Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the original characters.
Author Note: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter
"Naruto, can you please get off of me?"
The muffled voice of Shouto brought a tiny frown on Naruto's face as she rubbed her head. The last thing she recalled before jumping off of the rails was a huge mud slide and her boyfriend's panic eyes. It was not like this was the most unexpected thing to happen to her but it was rather disturbing for her not to see this would happen.
A sharp pain erupted from her thigh and the blonde blinked as she looked down. Blue eyes widened at the sight of a rather familiar muscular body, whose legs and arms were sprawled like he was making a snow angel. The blonde knitted her eyebrows together and closer attention, Naruto finally heard the sound of the boy's labored breath. Her peach colored cheeks turned a bright shade of red at the knowledge that the boy's was right underneath her.
"S-Sorry!" Naruto scrambled off of the boy and held her hand out to him, not once making eye contact with him. Warm hands grabbed her own and Shouto pulled himself up. Once the blonde was certain her heart was not going to die from a heart attack, she looked back at him. Red was the colour painted on the boy's cheeks as a few droplet of blood tickled out of his nose, hitting the ground.
Shouto rubbed his nose. "It's not a problem."
"Your nose is bleeding!" Naruto pointed out as her hand reached out to rub the tickle of nose blood. Her voice sounded so high-pitch that it would not surprise her if the animals could have heard her. Was this her fault? Maybe she shouldn't have mocked Sakura and Ino whenever they did their diets. Dear god, she was so heavy that she broke his nose!
The mismatched boy frowned and rubbed the dirt off from his clothes. "Not your fault."
She raised a single eyebrow when the boy did not meet her eyes. His cheeks only burned a brighter shade of red, only making the blonde even more curious to know the cause of his blush. It was not like him to show this level of embarrassment but his eyes were not meeting her and that tickle of blood reminded her of…
Oh god!
"Y-You saw," Naruto muttered, trying to keep the embarrassment from leaking out of her voice. Her cheeks felt scotching hot at the knowledge that the boy had taken a peek at her underwear. She inhaled and exhaled, trying to slow down the thunderous traitor that she had to call her heart.
Groans erupted all around them, reminding the blonde that it was not just the two of them here. One by one, the members of Class A began to push themselves up from the ground. A few of them stumbled but quickly managed to regain their bearing while others glared at the cliff. Looming over them was Aizawa-sensei and the two females heroes.
"Since this is private land, you can use your Quirks as you wish," one of the female heroes yelled. "You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet after getting through…the Beast's Forest."
Naruto pressed her lips into a very thin line and looked to the forest at question. Hundred of trees lined up in front of them, each one taller and larger than the tree in front of them. The thick vines decorated the trees alongside the dark shadows loomed over the forest did not give the image of a peaceful forest. If anything it looked a little bit threatening but not as threatening as the forest used in her Chunin Exams.
Nothing could ever be more terrifying then the Forest of Death if you asked her.
"The Beast's Forest?" Midoriya muttered.
The students of Class A gulped and paled, looking as white as a ghost. They did not cry or whimper and Naruto only stared at her classmates. She could not mirror their feelings even if she wanted to. No fear crept up in her stomach after all. Nothing really came to her mind at the mention of the name bestowed on the forest before them.
After a few seconds, the girl finally found the words to break the terror-filled silence between them.
"Well it sounds less terrifying," Naruto said lightly, shoving her hands into her skirt pocket. "It could be worse. I mean the forest could be called the Forest of Death."
Kirishima swirled his head and stammered. "A-Are you trying to make a joke right now? Because this isn't the time for you to be joking around!"
Her classmates nodded their heads in agreement and the whiskered teen only shrugged her shoulders. She began to scan the forest. Nothing looked out of the oridinary. The trees did not move around nor could she make out any beasts. There was not a single sound uttered in the forest except for the occasional squeak from some squirrel that was far away from them.
A blur of a rounded purple shot past her and Naruto raised a single eyebrow. Mineta zipped past all of them, not looking one bit like he was willing to wait for them to discuss things, and dashed straight towards the first massive tree that loomed over them. "Bathroom, bathroom—bathroom!"
"I didn't know that he could run this fast for anything wasn't a pair of boobs and ass," Naruto commented. The boys choked at her choice of words while the female members of Class A bobbed their heads in agreement.
The ground rumbled at that moment, shaking everyone on their feet like they were in the middle of a bounce castle. It was soon followed by a rumbling roar that pierced through the air. Naruto kept her expression completely blank as a beast crept out of the forest. Its heavy massive claw dug into the dirt and its jaws began to part. The sight of the beast's teeth made Naruto knit her eyebrows.
She might be imagining things but the teeth looked like a bunch of sharp rocks.
The beast raised its paw and Mineta froze. The scrunched up expression on his face faded as his piss coated his pants, making a huge stain on the crotch of his pants. Naruto closed her eyes and channeled her chakra to her legs before dashing straight to the beast, as a green blur zipped right past her.
She curled her hands into a fist, pushing it backwards like an archer bow before swinging her fist towards the beast. Its cries pierced through the air. Its body crumbled until it was nothing but dirt on the ground. Naruto looked down at her fist, inspecting the dirt that coated her fist before looking back at her wide-eyed classmates.
Midoriya cradled Mineta and his eyes were fixated on the dirt that had just been the beast.
"I-It was rocks," Kouda stammered.
Naruto nodded and rubbed the dirt against her pristine white shirt. She knelt down to the ground, fixating her eyes against the dirt as her mind tried to think of what just happened. Another rumbled followed by a quick roar echoed in the air. The whiskered teen picked up the broken rock that had been apart of the beast and bobbed her head at the realization of what was to come.
"If these are rocks then it is safe to say that they are being manipulated," she picked up the broken rock and threw it against the tree. Groans came out of the students and Naruto pushed herself back into standing position. She caught sight of their annoyance but it was Midoriya's reaction that made her pause. His eyes burned with curiosity, a little bit of excitement and weariness.
A frown played on Midoriya's lips. "You think that we are going to be attacked by the same beast?"
The blonde bobbed her head as more beast began to crept out of the forest.
"I don't think we will be able to reach there by our designated time limit if they are going to send these things after us!"
The sight of their temporary lodge made Shouto relax his shoulders. It had been five hours since they began their journey and only now they reached the cabin. He flickered his eyes to his classmates. Dirt covered their clothes and scratches decorated their arms and legs. Even though they had the help of Naruto's clones, it had not been enough to deal with those beasts.
He sighed and regarded the whiskered teen beside him. Out of everyone in their class, Naruto looked the least exhausted and she had done the most work. The beasts kept charging at his girlfriend, trying to slow her down but the blonde kept swinging her fist and using her clones to stop them. Even when the beasts weren't charging towards her, the girl sent clones to help out everyone.
"Well you guys took your sweet time," Pixie Bob called out. The blond-haired heroine had a bright, eager smile playing on her lips but it did not escape Shouto's eyes that the woman was covered with sweat. The pro-hero trembled and looked almost as exhausted as them. Then again if Naruto and Midoriya were right then it meant this was the heroine who slowed them down.
"You guys came three hours earlier than expected," Mandalay added, quirking her lips into a smile. The heroine tapped her finger against her chin while his classmates glared at the woman for the reminder. "We expected all of you to reach here by the time that the sun set down."
His classmates groaned and looked at the woman with eyes wide with disbelief before promptly crashing down to the ground. Some of the students clutched their stomach or in the case of Uraraka, her mouth. A few like Midoriya and Bakugou clutched their arms and legs. Shouto flexed his fingers and flickered his eyes to the slight ice coating on his right arm.
"I'm going to starve to death!" Sero grumbled, clutching his stomach. The other students nodded as their stomachs erupted with growls that pierced through the air. None of the adults smiled nor offered them a smile of an apology, only chuckling or laughing in the case of Pixie Bob. Aizawa raised an eyebrow. Sero scowled. "Even with Uzumaki's clones and super strength, we couldn't get rid of those beast fast enough!"
Naruto grunted and wiped the sweat off of her forehead, lips curled into a scowl. She threw a glare at Pixie Bob before directing the glare at Aizawa, who did not look put off by the girl's glare. He only nodded but Shouto could almost see the faint amusement shinning through their teacher's eyes.
Shouto had to give the man some credit because Naruto's glares could be terrifying at times. Other times, they were nice or maybe he believed that because he liked it when her eyes darkened to a shade of a deep blue. The kind of blue that would remind him of oceans during a heavy storm. It was quite easy for him to get lost in her eyes.
"You look like the least injured person here," Mandalay said to Naruto with a tiny smile playing on her lips. Her eyes focused on the 15-year-old girl as everyone turned to look at Naruto. The blonde had no scratches on her face or any part of her body. No bruises either. The only sign of her hard work was the dirt that covered her uniform and the sweat pouring out of her body.
"My Quirk allows me to heal quickly as well," Naruto rubbed the back of her neck and let out a small groan as a clear pop echoed in the air. Her blue eyes darted to their classmates before rounding back to the impressed heroine. "And it isn't like this is my first rodeo."
The last part was as loud as a whisper but Shouto heard it loud enough. None of their classmates seemed to have heard his girlfriend's last comment or they would not have looked with the girl with envy for having an ability that allowed her to heal quickly. The whiskered teen sighed and rubbed her shoulders.
Kirishima looked up from his seat on the ground and fixated his red eyes on Naruto. "Thanks Naruto for clearing the way for us! I know that you could have left us and get here without troubling yourself with us! We wouldn't have been able to get here without you!"
Shouto nodded and regarded the quiet blonde. His girlfriend quirked her lips into a tiny smile but her bright blue eyes lit up with surprise and it was not long before she rubbed the back of her neck. Naruto looked away from the beaming Kirishima, focusing her eyes on him. He smiled slightly at the sight of pink lips wobbling at the gratitude being directed at her.
"I couldn't just let you guys deal with those beasts by yourselves," Naruto inhaled and twisted her head around to give their classmates a wide smile. "I'm not a heartless person who would abandon her classmates because I'm starving."
Everyone smiled widely and Shouto only patted her shoulders as his mismatch eyes focused on Naruto. The girl might have been smiling but he knew the whiskered teen struggled when people expressed gratitude. The wobble on her lips alongside the fake smile playing on her lips meant that the girl was trying to cover up her emotions to them.
"You really had me going the extra mile with my Quirk," Pixie Bob giggled. "I thought I wouldn't have to make more beasts than I can handle but you kids are a terrific batch of kids. Oh yeah, you guys are great but especially you five!"
Pixie Bob pointed her gloved hands to them. Her blue eyes flickered from Naruto before moving onto Bakugou, Midoriya, Iida and then finally landing on them. Shouto felt his stomach turned at the hunger shining through her eyes and inched closer to Naruto. His girlfriend pressed her lips into a thin line and her eyebrows twitched.
"All five of you didn't lack hesitance when it came to attacking my beast," Pixie Bob licked her lips. "I take it that it came from the experience that you have acquired?"
Silence hung in the air as Shouto stared at the eager heroine in front of him. He knitted his eyebrows together, mismatch eyes focused on the tensed girl beside him. Was it obvious that they all gained experience in some way? Could the heroine tell that his girlfriend was probably the most experienced one between them? The blond-haired woman smiled even wider.
Pixie Bob licked her lips and before he could even blink, the woman launched herself at them. "I'm looking forward to where you five will be in three years! I call dibs!"
"Why the hell is she including me with you four!" Naruto grumbled, raising her arms up as Pixie Bob scratched them. The woman hissed while the blonde narrowed her eyes at the woman. "If I knew I was going to be attacked by an old—"
Blue eyes glinted dangerous and Shouto lowered the temperature, ready to make the woman slip and fall down. He stopped lowering the temperature when Naruto shook her head at him, grabbing his wrist. No words were spoken between them as blue eyes darted to the forst covering his jaw and hands. He knew of what the girl requested him not to do and Shouto exhaled.
Pixie Bob lurched past him and slapped her paw over Naruto's lips. "Do you wish to finish that sentence."
"By a young lady," Naruto finished lamely. The blond-haired heroine smiled widely and withdrew her gloved hand away from Naruto's face. His girlfriend relaxed her shoulders before leaning it against his own shoulder. Why must she insist that he shouldn't use his Quirk? The frost might burned his own hand but it was not like this would have been the first time he overused his Quirk.
"You should have let me stop her," he whispered into her ear, lips pressed into a thin line. Shouto darted his eyes to their classmates, who still gawked at them or rather at Naruto. Blue eyes darted at Aizawa before rounding back at him.
The whiskered teen focused her attention on the ice decorating his arms. "You already overused your Quirk while fighting those beasts. Besides, I doubt the woman was going to actually hurt me."
"She looked like she wanted to murder you for daring to point out her age," Shouto observed, mismatch eyes focused on Pixie Bob. The woman now seemed to have decided that she was done marking them because she returned back to her original position beside Mandalay. "You are already exhausted from your use of clones and fighting those beast. You don't need the added attack from her."
The whiskered teen quirked her lips into a smile. "I might be exhausted but it isn't like I'm the worst one off. If I actually overdone it with my Chakra then I would have collapsed by now. If anyone look like they have overdone it then it is you. You look like you are going to become one half of an ice sculpture."
Her voice was low and quiet but Shouto saw the concern in her eyes as they locked onto the frost covering his arm and face. He probably did look like a sight to her. But it had been a good idea at the time for him to use his right side over his left. If the mere sight of frost worried her then how would she have reacted to burn scars? He darted his eyes at the trembling girl beside him.
She probably would have been more worried sick and that made his stomach churn.
"If you don't mind me asking but whose child is that?" Midoriya cleared his throat and pointed to the boy who had been accompanying the two heroines. Mismatch eyes flashed with curiosity as the boy glowered at them. He tilted his head to the right and knitted his eyebrows together into one thin line.
Naruto leaned closer to him and Shouto darted his eyes to the whiskered teen. At first glance, it looked like his girlfriend was indifferent to the boy but he spent a long time observing the girl to know when she was sympathetic. Her blue eyes looked slightly softer, no longer looking like hard gems but more like the open sky above them. Her shoulders trembled too like it always did whenever she watched some sad movie.
He flickered his eyes at their classmates, who seemed more focused on the little boy, before poking the girl on the rib. Naruto swirled her head and Shouto looked down at her. "Are you okay, Naruto? You look really sad."
"He has the same eyes as me," Naruto commented.
Shouto nodded and looked to the boy glaring at them. Black eyes radiated with anger, hatred alongside an emotion that the mismatch boy came to identify with Naruto. It was an emotion he knew well too despite the fact he had three siblings. Loneliness shone through his eyes. What did the boy went through? Definitely something terrible because emotion like those, did not come from an easy life. He darted his eyes back to Naruto.
His eyes softened when he saw the hidden sadness in her eyes.
"Him?" Mandalay offered a calm smile as she gestured to the scowling kid. "He is not one of ours if that is what you are wondering. He is my cousin's kid. Come on, Kouta. Greet everyone! You are going to be with them for a week."
The boy scowled deepened at the reminder and he lowered his hat. Shadows fell underneath his face, not allowing Shouto to figure out what was going through the kid's head. He darted his eyes to Naruto. The girl only had a small frown decorating her lips as her eyes inspected the boy. The tiny nod in her movement made him think that she knew what was the boy's behaviour.
"Oh, um, hi! I'm Midoriya from Yuuei High School's hero course," Midoriya knelt down and offered the little boy a hand. "Nice to meet you."
The wind swished behind him and everyone blinked when Naruto pulled Midoriya out of the way. Her hand caught the tiny fist of Kouta and everyone just stared at the blonde. Annoyance shone through her blue eyes as the little boy gawked at the girl, who ran in the blink of an eye. Mumbles broke out between the students as they gazed at the girl, who had been keeping them together.
"Aren't you a little brat?" Naruto narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line as Kouta glared at her. "Did your cousin tell you that it is okay to hit guests? Because last time I check, only rude, disrespectful brats do these kind of things."
Everyone kept quiet as Kouta and the other heroes gawked at Naruto. The whiskered teen pushed the hand away, clicked her heels together and began walking away. From right behind her, the little boy glared at the blond-haired girl while Mandalay eyed her nephew. "Y'know if you wanna glare at me, go ahead because I ain't going to give a shit!"
"I thought heroes are meant to give a shit!" Kouta retorted. His eyebrows raised up to his hairline as he gawked at the blond-haired girl. Iida took a step forward, red eyes lit up with disappointment and anger but Shouto pulled the boy back. The girl was already trembling from rage. If the boy made any comment then Naruto would snap since her eyes did not look like she was ready for a round of scolding from the boy.
The blonde paused and swirled her head at him. "And let me ask you this? How the hell am I supposed to give a shit when you glare at me? You think I'm going to let a little brat like you walk all over me. I ain't stupid and you tried to hit my classmate. If you have a fucking problem with heroes then I don't give a shit. But don't ever hit someone when they are being nice to you!"
Aizawa pressed his lips into a thin line and took a step forward. "Uzumaki—"
"—Mind your language and remember that you are talking to a kid," Naruto chanted as if she had been told a thousand time. Aizawa frowned and regarded the blonde but his girlfriend only cleared her throat and looked away from the man. "I will think about what I did while I go unpack my bag."
Silence hung over them like a heavy blanket as the students watched the girl stormed off into the lodge. Most of the boys knitted their eyebrows while the girl exchanged glances, unsure of what just happened. Shouto only stared at the trembling back that belonged to Naruto. There was a time for them to talk and that anger in her eyes told him that she was not in the mood to talk about what just happened.
"I have never seen Uzumaki-chan this angry before," Uraraka commented. She darted her eyes to Midoriya and then flickered to Bakugou. "Has Uzumaki-chan ever been this angry? She is always so calm and collected like nothing can ever bother her."
No one could answer that question.
I have seen a lot of brats in my life but that little piece of shit took the medal of being the most disrespectful kid I have ever seen!
Naruto clenched her jaw together and slammed her shirt on the ground. Sunlight tickled down from the window, highlighting the fact the room was bare. She unrolled her sleeping bag, pushing it right close to the window. The groans and screams that pierced through the air announced the arrival of Class B, who were probably two hours late compared to them.
There was a knock to the door and Naruto paused. Taking a deep breath, the whiskered teen channeled chakra to her ears. The light breathing hinted it was neither Bakugou nor Midoriya. Both teens always breathed like they drank a whole bottle of coffee. Shouto was possible but he knew better than to talk to her when all she wanted to do was punch a wall. She tightened her grip on her orange shirt.
"Uzuamki, it's me," Aizawa called out.
Naruto inhaled. "Come in."
The door slid opened and the whiskered teen turned her head around to stare at her teacher. Black eyes flashed with concern, making the whiskered teen paused at the emotion. Right the teacher cared about her. He was not the type of teacher or hero who could ignore when someone was furious. She sighed. Aizawa was a good man who wouldn't leave her alone in an empty room to calm down.
Aizawa locked eyes with her, lips pressed into a very thin line. "Do you want to tell me what was going through your head?"
"And what makes you think something was going through my head?" Naruto retorted. She pulled out her spare snack from her back pack, tore open the packet and began munching down the sweet. The loud munches bounced off the walls as the girl pressed her lips into a very thin line.
The man sighed. "I knew something was on your mind when you figured out what the boy planned to do to Midoriya."
Birds chirped and the chatter of Class B echoed in the quiet room as Naruto gazed at the man. So what if she figured things out? Anyone would have seen it coming when they saw that hate and how his hand curled into a fist. The blonde scowled. Midoriya had been trying to be nice to the kid and he tried to shove that kindness to his face.
"I fought through 200 beasts," Naruto leaned her back backwards and slid both hands behind her shoulder. "It could be exhaustion talking, Aizawa-sensei. Y'know people say stuff when they are exhausted."
Aizawa pressed his lips into a thin line and knelt down till they were both at eye level. Black eyes scanned her as if he was trying to figure out what was going through her mind. There was no judgment in his eyes or accusation in his eyes. Only kindness and exhaustion flashed through his eyes. Then again it felt like nothing she ever did would make the man hate her.
"Uzumaki, I have seen you when you are very exhausted," Aizawa exhaled and placed his hand on top of her shoulder. "You never behave this way when it comes to Eri-chan or even to the children of your customers."
Naruto pressed her hands against her forehead, only to jerk her hand away at the realization that her headband was no longer plastered on her forehead. She gazed at the black-haired man. The curiosity made her stomach curled with guilt but she shoved it away. Maybe there could have been a better way but he wanted to punch Midoriya.
Midoriya, who did not have a mean bone in his bone and the same Midoriya who liked helping people. He did not deserved to get punch in the gut and just remembering what could have happened, made her want to smash her hand against the wall.
"They are different," she pulled out her pants and looked out at the window, blue eyes hardened. "Especially Eri-chan."
Aizawa thinned his lips and nodded. "What is the difference for you, Uzumaki? Eri-chan and Kouta are both children."
Naruto slumped her shoulders and stared at the concern, curious of her teacher. Her throat tightened at the knowledge that he was actually trying to understand what went through her mind. Would he actually be able to empathize with her? Did he really want to know why she treated them differently? Of course he did because the teacher never abandoned her.
He gave her a second chance when anyone else would have labelled her a monster.
"Eri-chan doesn't act like a little piece of shit," she cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. "She looks at you and you can just tell that she is just happy to have you in her life. That little piece of shit—"
"—We don't call children little piece of shit," Aizawa reprimanded her.
Naruto wrinkled her nose. "Fine, Kouta acts like the world revolves around him and that he is the only one with a tough life."
Stop moping!
You think people give a crap that you lost your parents? You think the other kids give a shit! They don't care. You aren't the first orphan!
She clenched her jaws. That little piece of shit reminded her of her own crappy behaviour and he really had to remind her of how stupid she was to believe that a fellow orphan could understand her pain. Naruto took in a deep breath, clenched her hands into a fist as her eyes looked out to the window. A hero should never say those words. A good person should never make that kind of comment.
But as someone who had been an orphan from the moment she had been born, Naruto could never understand people who just took out their anger on someone else. Her throat tightened as lifeless eyes flashed through her mind alongside a pair of mismatch eyes. People went through crap even when they had parents. Naruto nodded her head. It did not give a person any right to take it out on an innocent people.
"Do you know why he acts like that?" Aizawa gave her a knowing look and the whiskered teen clenched her jaws together. "I know out of all the students in this lodge that you figured him out quickly. Other then Midoriya, you are very attune with children."
Naruto eyed him. "He might be an orphan but it doesn't mean we have a right to act little shit. People will blame us for the fact that we don't have parents to teach us right from wrong. That sympathy card? It works for people who never lost their parents but it means shit when you already experienced the pain."
Aizawa held his hand out and patted her back. His eyes did not look at her like he was disappointed by her explanation or that he felt pity for her strange views. Kakashi-sensei was similar except he never talked to her of her actions towards Inari. Then again, he always seemed to understand the real meaning behind her words alongside Sasuke. She guessed it was because he was a Jounin.
"But it is still pain," her teacher reminded her quietly. "The pain you experienced is different from the pain he experienced, but the hurt that you have should be something that you should be able to connect with him."
The blonde stared at the warm black eyes of her teacher. Was the hurt the same thing? Irritated black eyes flashed before her and her throat tightened again. Their pain and hurt should be similar but it didn't make it the same. Naruto inhaled and closed her eyes. Just because the pain was still pain, it did not mean that connected people.
The way she got through people was make some big speech and punch them, but that did not always work.
"I know of pain but it doesn't mean I can understand it," Naruto commented quietly. "You can't understand something that you never had. If I tell him my life story then that little shitty kid would tell me that my pain wasn't born from the destruction of a family that I knew. Maybe he will tell me that it is better that I have never known my parents and lose them, then to have known them and lose them."
Aizawa looked at her for the longest time before taking a seat right beside her. His eyes never looked at her, only focusing on the single cloud floating in the sky. The heavenly scent of food tickled her nostrils and her stomach rumbled like a bunch if elephants charging through the field. Naruto glared at her stomach and her teacher looked at her.
"That pain is still as painful as the pain of having known your parents," he commented. "It is a different kind of pain but like I told you, Uzumaki. That pain still makes you feel just as alone as those children."
Naruto kept quiet as cruel black eyes flashed before her eyes.
"I'm not going to apologize for my words," her eyes hardened and the girl exhaled. "He needs to hear it."
The Underground Hero sighed and lightly chopped her forehead. Naruto rubbed her head despite the fact she did not feel a light sting on her head. Curling her lips into a frown, the girl looked up at her teacher. His black eyes showed no emotions and the lack of scowl made her frown. A sigh escaped from the man's lips and he finally said:
"Just take this in mind when you deal with him, Uzumaki."
That was something that she could do.
(Konoha)
"You want to take some time off?"
Hinata nodded and smoothed the wrinkles in her lavender hoodie. Honey brown eyes inspected her before flickering down at the request form on the table. The morning sunshine peaked through the window while the birds sang a high-pitch song. In the corner of the room stood Shizune, who offered her a warm smile.
"I know I request in a such bad time," she tried to keep her tone calm as Tsunade pressed her lips into a thin line. "With the amount of money that have been lost due to the Uzumaki Clan requests but I want to check up on Naruto."
Tsunade pressed her lips into a thin line and opened the bottle of sake. The middle-aged woman poured the drink into her sake glass before taking a huge sip of her drink. Shizune stared at her with wide eyes alongside the understanding in her eyes. The woman probably understood the best of what brought out her worry. The woman had been the one to calm her down when Naruto didn't respond to her.
The Fifth Hokage pushed herself off of the chair and walked towards the corner of the room. There were several drawers labelled from A-Z and the woman pulled out the file from middle of the shelves. Tsunade tucked the file under her arm pit before returning back to her seat. She dropped back to her seat and flipped through the file.
Even though Hinata stood right in front of Tsunade, the only thing she could really see was her photo. Her heart thundered against her chest and the blue-haired girl inhaled and exhaled. If Naruto-chan was here then she would make some joke to calm her down, except her best friend was not here any more. Her arms stopped trembling when the woman dropped the file.
"You and your team have been doing non-stop missions since the three of you became Chunin," Tsunade observed. She pressed her finger against the file and looked back at her with thoughtful eyes. "If you had come to me a few months ago then the request would be easy for me to grant. But Konoha's economy is now in a real-time low as I'm sure that your father had told you."
The blue-haired girl nodded. "Yes, the Uzumaki Clan had made reasonable request even if some of the merchant families disagreed with the taxes that have been imposed on."
The Fifth Hokage grunted and rubbed the side of her head while Hinata tried to hold back a smile from breaking off on her face. It was not in her nature to take delight of people's suffering but after witnessing Naruto break down…well it felt good to watch the merchants suffer. A few of her fellow yearmates felt pity towards them but Hinata wondered where that pity went when the whiskered teen crashed.
Where was that sympathy when Naruto had to endure Ami taunting her about her appearance? Or when a few of the civilian girls insuiated that Naruto was nothing but an idiot? That the girl was nothing but a lazy idiot. Hinata clenched her jaws together and exhaled. If Naruto-chan was here then she would tell her to calm down.
They are just jealous that they can't be as awesome as me!
That was always Naruto's excuse for those little spiteful girls.
"I can't grant you a month long holiday to check up on her when the economy is bad," Tsunade commented. The woman waved her hand and darted her eyes to the four dark corners of her office. Hinata slumped her shoulders, only to blink at the amused twinkle in the Fifth Hokage's eyes. "But I can give you and your team a two month long recon mission over there."
The blue-haired girl blinked. "T-Two months?"
"There are already a couple of chunin and jounin who have been sent to Japan to do research on the world outside of the Elemental Countries," the woman explained. Hinata blinked and blinked as her mind struggled to process what the Hokage had just informed her alongside the mission. "Each team have been deployed to a different city for research purpose but your team can be stationed with Jiraiya."
Hinata felt her throat tightened at the knowledge that the woman was very much willing to give her an opportunity to reunite with her friend. Tears burned through her eyes but the girl rubbed it away. Composure. She needed to keep her composure in front of the Hokage. It might not have been her original plan but Kiba and Shino coming along would be fine.
Kiba-kun hadn't been the same either when it was announced Naruto had been exiled. Actually most of the boys hadn't been the same since the announcement. Hinata exhaled. The one who had been affected the most by the exile had been Shikamaru. It had never been stated but the boy did blame himself for the predicament that Naruto had been in.
"Why are you giving my team the honor?" Hinata cleared her throat. "Shikamaru-kun and Choji-kun would be just as pleased to check up on Naruto-chan."
Tsunade looked at her for the longest time. "I watched you struggle to snap Naruto out of her slump and from what both Jiraiya and Kakashi told me, you are her best-friend. Naruto directed that apology to you and we all know how stubborn that girl can be when it comes to apologizing."
Hinata sighed and nodded her head. If the whiskered teen was here then she would protest over the fact that she was incapable of apologizing for her behavior. The blue-haired girl curled her lips into a smile before looking down at her hoodie. Throughout the whole Sports Festival, she had seen a change in Naruto.
A change that Hinata wanted to confirm for herself was a good change or not.
Was that school really helping Naruto-chan? Because it looked like it but Hinata couldn't be sure. She darted her eyes to the window before flickering her eyes to Shizune and Tsunade. Both women raised their eyebrow at her and the 15-year-old teen shook her head. There was no need for her to vocalize her concern about the school that Naruto chose to enroll.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade nodded and Hinata clicked her heels together. If she went over to the Inuzaka compound and the Abrume Compound then they could quickly pack their stuff. They would have to do a debrief and there would probably be a need for them to figure out their cover stories. But the knowledge that she could see her friend made her want to hum a small tune and hug everyone in the room.
"Hinata," the blue-haired girl stopped in her steps and turned around to look at the grim-eyes of Tsunade. "When you see Naruto, don't ever mention Uchiha Sasuke to her. I don't want to hear from Jiraiya that Naruto went back to that broken state because of that boy."
The blue-haired teen clenched her jaws together at the reminder of what Sasuke had done. Out of everyone in their graduating class, not once did she suspect he would go that far with Naruto. Not when he had been hopelessly in love with the girl since their first day of school. Not when the two of them grew up together. She grinded her teeth together and controlled the rage that wanted to spill out of her mouth.
"I will make sure that no one from my team will bring up any member from Team Seven," Hinata kept her eyes locked on Tsunade. "I'm not some thoughtless, temperamental girl like your apprentice. Naruto's happiness and well-being has always been my number one priority."
Until what happened that day between Naruto and Sasuke, not once did she allow herself to think badly of Sakura. The closest she had ever been to smacking the girl had been the day when the blonde told her that the pink-haired girl thought she had been lucky not to have parents. If it was not for the fact Naruto would have been upset, she would have smacked the girl.
If she had been Sasuke then Hinata would have done more then just call Sakura, annoying.
Tsunade nodded and poured another glass of sake.
"Good because I want you to give me an update on her mental health situation," the woman informed her. "Jiraiya might have been in giving me reports but you know Naruto better than anyone in this village. You can tell me whether or not if Naruto is beginning to recover from what happened in the Valley Of The End."
Author Note: Please do tell me of your thoughts on this chapter.