Alright! It's the next chapter! Yaaaay!

Moving on to his umpteenth bowl as everyone stared at him, Naruto was happily oblivious. They had stopped trying to count how many bowls he had eaten and they could feel their purses and wallets get lighter and lighter. Naruto finally set down his chopsticks.

"Gochiso-sama! That was so good! Thanks you guys! You're the greatest! It just tastes even better since you guys are treating!" Naruto declared, patting his now full stomach. Everyone turned to their attention to the precariously stacked bowls.

"Oh Kami-sama! Where does he put it all?"

"Most people don't eat that much in a month!"

"How can he not get fat from all that?"

"How much do you think this is going to cost?"

"With as much as he just ate we could have bought him a frickin' house!"

"Even with the 50 discount this is going to cost way too much for all of us to handle!"

Everyone was talking at once and Naruto was practically purring in content.

"Ehem, seeing as Naruto is like a son to me and it would be unfair to make you pay for all of this ramen, even at half price, you can pay for half of it and I can put the other half on Naruto's tab." Teuchi said to Naruto's friends. Everyone sighed in relief.

"NANI?! You're seriously going to put it on my tab?! Oh man! I know I should have just got the box or ramen!" Naruto said, panicking. He pulled out Gama-chan and opened him and turned him upside down. A small cloud of dust and a piece of paper fell out of him. Tsunade picked up the paper and read it. A vein popped out on her forehead and she quietly handed the paper to Naruto.

"Hmm? What's this? 'Dear Naruto, since I'm training you (again, you ungrateful little brat!) I figured you wouldn't mind sharing some money with me! Jiraiya'. He stole my money!? That baka Ero-sennin! I'll kill him!" Naruto said, dashing out of Ichicrakus's to where they left Jiraiya in the middle of the street. It just so happens (again, luck must really hate Jiraiya) that Jiraiya was standing up and shaking his head.

"Ugh. Good, Naruto, get over here and help me out. I could use a dri- uh-oh." He said. Upon seeing the piece of paper Naruto held in his hand, the perverted Sannin began to slowly back up.

"Look Naruto, just calm down. Let's talk this over!" Jiraiya said, still backing up from his young blond pupil. Naruto slowly advanced on the man, murderous intent clearly written on his face.

"Dammit Ero-Sennin! Do you have any idea how long it took me to save up that much?!" Naruto yelled at the man. Jiraiya closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. For a minute there he thought Naruto was going to attack him. Then he heard something that made him truly regret his past teachings.

"RASENGAN!!" Naruto shouted, shoving the spinning chakra into the mans stomach.

'Crap!' was the last thing Jiraiya thought before he was sent flying and was knocked unconscious for the second time that day.

"Tsunade Obaa-chan! I think you're going to need to heal Ero-Sennin!" Naruto cried when he saw them running up. He walked towards where he thinks he saw Jiraiya land.

"Stupid bastard! Spending all my money! Well let's see how much he likes it when I spend his money!" Naruto muttered.

"Oh! Look! There he is!" Naruto said, running up to the unconscious form of Jiraiya. Not even stopping to see if the man was even breathing, Naruto began digging through Jiraiya's bag.

"Ah! Here we go! His check book! Let's see, ichi, ni, san, yon , go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, ju, ju-ichi, ju-ni, ju-san….He has even more money than he had last time! I didn't even finish counting all the zeroes either!! That's a lot of zeroes!! Lets see, I think about 40,000 yen should make me feel a little bit better…" Naruto said, writing out a check then signing it in Jiraiya's name.

"Naruto! That's forgery! And you did it in front of the Hokage of all people!" Shikamaru exclaimed. Everyone turned to Tsunade, expecting some punishment to befall him for committing a crime in front of her.

"Hey, you're pretty good at using his signature! He owes me 500,000 yen. Can you make one out to me, too?" Tsunade asked. Everyone face faulted.

"Hokage-sama!"

"What?! Do you guys want some too?" she asked in defense. They all shook their heads and sweat dropped.

"Here you go, Tsunade Obaa-chan! I threw in a little extra for any previous mental damage Ero-Sennin may have caused you." Naruto said, handing her the check.

"Alright! Let's go cash these and we'll go to the first Pachinko Parlor we find!" She said excitedly.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Naruto said, racing off towards the bank, Tsunade close behind.

"They're so alike! I'm surprised they're not related by blood…" Ino said with a sigh. Hinata just let out a giggle of amusement at her loves antics.

'And Hokage-sama is just like him. I'm so happy that Naruto-kun has so many precious people now.' Hinata thought. Sakura stole a glance at the girl, who remained oblivious. They all walked towards the bank, taking their time. As they entered the bank they found Naruto happily counting his money as Tsunade efficiently separated it into numerous games.

"Alright! Now that we've got the money lets go to the Pachinko Parlor and win some more!" Tsunade said, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yeah!!" Naruto copied, throwing the opposite fist in the air next to Tsunade's. They had identical grins and the same pose. Everyone looked at them crazily.

"Naruto, when did you learn to gamble?" Choji asked.

"A few months ago! I'm pretty lucky too!" Naruto replied with a grin.

"Gee, isn't that just great? Now he's gonna be a perverted, broke, alcoholic…" Ino muttered sarcastically.

"I am not a pervert! And for your information, I'm very good at gambling and I only drank the alcohol cuz Jiraiya took my money and spent in on sake!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms in the air.

"Right, right. Whatever." Kiba cut in.

"Humph. Can we please just get to the Parlor?" Tsunade asked, getting antsy. Naruto grinned at her and, returning the grin, they ran out before the others knew what was happening.

"EH?! Did they seriously just leave us here?!" Ino and Sakura shouted to each other.

"It would appear that our presence was holding them back and they were in a rush to get to their gambling." Shino said impassively.

"Well, at least we know where they'll be. Maybe we should just leave them alone and let them have their fun. Besides, I've found that Hokage-sama likes to drink while playing and when she loses her money she takes everyone else's…" Shikamaru said.

"Yosh! You raise a good point my friend! I am sure that Naruto's powerful Flames of Youth can hold back Hokage-sama and keep her in check!" Lee said dramatically.

"Well, what do you guys want to do?" Ten Ten asked them, as they all turned as one to walk in the opposite direction.

"We could just go hang out somewhere. How about the park?" Kiba asked enthusiastically.

"Well, sure, let's go then." Ten Ten said. They walked in the direction of the park when Neji noticed something.

"Did anyone see where Hinata-sama went?" he asked them. They all glanced around them but they didn't find the Hyuuga Heiress. Then Sakura grinned.

"Where do you think she went?" she asked back. It truly was not that hard a question to answer.

"Naruto." They all replied with a grin.

Indeed, the shy Hyuuga had left the group and went to the Pachinko Parlor, where she found Tsunade and Naruto sitting side by side drinking and playing.

"Oi! Hinata-chan! Come over here and play with us!" Naruto shouted above the din, waving his hand back in forth in case she hadn't seen him. She blushed and shyly shuffled over to the machine between Naruto and Tsunade.

"Oh! Hello Hinata! I didn't even see you! Would you like a drink?" Tsunade asked her. Not even waiting for a response she poured some sake into a small glass and pushed into the startled girls hands.

"Here, do you know how to play? I'll show you how!" Tsunade said grandly.

"Yeah right! You don't want to learn from her! You'll lose all your money that way!" Naruto said.

"What was that you damn brat?!" Tsunade yelled at him. Then inspiration struck.

"You know what? You're right. Hinata, have Naruto teach you how to play. Excuse me, I'm going to the Little Hokage's room." Tsunade announced, stalking off. Naruto stared after her, after all, his remark would normally have assured his stay in the hospital.

"A-ano, Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke up after a few moments. His head snapped back to her and he smiled.

"So yeah, it's really not that hard, let me show you." He said, picking up a ball. He showed her how to play and then he gave her one of his buckets (he had several, he wasn't lying when he said he was lucky.) and they got back to playing. It turns out that Hinata is pretty good at Pachinko too. They soon had a large stack of buckets filled with the little balls. After a while Hinata got thirsty.

"N-Naruto-kun? Is there anywhere I can buy a drink?" she asked him shyly.

"Nope! They only serve sake here so you might as well drink Tsunade Obaa-chan's!" he said, rubbing the back of his head with a smile. She looked down at the sake in the little cup and over at Tsunade, now thoroughly drunk and losing her money quickly.

'Is that going to happen to me too?' Hinata thought, watching the drunk Tsunade yell at the pinball machine, mistaking it for an ex-boyfriend.

"Whaddya mean iz over ah?! You know wha? We're through! Yeah! Daz righ'! I broke up wid you so ha!" Tsunade yelled at the machine, her words slurring and her cheeks rosy. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the drunk Hokage curse out the pinball machine.

"Whaddya looking at?! Huh?! Yeah, you better look away!" She yelled at the people staring. Naruto couldn't hold it back anymore and laughed.

"Does she always get like this?" Hinata whispered to him. He shook his head, tears freely flowing down his face as he continued laughing.

"No, this is her being good! Last time she nearly killed someone cuz they looked at her weird when she was yelling at the bar stool!" he explained between gasps. Just thinking about that day sent him into another bout of hysterics. Hinata silently giggled with him this time, imagining what he described.

"Naruto! Go get me another bottle of sake!" she yelled at the still chuckling boy.

"I can't, Tsunade Obaa-chan. I'm still underage." He explained to her slowly, as if talking to a child.

"Oh yeah! Damn! Stupid laws! If I were the Hokage I would make it so everyone can drink whenever they want!" she shouted. Hinata giggled even more, and Naruto found it hysterical that Tsunade didn't remember that she was the Hokage. Tsunade's rant continued on for a little while longer but she quieted down since no one was listening anymore.

"Ne, Hinata-chan, are you still thirsty? If you want we can go and get you a drink?" Naruto asked. He himself had already had several cups of sake but he was completely unfazed, his words weren't slurred and he wasn't wobbling or anything. Hinata nodded and they slid off their stools.

"Hey, Tsunade Obaa-chan! We're leaving! Don't get too plastered! And try not to break too many laws, okay?" he said to her. Tsunade turned to look at him and gave him a wobbly smile.

"Yeah, yeah, go and enjoy yer date you playboy! Oh, my ototou is growing up! He's so big and strong and getting all the girlies in the village!" she said with a giggle. Naruto and Hinata blushed.

"I-it's not like that! I swear!" Naruto shouted, waving his hands in front of him as if to ward off Tsunade's words. Hinata was now sporting an unhealthy shade of red on her cheeks as she tried to splutter out an explanation. Tsunade just grinned at them.

"Whatever you say, Naruto. You lady killer!" she said, punching him lightly on his arm. Naruto just blushed and didn't bother trying to explain to her anymore, after all, he didn't need to defend himself from a drunk.

"C-c'mon, Hinata-chan, let's go cash in." Naruto said to the red girl.

"H-hai!" she said, as she stooped down to pick up one of the buckets.

"Hmm, there sure are a lot of buckets here." Naruto said, looking at the several piles, all of them nearly as tall as him.

"Alright! Kage bunshin no jutsu!" he said, putting his hands into the proper seal. Several clones appeared and they all picked up as many buckets as they could carry. Soon a troupe of Hinata and 10 Naruto's came marching up to the counter.

"We'd like to cash in, please!" Naruto said to the astounded person behind the counter. Said employee stared flabbergasted at all the buckets before they swallowed and nodded their head. Hinata and Naruto patiently waited as the employee counted out their cash and gave it all to Naruto. Naruto quickly separated all of the money and gave half of it to Hinata.

"You did half the work, you get half the money." He said to her, cheerfully holding out the large stack of bills. She looked at him in shock before numbly accepting (in other words he pushed it into her hands).

"Alright! Let's get outta here!" he said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her out of the Parlor. As soon as his hand touched her wrist her cheeks flared up again as she let him pull her around.

"What would you like to drink Hinata-chan?" he asked as he pulled her alongside him.

"A-ano, whatever is fine." She stuttered.

"Alright, let's go get some tea then!" Naruto said enthusiastically. They promptly arrived outside a famous tea shop and were seated. Naruto sat across from Hinata and smiled at the nervous girl, completely carefree. Hinata, however, was in turmoil.

'I-is this like a, date? After all, this place is quite expensive.' She thought to herself.

"This place is good. I've been here once with Tsunade Obaa-chan and they were pretty nice. Probably because of Obaa-chan though…" he said as an after thought. His face fell into a frown as it always did when confronted with the villagers' harsh treatment of him. Hinata's eyes saddened and, miraculously, Naruto noticed.

"Well, let's not talk about such useless things. When do you want to start training together Hinata-chan?" he asked with only slightly forced cheeriness. She looked up at him, it had only been a few hours but she had already forgotten that he wanted to train with her!

"Ah, how about tomorrow morning?" she suggested. He thought about it for a few moments then decided that no, he did not have anything important scheduled.

"Sure! That sounds great! Tomorrow at say, 8:00? Does that sound good to you?" he asked her. She nodded and then someone came with their tea. They sipped their tea in a comfortable silence, content to just be around the other. Without their noticing night had already fallen. Naruto was looking around at the other people in the tea shop when he looked back at Hinata. She was seated beside a window and the full moon was shedding it's light on her skin, making her glow. Without knowing why his breath caught in his throat and he stopped breathing. Then she looked at him and gently smiled and he snapped out of it and blushed, smiling back.

"Shall we go now?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse. She nodded and gracefully stood up. He quickly paid for their tea, ignoring Hinata's request that she pay half, and they walked out. Hinata looked at the moon as they walked as Naruto clutched his chest.

'Why is my heart beating like this?' he thought to himself, slightly glancing at Hinata.

Footnotes: Japanese translations

Gochiso-sama- Thank you for the meal!

Nani- What

Baka- Idiot

Ero-Sennin- Perverted Hermit

Tsunade Obaa-chan- Granny Tsunade

Ichi, Ni, San, Yon, Go, Roku, Shi, Hachi, Kyu, Ju, Ju-ichi, Ju-ni, Ju-san- One thru 13

Otoutou- Little Brother

Hai- Yes

Alright! More NaruXHina-ness in the next chapter! Please leave a review or I will sic my French toast of DOOM upon you! No, I'm totally kidding . But seriously, please review! Please! I beg of you!