: effort :
: work done by the mind or body
Patting his stomach, Naruto let out a satisfied sigh as he laid down heavily on the hospital bed with a big grin, "Man! Ramen always hits the spot, dattebayo!"
He just got back from Ichiraku's for lunch, and just in time for his check-up before his class with Iruka-sensei, too! He surely was getting a hang of this time management thing.
And as if on que, the door opened and Naruto looked at his friend.
"Ino?" He asked "Where's Sakura-chan?"
"She's looking around the village for something" Ino shrugged "Apparently Tonton broke her necklace and is missing a bead, so Sakura volunteered to find it for her"
"Can't she just replace it with a new one? I mean, it's just a bead, dattebayo..."
"Apparently not. It's a real pearl with a small Konoha symbol embedded on it. All of the pearls on her necklace apparently has it so that they could tell Tonton apart from an impostor pig"
"A small pearl? No way is she gonna find that all on her own, dattebayo!" The Uzumaki pointed out, she nodded and said "I know, right?! I told her that she should at least let me help, but she said that I'd be able to help her if I'd cover for her. I swear, her skull's so thick that it made her forehead huge"
The two blondes fell silent.
Suddenly, Naruto stood up and opened the window, Ino glared at him and asked "What are you doing?!"
"I'll find Sakura-chan and tell her I'll take over" He said as he perched on the window "I swear that my eyesight's hell of a lot better than hers and that I can outnumber her by thousands. If anyone of us could find the pearl, I have a better chance than Sakura-chan, dattebayo"
"At least let me do your check up first, you idiot!" Ino scowled as she stomped her feet, Naruto grinned and said before jumping out, "Just check everything on the list! I'm perfectly fine just like always, dattebayo!"
And with that, the Uzumaki left without even a proper goodbye.
Ino huffed and checked everything on the list as he instructed, "That moron... I swear, I don't know what Hinata sees in that idiot"
"Oh man, I'm craving, I'm craving beef jerky" Kiba said as if he was dying, Hinata looked up at him with her hand on her chest in worry as Shino only sighed and said "I bought you three bags last night"
"I know, man! I went crazy and chowed it all down for dinner!" The Inuzuka cried out "Don't you understand?! I'm miserable! Miserable and broke!"
"Poor Kiba-kun..." Hinata sympathetically said, suddenly, an idea popped in her head.
Kiba felt a pair of familiar small hands wrap around his forearm, Hinata pulled on him with a cheerful smile and said "I managed to save up more than I need for the past two weeks, Kiba-kun! Let's go to the store and buy some beef jerky!"
She then let go the brunette's forearm with one hand and hooked her arms around Kiba's and Shino's, she smiled up at the Aburame and said "And then let's go to a café and get some cinnamon rolls and wild grass salads, too!"
"Alright! You're the best, Hinata!" Kiba cheered as Akamaru barked in agreement, he nodded and said "Akamaru's right! I'm suddenly glad you've been hanging out with Naruto a lot, he's been treating you food! Enough that you saved up enough for such a feast, Hinata!"
"I-It's not like that!" Hinata denied bashfully while blushing red "J-Just so happened that I had some!"
"HINATAAAAA!!!!!"
All of their ears twitched as they heard an awfully familiar voice yell from a distance along with continuous heavy footsteps.
The four looked up and saw Uzumaki Naruto himself running towards them.
With a screaching stop, Naruto suddenly put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her eyes with begging eyes.
"N-Naruto-kun? W-What is it?" Hinata asked, her face burning hotter and hotter as Naruto's begging eyes slowly seemed to turn into lost looking ones as he stared into her soul.
"I-Is there something wrong?" She asked again, snapping him back to reality, "Huh?"
Suddenly, he nodded and put his hand to his waist, "Hold on, let me remember..."
"I-Is there a problem?" She asked in worry, he nodded again and looked back to her "Yeah, I swear I had a problem, and I saw you guys and thought that you'd be able to help me. But when I looked into your eyes..."
His left hand graced up as he scratched the back of his head, he smiled shyly and admitted "I sorta forgot all of my problems somehow, dattebayo"
A puff of steam suddenly went out of Hinata's head as she burned extremely hot, "E-Eeeeh?!?!"
She swears, if her arms aren't hooked to Kiba's and Shino's right now, she would have fell and planted her face to the pavement. Her legs suddenly just felt like jelly!
Naruto then felt a looming presence and another burning a glare into his soul.
He then looked up from Hinata and saw Shino towering over him from her side and Kiba glaring at him at her other.
The Uzumaki paled in fear. Does Hinata notice this?!
"Beef jerky..." Kiba growled.
"Huh?" "Beef... Beef..." Naruto said, rubbing his chin as he looked down, he suddenly smiled and looked at Hinata, "Pork! I remember now! Hinata, Tonton lost something special, and I was hoping you'd help me find it, dattebayo!"
The blonde then explained the situation.
The Hyūga nodded, understanding the situation.
"Will you help me, Hinata?" Naruto asked, feeling as if he was weak under her sympathetic gaze.
"Y-Yes, yes! Of course, I will" Hinata said as she nodded.
"Great! Let's go, then!" The blonde cheered, suddenly grabbing her wrist and dragging her away, leaving her teammates in the dust with their jaws dropped.
"B-But... Beef jerky..."
"Here, Sakura-chan told me that a domesticated pig was last seen chasing something around here" Naruto said, stopping in the middle of a busy street.
Hinata looked around with a worried face and said "T-This looks bad... With all the people, the pearl could've been kicked around already"
"Can you use your Byakūgan?" He asked, she gasped and shook her head "N-Not here! You with a Hyūga using a Byakūgan together? I-It might make people think that they're in danger"
"You're right... I didn't realize how bad being awesome is until now, dattebayo..." The blonde said, making her giggle behind her hand, he then grinned and said "Good thing that you've been awesome all your life, Hinata! You already know the ups and downs!"
"A-Ah, I'm not a-awesome at all, Naruto-kun" The bluenette shyly denied modestly, he shook his head and said "No way! You're the awesomest person I know, dattebayo!"
Hinata blushed deep red.
Then something clicked, Naruto then said "I know! Ichiraku's just around the corner! We could blend in and hide there! Jī-san and Ayame won't mind, dattebayo!"
"O-Okay..!"
Ayame made sure not to do anything embarassing now. She was standing behind the counter as two of their favorite customers sat on the stools in mission mode.
Hinata had her Byakūgan activated as she sat silently beside Naruto, carefully scanning the area of her current 20 kilometer range.
Naruto, surprisingly, waited patiently for her progress, not even ordering a ramen for himself.
Teuchi stood stiffly, not wanting to distract the two ninjas before them.
The father and daughter rarely sees shinobi and kunoichi serious mode inside the village, so it was quite unsettling somehow to see the sunshiny duo like this.
Suddenly, Hinata's sharp gasp tore through the silent air, making Ayame jump and Teuchi flinch.
"We have to hurry! It's near a drain of a canal!" Hinata urgently informed, deactivating her Byakūgan and immediately running towards their target, Naruto quickly followed, not before saying "Thanks a bunch! We'll be back for dinner, dattebayo!"
As the two finally left...
"Ayame?" Ayame heard a sob from her father, she turned to ask what's wrong, but Teuchi immediately cried out "Thank you for not choosing to be a ninja!"
"I see it!" Naruto yelled, spotting a single small orb on the edge to fall into a drainage, "I got it!"
"Naruto-kun, no!" Hinata tried to stop him as he jumped to catch the pearl, but too late as he did, his force suddenly causing wind to push the pearl down.
"No!" They both yelped.
Hinata quickly looked around and found nobody else in the area, she quickly reactivated her Byakūgan and immediately spottef the bead once more, "The flow of the canal is fast, Naruto-kun!"
Naruto cursed under his breath, he then spotted a manhole and quickly opened it with minimal effort.
Hinata looked down, only to gag, "That is so unhygienic..."
"I'll go down, you lead me to it" Naruto said as he climbed down the ladder, Hinata pouted and quickly shook her head "I-I'm coming with-"
"Nope! It's gross down here, you're not going!" Naruto sternly said, pulling the cover over the hole, Hinata gasped and tried to open the lid again with all her strength, only to fall on her behind to no avail.
Just how strong was Naruto-kun?
Hinata pouted, she then activated her Byakūgan and found Naruto underground, standing on sewage water.
She shivered in disgust. "Oh, poor Naruto-kun" She thought "I'm really sorry"
"Hey, Hinata! Can you hear me?!"
Hinata read his lips, how is this gonna work?
"No! But I can read your mouth!" She attempted to see if he'd hear. She saw his ear twitch.
He saw him hold up a thumbs up and he mouthed, "Where is it?"
Hinata quickly brainstormed of an idea to lead him, and the best she could think of was-
"Marco!"
She suddenly flinched as she saw blood rush to his face as he started to scream profanities that she refused to read.
Meanwhile...
"Marco!"
Hinata's voice reached Naruto's sensitive ears. Naruto suddenly felt irked, "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO THE HELL IS MARCO?! THAT BASTARD BETTER BACK OFF, DATTEBAYO!! I SWEAR! WHEN I GET BACK UP THERE I'LL-"
Back to Hinata.
She started pacing, how is she going to do this?
As she began to trail a bit farther, she saw Naruto's head flinch up, he then jogged and stopped underneath her, he then said in surprise "I think I can sense you, dattebayo"
Hinata quickly shook her head and sent chakra to her feet to tap on the ground, sending vibrations of morse code, "Good. Follow"
He seemed to have understood. Hinata started slow and picked up pace, testing Naruto's sensing ability.
The Hyūga started running in a fast pace, after the pearl, trying to out run the current.
She also tried to see what's going on and how Naruto is sensing her, but nothing seemed to have changed to his chakra flow from his usual casual flow and now.
Hinata decided to ignore Naruto now and focus on the pearl, its route, her path, and her surrounding.
With the speed they are travelling, Hinata wasn't surprised to have seen the wall closing in.
She gathered chakra to her feet and jumped over the wall protecting their village from the outside world.
As she followed the pearl, she suddenly felt something off.
"Where's Naruto-kun?"
She extended her vision back as she stopped on her tracks, she then saw Naruto sizing up the bars that was filtering the sewage water, he didn't seem to fit between them.
She couldn't help but hold back a laugh when he transformed into Konohamaru and slipped through the bars, then returning to his normal self.
She saw him stand under her again, she nodded and continued to run after Tonton's pearl.
Soon enough, they reached where the sewage was leading to, a strong river.
Hinata, seeing it, gathered chakra to her feet, ready to jump down and dive in after the pearl, but Naruto's voice suddenly echoed out from the sewage pipe, "Don't dive in!"
As Naruto jumped out and stood on the river, he ran the opposite way and held out his arm.
"Jump down!" He yelled, Hinata only nodded and jumped, preparing to stand on water, but he quickly grabbed her and wrapped his arm around her knees, sitting her on his shoulder.
He stopped running and let the river push them to its speed, balancing the two of them.
"Y-You can put me down, Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled with an embarassed blush all over her face over the roaring of the river, he only shook his head as he started to run faster than the current, "No way! If you get wet, you might get sick, dattebayo! Just point the way!"
Hinata simply obliged. Obviously enough, Naruto's the leader of their made-up mission now. And she didn't want to annoy Naruto, either.
Hinata let him run faster and faster until they closed in to the pearl.
"Naruto-kun, there!" Hinata pointed, Naruto saw it and nodded "Right! I see it!"
Suddenly, a clone appeared and took her from the original, taking her to the solid ground.
She gasped as the real Naruto suddenly dove in, making the clone disperse.
"Naruto-kun!" She yelped, deactivating her Byakūgan and running along the river, keeping an eye on his blonde hair and black and orange attire
Soon enough, Naruto resurfaced, gasping for air, then jumping out the river, laying down on the ground.
Hinata gasped and knelt down beside him, "A-Are you okay?"
He sat up and grinned widely, holding up his hand, "Yep!"
Hinata gasped as she saw the pearl in his hand.
Well, marching in the hospital soaking wet with a completely dry Hinata beside him holding a pearl with a Konoha symbol to retrieve for the former Hokage's pig is so far the weirdest thing he'd done in a while.
Hinata knocked on Tsunade's office door, then showing her the pearl that they had successfully retrieved.
Soon enough, Sakura brought Naruto's white and orange attire from his room then immediately leaving since she had night shift after being caught with what she and Ino did.
Now, Hinata was sitting on Tsunade's sofa with a shirtless Naruto in orange pants telling an exaggerated version of what they did to Tsuande and Shizune was sitting by her feet as she used a blow-dryer to dry his hair.
"I can't believe you two actually did that..." Tsunade said as Shizune fixed up Tonton's necklace.
Naruto grinned and said "No worries! We're happy to help"
But Hinata was silent.
How come she sensed Naruto? And how come Naruto sensed her?
They both knew where the other was.
She's seen Naruto sensing out other people, but that was with his Sage Mode. And never have she before been able to sense like that.
And even with her all-seeing Byakūgan, she could see nothing that could have done it. It wasn't chakra, that's for sure.
They were in sync, that's for sure. Their breathing and their heartbeat was the same. But there was no chakra involved.
How come they were in sync?
Her eyes didn't see anything connecting them...
They didn't put any effort to become one. It was as if natural, or meant to happen...
Hinata could only watch Naruto as he laughed off Tsunade's amazement.
Didn't expect a long chapter, did'ya? This author brought it to you!
So, basically, this is the other side of "Heartbreak", as you might have noticed by now.
I wanted to use the idea of Naruto's and Hinata's ability to know what the other is thinking via eye contact to another level.
I noticed that Naruto always was sensing Hinata in a way. Like, sensing she was alive, and during the war, sensing her calling out for him.
But that was with Sage Mode.
But listen, when Naruto was about to stop Toneri's and Hinata's wedding, he found himself encountering tons of tunnels, and then he looked around and entered one just after saying "Here" and then successfully finding them.
And that was without Sage Mode.
So I wanted to use that. And also, how they so easily combined their jutsus to make the "Gentle Step: Spiralling Twin Lion Fist". Means they were completely in sync.
So I wanted to toy with the idea of soul mates because of this hehehe.
So here, Hinata, too, could sense Naruto. Kinda explains how she always finds him to stalk him.
So, my explanation for their sensing prowess towards each other, is because of them being soulmates.
And because of that! Expect action coming now that Hinata discovered their syncing!
We're almost there! Soon enough, missions are to be involved!
So, for the meantime, if you have any suggestions, ideas, plots, or scenes for this book, just comment them down bellow!
I won't see 'ya since this is just a book, but I hope you're here for the next chapter!
-OrenjiRabenda