Naruto sits on his couch watching the television. One hand rests on Howaito's head while the other holds the remote control. He senses someone on the other side of the door but no one is knocking. Opening the door, Naruto finds Hinata on the other side of it. Hinata shyly looks down and blushes.
"Hinata? What are you doing here?" The blonde ninja asks.
"W-Well, I-I just wanted to ask i-if you wanted come to my house for d-dinner." Hinata manages to mutter.
"Me!" Naruto watches as Hinata blushes. "Uh, sure."
At the Hyuga compound, Hinata brings Naruto to the kitchen and prepares the food on the table.
"Where's everyone?" Naruto asks as he looks around.
"My father is out training Hanabi out in the mountains. They'll be back by morning. I-I wanted to talk to you about something Naruto-kun."
Naruto gulps his food and nods at Hinata.
"It's about Sasuke-kun. Please don't be too angry with him. I can see that he's trying hard-"
Naruto stops eating and stares at Hinata. "I see. You're one of his loyal fan girls who think that everything he does is cool."
"No, Naruto-kun, th-that's not it."
"I thought you were different. I thought you weren't like those other girls…"
"I'm not. I swear I'm not." Hinata defends herself.
Naruto stands up and goes to leave. "It's hard to see the flaws of someone you admire. That's why you always defend them."
Hinata unknowingly tells him, "It's always been you who I've admired!" The kunoichi covers her mouth.
The blonde ninja turns around and stares in disbelief. Hinata, knowing that he heard her blurt out her feelings, finally decides to come clean.
"I've always admired you Naruto-kun because you went through hardships just to get where you are today. Sasuke was admired because he's talented and mysterious; I admire you because you inspire others to make themselves better. You work hard and you're flawed because you're human. You may not have been the most talented ninja but I've watched you train harder than anyone."
Naruto smiles at her and says, "Not anyone. Lee's trains while he sleeps."
They both chuckle.
"Have I inspired you to change?"
Hinata nods and replies, "You've inspired me to never give up. Like you, I'm not very talented but, now I believe that I can be on the same level as those with great talent as long as I work on it."
To Hinata's surprise, Naruto kisses her cheek and her knees go weak. Naruto catches her before she drops and grins at her.
"Thank you. It means a lot to that you think so much of me." Naruto helps Hinata to her seat before resuming their dinner.
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The next morning at the village gate…
"Kakashi-sensei, do you think Naruto will be ok?" Sakura asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Will things ever go back to the way they were? Will our team be the way it was?"
Kakashi breathes in deep before replying, "No. We're always growing and changing and things don't usually stay the same. We always hope that they change for the better."
"But, what remains the same?"
"I don't know for certain. But we always want our friends to be the same. I remember back then how you were always chasing after Sasuke and fending off Naruto. You've certainly changed from that."
"I didn't know who Naruto was back then. Now, I constantly worry about him and Sasuke-kun." Sakura sadly states.
"You should be worried." Sakura looks up at Kakashi. "Those ninjas we faced on the last mission were from Akatsuki."
"The ones with the fiery chakra? They're Akatsuki?"
"They weren't members. They were experiments. Akatsuki was able to get a hold of the first four tailed demons. They used the demons' chakra on the nins we fought. I'm guessing that they're testing it on random ninjas before using the chakra themselves."
They're going to go after Naruto soon, aren't they?"
"I don't know." Kakashi sees Sasuke approaching.
"You're here early." Sasuke observes.
"He's always been on time since Kurenai-sensei-"
"Ah look, here comes Hinata." Kakashi interrupts Sakura. "Good, I guess we're ready to go to the hidden cloud village."
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After completing an A-rank mission, Asuma took his team out for barbeque.
"Shikamaru, you really did well. Your wit saved us from that feudal lord's army." Asuma says as he smokes his cigarette. "Also, for tomorrow, you and Neji are to report to the academy. They're short on instructors."
"Hey what about me Asuma-sensei! I can teach too!" Naruto yells with a mouthful.
"The Hokage wants to meet with you tomorrow. She's going to brief us before going to meet with the Raikage."
