: Ulterior :

: going beyond what is openly said or shown and especially what is proper

: A secret motive

"-of intimidation. Eye contact is one of the most important key to prying out information. Glare at..."

Naruto felt his eyelids get heavier by the second.

"-But the monkey man refused to talk, so I used this technique and he told me the way to the royal bathrobe. So, you see..."

Naruto didn't even know if he was hearing right.

"Colobalalu pahawa mamemimo..."

Naruto was confused, he couldn't understand anything anymore.

"-Syntax! He told us, it was the syzygy!"

Yep, he's hearing things. No way are 'syntax' and 'syzygy' real words.

"But Kurenai, Asuma, and I finished the mission anyway... We did get the goldfish back, safely!"

Naruto's pen fell from his left hand after it was dragged from incredibly messy and almost illegible characters to unidentified symbols and scribbles on his notebook.

"Anyway. Interrogation is a really hard ninja art to master, Naruto. So-" Iruka came to an abrupt stop as he heard a loud snore.

The brunette let out a low groan. It was the third day in a row Naruto drifted off during a lesson, and they've been doing study sessions for three days too. He didn't know what to do.

He sighed. At least it wasn't as bad as the first day, when he literally wandered off and returning the next day claiming he heard a friend of his get hurt.

The Umino walked towards his student and took the blonde's notebook. At least he was trying to write.

With a heavy sigh, the brunette nudged the blonde, "Naruto. We'll continue this tomorrow"

Iruka decided. To find a technique to teach Naruto, is to think like Naruto!

Yes! He was very clever to come up with this idea! Now all he's gotta do is wear orange, always talk loudly without thinking, and say 'dattebayo' at every end of a sentence!

Iruka shook his head and got rid of his stupid idea. No way was it gonna work.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!"

The Umino's ear twitched as he heard the vendor's loud voice from his little stall. He shrugged, maybe ramen won't be so bad.

"Oji-san! Large seafood ramen!" Iruka ordered as he entered, taking a seat at the first chair that he grabbed.

"Oh, Iruka-sensei" He heard soft voice that he recognized, he turned and saw Hinata "Ah, you're here, too, Hinata-san"

She smiled and nodded.

Iruka noticed that the maiden kunoichi wasn't clad in her usual baggy and comfy attire, instead was wearing a rich, silk, purple kimono with Hyūga clan sign designs that looked like fire at the hems and edges of her kimono. Her hair was also kept in a neat bun with beads and a fancy Hyūga ornament. She looked expensive.

Hinata noticed and said "I-It's just my proper attire while being heiress"

"Really? Wow. Congratulations, then" He smiled, his former students were doing better than he actually expected, "Then why are you here?"

"Naruto-kun and I ate lunch" She said with tinted cheeks, she turned to Ayame and said "S-Speaking of... How much is it, Ayame-san?"

"Don't worry about it, it's already paid" The brunette girl informed, Hinata pouted and said "You shouldn't let him pay for my ramen, too, Ayame-san. He needs his money, you know"

"Don't be like that, Hinata~ He isn't spending it on anything else, anyway" Ayame teased "Let your boyfriend do it"

"b-Boyfriend?!" Iruka and Hinata screamed.

"Is that true, Hinata?! About you and Naruto?!" Iruka asked with a huge grin, it was finally happening! He foresaw this the day Hinata spoke highly of Naruto after being saved from bullies at lunch!

"E-Eh?! N-No! W-We aren't-" "Oh shucks, just say it, Hinata-san! I know it's your secret. But don't worry, father and I aren't loudmouths"

"B-But we're r-really not" Hinata denied with a red face "H-He's just kind, is all"

"Now that we're in the topic of Naruto" Iruka finally butted in, deciding it wasn't healthy for so much blood to rush to the face like that, "I don't know what to do with him"

"Nani?" Hinata asked, he sighed and said "Naruto, he keeps on dozing off during lessons and is having a hard time listening. I can't say he haven't changed, but he had, at least he wasn't interrupting my lessons anymore, that's good. But..."

"I..." The bluenette smiled, a look of determination crystal on her face, "I think I can help you, Iruka-sensei"

"Really? How?" Iruka asked, Hinata just stood up with a smile and said "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei. You'll see"

She walked out of the stand with the same look, plotting her genius plan, cackling in the depths of her mind, before jumping away from roof to roof.

"She's a strange girl, ain't she?" Iruka breathed out with an amused smile, he heard a throaty chuckle, Teuchi arrived with his ramen and said "Don't let Naruto hear you say that"

Iruka got his papers ready in their own private classroom, readying for day four.

Something about what Hinata said made him very curious of what's gonna happen today.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei! Let's do this thing, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed as he marched in the room with a determined face.

Iruka noticed that he looked... Different.

Maybe it was his hitai ate tied proudly around his forehead, or that burning motivation in his eyes.

No, Iruka finally noticed what was missing, "Where's your pen and notebook?"

"No need, Iruka-sensei. I forgot it, so I'll just write down everything I learned later, dattebayo!" The blonde claimed with a confident smile "Shino and Shikamaru can do it, then so can I!"

What?

One week straight, Naruto forgot his notebook. And one week straight, Iruka had been more than satisfied with the outcome of their lessons.

Was it because of what Hinata said she'll do? Maybe. Did some miracle happen and Naruto just started to enjoy studying? Probably.

Iruka shrugged, whatever it was, he was thankful.

He was about to return to the Academy, until he heard a soft giggle.

He turned to see the old swing Naruto used to hang out on before. It was already dusty and the grass around it was a little above three inches already.

But to his surprise, there he saw, Naruto writing away in a notebook, sitting on the grass and against the tree, and beside him sat was Hinata in a much more simple kimono, reading a book.

"What's up?" Naruto asked as he looked up from his notes, Hinata covered her mouth and said "I-It's just an interesting read"

Naruto raised a brow and asked "Can I see?"

"N-No! It's very cheesy, y-you're not into these types of books" Hinata nervously said "I-It's romantic, y-you wouldn't like it"

"Hah! I'm the most romantic guy there is!" The Uzumaki claimed "I'm practically king of cheese, too"

"N-No you're not" The Hyūga said in between laughs, the blonde jokingly rolled his eyes and said "I'm best with books, anyway! I'm practically writing my own book now!"

"Then what is it called?" Hinata asked with amusement, Naruto scribbled on the face of his notebook and showed it to her, "Five Million Words For a Headache!"

Hinata was thrown into a fit of giggles, Naruto then continued to joke "I swear! If this book gets published, it's gonna have 'from the apprentice of the author of Icha Icha Paradise', and it's gonna sell out, big time!"

Iruka stood at the distance with soft eyes, he shook his head and chuckled.

Maybe it was not for entirely being Hokage anymore, maybe, it was for an ulterior motive.

What's up?! It's the author again hehehe

I wanted to revolve this chapter around Iruka!

Since he attended as Naruto's father in the NaruHina wedding, I fugured he deserved his very own chapter hahahaha

Anyway, I wanted to show what Naruto and Hinata looks like in other people's perspective.

Like Ayame, someone who often sees them but not know their relationship personally, thinks they already are dating by the way they are acting and Iruka, who actually knew they would end up together since the Academy.

That aside!

Do you have any prompts, ideas, scenes, or plots that you wanna see here? Just comment down bellow!

See'ya in the next chapter!

-OrenjiRabenda