Chapter 23

Another visit

In the afternoon Shikamaru and Choji visited.

Shikamaru was the first to come in "Hi Hinata, Hi Naruto, how are you doing," he asked Naruto.

"I'm doing better," he smiled and looked at Hinata.

Choji yelled out "Oh, is your girlfriend taking care of you?" he said with a laugh.

Hinata blushed and looked uncomfortable which Naruto took for a sign of her being embarrassed, "She's not my girlfriend, we're just friends!" He yelled back.

At the last Hinata winced and Shikamaru caught the look on her face. He understood now why Hinata came to the conclusion that Naruto didn't like her. "What an idiot," he thought.

"I can take over duty for you Hinata, I know you must want to get some rest." Shikamaru added.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said as she got up to look out the window, keeping her back to the room while they visited, "I had plenty of rest when we got home from the mission."

"Okay, but if you change your mind…" he paused. "Anyways, Naruto, I came here to tell you about Oroku, the guy who tried to attack you yesterday. The interrogation squad has been talking with him and it seems he was just a person who lost his family and is blaming you for the war. I know it's crazy, but we're working on security protocols in case we get anymore people with grudges." He finished.

"I can't believe Oroku did that to Naruto, he seemed so nice on the way back to the village." Hinata added.

"Nice?" Naruto repeated the word in a jealous way. Choji and Shikamaru felt like they were eaves dropping into a private conversation.

"Yes," she responded, "all he did was talk about how he idolized you and wanted to meet you, so this is the last thing I would have expected from him. I can't figure out what happened to change his mind." She finished.

"Regardless, it will probably be a while before he gets out again. The sand also consented to turn his punishment over to the leaf village." Shikamaru added.

"Maybe I can meet him when I get out," Naruto added, "Find out directly from him what's going on?" Naruto proposed.

"Yes…" Hinata mentioned at the same time Shikamaru started yelling "are you crazy." They both looked at each other. "Hinata, what do you think he can accomplish? What's done is done," he stated.

"I know that Naruto might be able to show him the truth, reason things out with him. Naruto deserves the chance to try." She stood her ground and then looked at Naruto who was smiling.

"Exactly Shikamaru," he looked straight at Hinata and then to Shikamaru. "He might have done this because he's hurting losing his parents. I'm sorry to bring this up Shikamaru, but you know how that feels." Shikamaru looked down to the ground, aware of his loss.

"If someone has a warped view then we need to bring them around to show them how things really are." Naruto added.

Hinata was beaming at Naruto, this is one of the major things she loved about him. He wanted to get to the heart of the people with issues. He didn't just win his battles, he won people's hearts and often times left his battles with new friends. He gave people a new perspective and those people took that change and went out to change the world around them, like Gaara.

"Naruto does have a way of changing people," Choji pointed out.

"I'll talk to the 5th Hokage, I don't know if she'll consent to…" Shikamaru broke off. If was pointless to argue with these two, he wasn't going to get anywhere. "Well, I'm going to take off, I've got some other things to take care of," he mentioned.

"Alright, it was good to see you Shikamaru, Choji," Nartuo nodded at them as they started to leave.

"Bye you guys," Hinata leaned her back against the window.

Both of them nodded as they headed out.

They were alone again, just friends again.