Hinata woke up early that morning. Despite having had a pleasant sleep she couldn't get last night's events out of her head. After spending most of the day with her crush she came home to her father wanting to have a talk with her. Every time he had said that before that conversation was not pleasant, usually it meant he wasn't pleased with the progress of her skills. But this time he was calmer than usual and seemed pleased with her team's situation.

She sighed and rolled over tucking her arm under the pillow pulling out the silver locket she kept under her pillow. She opened it and looked at the two small pictures inside of it. The picture on the left was of her mother, the person who had always calmed her, but the picture on the right has a complete opposite effect, increasing her heartbeat and making the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. The picture was of her beloved…Naruto.

The day after Naruto had submitted his ID photo with white and red paint covering his face the Third Hokage made him take the picture again. After walking into the Hokage's office to submit her ID photo she noticed a few copies of Naruto's photo on his table, apparently the Hokage made copies of it in case Naruto decided to fool around again. At that very moment one of the ANBU asked the Third to step out of the office giving her a chance to take one of the copies which she ultimately decided to put in her mother's locket. It did make her heart race that she literally stole the picture but she would have passed out before gathering the courage to ask the Hokage himself for the picture. It's been weeks since that happened and the Third didn't seem upset so she guessed that he didn't even notice.

Closing the locked and putting it back under her pillow she looked towards her window and saw sunlight peeking though the heavy purple curtain. "What time is it?" She sat up and looked at her clock. Realizing that she was lost in thought longer that she expected her eyes widened and she quickly got up, made her bed, got dressed in her usual attire, freshened up, packed her gear into a backpack and raced out of her compound so she wouldn't be late for her mission.

As she walked towards the meeting spot she thought she heard a very subtle crinkling noise of the pebbles on the ground, like somebody was trying to sneak up behind her, but just before she could activate her byakugan she felt a pair of warm hands gently fold over her eyes. She stopped dead in her tracks and slightly squealed in surprise.

"Guess who?" The person behind her whispered in a soft tone.

"Oh dear…Oh my goodness…" She panicked on the inside. She would recognize that sweet voice anywhere.

Her cheeks tinted as her stiff body relaxed. "N-Naruto?"

He chuckled and let go of her "Yup!" He jumped in front of her. "Ichiraku's right up ahead! Breakfast?"

She paled as she realized that she completely forgot about having breakfast this morning and that she would have probably remained hungry for who knows how long if it hadn't been for Naruto which made her cheeks tint again.

"Of course." She smiled at him. He smiled back and grabbed her hand once again. "Come on! I'm starving!"

After breakfast they started walking towards the Hokage's building.

"So why do you think sensei told us to pack our gear?" Naruto asked her breaking the silence.

"Well, it's probably because our mission will take days to complete…" she responded quietly trying her best not to stutter. "And it will probably be outside the village…"she finished glancing at him.

He beamed turning his foxy grin towards her. "Really? You think we'll be going outside the village?" he spoke loudly as their eyes met.

"You seem excited about that, Naruto?"

"Of course I'm excited! I've never been outside the village before!"

"Huh? H-how come?"

"Old man Hokage told me to, so I wouldn't get in trouble. I owe him a lot so I promised I wouldn't. And I always keep my promises!"

She blushed. "W-what do y-you owe him?"

His smile faltered a little. "He took care of me when I was little…he gave me money, food…even my apartment…"

She looked at him with a worried expression. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to sadden you…I shouldn't have asked…" She looked at her feet sadly.

He patted her shoulder. "Nah! That's okay, you can ask me anything you want." He gave her a toothy grin.

She smiled back. "T-thank you…"

Before they could continue their conversation they arrived in front of the stair case of the Hokage's building. Sasuke was already there sitting on the stairs with his hands folded in front of his face.

"Good morning, Sasuke…" Hinata greeted him politely.

"Yeah…"he responded lamely getting a customary glare from Naruto.

"Well, now that we are all here we can head inside."Kakashi said appearing in a poof of smoke.

"And how come you're not late?" Naruto added raising an eyebrow.

"Because our clients cannot wait."

"Clients?" Naruto and Hinata added in union. After realizing what happened they smiled at each other.

" Can you read my mind with your byakugan too?" Naruto grinned at her.

" Or are you reading mine?" She added playfully and giggled.

" Ok, ok, enough with the flirting let's get going." Kakashi added making the two blush.

After getting in front of the Hokage's office Kakashi was about to knock when Naruto just let himself into the office greeting the people inside.

"Hey, old man! Hey, Iruka sensei! S'up?

"Naruto-" Kakashi started to scold him.

Sarutobi chuckled along with Iruka. "Hello, Naruto. I see you're very upbeat this morning."

"Yeah! Do we have an exciting mission? Are we going outside the village? Who are those clients sensei talked about?"

"Slow down, let me explain…"Sarutobi started. " I had more D-rank mission planned for you, babysitting, shopping, and the Lord's cat has escaped again… However-"

"No way! C'mon old man! No more kiddie missions!" Naruto interrupted.

"Let me finish!"Sarutobi said a little louder and cleared his throat. "However, Kakashi thinks you are capable of completing a C rank mission so I will give you one. You will be going to the Land of Waves, their people are building a bridge which is in danger of being damaged by a local gang, and since their Land does not have any ninja they asked us for protection. You will head there immediately. You should reach your destination in two days.

"Understood!" Naruto and Hinata said in union once again, their eyes met and they laughed.

" Ugh…" Sasuke said and walked out of the office. "Those two are pathetic…"

Kakashi and Hinata bowed and Naruto waved as they exited the office and headed towards the main gate. From there they began walking towards the Land of Waves. Naruto couldn't stand the silence so he began a conversation with his female teammate.

"Have you ever been outside the village?" he asked.

"Yes, I…went once with my m-mother to collect flowers for our g-garden."

Naruto nodded but remembered that her mom was a sensitive subject so he decided to cheer her up with his prank stories. Three prank stories later Hinata was a ball of giggling cuteness. Even Kakashi couldn't help but unnoticeably smile under his mask.

"-And then the lady beat the crap out them cuz she thought the mud was their fault! And they never bullied me again! Hahahah! I sure showed 'em!" Naruto finished his story.

" Alright, no more worthless fairytales, your screeching voice is so irritating…"Sasuke said annoyed walking even further away in front of the group.

"I'm irritating you? Good!" Naruto shouted back with a grin then turned to Hinata again. "Oh! I gotta tell you about the time when I snuck a fish into Old Man Hokage's hat! Or the time I put pepper in his pipe!"

Hinata's eyes widened. "You pranked the Hokage? Wasn't he angry afterwards?"

"Well, of course he was! Have you ever inhaled pepper?" He said loudly with a laugh.

"Oh dear…hehehehe…" she replied with her hand on her mouth.

A few more stories later the light blue sky was turning into a sunset of blazing red and orange colors.

"Alright…" Kakashi looked up at the sky " We should set up our tent and find fire wood while there's still light, we will continue walking early in the morning."

The three genin agreed. Naruto used his clones to find fire wood and to set up the tent Kakashi brought in his backpack. Sasuke used his fireball jutsu to light the fire. As they sat around the fire they ate the rice balls they brought with them, Kakashi ate them fast while hiding his face behind his Icha-Icha book.

"I'm still hungry but I don't want to eat nasty ration bars!" Naruto protested as he crossed his arms.

Sasuke sighed in annoyance " Is it possible that your stomach could be bigger than your mouth?"

"Well, of course it i- HEY!" Naruto glared at Sasuke making the connection.

Hinata stiffened a giggle then an idea came to her. "Um…if there is a water source nearby…we could catch some fish…"

"Yeah! Great idea, Hinata. You're so smart!"

"She makes up for your loss of brains." Sasuke added irritated.

Naruto growled at him but his attention went back to Hinata as she located a river a few miles away using her byakugan. As they got to the river they decided to catch some fish quickly before the sun went all the way down. Kakashi stayed to guard the camp site…and to read his dirty orange book.

"Idiot, you go in the water and throw the fish above the water level and I will pin them to the tree with my kunai." Sasuke said with a cold tone.

Naruto didn't even look at him " Hmph! You probably had maids and servants in your Great Uchiha Clan but I ain't one of them so you can't order me around! So shut your mouth and make yourself useful!" he said angrily while taking off his sandals and rolling up his pant legs up to his thighs making Hinata blush a bit. But what made her blush increase was Naruto taking his jacket off along with his shirt as he slowly got into the river not to scare away any fish.

"What do you think you're doing, moron?" Sasuke was really annoyed now.

"Shhh!" Naruto quickly and loudly shushed him. He leaned forward with his arms positioned just above the water closing his eyes in concentration. In one swift movement he dunked both his arms under the water pulling out a decent sized fish and throwing it at Sasuke who quickly caught it right before the fish made contact with his face.

Naruto turned to him and smirked "Start gutting it…moron." He turned back to the water placing his arms in the same position again waiting for more fish to swim by.

Hinata stood by the river like a statue watching the way Naruto's muscles moved as he wrestled with the fish. She shook her head and looked away trying not to faint, seeing his clothes on the ground she kneeled down taking his shirt, neatly folding it and putting it on a rock nearby. She took his jacket also folding it. Seeing that both her teammates were distracted she nuzzled his jacket under her nose taking a long sniff of Naruto's masculine woodsy smell. She exhaled sighing dreamily. She put the jacket on the same rock and put the shirt on top of it.

After catching enough fish for the four of them Hinata roasted them above the fire spicing them with some herbs she found in the woods.

"Wow! This is delicious, Hinata! One day, you'll make one heck of a wife!" Naruto complimented her loudly after taking a few bites of the fish.

Kakashi agreed with a nod and even Sasuke couldn't deny that the fish was pretty tasty, but of course, he didn't show it.

"Ok, after you're done with your meal, go inside the tent and sleep" Kakashi opened his book again "the earlier you go to sleep the less you will yawn in the morning."

Sasuke got up not saying a word and went inside the tent pulling out his sleeping bag and putting it in the very corner of the tent. Sliding under the cover he closed his eyes. "Hn. I hope the idiot doesn't snore…"

Naruto and Hinata followed. As they got to the tent Naruto lifted the flap for her. "Ladies first." He said quietly smiling at her.

She smiled back and blushed. Leaning forward she gave his cheek a gentle peck. "You're very sweet…" She whispered and slipped inside. "Oh my goodness! I just k-kissed him! Eep!" She squealed on the inside as she quickly pulled out her sleeping bag, taking off her jacket, sandals and headband she got in it and pulled her cover over her head.

Naruto was still outside the tent, his hand still holding up the flap, his other hand slowly placed on his cheek. His eyes were wide and his face was red. He's never been kissed by a girl before. None of the girls ever paid attention to him. It felt… nice…

He shook his head pulling himself together and got inside the tent. He placed his jacket, sandals and headband next to Hinata's and he slowly laid down next to her in his own sleeping bag. She was sleeping soundly, wrapped in the cover, her head peeking out of it with her small fists tucked under her chin. He couldn't help but smile at the cute sight in front of him. Watching her sleeping form he yawned and closed his eyes, falling asleep in seconds.

Outside the tent Kakashi had witnessed the whole scene. As he pulled his face away from his book he saw the shy Hyuga pull a very audacious move that he thought she would never be capable of. And she also did something else nobody has ever managed to do before…

She made the loudest ninja in the village speechless.

"Well…something tells me that I was right to put these two on a team together…"

Flashback:

It was the day before the team assignments. All of the jounin and academy teachers were gathered in the Hokage's office.

"Kakashi" Sarutobi spoke up. "You will be in charge of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Kurenai, you will be in charge of Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage but I don't think these two teams were well thought out."Kakashi added.

Sarutobi blew some smoke out of his pipe. "And why is that, Kakashi?"

"I suggest that we switch the two female team members."

"But Hinata's byakugan was meant for my tracking squad." Kurenai protested.

"Yes, but I think she should be on my squad…" Kakashi said earning a frown of confusion from her. "Let me explain…Hinata has great potential, her grades were one of the best ones in her class, but according to Iruka she is very timid and her confidence is very low. Placing her with Naruto will most likely help her, shall I say, get out of her shell. Plus, one more thing Iruka told me is that she has gained a liking to the boy so putting them on different teams would devastate her. Also, putting Sakura and Sasuke together will make her more interested in him that her training, and on top of that she dislikes Naruto. She is also a lot more…girly than Hinata so I think it would benefit her to have a female instructor she can talk to. Do you disagree?"

Kurenai blinked then shook her head.

"Good." Sarutobi agreed. "I haven't thought of evaluating the mental states of the genin until now so I reassign Hinata to team 7 and Sakura to team 8. Any objections?" No one said a word. "Then it's settled. "He exhaled another puff of smoke . "Kakashi, I sure hope you are right about this…"

End of flashback:

"A good decision indeed…" Kakashi thought as his eye traveled back to the book. "Now, where was I?... Oh well, since I cannot remember I guess I'll just start over…"