so ridiculous. We were in the middle of battle and war and I'm here making you worry about a confession when you don't need to bother with such things. I Don't expect new feelings to suddenly come from the confession. Don't feel bad for me Naruto-kun, but please take care of yourself and find someone who cares for you."
That's it she had said it. Her speech and everything she had to say.
Naruto was beyond hurt. This is how she felt. Even thought he had been a jerk she was never mad at him.
"Hinata how can you forgive me so easily? Huh? Why Me? Why do you love me I'm not worth your love- I'm not worth anybody's love so why do you love me?" He questioned her.
"That's easy. First of all I can forgive you so easily because I was never mad at you. Why you? Well because your my hero. Why do I love you? Well I love you because you are the person closest to my heart. And of course you're worth my love you deserve so much love Naruto-kun." She told him.
Naruto just couldn't believe it so he asked another question.
"Why am I closest to your heart?"
You changed Neji and Neji changed Hanabi, but Father never had a change of heart. He was cold hearted and cruel to me. He had no hope, faith or even the slightest bit of belief in me. I started to assume I was going to fail at everything I ever tried and because I thought like that I eneded up failing. Even though I knew that the only reason I fail is because I don't believe in myself I can't keep from failing because I'm scared...It's like I'm a born failure...I was born to fail. Thats when your words from the chunin exams kept popping into my head pushing me to try harder and believe in myself. I started to realize that because you were called a failure that you tried to become stronger so I tried to do the same but I couldn't. I was never as strong as you and I never would be. I knew this and decided that I would try to grow in my own way, but that I would always remember your words. I wanted to impress you I realized that I didn't care about my fathers opinion as much as I cared about yours because you were the person that mattered the most to me.
That's why I'll be happy even if I have to kill myself to smile.
No matter what you do, who you choose, or what path you decide to take I will always be here for you.
If your happy then so am I...and look at me now. I'm strong, I'm here... I believe in myself, and it's all because of you...That's why...You're the person closest to my heart."
A tear slid down his cheek and he stood there staring at her almost as if he had lost all sense in himself.
"Hinata I...I...Arigatou" He said and he grinned with tears gathering at the end of his eyes, that grin that made her feel all warm inside.
She smiled and then stood up.
"Well if thats it I guess I'll be on my way then?" she said.
"No, wait!" Yelled Naruto.
Hinata turned around and looked suspiciously at Naruto.
"Hinata I still haven't told you the actual reason I brought you here." He told her "So can you stay a little while longer?"
"...Ok" she said.
She took a seat and waited.
*Sigh* "Hinata I just want to say Arigatou I'm very very thankful for your actions. You helped save this me and the ninja world. I gotta say I wasn't expecting it...you were always so shy you never said a word to me or anyone in the academy, but you've grown so much. You're brave and strong and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
He told her grinning.
She smiled in response.
"Hinata I...I'm also very sorry, but I can't return my feelings because I don't know how I feel. I talked to Sakura earlier today and she told me we can go on a date."
Hinata looked down to her left 'this is it' she thought as she readied herself to stand up
"but I told her I don't love her anymore..."
She sat right back down quickly and looked up at him.
"N-Naruto-kun No!" She almost yelled.
He looked at her.
"N-Nani"
"Naruto if you love her be with her I told you I don't expect anything from you-"
"Hinata?"
"-you shouldn't have-"
"Hinata-chan?"
"-It's all my fault I-"
Hinata stopped talking because Naruto had his finger on the surface of her lips a message that told her to stop talking.
"Hinata I chose to tell her that I just don't feel the same anymore" he said bringing his hand from her face.
"O-oh" She stuttered lightly.
"I mean to be honest I never really thought about 'us'. Heck I never thought about any other girl except for Sakura, and again to be honest that was very silly since the most beautiful and perfect girl was waiting beside me this whole time" He said looking at her with a smile.
She blushed thankfully at his comment.
"A-arigatou Naruto-kun"
Again the room was filled with silence, but it wasn't as awkward as it was before.
Naruto decided that had been enough love talk for one day.
"So wanna head to Ichiraku's ramen with me?" He asked.
"W-with you?" She smiled.
He grinned and led her out of the new apartment to Ichiraku's.
(A/N~Months later they are still just friends -i know it sucks right?- But anyway their regular hang out spot is Ichiraku's ramen and Naruto and Hinata decide to go there today to celebrate Ayame's return from the lightning country. If you have any questions as to why she was there...I'm sorry.)
"Hey old man Teuchi!" Greeted Naruto.
"Konichiwa Teuchi-san!" Greeted Hinata.
"Is that Naruto?" The ramen owner asked teasing.
"The one and only!" Grinned Naruto
"And who's that beautiful young lady, Naruto...is she your" Ayame raised her pinky up slowly with an evil grin coming into view "Girlfriend?" she finished.
Hinata froze. Even though she had hung out with Naruto frequently and they never spoke of the 'L' word ever again the thought of being Naruto's girlfriend was just too much for her.
Naruto blushed and rubbed his hand on the back of his head "Not quite, Ayame nee-chan" He told her.
They took a seat and Hinata tried to calm down.
"What'll it be?" Teuchi questioned.
"Lets see Hinata what would you like?" Naruto turned to Hinata.
"I'll have what you're having." She told him.
"Hmm well then I'll have-"
*Poof poof*
Teuchi looked around a lost look on his face.
"My customers just poofed away" He said *Poker face*.
"Ah Naruto, Hinata just the two ninja I wanted to see" said Tsunade inoccently.
"Tsunade-no baa-chan!" Naruto hollered raising his fist with an obvious annoyance on his face.
A vein popped from Tsunade's four head and twitched.
"Naruto...How many times have I told you NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" She yelled back even louder.
Naruto shrunk into his jacket "H-hai" he stuttered.
Hinata just smiled.
Tsunade calmed down *Sigh*
"Naruto and Hinata I have a mission for both of you."
"just us?" asked Naruto.
"Yes just you two" Tsunade confirmed.
Tsunade explained to them their mission.
"So that's it" She finished.
Hinata and Naruto nodded and proceded to turn around but then Tsunade stopped them.
"Naruto, Hinata...this mission absolutely cannot fail."
"Hai" They both said simultaneously.
"Dissmissed" She concluded.
*Poof poof*
They poofed out of her office leaving her to ponder by herself.
'Look how far they've come'
Thought Tsunade to herself.