Damn, I am on a roll with this whole writing thing. I'm gonna just bust out as much as I can while my muse is going. Wish me luck lol.

I took the D-Rank pay from Narutopedia and cut it nearly in half, but I also learned that the conversion rate is about 10 Ryo to 1 USD. This would make every D-Rank worth roughly 250 USD. Even if you factor for inflation, that's fecking bonkers. As mission rank increases I get closer to the prices listed on Narutopedia.

That being said, for my story, I'm going to add in a few different factors. Tax is going to be fairly high for a multitude of reasons: Healthcare, City renovations from recent and for future attacks (Chunin exam invasion for example), payroll of Hokage and advisors, and tribute to the Daimyo. I'm putting Konoha's mission tax up at 40%. Konoha is the capital, so living there would be a luxury for most. Therefore most citizens should be fairly well off, at the very least the ones paying for missions. Side note, real estate is probably outrageous.

To summarize for my story:

S-Rank Missions = 1 Million Ryo and up (Failure means death or capture and risk to Konoha, lower odds of success)

A-Rank Missions = 300,000 Ryo (Likely teams of opposing Ninja) to 1 Million Ryo (Sensitive material+powerful teams)

B-Rank Missions = 110,000 Ryo (Expecting Combat, possible weak ninja) to 250,000 Ryo (Combat with powerful ninja)

C-Rank Missions = 30,000 Ryo (International Errands) to 100,000 Ryo (Escorting while defending against Non-ninja)

D-Rank Missions = 2,500 Ryo (Chores) to 25,000 Ryo (Missing Person)

Shinobi are going to have to really earn their money in my version of this world, and taxes aren't going to help. How realistic...

I JUST REALIZED MY LINE BREAKS DON'T TRANSFER OVR FROM MY DOC AND I AM SO SORRY. I WILL GO BACK AND FIX EVERY ONE OF THEM I SWEAR.

Naruto went home before he went to get his ninja ID photo taken. He figured that he'd change, grab a few supplies, and then head straight to the mission board reserved for genin. Naruto looked through his closet and noted the one-dimensional color scheme. Sure, orange was a great color. Sure, he no longer wore a literal suit of his favorite color. But he still had to get some darker clothing for stealth purposes. Naruto currently had one dark blue short-sleeve shirt and a few pairs of black pants with an orange stripe down the side.

Throwing on the shirt and a pair of the darker pants, Naruto promised himself that he'd go to a ninja clothing store as soon as he finished the day's missions. Naruto left the apartment and headed back towards the Hokage's building. Naruto passed more than a few people on his walk, most of them oblivious to his presence. A few groups of kids were running around, playing like there wasn't a care in the world. The sight brought a smile to Naruto's face, and he entered the administrative building with his mood set high.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the receptionist asked as Naruto entered the lobby.

"I'm here to register as a Ninja. Naruto Uzumaki."

A few papers were shuffled and the light haired lady reached into a drawer. "One standard hitai-ate, one pass to for an ID photo, your registration papers, and one free genin level weapon kit. Your kit has six kunai and a dozen shuriken. Naruto Uzumaki, your identification number is 012607. The door to your left will take you to the photo room," she told Naruto with a rehearsed tone and professional smile.

Naruto accepted everything she gave him, looking oddly at the weapon kit. When he thought about it, he figured that many orphans did try to become ninja, and they wouldn't be able to buy weapons for themselves. Naruto thanked her with a smile and walked into the next room with the pass in his hand.

Inside the photo room was a camera on a stand and another civilian girl reading what seemed to be a copy of Kakashi's favorite book. As soon as she took notice of Naruto, though, the book was tucked away and her dark hair flipped over her shoulder as she stood.

"Hello, do you have a first-time pass or are you paying for a retake today?" she asked, her bubbly voice pleasant to Naruto's ears.

"First time today, I just got my papers and forehead protector," Naruto informed her as he handed her the pass.

She looked briefly at the paper as Naruto tied the hitai-ate to his head. "Okay, just stand over on that 'X' whenever you're ready."

Naruto stood in the aforementioned spot and smiled at the camera, holding up a two-fingered salute. His smile was large and proud, and his forehead protector was proudly holding up his spiky blond mop of hair.

Naruto started to drop his smile and open his eyes fully to ask what the delay was when the flash blinded him. He staggered a bit, the effects reminding him of the first time he tried to make a flash tag.

"There we go, sometimes the button sticks," the photographer said aloud as she inspected the photo. "I've seen better, but I've seen worse. This'll work out just fine until you decide you've outgrown it."

"How long until the ID is done?" Naruto asked, moving to sit down at a table.

"You're the first one in today so there's no line. Probably no more than ten minutes."

Naruto left the photography room feeling accomplished. He looked at the clock and noted that it was only approaching ten in the morning and decided that he had time to finish all six of the D-ranks he needed by dinner time.

Naruto walked down the hall, following signs towards the various lounges. Just past the jonin lounge was the chunin 'lounge', but compared to the jonin one it seemed more like a mess hall with a few extra benches. Past those still was the mission boards office. The long room had only a few ninja in it, all of them chunin but one genin that stared at a mission he had obviously just grabbed.

Naruto walked in and took stock of the boards. Every board was labeled with their respective missions, D through B. All of the higher ranked missions came directly from the Hokage, and it was the same thing with lower ranked missions that paid extra for immediate response. If Naruto remembered one of the few interesting lectures right, the Hokage still occasionally assigned missions, usually ones that were important or close to expiration.

Naruto walked up to the D board and noticed that they were indeed chores. Painting fences, fetching groceries, catching stray bothersome animals, retrieving pets, the list went on and on. Their payouts were anywhere between twenty-five hundred Ryo and ten thousand Ryo, with a ten percent tax on any missions that would go back to the village. Nothing too outrageous, but it would be enough for a day of honest work to a genin.

Well, Naruto didn't have to do them one at a time. Naruto grabbed two that requested fence painters, two that asked for help moving construction supplies until lunchtime, one from the Hokage asking for a park to be cleaned of litter, one that called for walking an elderly civilian from one end of town to the other, and one that mentioned something about a missing cat named Tora that was strangely worth a full ten thousand Ryo.

"Why'd you grab so many, kid? Friends send you in here or something?" One of the older chunin asked from the C-Ranked board.

"Nah, I just have to get six done before I'm allowed to go on real missions," Naruto told him absently as he read the details of each mission.

"You should just come back here as you complete them you know. Someone else could do one while you finish another. That way the client doesn't have to wait," the kind chunin was obviously trying to help Naruto, who had the look of a fresh genin. To be fair, he technically was.

"Oh they won't have to wait," Naruto told him as he made a total of twenty-four shadow clones.

The chunin in the room all stood with their mouths agape. "Holy what."

"I've never taken missions before, but I assume that most people will be expecting three-man teams at the most right?" Naruto asked politely as he handed out the various missions to his clones.

"Uh, yeah. Hey, are those shadow clones? And AREN'T YOU A GENIN?" the first nice chunin from earlier questioned loudly, voicing everyone else's thoughts as well.

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, they're shadow clones and I'm technically a genin. Do you think that three per painting and construction job is enough? And what about six to clean a park and find some cat named Tora?" Naruto planned on helping the old lady personally, so he knew she'd be more than fine.

The assembled chunin nodded numbly, their mouths still trying to form coherent words. The first one had the most luck. "Are you sure it's smart to use clones? What if they dispel early? And you might need the chakra!"

"Eh. These guys all have twelve hours worth of chakra without using jutsu, and maybe ten hours with light jutsu use. And I don't really worry about chakra," Naruto explained as he finished passing out the missions to the clones and separating them into groups.

There was silence in the room as Naruto turned to his audience. "Well, gotta get these done before dinner! Later guys, thanks for the advice!" and all twenty-five Naruto's vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving even more shocked shinobi in the room.

The genin in the corner walked out angrily muttering, "That's not even fucking fair!"


Naruto swirled into view in front of the door that read the address on the mission request. Naruto knocked politely and waited patiently. Soon enough a young woman opened the door, a smile stuck on her face.

"Oh! Are you the ninja here to help get grandmother home?" she asked warmly. Naruto was really happy with all the positivity he'd been getting lately, but he was afraid to say so aloud and risk jinxing it.

"Yup! Wherever she needs to go I'll get her there!" Naruto responded just as happily.

"Okay great! Hold on just a second and I'll go get her," the woman started, but she was interrupted by a second voice.

"No need, darling, I'm all ready to go," said a short, wrinkled, and hunched over woman.

Her grey hair was tied back in a neat bun, and she had a suitcase in one hand with her other clutching the head of a cane. Naruto could tell that she had lived a long, full life.

"Oh, grandmother! I didn't know you were so eager to leave!" the younger of the two women fake pouted.

"Ah, I was a newlywed once too, believe it or not! I don't want to risk being here any longer than I already have, darling. Now, I'll be on my way… so you go get started on my great-grandbabies!" the elderly lady laughed as her granddaughter blushed scarlet and hurriedly closed the door. Naruto pretended to be oblivious until the woman's attention shifted to him.

"Hmm, and you are the young man that'll be taking me home?" she asked Naruto.

"That's right ma'am, I'm a newly promoted genin and your my first client," Naruto told her as he took the bag from her. And she was his first. Well, personally his first.

"My husband used to be a ninja. We made a fair bit of money in our lives so I like to hire new ninja to give them a little boost in my husband's honor. May he rest in peace," she told Naruto as they started the long walk to her home.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that he passed," Naruto told her sincerely.

"Thank you, but he died honorably in the line of duty, and he gave me two beautiful girls. I can't complain about that in my old age. The woman you met is my youngest daughter's only child."

"I see, she seemed very happy," Naruto stated. "My name is Naruto by the way. And your name is Akiyama, yes?"

"That's right, and my husband's name was Riku. I still remember the day he swept me off of my feet… Have you been in love yet, Naruto?" she asked, trying to keep the small talk going.

"Not yet, no," Naruto smiled softly. "How did you fall in love with your husband?"

The old woman smiled even harder than she did before. "He was a ninja by the time I met him. A chunin I think. He asked me out for sushi after meeting me at the market buying fruit. I didn't fall in love with him until our fourth date though. He picked me up, and carried me over rooftop after rooftop and would bring me to his secret hiding place. It's still my favorite memory."

Naruto noticed the faraway look in her eyes. "Would you like to travel by rooftop again?"

The tears in her eyes were immediate, and Naruto knew he made the right choice. "Could we? Oh, but what of my bag? I don't want you overtaxing yourself…"

Naruto waved off her concern and handed the luggage to a clone that appeared behind him in a puff of smoke. Naruto then gently picked up Akiyama, leaped to the nearest rooftop in an effortless leap, and traveled with her to relive her memories of the person she cherished most.


Naruto sat inside the mission department's main lobby, waiting for the rest of his clones to enter. They couldn't shunshin inside due to the protective seals, but Naruto knew that once they finished it wouldn't take them long to find him. The park cleaners were done first, and they strolled in at eleven-thirty nearly on the dot. Naruto took the signed mission form and prepared for the incoming memories as they dispelled.

The memories weren't much. Mostly cleaning, a few conversations with passersby, and one or two clones chasing after a squirrel.

The first set of painters was followed in by their counterparts half an hour later. Naruto took the two mission forms and again prepared for the memory surge. Nothing but painting there.

The six clones sent to construction had the most interesting memories by far. The clones only had to move equipment every ten minutes or so, and between that time there was a lot of jokes between workers and even an arm wrestling match with one clone. Naruto smiled at some of the memories and regret not being present himself. Naruto decided that from then on, he would avoid using clones to do missions if he could help it. Sometimes the people were worth more than the reward.

Naruto sat and waited for the six clones to return with the cat. And he waited. And waited. Once twelve thirty came around, Naruto felt a surge of chakra, signaling the demise of a clone. Naruto focused on the memories and discovered that this was a clone made by one of the six Naruto sent after Tora. This clone was made purely to dispel and give information on the cat's location to the other five searching clones.

Naruto was actually impressed, the cat had managed to evade his six searching clones for almost an hour and a half. Suddenly, another surge of chakra. And then another. Were his clones seriously getting taken out by a cat?

Inspection of the memories told him that yes, yes this devil cat was dispelling clones with its claws. Two more clones dispelled, but the last one had memories of another clone securing the possessed feline in a blanket of some sort.

"I'm never talking about this…" Naruto said to himself.

Ten minutes later and two clones walked into the lobby, one carrying the signed mission paper. The clone looked Naruto dead in the eyes.

"We never talk about what just happened."

"Agreed," chorused Naruto and the remaining clone.

Naruto approached the desk with all six mission papers. The receptionist gave Naruto a suspicious look before he double checked the signatures.

"You completed these all today?" the civilian man asked.

"Yeah. Shadow clones," Naruto responded easily.

"Ahh, makes sense," the dark-haired man muttered as he added up the total of Naruto's payment.

"Twenty-two thousand five hundred Ryo for the total of your mission payments. I see you are a new genin, so you'll simply have ten percent taken off for the Daimyo's tax. After taxes, you come out with twenty thousand two hundred and fifty Ryo. Do you have a bank account set up yet?" he asked. the teller hid a shit-eating grin as he handed Naruto a slip of paper. It was a check, made out to his name. And it was the most Naruto had ever held in his life.

A/N: By the logic I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, this has the buying power of about 2,025 USD. One mission has a maximum payout of 25,000 Ryo (2,500 USD), but none of those kinds of missions were displayed. Split four ways for an average team each member would get 6,250 Ryo (625 USD) before tax. The missions Naruto are doing bring in only 2,500 Ryo, or 250 USD (Tora being the exception). Split four ways and everyone ends up with 1562 Ryo (roughly 156 USD) That's pretty reasonable for a mission that should take a few hours, and would be enough to live on if a ninja never got promoted. Also, Naruto has yet to be properly introduced to taxes! Hooray!

"Um, no. Not yet. Where is the bank again?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

The receptionist clearly got the question quite often. "Head straight out the door. At the second intersection take a right. You'll see the T&I building before you see the Bank. The bank is the fourth building on the right before you get to Torture and Interrogation. Just give them that check and your ID and they will make you an account. You can then either deposit your check in full or keep some in cash. There is a five hundred Ryo deposit that you have to put into your account right away, but it shouldn't be a problem."

"Right. Uh, thanks again!" Naruto said as he turned and ran out the door.


Naruto entered the bank and got his account set up with little fuss. The bank teller was nice enough and Naruto left with ten thousand one hundred and twenty-five Ryo in his account, and a full ten thousand in his wallet.

Naruto kept true to his word and started walking around the district he usually saw the most ninja in for a suitable store. Naruto settled on a ninja store with weapons out front on display. Naruto entered 'Higurashi's' and took note of all the weaponry that adorned the walls out in the front of the store. They were all beautifully made and polished to a reflective shine.

"Hello, can I help you?" a young girl asked from behind the counter.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering if you guys sold any clothes? Preferably those made for ninja?" Naruto asked hopefully.

The cute girl walked out from behind the counter, and Naruto knew immediately that she was a shinobi in training. She had the walk. The pair of buns on her head had distracted him at first, but she did indeed have a hitai-ate on.

"First time in here I take it?" she asked. "My dad makes all the best weapons in town, and the clothes are more practical than fashionable. The way a ninja should be if you ask me."

Naruto followed her towards the back end of the store. "Yeah, I just got registered this morning. I figured I'd come in and blow an entire half of my first paycheck already," he joked.

The girl laughed and gestured to a rack of shirts. "This end has all the smalls, they'll fit you the best. Shorts and pants are on this side of the aisle," she pointed to the other end of the aisle. "Most of our clothes run right around two hundred Ryo, but if you're feeling fancy there's another section with higher quality stuff," she gestured to another entire section of clothes, but Naruto was feeling that simplicity was the way to go. Just come see me when you're ready. Name's Tenten by the way," she called over her shoulder as she walked back to the counter.

Naruto gave his thanks and started browsing the rack. There was a sign on the shirt rack that stated that with the first two shirts you purchased you got a free fishnet undershirt. Naruto picked out two plain, black shirts right away. One was a t-shirt and the other had sleeves that came down to the middle of his forearms. Naruto grabbed a mesh shirt from the hangars next to him and continued his search.

Naruto ended the hunt with another three undershirts, two more dark blue shirts with an orange stripe running down from each armpit, a deep red colored shirt, and a completely orange shirt just to keep old habits alive. Naruto then picked up two pairs of dark green and two dark blue pants. They were full of pockets, perfect for any tools he might need. Naruto also grabbed three pairs of shorts of the same design and dark blue color, just for when he had missions in hot weather.

Naruto started back towards the register and browsed on his way. Naruto had kept things pretty simple and only spent three thousand of his available ten. Not too bad, Naruto did tend to stay on the cheap side. On the way to the counter, Naruto's eye was caught by a pair of gloves.

The gloves were fingerless, had metal studs over each knuckle, and a sign that read 'one size fits all'. The only two colors, however, were black and dark blue. Naruto grabbed the black pair and made his way to the counter.

"Hey, Tenten? Would you happen to have these gloves in orange?" Naruto asked as he set the rest of the clothes in front of the girl.

"Um, I'll go ask my dad real quick, hold on."

Naruto watched her leave and then became more curious about the swords surrounding him. Naruto walked over to one that had old looking, elegant engravings. The weapon seemed to chant his name, and Naruto was enraptured. He walked over to the mystical looking blade, and he drew it with a beautiful metallic ring.

Naruto stood, feeling both out of place and at home with the blade in his hand. Naruto brought it up to eye level and adopted a stance he once saw a master take on a practice field. The blade shone in the dim light, and Naruto ran it through a simple motion…

And cut the shit out of his forearm. And then he panicked and knocked over another display sword. Naruto tried to wipe his blood off the blade with his sleeve, but he ended up cutting into his bicep too. Damn this store and their care for their merchandise quality!

"Oh gods Kurama wake up I need help!"

"Eh? Kit? What's the matter? Why do you smell blood?"

Naruto managed to clean the blade, slip it back into its sheath, and started to pick up the other one.

"I'm in a weapons shop for clothes and I was playing with this cool sword and I cut myself and I need you to heal it before Tenten comes back and sees my cuts!"

As Naruto fixed the toppled display, Kurama just couldn't help himself. "BAHAHA! OH, DEAR GODS, you are such a child!"

"I really don't need this right now, please, just speed up the healing! Please!"

Naruto heard the Kyuubi continue to laugh as he frantically watched the wounds close. With a sigh of relief, Naruto rushed to the counter and wiped away his blood with the inside of the red shirt he bought.

"You're in luck, Naruto! Dad had one dark orange and one purple off the shelf because no one wanted them!" Tenten talked happily as she walked back to her counter, oblivious to the blush that Naruto wore. "I can probably give it to you for two thousand Ryo. The metal is chakra conductive so it's a bit pricey, but one day you should be able to use it as a pretty good taijutsu enhancement… is that blood on your shirt?"

Naruto immediately turned his clean side to her. "What? HA NO! I mean, no."

Tenten gave him an odd look.

"So, uhhh what's my total?" Naruto tried to change the subject.

"Looks like… five thousand and five hundred Ryo. But I like you, so I'll sell you the lot for an even five thousand. Can you cover that?"

Naruto nodded and shelled out the cash.

"Oh. I thought this was your first paycheck? You must have had a pretty big first mission huh?" Tenten said as she put the money in the register.

"What? Oh, no! I just did six missions this morning, this actually is only a quarter of my check. This is actually covered by just catching Tora. Damned cat popped four of my clones!" Naruto was happy for his first 'ninja small talk'. He felt so official discussing missions like this, even if they were only D-Ranks.

"Wait, SIX missions? And Tora's only worth ten thousand Ryo! Did your team not want any of the cut? Are they that loaded?" Tenten paused the bagging process to bombard Naruto with questions.

"Uh, yeah. Six missions. And you know about Tora? That devil has escaped before?" Naruto asked incredulously. Tenten didn't drop her gaze, still demanding answers. "Oh, and I don't have a team. I'm a support genin, as of today!"

Tenten continued to bag the clothes with her mouth hanging wide. "Then how did you complete six missions in a day?"

A shadow clone popped into existence and took the bags. "Shadow clones," it said before it disappeared in a swirl of leaves, speeding back towards the apartment.

"You're actually a support genin?" Tenten asked as Naruto prepared to leave.

"Yeah, first one too. At least that what Iruka-sensei said."

"You… must be really good. Like, REALLY really good. Not even Neji made support genin, and he's a literal prodigy," Tenten said. "Hey, I'm having team practice later at training ground one. Why don't you show up and meet a team you might support one day?"

"That's actually a great idea! I've been pretty bored since I haven't been allowed to actually train yet. I'll see you there!" Naruto then ran off, still hiding his bloodied sleeve.

"We meet at six!" Tenten called after him.

Tenten noted that he wasn't sticking around to acknowledge the time they were meeting. "He is one crazy kid."


Hiruzen Sarutobi was relaxing in his chair after a hard day of paperwork for the new genin batch. The genin pool was about as full as it had been the past two years, and and the number of teams this class had managed to pump out was just short of incredible. Usually, one elite team would come out of a class. Two was exceptional, but three was just amazing. Granted, this year did hold a few of the major clan heirs, but still. And a support genin in one Uzumaki Naruto. Hiruzen knew to expect greatness from that boy, but word from his receptionist in the missions office was that Naruto had already qualified for C-Rank missions. Absolutely unheard of, even before the reform.

Suddenly the door opened. "Hey, Old Man!"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"What can I do for you, Naruto? I was getting ready to close up for the day."

"I just wanted to check something is all. I finished all six of my D-Ranks, so I'm allowed to do C-ranks now right?" the blond asked.

"I mean, yes. But! It is quite unusual for even a chunin to do C-Ranks alone. C-Ranked missions have a chance of real combat, and can turn deadly in a second.," Hiruzen warned wisely, trying to get Naruto to slow down.

"Okay, but I've killed before. I don't really like to, but I'm really good at it, I promise! A couple years ago I fought real genin, and now I'm way better. I can handle it, so please?" Naruto pouted in a way that the Hokage believed may have worked on Jiraiya in the past.

"No. Not until I know you're ready."

"Hmmm okay compromise! After I support a team on a C-Rank and get the jonin's approval can I do them?" Naruto asked desperately.

Hiruzen had to admit that Naruto was being pretty mature about the whole ordeal. And Kakashi did say that he was better than some chunin… and he DID manage to knock out Mizuki.

"Okay. As soon as I get a jonin OTHER THAN KAKASHI to vouch for you, I will allow it."

"YES!" Naruto threw a fist into the air. "Okay, I gotta go meet Tenten's team now for training. Thanks, Old Man!"

Hiruzen smiled knowing that the boy would manage to reach whatever goals he had one day, no matter if they were to be Hokage or not.


Naruto took his time walking to training ground one. Since it was just past five in the afternoon, Naruto took a few minutes to look at the various stalls for once. It was something he never did before he was a ninja. Now, he had money of his own and could spend it without guilt. Not like he would, but the option was there now.

Eventually, Naruto started heading towards the training grounds. He didn't mind being early, more time for him to warm up is all. Naruto saw a familiar figure headed towards him, coming from the direction of the training grounds.

"Hinata?" he called out.

The figure froze in place before seeming to relax. "Hello, Naruto!" Hinata called back, giving a small wave.

As the two met, Naruto turned and started walking back towards the village. "You just getting done with training?"

"Today was mostly getting to know everyone better. We did a little bit of light training, but nothing too strenuous."

The two came up to a bench and they each took a seat. "That sounds like a pretty good time to me! Do you like your team so far?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yes, Shino is still quiet almost all the time, but Kiba t-talks enough for both of them," she giggled.

Naruto laughed along with her. "Who's your sensei?"

"Yuhi Kurenai. She's Konoha's top genjutsu expert, and she promised to make us all the best tracking and apprehension team Konoha has," Hinata told him. "How was your first day as a support genin?"

"It was okay. I rushed through six missions today, but they were mostly chores. Bought some clothes. Not much really. But I am going to go train with a team in a bit!" Naruto exclaimed.

"W-wait, Naruto! Six? Six missions?" Hinata double checked with the blond.

"Yeah. Shadow clones and all that. You know how it is," he waved it off like it was a much smaller deal.

"Naruto new genin usually take a mission a week until they get enough training in! Did you leave any missions for the rest of us?" Hinata laughed in surprised delight when Naruto confirmed his story.

"Huh? Yeah totally! The board was full of missions, probably because people know that there's new genin looking for work! I wonder how the pool genin will do…"

"Naruto," Hinata giggled again, "most pool genin don't stay in Konoha. They go to a smaller town or outposts for the D-ranks there. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough missions to go around here!"

"Oh. I knew that. Definitely knew that."

The two sat and talked for a few minutes more, but eventually, Naruto had to remove Hinata's head from his left shoulder so he could make it to training in time. As it was, he'd only be five minutes early.

"We'll have to hang out again soon, Hinata," Naruto said as he stood up.

"I should be free in a few days. Sensei wants to get two days of training in before we take our first mission," she told him as she also rose from her seat.

"Okay, I'll find you in three days! Maybe try to meet me here?" Naruto asked as he started to walk backward towards the field.

"You g-got it, Naruto!" Hinata turned to hide her blush, and she heard his footsteps get further and further away.

"I can't wait, Naruto."

You guys I'm so sorry about the line breaks thing, I didn't know that they didn't carry over. I'll go fix them right away. Seriously. Kudos to you guys for putting up with that for so long. Hopefully my new posting method will eliminate that problem.

Anyways! Next chapter we see Naruto going through some team bonding! Yay for bonding!