DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Naruto" and am in no way associated with it's writers or producers.
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The next day was a bright and warm sunny day. Naruto had been training by himself out in the woods again. He had a full head of steam.
"He-he-he-he-he-he-he hah-hah-ha……….woohoo!" Naruto ran up and jumped laughing with joy.
Naruto had a lot of energy in him was just running up and down all the trees in the woods, laughing out loud with joy and jumping back and forth from tree to tree like a pinball; swinging and spinning off several branches like a circus acrobat. He was as happy as man like him could be.
"Naruto!" he heard a voice call to him.
In the trees, Naruto looked down and saw Kakashi sensei at the ground looking up at him. Naruto soon came sliding down the tree to him.
"Hey Kakashi sensei." Naruto said with a bright smile and breathing heavily.
Kakashi just looked at him strangely. "Well, you seem to be enjoying yourself and burning off senseless energy for no reason whatsoever."
Naruto giggled a little.
"Hey, it's like you always tell us" Naruto told him. "Just try to appreciate the little wonders and joys of life."
Kakashi just stared at Naruto for a couple seconds. Then behind his mask he randomly smiled.
"Well then I'm glad to hear that Naruto." Kakashi said. "Unfortunately, I hate to have to cut your little ordeal short….."
"Hmm" Naruto mumbled.
"But I came here because you're being sent out on a mission." Kakashi said.
"Wha…. Really?" Naruto asked.
"Yes" Kakashi said. "Meet us at the village gates in ten minutes. You, Sakura, Hinata and Rock Lee are being sent away on a new mission. I'll explain to ya'll when you get there."
"Wha……… me,…Sakura and Hinata?" Naruto asked surprised.
"Yes. Sounds like you'll all have a lot of fun with each other" Kakashi just said. "We'll see you there."
With that Kakashi took off, leaving Naruto alone in the woods to drink it in. He seemed rather surprised and shocked at first they were all four going together. But eventually, Naruto just smiled again and adjusted his headband.
"Alright then! I'm all up for it!" Naruto yelled smiling. He took off.
At the Leaf village gates, Sakura was standing by herself, stilling trying to keep her head up, waiting for the others to show up for the mission she'd been informed about.
Sakura still had a confused expression on her face. She barely got enough sleep last night. The night before, she had stayed up all night thinking and planning about how she was gonna apologize to Naruto for trying to beat him senseless and tell him she really truly cared for him. But thanks to Naruto's date with Hinata, she never got the chance to. Sakura had no idea why, but the whole thing had been eating up at her all day yesterday.
Suddenly she looked and finally saw Naruto walking around the corner. She lifted her head in excitement to him.
"Naruto" Sakura called out.
"Hey Sakura" Naruto responded with a normal smile. "I made it."
Sakura was about to start talking to him, until she noticed Hinata and Rock Lee walking not far behind him. She quickly bit her tongue and sighed in disappointment that they couldn't be alone.
"Looks like we all made it!" Rock Lee said smiling and holding his thumb up.
"We sure did." Hinata said. She walked up to Naruto and they hugged each other. Sakura looked at them in surprise.
Eventually Kakashi sensei showed up to give the four their assignment. Their mission was to go out and retrieve two boxes of valuable goods that had been lost in shipping on its way to a city, and was also being sought after by other bandits. Given a map, they had to go retrieve the boxes and return them safely to the city. This however meant that along the way the four ninja would have to spilt into two pairs, one to go after the other box.
Durring the mission once they got to the point where they'd have to seperate, Sakura tried to get her and Naruto to team up together, but Naruto wasn't sure. Hinata and Naruto wanted to team with each other to spend more lovely time together, and Rock Lee wanted Sakura to come with him since he still had a crush on her, but Sakura said she'd rather not. However after some long and rough decisions, the four finally decided to have Naruto and Rock Lee go after one package and Sakura and Hinata team up to go after the other. After all it'd give Naruto and Lee some "man time" and Sakura and Hinata some "girl time" with each other.
Afterall, Sakura was just dying to know what her and Naruto had been doing.
--
The two teams had spilt and set out. Naruto and Rock Lee were jumping through the woods together.
"So you and Hinata have been together for a couple days now?" Rock Lee asked.
Naruto had finally told him the truth that he and Hinata were in love and going out.
"Yes." Naruto replied. "And they've just been absolutely amazing. Hinata had always been in love with me since she knew me. And who knew I'd end up feeling the same way for her."
"That's an amazing thing to hear Naruto." Lee told him. "But what about Sakura?"
"Huh…..what do you mean?" Naruto looked at him. They were still leaping through the forest.
"Well, correct me if I am wrong Naruto" Rock Lee spoke up. "But ever since I've known you, you've always told me you had the biggest crush on Sakura. Not that there's anything wrong with that" Lee smiled thinking of Sakura himself. "But are you now saying you don't feel anything for her anymore?"
"What?" Naruto yelled. "That's crazy…… I mean I do care about her still cause she's my teammate. We're still friends. It's just that I finally realized she's never felt the same way about me and wasn't my type. And besides she's always been and always will be in love with Sasuke. It's not a big deal." Naruto explained.
"I sure hope you're right." Lee said. They continued on their mission.
Out in the other neck of the forest, Hinata and Sakura were leaping thru the trees together towards their target.
"Well, its….. really kinda funny…" Hinata was saying. "We were both going for walks late at night and just…..happened to walk into each other."
Ever since splitting from the guys, Sakura was just begging for Hinata to tell her what her and Naruto were doing. She had convinced Hinata to confess and tell her the story of that night they finally fell in love.
"…… and then after that…" Hinata had kept continuing. "We were both so tired……. we actually fell asleep together, still cuddled and hugging each other under the tree for a good while."
Sakura looked dumbfounded. She had been gritting her teeth the whole time Hinata was telling her the stories. She tried not to show it.
"Wow" Sakura said. "No wonder…."
"Huh? No wonder, what….um…." Hinata asked.
"No wonder Naruto was in such a hurry yesterday." Sakura told her. "I never got a chance to talk to him like I wanted to, because of that."
"Oh, um…." Hinata whispered. "I had no idea."
"Sounds to me like ya'll had just as equally a fun and a romantic day yesterday to, huh?" Sakura said with a frown and her head down. "I guess I'm glad to hear it." She tried to smile.
But Hinata looked at Sakura with a worried expression.
"Why what's wrong?" Hinata finally asked. "Is everything okay, Sakura? What's on your mind?"
Sakura's eyebrows were down and confused. "Oh nothing." She said. "It's just that the whole thing really surprised me and caught me off guard when I finally found out. Naruto and I have known each other for a really long time. I didn't expect him to find someone he loved so soon."
Hinata curiously looked at Sakura, as they still leapt thru the forest.
Sakura suddenly glared Hinata in the eyes. "I mean, you do know Naruto and I have been friends for a long time, right?!"
"Huh?... Of course I have. What are you saying?" Hinata asked.
But Sakura seemed to shake her head a little bit. The whole time she had been thinking so much about how Naruto used to have big crush on her. And every time Naruto did something silly or if he tried to offer her a hug, she ended up hitting him and throwing it in his face.
"Gosh, I……I just don't know anymore." Sakura said wanting to rub her eyes. "I guess I'm just……. I'm really glad and happy for you Hinata, to know you're with Naruto. He really is such a great guy."
Hinata smiled thinking about him. "Yes. He really is."
Sakura glared to her while Hinata kept talking. "After all, he just loves and seems to care for everybody. That's what he was telling me earlier when he told me how determined he was to bring Sasuke back home: just so he could bring him back home to you, Sakura."
This made Sakura gasp. So that's what it is Sakura thought to herself. Poor Naruto still believed she felt the same way about Sasuke as………
"Y…..yes." Sakura said. "He really does care, for all of us."
Hinata finally looked at Sakura again curiously.
"Hey, Sakura…….you're not trying to tell me you're……that you…." Hinata tried to asked.
"No." Sakura answered with her head down. "I'm okay."
Inside Sakura's head, she could feel inner Sakura screaming: 'Ahhhhhh! How dare you try to take my Naruto from me you little peasant!'
All Sakura could do was shake her head in utter confusion; in utter stress and anger that Naruto and Hinata not only hooked up so suddenly to her, but that they both believed in something that wasn't necessarily true.
Eventually, the four ninja completed their mission and found and delivered the packages safely, while mainly getting to spend some quality time together.
Naruto and Sakura confronted each other after arriving back at the village. They had a short conversation since Sakura was feeling blue, so Naruto tried to cheer her up……
….but by the time they were done and Naruto and Hinata left, Sakura only felt worse! She had finally realized her true feelings for him. She had finally fallen in love with Naruto. But it was too late to confess it to him. And to Sakura, it was all because of Hinata Hygua. Because Hinata stole Naruto from her.
The next day was another bright and sunny one. Naruto and Hinata happily met in the forest again so they could both train with each and have a romantic day together.
"Alright Hinata" Naruto yelled out from unseen. "You sure you're ready? Cause I'm coming at you full force!"
Hinata was standing in the middle of a small field surrounded by trees. At first the idea of attacking her own lover Naruto made her nervous. But she relaxed and smiled. They both knew what they were doing.
"Yes, Naruto." Hinata yelled out. "I'm ready."
"Then show me what you're made of." Naruto appeared in front of her from a tree and put his fingers together.
"Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!" he yelled.
Right then, hundreds of tons of Naruto clones surrounded Hinata, both on the ground and from the branches in the trees. Naruto was gonna help Hinata train and practice her new jutsu some more. The ones on the ground all shouted and charged after her. Hinata, staying relaxed and confident activated her Byakugan and held her fingers up.
"Protective 8 Trigrams, 64 Palms!" she yelled.
With that, Hinata exploded her jutsu on to the Naruto clones. Moving and throwing her hands everywhere back and forth with her string of chakra, she easily attacked and defended herself from Naruto's clones. The ones running and the ones jumping out of the trees at Hinata; they all dissipated one-by-one in a cloud of smoke upon being hit by her. Hinata got rid of them all with ease.
Once they were all gone, the real Naruto stood smiling, staring proudly at his love for her amazing success. Hinata smiled back, breathing hard, then suddenly began to fall backwards.
"What? Hinata?!" Naruto yelled and quickly ran out to catch her from hitting the ground. It seemed she fainted again. "Are you okay Hinata? Did that jutsu really wipe you out that badly?"
But Hinata looked up at Naruto with a grin. "Of course not. I did that on purpose, just so that you'd catch me."
"Huh?" Naruto couldn't believe it while Hinata giggled.
"I mean it felt so great the first time during the bikochu mission, I just had to do it again." Hinata was still laughing.
Finally Naruto, still holding Hinata laughed with her to and he pulled her into him so they could share a hug.
Later that same day, it was Hinata's turn to help Naruto practice training.
Both Naruto and Hinata were standing on top of a giant tree log that laid sideways over a raging river and serving as a bridge. Hinata wanted to help Naruto practice combat by teaching him how to move faster (like all the Hyguas do) and dodge fast attacks better.
"Alright Naruto" Hinata said. "I'm gonna come after you with my gentle fist, and want you to try and dodge all my attacks. If you can stay on the log with me for one minute without having me knock you into the river…… you'll win! And I'll give you a very passionate kiss as a reward." Hinata smiled and blushed giggling.
Naruto giggled and blushed as well.
"Alright Hinata. I'm gonna hold you to that!" Naruto smiled to her. "I'm ready!"
"Okay then, here we go!" Hinata said.
With that, Hinata charged after Naruto. She began threw her hands out to him very fast, aiming at his chest and his sides, but with no intention of actually hurting him. Naruto was able to block and catch and dodge Hinata's attacks, but they still forced him backwards on the log. Hinata went for a leg-sweep and Naruto leaped over her on the other side. But upon landing, the log shook and Naruto lost his balance. He began to fall, but hung on by focusing his chakra at his feet hanging upside down underneath Hinata. Naruto jumped back up at her, and Hinata easily jumped out of the way. They laughed and continued the sparring match.
However, the vibrations from the match were too much….
Without warning, the log suddenly began rolling around……and fell into the river.
"Woa….woah…..woawoah!" Naruto and Hinata both yelled. Still ontop of the giant log as splashed in the river, Naruto and Hinata both frantically moved around, running with the spinning log and trying to keep their balance and not fall in the river.
The log was now racing down the raging river with Naruto and Hinata on to. It stopped rolling
"Oh no, Naruto!" Hinata paniked. "We have to jump off before we……"
"No wait!" Naruto yelled. "Let's stay on."
"Huh?" Hinata asked.
Naruto smiled brightly to her. "Just trust me!" Naruto told her. "This will be fun! Let's keep trying to balance on here without falling in. We can continue our match."
"What?" Hinata looked down the river where they were going "Re….really?"
"We can do this." Naruto said with a face full of confidence. "Besides, I still wanna win that kiss from you."
Finally Hinata smiled and blushed. Her confidence had been reassured with Naruto. "Alrighty then."
With that, the sparring match continued on the moving log in the river. Naruto and Hinata slowly walked towards each other to keep their balance. Then Hinata threw her hands again at Naruto, and Naruto staying focused, blocked all of them. Naruto went for a leg-sweep of his own but Hinata leaped up off the log, and bounced back off one of the rocky river cliffsides back onto the log. This caused it to shake up and down and almost made Naruto lose his balance. But Naruto hung on as the log kept turning around the river. They came back at each other with Hinata's gentle fists and Naruto continuing to block them and throw some gentle fists of his own.
Then Hinata suddenly noticed something with her Byakugan.
"Naruto!" she cried out. "We need to stop. There's a big waterfall up ahead and we're heading straight for it!"
But without warning, Naruto and Hinata having caught each other's hands came to a narrow gap in the river with the log sideways. Both sides of the log crashed into the two opposite rocks at the shores, throwing Naruto and Hinata together into the river.
Once their heads came out of the water, Naruto and Hinata looked at each other in shock.
"Oh no!" Hinata panicked.
"Darn it." Naruto said. "The river's moving too fast for us to swim out of here! What now?"
Still holding each other's hands in the water, they both looked at each other, realizing there was no other choice. The waterfall wasn't far at all. But Hinata stayed calm and let go of her fear with Naruto with her, knowing they'll be alright.
Naruto smiled to her. "Guess we're going over."
Hinata smiled back. "Yeah……..guess so."
Hinata and Naruto pulled each other close and held on tight as they looked at the waterfall they were headed to. In only a matter of seconds they were there. Holding hands, Naruto and Hinata together jumped out of the water and much as they could and went over the hundred foot waterfall, yelling on the way down, and crashing into the white water below.
Seconds later, both of their heads emerged from the water. Both came up unharmed. Still holding hands, their adrenaline racing fast, they immediately pulled themselves back to one another and wrapped their arms around each other tightly.
Naruto began giggling and laughing out loud in excitement.
"That was amazing!" he yelled. "That was the most fun I've ever had in a long time!"
Realizing how fun it was for her to, Hinata smiled and began giggling as well. She to thought it was incredibly exciting.
"That was great Naruto" Hinata said.
They finally calmed down. Still holding each other and floating on, they're eyes locked on another.
"Well" Naruto whispered. "I kept my word didn't I?"
"You sure did." Hinata blushed.
She leaned forward and kissed him. Locking lips, Naruto began kissing her back, not even thinking about letting go. Their arms around each other close and tight, they just kept their mouths together, kissing tenderly and passionately, letting the river current take them away.
TO BE CONTINUED