"He was murdered under your watch," said Lord Hokage. "I needed you to bring him back alive. How are we going to find Yuji Fuma now?"

I bowed to our leader. "I take all of the responsibility, Lord Hokage. He was under my watch at the time of the incident. I saw the attack coming, and I could not stop it. I will accept any punishment you have to offer."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy Hinata. There won't be any punishment," said Lord Hokage. "You are all responsible for this, but given that Lord Arata is dead, I don't have a way to find Yuji."

"Not necessarily," said Shino.

"Who do you think we are? Did you expect us to come back empty handed?" said Kiba. From his knapsack, Kiba pulled out the letters Lord Arata traded with Yuji Fuma and put them on Lord Hokage's desk. "You personally asked us to complete this mission for a reason."

Lord Hokage sifted through the letters and sense of relief washed over his face. The relief was then taken by a hard expression as he told Kiba, our team leader, "I want you to write a detailed report starting from what we discussed here before you set out on the mission up to what just took place here in my office. Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. Don't worry about it Kakashi sensei. I'll have it on your desk tomorrow morning," responded Kiba.

"Good, then that means you are all dismissed," said Lord Hokage. As we proceeded to exit his office, Lord Hokage called out to me "Great job on your last mission, Hinata. I'll see you later at the party."

I acknowledged his praise with a small smile.

Outside of the Hokage manor, Kiba told me "I'm going to drop Shino off at the hospital to get checked out before I go home to write the report. It's going to take time to get everything I need in the report, so I might end up coming late to the party."

"That is alright. The report is more important than a party," I said.

Kiba smiled. "When you put it like that, yeah, but the report isn't more important than you, which is what the party is revolving around. I'll try to be there, I promise."

I smiled fondly. "I know Kiba."

"I'm going to miss going on missions with you," he said as he wrapped his arms around me. "It won't be the same without you around."

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"I am going to miss it too," I said as I tightened the hug. "I will be busier than I have ever been as leader of my clan, but my door is always open for you."

"Can you bake a cake when I come over?" he asked.

"Of course, Kiba."

"Good, good," he said.

At the sound of Shino clearing his throat, Kiba and I broke apart. Shino said "It's nice to know that you forgot about me again."

"You know that's not true. Hinata and I are having a moment. Feel free to join in," said Kiba.

Shino stopped sulking to approach me. "Hugging isn't my thing. I'll just give you something instead." From his pocket, Shino pulled out a small white box. "At the Village Hidden Among Dreams I saw this at one of the shops and thought of you. Take it."

I took the box from his hand and opened it. Inside of it was a Hyuga insignia accessory for kunai knives.

"I know you won't use it, but I thought that you should have it anyway," said Shino.

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Shino. I love it."

Kiba playfully punched Shino on the arm and said "Before Hinata starts getting choked up and cries all over the place, we should go to the hospital. We all have things to take care of before the party later."

Shino nodded his head in agreement.

I waved my teammates goodbye as they walked in the direction of the hospital. There was plenty of time before the event started so I took this as an opportunity to meet with Tenten.

Tenten is a brown haired, brown eyed girl that is about a year older than me. We know each other through my deceased cousin, Neji, who was once her teammate. During the Fourth Great Ninja War, I saw an unavoidable attack closing in on Naruto so I jumped in front of him, prepared to give my life for his. As I anticipated the attack to impale me, Neji threw himself in the attack's line of fire, killing him. The last Tenten and I spoke was at Neji's funeral two years ago.

Even though we do not speak to one another, I knew exactly where she would be – the ninja tool shop.

I walked into her shop near the eastern gate of the village. When the bell rang, she sprang up from behind the counter ready to greet the person who came through the door. When her eyes fell on me, they widened.

"Lady Hinata," she said almost breathlessly. "I'm surprised to see you here. Can I help you find something?"

"No, I do not need weapons," I said.

She hopped off her stool but remained behind the counter as if she was afraid to approach me. "Oh? Then what are you here for?"

I pulled the strange weapon out of my knapsack, displaying it in my hands. "I need your help with this."

Her eyes widened in wonder as curiosity consumed her. Suddenly, she was no longer hesitant to approach me as she rushed towards the weapon in my hands. She glided her fingers across the foreign material and asked me "What is this? It's beautiful!"

"I do not know. I came here hoping that you could find out," I said.

As I told her what it could do, she became more intrigued. Once I finished telling her what I know, she closed down the shop immediately and escorted me to the second floor of the shop – her apartment. I had never been inside of her apartment, but I knew what I would discover behind the door leading into her home.

She opened her door and invited me inside. Just before I stepped in, she told me "Watch where you step. I wasn't expecting company so it's pretty messy in here."

On the floor laid a bunch of sharp ninja tools just as I suspected.

It is common courtesy to take off your shoes when entering someone's home, but in this environment, I could not bring myself to do it. Instead, I stood at her door, weapon in hand.

"Aren't you coming in?" she asked as she took off her shoes.

"Tenten, there are knives, swords, and sickles covering your apartment. You cannot expect me to remove my shoes and walk around on this floor. It is unsafe."

She looked around, scratching her head. "I guess you're right. Give me a second to put them away." Tenten grabbed a few scrolls from the drawer in her kitchen and returned to the front door. She whipped open the scrolls, placing them on the floor around her, and she sat down at the center of them. The open scrolls were blank, but as she placed her hand on the paper, the paper filled with some formulae that I did not quite understand. As the scrolls filled with the formulae, the weapons began to disappear in a puff of smoke. When all of the weapons were gone, she sealed the scrolls by placing a symbol at the very center of the paper, and put them back in her kitchen drawer.

Tenten is a kunoichi that specializes in Teleportation Ninjutsu, a form of ninjutsu that can warp a target through a dimensional void and teleport it to another location instantaneously; in which case, the weapons on the floor are the items from another dimension. How Tenten sealed the weapons in the scrolls is called Sealing Technique. It is a technique that locks living beings, weapons, chakra, and a wide variety of other things inside another object. It can also be used to restrict movement and to unseal an object from within something or someone.

"There we go, all better," she said. "Now, please, come in."

I took off my shoes, placing them next to the door. I then followed Tenten into the kitchen area where I put the weapon on her table.

"Have you tried using the weapon yourself?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "No. After witnessing what it could do, my team and I thought that it was too risky to try out."

"Hm… Well, I have to admit, Lady Hinata, it's difficult to try figure out how it works just by staring at it. I'll have to give it a few test runs."

"Can you just take it apart and go from there? It is too dangerous to use, Tenten."

"Sorry, using it is how I'm going to figure it out. I won't use the Training Field. I'll go somewhere outside of the village."

I pinched the bridge of my nose knowing that she was right. "Alright, fine. Just be careful."

She smiled fondly at me. "You look a lot like Neji when you do that."

"Do what?"

"When you pinched your nose. He used to do that a lot whenever Lee did something stupid."

Rock Lee, or Lee, is a part of Tenten's team. He is unable to use ninjutsu, so he trained himself incredulously over the years to master taijutsu, the art of hand-to-hand combat. He and Neji were rivals growing up and that fueled Lee to push himself to beat him, but he never did. When Neji died, Lee was devastated. Lee did not just lose his rival, he also lost his best friend.

"I'm sorry, Lady Hinata," said Tenten. "Neji had told me once that if he were to die sooner than any of us had expected, he wanted me to look out for you as he once did. I had planned to act out his wishes, but when I saw you at the funeral, when I saw how heartbroken you were, I chickened out. There was no way that I could fill Neji's shoes. You didn't need me. You would never need me. When time did its job, and you healed, I still couldn't bring myself to talk to you. I felt ashamed. I know that we've never been close, we only spoke when Neji was present, but now that he's gone, I would like to grow closer to you." Tenten's eyes began to water and her hands started shaking as she fidgeted with her fingers. "H-He's gone, and I only have the m-memories we s-shared, s-so I was hoping that we could get together sometime a-and, you know, talk about all of the good times we had w-with him. Y-You could tell me things that he didn't want me to know, and I could d-do the same…"

Tenten then began to cry. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her as I pulled her head against my chest. I told her "Yes, we can do that, Tenten. If this was bothering you so much, you should have reached out to me sooner. As you said, we are not close, however, you know that I am not the kind of person to turn away from someone in need."

"I'm s-sorry," she said. "I wanted to, I r-really wanted to, but it was hard. I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Disappoint me? That is not possible," I said. When she stopped crying, she pulled away. "I miss him too, Tenten."

She smiled at me as she wiped away stray tears. "I loved him, you know. I was in love with Neji and I never had the chance to tell him. I was going to tell him before the war, but I got scared. That is my biggest regret. He left too soon and I was too cowardly to say anything." She laughed to herself. "He'd probably reject me anyway. He'd probably make light of the situation and shift the subject just like he used to. What do you think? Does that sound like Neji?"

I offered her a sympathetic smile. "No, he would not do that. He told me one night, a few nights before the war, that he was in love with you and was going to tell you once we won… He never received the opportunity."

Tenten's eyes widened. "He… He did?"

I nodded my head. "He loved you for a long time, Tenten. He might have loved you longer than you loved him."

Tears weld up in her eyes again, but instead of sobbing, she smiled. "That makes me happy to know that. Thank you for telling me, Lady Hinata."

A few moments of silence passed between us as the atmosphere shifted. I asked Tenten "Are you coming to the party later? I would love to have you."

"Y-Yes! I will be there." She then looked at the clock on the wall above the refrigerator. "You just got back from your last mission, right? Shouldn't you go home to shower and change?"

"Yes, but…"

Tenten followed my gaze to the weapon on the table. She said "Don't worry. I can handle this. Go, go get ready. I'll meet you there at the party."

"Thank you, Tenten," I said.

I put my shoes on at the front door and Tenten followed me downstairs into the shop. As I was heading out of the door, she said to me "Congratulations on becoming the leader of your clan."

"Thank you," I said.

I went home immediately to shower and to put on clean clothes. By the time I finished preparing, I figured that it was time to meet everyone at the Yakiniku Q. When I arrived at my destination, the restaurant was filled with my friends from the Academy and my former teachers, including the Hokage. As soon as I walked through the doors, my friends warmly greeted me.

Sakura approached me, arms ready to wrap around me. I accepted her hug and soon as we let go, Ino ambushed me with a tight squeeze. It was unexpected, but very characteristic of her.

Ino Yamanaka is a woman who is a part of team ten and, just like the majority of my friends in this room, she graduated from the Academy at the same time that I did so that means we are the same age. She specializes in Mind Transfer Jutsu, a technique passed down through generations of her clan that allows the user to borrow the body of their target and read their thoughts. Not only is Ino a gifted kunoichi, she is also the beauty of the Leaf, causing many men to pursue her and many women to envy her. Though Ino is a good friend of mine, I can understand why she is envied. With her incredibly long blonde hair and icy blue eyes, she can catch any man's attention, including the man that rejected me.

"I can't believe you're retiring, Hinata," said Ino once she released me from her hold.

"Yes, I can hardly believe it either," I said. "Thank you both for throwing this party for me. I really appreciate it."

"It's not a problem, Hinata. Anything for you," said Sakura.

"Yeah, what she said," agreed Ino. "Though, I wish that you would have let us throw a surprise party instead. If you know about it, it takes the fun and mystery out of it."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "She doesn't like surprises, Ino."

"Don't you think I know that, Sakura?" responded Ino.

Sakura and Ino have been best friends since the age of eight, the age that one is eligible to enroll at the Academy. They were close until they met Sasuke Uchiha, the object of every girl's desire. From that moment on, they became rivals, competing for Sasuke's affection. This rivalry eventually came to an end seven years later when Ino developed a crush on Sai, a man that took Sasuke's place on team seven after he left the village. Sai has skin as white as paper and ninjutsu that allows his art to come to life to defeat his foes.

"Even if you did throw a surprise party, I would appreciate it just as much," I said.

A smug smile formed on Ino face as she crossed her arms. "See Sakura? You should listen to me more often. Next time we put something together, we're going with my plan."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You seem to forget that you aren't right all of the time."

"No, I'm not right all of the time. I'm right most of the time," said Ino.

As they entered a heated debate regarding who is typically correct, I took the opportunity to slip away to greet the rest of the people in the restaurant, running into Lord Hokage speaking to Shikamaru Nara and Kurenai Yuhi. Lord Hokage said something that made Kurenai sensei giggle and caused Shikamaru to huff.

Kurenai Yuhi was team eight's former instructor. She stopped guiding us three years ago when she became pregnant with Asuma Sarutobi's child, the deceased instructor of team ten and son of the Third Hokage. Before she retired, she was greatly known for her talents in genjutsu, earning the name of the Leaf's greatest genjutsu wielder.

"Hinata," said Kurenai sensei when she saw me approaching. "How are you?"

I smiled at her. "I am doing fine, Kurenai sensei. How are you? How is your daughter?"

"I'm doing well and so is Mirai. She is growing every day," said Kurenai sensei with a warming smile.

"Growing every day is another way of saying that she's becoming more of a pain," said Shikamaru.

Though he is notoriously lazy and does not enjoy partaking in hard work, Shikamaru is a member of team ten with an IQ of two-hundred and the chief coordinator of the Shinobi Union, an allied force affiliated with shinobi from the five great nations and the Land of Iron. He and Asuma sensei were close when he was alive, so when he died, Shikamaru took it upon himself to assist Kurenai sensei with Mirai, promising to train her when she comes of age.

"You do not mean that," I said.

"Yes, I do," he insisted. "She gets into everything. Babysitting her is more troublesome than an S-rank mission."

"That's what kids do, Shikamaru. When you have children of your own one day, you'll understand," said Lord Hokage.

"I won't be having kids, not after the experience I had watching Mirai," said Shikamaru.

"It cannot be all that bad," I said.

Shikamaru shook his head. "I have the pleasure of having the choice to not breed. You, however, Hinata, I feel sorry for you. Since you're going to be the leader of the Hyuga clan, you have no choice but to have children. Once you do, you'll know just how difficult it is to deal with them and your life will change forever."

I gave him a crooked smile. I do not have children of my own and I have never watched Mirai so I could not argue with him. The certainty in his words placed fear in me. I have always known that I must produce an heir for my clan to keep my throne, but I never prepared myself for the reality of that factor.

"Don't worry, Hinata. You'll be fine. I can't imagine that you will have to bear any children for a few more years yet," said Kurenai sensei after she read my facial expression.

"Shikamaru is a lazy brood that doesn't like the slightest bit of hard work. Ignore him," reassured Lord Hokage.

I laughed nervously, but I could not shake off the fear.