Hinata had wanted to go after the hurting and angry blonde the moment he had left the Hokage's office, but again, her fears kept her back. Fear of what he would say, of whether he would forgive her for her careless comments or her spying.

Or her greatest fear, whether he would think she was just another fangirl, just like Sasuke's many fans who followed him.

No! That would be an insult Hinata didn't think she could handle. Those girls were neither strong nor had any self-respect. While Hinata may not be the former, she still had the latter. No matter if Naruto was so kind that he would never say something like that to her, but just thinking it about her would probably break her.

'You coming, Hinata-chan?' Hinata stopped fiddling with her jacket momentarily to see Kiba looking at her expectantly. They had just been dismissed from the Hokage's office and had descended the tower.

'Umm… I…', she blushed, realising she had spaced out again.

Thankfully, Kiba didn't say anything about it, as he repeated himself, 'Me and Shino are going to spar for a bit. You coming?'

Hinata shook her head, 'No, Kiba-kun. I have something I need to do', she looked towards where the blonde genin was sitting.

Kiba shook his head, 'You're better off leaving that idiot alone for now, trust me', narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

'W…Why?' she asked, surprised to see her teammate ask her to stay awake from Naruto as well, like Ko did many times before.

What had poor Naruto-kun ever done to deserve this?

'I agree, Hinata-san', Hinata turned wide eyed to look at Shino, disappointed. Of all people, she thought Shino would understand. People clearly disliked Naruto-kun for something that was beyond his control. She thought Shino would understand how that felt, given that Aburames also experienced a similar prejudice to some extent, on account of their bugs.

Why was everyone suddenly against her talking to Naruto. Before she could ask that, Shino answered.

'I do not have anything against Naruto-san', Shino clarified politely. 'But it is only logical that his sensei would seek to reprimand him after Naruto-san's showing earlier. It would be better if you were not present for that.'

Hinata hated to admit, but Shino was probably right. It didn't matter if Naruto-kun had spoken for something he believed in. What mattered was that he had talked back to and against a Daimyo's daughter, and against his own sensei.

That alone justified an official reprimanded. But she didn't think poor Naruto-kun was aware of that.

'He was only trying to defend Haku-san', Hinata mumbled, trying to make her teammates see that she didn't think it was that bad.

However, she was most surprised by the almost disappointed look in Shino's eyes, making her confidence plummet even more. 'Yes, but he should not have spoken with such disrespect to Princess-sama. It could have bad consequences for Konoha if she took offense.'

She couldn't fault Shino cautioning her for that reason, however, she was determined that she would not leave him hurting, alone. She was trying to change and sometime soon she would have to face her fear of rejection. Why not start now? After all, Naruto-kun never backed down from a challenge.

Hinata only nodded and Shino understood her unspoken thanks as he dragged a protesting Kiba away, thankfully not saying anything else.

And as she stood there, looking at the frowning boy, wavering in her place, she wondered what she could ever say to him for the loss of his friend. But she knew, no matter what happens, she would be there for him. And that meant starting now.

Gathering every ounce of courage, she could muster, she took one step towards a conversation that would change her. And then one more after that.

Naruto sat in front of the Missions Department, not because he didn't go in, but because he had been sent out. Or more like, kicked out, if the expression of the female chunin was anything to go by. He had planned to do it later, when he couldn't be seen anyone, but Kakashi had just proven himself to be utterly incapable of even siding with him.

So, he sat there, refusing to move until someone came outside and explained the procedure to him, but also wishing that team eight would leave. He wasn't actively gathering chakra, but even without trying, he could sense they were there, near the entrance.

He simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, and sigh of frustration when two of the members left yet his spy remained. He honestly didn't know what he felt about her now. Half an hour ago, he had been annoyed at her, and mildly offended at her spying and her earlier comments.

Now, he was just confused.

'N…Naruto-kun', Hinata sat down beside him and mumbled. 'W…what are you -'

'Are you gonna tell me to leave as well', Naruto spat, annoyedly. He would have said much more if the horrified look on Hinata's face hadn't stopped him short.

Hinata shook her head, eyes wide. How could he think something like that about her?

'N…No, Naruto-kun', Hinata tried to explain herself. 'I… I was w…worried about you. I'm… I'm s…sorry.'

Anything that he would have said went right out of his head at the mumbled apology, shocked, surprised and even more confused than before.

No one apart from Ayame and Teuchi had ever worried about him. Not even his teammates or his sensei. The warmth in his chest from earlier, the ember threatened to turn into a flicker of flame.

'I…'

The girl was still looking at the floor instead of him, so he couldn't see what her eyes were saying. Not that he was very efficient in reading them but he was always able to tell when someone meant him harm, or were fooling him, through their eyes.

'Thank you, Hinata', Naruto replied, and smiled at her sudden shock. Maybe… just maybe she could understand him… maybe. But then he remembered all that she had done and that kindled hope flickered. 'But I'm fine, really.'

He had really wanted to ask her the question burning in his mind, the suspense threatening to consume him. But he kept his mouth shut, counselling himself patience. If she was genuine, then surely it would show itself.

A few minutes of silence followed Hinata didn't know what to say, but she could tell he wasn't really okay. Maybe he was trying to convince himself with the statement. Maybe… maybe he would tell her if he was more comfortable. So, she changed the subject, trying to put his mind more at ease.

'Are… are you here for a mission, Naruto-kun', she asked, wincing at her curiosity when Naruto's narrowed his whipped to her.

'What?' Naruto squinted in confusion, something which Hinata personally thought was quite cute, and immediately reddened at the thought, though the smile was harder to hide.

'At the missions department', she clarified, thankful that her blush hadn't been so strong as to make her faint. She really needed to work on that.

'Oh right', Naruto mumbled, and threw a dirty look towards the chunin sitting on the desk. Why must she be so difficult. But why was Hinata asking? Was this another one of her techniques to spy on him? He didn't think so. If it was, she wouldn't be smiling like that. Even if she wasn't particularly strong, it didn't mean she wasn't smart.

But then again, she had already seen his Shadow Clone jutsu in the fight on the bridge and his taijutsu against Sasuke. She could hardly do anything else when he wasn't even getting anywhere in his quest to get a new sensei.

Deciding it would do no harm, or that if it did get out, he would know who spread it.

'I want to…'

Hinata could see the suspicion in his eyes, and while it saddened her, she knew she had only herself to blame. But he looked like he was struggling with whatever he was sitting here for. Perhaps if she helped him with it, he wouldn't be so cautious around her.

Though, he might of course take offense if she offered him her help. After all, what could a useless kunoichi like her even do to help him.

No, no! Stupid Hinata! If she didn't try, she would never improve!

'Ano… Maybe… maybe I could help', she muttered lightly.

Naruto eye's widened as he looked at her, surprised yet again. She would help him? Even when her team very clearly wanted her to stay away from him? How many times could he be surprised by this girl, he wondered. He was the resident prankster of Konoha. He was the one who was supposed to be surprising people, not the other way around.

'I need to hire someone for a mission', he finally admitted, begrudgingly, but the sincere look in her eyes made him drop his shields a little. 'But that bitch wouldn't give me the paperwork for it!' he threw a glare towards the woman.

Hinata gasped at the language and shocked at the sudden vehemence Naruto was showing. It wasn't that she wasn't used to such language by now. Even if she wouldn't dare utter such words, she was teammates with Kiba and the boy sometimes swore like a sailor on shore leave.

But why would the… woman not give Naruto-kun the paperwork. Missions brought improved the village's economy, and it was up to the Hokage and sometimes the council whether to accept a mission or not. It was certainly not up to any chunin on mission handling duty.

She knew because it was part of her education as heiress, which was of course halted now because she showed no promise as one. But that didn't mean that she had forgotten her lessons. But before she could help him, she needed to know what he was hiring a ninja for. Perhaps he needed help with a D-rank chore. If she, she could help him and he would save that money.

'Um… Naruto-kun… what are you hiring for?' she asked hesitantly, hoping he didn't see this as her butting into his business.

The suspicious glint in his eyes returned and she hurried to elaborate. 'I… I mean I could help you with it.'

She was momentarily surprised by Naruto-kun's sad smile. She had seen it before and didn't like it one bit.

'You can't', he replied, but missed the look of hurt on her face.

'Oh… Of course, … I didn't mean to butt in…' Hinata wiggled her fingers, willing her eyes not to get wet. Even Naruto-kun thought she was no good. How could she have hoped otherwise. Of course, he did.

Her head snapped up in surprise when he continued.

'I need someone to train me.'

'Oh.' His answer lightened her mood greatly. His refusal didn't have anything to do with her weakness. She knew she could barely train herself. No way would she be able to help in someone else's training. Would this boy never cease to surprise her?

Hinata immediately realised why he even wanted to hire a tutor. Anyone who had seen Team 7 train would know it. As such, she stood up and strode straight towards the chunin sitting on the desk sorting an inordinate amount of paperwork into different piles.

She didn't pay attention to her own posture but clearly the chunin was surprised to see her standing in front of her. In that moment, she didn't look like the shy timid girl she was. She wasn't the least useful member of Team 8. She wasn't the useless Hyuga.

No, in that moment, angered by the unprovoked injustice to her Naruto-kun, she looked like the heiress of the Hyuga Clan that she was born to be. 'I require paperwork for requesting a mission.'

The chunin blinked for a few seconds before she stammered, 'Of… Of course, Hinata-sama.'

She may have denied paperwork to the demon, but even the chunin could see doing it to the heiress of the Hyuga clan would not be good for her health or her career.

'Thank you', Hinata replied to the woman, even as she resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. She could see the woman was, if not scared, then perhaps cautious of her. If only because she was her father's daughter. She had no desire to make people afraid of her, but she couldn't deny that perhaps just this once, her clan's reputation had come in handy.

And if she needed to use it to help Naruto-kun, she would. 'Here, Naruto-kun', she handed the frankly scarily thick pad of paper to him.

Naruto was dumbfounded for a moment. It wasn't often that he was shocked into speechlessness. He knew, now more than ever, that his habit of making presumptions about people was indeed a very wrong thing to do. Maybe Hinata wasn't as bad as he thought.

After all, hadn't he learnt not to judge people by their first impressions from the whole Zabuza experience. Then why had he been so stupid to do the same with this girl. If he did that on the battlefield then surely it would get him killed.

'N…Naruto-kun', he was startled out of his reverie and slack-jawed surprise by Hinata nudging him a little on the shoulder. Apparently, he had spaced out. 'Thank you… thank you very much, Hinata. Really!'

The light in her eyes that appeared at his thanks made him more curious and frankly, a little sadly, confusingly. How could she find such a simple response enough to make her happy?

'Now all I've gotta do is this fill this out and…'

He instantly paled, having failed to realise how many papers there were in the pad she had handed to him. 'All of this, for one mission?' he asked, wanting to be clear.

'Yes, Naruto-kun. Requesting a mission is serious business and all the information is needed for the Hokage and the council to judge what rank the mission should be given. Who would be the team or ninja to assign it to? How long it should take and what pay should be asked?'

He looked at her in astonishment. Never had he thought she could know this much about something he had thought to be so trivial. In retrospect however, that was a stupid assumption to make. Of course, mission requesting would be very important. This was a ninja village after all.

Hinata blushed deeply, realising how much she had said, without being asked. Surprisingly, or perhaps she shouldn't be, Naruto didn't find it offensive or annoying, like her father or cousin did so often did. Instead, she was aware of the dangerous warmth bubbling in her chest at the gratitude in his eyes.

Naruto hated paperwork more than he had hated studying. It was one of the reasons why he never used to make any notes. Apart from the fact that he really didn't have any patience for it. But he was trying to get himself to change, to improve.

He supposed he still needed to work a lot on his patience. He could see this was important but right now, he just didn't want to read through all of it. Maybe she could give him an overview?

No! As soon as the thought had occurred, he squashed it down ruthlessly. He didn't want to be in her debt any more than he already was. She had already done a lot for him. This could be the beginning of his real improvement as a ninja and he would be damned if he didn't read through the hiring policy properly and screwed it up somehow.

And as he read through the inordinate amount of information on the papers, he realised just how much he had looked over. Indeed, it was exactly like Hinata had said. All of the questions pertained to the information which would be used to judge the rank and pay of the mission, as well as which ninjas to give the missions to.

He could only presume it was because some ninjas specialised in certain aspects and those would be taken into account when handing out missions. However, it was the last part that was troubling him honestly.

Naruto knew most of the things the papers required however, he would need to think carefully about many of the details. Such as what he needed help on, and how much to disclose. Naruto was definitely not going to give in the paperwork now. For all he knew the chunin woman would just throw it away in the bin as soon as his back was turned.

Hinata saw sadness flash through his eyes which concerned her. But not as much as the anger that replaced it. What was he angry about? The woman? Naruto-kun didn't seem like someone to hold onto a grudge. At least she hoped he wasn't. Naruto-kun wasn't anything like her cousin.

'Are… are you okay, Naruto-kun', she asked, touching his arm gently, unknowingly pulling him out of his darkening thoughts.

Naruto shook his head, as if that will get rid of his anger on the stupid villagers. 'Y…Yes. Yes, I am. Just got distracted that's all', he gave her a grin, hoping it would put her concerns to rest. As touching as it was, it was more confusing than anything else.

All he could think of was what game she was playing? No one ever worried about him. Not unless there was something in it for them. Mizuiki was one such example. A stupid one but an example nonetheless.

Hinata knew Naruto didn't like anyone pitying him, and resolved not to do so. Even if she hadn't seen him smile or laugh properly in ages, even if she knew the grin on his face was fake. Just for show perhaps. 'It's just that, y… you seemed sad?'

Naruto flinched, berating himself for letting his feelings be shown so easily. He needed to be better than that. And he was quickly becoming annoyed with the confusing feelings this conversation with Hinata was bringing up.

And so, he did what he did best when he was uncomfortable. He lashed out defensively. Perhaps not the wisest decision on his part.

'Why were you spying on me?' Naruto suddenly blurted out and surprised himself just as much as the reddening girl. It seemed that his curiosity won over his patience. He really didn't think he was important enough to warrant spying on.

Or maybe he didn't want a conversation about feelings. He had learnt early on, concentrating on them was bad for him and his sanity. Nothing ever good came from it, and it only served to make him even more depressed.

Shocked at the sudden change in topic and the accusation, no matter how correct, Hinata's eyes closed shut, wishing herself to have more courage.

'I…', she mumbled, gathering her courage to recite what she had rehearsed to herself in the safety of her room. She chanced looking at him, turning slightly.

And what she saw shocked her more. Rather than the anger she expected to be present in his eyes, which was ever-present in her father's and Neji's, she saw nothing but hurt. Until he looked away, hiding them from her. Her clenched in her chest, making her vow to clear this up with him right here and now. No matter what.

Try as he might to listen to Tobirama, to hide his emotions from his 'enemy', somehow this betrayal from her hurt him more than anything any other villager had ever done to him. Despite his earlier conviction of not caring what she thought of him, he couldn't shake the pang of pain in chest.

Why? Why would she do something like that? He had battled with the confusing question for a week now. He needed to know why she had turned her back on him. Was he that bad of a friend? Had he done something wrong? No, otherwise she wouldn't have helped him with obtaining the paperwork for the mission request.

Just what was this girl's deal?

Hinata shook her head, 'N…No, Naruto-kun. I…'

'You're denying it!'

Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger and his fists clenched. She was going to deny it to his face? Did she think he was that stupid, like her mutt friend likes to say? Well, she has another thing coming if she does. He would show her not to take him lightly.

Before he could give her a piece of his mind, she whipped her head to him, 'I didn't want to!', Hinata yelled at him, her eyes widening in horror at what she had done as the same time as his did.

'Oh no! He was going to walk away now. He was going to call her a freak and insult her! And she would deserve it!'

Why couldn't she do anything right!

'You didn't?' Naruto didn't know what to think anymore. What the hell was going on? This girl was a walking contradiction.

'He's not going to yell at me!'

Hinata could barely believe it. 'No, Naruto-kun. I…it was a mission.'

Naruto's eyes showed his clear confusion, his mouth opening and closing for a while before he managed out a coherent syllable, 'Wha?'

Hinata nodded, 'A mission. T…training for surveillance…'

'Of course!' Naruto slapped himself up the head, shocking Hinata who watched the blonde with wide eyes.

'Stupid, stupid', Naruto muttered to himself, continuing to hit his head. 'Naruto-baka!' he repeated Sakura's often spoken words.

'Ummm… Naruto-kun', Hinata said concernedly, putting her hand on his arm to stop the boy's attacks on himself. 'What are you…?'

Of course, it was training. How could he be such an idiot! Their team was set up to be a tracking team. All three had some ability for it. Why hadn't he thought of that before.

'I'm sorry, Hinata, I thought you were spying because…' Naruto turned to her. 'I'm sorry', he repeated, hoping he hadn't cost himself an opportunity for just one friend because of his stupidity.

'It's…. okay, Naruto-kun', Hinata couldn't believe this kind, kind boy. She was the one who was spying and he was the one saying sorry. Why anyone want to hurt such a kind soul, was beyond her. Could she have the same courage to apologise as Naruto possessed in abundance?

No, there was no question of if! She had to do it. Or she would curse herself for the lost opportunity. 'N…Naruto-kun', she whispered.

'Hmm', Naruto replied, and despite his earlier bravado, was afraid of the fear bubbling inside him. Would she take it back? Would she decide he really wasn't good enough?

'I wanted to apologise', Hinata forced herself lift her head with monumental effort. She could never look her father or any of the elders in the eye when she had done something or other wrong. But she wanted, no needed Naruto to see that she was sincere.

'What?'

Naruto felt that after this conversation was over, he would need a thorough spar to get his head on straight. Surely, being confused this much in a single conversation couldn't be healthy. Or normal.

Her face may be projecting her fears but maybe Naruto could see it still. She could always read his eyes. Maybe… maybe one day Naruto could too. Realising she was getting carried on with her thoughts, she shook them off, no matter how inviting they were.

'About w…what I said in Wave', she mumbled, hoping that he would get the point. She was really ashamed of her words.

'Oh', Naruto's eyes widened in realisation. 'That.'

'Un hun…', Hinata continued. 'I shouldn't have and… I was wrong to say it….' was as far as the stuttering young Hyuga got before she was interrupted by a resounding 'No!' from the blonde shaking his head.

He wasn't going to forgive her? She knew it. It was too much to hope for her stupidity.

'No. You don't need to say sorry'

Huh! What!

'Did you mean it?' he asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from her either way.

What?

Hinata blinked once. Then twice trying to make sense of this, her head following the boy walk back and forth.

'Yes… but… I…. I'm sorry', she had no idea what else to say. Oh why in the world had she been so stupid?!

Naruto had jumped to his feet and was pacing in front of the girl, trying to explain it to her. Holding his emotions back and thinking rationally was still a fairly new concept to him. And truthfully, he still a little guilty about losing it in front of the Hokage and the visitors, not to mention hitting Sakura.

'I'm not mad at you. Well not anymore.'

He tried to think up a sensible way to explain the conclusion he had come to, to the girl who was patiently waiting for his response, making him even more impatient to get this uncomfortable conversation over and done with.

'You pointed out my weakness', Naruto smiled at her. Yes, he had thought about it long and hard. And only when she had said she was worried about him did he draw the conclusion.

'It was because of you and Zabuza that I realised I needed to work harder, better. Get serious. That I wasn't as awesome as I thought I was.'

Hinata nodded, unable to form a response at his logic. 'Y…yes but…'

'And since you told the truth, so will I', Naruto whirled towards her, a determined look set in his eyes.

However, what he said next dashed all her hopes of him wanting to be friends with her. 'You said I was weaker than the mutt. So are you though.'

'I… I know I'm weak… Naruto-kun… but….'

However, Naruto wasn't done, 'So both of us are right now, the weakest members of our team right. So, we can hardly get any worse. Once we reach rock bottom, there's no place to go but up, right?' Naruto laughed loudly.

Why hadn't she thought of that before. At least this conversation was enlightening in some way. Now she felt much better than before and apparently, so did Naruto.

Never in a hundred years would she have thought he would say this. But really, she should have expected this. He wasn't one to give up. It just went to show that maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought.

Perhaps… perhaps she would have the chance to get to know him now. But the excitable boy kept going on as Hinata watched with fondness.

'Yosh! We'll work together!' Naruto nodded vigorously, more to himself than to her, his pathway now becoming clearer than when he left the library.

Only an hour ago, never would he have imagined that an hour, and a conversation with a weird Hyuga could bring up about such change and lightness in his soul.

'T…together, Naruto-kun?' Hinata could barely believe what she was hearing. He wanted to train with her? What did that mean? He must know she couldn't teach him the Jyuken and surely, he wouldn't want to teach her his signature clone jutsu.

'Yes. If there's one thing I've learnt from baka-Kakashi, it's that "Those who breaks the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash!"'. Sure, it wasn't exactly what he had said, but it was roughly what he had meant.

'F…. Friends?' Hinata squeaked, reddening at the mere thought of it, swaying at the spot. She shook her head to focus on this most bizarre, yet unprecedented but not at all unwelcome conversation. It seemed Naruto perceived that shake of head the wrong way, for his smile faltered almost instantly.

'That's what friends do right?', Naruto asked, a hint of apprehension and trepidation in his voice which Hinata definitely heard. 'Work together', he added, scratching the back of his head in the way she found most adorable.

He wanted to be her friend! He wanted to be her friend. Even after everything that had happened. Hinata nodded vigorously, 'Y…Yes, Naruto-kun. We're friends!', she proclaimed as rewarded by a smile that threatened to split the blonde's face in two.

She couldn't believe this was happening. This had to be the happiest day of her life. It was in that moment that Naruto looked truly happy. And she had caused that. A warmth spread through her chest at the thought. She had taken him out of his earlier misery and given him some happiness.

'Friends then!' Naruto thrust his hand out to the girl and grabbed hers, shaking it vigorously. He was still somewhat embarrassed he had been so mistaken about her but it doesn't matter.

They were starting from a fresh slate now. Now that he thought about it, her smile really was cute, cuter than Sakura's in his opinion. But no sooner had the thought appeared, he squashed it down. In his young, unloved and inexperienced mind, he didn't want to think perverted thoughts about his new and not to mention, his only friend.

'B…But how are we going to get s…stronger, Naruto-kun?' Hinata asked earnestly. She wanted to get stronger more than anything, and surely if Naruto believed it was possible, then it must be.

'The library?' she suggested meekly, remembering where it was, she had followed him to today.

'Yes, but most of all, it's going to take only two things!' Naruto exclaimed, holding up two fingers to her.

'Yes?' Hinata nodded, eyes glued to the blonde boy as if he was Kami himself come down to earth to deliver a sermon.

'Un hun', Naruto nodded. 'And those are hard work and the guts to never give up!', he told her the same thing he had to Konohamaru more than two months ago, the day after he had graduated.

And surely, if the six-year-old had gotten the hang of Sexy Jutsu without previously knowing the henge, both Hinata and him could get stronger as well.

She gasped, for in that moment, she saw his eyes become an even more intense blue, as if blue fire was raging in them.

'Which means, we can't just be friends', Naruto added, nodding to himself as if he had just realised a truth of the world.

'What?' Hinata asked shocked at the sudden turn of conversation and sentiment, feeling as if her heart had dropped into her stomach. Weren't they becoming friends? Had she mistaken his regard and the reason for his comments. Or had she thought it all up in her delusional mind? 'Why?'

Naruto grinned, 'That's because from now on, you and I are rivals Hinata Hyuga! Rivals to get stronger.'

He knew he probably looked very silly giving her the thumbs up pose like Guy does but he didn't care right now. For he had heard from both Lee and Guy how the presence of their eternal rivals, spurs them to ever achieve higher heights in their training and get stronger. A motivation of sorts.

Hinata's eyes widened in realisation. He didn't just want to be friends because he thought her much more worthy. No one ever, had thought her worthy of making her their rival. Even Sakura and Ino were each other's rivals and surely both were better than her. Her elation in that moment threatened to overwhelm her, as she felt her faintness coming on to her again. This was really happening!

She wasn't just dreaming it. She had already checked by pinching herself. Just to be sure, she did it again, and a sharp sting on pain on her thigh told her this was real!

She giggled at his silly pose but far from putting her off of the whole idea, she felt inspired. Surely, working to prove herself to Naruto-kun, she would succeed.

'Don't faint, don't faint!' she told herself, as she was sure she was blushing like a tomato when Naruto snatched up her hand and shook it in a sincere action of sealing a deal.

'Deal?' Naruto repeated himself to the girl whose hand he held and who had gone dangerously red. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with her?

'Yes!' Hinata nodded her head vigorously. 'Deal!' Though, she didn't know exactly what she had agreed to but at the moment, she didn't care. This was a monumental moment in her life and she wasn't going to ruin it by asking stupid questions.

'Great!' Naruto once again shook her hand vigorously, 'We'll spar once a week to see how strong we are getting.'

Hinata's eyes lit up like a cherry blossom tree in the height of spring. He wanted to spar with her!

'See ya later, Hinata', Naruto voice came from further away and she realised he had taken off, the boundless bundle of energy he was.

Not surprising, since Naruto seemed to recover from almost anything unnaturally quickly. She could have sworn that not a few hours ago, he had limped into the library, as if his body couldn't hold him up.

'See you later, Naruto-kun', she said more to herself than him, a huge smile lighting up her face as she walked to the Missions Office to get a form for herself, even thought she could barely afford it. But sacrifices needed to be made in her… their quest to get stronger.

Unknown to both and the blonde who had sprinted full tilt out of the Hokage Tower, the entire scene was witnessed by the aging Hokage sat at his desk, with his crystal ball in front of him.

The past week, he had feared that Naruto was going down the same route his misguided student had, isolating himself to further his training. But now, seeing the boy interact with the shy Hyuga, his fears were laid to rest. He wasn't isolating himself; he was waiting for just someone to acknowledge him.

And now that she had, his fears of Naruto going down the same path were laid to rest. He smiled at the boy he had complete faith in, to succeed him. 'The real path to becoming a ninja has only just begun, Naruto, Hinata.'