...

It was late in the afternoon and Hinata was finally done with her shift. She was going to the direction towards the exit of the hospital with her fellow medic, Haruno Sakura. Silently assessing her current patient's diagnosis on her mind, the pink-haired medic broke her thoughts.

"That baka! I shouldn't have been more lenient to him. I was so sure I was going to punch him the next time he opened that dirty mouth of his," grumbled Sakura, recalling her rude male patient. Her face starting to resemble the color of her hair.

"Eh, but that would defeat the purpose of healing his injuries, Sakura-chan." Hinata innocently spoke to her companion. Pausing slightly to see a small commotion happening near the exit door, Hinata craned her neck to see Shizune running towards them and ignoring the protests of a few passersby.

"I know but… " Sakura replied to her angrily, her mind still focused on her patient once again, but paused, finally noticing Shizune heading towards their direction. In front of them, Shizune bent her knees a little and took a huge gulp of air. Looking at them, more to Sakura's direction really, Shizune managed to form her words that may actually have different effect towards the two female medic nins.

"Good afternoon Sakura, Hinata" she nodded to them. "Tsunade-sama wanted to inform you that your teammate has just arrived and is on his way to the Hokage tower", she added while taking another lungful of air, clutching Ton-ton tightly with both her arms.

Both girls seized their previous thoughts and focused on what Shizune had just told them. While the two stood silently and quite shocked with the news, each had different persons running through their mind. While Sakura's thoughts immediately clung to the memories of her longtime crush, Uchiha Sasuke, forgetting for a moment that she actually had another teammate absent from Konoha for quite sometime too, Hinata's thoughts solely rested on the blond-haired shinobi.

"Naruto-kun", was only Hinata's thought. Years of not seeing him made her heart palpitate and the sudden desire to faint any moment now has started to happen once again. Though it wasn't all that obvious to everyone who knew Hinata that she was unaffected by Naruto's absence, Neji would have a different opinion on the matter. He was probably the only one of Hinata's close friends who has an idea just how much his cousin missed Uzumaki Naruto. While they knew her stuttering was gone, along with the twiddling of her fingers, Neji is aware that it was due to the absence of his once-hated opponent during the Chunin exams.

Sakura's exuberant reply of "What are we waiting for, let's go then!" broke Hinata's train of thoughts and took two steps forward dragging along her companion.

"Ehh, I didn't know you were that excited of Naruto-kun's return, Sakura-chan" came Shizune's lightly teasing tone. The older nin then added in a more conspiratorial tone, "Ah, but it's been years since you last seen him, ne? I'm sure Naruto-kun would really love to see your reaction now," then proceeded to wink at her direction. She's quite aware of Naruto's crush to the pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura came to a sudden stop and her lively demeanor suddenly vanished only to abruptly come back once again. Smiling widely though eyes not as bright as before, Sakura replied, "What are you talking about Shizune-san? Of course I'm excited in seeing that baka once again. We're teammates after all."

"Well, I doubt Naruto would stay longer at the Hokage tower knowing how that guy doesn't seem to enjoy staying at one place for long. Let's go Shizune-san, Hinata-chan!" Sakura, with her superhuman strength, managed to drag both females along and started their trek towards the Hokage tower.

"Welcome back Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, face red and shy demeanor threatening to come back once again as they continue their trek to where Naruto and the others are currently in.

.

.

"Baa-chan!" came a shout near the window of the Hokage tower.

"Ugh, Naruto! What have I ever told you about using the proper entrance when coming here?" Tsunade told him, voice just as loud as the young shinobi. Sensing another person behind the blue-eyed shinobi, she added, "And here I was hoping you won't get Jiraiya's poor taste and manners." She was tempted to open her drawer where she secretly stashed a bottle of sake at the thought of dealing with her two favorite boisterous shinobi. Oh, but how she was truly glad to see them once again, she thought. She realized just how much she missed both male nins now that she finally laid eyes to both of them.

"That hurts Hime. And here I thought you'd at least give me a warm hug to welcome me back to the village," came Jiraiya's reply, eyes straying to the blonde hokage's voluptuous figure, his face starting to become leery, which Tsunade is all too familiar with.

A chair was promptly thrown at the white-haired sannin's direction almost knocking Naruto just as he came to approach his baa-chan.

"Geez baa-chan, would you stop that. You'll be getting a few wrinkles if you keep doing that, you know. Plus we're quite tired from traveling; give us some time to relax..." Naruto winced just as the chair was slammed to the opposite wall with a loud thud. The blond-haired hokage's scowl deepened as Naruto continued his insults, oblivious to the woman's darkening aura. Face almost split from grinning widely and face turning brightly, Naruto quickly added, "Man, I miss everyone! How's Sakura-chan and Kaka-sensei? Ah, that reminds me, Iruka-sensei promised a bowl of ramen when I return!"

She's fond of the him but Tsunade had to wonder just how fast Naruto's train of thoughts could become. Really, the boy's head is capable of coming up with incredulous and sometimes stupid ideas in a short span of time. She couldn't help but give a tired sigh and see her deceased little brother Nawaki in him.

Just as she was about to scold Naruto, a knock came at the door and without any pause, the door opened revealing Shizune with two female nins just a few steps behind her. Shizune entered, followed by Sakura and trailing behind her, a red-faced Hinata shyly peeking at the people currently residing inside the room.

.

.

The sudden movement at the door made Naruto forget what he was about to say next. Catching pink hair in his peripheral vision, he paused and seemed to breathe slowly as Sakura finally came into view. With a deep pang of longing he never knew existed within him until now, he whispered, "Sakura-chan, how have you been?"

Turning to his direction, Sakura faced him with a smile and said, "It's been a while, ne, Naruto." Remembering her companions on the way to the hokage tower, she promptly added with a scowl, "Hey, I'm not the only one who entered here baka, say hello to Shizune-san and Hinata-chan too!"

"Ah! Gomen Shizune-san and Hinata-chan! How are you both?" came Naruto's quick reply, earning a nod of approval to Sakura.

The shy Hyuga followed Sakura and came to stand beside her. At the mention of her name from her crush, she stuttered a reply, "I-I'm fine, N-Naruto-kun," then shyly added, "I'm g-glad you're back." Biting her lip to stop the sudden feeling of wanting to faint, she hesitantly gazed at Naruto and finally noticed his appearance and his change of clothing. You've really grown to become a fine shinobi Naruto-kun, she thought before darkness came to envelope her and knew no more.