Disclaimer: As has already been mentioned nothing you may recognize is mine. It all belongs to fabulously rich people who get to go on world wide vacations.

The Lessons a Hokage Needs to Know

Chapter Five-A Day of Activity

A special thanks goes out to all four of the people who reviewed this chapter. Thanks to thefourthhokage, Chaos Jester Power, Ichihime, and loki09 aka ttre208. Sorry I didn't get back to all of you personally, but your reviews were greatly welcomed. Oh, and the overall pairing vote, by 2 to 1 was for Sakura and Lee. So also, thanks for the input too!

Naruto stared mournfully into his steamy bathroom mirror, his still slightly damp hair dripping onto his bare shoulders. He shivered slightly. At the moment he was only wearing a towel and the temperature difference between the shower water and the general air in his bathroom was enough to make his skin clammy. He sighed and looked toward his open window. The sun had barely risen and he had already been up for well over an hour. He shook his head in slight disgust as he made the short trek from the bathroom into his bedroom where he started rifling through his clothes, looking for something decent to wear.

He shucked off the towel and pulled on some slight dressy black slacks and a dark blue button up shirt. One of a set of four that he currently had in his possession thanks to a shopping trip instigated by Hinata and Sakura when they had finally gotten a hold of his wardrobe and were shocked at how little he had in the way of actual variety in his clothing. Along with the dressy clothes he currently donned he now also had in his possession one kimono that he still hadn't found a reason to wear, ten different t-shirts in varying colors and styles and four sets of jeans. Only two of which had ever been introduced to the outside world.

Naruto pulled on his shoes, stuffed his wallet into a pocket, ran his hand through his hair, grabbed his typical red jacket, (hey, he's still Naruto) and was out the door at ten minutes to six.

Naruto remembered the first time that he had ever been to the Hyuuga compound. He had been there to pick Hinata up for their very first date. Talk about pressure! He was sure that he could feel all the residents activate their Byakugan simultaneously and watch as he made slow progress down the street to the imposing front gate. He had gulped down all his anxiety and knocked on the wooden doors which had promptly been opened by a smirking branch member.

"Naruto-San. Welcome to the Hyuuga compound."

'Huh?' Naruto jerked himself back into the present and stared into the face of the guard who had opened the gate for him, the same one that he had become familiar with in all his forays into the Hyuuga part of Kohona.

The guard stood aside respectfully and bowed Naruto inside while saying "Hinata sama is awaiting you inside the receiving room. I have been ordered to ask that you proceed straight there."

Naruto nodded his thanks for the information, bowed to the guard briefly and took off down the paved stones that made up the path that led to the building complex where all the Hyuuga main Branch members were housed.

As Naruto passed some of the other houses that were on either side of the road he remembered back to the first time that he had been inside the compound on this very same walk.

"Is that him?" Faces were peaking out of doorways and windows as he passed by.

"That's got to be him. Who else would be visiting at this time of day?" A window slammed shut in one of the houses he had just passed. He imagined he could almost hear the word demon hissed under people's breath.

A couple walking by stopped as he passed them. "So that's Naruto Uzumaki. Not much to look at is he?" The older man turned to the woman who was clearly his wife. "I wonder why Hiashi Sama is allowing this to happen. Especially with this boy?" Naruto felt the man give him an appraising look behind his back and sped up his pace unconsciously.

A housewife hanging up her laundry dropped her clothes pins all over the ground and her eyes widened comically when she caught sight of him. He clenched his fists harder as more people started crowding doorways just to watch him. He almost felt like he was on exhibit at the zoo. He rolled that thought over in his mind. A new species the sign would proclaim. Come see the amazing Naruto beast eat, sleep and act like a normal ninja!

The amazing Naruto…Naruto…Naruto…

"Naruto!" Naruto stopped in his tracks as he heard his voice called out. He looked down into the face of one of the small Hyuuga branch children that he had gotten to know when he hung out with Hinata at her house. The child grabbed his leg in a bear hug. "Naruto!"

"Naruto?" Yay!" several more children emerged from out of side alleys and behind fences as they heard his name called and immediately began pushing and shoving each other for a spot on one of the coveted limbs.

Naruto stumbled slightly as two more children attached themselves to his body, and was nearly bent over double as the rest grabbed all other available surfaces, namely, his arms and neck. Just as he felt that there was about to be a very bad meeting with the ground he was rescued.

"Children! That's enough! Detach yourselves from Uzumaki-San at once! You're supposed to be doing your studies! Get inside this instant!" The branch member walked around and started herding the toddlers back into the daycare. She bowed to Naruto. "I am so sorry for the children's behavior Uzumaki-San. They will be punished appropriately." You could almost hear the audible gulp of children who knew that they were in trouble. Naruto allowed himself to smile. They were cute. He nodded briefly to the caretaker and proceeded up the path, leaving trembling children in his wake.

Naruto listened to the musical chime of the doorbell as it echoed from somewhere inside, bringing with it the main house's attendant. He bowed when he saw who was at the door. "Naruto-San. Welcome to the main house. If you haven't already been informed, Hinata-Sama is awaiting you in the receiving room." The attendant held open the door and bowed again. Naruto bowed back. "I had already been informed, but thank you for the reminder." And with that he took off down a maze of lavishly decorated hallways that he had memorized out of necessity to collect Hinata.
"So where do you want to go?" It was currently seven-thirty and he and Hinata had already done a full circuit of Kohona looking for a spot where they could sit down and eat the breakfast that Hinata had made. Hinata shrugged herself more firmly against his side and let out a content sigh.

"I don't care. Anywhere really. How about by the river? That's always a nice spot."

Naruto's stomach chose that moment to speak up and throw its vote in with Hinata. And outnumbered two to one. Who was he to refuse?

"Can you see what's going on?" Eyes blinked out of a bush and peered forward curiously.

"No. Does anyone hear anything?" A blond head strained closer to the sounds of the water.

"We'd be able to hear better if there was more silence."

Ino rolled her eyes in a dramatic fashion. "Well sorry Shino." Ino looked up as much as she was able. "Sakura, can you please get your hands off of my head?" Sakura moved to a different position.

"Shino, are you absolutely sure that you bugs wouldn't be able to hear what was being said between them?"

Shino turned his head in Sakura's direction. "As I have explained before, my kikai bugs are used mostly for their sight and not their hearing. They were bred to sense things and to look for specific details, not to hear specific tones and words." Shino resumed gazing at Naruto and Hinata, who were currently eating by the riverside.

"Why so interested anyway? Want to compare their private conversations with the ones you and Lee have when you're alone?"

Sakura gritted her teeth and glared at Ino's head. "No, I don't. I just want to know what Naruto's been up to lately. Knowing him he's probably told Hinata."

"So if you wanted to know what Naruto is up to, why drag us out of bed at five in the morning?"

Sakura looked at the sleepy-eyed Kiba. "Because I thought you could help!" She hissed at him.

Shino injected a dose of calm into the atmosphere. "If you don't endeavor to be more silent, then it is likely that both Hinata and Naruto will be able to find us. Something that I think would be very bad considering the circumstances."

"I agree totally." Kiba huffed.

Ino looked at him disparagingly. "Oh, just go back to sleep already."

Kiba resumed leaning against Akamaru. "Gladly."

Naruto looked down at his soaked pants and sighed. He wrung out his jacket a bit more and looked at his girlfriend, who was just as soaked as he was. Naruto shook his head to dislodge some more water.

"Hey." Naruto looked at Hinata, who was now rubbing more water off of herself thanks to him. Naruto grinned at her stupidly.

"Sorry about that." Hinata stopped trying to get the water off herself and looked at the black skies instead.

"Wow, this storm is really weird. It just came out of nowhere."

"I'll say." Naruto saw that Hinata was shivering slightly and put an arm around her. "You cold?"

She nodded against his chest and snuggled closer for warmth. "A little."

Naruto pondered for a minute and came up with a solution. "Well…then how about we go back to my place and get dried off? I can make some hot chocolate, put on a movie and make some popcorn. We can spend the rest of the day indoors. Just you and me."

"Really?" Hinata perked up considerably. Naruto couldn't help but laugh at her sudden change of emotion.

"Really. After all, isn't that what I promised you yesterday? A whole day of just you and me, doing what you want to do?"

Hinata smiled impishly, something that was a little out of character for her. "True, you did. Alright then. Lead on Naruto." And Hinata grabbed his hand as they meandered under awnings and various other shelter to get to his house without getting even more wet then they already were.

Sakura glared at the buckets of rain coming down as if, if she stared hard enough she could get the rain to stop.

Ino sighed. "Sakura, no matter how much you glare at the clouds, the storm isn't going to stop any sooner."

Kiba glanced at Shino curiously. "Hey Shino, if your bugs are so good at sensing things, how come they didn't sense the rain coming?"

Shino, the only relatively dry one of the group, leaned further into the wall he was up against. "What makes you think they didn't?"

Ino looked at him incredulously. "So you're saying that you knew about this storm the whole time and you didn't tell us?"

Shino shrugged. "My Kikai bugs were aware of the possibility of a change in the weather conditions, but couldn't be specific about what kind of weather, how severe, or when it would start or stop. Given that, I didn't think that telling you would have made a difference."

"Great, so we get soaked just because you can't be specific. Thanks a lot Shino." Kiba patted Akamaru's wet fur. "How you holding up buddy?" Akamaru growled. "You too?" Akamaru gave something like a nod with his head. "I know buddy, I know."

Sakura looked over a Shino. "So now that the storm has started, can your bugs be more specific and tell us when it's going to stop?"

Shino got very still then turned in Sakura's direction. "They estimate that the storm will last at least another two hours."

Sakura exhaled and closed her eyes. "Another two hours. Great. And we don't even know where Hinata and Naruto have gone to."

Hinata stepped out of Naruto's bedroom and walked up to where he was currently heating up water. Naruto glanced at her out of the sides of his eyes. "Feeling better?"

Hinata wrapped her arms around his waist. "Much. Thanks for letting me borrow some clothes."

Naruto waved it off. "No problem. We couldn't have you staying in those wet clothes of yours now could we? Besides" Naruto looked back at her slyly. "You look pretty cute in frog pajamas." Hinata blushed to her roots, causing Naruto to laugh.

Naruto stated nudging Hinata over to the living room. "So what are we watching anyway?" he asked her.

"Huh?" Naruto got up again to grab two cups out of the kitchen and returned, handing a bowl full of popcorn and a mug of hot chocolate to Hinata. "Your choice. Didn't I already say that? " He wondered out loud to himself in a light teasing voice. Hinata sat next to Naruto on the couch. "Really?"

Naruto sipped at his hot chocolate. "Really."

Hinata snuggled into him and sighed happily while the opening sequences of the movie appeared on the television screen.

Kiba groaned and opened his eyes blinking at the shafts of light that were beaming down from cracks in the ceiling. He turned on his side and nudged the body next to him experimentally.

Sakura sat up abruptly and slapped the first available body part that she could find.

"Ow, Ow!" Kiba rubbed his stinging side and glared at the Kunoichi reproachfully. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Well, you shouldn't have been touching me then!" Kiba looked at her curiously then muttered. "How do Naruto and Lee put up with it? I've only spent one full day with her and I already want to run away screaming"

Sakura turned her head toward him. "What was that now?" Kiba backed away hastily.

"Nothing, nothing. Nothing at all." His hair was flying all over the place he was shaking his head so hard.

Sakura sighed and looked up at where the beams of light were coming down. "What happened anyway?"

Shino's voice came out of the darkness. "We fell. What do you think happened?"

"Fell? So that's what we did. I had wondered."

Sakura twisted her body around to see Ino emerge from the place where her voice had originated.

"You okay"

Ino nodded and rubbed the bump on her arm one more time. "Fine, just few scrapes. How about you Kiba?" She looked him over appraisingly before turning her attention to the bug user. "And you Shino?"

"Fine Ino, just a pounding headache." Shino nodded as well and satisfied, Ino turned back to Sakura with a resolute face.

"That's it Sakura, I won't help you anymore. I quit. You can gather your intelligence on Naruto by yourself."

"What?! But why?"

Ino looked at her incredulously. "Why? Why?! Because in the last day alone I've been rained on, beaten by a little old lady with an umbrella, kicked by little kids, and dumped down a well. Not to mention, having had unidentifiable food objects lobbed at me by who knows what monster." Ino stood up and started patting herself down experimentally. "I'm cold, miserable mud covered, and smell like a landfill. So I quit. I'm going home to take a shower."

Sakura looked at her pleadingly. "But, But."

Ino shook her head. "Sorry Sakura, you're on your own."

Sakura smirked. "No I'm not. I still have Shino and Kiba."

Shino and Kiba looked at each other over the top of Sakura's head. "Oh no you don't." Kiba stood up and joined Ino, who was currently climbing up the side of the well. "I agree with Ino on this one. Helping you is just too dangerous."

Shino joined Kiba and Ino. "I have to agree with both Ino and Kiba's statements in this instance too. They are both true to fact, and state my frame of mind perfectly."

Ino looked down from the well's opening apologetically. "Yeah, sorry Sakura, but good luck in your Naruto spying. You'll need it at this rate." She muttered. And Shino, Kiba and Ino departed.

Sakura sat back down and rested her head against the side of the muddy wall. It had been a long day.

The end. Of this chapter at least. Sorry it didn't get out sooner, stuff happened. Anyway. Please review. And oh yeah. Score- Naruto: 1 Sakura: 0. Also there will be another lesson in the next chapter out. So the good times will come again.