Chapter 16

A/N: Hello my lovelies! Thank you to everyone who faved, followed and reviewed. I hope you enjoy the chapter as well as my special news.

krikanalo: Aww thanks, and some chapters are just more dialogue-y than others.

Stallion6: She IS quite busy.

Infinite Katalyst: Indeed it does...

SuomiTytt: Thanks for your kind words :)

*IMPORTANT: Would you guys like me to start a tumblr for this fic? I could post doodles of characters and trivia about them and answer questions and stuff? Lemme know how you guys feel.

Sakura and Ino entered the Ryugakure hospital the morning after their arrival in the village, unsure of what to expect. Standing there waiting for them was a woman long, golden hair. Some of it was pulled up into a bun with a pink ribbon, while the rest fell down her back. Bangs fell into her green eyes, a trademark of the Takeshi clan. The woman exuded authority.

"Are you the medic nin sent from Konoha?" the lady asked, peering down at them. Sakura nodded, and handed her the scroll the village leader, Nakina had given them.

"Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka? You two are pretty young, you know. I was expecting ninja with a bit more experience."

Sakura smiled shyly. "Well, we've both studied under the Hokage, Lady Tsunade. I'm her apprentice, actually."

"Lady Tsunade, huh? Hmm. That's very interesting. My name is Mitake Takeshi, and I am head of the hospital here." Mitake guided them further down the lobby until they reached a nurses station where the staff gathered, presumably for a morning meeting.

"Ok girls, the head nurse is Akane over there. The middle aged man is my brother Takeo, he is head of surgery. The man with blue hair is Nagataka Mizushima, brother of Councilman Masanori Mizushima. He is the head of Pediatric Medicine. The woman with the orange hair is Suka Byaki and the woman with the black hair is Tomomi Takenaka. The two blondes are the Ryusaki sisters: Yurika, Head of Teaching, and Masuyo, Head of Maternity."

Sakura and Ino absorbed all the information, but quickly noticed how small the staff was. "There is only 7 doctors," Ino said, confused.

Mitake dismissed her staff, and continued to speak with the two. "Our staff is small and spread thin. We are working on expanding. Yurika teaches a team of Chunin, I train my daughter Kura, Takeo trains his son Kenshin, Suka trains Nakina's daughter Tsubaki. My first apprentice Aya will be fully trained soon. However, she is being sent to Konoha on an exchange program of sorts. She is all we could spare."

Sakura timidly began to speak. "Um, yesterday I agreed to teach Suka's niece Yumiko as much as I could before I left. Will that be problematic?"

Mitake frowned. "None of us were willing to take her on because we were spread thin as it is. I guess if it doesn't interfere with your work here, and you supervise her on rounds then I suppose it is fine."

Sakura nodded graciously. "Now," Mitake started, "I will be personally escorting you around the hospital for the first few days to observe and assess your skills, but I need a moment to grab my paperwork. Excuse me."

The hospital head stepped into her office momentarily, leaving Sakura and Ino in the hallway. "You took on an apprentice?! We have no idea how long we will be here, Sakura!" Ino said.

Sakura shrugged. "I know but she's Naruto's cousin, I couldn't say no."

Ino shook her head. "I bet all he did was flash some puppy dog eyes."

Sakura smirked. "Speaking of puppies-"

Mitake interrupted the pair before Sakura could say anymore, but the annoyance on Ino's face was clear. "Ok! Lets go do some rounds!" Mitake said.

Naruto found himself, once again, sitting in Nakina's waiting room, but this time, Kiba and Kakashi were with him. Shikamaru and Neji had left earlier that morning, but Kakashi had brought orders from Tsunade that stated Naruto was to stay.

"So what do you think we're doing here?" Kiba asked. Naruto shrugged.

"I suppose we'll find out when she tells us." Kakashi said, nonchalantly reading his book.

Nakina's secretary Fujie emerged from the office and looked to them. "Nakina is ready for you."

The men walked in to see the orange haired woman waiting at her desk, a bored expression on her face.

"Ah Naruto. I presume this is Kakashi Hatake and Kiba Inuzuka, yes? Anyhow, your assignment will be to work with 2 promising Chunin teams. The 6 will be broken into 3 pairs, and each of you will spend some time with a pair. After a while, you'll rotate and by the time this is over, you'll have spent time with every pair."

The three Konoha shinobi nodded. "How long exactly do we get with each pair?" Kiba asked, frowning slightly.

Nakina thought for a moment. "Let's go with 3 days a piece. You may work with them again in the future, but in different ways."

"How exactly are we going to be utilized here beyond this assignment?" Kakashi asked, looking at Nakina with his one eye looking at her, rather than his book.

"Training and sparring with our rookie ninja mostly. These Chunin are being focused on right now, as in our village, being a Chunin can be a precarious position. Missions at their level don't come around often. Now, anymore questions?"

Seeing none come, the Ryu leader picked up a piece of paper and began to read off the team assignments. "Naruto will be handling Kamenosuke Takeshi and Nozomi Yukinawa first. Kakashi will be handling Hideki Takeshi and Hoshi Mizushima. Kiba will be handling Daisuke Yamamoto and Umeko Himura. You will begin tomorrow morning at 8 am, in the 3rd training ground. Dismissed."

With that, the 3 exited her office and the rest of the main building. Reaching the street, they found it bustling with activity. Smells called out to Naruto's hungry stomach, and he sighed while rubbing it.

"Hey, you guys wanna grab some food?" he asked hopefully, not really minding what exactly they ate at this point.

"I think I'll pass," Kakashi said, heading back in the direction of their inn.

"I'll go with you. What do you want?" Kiba said, also hungry, but bewildered at Kakashi leaving.

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. What do you want?"

Kiba sighed. "I don't really care at this point, Naruto." Pointing in the direction of a barbecue restaurant, he said "Let's just go there."

Following Kiba to the place, Naruto peered at him suspiciously. "What crawled up your butt?"

Kiba remained silent, until they were seated at a table for two. He sighed, his tone of melancholy being noticeably out of character for him. "I screwed up."

"What did you do?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"I had feelings for Hinata, so when she announced her engagement to Gaara I was really angry and upset. I guessed Ino must've noticed at the party because she came to talk to me about it the next day. I got angry at her though and she left, but later I went to the hospital to apologize to her, and ended up kissing her."

"If you had feelings for Hinata, why'd you kiss Ino then?"

"I dunno it was just in the moment and stuff, and now it's all awkward between us."

"Did you talk to her about it?"

"I tried. It got interrupted by some medical emergency." Kiba ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated fashion. "Hinata was finally getting over you and I would've tried to ask her out but then she got engaged to Gaara. Now I'm not sure how I feel about anything."

Naruto took a long sip of water. "Yeah, I dunno Kiba, that's pretty rough."

"Tell me about it."

Back in Konoha, Hinata herself was sitting down to a lunch in her dining room with her younger sister, Hanabi.

"How was your mission to the Land of Waves?" Hinata asked to her sister, who had recently become a Genin.

Hanabi smiled. "It was great! I met this really nice guy named Inari. It's a shame he lives so far away. I promised to write to him."

Hinata blushed. "You're pretty young for all that!"

Hanabi rolled her eyes as she took a bite of the lunch Hinata had made. "Please, you liked Naruto back then and now you're engaged at a young age to the Kazekage."

Hinata chuckled at her feisty sister. "I guess you've got me." A knock sounded out from the front door. Hinata waved at a servant who tried I answer it, and went to get the door herself. "I wonder if Neji's back already," she said, before opening the door.

Standing there was a middle aged woman with an elaborate bun, a large binder, and a businesswoman's suit. She smiled. "Hello, Hinata-san, my name is Toyoe. Kazekage-sama sent me to help you plan your wedding.

Hinata was quite flustered. "H-hello. I wasn't expecting him to send anybody just yet."

Toyoe flashed a grin. "Well, this wedding is a big event. It will require months of planning! Additionally, the Kazekage asked me to give you this."

The wedding planner reached into her rather large purse, and pulled out a thin box and an envelope. Hinata took them and invited the strange lady in.

"Hinata, who is it?" Hanabi asked, an eyebrow raised as she came down the hallway.

"Um, this is Toyoe, a wedding planner."

Toyoe smiled at Hanabi, and the younger Hyuuga turned to Hinata. "What's in the box?"

Hinata opened it to reveal a pearl necklace, with a center pearl being larger and tear shaped. "Wow," Hanabi said amazed, "It's so pretty!"

"It is a gift for you, from the Kazekage. You should open the card as well." Toyoe said.

Already flustered by the necklace, Hinata began to read the card. "He will be in Konoha next week. He wants us to go to dinner."

"Oh excellent! We will be able to have both of you to do some planning! He gave me a few directions in regards to planning already, but he seemed to want you to pick almost everything." Toyoe explained to Gaara's fiancée.

"Wow, Gaara is certainly very generous." Hinata said, examining the pearls. Hanabi nodded, impressed by the efforts her sister's fiancé was making.

Toyoe took a look at her watch. "Shall we start reviewing everything?"

A/N: And that's it folks!

Did anyone remember the pearl necklace from the GaaHina companion fic I wrote, Story Time?

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, as I'm going to leave on a two week vacation, but I'll write on the way there and in my downtime.

Til next time lovelies! Please leave a nice review, consider it a birthday present!

-MyHikari