Hinata sat on her bed, with wide eyes; reminiscing what had just happened. Kiyoshi had nearly died because she was careless with her choice of words, because of her speechless behavior. Her father entered her room, sleeves covered in the boy's blood.
"Why are you so defiant?"
She sat in silence; she didn't want to speak with him, in fear of making another mistake that would result in another fit from Hiashi. "Go away..."
"I'm sorry about what I did."
"Get out!" screamed the girl and threw a pillow at him.
He frowned and walked out of the room, leaving his daughter to cry alone.
Naruto escorted Kiyoshi through the streets of Konoha, back to the Hokage office.
Entering the room, the replacement Hokage sat down behind the desk. "What's the meaning of this?" asked Naruto in disguise.
"You're definitely into character," smiled Kiyoshi, "You can take the disguise off, I know you're Naruto... I'm the one who made you use the disguise in the first place."
Naruto dispelled his jutsu; the image of a woman faded, leaving a sleepy blond boy in a Hokage coat. "Sorry, I forgot," yawned Naruto, "I didn't get much sleep last night."
"A tired worker is a no-good worker," suggested Kiyoshi, sitting on a chair across the desk from Naruto. "You should take a nap."
"Can't... got work to do," replied Naruto, summoning five clones and starting to go through the pile of documents. "Mind telling me why I had to save you? I wasted a lot of valuable time there."
Kiyoshi came over to the first-aid kit on the wall, "Man... That Hiashi is one tough nut..." smirked Kiyoshi, wrapping a bandage around his shred-up ear. "And excuse me for making you do work, Hokage-sama."
"That's not what I meant," smiled Naruto, not looking up from his task, "Why did the fight start?"
"You just brought up a serious conversation," Kiyoshi's smile faded, "He knows about you and Hinata."
The pack of Narutos around the desk looked up at him in shock, "What? How?"
"Hinata told him."
Naruto smiled, "So she's ready? Even though she still doesn't know about my new rank?"
"She'll follow you to the ends of the earth no matter what your rank is... she loves you."
Naruto looked back down, "That still didn't answer my question though. Why did Hiashi attack you?" he glanced back at Kiyoshi, "It was him that attacked you, right? Not the other way around?"
Kiyoshi nodded, "He attacked me because I'm responsible for the relationship you have with Hinata."
"That's not true..."
"Perhaps not; you would've eventually matured in a couple of years and realized her love by yourself. But I sped it up, therefore I'm the link between the past and the present of your relationship."
Naruto thought about this, "So basically, you pissed him off?"
"I guess... it's just that he doesn't see the love Hinata has for you. He thinks I brainwashed her or something."
"This is a pain..." sighed Naruto. "Too much is happening, and I don't even have time for studying... let alone training."
Kiyoshi sat back down, and leaned over, "Naruto... this is training on it's own. This is the real Hokage work. This is the real Hokage life."
"Someone's coming," said Naruto, canceling his clones and putting the Tsunade disguise back on.
Sakura rushed in, "Kiyoshi! Are you alright?" exclaimed the pink-haired girl.
The boy grinned, "I'm fine, but I was just on my way to the hospital for a check-up. I think Hiashi moved something out of place inside me," replied Kiyoshi, dragging Sakura to the door.
Sakura looked back at Naruto, "Tsunade-sama..."
A vein popped up on the woman's forehead, "What are you doing here, baka?"
Kiyoshi let go of the girl and rubbed his forehead in disappointment, "You didn't have to say anything... but one line and you already jeopardized your disguise..."
Sakura charged at the replacement Hokage, "You're not Tsunade!" screamed the girl, throwing a groundbreaking punch at the fraud.
Kiyoshi jumped in the way of the attack and got knocked out the window. "Shit!" screamed the teen, flipping through the air away from the building. "Watch your punches!" were the last words before his voice faded into the distant streets of the village.
"Why did he get in the way?" thought the girl. She looked at the woman by the desk, "Who are you and what have you done to Tsunade?"
Naruto closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands, fingers intertwined. "You stupid girl... do you really thing someone could lay a hand on Tsunade?" asked Naruto, revealing his true form.
"Naruto?" exclaimed the girl. "What's going on here?" asked Sakura, observing his White long-coat.
"I'm the replacement Hokage," replied the ticked off teen, "Tsunade's on vacation."
She smiled, "So you finally got your dream? Congratulations!" yelled the girl, with an attempted hug.
Naruto flung across the room, as if a magnet of the same charge. "Get the hell away from me! Get out of the office, I have work to do! And go get Kiyoshi to a Hospital!" roared the boy.
Sakura rushed out of the office in terror. "Osu Hokage sama!"
Naruto climbed back down from the upper-right corner of the room and summoned several clones to get back to work.
Sakura searched the streets for Kiyoshi, "He must be in critical condition from that hit..."
She came upon a smoking crater in the middle of the street, surrounded by citizens in shock. Kiyoshi was sleeping in the center of it, knocked out by the impact.
"He's sleeping?" asked a villager.
"Sleeping? Are you sure he's not dead?" asked another, then came up to feel for Kiyoshi's breath, "He's alive!"
Everyone stared at him, "Monster..." said the first villager, pulling a pitch-fork out, "Angry mob anyone?"
Sakura stepped in before anyone else could accept the villager's invitation, "Shut up. He's human," replied the girl, putting much effort into picking him up and walking to the hospital.
An ear-splitting scream filled the hospital's atmosphere and a mile in each direction from it; Kiyoshi woke up. He looked around; nobody was there, yet he knew that several doctors, nurses, and Ghostbusters would charge in any second now. "I got to stop screaming..."
Nobody walked in, with the exception of Ino. Kiyoshi could only get a small glance at the unconscious guards in the hallway, before the door closed behind the blonde intruder.
"Hello Kiyoshi..." said Ino, pulling a syringe out of her pocket and advancing towards him.
He lay in his bed, wide-eyed. "Ino... what's in that syringe?"
"Just a little something to calm you down."
He struggled to get out of the bed, but found himself to be limp. "What's going on?"
A crazed grin filled Ino's face, "I'm going to kidnap you, Kiyoshi..."
Kiyoshi dropped his head back, "Shit..."
"Don't worry, you'll like living with me. I'll feed you, look after you..." another creepy smile ran across her face.
Kiyoshi cocked an eyebrow, "You're insane..."
Hinata managed to sneak out of the Hyuga estate without being spotted, and was on her way to Tsunade's office to see Naruto, as Kiyoshi had suggested. She was still sniffing through the tears brought on by the events that took place. She remembered Naruto's warm embrace and smiled, "I need you now more than ever."
Naruto and his pack of clones managed to get through almost half of the work, before he got very hungry. He dispelled his clones and locked the door on his way out. "Ramen..."
Walking down the hallways, Naruto yawned and smacked his lips. Taking slow and unrushed steps, he eventually got to the exit. He spotted a sight for sore eyes; Hinata. "Oi! Hinata-chan!"
The girl looked up from the path she walked on, "Ano... Naruto-kun!" They ran up to eachother and hugged. "Naruto, I'm so sorry, I told my father about you... but don't worry, he promised not to hurt you."
He looked at her and smiled, "Want to go out for some ramen?"
She couldn't understand what the source of his calmness was, "But what about..."
Naruto cut her off, "We can discuss it over ramen."
Hinata had never seen him like this; so carefree, black eyes from the lack of sleep, grinning weakly. "Osu," said the girl, confused and not sure what else she could say to the extremely tired boy in front of her, "Let's get some ramen."
He put his hand over her shoulder and wrapped his white coat around her, which she had not noticed yet, and he had totally forgotten about. "How are you feeling? I haven't talked to you in a while."
She walked down the street with her head resting on his shoulder, "I'm worried."
"What about?"
"My father beat up Kiyoshi today, and nearly killed him too," explained the girl.
Naruto was too tired to pick his words out correctly, "I know, I was there," then quickly shut up, realizing what he just said.
"You were there?"
Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "What I meant, was that a friend of mine told me all about it... Kiyoshi... being the friend."
She stopped and looked up at him, "You're hiding something from me."
The phrase made Naruto realize something he hadn't realized before; they have come a long way. At first, neither of them could even say a word to eachother, but now Hinata could read him like a book.
"Well..."
"You're acting very strange lately. You haven't seen me for a whole day, you're tired out so much that it's a surprise you can stand at all, and... Where▓d you get this coat?"
Naruto grinned again, this time not as weakly as before. "This is the reason for my behavior; I've been made a replacement Hokage."
Hinata slapped him, and stepped away in anger. "And you didn't tell me? Of all people, you forgot to tell me?" Naruto wanted to explain himself, but she didn't want to listen. Hinata slapped him again and ran off, eyes filled with tears, "You don't care about anyone but yourself!"
"Hinata! Wait!" yelled the blond boy and fell to the ground. He was feeling weak, tired, the only thing he could do is watch her run off into the distance and call out for her to come back.
Hinata wished with all heart that he would come after her, ask for forgiveness, tell her that nobody else knew. "You jerk..." thought Hinata, running down the street, towards Kiyoshi's residence for him comfort her.