AN: Ok, this is a little OOC, but who cares. If you do, I'm warning you now. But like Naruto, I followed my Ninja Way and stayed true to my word, and this chapter is longer! This'll be my last update for a few days, I'll probably update again on Wednesday. Bye for now!
I formed 18 other shadow clones, two for each log while Hinata and I carry the last log.
The whole way to work site 43, Hinata said nothing. It wasn't until we had dropped off the logs that she finally spoke again.
"Naruto, who was that boy there?" The question struck me as odd, but I figured it was a reasonable question.
"He said his name was Kaisho. Why?" She fumbled with her fingers, which seemed to be a habit. At least, she always did that around me.
"Oh, no reason..." she just left her sentence like that, unfinished. I figured she had her reasons, so I didn't bother her about it.
"Ok, now we have to lead some people from site 14 to site 44." I checked the map, and saw that site 14 was all the way across the village.
"Looks like we have to head that direction." I pointed east, towards the base, which we would pass to get to site 14.
"Ready?" I asked, not really waiting for an answer. "Let's go!" I turned and gave her a smile, and started off towards work site 14.
During the short trip, Hinata and I talked a bit, but it was only small talk. We spoke about our recent missions, and talked about how our families were dealing with the destruction. Well her family, because, well, you know.
The whole time, I wanted to tell her about my recent discovery about my father. But I figured I should keep it a secret, because as he said, if people found out I was his son, things would get complicated. Even more complicated as it already is. So I continued to ask her about her family, and not bring up that topic.
The work site 14 was a site that was rebuilding housing. They were doing well and had extra people, so they were moving some of them around. When we got there, we could see the support beams of a building. The ground was all dirt, with stacks of planks and cut logs around, which people were moving into place.
When we reached the work site, there were several people waiting around. When I counted, there were six of them. One of them, who seemed to be in charge because they wore a ninja headband while the others didn't, came up to us.
"Hello! I'm Takuma, you must be here to lead them to site 44. Is that right?" He said.
"Yes. I'm Naruto, and this is Hinata." I said, trying my best to remember my manners.
"Welcome!" He turned to look at the people behind him. When I saw them, I was surprised to see that most of them weren't much older than I was. There was one man who looked older, but the rest weren't much than me or Hinata.
"Boys, come here. Your escort has arrived!" They lined up shoulder to shoulder, so we could see all of them.
"This is Kazuya, Shusuke, Nao, Taiki, and Natsuhiko"
Kazuya looked several years older than me and had longer hair which was dark brown and just hang loosely.
Shusuke looked about a year older than me and had light brown hair that was cut shorter at about chin length.
Nao was the older man, and has short dark hair.
Taiki looked to be the youngest in the group, about my age or even younger. He had light hair that was short, but long enough to hide his ears and be messy. He had a bright smile though, despite how dirty and worn out they all looked.
Natsuhiko had dark brown, almost black, hair that covered his left eye and was cut right before his chin. He looked to be the solemn one of the bunch. He reminded me of Sasuke, but I pushed that thought to the edge of my mind, hoping it would stay there and not come back.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Naruto and this is Hinata. We'll be going to site 44 today. Is everyone ready to leave?" There were several nods, so I took that as a yes.
"Alright! We're off!" I said, as we started our trek to work site 44.
We started walking, but within five minutes, Taiki was already asking questions.
"Are you the guy who defeated Pein? You're awesome! How did you do it?" He was bursting with energy, not wasting even a second.
"Yes, I defeated Pein." I cringed when I said it, not realizing exactly why. "Now, let's keep going." I said, as I lightly pulled him along with me as I walked.
When we reached site 44, there wasn't much to do. There was another guy there, waiting for us. We dropped them off and left, barely saying five words. When we left, it was starting to get dark.
"Hinata, let's call it a day. The sun's going down, and it'd be hard to navigate our way around in the dark."
"Sure. When do you want to meet up tomorrow?" I thought for a minute, deciding when and where we'd meet up.
"How about the base, right after breakfast? Sound good?"
"Yes. Goodnight Naruto." And with that, we both went our separate ways. She to her tent, me to mine.
I woke up late, and realized I hadn't set my alarm the night before.
"Crap!" I say to myself. I hurriedly get dressed, throwing on my usual black and orange outfit. I race to eat a quick breakfast of ramen, then head out the door.
By the time I get to the base, I'm twenty minutes late. I search the area for Hinata, and finally I spot her. She's sitting near the edge, on a bench, made from planks of wood stacked on top of each other. Then I realize that there is someone else there.
Kaisho.