CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bloody Mist Residue!

XXX

Naruto reached the Hidden Mist Village as the sun was setting over the horizon. Everything about that village spelt 'trap' to the Uzumaki. There was an ever-present layer of thick mist that sat just above the ground reducing visibility to about two metres around him. Structures looming over the fog were few and far between in the form of tall ominous grey buildings covered in foliage that jutted up out of nowhere. The village was riddled with puddle-laden alleyways, only illuminated by the flashing neon lights of ramen restaurants calling the Uzumaki's name. The buildings were invisible, swallowed whole by the mist, to the point where you wouldn't know you were about to walk into one until you ran headfirst into it.

Everything was set up to ambush them. It was the perfect village to do so. The moment the jinchuuriki stepped foot onto it and were enveloped by the fog, they were as good as dead.

And yet.

The ambush never came.

Naruto, Hinata, Fuu, Gaara, Han, Yugito, and Hotaru were all allowed to stumble through the damp streets, make idiots of themselves, greet the occasional citizen, and find themselves a hotel to stay the night in. It felt so quiet.

It was seven o'clock in the evening, and there was no one outside. No villagers. No shinobi. No drunkards. Nothing.

What was wrong with this village?

They'd managed to find themselves a decent room in an upper-middle-class hotel a few blocks from the village's administration block and Mizukage's quarters. Only one problem remained.

"Okay, there's seven of us and three rooms, so how will we divide them up?" Yugito asked, placing her hands on her hips. Naruto dropped his luggage in the corner before turning to the older woman, running his bare feet along the cold wooden floorboards as he did so. Usually, when there were just six of them, the split was easy enough. Boys in one room, girls in the other, and adults in the third. But with Hotaru joining the team, Yugito wasn't sure whether the blonde kunoichi felt safer sleeping with her or Hinata and Fuu.

"Why not stick to the usual?" Fuu wondered. She yanked Hotaru in and pulled her closer before doing the same with Hinata. "Hotaru, Hinata, and I will stick together, ssu."

"Are you sure?" Yugito asked.

"Of course!" Fuu grinned.

Yugito covered the kunoichi's mouth and turned her attention to Hotaru, "Are you sure?"

Hotaru's face lit up, "Uh, it's perfectly fine by me. Plus, it'll give us time to get to know each other," she was certain.

"Perfect," Yugito said, removing her hand from Fuu's mouth. Fuu had been licking it this whole time, to irritate the group's mother figure. She wiped the saliva off her hand by rubbing it against her pants before stating, "With that matter settled. Everyone can take their stuff to their rooms. We'll figure out a plan of action tomorrow morning."

A brief moment of silence fell upon the room.

This was it. The first moment the group had had to breathe after the incident. Their blood cooled. Their minds steadied. They all stopped, luggage in hand, and thought about what they'd just gone through.

Han broke up the tension in the air by talking about what everyone else was too afraid to mention. "Now, I know what we're all thinking, but what happened this morning is in the past. What's done is done. Sulking about it will do us no favours, so, let's all look on the bright side. The Akatsuki tried to blindside us, and we came out in better shape for it. We've dealt a lethal blow to the Akatsuki by taking out six of their ten members in one go and potentially ending the war before it even began… Utakata died a hero, and he will be remembered as such by us, those who shared his last meal and shared the same pain as him. In the same breath, we've learned a crucial lesson. What happened this morning, happened because we underestimated the Akatsuki. We let our guard down. What we thought was going to be a six-on-one assault, turned out to be a six-on-six ambush. Never again will that happen, okay… OKAY?"

"Okay," everyone relayed in sombre unison.

"Okay. We're in the final straight, now. So, keep your guard up from now on. You so much as hear the word Akatsuki and you kill whoever uttered it immediately… okay, don't do that, but you get the point," Han finished. Naruto raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Can I step out for some ramen?" he wondered.

Han turned to Yugito, who just shrugged. He looked back at Gaara, who was still recovering from that last explosion. "That doesn't sound like a good idea, but I'm not gonna stop you," Han replied.

Naruto took that as a yes and walked out of the room.

XXX

In reality, Naruto didn't really need the ramen. He needed to step outside to get some fresh air. The tension in that room was so thick it could be cut with a knife, and he didn't feel like being in the room while everyone talked about Utakata and what happened that morning.

Mainly because it felt like his fault. Everything felt like his fault at this point. If it wasn't for him deciding to leave Konoha that day, none of this would've happened. Gaara would be back in the Sand Village. He'd probably be living the life with his sister, the Fifth Kazekage. Fuu would still be in the Waterfall Village. She'd still have the entire village protecting her from outside forces. Han would still be in the Hidden Stone. After all, it had been three years since he last saw his girlfriend and his baby. Yugito would be back in the Hidden Cloud. Without the other jinchuuriki breaking out and running riot, she would've still been a respected Cloud kunoichi. Hinata would still be in the Hidden Leaf too. Maybe they could've gotten the time to know each other under more peaceful circumstances, rather than be trapped in a constant fight for survival together. Most importantly though, Utakata would still be alive. Two nights ago, Hotaru and Utakata fell asleep together in the same room. Last night, Naruto showed up. Tonight, she sleeps without her sensei.

Why did he decide to leave the village that day? If only he'd stayed then the Akatsuki wouldn't have formed, or if they had formed, everyone would've at least been protected by their own villages. Sasuke would still be… well, Naruto didn't even know where Sasuke was. It'd been three years since he last saw the Uchiha. Odds were, he was being used as a vessel as we speak.

"What was the point of all of this."

"I don't know, bud, but are you done there?" the ramen shop owner wondered.

Naruto snapped back to reality. He'd only barely finished one bowl. He looked around. After nearly thirty minutes of walking, he'd found himself sitting in a small bar, shoulder pressed against one of the walls even though there was only one other person in the bar with him. A hooded figure who'd fallen asleep with their head against the other wall. He looked back over his shoulder. It was raining. Heavily. The roar of the downpour, drowning out the shopkeeper's voice.

"What?" the Uzumaki turned back to him.

"I asked if you were done, I wanna close up after you two leave."

"Oh yeah, it's not a problem," he said, tapping his pockets. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh?" the shopkeeper slammed his hands against a counter and leaned over it, "What's uh oh?"

Naruto massaged the bridge of his nose, "I left my wallet on the island is uh oh…"

"Look, I'm tired of you criminals coming in here and thinking you can just…" the older man was interrupted by a third party sliding some money between him and the Uzumaki. Both their eyes trailed off to the hooded figure, who'd gotten up from their seat to pay. They pulled their hood down and turned to the owner.

"It's cool, he's with me."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. Who were they? He stared at her face for a second trying to get a good look at her. His eyes darted from feature to feature. Her short curly black hair that didn't go beyond her shoulders. Her lively emerald eyes. Her soft, pale skin. Nothing about her rang a bell, but she was willing to pay for his food and that's all Naruto needed to know.

"Are you really?" he asked, sceptically.

"Does it matter? Just take your money," she said before turning to the Uzumaki and analysing his wounds. "You look like you're in bad shape."

"Yeah. Which is weird because, usually, my wounds heal pretty quickly," he said.

"Why don't you come back to my place, and I'll patch you up?" she wondered. Naruto's warning sirens went off. He pressed his back against the wall and thought of ways to get out of this situation. "Come on. You can trust me, I'm just a Kiri mednin. Plus, it doesn't look like you brought an umbrella."

Naruto's line of sight dropped to the woman's right hand. She was holding a long black umbrella. He stared through the ramen shop's Noren at the torrent of rain hitting the Hidden Mist's cobblestone pathways. "Okay, but I need to get back to my team in an hour."

"Deal."

Naruto walked out from under the curtain door and into the Hidden Mist Village. The rain, the mist, the lightning, and the thunder, it felt like a storm was coming through. Luckily, he was relatively safe under the woman's large umbrella.

"What's your name by the way?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"What is your name?" a little louder this time.

"Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"That's a nice name. Where did you get it?"

"Uh… from birth, I guess."

The woman palmed her face in embarrassment, "Of course. What kind of question was that?" she said, giggling to herself, "I've never actually met an Uzumaki."

"You know about the Uzumaki clan?"

"Not really. They lived on an island about an hour west of Kiri. If you know the right people you can still get a ride to see the village's ruins, but the island is surrounded by giant whirlpools that can swallow swimmers whole, so it's not a good idea to go if you don't know the area."

"Oh cool." They'd just come from the west. Maybe if they had time, he could convince the jinchuuriki to pay his ancestral home a visit. "What's your name by the way?"

She flashed him a warm smile before replying, "You can call me Kaede, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Well, nice to meet you, Kaede."

"So, what brings a Konoha missing-nin to the Hidden Mist?" she asked.

"How did you know I was a missing-nin?" Naruto wondered.

She pointed at his forehead with her thumb. He was still wearing his Konoha hitai-ate with the harsh scratch running through the centre. He unravelled the headband and brought it down to chest level. Yeah, he still wasn't very good at this missing-nin thing. "I… I guess I'm just passing through," he said. Naruto looked at the young woman up and down before asking, "Are you from around here?"

He didn't really have any reason to doubt her. She had to have been here for a while considering how she knew this place like the back of her hand. Every so often, she'd grab the Uzumaki by the elbow and pull him closer so he wouldn't run into a building that would suddenly spawn in front of him. The way she guided him into alleyways, manoeuvred around shops and abandoned buildings and warned him of obstacles before they even appeared. She had to be a local, but Naruto needed to ask her a few questions to ease his ringing alarm bells.

"Yep, born and raised."

"What happened to your headband?" he wondered. She used her free hand to pull aside her robe and reveal her exposed midriff. There it was, wrapped around her waist, held up by her hips, with a black cloth and the Hidden Mist's famous quadruple waves symbol. The moment he saw what was under her robe, he immediately tossed aside his headband concerns to ask, "Aren't you feeling cold?"

For someone skinny enough to have her headband wrap around her waist, he was surprised to see her not even shiver upon lifting her cloak. All she was wearing was a black cropped keyhole shirt with skin-tight, thigh-length black shorts. "Cold?" she asked. She looked around at the thick veil of mist, rain, and lightning surrounding her, "Yeah, I guess it is pretty cold."

"And yet, you're walking around in that?"

She shrugged as she came to a gradual halt. She grabbed Naruto by the elbow to stop him from walking out from under the umbrella. They were here. "I must just be used to it."

Kaede pushed open a short gate and walked with Naruto down a cobblestone pathway. Torrents of water flowed through the groves in the cobblestone. They stepped under a concrete ledge, allowing Kaede to close her umbrella.

Naruto looked back out at the village. Kaede's apartment was in the middle of the city, surrounded by large shops, lively restaurants, and big businesses. At least, he assumed so because of the flashing neon lights cutting through the mist. He looked up at the huge billboard nailed to the high-rise building across from him. It flashed in and out of existence, with its bright red glow telling people to purchase Kiri Beer.

She wrapped her arms around his elbow again to lead him into the building.

They made their way up to her room.

Kaede's studio loft had a huge window, which gave her a clear view of the world outside. Naruto took off his shoes before following her into the one-bedroom apartment. She flicked the room's sole light switch on, to dimly light up the area. The first floor was made up of the basic kitchen, bathroom and living space, whilst the second floor, accessible via a ladder, was where Kaede's futon lay.

Naruto wandered over to the large window and pressed his fingers against it. He was pretty high up, evident in how he was standing right across from the massive flashing billboards that were telling him to drink Kiri Beer earlier.

The Uzumaki just watched raindrops land on the windowpane for a solid minute before turning to Kaede in amazement, "Man, I wish I lived in a place like this."

Kaede exhaled harshly, almost to tell him he didn't want to live in a place like this without actually telling him that. Quickly, she shifted from a harsh look of disagreement to a sly nod of confirmation as she placed herself on the room's sole couch. She invited him to sit on the couch, next to her, before asking, "Really? Then why don't you just stay in the Hidden Mist, I've been looking for a roommate."

"A roommate?" Naruto asked, sitting down on the couch. He looked around the apartment. It was a sizable apartment but that was in relation to it housing one person. Two people crammed into this space would've been hell, especially with only one place to put a futon. "No offence, Kaede, but there's not much room in this place for a roommate."

True to her word, Kaede was able to activate her medical ninjutsu and accelerate Naruto's healing, "Sure there is. You would sleep on the futon upstairs," she said, running her hands over the Uzumaki's body.

"On the futon? And where would you sleep?"

"On the futon."

"T… that doesn't sound very appropriate for two people who just met," Naruto said, a faint hue of red running across his nose and cheeks.

"Well, at what point would he start getting appropriate?" she asked, unzipping his bright orange hooded jacket.

"Oi! Oi!" he perked up.

"I'm just taking it off, so you don't get sick. Your jacket is wet and it's freezing cold," she convinced him, trying to calm him down. He looked down at his clothing. He hadn't even noticed how soaked they were. The umbrella could only do so much after all. Naruto side-eyed her before relaxing himself and looking back at the raindrops on the windowpane.

"Hey…" Naruto tried to break the tension, "You… you said you knew something about the Uzumaki clan?"

"The Uzumaki clan? Yeah, I do but not much. Every Kiri shinobi knows a bit about the Uzumaki clan. They were our closest neighbours until they got invaded and wiped out."

"Do you know by who?"

Kaede shrugged, "We weren't taught that part… but whoever did it must've been pretty tough if they could take down a village where half the shinobi force had better sealing techniques than anything we've ever seen," she chuckled, "I say that, but you're an Uzumaki yourself. I'm sure you know quite a few S-rank sealing techniques yourself."

"Yeah," he chuckled, playing it off. In truth, Naruto's arsenal had three techniques in it. 1) Hit them hard. 2) Hit them harder with shadow clones. 3) If they resist, hit them really hard with the Rasengan. "Do you at least know what happened to the Uzumaki that survived?"

"They probably just did the exact same thing you did; ran away to Konoha or went into hiding. The only difference is that most of them aren't parading their clan names around like you are, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto puffed out his cheeks while staring out the window. Once again, retrospectively, he wasn't that good at this whole missing-nin thing. At the start of his journey, he made the mistake of scratching a line through his headband, a headband he was so attached to, that he forgot to take it off when walking into other villages. He also gave his name away too often and too easily. It wasn't his fault he was so proud of his name. Naruto Uzumaki. A recognisable name for a recognisable shinobi. Blue eyes, blonde hair, three whiskers on either cheek. He was way too recognisable for his own good. Which wouldn't have been a problem had he been a cold-blooded killer like one of the Akatsuki members, but he was just Naruto. The shinobi who couldn't kill the man who tried to kill him, for the sake of saving his people.

It was getting dark.

The rain was starting to slow.

"I think I should get going," Naruto said, getting up.

Kaede's eyes widened. "What do you mean? You just got here."

Naruto flexed his muscles to try and get a feel for them, "Yeah, but I'm feeling much better now. All thanks to you," the Uzumaki said, flashing a warm smile, "But I'm sure my teammates will think I got lost if I don't start heading back."

He tried to get up, but Kaede had a vice grip-like grasp on his arm. "You said I had a whole hour with you, it's only been fifteen minutes."

"I said you had an hour to heal my wounds. You healed them in fifteen minutes, so I'm getting out of here," he tried to get up again, but she'd entangled herself around his arm again, rooting him down to the couch. Naruto's heart began to race. Why was she holding him down? He was panicking and she could tell, so she loosened her grip on him.

"Calm down. I just want to talk to you for a bit longer, is that a crime?"

"Talk to me about what?"

"What normal people talk about… you know, I just want to know more about you."

Naruto finally managed to throw her off. He stood up off the couch, "You meet me in some bar fifteen minutes ago, and suddenly, you want to know more about me?" he asked, one eye slightly squinted.

"Well, when you say it like that you make me sound like a stalker. No, I meant…" she let out a soft sigh to try and calm herself down. She got up off the couch too and stood in front of Naruto to try and talk to him. "Don't you at least want to stay for dinner?"

Naruto thought about it for a second. He gave her a thumbs up, "No thank you, I just ate," he said before walking around the couch towards the door. Kaede reached over the leather piece of furniture to grab hold of his arm. She missed.

"Then… then when will I see you again?" Kaede asked, leaping off the couch to try and intercept the Uzumaki's path.

"See me again?" Naruto paused. Why would she want to see him again? "Why? You want me to pay you back for the healing or something? I thought that was out of kindness… my wounds would've healed anyway-."

"No," Kaede interrupted him. She looked around her dimly lit room for a brief moment before returning her attention to Naruto. She had her arms spread out across the hallway, which was so thin, that the tips of her middle fingers were touching either side. To be fair, Naruto could've easily blown past her if he wanted to. The fact that he was standing there letting her speak was due to his own discretion. "I meant… okay, I didn't want to scare you off by saying this straight off the bat, but… oh, sorry, I'm just not good in social situations… I think I like you, Naruto Uzumaki. Like… I like-like you… I like-like you in a way I've never liked another boy before."

"What?"

"Wait, let me finish because if I don't get this all out in one go, I don't think I'll be able to say it at all," she begged. Naruto just let her. He was still trying to process what he'd just said to her. "Okay, I know we've only known each for a few minutes, but that's how strong these feelings are, and since you're a Konoha ninja, I know that means you're gonna leave soon, but… but I don't know, something inside me makes me want to hold you, and hug you, and watch movies with you for as long as I can before you leave…"

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say you're not like any other guy I've met before, Naruto. Kiri guys are so rough, and rugged, and try too hard to be macho. Once you've met one guy, you've met them all, but you're so soft and gentle, and warm… and you don't have to say yes, I'm not forcing you to say yes, but I know that if I don't take this chance and grasp it with both hands, that I might never see you again, so I guess I don't mind being rejected then if that's the case. But please don't reject me, as I said I'm not forcing you to accept, it's just… ugh… I just want to ask if, until you leave, we could be boyfriend and girlfriend?"

That was a lot to take in in one sitting. He stood there trying to process what she'd just said to him. She like-liked him. To simplify it, she loved him. Love. Such a tricky term. He couldn't even lie, watching Gaara find Emi in the Land of Hot Water broke him a little. The only woman he'd ever expressed undying love to had rejected him constantly and violently. He'd come to equate love to pain. Then again, never had the roles been reversed. Naruto had loved and lost, but he'd never been loved, at least not to his knowledge. He wasn't even sure what being in a relationship was like or what were the formalities of such a thing, so he expressed that.

"Well, I just want us to spend time together, talk, cuddle, hug, and all that jazz, we can just sit here and admire the rain," she promised him, "And maybe if you stay for long enough, we can take things further."

Take things further? "Oh… uh… of course… sure, I'd love to be your boyfriend then," he said, even though the moment hadn't really sunk in yet, "and you can be my girlfriend," he announced, giving Kaede the special title of Naruto's first girlfriend. What did that even entail?

Kaede took his hands in hers and stared into the Uzumaki's eyes. Her youthful emerald orbs stared into his deep blue pair. She gave his palms a firm squeeze before asking, "Really?"

They paused for a minute. No one said a thing. Nothing but the sound of raindrops echoing off the window filled the room as Naruto tried to understand what was going on. He felt like a fish out of water. What did he know about dating? All he knew about this woman was her name and place of residence. He didn't know how old she was, where her family was, who her friends were. Was he really about to enter into his first relationship with someone who was basically a total stranger? Was this a trap?

Kaede gave him another tight squeeze.

He'd never had someone look at him the way she was looking at him at that moment. Her pupils had dilated almost completely, and it felt like she was staring past his eyes and into his soul. The closest thing he'd ever had to this moment was… when he was dancing with Hinata. He could feel her heartbeat through her hands.

"Of course," he finally answered.

She wasted no time. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a warm embrace before resting her head on his chest. Naruto stared at the door for a while before slowly wrapping his arms around her waist.

After a minute of being locked in that position, they finally broke. Only for a split second. She didn't want to let him go. She gave him one last hug goodbye before stepping back and staring into his eyes. Naruto gave her a sheepish grin.

Before he could even say anything, Kaede was back in his intimate space. She brushed her hand against his jawline, lifted her face to his and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. His eyes widened. She pulled away. "Wait, was that your first kiss?"

"Y…" Naruto stopped himself when he realised. No… unfortunately, it wasn't his first kiss. "No, I'm just surprised."

Kaede stepped back and fixed her hair, "Sorry, I didn't mean to come on too strong," she stepped aside to let him go through.

"It's okay," he said before making his way to the door. All he had to do was ring her room's intercom when he made it to the lobby, and she'd let him out.

He looked back at her one last time.

She threw her arms behind her back and flashed him a warm smile. "Bye-bye."

What had he gotten himself into?

XXX

"WHAT DID YOU GET YOURSELF INTO?!" Han exploded when he heard the news.

Fuu popped her head out into the living room from her bedroom when she heard the commotion, "What's going on, ssu?"

"Naruto got a girlfriend," Gaara said, leaning on his doorframe.

"Naruto got a what?" Fuu rushed out into the hallway.

"Aw, that's so cute," Yugito chuckled, entering the conversation.

"NO! NOT CUTE AT ALL!" Han was fuming. "What did you tell her? How did this happen?"

"What's going on?" Hinata asked, entering the conversation with Hotaru. She wondered why everyone was standing around Naruto with different expressions written across their faces. Han looked like he was about to kill the Uzumaki. Yugito looked like a proud mother. Gaara was… Gaara. And Fuu looked worried.

Gaara broke the news, "Naruto got a girlfriend."

Hinata went pale. "Naruto? What?"

"Is everyone here? Did everyone hear me? Everyone got the memo?" Gaara was tired of being the one to catch everyone up on the situation. Fuu nudged the Sand ninja to shut him up. This was no time to be a comedian. "What? It's not as if someone has died."

"Who is it?" Hinata wanted to know.

"No! Answer my questions first!" Han demanded.

"Can everyone calm down? It feels like I'm back in the academy getting scolded for something, dattebayo," Naruto yelled.

"No! Because you are getting scolded!" Han said.

"For what?"

"For what? We're jinchuuriki and missing-nin in one of the Five Great Nations, don't you find it strange that one day in and this random woman's trying to go out with you?" Han wondered.

"She's not trying to go out with me, she is going out with me. And what's the problem? I mean it happened with Gaara?" Naruto pointed out.

"Please don't bring me into this mess."

Yugito Nii shrugged, "He's right. It did happen with Gaara."

"Whose side are you on?" Han wondered.

"Why are we picking sides? Naruto, of all people, is in a relationship. This should be a cause for celebration," she suggested.

"Of all people?" Naruto interjected.

Hinata took on the mantle of asking the questions, "Who is she?"

"Her name's Kaede, she's a Kiri kunoichi."

"Kaede? Have one of your spies run a background check on her," Han told Yugito.

The blonde kunoichi rolled her eyes, "I'm not having one of my spies run a background check on a poor… how old is she?"

"She's fifteen, about to be sixteen," Naruto was horrible with dates but if he remembered their conversation correctly, then she was about two weeks away from turning sixteen.

"… on a poor fifteen, about to be sixteen-year-old. If Kiri wanted to launch an attack on us, they would've done so when we were weak and tired. The long game will serve them no favours, they'll still have to deal with five jinchuuriki, a Hyuuga, and the disciple of the Six-Tails. They gain nothing from trying to seduce Naruto."

"They could learn our secrets," Han protested.

"From Naruto? Naruto, what did you eat last night?" Yugito asked. Naruto shrugged. That's all she needed. "If they wanted to learn our secrets, they would've tried their hand at someone like Gaara, Fuu, or Hinata… maybe even you or me, but Naruto and Hotaru know nothing about this group or its plans… at least, Hotaru has an excuse."

"How did you meet?" Hinata got everyone back on track.

"That's a funny story. I went out to get some ramen and clear my mind, but I forgot to take my wallet and she offered to pay for my meal. Then she noticed I was a bit beat up from our fight with Pain, and my wounds hadn't healed up yet, so she offered to take me to her place and heal my wounds."

"Is that an innuendo?" Fuu wondered.

"Is that a what?" Naruto asked.

"Never mind," Fuu said realising Naruto wouldn't know a sexual innuendo if it hit him in the face at 100 km/h. Something had to be as subtle as a brick through a window in order to get Naruto's attention sexually. Which brought Fuu to another question, "Then how did she eventually start dating?"

Naruto and Hinata had shared a dance under the moonlight together without the Uzumaki even getting a whiff of her romantic interests, so this woman must've done something extraordinary to get Naruto to notice her.

"She asked."

"She asked?" Fuu twitched.

"She asked?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, she just said 'let's be boyfriend and girlfriend', and it just felt good to be wanted romantically, dattebayo. I've never had someone treat me like that before."

"You've never had someone want you romantically?" Fuu asked, stressing each and every word while staring over Naruto's shoulder at the Hyuuga heiress standing behind him.

"No, as far back as I can go, I've always had people either hate my guts or only pretend to like me because they wanted something."

"Surely, there had to be some people who liked you romantically. What about Hinata?" Fuu asked.

"Hinata?" Naruto looked back over his shoulder at the Hyuuga heiress. Hinata's head was down, staring at her fidgety fingers and feet. She couldn't bring herself to look at Naruto eye-to-eye. "Hinata's one of the few Konoha shinobi who's always been there for me as a friend, but she never talked to me or hung out with me, so it'd be weird of me to jump in out of nowhere and assume she had romantic feelings for me. Right, Hinata?"

"Huh?" she stared at him. Her eyes hidden behind her bangs.

"Yeah, Hinata. What do you have to say about Naruto's new relationship?" Fuu asked, putting the heiress on the spot.

The room fell into silence.

Hotaru looked around, "I feel like I'm missing something very important here," she whispered.

"Hinata?" Naruto took a step closer, but she took a step back.

She flashed him a quick smile and said, "I just want what's best for you is all, and if you're happy then I'm just happy to see you happy," and with that, she ran off into her room. Followed closely by Fuu, then Hotaru, and then Yugito.

The door slammed shut.

Naruto turned to Gaara in utter confusion.

"Nope. Don't look at me. I'm just as confused as you are."

Naruto looked to Han next. "As long as you don't give away any of our secrets to her, I'm okay with it."