Part 2: Training

It was 6:15 a.m. by the time Naruto and Hinata reached the training field. The air was brisk and the ground damp. Naruto placed his bag of gear down on the ground and turned around to face Hinata, cracking his knuckles.

"Well?" He grinned

"Let's see what your byakugan can do!"

Before she had time get into a ready position, Naruto had already launched himself up into the trees and shouted out "Shadow Clone Jutsu". Within seconds, a fleet of Naruto clones launched their way through the sky and hid themselves among the trees. She let out a small chuckle at his excitement. He must really be eager to train with someone. She clasped her hands together and focused her mind… "Byakugan!" She whispered. She scanned her surroundings carefully and identified.. .thirteen… no fourteen… no— fifteen shadow clones!

'Very impressive, Naruto'. She thought to herself, blushing lightly.

Hinata grabbed a few decoy kunai knives from Naruto's bag and sent them flying into the air toward the shadow clones. Her first throw missed but the next ones landed perfectly as she heard the 'poof' sound of the clones disappearing one by one. Naruto began to scatter his clones farther away up into the trees and even sent a few decoy kunai knives back at her. She dodged them with ease all while maintaining her focus with the byakugan and throwing the knives. She located and destroyed all 15 clones in about 2 minutes. After she had completed this, the real Naruto jumped back down to the ground.

"Alright Hinata! Awesome job!"

He ran down to give her a high five.

"Some of my clones were really far away and you still got 'em!"

"Thank you!" She smiled, the blush on her cheeks intensifying. "You too!"

"Hey, I was wondering.. how can you tell my shadow clones from the real me?"

"Um… well…" She stuttered.

"You see… you have a very distinct chakra flow. It's not replicated over to your shadow clones but instead it's almost like your clones are extending off of you like branches on a tree. If I follow the branches, they lead me back to the source— or in this case, you!"

"Wow!" He gaped at her with an open mouth.

"That's so cool, Hinata!" He leaned back against a tree.

"I thought you were gonna say that you could see me naked or something!"

He chuckled and gazed up at the clouds, failing to see the blush he had just elicited from Hinata. The two shinobi continued training for another several hours, stopping to talk and rest intermittently. It was the most the two had ever talked— and much to the surprise of both of them, Hinata was talking too! Naruto's laugh carried far above the trees, where a certain Jonin ninja was watching the two carefully.

"Hmmm…" The white haired Jonin pondered.

"They might just be the perfect pair for Lady Hokage's mission."