Chapter 4:

"G-gift? Naruto-k-kun?" She stammered, playing with her fingers and blushing furiously.

"Kawaii!" He thought, blushing from beneath his mask. "So innocent…"

"What a-are y-you going to…"

"Don't worry about what I'll be doing… well, I'll let you know if you need to get involved in any way. Until the time comes when you two are an item, it'd be best if you learned how to make ramen well. You know how giddy he gets over it."

Hinata nodded.

"I'll contact you again." Aiyoru said with a bow before blinking out of sight.

"Hmm… let's see… this is the address…" Kiba thought, looking from the paper to the house number and back again. "He said she was looking forward to meeting me, right? I guess that saves me from an awkward introduction."

The front door creaked open and a Hinata look-alike peeked out. "Ano, are you Kiba-kun?"

He stared agape at what he could have sworn was the original Hinata. "Kumi?"

She nodded.

"The resemblance is… scary…" He thought.

"Yeah, I'm Kiba. A guy named Aiyoru said you wanted to meet me… you like animals, right?" He asked, holding up a quivering Akamaru.

Kumi let out a soft squeal and began stroking the dog. "Kawaii! Um… would you like to come in?"

"Wow, this is going well." Kiba thought as he nodded and entered the small building.

As he was entering, Akamaru began whining.

"Huh? What is it, boy? Run? Run for my life? 'For the sake of Kami-sama why aren't you running'? What's gotten into you boy?"

The door closed behind him and Kumi looked up at him, blushing. "You k-know how to perform the beast technique, right?"

He nodded.

A smile slowly spread across her face and her eyes began to shine. "Could you show me it, please?"

Naruto slowly made his way back to his apartment. It wasn't that he didn't want get home sooner, since after such a large meal all he wanted was sleep, it was that he couldn't.

"You know, kid, I could give you some of my chakra so that you could get home sooner if you, say, killed the next person you see." Kyuubi offered.

"Shut up you stupid fox, I'm not killing anyone." Naruto replied mentally.

"Sakura?" Mrs. Haruno asked. "Yes, she's up in her room. Go on up."

"Arigato." Ino smiled, walking up the stairs to Sakura's room.

"So that's what her mom looks like…"

"Ne, Sakura, have you kissed Sasuke-kun yet?" Ino asked haughtily, as she opened the door, only to find a sight that stole the mirth from her.

Sakura was sitting on her bed, head between her knees, rocking to and fro, in a catatonic trance. When Ino moved closer, she could make out that her rival was whispering.

"No… Sasuke-kun… not the dress… no… you're not… you can't… no… after all this time… you wanted to… you're joking… tell me it's not… Sasuke-kun… no…"

It wasn't until after several minutes of being poked in the head with a pencil did the kunoichi realize she had a guest.

"Sakura, have you ever kissed Sasuke-kun?" she repeated.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked before screaming.

"Ow, damn it. Give me a warning next time you do that. None the less, I'll take that as a no."

"I don't think any of us will… not now…"

"Too bad, Sakura. I just kissed him a while ago."

"Then was it all a joke?" she wondered. "But he was so serious… well, straight faced anyways… Maybe he's just somehow become interested in cross-dressing… I guess that's manageable. Wait… Ino-pig…"

"You what!" Sakura screamed.

Although he had secretly enjoyed the attention he had received from Tenten, there was still only so much the proud ivory-eyed genin could take.

"Finally, I got away from her… now for some peace and-"

"Neji-sama, I need to speak with you."

"Kuso! I've been caught already?" He thought angrily, looking over his shoulder.

To both his surprise and relief, it was the new guy. "What do you want?"

"I apologize for bothering you, but what would be your reaction if Hinata-sama began dating Naruto?"

Neji stared at him silently for a few minutes before sighing. "Well… I don't need to worry about that since she's not brave enough to confess and he's too stupid to pick up on anything other short of an outright confession."

"But if that were to happen? What would your reaction be?"

He thought about if for a few minutes. "Like I said, he's too stupid. Now that I don't hold a grudge against the main branch, I'm not going to let such a thing happen."

"Even though he's an honest and reliable guy? He defeated you, after all."

"But for anything other than fighting, he's incompetent."

"Whether you accept it or not, it will happen." Aiyoru replied.

Neji's eyes narrowed to slits. "I'll stop it."

"I can free you." The foreign shinobi said simply. "Just remove your forehead protector and I'll free you."

"There isn't a jutsu capable of removing it." Neji glared.

"Then there's not a problem, is here?"

Sighing, he removed it and let Aiyoru examine the pattern.

"It never ceases to amaze me how these things never deteriorate… alright, here it goes…"

With a quick strike of the palm to the forehead, Neji's world went black as he collapsed to the earth.

"I have to leave you now." Aiyoru said, knowing that the unconscious ninja could not hear him. "Don't worry, Tenten will find you shortly."

"Ah… finally home…" Naruto sighed, unlocking the door to his apartment.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" He heard a booming voice shout from down the hall. "I've something important that needs to be done!"

"Kuso! That sounds like the new guy! He must be pissed that I ate so much!"

"Let me kill him! Then there'll be no worries… that's right… dance puppet dance!"

"First thing, kitsune-baka, I heard that part about me being a puppet. Second, I'm not killing anyone!"

"Damn!"

"It's time I take care of that favour I promised." Aiyoru laughed evilly.

"Stay away, or I'll kick your ass!" Naruto threatened.

"Hey! Don't be so cold! I was going to teach you some of my jutsu."

"What? Really? Sugoi! When?"

"Starting tomorrow. I'll meet you out here as soon as you're awake."

"Glee!" Naruto squealed.

"Oh, and by the way, it looks like we're neighbours." Aiyoru added, unlocking the door next to Naruto's room.


Now for a note from the author.

Naruto is copyright its respective owner(s), I in no way possess rights to it, additional legal wavering and obligatory statements, etc. If this was necessary, I apologize for not having written it sooner. Do I only need to do it once, or each time?

To all who have or are reading my story, I thank you.Special thanks to all those who taking the time to give me a review.

KawaiiMisha-san - You don't know the half of it.

KunochiDreamer - I assume you mean Asagin Aiyoru. I agree, he's certainly an enigmatic character. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

TragicallyLate- Thank you for spotting the typo in my summary.

writerlover101 & Gohen-fire- Hope you're still reading.