A/N: Hello everyone, I'm sorry that this update took so long, I had a lot of exams. Also, I'm hoping that everyone is safe during this pandemic and that you all are ok. Also, WEAR A MASK.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as they exited the gates of the town, not only because the mission was over but also because he was trying not to cry after what had happened moments ago. The mission was finally completed. One of the bodies had not been recovered; however, the people did not give them any trouble for it. After all, they put an end to their devastating loses. After an emotional speech by Mr. Yuutsu to honor the poor victims of this horrific crime, the people thanked the Leaf shinobi profusely. Little Ginga walked up to Hinata to thank her for saving her life and to tell her how much she admired her. Hinata blushed earnestly. The hug the two shared afterwards was the thing that wanted to make Naruto cry. This innocent child could have been gone if they came minutes late. But they were too late for the rest of them. Thinking about the moment he found the baby in the crate he shook his head trying to collect himself before they all said goodbye to the people and went out the gates.

"Are you ok?" Hinata asked intertwining his hand with his as they walked behind everyone else.

"Yeah… this was nothing considering I have to talk to your dad when we get back." He replied sarcastically.

She giggled. "You will be ok."

He frowned.

"What is it?"

"You know you're way outta my league, right?"

"W-what? Don't say that!" She stammered.

"I already know he's gonna tell me I'm not good enough for you and he's going to push you away from me… like your caretaker did after I got beat up protecting you when we were little…"

"Naruto…"

"Do you think I didn't hear what he said? 'Just leave him there.' I was still conscious, ya know."

"No one will do that to us, Naruto. I will not let them." She said confidently.

"And you think I will? You won't get rid of me that easily!" He grinned while she giggled again.

Continuing on the shinobi talked amongst each other looking forward to getting back to their village. As they were walking Naruto looked around taking in the sight of greenery and colorful plants all around them. The difference between the town and the rest of the woods upon exiting the town was unbelievable. It was like they entered a different universe.

Naruto looked around admiring the nature… until his eyes came upon a particular bush and its deep purple flowers. He stared at the bush curiously trying to figure out why it bugged him so much. After a bit of thinking it finally came to him. He had been spending a lot of time with Hinata lately and thanks to her, he had taken an interest into plants and gathering flowers for her to press. It was due to her hobby that he learned that this particular bush blooms only in the dead of winter. However… it was most certainly not winter currently… As a matter of fact it was almost summer.

"So what in the hell is this bush doin' over there…?" He thought to himself.

Hinata looked at him curiously as he let go off her hand and walked towards the bush. Kakashi's eye followed him. "Where are you going?" Asked the masked ninja.

"To take a leak. I'll be right back." Naruto waved him off.

He then proceeded to do so… all over the suspicious bush… not even discretely.

"Go behind a tree or something, you idiot!" Sakura screamed at him in disgust while Ino turned her head.

A snort of laughter was heard as Kurenai could not contain herself. "Oh, dear God…"

"That could not have been a coincidence." Kakashi added as a bead of sweat dropped down his mask.

"Huh?" Kiba looked at them in confusion.

"You see…" Kurenai explained. "That bush is a Henge Jutsu."

Ino looked at Naruto who was walking away from the bush with a smug grin on his face. "So… if someone is pretending to be the bush then… ew!"

Hinata blushed and covered her mouth to contain her laugh while Choji and Kiba did not try to contain theirs at all.

Naruto chuckled as the bush turned into smoke and a tall dark clad shinobi with a katana appeared. "YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" He screamed and waved his sword at the blonde. Needless to say, he wasn't as intimidating now that his cloak was a little… damp.

However, before the man could do anything he was swiftly knocked out by Kakashi's sharingan. Because he was definitely not going to fight this guy with his hands.

"What the heck just happened?" Shikamaru blinked.

"Was that guy following us?" Choji asked.

"Yes…" Kakashi sighed walking back to the group. "Just ignore him, when he wakes up we'll be long gone and he can try robbing someone else."

"Are you familiar with this individual, Sensei?" Shino asked.

"Yes, this is not my first encounter with him." Kakashi answered. "He's a rather incompetent robber."

"Well, he's leaving empty handed…" Naruto grinned. "So he must be pretty pissed! AHAHAHAHAHAH!" He doubled down in laughter followed by Asuma, Kiba, Kurenai and Hinata.

Ino and Sakura just shook their heads while Sasuke just looked at the unconscious man in disbelief.

"Aw, come on! That was a good one!" Naruto walked back to the group. As he neared his sensei, Kakashi flicked his forehead and pointed to the small river in the opposite direction. "Go wash your hands."

Naruto gave him an annoyed face and walked over to the river. "That's what you get when you henge into a winter bush in the middle of frickin' April!"

Kurenai laughed and turned to Hinata. "I'm guessing you taught him to recognize plants?"

Hinata blushed and nodded shyly.

When they finally got to the Leaf the sun has already started setting. They exhaustedly walked through the gates only to be startled by the sudden outburst of Sakura and Ino fighting over who gets to be walked home by Sasuke only to discover that the Uchiha has unnoticeably disappeared. They looked around before sighing disappointingly.

"He didn't want to walk you home so bad that he disappeared!" Sakura remarked snottily.

"He disappeared because of you, forehead!" Ino snapped back.

"It's way too late for this… can't we just go home?" Shikamaru complained.

"You can, however us jonin have to go and report to the Hokage that our mission was successful." Asuma replied.

Naruto chuckled and looked at Hinata. "You don't have to convince me to walk you home."

She smiled and pecked his cheek. "Let's go then."

They said bye to everyone and headed towards Ichiraku to get Marshie and some ramen. After a cheerful exchange between the four of them and a few well deserved bowls of ramen, they slowly walked towards the compound while Naruto cradled the kitty. At the entrance they kissed goodnight and parted ways.

Sometime later, Naruto walked out of the shower and sighed as he began to unpack. Afterwards he slumped onto his bed and his eyes started to close. Then he heard the mysterious knock from his dreams… the knock that was the main part of one of the happiest days of his life… and then he heard it again. His eyes snapped open and he lifted his head. His eyes went wide as the knock repeated. He slowly walked towards his door and looked through the peephole. His heart skipped a beat as he swung the door open startling the shy Hyuga standing at his doorway.

"Are you o-"

"It was you…" He interrupted her.

"W-What?"

"You…" He repeated.

She stared at him totally confused while he went back inside and came back with his frog wallet and showed it to her. "It was you… that day when I got this… you gave me this, didn't you?" His voice was a strange mixture of happiness and sadness that Hinata could not distinguish if he was upset with her on not.

She swallowed and nodded slowly.

His eyes widened and tears leaked into his waterline. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Y-you seemed so happy to see that someone else had given you a gift. I-I just thought that i-if you knew it was m-me… you'd be disappointed…"

"No… that's so silly!" He wiped his tears away. "But that was six years ago! There's no way you liked me back then?!"

She blushed. "I-I d-do not k-know if I l-liked you… but I did care for you… you saved me so many times…"

He grinned and gave her a hug. "Thank you! This was the best gift ever."

"I'm so glad." She smiled.

He chuckled. "So why'd you come here now? It's pretty dark out."

"Oh…well… about that…" She fidgeted with her fingers. "My father told me to come get you."

He blinked slowly a few times. "Now?"

She nodded biting her lip.

He sighed loudly. "Alright, whatever… let me get dressed."

After a long silent walk to the compound they stood before the gates shaking. Naruto gulped nervously and Hinata looked at her feet sadly. What if her father makes them break up? She would never be able to get over that. They looked at each other anxiously and hesitantly opened the doors and walked in slowly. They walked followed by the sound of their quickened heartbeats and the light crunching of gravel under their feet. As they got to the wooden deck of the compound Hiashi stepped out of the darkness. "Both of you will follow me at once." He said flatly and the two of them hurriedly took their sandals off and followed after the man. Once they got to his office, he roughly pushed the door open and walked in, not once did he look towards the young couple who were shakily following after him. He sat at his table. "You may enter… and close the door behind you." He ordered and they quietly obliged. "Take a seat." They slowly sat down and Hiashi faced the blonde. "So… why wasn't I notified about your relationship?"

"Because we knew you wouldn't approve of it." Naruto replied calmly.

He looked at his daughter. "And why do you think I would not approve?"

She looked at her father and swallowed. "Because of what he contains."

Hiashi's eyes widened and he looked between the two. "You are aware of what the carries?"

She nodded calmly.

"And you still want to be associated with him?"

"I've known Naruto for most of my live. He is not the person you think he is, father." She replied confidently. "He is one of the kindest and strongest people I have ever met. And I know that you know that what happened that day was not his fault."

Hiashi looked at his daughter quietly as she spoke with an unusual strength in her voice. "Out of all people… why him?"

She squeezed the hem of her jacket with her trembling hands. "B-because… I love him… regardless of what you think of him."

Naruto glanced at her with an embarrassed blush.

Hiashi frowned. "You are too young to understand what love is."

She frowned back. "Yet I am not too young to understand what hate is."

Hiashi's brow twitched at her reply. He looked back at the blonde. "I have already seen the improvement of my daughter's mental and physical state and I believe you are responsible for it. Therefore, I shall give you a chance."

Naruto blinked in surprise while Hinata's eyes widened.

"However…" He continued. "If any harm comes upon my daughter and you are to blame… you will be as good as dead. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir." Naruto replied sharply.

"Good." Hiashi confirmed. "You are dismissed." He then looked at Hinata. "And you, my daughter… please make me some tea."

"Yes, father." She replied in surprise at his approval.

The two got up and exited the compound quickly. Once outside, Naruto sighed heavily. "Geez, that was scary." He turned towards his girlfriend who jumped into his arms. "Yes! We can be together!" She kissed him happily.

He chuckled before breaking the kiss. "I know, I'm glad. If he had said no, there would have been some commotion in there." He joked.

She giggled before gasping. "Oh! I have to make him tea! I will see you tomorrow then."

He laughed. "Yeah. Hey, why do you make him tea? Don't you have maids for that?"

"We do but… he told me I make tea exactly like my mother used to make it for him."

"Oh, that's nice. Don't wanna keep him waiting then. I'll see ya tomorrow." He blew her a kiss and waved as they parted and he walked out of the compound and sighed in relief. "Man, I'm lucky."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair with a sigh after hearing the last of the mission report. "So all of them know about the Nine Tails now?"

"Yes." Kurenai replied. "They took it pretty well actually."

Shizune smiled. "I'm glad that Naruto will still have all of his friends. He needs them."

"They need him too." Kakashi added. "After all, without him it would be quite dull around here."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing anymore…" Tsunade rubbed her temple while the rest of them chuckled.

"AAAAHHHCHOOO!" Naruto sneezed back at his apartment scaring the hell out of his cat that jumped in the air and hid behind his kitchen chair.

He laughed at her confused face. "Sorry about that." He picked her up again. "You know, they say that it means someone's talking about you."

Meow.

"I know, that's so dumb." He chuckled again.

Somewhere else in the village, Sakura sat at her dining table with her parents, picking at her food with her chopsticks. She was deep in thought and still tired from the mission she just came back from.

"Are you alright, honey?" Her mother asked. "You aren't eating. Is something the matter with your food?"

"No, it's fine." Sakura replied. "I'm just thinking, that's all."

"About?" Her father asked.

After a few seconds of silence she put her chopsticks down. "Mom, dad… what do you know about Naruto?"

Her parents stopped eating at looked at their daughter. "Naruto?" Her mom said surprised. "Why?"

"Because he's not as awful as you led me to believe."

The two looked at each other not knowing what to say to her.

"Why did you tell me to stay away from him?"

"Honey, he was a vandal and a very bad influence. We didn't want you to think that pranking people and skipping classes was okay." Her mom replied.

"But if he had friends he wouldn't have been like that." Sakura realized. "He did all of that for attention because all of the other kids ignored him… like you told us to."

"What is this all about all of a sudden?" Her father asked.

"The man we fought on the mission… he killed people because he lost everybody. Naruto's alone too but he never wanted to hurt anyone. Wouldn't you want friends if you were all alone?"

"We get it, darling." Her mom said. "You can be friends with him if you like, you are a kunoichi now and you can make your own decisions. Now, let's finish the food before it gets cold."

After dinner was over Sakura went to bed and her mom spoke quietly to her husband while she washed the dishes. "Do you think she knows?"

"If she does, she doesn't feel like we felt." He replied.

"Do you think we made a mistake?"

"Let's just drop it, she can do whatever she wants now and the boy doesn't seem so troublesome anymore."

"You're right." She finished doing the dishes.

"Of course I am, that's why you married me." He chuckled while she rolled her eyes playfully.

Back at Naruto's apartment, Iruka came by to check on his favorite student. After patiently listening to Naruto's stories from the mission he was shocked to find out that the rookie nine now knew about his burden… and that they did not mind. He was overjoyed that his friends were not afraid of him.

"You are full of surprises, you know?" He grinned at his former student.

"Yup! You say that all the time!" Naruto grinned back.

Iruka chuckled. "But seriously, I'm glad you're alright."

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm gonna be the Hokage someday. What did you think? That a lousy little mission is gonna crush me? Nah!"

Iruka laughed. "Of course not. So tell me, how's Hinata doing?"

Naruto blushed. "She's okay."

Iruka raised his brow with a mischievous smile.

"Ah, why're you lookin' at me like that for?!" Naruto blushed even more.

"Like I said… you are full of surprises."