Hi guys

Well, this is a bit longer than my usual chapters, but I'm trying to make it work.

There is drama but no fighting in this story, athough expect some next week.

Enjoy

I don't own Nartuo

Chapter 23

The next day everyone begins to get everything started. Mono, Kohaku, and Sango prepare breakfast, while Shikamaru explains to Naruto and Hinata what their job was for the second half of the mission.

"Now that your supplies are here and still intact, the second half of our mission is to guard you three while you're working on making fences for the animals. I and my comrades will be split into three shifts. I'll go first, then Naruto, and then Hinata. Just let us know if there's anything else you wish to tell us" Shikamaru explains

"That sounds like a good plan to us. Once we eat, and clean up after breakfast, we will begin" Mono replies.

"How long you think it will take to complete the fence?" Naruto asks Mono.

"Well, I did schedule for two weeks, but that's just in case. It really shouldn't take more than a few days to a week if nothing interesting happens" Mono answers.

"Well, we'll deal with that afterwards. For now, dig in everyone" Sango says. She and Kohaku have finished setting up the table.

Everyone is quiet after that, enjoying their meal before preparing for the day.

"Kohaku, Sango, you guys done yet?" Mono calls out from outside.

Kohaku runs out, "Sango is just finishing the dishes off. I can start right now if you want?"

"Aright, shall we begin guys?" Mono asks the Konoha ninjas.

"Hey, Shika, can I go first" Naruto asks.

"Whatever doesn't matter to me, just wake me up when it's my turn" Shikamaru says, walking to a spot where he can nap.

"….Is he allowed to do that?" Kohaku asks.

"He's the captain of this mission; he can do what he wants" Naruto answers, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll be meditating near Shikamaru-kun, so I'll let him know when it's his turn Naruto-kun" Hinata says to Naruto.

"Smart idea Hinata; he might just keep on sleeping if we don't keep an eye on him" Naruto says, smiling at Hinata.

Hinata turns a bit red at the compliment, but smiles back before walking to Shikamaru's location.

Naruto turns to look at Kohaku, only to see him wearing a look of disappointment on his face; he was looking at Hinata's direction.

"Something wrong Kohaku-san?" Naruto asks, with a bit of an edge to his voice. He couldn't explain why, but Kohaku just seems to rub him in the wrong way, even if the guy was nice.

This startles Kohaku, and looks a bit embarrassed at being caught staring, "no, nothing! Over here, let's go."

Kohaku quickly runs to were the cattle is, with Naruto following after him.

Naruto had chased the cattle into the field, letting his shadow clones keep an eye on them, while he watched and conversed with Sango and Kohaku.

"Say, how come you don't help us out to make building this fence faster Naruto-kun?" Kohaku asks.

"It's because we didn't pay him to help us out Kohaku. Plus, his clones are keeping an eye on the cattle so he's doing a great job at protecting us" Sango answers him.

"If I were to help you, then this would probably be considered a low B-rank mission. Plus, you would need to pay us more. Cheer up, there's nothing wrong with hard labour; it's one of the ways to build good discipline" Naruto says, trying not to smile at Kohaku's crestfallen face.

Kohaku, from Naruto's point of view, did actually have good discipline, but seems to dislike working long periods of time. Sango, on the other hand, looked like she wasn't a complainer.

While Naruto watches, the sounds of stakes being hammered into the ground ring out. Sango would dig holes for the pole and Kohaku would set them and hammer them in. Mono would place the fence portions in while they kept working.

While the three were working, Kohaku starts asking Mono questions that surprise Naruto, "Why did you decide to do this with your life Ni-san? You know aunt and uncle would have kept supporting us since they care a great deal about us."

Mono frowns before answering, "Because I want to make my own way in the world, not ride along my family's money. I'm really glad you two chose to come and live with me, but tell me this; how could I mooch when they did so much for us after our parents died? I truly wish to pay them back for everything they've done for us. And the first way to do this is by making our own money."

"But they wouldn't have said no to help us since they never had kids of their own. You know how sad they felt for not being able to have kids" Kohaku says.

"He's doing it for himself", Naruto says to Kohaku, surprising them that he had been listening, "He's trying to prove that he's his own person and that people can rely on him. Since the two of you chose to follow him, it means despite everything you trust him."

Kohaku looks like he's mulling it over for a minute, before nodding, and giving Naruto a smile that made Naruto feel bad for wondering why Kohaku rubbed him the wrong way.

Before Naruto could say anything, Shikamaru came and tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey, your shift is over. I'm taking the late afternoon shift. Let Hinata come by once it's early evening."

Nodding, Naruto dispels his Shadow clones, "Have fun looking out for the cattle and other animals, but especially the cattle. You saw them all the way from where you were napping." After saying this, he runs to where Hinata was, surprised she was still meditating.

"Hey, Hinata, you're not yet?" Naruto asks, poking her on the shoulder.

Hinata jumps from being startled, and immediately uses a gentle fist on the one who touched her.

"Ahh" Naruto exclaims, flying a few feet away from the hit.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asks her eyes wide by what she just did.

"Not a good idea to startle you, I forget how painful it is to be hit by those" Naruto groans, standing back up and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"S-sorry, y-you just surprised me that's all" Hinata stutters out, poking her two fingers together.

Naruto just waves it off, and walks back to her.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, before Hinata breaks it, "so, how was first shift?"

"It wasn't much of anything; my shadow clones kept an eye on the animals, so I watched them work and talked with them for a bit. Say, have you noticed the way Kohaku just keeps on staring at you?" Naruto asks.

Surprise was on her face, as she shakes her head, and turns towards where Kohaku was working; she caught his eye for a second, before he quickly went back to his work.

Naruto notices this, and scowls, wincing at the soreness from his shoulder; what was the guy's problem?

"Naruto-kun, is there something wrong?" Hinata asks, bringing his attention back to her.

"No, I just don't get why he's staring so much. I mean, sure not many people have your kind of eyes, but that's not an excuse to stare. Besides, your eyes are pretty, not freaky" Naruto says, sounding annoyed.

Hinata blushes at the complement, but since Naruto was looking at Kohaku at the moment, he doesn't notice.

"I-I think he's n-nice, and is just curious at why my eyes are different. If he wasn't so shy, I'm sure he would have asked about them by now" Hinata says, still a little red.

Naruto ponders on that for a moment, and guesses that she's right; he's heard how rude people can be, and Naruto did think he was nice.

"I guess you're right, just let me know if it starts to bother you, I know It would be bother if someone kept on staring at me and not tell me why" Naruto says.

Hinata nods, and for the remainder of the afternoon until it's her turn, they just stare in silence, until Naruto doses off to recover from Hinata's attack.

"Hey, Naruto, come on wake up, it's time to go inside" Shikamaru says, nudging him in the ribs.

Naruto groans, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "how long was I asleep for?"

"Since Hinata started her shift. We're calling it a night, and Mono and Sango just went in to begin dinner" Shikamaru explains.

A frown appears on Naruto's face, "I didn't realize that I was that tired. Where's Hinata?"

Shikamaru points to where she is, and Naruto can see Kohaku still working on the fence, while talking with Hinata; Kohaku seems comfortable now without the shyness from earlier.

"Why is Kohaku still working if Mono-san called it for the night?" Naruto asks, his frown becoming a scowl.

Shikamaru seemed surprised by how Naruto was acting, but answered none the less, "The fences for the cattle are almost done, so Kohaku wanted to get it done today. Tomorrow, it will be the pigs turn."

Naruto stares for a few seconds longer, then gets up and heads towards Kohaku and Hinata's direction.

As Narutp gets closer, he can hear some of the conversation going on, "…..and if it weren't for my aunt and uncle, the three of us might have starved or something since we never really knew how to work for ourselves. I get what my Ni-san wants to do after Naruto explained it to me, but I think there might be another way besides raising animals to make money" Kohaku says.

"I understand Kohaku-kun, but perhaps right now this is the only way, and later on you can find ways to make money" Hinata answers.

"Like what? I'm really interested in your thoughts Hinata-Chan" Kohaku says, smiling before placing the pole into the hole he dug up.

Hinata starts to turn a shade of pink, and it's at this point Naruto intervenes, "hey you two; I see the fence is almost done."

The two get startled by his presence, and this makes Hinata turn a shade darker, "N-Naruto-kun, your awake."

"Yeah, sorry for being bad company; I don't know I guess after your attack it caused me to get a little tired" Naruto says, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"N-no, it w-was my fault for h-hitting you" Hinata stutters out.

"You hit Naruto-kun? What did he do?" Kohaku asks, looking a bit surprised.

"I just surprised her while she was meditating, and she reacted before realizing it was just me. Its fine now, no longer sore" Naruto answers, rolling the shoulder that had been hit.

"I figure since I had taken a nap, you can go in and rest Hinata while I watch over Kohaku-san until he's finished" Naruto says to Hinata.

"You don't have to do that Naruto-kun" Hinata says, still a little pink.

"Its fine, besides Sango liked how you helped her out this morning; you never know, she might ask again" Naruto says back.

"That's why it tasted somewhat different this morning. Nee-san's cooking is good, but it tasted more flavour than usual. It was a nice change from the usual expectation of a meal" Kohaku says, smiling at Hinata.

Naruto was getting annoyed, but Hinata just nods to Kohaku, and begins to make her way towards the house.

For a few minutes neither of them talks, until Naruto's curiosity gets the better of him, "What did you two talk about while she was guarding you?"

"Oh, well first she asked why I was staring a lot at her; I didn't even know I was doing it so much you know? I apologized if it had made her uncomfortable, and she said it didn't really, but she was just curious" Kohaku explains.

"So what did you say to her?" Naruto asks.

Kohaku just places the final wood to finish the fence, and then wipes his forehead with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket, "well, I said it was because I've never seen some like her before. She looks different, you know? But, I didn't really tell her my real reasons."

"Well, what's your real reason?" Naruto asks, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Kohaku looks at the house for a moment, then looks at Naruto, "Naruto-kun, can you keep a secret, at least not tell her if I was to tell you? I want to build up the courage to tell her myself."

Naruto doesn't say anything, but nods and leans a bit closer.

"It's because she's really pretty. Her eyes are different, but they are really pretty and gentle. Then there's the fact that she's really kind and considerate; it's hard to find people like that. Does she have a boyfriend at all?" Kohaku asks, looking a little red and staring at the house.

That surprised Naruto; he hadn't expected that to be his reason for staring at her so much, but that didn't really make him any more likable than before to Naruto; it actually made him dislike Kohaku even more.

"No, she doesn't" Naruto says, gritting his teeth from saying more; it wasn't like Hinata needed protection from Kohaku.

Kohaku thinks for a moment, and then continues talking with Naruto, "How long have you known her for Naruto-kun?"

That throws Naruto off, starts thinking before answering, "Well, I first met her when we were four, then again when we were six. We were in the academy together, but we never talked with each other; I just know she never made fun of me or laughed at me and put me down. She was kind even from then. My first impression of her though was a dark, timid girl, and a bit weird. But, I actually like people like that."

"So when did you guys really start to talk with each other?" Kohaku asks.

Naruto didn't know why he was talking about Hinata, but it was as if something was slowly unwrapping in his mind while he answered Kohaku's questions, "I would have to say during our first time at the chunin exams. Even though we weren't on the same team, and we never really talked with each other, she still wanted to help me. After the pre-eliminations, even though I had defeated her teammate, she still gave me a healing salve for my injuries. She always tries to improve herself, never gives up, and she seems to never give up on me, even when I sometimes crumble on stress."

"Stress?" Kohaku asks.

"Well, I was going to be facing her cousin, who is a genius and really strong, and everyone was talking about watching him in the fight. It was getting to me, so I went to where I first became a genin, and there she was. I asked her about him, and she fully believed that I could beat him, even after I had explained my insecurities. She brought me out of my depressed thoughts, and I remembered that I had sworn to defeat her cousin for her, because no family should do that to their family. He had badly injured her during their pre-elimination, and it took her awhile to recover" Naruto explains.

"She really sounds like a really good and kind person then" Kohaku says, but looking a little sadder from the explanation.

"She really is, the kindest in my age group, and she's always there for you" that explanation brings him to the realization of the truth; Hinata was always there for him, watching him. She was the only one who believed in him when he went to face Neji, and has been trying to help him whenever he asked.

"Kohaku-kun, Naruto-kun; dinners ready" Hinata's voice startles him out of his thoughts.

"Were coming Hinata-chan" Kohaku says, heading in to wash up.

Hinata watches him go before turning her attention back to Naruto, and blushes when she sees him looking at her.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asks, turning a little red from his look.

Naruto just shakes his head, and smiles, "Yeah sorry about that, was just thinking about something. Let's go, I'm starving."

The two walk together in silence, but while Hinata is looking forward, Naruto has his head slightly turned to look at her, and wonders why he didn't realise his discovery earlier.

And there it is. Can you guess what the discovery is

Anyways, next week there will be some fighting, not sure what it will be yet but there will be some.

Cheers