" Um…Hinata…" Naruto stumbled over the words because he was still reeling from the unexpected kiss. Hinata was blushing dangerous and looked terrified and relieved at the same time.
" Ihavehadacrushonyouforever." Hinata blurted. Naruto blinked. Hinata gasped for air, seemingly choking on the air.
" Uh, well go." said Asuma, pushing Kiba towards the door and gesturing to his father. The Third nodded and walked away, giving Naruto a roguish grin.
" I." Hinata began with a gasp as the door closed. " Have. Had. A crush on you. Forever."
Hinata seemed like she was about to faint.
" Hey, you should sit down." Naruto said, getting out of his chair and motioning to Hinata. Hinata sat down and instantly began to relax.
" I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Hinata apologized, nearly bursting out in tears.
" Don't say sorry! You didn't do anything wrong!" Naruto said, trying to comfort Hinata. He leaned over and tried to grad her hand, but she suddenly hugged him and planted another kiss on him.
Okay. Naruto though as Hinata kissed him. I officially don't get this, but I don't really care. Naruto kissed back as well as he could.
" So, Hinata…" Naruto said as they pulled apart. " You really had a crush on me?"
Hinata nodded wordlessly.
" Sorry I didn't notice." Naruto smiled foxily. " I'm kinda dumb."
" No you are not!" Hinata interjected. " Your very smart, Naruto-kun! You can come up with plans quickly and even if you didn't score as well as Sasuke or Sakura on the tests in school, you're a kinder, better person."
" Woah." was all Naruto could say. " You really have a crush on me, don't you?"
Hinata's eye blinked.
" Okay, you can be a little stupid." she said teasingly. Naruto pouted jokingly. Her stomach then rumbled.
" Heh. You sound pretty hungry." Naruto teased to a horrified Hinata. " Wanna go get some ramen? It'll be like a date!"
" Y-yes!" said Hinata, secretly pinching her leg to make sure she wasn't dreaming. " I'll pay!" she said, unzipping her jacket and reaching for the pocket she kept her money in. To her most utter and complete horror, she had no shirt on, revealing her bra and body. She squeaked and pulled her coat closed quickly.
" Oh, yeah, when Asuma-sensei bandaged your wound we had to take off your shirt. I think its still in the medical kit." Naruto said, blushing deeply.
" You…my shirt…sensei…." Hinata mumbled, not believing what she was hearing. " Eh, forget it. Lets go." Hinata said, hopping out of her chair. Who cares? Naruto-kun's my boyfriend now.
---
" Kiba!" shouted his mother, who rushed out to meet him. " We heard what happened!"
Akamaru's father trotted over. " Hey," he woofed. " I heard you did good."
Akamaru and Kiba smiled widely as the clan fawned over them. At dinner, which was the good kibble, Kiba's mother made them tell the story.
"…and then the stone ninja lady with the sword kicked me in the head and knocked me out" Kiba said, looking to Akamaru to continue.
" Wimp." said one of the dogs. All the women in the room snarled humorous at him.
" Well, after that Hinata did some jutsu and hit the woman like a million times." barked Akamaru. " The woman was dead and Hinata was unconscious so I tried to pull out the sword. Asuma-sensei arrived a moment later and Naruto woke up, and then they took of Hinata's shirt to put on the bandages…"
Akamaru was interrupted as Kiba did a spit-take with a mouth full of kibble.
" I missed that?" Kiba moaned. " Your kidding!" He hung his head sadly.
" Oh come on Kiba." his mother teased. " It wouldn't be right to see her naked before asking her on a date. I'd hate for you to have the same problem I had with your father. Its hard not to laugh when someone's talking when you know they have a mole on their left cheek."
Kiba looked over at his father, who was pouting under the laughter of the others. He didn't have a mole on his left cheek.
" Aw, ew, I get it." Kiba said as it clicked. " Anyways, mom, It's not like I'll have another chance. Hinata going out with Naruto."
" Wait. Isn't Hinata the heir of the Hyuuga clan?" asked one of the dogs.
" Yeah." Akamaru yipped.
Kiba and Akamaru didn't know why the adults all burst out laughing.
" What's so funny?" he asked his mother.
" Hinata, being the Hyuuga heir, is practically a princess. Her dating Naruto is a huge smear on the family honor. They always act so high and mighty, we'll be able to hold this over their heads forever."
" Yeah, well don't." Akamaru growled. The laughter stopped quickly.
" Yeah. Naruto's our friend and so is Hinata. Naruto's as dumb as I am, a orphan, and apparently the Stone ninja all want to kill him. He's got enough to deal with without worrying about how he affects the Hyuuga's honor." Kiba said, petting the snarling puppy. " And don't forget, Hinata's already gotten beaten by her dad for this. I want things to go well for her."
" Good boys." said Kiba's mother, patting his and Akamaru's heads.
" Huh?" they said in unison.
" Your loyal to your new pack. That's a good thing, since that'll let you work better with them. I think that merit's an new rawhide each."
" Score!" said Kiba and Akamaru, pumping their right paws into the air.
---
Hinata knew she should be resting, but she was just so excited. Since she was able to use the Divine Sixty-Four Strikes, she could now fully use her fighting style. She'd performed the jutsu several times that morning and pulverized the training logs. Use of the jutsu was a rite of adulthood for the Hyuuga she should have mastered long before, and her place as a failure was largely marked by this. The other members of the clan seemed to be looking at her with more respect now.
Or, maybe it was the fact she killed a S-Rank individual the day before.
They news of their mission had already begun to spread last night. While she and Naruto had been at the ramen stand, chatting…the warmth of the memory of the evening spread over her as she recalled it…they had heard it was already widely known that the students of Sarutobi Asuma had fought off a large number of Stone Ninja who attacked them with no provocation. Kiba and Akamaru, two of the most talented Inuzuka of their generation, had defeated four chunnin in a single attack. The "demon boy" as he was now reffered to as the villagers had killed thirty ninja by himself. The rumors how he had done it were actually quite similar to what had really happened, but with many wrong details. The fact the demons chakra was involved was completely missing. Naruto just shrugged at this. He was used to the villagers hatred already.
However, equally infamous to the village now was the heir of the Hyuuga. The knowledge that she was a failure had spread when her father was arrested and her feelings for the demon boy were one of the juiciest scandals in the village since Jiraiya left, but now she had killed one of the Eleven Masters and captured her sword, an artifact highly prized by the Stone Village. It gave the Leaf a lot of leverage over the Stone and also put them down one of their most powerful ninja.
Suffice to say, the belief that she was a failure was nearly dead. She had seen Neji that morning, and she was as cold to her as ever. However, Hinata had never received the warm, adoring smiles she did as she went about the complex that morning. Every member of the clan treated her with great respect and politeness, and their was a genuine feeling to their actions that let her know they were not just afraid of having their seals activated.
She walked past the small garden her mother had planted. Things were good. She had proved herself worthwhile. She had mastered her clans most important jutsu. She had kissed Naruto-kun.
Oh, god, she had kissed Naruto-kun. She felt dizzy and fell over in the flowers, which cushioned her fall. After a moment her panic attack faded and she relaxed in the soft flowerbed, basking in the sunlight.
---
" Nine bowls! A new record!" Naruto cheered, setting his empty bowl of ramen down.
" Way to go, Naruto!" Ayame said with a smile. Her father smiled in a grandfatherly way to Naruto, but she knew he was really tallying the bill up in his head. They really did like the boy, but the fact he was their unchallenged best customer made him practically family.
" Ohh. I think I'm done." Naruto said, standing up with a wobble. " Here you go." He handed the old man the money for his bill and walked away with a wave.
Though the ramen had driven the thought from his mind, the revelation with Hinata quickly returned. Other then with Iruka-sensei, he'd never been that close with anyone before. It had been really fun to sit there during dinner and talk with her. They'd discussed the mission, how good ramen was, training, their classmates, how good ramen was, how it stank that Naruto's orange jacket was gone, how good ramen was,
and how good ramen was.
As he thought about it for a moment, he realized he maybe should have talked less about ramen and more about Hinata. He'd have to remember that. Suddenly, he was almost knocked over by something dark haired and its pink shadow.
" Hey! Watch it!" Naruto shouted before noticing it was Sakura and Sasuke, heading off in a hurry. He jogged along with them. " Hey, hey, what's going on?"
" Sasuke-kun got us a C-Rank mission! Were escorting a bridge builder to the Wave Country!" Sakura shouted triumphantly. " We have to hurry, though. We leave in ten minutes."
" Hey, cool! Good luck with that Sakura-chan!" Naruto said out of force of habit. He suddenly realized if he considered Hinata his girlfriend, he couldn't really try and get a date with Sakura anymore. " Well, see ya!" he said, excusing himself and coming to a halt.
---
As they sped away from Naruto, Sakura was overjoyed when Sasuke spoke to her, a rare treat.
" I hope there's something big on this mission. With all the things Naruto's team did, we really need to do something impressive so we don't look more pathetic than the dead-last." Sasuke said broodingly.
" I hope so too, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said adoringly.
---
This is the life. thought Asuma, taking a long drag of his cigerette and sinking deeper into the warm bath. He'd bought himself a days worth of smoke's and was going to work his way though them in a long, relaxing bath. He wasn't going to leave his home until tomorrow, not even if the Stone Village declared war and attacked. He'd even bought bubble's for the water on a whim.
" Asuma! Asuma!" came Kurenai's voice from the door to his home, followed with loud knocking.
No, no. This was a day off. Go away. he thought. I don't want to deal with any long lectures or training plans for the brats today.
" Asuma, my friend! Enjoying a bath?" Guy said as he poked his head around the door.
" Guy, what the hell!" Asuma said, eyes wide with shock. " Look away, look away!"
" Of course, my friend!" Guy said, though he didn't move. " You may wish to dry yourself and dress, though. Kurenai and I are here because we want to hear what happened on the mission!"
" Get out. Please." Asuma said pleadingly. " I just want a day off."
" Nonsense! We need to know what happened!" said Kurenai as she walked into the bathroom.
Asuma nearly cried.
---
A hour later he'd given up and told the tale of the mission to the two intrusive jounin. At least Kakashi had the sense to leave him alone, though that was probably because he was on a mission.
" This is troubling. I have hear the Third is negotiating a truce over this, but it does not sound like it will end here." Guy said, entering his thoughtful pose.
" At the very least, I doubt your team will be sent even near the Stone border again." Kurenai said, drinking a cup of coffee she had helped herself to.
" So, will your students be ready for the group training tomorrow? I would think their youth would have restored itself by then."
" Eh, probably, but not for sparing." Asuma replied. " Were supposed to be taking a few days off. Maybe a few exercises or something."
" Or, we could work on them seeing though genjutsu. It would require focus, not physical effort. I know Lee needs work on spotting illusions and Naruto and Kiba probably will need work as well."
" Hinata and Neji will be fine, as will Ten-Ten. Her eyes are almost as astute as that of a Hyuuga's." Guy declared, giving a rare non-Lee directed compliment.
" Fine, fine, whatever." Asuma said with a sigh. He'd have to cancel his chess game tomorrow. " Wait, chess! After they do that, lets have them practice chess against each other. It'll give them analytical and tactical skills."
" Asuma, it's always chess with you." Kurenai said with a sigh. " Fine. We'll do that if there's time after the genjutsu practice."
Asuma smirked. At least tomorrow wouldn't be a complete loss.
---
" All right, teams Labrador and Chihuahua have sectors twelve, thirteen, and fourteen." Akamaru barked commandingly. The young Inuzuka puppies and children in those teams saluted and sped off.
" Team Bloodhound, you have to cover sector fifteen and sixteen by yourself. Your older, though, so you can handle it." Kiba said to the almost Academy-age kids and pups. " Move out!" With a salute team Bloodhound sped off.
" Finally, Team Corgi will cover sector seventeen. There's a lot of good squirrels there, so you should have it pretty easy." Akamaru barked to the youngest of the assembled. They smiled and raced off clumsily.
"Man, this is going to be great. We're going to be famous for this for years. Kiba said. " I am so glad we have today off."
" Hey, we need to hurry. Mailman number one is due in sector four in five minutes. " Akamaru said, looking over the map they had laid out of Kohona, detailing the postal routes. " Cat number one has also been rumored to sleep on a roof in that area in the mornings." he yipped, cross-checking the morning cat diagram.
" Man, that would just be perfect, wouldn't it? Catching Cat number one? Mom can't even find that one. Lets go, Akamaru!" Kiba said, rolling the maps and charts up and bounding over the fence towards sector four, followed by Akamaru. They almost landed on Naruto, who was walking down the street.
" Hey Kiba! What are you doing?" Naruto asked, sounding a tad bored.
" Were going after mailman number one! We got most of the kids and pups from the clan helping us. Were trying to catch all the cats, mailmen, and squirrels in Kohona in one day! Wanna come?" Akamaru woofed. Kiba translated quickly.
" Nah. See you two." Naruto said, walking past and waving. Kiba shrugged and bounded off. Then, out of the corner of his eye Naruto spotted Konohamaru and his friends walking towards them. " Actually, why not!" he said, following quickly.
---
Four hours later, a muddy trio walked up the street towards the Inuzuka residence. Naruto picked a clod of dirt out of his ear. Akamaru sneezed, dislodging a piece of moss that had gotten wedged in his nose when he had accidentally dove into the swamp.
" Hey, it looks like everyone's back." Kiba said, pointing to the crowd of equally messy Inuzuka waiting in the yard. They all had out lists of the targets they had successfully captured. " All right! What'd everyone get?"
Naruto felt a little out of place as he stood by Kiba and Akamaru, who began to tally the reports from the rowdy kids and puppies. The young Inuzuka all looked at him, obviously aware who he was but not aware why he was disliked yet. One walked over to him, a look of confusion on his face. The others all waited with baited breath.
" Um…" the kid began, seeming unsure of his question. " I heard you have a fox in your tummy."
" Eh heh. No. Its sealed in me, and the seals on my stomach." Naruto said, smiling and rubbing the back of his head. The kid blinked for a minute.
" Hey, he has normal teeth! Everyone, come look at his teeth!" The young Inuzuka, as if they had been waiting on cue, ran over and surrounded him. Naruto was instantly knee deep in puppies and little kids, all starting at him expectantly.
" Uh, what?" Naruto asked. He didn't think he had normal teeth. His canines were actually long and pretty sharp compared to most peoples. He noticed one of the puppies mouth was open, and for the first time he noticed the Inuzuka had longer canines like him.
" He does! He really does!" cried one of the kids. There was a lot of talking as the young Inuzuka took this in. " Are you like a cousin of ours or something?"
" What?" asked Naruto, not seeing the kids logic.
" Well, only our clan has normal teeth. The rest of the villagers have the weird small teeth." said a young Inuzuka girl in a matter of fact voice." You're the only person I know of that has teeth like ours. You also have tattoo's like ours on your cheeks, though their the wrong color."
" Eh hehe. I get it. I'm not a cousin. That's from having the fox sealed in me I think, like these whisker marks." Naruto said pointing to the stripes on his cheeks.
" You smell like a fox too." said one.
" Hey!" Naruto said crossly. " I do not!"
" Yes you do. Hey everyone, we got most of the targets! Go to the kitchen and get yourselves some cookies. If someone yells at you, say I said it way okay." Kiba said, walking over. To Naruto's relief the young Inuzuka all raced off.
" Thanks Kiba." Naruto said. " They were starting to get kinda annoying.
" Not a problem. Hey, want something to eat?" Akamaru offered. After Kiba translated, Naruto agreed and followed them into the Inuzuka manor.
Naruto was quite sure that if he ever saw what the Hyuuga compound was like, it would look nothing like the Inuzuka residence. The building was messy, their were dogs and toys everywhere, and the kids and adults all were pretty rowdy. He got a lot of funny looks, but not the hateful type he was used to. When they arrived, the kitchen looked like it had been hit by a tornado.
" Man, I'm going to be in trouble. They really made a mess." Kiba moaned. Akamaru let out a bark-like laugh.
" Hey, don't worry, I'll help you clean up. Mass Shadow Clones!" Naruto said as thirty more of him appeared. They began to clean up. Naruto found the rags and cleaning supplies and a team began to wipe down the kitchen while another group got all the bowls and things into place. Several times a clone had to show Kiba what to do.
" No, no. After you wash them in the soapy water you have to rinse them, Kiba." Naruto said with aggravation.
" Aw, who cares? I just wanted to straighten things up Naruto, not scrub the place spotless! This is cleaner than the kitchen's ever been in my life." Kiba said irately. From where he was perched on Kiba's head Akamaru nodded. Naruto looked back over the kitchen. It was filthy looking.
" Tell you what. Just let me finish this Kiba. I'll tell your mom you helped." Naruto said, showing Kiba to the door. Kiba didn't protest and went off to go get his new rawhide from his room while Akamaru dug his up.
---
Kiba's mother had been having a good day. Her son was back and safe, which put her in a good mood to start with, and everything had gone right. She didn't have any mission so she was able to go shopping and get some on the things she had been needing for weeks. It had been nice for her to see Kiba and Akamaru organizing all the pups for a big cat chase. They were two good boys.
Arriving back at the Inuzuka residence, she went straight to the kitchen to drop of two bags full of canned dog food. At the door, however, she found a small crowd of clan members peering in and blocking her way.
" Hey! Move it!" she barked. They all looked at her with surprised and moved. She caught the scent of a fox a moment before she entered.
" What the hell?" she swore.
Dozens of boys who were identical to Uzamaki Naruto were cleaning the kitchen thoroughly, scouring away the dirt from the floor, washing the dishes, and organizing all the cabinets. Her son walked in and stopped next to her.
" Hey, Naruto, good job!" Kiba said before returning to gnawing on the rawhide.
" Kiba, what's going on?" asked his mother, looking perplexed.
" Well, me and Akamaru and Naruto came in to get something to eat but the kitchen was all pigged out. We started to clean it up. I helped."
" How?" Kiba's mother asked skeptically.
" He got out of the way." yipped Akamaru. Everyone laughed, causing Kiba to pout and grumble.
" Uh, Naruto, thanks for all this, but you don't need to be doing this." Kiba's mother said, approaching one of the clones.
" Its not a problem!" Naruto said. " Kiba offered me something to eat, so it's the least I can do. Look out." Naruto said, pointing to the squad of clones that had scrubbing the floor which almost ran into her. She moved aside. I thought the tiles were brown. she thought, examining the white floor.
" Hey, could I get you to clean my room?" asked one of the young Inuzuka.
" Heck, could I get you to clean the whole manor?" Kiba's mother said jokingly. Naruto gave her a devious look. " Sure, but you'd have to pay my tab at Ichiraku ."
Kiba and Akamaru tried to stop her, but before they could she said " Deal."
" All right! You guys hear that! Free ramen for a week!" The crowd of Naruto's cheered. " All right! Everyone out building!" Naruto said, bringing a few clones with him into the courtyard.
" Why?" asked Kiba's mother.
" Because its going to get really crowded in here." Kiba said, pushing his mother towards the kitchen door. " Mom, you really shouldn't have agreed to pay for his ramen."
" Why? It sounded like a deal to me." Kiba's mother said as she joined the rush of exiting Inuzuka.
" He ate nine double servings for breakfast this morning." Akamaru yipped. Kiba's mother paled and checked her checkbook.
---
" Woah." woofed one of the dogs, adequately voicing every Inuzuka's thoughts. They all wandered into the manor, which seemed a completely different building that before.
" Check this out." Kiba said, pointing to the orderly row of water bowls. Each was spotless and filled up perfectly. The dogs names, which had been written on each quickly before, were now carefully painted on the sides.
" Hey, I'm done." said Naruto, walking over. " I hope its okay. I only really have practice cleaning my apartment."
" Naruto, this is incredible." Kiba's mother said, mouth agape. She couldn't remember the courtyard ever looking so clean.
" Hey, where are all the chew toys?" barked a dog in dismay. There was a general growl as the Inuzuka noticed this.
" I put them all in boxes by the door." said Naruto, pointing to several crates full of squeaky-toys. The Inuzuka all relaxed instantly. " Hey, I'm pretty hungry so I was going to go get some ramen. I'll tell them you'll be by to pay my tab. See ya Kiba!" Naruto ran off, leaving the bewildered Inuzuka.
" Do you think he touched any of our buried bones?" Akamaru asked. A tense hush fell over the assembled clan, and a moment later the entire clan was speeding off to check of their buried toys.
---
" That was kind of mean of you, Naruto." Ayame said as she handed him his fourth bowl of ramen. " How was the poor woman supposed to know how much ramen you ate?"
" Aw, come on. I cleaned the entire building." Naruto said before taking a bite. " Hey, is he okay yet?" He motioned to Teuchi, who they had moved to a chair after he fainted when Naruto said someone was paying his entire tab.
" Probably." Ayame said with a smirk.
---
Hinata spread the scroll out on her desk in her study. She looked around the room and decided that tomorrow she would move in more of her things and get rid of her fathers relics. She turned her attention back to the scroll which detailed the Heavenly Spin. She was going to memorize it and begin to practice it soon.
And more importantly, she resolved, she was going to find Naruto-kun tomorrow and see about going on another date.