MINNA-SAN! First, of all, I would like to apologize for my very loooooong hiatus! It's been a long time since I sat down in front of my laptop and open my account. I know it's been 2 years since I wrote these fics and after reading all of them I realized that I still have a very important mission to finish all of them! So, please be patient and look forward to the updates especially from IZOU and The Joys of Team 7. I'm still going to retain their original concepts thought these will slowly adjust since the Naruto world has gone further beyond my targeted timeline. But hopefully you will all like what I have in store for you! Once again, thanks for all the support! Keep on reading! Adios! :D

Once again, an excerpt from IZOU:

Naruto huffed as he stretched his arms out. Casting a wary glance at his sensei, his blue eyes bore no trace of hesitation. This was it. The start of a new mission. His second test to become Hokage. If he passes this one, he'll move on to the next test. He clenched his fist. There was no time for fear or regrets. He chose this path by himself -- not Kakashi-sensei and certainly not Sakura-chan. They didn't force him. It was his and his discretion alone.

And there it is. There's still more and I hope you like this one too. Another excerpt from IZOU:

Hinata didn't look at him. If she looked at him, there was a possibility that she wouldn't turn her eyes away. Although she no longer fainted like in the old days, the effect of Naruto being close to her was still there. And if she pondered further into that feeling...she might not be able to maintain the teacher-student relationship between them. Thumbs fiddling as some sort of distraction, she spoke. "Have you ever seen yourself becoming Hokage? Even when you were young?"

He didn't answer. His face bore no trace of surprise from her question. Instead, he shrugged as he continued bandaging his arm. The azure-haired girl waited patiently for his answer. When there was none, she sighed. Then commented, "If I knew you weren't going to answer that question, I shouldn't have asked. You seem to be quite not yourself. You're awfully quiet."

To her surprise, Naruto gave her a small grin. Her insides turned to mush. "And if I knew you were this talkative, I wouldn't have shut my mouth up." Finished with his work, he strapped the kunai back inside his holster then stood up. Running a hand through his hair, he smirked. "And it's not just me. You also seemed to be not yourself. I never thought that I would live to see the day that Hinata-chan would be this quite talkative. Don't you think?"

Before the girl could utter a reply, he waved his hand dismissively. "If you want the answer to your question, I'll tell you why. Before, all I ever dreamed was to become Hokage so that everyone will be able to accept me. And now? Who knows? Maybe I don't want to be Hokage. Seeing how big that responsibility is made me doubt if following my dream is right." He reached inside his pocket and felt his father's memento. His expression went grim. "I don't know. I don't want 'bachan to be disappointed, I don't want everyone to be disappointed. I guess I'm already stuck to this decision that I stupidly made, huh?"

"I..." she didn't know what to say. Actually she was also thinking of the same thing. She was also thinking of her responsibility as the next head of the Hyuuga clan and how that very thought pained her. Needless to say, she and him are the same. Both tied down to responsibilities that were shouldn't have been theirs. She was still occupied with her thoughts that she didn't sense Naruto leaning down at her and breathing next to her ear. Her breath hitched.

"W-What are you doing, Naruto-kun? Is there something wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm...nothing," he replied. "Just asking. Aren't we a little talkative today?"

Hinata blushed. Was he playing with her?

And that's the rest of the excerpts. Yup, this is from our next chapter. If there are any questions feel free to ask. Oh, and Joys and Tennis no Hime-sama are still on-going. Just tying up some loose ends until my brother takes over. Till then, sayonara! XD

Stories:

Izou: Updated! After his "coming of age" mission, Naruto became Tsunade's successor. He is now training under the tutelage of Ebisu and Hyuuga Hinata. How will he survive the whole month under Hinata's strict discipline?

Tennis no HimeSama: ON HIATUS.

The Joys of Team Seven: Team 7's teamwork is failing with Naruto and Sasuke arguing all the way. Kakashi decides to put the team's unity into a test. However, the test requires a special condition that they will have to sacrifice something in order to complete the mission. Now, how would they finish all of the missions in time if Sasuke doesn't know when to get his hands off of Sakura? Next chapter will be posted soon!