Naruto had mixed feelings about the whole soulmates things.

Obito and her are having Dango at his favorite place. They have talked about many things. Obito told her about his family, his parents, his dreams... Even though he had become more relaxed around her, Naruto could see the boy's nervousness and sometimes awkward statements, but he really tried hard to start the conversation with her and she appreciated that gesture. In fact she found it kind of adorable. Frowned at her thoughts.

Truth to be told, she still hasn't used to the idea of soulmates. For seventeen years of her life in the old dimension, unlike the girls her age concerning about appearance and boys, all she did was training. And she is a kunoichi, so training is a very important routine for her. For that reason, she had no experience in romance. When she traveled with Jiraiya of her old time line, she thought that he would talking nonstop to her about his adultery novel or make her editing his writing. But surprisingly, the man never mentioned anything of that sort, except for when he announced to her of his research trips, aside from that, Jiraiya had kinda keep her from involving in romance. Despite being a pervert, Jiraiya had a tendency to unconsciously or consciously protect his goddaughter's innocence.

When Jiraiya of this dimension first told her about soulmates, she didn't put too much thought on that matter, since changing the future was her top priority, and to be honest, she didn't think.. she would have something like that bonds. Since she was an outsider of this dimension after all, she was not originally born here. And she never thought that anyone would consider her as a romantic partner anyway. Of course, according to Jiraiya, some soulmates turn out just to be platonic bonds, but most of the soulmates couples would be together romantically.

Two weeks ago, when she found out about her and Uchiha Obito being soulmates, she found herself struggling in a dilemma. At first she was really embarrassed and dashed off to vent everything to the old pervert, since her experiences of romance is none to existence, she didn't how to deal with the whole soulmate things! Jiraiya just told her to calm down and take things slowly, after all soulmates are just an inevitable part or each and every individual in this dimension. After she regained her composure, anxiety and uneasiness began to drown her.

Naruto had nothing against Obito, it just that she was not the typical types of girls that guys would want as their partners. She was not feminine, the way she talks, walks or behaves are definitely not the ideal image for the other party. Beside, in the past, Konoha's citizen used to isolate her, she had been struggling to establish relationships with her precious friends, so she had never thought of anyone in a romantic way. Even though she knew that people just feared what they don't know and that she had come a really long way from the young girl people had tried to keep distance to, the village had accepted, shinobi across the nations respected her, but deep down in her heart, she still feels lonely and hurted from the past, like a scar that would never fade. She still has this feelings that she doesn't deserve anyone's endearing intentions, no one will come to accept her wholly, let alone wanting to engage in romance with her.

No one knew about this inferiority complex of hers, she had never had enough courage to share about it with anyone after all. When she was with her friends, she always smile, always the bundle of positive energy, always give her everything to her precious people, little did they knew, she had never fully opened her heart to anyone. She was friendly, straightforward and ready to help everyone, but she never shared about her burdens and obstacles with her friends. When her emotions became somewhat unstable, she just stayed at her apartment, avoiding everyone or simply fake her favorite smiles, she was pretty good at that. It was not a healthy way to deal with her problems, but she's still very reluctant to try another way, maybe in the future, not at the moment, when she had to ensure this dimension's fate. And despite her declaring in the past of the naivety thoughts that everything can be resolved much more simply if we just put enough efforts and beliefs, the reality had hit her hard and cruelly. When we grow up, we all have some parts of the souls that had been irreparably broken. There're nothing we could do about it, the more we try to fix it, we found ourselves in a more tangled position. All we could do was to live with it, improvise and found a way to compromise with it. It had become a part of us, we just can't erase it's existence.

And her soulmate, Uchiha Obito, what was she supposed to act around him? He was a really nice guy, unlike most of Uchiha clansmen. Kakashi-sensei has told her many stories about him, the boy really treasures bonds with his precious people. Before the Kanabi Bridge event, Kakashi-sensei described him as a loud-mouthed, sometimes bashing and clumsy, but the boy was also one of the most kindhearted people Kakashi-sensei had ever known, Obito even sacrificed himself for him and gifted him the Sharingan. So in this timeline, where Madara can't meddle with him anymore, Naruto really wished the boy would have the normal and peaceful life he deserves, apparently she was one of the elements to the way of his happiness.

She didn't quite get the idea, so when two strangers are soulmates they would destinied together and ever no matter what? Even if one of them already had someone they love, if your soulmate appear, boom, you would abandon your lover to be with your destinied ones? That was just so wrong. She was not an expert on romance but she was sure relationships weren't supposed to be like that, at least in her previous dimension. And didn't Obito aready have a long time crush on Rin? Now that she is his soulmate, he will forget about Rin and move on with her? That's just twisted, she refused to be a part of that deviant affection if that were the case, thank you very much.

To find her answers, she had disguised as little Kakashi-sensei to confront Obito and solve her dilemma. She wasn't disappointed at all. The boy respect others' feelings and opinions, he wouldn't force her to be with him based on some characters imprinted on their hands, but he's actually determined to get to know the real her. That made Naruto's heart warmed, she still wasn't sure what would be the right things to do, but for now, getting to know Obito would not be a bad idea, if things don't work out between them, she will just gain another precious friend.

But maybe, just maybe... he will help me overcome my fears

Unconsciously, Naruto sent a gentle smile to the boy in front of her

"Na-Naruto? What's wrong? Why did you suddenly smile like that? Was I talking too much?"

Startled, she bashfully realized that she had stared at Obito all this while, the boy's face has become slightly reddish.

"Nothing, I just think that you are so cool." Her face split into a foxy grin.

"W-W-What..what are you saying. Don't tease me like t-t-that." Her soulmate blushed heavily, he had even stammered, she found it quite cute.

"But that's the truth." Eyes open widely, she gave him her most innocent look.

The poor boy made a strange strangled sound and then hide his reddened face behind his hands, which made her really want to tease him more, but she decided against it, for now at least. Giggling. It seems that she has developed quite a fetish for her soulmate.

"Hey Obito! You're already here." She heard a cheery voice coming behind them. "Oh, you are with Naruto-chan too. Hi, we haven't had the chance to talk to each other properly."

"Good afternoon, Rin-san. My brother is really lucky to have such a sweet and caring student like you." She gave her the best smile she could, but why did she feel so uneasy and uncomfortable?

Was it because this girl was one of the reason that had driven Obito in her world into deep depression and want to extract revenge on the world? Or was it because the girl somehow remind Naruto of Sakura, her precious teammate? She wasn't sure, but it's no use trying to think about pointless things like that. Rin is a very nice girl, Naruto couldn't think of any bad things about her. She is also her brother's student, they may cross path pretty often in the future. Her odd feelings aside, it's also a good thing to gain another reliable ally in this dimension.

"Aw, Naruto-chan is so adorable. It's hard to think such a cute girl like you would be so strong." Rin smile genuinely.

She blushed. Even now, she was not used to getting complimented on anything. It feels kinda nice.

"Ah, Obito, have you and Naruto tried the new Dango flavor? It was just so delicous."

Obito's eyes immediately shone brightly. She could actually see the stars sparkling within his eyes and the enthusiasm in his tone.

"Absolutely. It tastes so heavenly, it melted right into my mouth in the first bite..."

"True... it's..."

The two continued to chat happily, kinda forget her presence. She could totally understand them, alright. Their love for Dango was just like her addiction for Ramen. When she indulged herself in a delicious bowl of Ramen, she could hardly think of anything else. But... why did she feel so uncomfortable again? Was it because of today menu?

"Seriously, why did I end up with such a dense Jinchuuriki." The Kyuubi voice really startled her. Has she really been so deep in thoughts?

"Are you picking a fight now, you furball!"

"You idiot should deal with your newfound emotions first." What does he mean? Beside the strange uneasiness, her mood was just as fine as any day

"You should stop hallucinating yourself already." She could feel his eyes rolling. "You are definitely jealous of that Rin girl."

"What do you mean jealous? I feel perfectly fine." Well, she actually feel a little annoyed right now, but the furball didn't have to know that

"You actually forgot that I can literally hear your thoughts?" Right, of course. "You're jealous because your precious soulmate is talking to another girl, who coincidentally is the one Uchiha Obito's rumored crush?"

"It's not just a rumor, did you forget Uchiha Obito tried to burn the world down for her? Maybe I was worried something like that would happen again. After all of the things we archived, we can't fail again."

"Keep telling yourself that." The furball's tone indicates he had lost interest in the matter. "I will take a short nap again. Should something happen I will assist you. Or when you realize that you're actually jealous."

"I DO NOT, Damnit!." No response, the Kyuubi had ignored her. Great, now she feels sour, her mood went down because she was made to realized that she was utterly jealous with her new nice friend. She felt bad.

"I KNOW IT!"

"KURAMA!"

She swore someday she would skin the furball alive and then use his fluffy tails to make herself a scarf and all.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Snap out of her thoughts, she realized that the two chunnins have stop talking and looked at her worriedly.

"I'm alright, the dango here is so awesome, I'm just reminiscing the flavour. Sorry." her face slits into a familiar grin.

"Ah, so that is. The Dango here is truly good." Rin gave her an easy smile, totally believe in her statement.

Obito said nothing. The boy eyed her worriedly. It seems her soulmate is more attentive than she thought.

Before the boy could say anything, she heard a loud voice calling her.

"Naruto!"

Behind her was Uchiha Shisui. A prodigy from the Uchiha clan, he had made Jounin two month earlier than her. Because the two of them are supposedly the same age, they are often get teamed up or doing missions together outside of the village. Shisui was an expert of genjutsu and has great tactics so his skillsets fill her lackings during the missions and they are both all-rounded shinobi as well. Many has praised them for their teamwork and performance. They said Shisui and her should team up with Hatake Kakashi on some missions to form a team of geniuses.

Despite being complimented, she was not very comfortable. Sure, she was an all-rounded Kunoichi, but she is far from a genius, she is different from Shisui and Kakashi. Everything she knows was thanks to years of hard work and experiences, plus she is mentally 17 years old, so it's not really fair for Shisui and Kakashi to be lined up with her. They are both genius and hard working, like her brother. They had much more potentials than her to begin with.

Like Obito, Shisui is also different from most of Uchiha clansmen. Even though the boy is calm and collected during their missions, he is actually very cheerful and and easygoing. Talking to him is kinda nice, he is a good listener and sometimes give her really usefull advice and tips. The guy also know how to joke to lift the mood too. In her previous timeline, Shisui was assassinated by Danzo for his insidious plans. But now she's here, she won't let the same mistakes occurred twice. If the man dared to crossed the line, she would personally deal with him even if Sandaime Hokage forgive him.

"Hi Shisui, I thought you were going to spend time with your little cousin today." Smiling at him, she offered him the seat beside her

"Hi big cousin Obito, hi Rin-san." Shisui smiled at Obito at he sat down beside her as he explained. "Uncle Fugaku decided to take Itachi to the lake today, so I have to visit him later."

"Hi there, Shisui." Is it just her or Obito suddenly became gloomy? "How was your mission?"

"The mission was carried out smoothly thanks to Naruto's skill in Fuuinjutsu, it greatly help the team avoid casualties." Shisui grin then turned to give her a missions scroll. "Which remind me, tomorrow we had to depart pretty early. Genma-taichou gave us the new task expected to be completed at noon maximum."

"So it's just only the two of us tomorrow again." Naruto asked as she took the scrolls from her teammate.

"WHAT!" That startled her, she saw Obito became quite tensed, his expressions somewhat stiffed. "What do you mean the two of you?"

Maybe because her friend didn't elaborate further, Rin smiled while looked hesitantly at Obito.

"So you two usually take mission alone? That must have been hard for both of you."

Obito must be worried about his little cousin's safety, Shisui never mentioned Obito to her so she thought they are just distant relatives. But it turns out Obito cares a tons lot for Shisui to have reacted like that.

"Well, since we're kinda short on manpower so sometimes the four men squad gets split up to operate the missions. Shisui and I often get teamed up."

"Ah, so it's like that..." She could actually see dark cloud forming on Obito's head. Maybe... he get envious of Shisui since his younger cousin has been a Jounin?

Well she knew that feelings, the feelings of being left behind, it was not very pretty. It just like back in her genin days, Sasuke and her, she always felt envy with all the attention and talents of her raven hair teammate, but gradually her hard work paid off, she had caught up with him, become his equal. In Obito case, it must have been more distressed since it was about his younger cousin, if he didn't get compared with him, he himself might have had the feeling of inferiority toward Shisui.

With the intention to ease the awkward atmosphere, Naruto tried to start the conversation.

"Are you guys close relatives?"

"Uncle Kagami, Shisui's father, and my mother are second generation cousins, that would made Shisui and I third generation cousins." Obito explained in monotones, unlike the typical him. "Uncle used to take care of me when I was younger."

"Ah, father misses you and he wonder if big cousin could come visit him regularly like before." Shisui smiled genuinely, he clearly wanted to get closed to his big cousin.

"I got busy with missions and trainings, tell uncle that I will try to visit him more often." Obito smiled widely, but the tones just sounded wrong and his eyes doesn't smile at all.

"Okay, I will tell him that." Shisui must have realized his cousin's uneasiness, he didn't purse the topic any longer, he then turn to her, grinning. "So Naruto, I didn't know you are also into sweet things, I thought that Ramen is the only food for you."

"Ramen is definitely my favorite, this is Obito-san's favorite Dango place, I came here with him. The Dango is truly good, I can understand why he likes this places so much." She said as sending a grin to Obito, which he blushed.

"Of course, this place serves the best Dango in the whole Five Nations after all." It seems his mood has been lifted up a lot, he offered Shisui one of his untouched plates. "Shisui! You have to try this ones, it's the best ones here."

"Thank you, big cousin!" Shisui smiled as he received the plate from the other raven hair boy.

They continued to chat happily until Rin asked.

"Shisui, have you found your soulmate yet?"

Unprepared for the question, Shisui nearly drop the Dango stick in his hand.

"Not yet, Rin-san." He attempted an easy smile but failed greatly, the boy looked really awkward. "And I don't really know if I get the chance to meet my soulmate, I will try to live as happy as I could and wait for them patiently."

"That's the spirit." Rin grinned widely as she teased. "So aside from that, have you got your eyes on anyone? You seem to be the popular type."

Shisui's face is so red. She didn't know Rin is more playful than her innocent appearance.

"Well, I kind of like this girl, but I just admired her strength and all. She didn't seem to see me in that way."

"Eh, I've never heard about this." Naruto was surprised, during the time she spent with Shisui, he didn't seem to take interest in anyone.

"You never asked." Shisui rolled his eyes dramatically. "And it's not like you would take notice in anything beside trainings, missions and ramen anyway."

That's...true. But well, now she got a soulmate, so she may have to fix that. Getting paired with someone as oblivious as her was bad enough, she didn't want to hurt Obito's feelings, the guy seems to be very devoted to soulmates relationships.

"I'm full, I'm sorry, I remember I have something to do. I will head back first." Obito stood up suddenly, without waiting for anyone response, he left.

"Hey wait up." Weren't they hang out today supposedly to get to know each other? Why did he leave her behind like that.

He didn't wait for her either. He dashed and leapt from buildings to buildings. What caused him to be so distraught?

Finally caught up with him, she saw the boy sat down at the cliff, looking down at the village, turning his back on her.

"Obito, what's wrong?" She's really confused, one moment they were chatting happily, the next was filled with tensions.

"I'm okay, Naruto. I'm sorry you have to be paired with such a pathetic guy like me. If only you and Shisui were soulmates, you two would make a perfect couple." Obito mumbling, his voice croaked. Was he crying?

"What.. do you mean? Why Shisui? I'm content with you being my soulmate."

"But Shisui is a much better choice, isn't it? He is more good looking, he is the genius of The Uchiha, he is cooler. Compared to him, I feel like a total idiot. He seems to take interested in you as well."

"Are you fed up with me already?"

"What, No! I..." Totally surprised by the question, Obito turned to face her, his face already drenched in tears. "How could I be tired of you, you are too good for me, it's just so unfair for you to be paired with someone like me."

"Don't decide that on your own. Didn't you say everyone has their own thoughts and perspectives?" That made Obito shut his mouth completely. "I'm far from perfect. I'm loud, I'm not ladylike, I act rashly."

"That's not-"

"Like you, I have my own insecurities. You are you, Shisui is Shisui. You two are not objects to be switched or replaced or anything. He has his own strengths, you have your own strengths. How could I not want you as my soulmate? You are nice, you are sweet and attentive to others' feelings. I wouldn't want to trade you for anyone else. And I believe that you will become an important shinobi in the future. I believe in my soulmate."

Reflecting on his dampened and confusing eyes are her determined ones. She is Uzumaki Naruto, she won't judge anyone based on such trivial reasons.

Obito stared at her, bewildered by her speech, though he had calmed down.

"What.. do you prefer me, your soulmate, to be?" He asked hesitantly.

She grinned at him sincerely

"Just being yourself is enough. Didn't you say you want me to know you being you? I'm completely fine with that. I like you for being you. So... please try to get to know me being me, okay?"

"That would be unnecessary." He replied firmly, though his voice sounded trembling a little bit. "It seems I have already fallen for the real you."

She grinned at him brightly. Her own worries felt lighter.

"That's good. But we still have a long way to go. So, let's do our best, okay?"

That seems to be the final trigger for Obito. He bursted into tears. She held his left hand gently, stroked the characters that proved their soulmates bond and hug the boy, she felt his shoulder tensed, but relaxed after a while. Her shirt has been wet by his tears now, but she didn't mind it one bit.

She still wasn't sure if she had made the right decisions regarding the whole things. But this soulmates bonds felt kinda...nice. She has begun to get attached.

Maybe it was fate's intention to make her come to this dimension so she would become Obito's soulmate. Maybe his dedication and affection will calm Naruto's restlessness. Maybe, not only the world, but Naruto was also given a second chance to find her own happiness.

She smiled at Obito's soft sniffing. They stayed like that for a long while. Both needed the other's presence and comfort so they didn't move. It was a calming and comfortable silence.