Pyro-chan. No one has ever described my fanfics as rocking freakin' bubble wrap before. I'll have to add that to my Glossary of Strange Phrases ™ that I've been saving for special occasions. Maybe I can say that to my mum next time she cooks a great dinner. "Hey, Ma, you rock freakin' bubble wrap! Believe it!"

Garouga88. Losing control of your bowels it not funny at all. It happened to me in public once, and in the company of a lovely, young lady who has not spoken to me since. Further details on what that did to my pants shall not be discussed.

Rhiannon125. Thanks a bunch. I prefer Heineken though.

Everyone else who reviewed as well, thank you.

Naruto was a total whackjob to begin with so no one expects anything of him; Kiba on the other hand has a lot of expectations to live up to which makes the Kyuubi a lot harder on him. Naruto is still a naughty-ass prankster in this story – which is due more to lack of disciplined and constant parenting, and not so much because people don't like him and ignore him. In fact, having the villagers treat him well and respect him as the son of the Yondaime will encourage him to be even more of a joker. Reversely, Kiba has one heck of a mom and I'll be damned if he doesn't learn some discipline living under the same roof as that woman. I've still not told you guys exactly how and why they put the Fox in Kiba, but when I do it will shed light on the significance of the Inuzuka clan in Konohagakure.

And now for the usual disclaimer and Hinata-catching update ...

I don't own Naruto, otherwise the whole franchise would be called Kiba and Naruto would only be a novelty clown side dish character. There are too many "complete idiot type" main characters out there. Hinata finally agreed to sleep with me. We hit the fireworks nineteen times; it was the best damn sex of my life. Except for the part where I woke up the next morning and discovered that she subbed with a pig. -- Shura

--

Hinata Hyuuga rapidly fingered the flurry of kunai and shuriken in her pouch, counting them as she went, then checked a side pocket for her trusty jar of healing ointment – a family secret recipe.

Everything is ready. Now I'll just need to get my forehead protector and I can go.

The sun had barely begun to rise over the horizon and the young genin had already completed her daily morning routine. Dissimilar to what most people would imagine, the Hyuuga Heiress does not get to live it up like a princess in her own home and expect to be served had and foot all night and day. Every generation of the Hyuuga's main branch went through the same routines growing up – of course, different types of chores if you're a boy.

The Hyuuga are well-known for their discipline, not just in the characteristics of the clan's Jyuuken or Gentle Fist taijutsu, but in every other respect of life as well. And this quality of discipline is forged over many years and through many hardships. Hyuuga children from any family (but especially from the main branch) must start developing their discipline as a soon as possible.

From as soon as they can understand things intelligently, the young girls will be put through tasks like the general cleaning of the house, waking up the family at a certain time and having their breakfast ready, making sure that there are always fresh ceremonial robes and sashes for the family members that have clan meetings to attend, and cultivating the household gardens. Boys on the other hand will spend a lot of their time with older men learning about commerce and making money, learning how to handle horses and repair weapons, as well as studying strategies of war.

This is going to be another exciting day, Hinata thought as she exited her personal chambers. Kurenai mentioned something about some kind of "initiation" test. Apparently the jounin feels that her little two-man squad should start getting on some missions already, but will have to prove themselves worthy in the challenge she sets them today.

As she turned the corner or the long corridor leading up to the front entrance, Hinata almost collided with a large figure and could not help but elicit a scream as she jumped back into the wall.

"Ahh! Ano ... Ano ... Oh-Ohayo gozai ... (gulp) ... Ohayo gozaimasu, Otou-sama!" Hinata erected herself and bowed three times, trying her best not to look stiff.

Hyashi Hyuuga's face is an unreadable mask of deadly seriousness. He had made his feelings towards his eldest daughter's personality very clear. The Hyuuga must not show fear or let their emotions cloud their judgment and deaden their focus. Every station in life should be treated as a mission and handled professionally. This world is cruel and will not tolerate fools, losers, weaklings and complainers. Thus, the Hyuuga will not tolerate them either.

Hyashi noticed that his daughter had her windbreaker on. "You are leaving already."

Hinata folded her hands and bowed again. "H-H-Hai, Otou-sama. Kurenai-sensei wishes to begin the t-t-training earlier than usual. Th-Th-There are, umm ... egg s-s-sand-sandwiches and orange h-h-herbal tea in ... in the dining hall."

The long-haired man regarded his daughter with a hard look for a few seconds. Hinata kept her little head bowed, not daring to meet his eyes. To his credit, Hyashi is not the kind of bastard that hits his daughter and leave bruises all over her face and body. His discipline is controlled and more verbal, though none the less painful to take. The only time he strikes at her physically is on those rare occasions when he would have her to spar against him, in which case he will hold back very little in hoping Hinata will stand up and really fight back. However, she never did and he lost his patience and whatever little bit of hope he had left in her. Lately, he struck her in practice more to vent his own anguish and stress rather than with the intention of training her.

Hyashi's disappointment at not having a son coupled with his wife's untimely passing – add the fact that Hinata's eyes haunted him because they are too alike her mother's – has sapped every last ounce of compassion from his heart, turning him into the powerful and driven but highly-unapproachable leader he is today. His daughter's softness that he used to think of as rare and adorable only frustrated him now as he sets his goals on a very big picture scale. Individualism is out. Everything he does is for the sake of the clan now. Including the harsh and sometimes unrealistic achievements he seems to expect of both his girls.

Today, however, Hyashi held his usual sharp tongue. His mind was distracted with other matters and Hinata's making genin did come as a bit of a surprise to him, although he will never openly admit it. Sad to say, Hyashi had become so hard that he can never bring himself to celebrate his daughter's little victories. He only sees her flaws and failures and spends all of his time groaning over them rather than looking for areas in which he can encourage her. As far as he is concerned, all of Hinata's successes are not achieved through ability but through pure luck.

If she hits the bull's eye three times consecutively in shuriken practice, it is because the wind is favorable. If she prepares a truly mouth-watering supper, it is probably because of the new spices she used and nothing to do with her skill per se. If she gets a good review in her annual Academy student report card, it is probably because her teacher is incompetent and lazy, or the tests set weren't all that hard. And so goes for everything else in life. He could not believe she is capable of doing any of that purely on her own.

But she did make genin. As graduations from the Academy into the world of the shinobi have to be approved by the Sandaime himself, Hyashi had simply nothing to say. At the very least, Hyashi is at least very much in awe of the old Hokage and valued his judgment greatly – Hinata's inception included, although he had to fight reluctance.

He returned her bow with a slight nod of his head. "I see. That will be all then."

"Hai, Otou-sama."

Hinata walked past him. "Oh, Hinata ..." She stopped to listen. "I increased the intensity of Hanabi's training regiment as of yesterday. Whilst her fundamental footwork is not as nearly as graceful as yours at this point, her courage and determination will be the making of her yet. Her senseis tell me she that is already at the top of her class and shows excellent promise. Just as anyone bearing the name of our clan should be."

He half-glanced at her over his shoulder then. "There are no excuses left for you to cling on to. Each shinobi squad is defined by the sum of what its members can contribute. If you become a burden, you endanger the lives of everyone on your team. If you fall, I will not stand up to catch you. You now carry the Hidden Leaf's hitai-ite and with it you carry the clan's discipline. Do I make myself clear?"

Hinata hung her head and nodded before resuming her walk. He had essentially told her that she is too weak to continue down the path of a ninja, and since she so stubbornly chose it anyway, he's not going to save her when she gets into in trouble – but he will not tolerate anything that will dishonor or tarnish the Hyuuga name. She tried to take it positively, that her father accepts that she is a genin now and wants her to be strong enough to fend for herself. He wasn't updating her about Hanabi just to keep her informed on her sister's progress either. Hyashi essentially means to say that he is not going to waste time on a weakling like Hinata anymore when there is a far better prospect.

Tradition would automatically make Hinata, the elder daughter, the rightful heir, whilst Hanabi is fated to carry the accursed mark of the Caged Bird on her forehead. It is a horrible curse that draws a very defined line about who is boss around here, giving the main house supreme dominion over the branch families. So why the heck isn't Hyashi giving all of his time to Hinata instead? If you really want to go out on a limb, you could say that Hyashi bothers to train up Hanabi because he expects Hinata to get herself killed out there; the position of heiress will then fall to her younger sister.

It is a horrible thought, one that Hinata could not drive away by lying to herself that everything is okay. In that case ...

In that case, I must become stronger. I must do what I can do continue to live. Not for myself, but for the clan. Just as Father says. Everything around me, everything in my life ... I burn them all ... for the good of the clan!

--

Three days.

I can't believe that it's already been three whole days. I kind of expected there to be massive repercussions – Lord Hyuuga showing up and pulling Hinata out of the squad and declaring war against the Inuzuka, or something like that. I expected Kurenai-sensei to give me hell about it, I expected Hinata herself to shy away from me even if she did stick up for me – maybe she did that just because it is in her nature?

I distinctly remembered spotting Shikamaru and Ino amongst the crowd, and that girl is Konoha's reigning Queen of Gossip – the world's most reliable and efficient one-man information bureau like ever. So I kind of expected all my friends to slowly walk away from me too. Except that I had dinner at Ichiraku's ramen stall with Shikamaru and Shino just yesterday, and they were more interested in telling each other about their new jounin-senseis. Not a single reference was made about me boxing out Hinata and I had wonder if they even knew about it.

For all my paranoia nothing happened at all, and I have yet to thank or apologize to Hinata for what happened. She took a hit and still found it in her heart to defend my honor; in front of the Hokage no less. Oh yeah, you heard right. I haven't said anything to her in three fucking days, man. My apology has gone all stale by now. I don't even know what the hell my problem is.

Every morning we get together and I open my mouth to say something, all I end up managing is "Hi, how are you?" Then she will reply "I'm good" and that is our conversation for the day! I will instantly forget all the stuff I told myself to say the night before, the two of us will shuffle around in uncomfortable silence until Kurenai-sensei shows up and starts our training.

Anyways, there's nothing I can do about that now. Sensei's training has been barely more than going over fundamentals again, but done in a pretty interesting at the same time so I wasn't bored. She had us run through a lot of basic ninjutsu over the last two days in between 2-hour long taijutsu sessions. We spent something like three solid hours on weapon handling yesterday morning, listened as she lectured us a little on genjutsu over lunch, then went back to sparring until it was dinner time.

You'd think that I would have said something to Hinata in all those hours we shared together, but we honestly managed to get by without speaking much. I mean, of course we did talk (it'll be like so weird if we didn't) but I don't think "Pass the salt" over yesterday's lunchbreak counts as meaningful conversation. And "Hi", "Bye", "Good morning" and "Good night" are the regular stuff everyone says, so they don't mean anything either. Oh, I did call for her to "watch her step" when she almost tripped as she dodged my kunai during weapons training. That's about it.

I'm pretty surprised myself that I had let it slide for so long. And it is kind of silly to talk about the incident now, isn't it? I'd look like an idiot. Maybe I could just sweep it under the carpet and talk to her about regular bullshit stuff. But not talking about it makes me a bit of a bastard, doesn't it? Why the hell must this be so hard?

"Ano ... Inuzuka-san?"

Eeeeek!

"H-Huh!? H-H-Hyuuga-san! How did you ... when did you sneak up ... I didn't even ... ahem ... I mean, good morning, Hyuuga-san."

She smiled and bowed. "Mm. Good ... Good morning."

The hell ... I didn't even smell her. She just snuck up on me like a shadow. Well, we are all shinobi here so I don't doubt her ability to do that. But it annoys me that I got distracted enough by my own thoughts that I did not even realize her presence. If she had been an enemy-nin with bloodlust on the brain, I could be sleeping with the fishes by now.

Oh, by the way, this is your chance, tough guy. Now, speak!

"Uhhhh ..."

Come on, this doesn't take brains! Say the magic word!

"Uhhhh ... I'm ... Hyuuga-san, I am really ..."

Fuck you, man! Just say you're sorry, then thank her! Your mouth full of shit or something?

"Well, Hyuuga-san ... I am ... I just wanted to say ... about the other day ... you know, when we were sparring for the first time? I just felt ... I know I should have done this earlier, you see! But I thought ... A-A-Anyway ... Hyuuga-san ... I just ..."

"No."

What? What, what, what? She said "No"? No, what!?

She looks up at me and is smiling. And she is doing that finger thingy again. "I mean ... I mean you don't h-h-have to be so ... so formal. Y-You can just call me ... Hi-Hi-Hinata. It's ... It's really fine, we're teammates now!" She gave an uncharacteristically large grin then, though her cheeks have taken on the color of apples in the third week of the fall season.

Now ain't that cute. You don't deserve to be her teammate, you douchebag.

The ice was broken completely and I could not help but laugh in a silly manner (which did wonders for my pride at the moment). It isn't sitting right me to see how nice she is to me, to anyone for that matter, even if it is not really necessary. It is almost unrealistic that anyone, and especially anyone who is a shinobi, can be so nice. I felt like the biggest son of a bitch in the world, right then.

"Then you must stop calling me Inuzuka-san as well! ... Hinata-san."

She blushed harder, if that is possible. "Hai! ... Kiba-san."

"Yes! Uhhh ... Hinata-san! As I was saying earlier, I am really, really, really sorry about the other day. I really thought you were going to get out of the way so I didn't hold back my strength. Your defense technique is really amazing! I just don't understand what happened!"

"Oh! D-D-Don't worry about that, Kiba-san! It ... It was all my fault, really! I was ... I was ... I was t-t-thinking too hard about ... about ... someone ... something! I was thinking too hard about something and did not concentrate on the battle!"

"Well ... okay, if you say so. Thanks, Hinata-san. Oh, and thanks for sticking up for me as well. I woke up after you came into the room and heard everything you said. That was like probably the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I can't believe it's taken me three days just to tell you this! Sorry for being an idiot, but I really mean what I say. Thank you so much."

She giggled shyly. It's the first time I ever heard her laugh in any way. One of the guys at school told me that Heaven endows all girls with magic in their giggles. My God, I can't believe it's actually true! I am actually tingling right now just hearing her make that insanely cute sound. What is she doing to me! It also felt like some sort of massive victory to be the one to cause her to laugh.

"No, don't ... don't be sorry. It's ... It's okay, I understand."

She does?

"You do?"

Well, how come I don't understand!?

The little head nodded. "Hai. You needed time to ... to sort through your ... your thoughts and feelings. These things can't be rushed, so I just ... I just let you deal with ... with your inner ... umm ... turmoil by ... by yourself. I knew you could do it because ... well, because I b-b-believe in you! We ... We're t-t-teammates, aren't we?"

Great, now I'm speechless.

Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself, KILL YOURSELF!! Ya jerk!

She's like a purebred angel. It isn't fair. This world is just too damn cruel. It isn't right that she should even exist where there is so much evil. She doesn't deserve any of it. She didn't deserve the shit I gave her by not talking to her for three days. But she calls me her teammate. She has accepted me and wants nothing more than to be a supportive subordinate to me. She has extended a hand of friendship and doesn't mind waiting for as long as it takes for me to reach out for it.

Maybe I'm being selfish, but I have decided to return the favor. I'll be her friend too! I'll work hard to make up for the absence of a third teammate! We have only got each other so it is imperative that our teamwork is flawless and unbeatable. If there is a rift between us, there won't be a third person to play the peacemaker and patch us back up! I'll have to be extra careful not to crush Hinata's feelings in any way.

Whilst most people point their fingers at everyone else when things go wrong, this girl seemed to have a fondness for taking the entirety of the blame upon herself. Guess I'll have to talk her into stopping that kind of crap. Sure, it is a noble character trait but is also pretty stupid if you end up killing yourself over nothing. I realize that she needs a major boost in confidence as well. And I'll start by throwing her compliments any time she is deserving of one.

Great idea, genius. Why don't you start right away?

"Hey, Hinata-san! Thanks a lot! You're the coolest girl I have ever met!" I awaited the response and wasn't disappointed. She blushed even harder! How!? How does she do it!? Some special jutsu or something? I have never seen cheeks that can constantly get redder and redder like that! But her eyes lit up as well, and I can tell you it is not the morning sunshine reflecting off them. Good. All good. Lucky for me, Hinata is never one to hold a grudge or hate anyone in any way. I guess I didn't have anything to worry about after all.

"Any ... Anyway, Kiba-san ..." she said, lifting her head up and taking in a deep breath. "Ku-Ku-Kurenai-sensei has ... has finally a-arrived."

As soon as she said it, the jounin seemed to materialize out of thin air. Right in front of us.

Whaaaaaat ... Where did she come from!? How come I didn't ... And how come Hinata could ... I got distracted again! What the hell! I'm usually so damn good at catching people's scent before their within ten meters of me. No, really, I swear! You must believe me! You must!

Sensei took only a second to glance the both of us.

"Follow me."

Wow, she left. She didn't even say "hello". Guess it must be serious if she's going to act like this. Hinata and I looked at one another and nodded. We had no choice but to just follow her.

--

Kurenai Yuuhi led her squad through town. It is nice to be up and running at this hour from time to time because you get to see people setting up their stores and arranging their wares. Also for some reason, everyone always seemed a little friendlier after a good night's sleep. A few of the villagers even deigned to throw a passing "good morning" Kiba's way.

Soon, they came to rest in front of a small building with a fenced-in mini bamboo plantation on the side. Kurenai turns to her two genin and smiles.

"Good morning, you two. I trust you each had at least six hours of sleep and thirty minutes of warm-up exercises when you woke up this morning, a good non-filling breakfast to keep your energy up for the day." She had given the order yesterday evening before they parted ways. Kurenai merely told them she had a little test prepared for them, but did not add any proper details.

"Now, as you both know, we will not be going on any real missions for the time being as we are one man short. You probably wonder if you can't just work harder to make up for the missing numbers, and I do too, but the Hokage will accept nothing short of three-man squads. And it is not our place to question his logic, now is it? Your Iruka-sensei and the other instructors are working four or five of your old classmates very hard. They failed the last time, but show good potential. We can expect one of them to join us any time in the next three weeks, or so I'm told, so I'd like for you two to start getting into the right mindset of preparing for missions."

"So that's why you told us to sleep early and stock our weapons," Kiba piped up. "It's like we're getting ready for a real mission, and you wanted us to feel that way."

Kurenai nodded. "Yes, indeed. Because you are going on a mission today. At least a mock one anyway. Now, if you've been paying attention to Iruka's droning lectures, you'll probably remember him talking about the significance of three-man squads. These squads are not randomly thrown together by drawing names out of a hat. The Sandaime himself will sit down with Iruka and a tactical strategies expert of jounin or ANBU level, and for long hours will analyze every last detail of every person in the graduating class. They are assessed not only in their grades and jutsu knowledge, but from their background, to their personality, to their habits – good and bad, to the people they are generally seen spending time with, to their favorite food, to how often they fall sick, to what motivates them the most, and many, many other respects. Some of that may seem silly to you and me ... I'm sure Iruka's asked you to tell him your favorite color, for instance ... but the Hokage is a master of human psyche and character development. To him, every little detail tells a story. He knows how to put three people together and make them more effective than even a hundred."

The jounin paused and looked at the two young upstarts in her charge. She liked that they were so eager to learn. Both seemed to be listening with great interest - one with a father that insists his way is the best and that she should not bother listening to advise from the outside; and one with loyalty to his mother so strong that he probably won't listen to anyone else either! Yet look at them now. Only a few short days have passed and they already seemed to have some improvement in their character.

"Alright, you two. If you understand what I am saying, then tell me ... what do you think our team is best suited for?"

Kiba thought for a moment. "Sneaking around, spying, mapping out the safest route for other teams to follow."

"G-G-Gathering information ... ummm ... establishing ... ummm ... establishing reliable contact points and persons in ... in other t-t-towns ..."

Kurenai nodded, placing one hand on her hip. "And what makes you come to that answer?"

"Well, Hinata-san's Byakugan rocks!" Kiba answered, grinning at his teammate. "She can see over great distances and even right through thick foliage or solid walls. She can see the chakra network of any living creature so there is no illusion in the world that can fool her."

The girl blushed. "And ... And ... And Kiba-san has a really, really good nose! I won't always be able to use my Byakugan b-b-because it takes up a lot of c-c-chakra so he can scan an area in place of me when n-n-needed. He is also the best person to stand guard when the rest of us sleep because his ears are so good that the slightest sound will wake him right up!"

Kiba shot her a mock glare. "Are you saying that I have to guard your ass the whole time we're out on missions?"

Hinata looked away with red cheeks. "Ano ... demo ... Kiba ... Kiba-san is a b-b-big, scary g-g-guy ... N-No one will attack us if ... if you're s-standing guard!"

Kurenai burst out laughing, unable to keep it down. "Good, good! I am impressed that you have chosen to answer for one another rather than for yourselves. Whilst it is one thing to know the limits of your own capability, it is sometimes more important to know the strengths and weaknesses of your comrades as well. Only then will you know what to expect of them in any situation, and when you should step up to help them out. This is the essence of teamwork, and I'm proud to see that you've got lots of it! Now, tell me ... what is my role then?"

The two genin turned back to her.

"Ano ... ano ... Kurenai-sensei is a g-g-g-genjutsu specialist!"

"Yeah, while the bad guys are running around blindly under your spell, Hinata-san's Byakugan and my nose won't be affected at all!"

Kurenai smiled. "Correct. I'm pleased to see that you understand your role-play very well. We are essentially bred for reconnaissance as you have said. I was on such a team myself when I was a genin, and now I have the honor of leading one. There are three I's that define us, as my own sensei once told me. Intelligence, invisibility and immediate response. We are the ones that don't have the luxury of time as powerful teams bred solely for combat are waiting on our information before they can make their move. We have to be tactically more skillful than anyone else in our chakra control as we will need a lot of it just to stay hidden. I can tell you it is not going to be easy. However, as we have just discussed, you are the Hokage's top picks for this kind of team, in other words the Hokage himself thinks you have what it takes to do the job. So start believing in yourself. And yes, Kiba, if you could be so kind as to stand watchfully over us ladies when we are camping out there, Hinata and I will cook you a nice, big breakfast every following morning!"

He turned away and scoffed. "Hmph!"

Hinata tittered behind her hand.

A short while later, Kurenai calls them to attention. "Alright, you two. Let's tell you about what we'll be doing for today. This is a little challenge I spent all of last night dreaming up for you, so please be grateful about it! Here's the scenario ... A special cursed scroll has been stolen. You will play the role of a recon team infiltrating an enemy base to gather military intelligence. Your mission is very simple. Pinpoint the exact location the scroll is kept. This building here ..." she said, sweeping an arm toward the structure behind her.

"This is a dojo owned by one of our older retired jounin and he was kind enough to let me use it for this training. You can expect a number of concealed traps awaiting intruders within. I have also enlisted several of my colleagues to post as enemy-nin and they could be hiding anywhere at this point. They will not hesitate to attack you should you draw too much attention to yourself. This simulation exercise is as real as it gets, so be on full alert! You have exactly one hour. Get in, learn whatever you can and then make your way to the Hokage's Tower. I will be keenly awaiting your report. Don't forget that you are a recon team and your job is not to make contact with the enemy if you can help it. Let's put everything you have learnt so far to the test. Now, are there any questions?"

Kiba spoke up. "What if we are unable to locate the scroll within one hour?"

"Well, simply put, you would have failed your mission. It is not uncommon to face mission where a time limit is posted. Sometimes ninja steal powerful scrolls from other villages just so they can destroy them."

She waited a few moments but no one said anything else. "Well, then! As it seems there are no more questions, I assume that both of you are well aware of the stakes in this challenge. Even it is a simulation, I want you to do your best!" She paused and pulled out a stopwatch. "You now have exactly ten minutes to discuss the facts and go about whatever preparations you feel necessary before they start counting down the hour. Best of luck, Kiba. And Hinata."

Kurenai folded her arms in a cross over her chest and evaporated into thin air, obviously the effect of one of her genjutsu. She is gone. The two genin looked at one another.

"Well ... Well, this is interesting. You ready for this, Hinata-san?"

The Hyuuga girl reached into her pouch and produced a blank scroll. "Here, take it."

"It's blank? What's it for?"

"Remember what Kurenai-sensei said about giving her a report of our findings? I think it's a good idea to write down stuff we might need to remember later. Like how many enemy shinobi there are on base, or where the traps are located, how many rooms there are and such."

Kiba looked at her, impressed. "Wow ... looks like you're all prepared for this, Hinata-san! I have no idea what we're up against, but you seem to have everything figured out already! That is so cool."

She blushed and shook her head. "N-No ... I just h-happen to carry a few blank scrolls with me on ... on habit. I was always afraid that I won't be able to remember stuff."

"Oh, come on! You had the insight to be prepared for all kinds of situations. Me, all I can think about is whose butt I'm going to kick next! I suppose I'm not really cut out for all this recon stuff. But you know so much, Hinata-san. I got a lot I want to learn from you."

It thrilled the girl to think that someone would regard her as superior to themselves and even want to use her as a role model. As the Hyuuga Heiress, she had no shortage of support and praise. Unfortunately, they all came from the regular Leaf villagers and smaller branch families and did not mean all that much to her. The people whose opinion really mattered did not seem very impressed. Her father is a good guess to start with.

But her teammate ... is he someone who mattered? The answer, as she thought about it, is yes. Of course he mattered. They are teammates. They are going to be spending time together pretty much everyday for the rest of their lives as shinobi. And he thought she was a cool person. That was good enough. It can be said that for the first time in Hinata Hyuuga's life a true smile, a genuinely contented smile, spread across her face.

"Kiba-san? It's ... It's time for us to go!"

"Ah! Kuso! We must not be late! We've got scroll to save! Okay, Hinata-san, let's shake up this side of Konoha!! WROOOOAAAAAAAARRR!!"

"K-Kiba-san! W-We're supposed to b-b-be quiet! Recon ..."

"Oh, sorry."

--

A/N – Oh no! I did it again! I was kind of expecting to throw out some heavy action this chapter, but you see, I sometimes end up flowing down a different direction when I write. I've learnt that it is sometimes best to just go with that flow. Didn't think I was going to end up doing a whole chapter of nothing but conversation! In any case, you can expect them to move more actively the next chapter. I just needed to get out one more chapter to strengthen the bond between Kiba and Hinata as teammates. Look forward to a lot of interaction with a lot of other characters in future!