Two Years Later

Danzo Shimura sat in his house reading over secret scrolls taken from the restricted section of the library on the Sharingan. His Root members were still tailing Shisui Uchiha, but soon they would have the information he needed. He knew the boy was very skilled and had great talent—though not as much as his younger cousin Itachi—and he would come in handy for any plans he could make.

He'd hoped Hiashi would see his way, but it seems the Hyuuga and Uchiha Clans were becoming friendly with one another and that worried him. Realistically, he knew he had until Hinata Hyuuga was of marrying age at sixteen, but he was concerned the Uchiha would use their genjutsu abilities to influence any decisions Hiashi makes politically, gaining the Uchiha the upper hand they so desperately wanted. He was running out of time to push the Uchiha out of the village as Minato Namikaze was to be Hokage in just a couple of months' time.

Suddenly, Root members appeared in his living room, internally startling him out of his thoughts. "Danzo-sama, we have information on Shisui's sharingan," the leader said.

"What are his abilities?" Danzo asked, nearly on the edge of his seat.

"It appears to be something capable of casting an incredibly strong genjutsu on many people without alerting his targets," the man explained.

Danzo leaned back in his chair and smirked to himself. A genjutsu that powerful could come in handy. He crossed his arms as he thought more, slowly forming a plan in his mind to rid Konoha of the Uchiha forever.

"I see. Continue tailing him. Dismissed." Instantly, the three men were gone and Danzo was left to work through all the possibilities of this plan, whether it succeeded or failed, he had a backup plan.

He looked down at his bandaged arm and his smirk widened. Ever since Orochimaru had given him this arm already laced with two sharingan the experimenter managed to get his hands on, he felt the power coursing through his veins. His deal to turn a blind eye to Orochimaru's work on Konoha villagers in exchange for body modifications helped him in becoming powerful, but he knew that once Minato took the seat it would be difficult for him to leave the village to see the defector. Despite Orochimaru having created his own village of Otogakure, the man very much knew the ins and out of Konoha. Danzo knew it was too risky to have Orochimaru defect, but his experimental work was crucial to him gaining the abilities necessary to further his plans. Once his goal was reached, he would take care of the missing-nin himself.

For now, soon, he was going to have a talk with Shisui Uchiha. If Shisui said no to joining him, then all he needed was his eyes.


"Hinata, Naruto!" Sasuke called out as he ran to his friends waiting at the gate. "Sorry, I had to lose Sakura and Ino."

"Are you okay?" Hinata asked, worriedly when Sasuke leaned over slightly panting.

"They're getting really fast."

Naruto started laughing in his face, causing Sasuke to punch him on the shoulder. "Ow! What, it's funny!"

"Let's see how you handle it when you become Hokage," Sasuke shot back.

Ever since Naruto found out his dad was in line to be the next Hokage, Naruto expressed his desire to follow in his father's footsteps and continue his legacy; as a result, both Sasuke and Hinata were pushing each other harder and harder. Hinata wanted to be strong enough to help advise Naruto as well as help Itachi lead the Hyuuga and Uchiha. Sasuke wanted to personally stay beside Naruto and protect him or the village should Naruto be unable to do so along with advising Hinata and Itachi on different clan matters. They each had a goal they wanted to achieve and they were determined to help one another get there.

"I'm gonna bask in the attention," Naruto said proudly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I know your parents give you enough attention. What gives?" He thought it was bad enough that Naruto's standard clothing was blue and orange with a white collar with the Uzumaki symbol on the back. It just hurt the eyes of anyone who looked directly at it, especially if it was bright out. Sasuke himself ditched the long black-sleeved shirt he always wore and opted for wearing a blue high-collared, short-sleeved shirt with white arm warmers, but he still wore white shorts along with bands that started just above his ankles and stopped just below his knees for protection.

"Sasuke, don't be mean," Hinata said. "Naruto, stop teasing Sasuke." The boys sighed and turned away from one another petulantly. Despite Hinata having grown much more confident since the start of their friendship, her style was still as modest as could be. She opted to wear a cream-colored, baggy sweater that had her clan symbol on both shoulders and was always zipped up and navy-blue Capri pants

"Aww, you two are so submissive toward Hina-hime, aren't you?"

The group turned around and came face to face with Shisui who had a smug grin on his face. Naruto and Sasuke's faces were bright red and they mumbled under their breaths but didn't argue because they knew he was right. They generally listened to Hinata as she was the level-headed member of their team.

"Shi-kun!" Hinata beamed.

Shisui ruffled her shoulder-length hair, causing her to giggle. "There's my favorite person in the world," he told her. It was now Hinata's turn to blush.

"Hey!" Naruto said, pushing Shisui away from Hinata. "You're too close to her." Sasuke stood between them, essentially shielding her from his affectionate cousin.

"But my Hina-hime doesn't mind, right?" He asked Hinata.

"Naruto, it's fine," Hinata assured him. She wasn't exactly sure why both Naruto and Sasuke were wary of Shisui, just that they were and she often had to reassure them that she was comfortable with the older Uchiha. "Shi-kun is our good friend."

"He gets too grabby," Sasuke said.

Shisui put a hand on his chest, feigning hurt. "Sasuke, how dare you insinuate that I would ever bring harm to Hinata. She's much too precious… and would probably hurt me," he said. "Don't you have faith in her strength?"

Hinata narrowed her eyes at her two friends. "Wait, is that why you two are constantly hovering? You think I'm weak?"

Sasuke and Naruto spun around to face her. "No!" They yelled in unison.

Behind them, Shisui was barely biting back a smile as he watched the boys trying to make Hinata's hard gaze on them disappear. He enjoyed watching them flail around for the right words to say.

"Hinata, you're real strong!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, you even know medical ninjutsu and you always give us tips on our chakra control!" Sasuke added.

Hinata looked at them suspiciously before simmering down and sighing. "Okay," she said. Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously sighed in relief. When Hinata was angry, she was scary. It didn't happen often, but they tried to steer clear of her path when it didn't happen. Her anger was like a quiet version of Naruto's mom, who they quickly learned was nicknamed the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero' for her quick temper.

"And Shi-kun," Hinata said, turning her gaze to him. "Stop instigating."

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted. "Anyway, I'll be walking you three to training today. I just wanted to spend some time together."

Sasuke glared but accepted his older cousin's invitation. Despite his playful and troublemaking nature, Sasuke adored him. It took Naruto a little longer to accept him but now they got along just as well and enjoyed playing pranks on Minato and occasionally Sasuke—but they learned their lesson and agreed not to do it too much on the latter.

As they walked to the training grounds, Shisui entertained them with stories about his travels outside of the village. Nothing about his missions but everything outside of it. Hinata and the boys enjoyed those stories but especially loved it when he brought gifts. A lot of the time, he got Hinata something very extravagant that she could wear formally in her hair, but he loved gifting her bracelets and different herbs from different areas. He gave Sasuke and Naruto different kinds of weapons, such as the standard kunai and shuriken, and even hand blades specially made in different villages.

"Do you have a mission again soon?" Hinata asked him.

"I'll be leaving in two days for one, yes," he replied. "Will you miss me, Hina-hime?" He winked.

Hinata smiled up widely at him. "Yes!" She replied easily.

"Enough to make me a lunch as you do for Itachi?"

"Unfortunately, that is reserved specifically for him," she said, mindful of how she addressed Itachi in front of Naruto as he didn't officially know of the engagement. "But you're more than welcome to join me, Sasuke, and Naruto for tea at my home when you return. Itachi-san as well if he's not on a mission."

"I'll hold you to that," Shisui said. "So what are Minato-san and Kushina-san teaching you now?" He asked.

"We're working on cliff-climbing and escaping from rope all with one hand, but it's not all that difficult," Sasuke replied. "Running laps on water is still part of our training as well to heighten our chakra reserves. And Hinata has been able to heal any cuts or bruises we have lately so she's graduated from animals and fish. Kushina-sensei's also started showing us fuinjutsu, so it's been really interesting."

"Oh, really? How is that going?" He asked.

Hinata hummed. "It's been difficult. Only Naruto has been able to pick it up, although he'd be a bit better at it if not for his penmanship, he's still better than us! Sasuke and I aren't too far behind though. Minato-sensei has been great in giving us tips on it, too, since he also learned from Kushina-sensei," she explained.

"You've all been doing well. I'm proud of you three."

"Thank you," Hinata replied. Naruto and Sasuke gave him a proud grin and smirk respectively. "Will you be staying to watch us train?"

"If you'd like me to," Shisui said, patting her head.

"They call you 'Shisui of the Body Flicker', right?" Sasuke asked.

Shisui smiled sheepishly. "Ah, yes, they call me that."

"Can you teach us?!" Naruto chimed in excitedly. "It would be so cool to learn!"

Shisui thought for a moment as they approached the gate to the training grounds and saw that their teachers weren't there yet. "Okay, I'll explain it until Minato-san and Kushina-san get there."

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

In front of the gate, Shisui turned to face them. "The hand sign for the Body Flicker technique is the tiger seal. You three know this sign already, right?" They nodded and he smiled. "Good. So the trick is to know where you're going to flicker to. For example, let's say I want to move to that large rock we just passed. What I'll need to do is judge the distance correctly, and then…" Suddenly, Shisui was gone and standing atop the rock in the near distance. "Use your chakra to strengthen your body and use that to travel at fast speeds."

"So you're not really teleporting. You're just moving at very fast speeds?" Sasuke asked.

Shisui nodded. "Yes. It only looks like you're teleporting. Go ahead, you all give it a try." He jumped off of the rock. "Aim for right next to me."

Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke used the tiger seal and centered their chakra before dashing for Shisui.

"Gah!" Naruto cried out as he tripped and fell halfway there.

Sasuke ended up too far.

Hinata wasn't quite there yet, but she was close.

"That wasn't too bad for your first try!" Shisui said proudly. "A few more tries and you'll be golden. Naruto, are you naturally that clumsy?" He teased.

Naruto let out a petulant 'hmph'. "No! I just accidentally got caught on my foot. Like that's never happened to you!"

"...It hasn't," Shisui replied, winking.

"You're insufferable," Naruto mumbled. "I bet you're not as fast as my dad!"

Shisui shook his head. "Your father is on a whole 'nother level, and uses an entirely different means of traveling," he said. "He's much faster!"

"I'm flattered you think so highly of me, Shisui," Minato said from out of nowhere, Kushina by his side with an amused smile on her face. "You were teaching them the Body Flicker?"

Shisui bowed to them. "Yes, I hope you don't mind. They asked to learn."

Minato waved his hands dismissively. "No, no, not at all! They're a curious bunch, so it's only natural. They didn't do too bad for their first try, and we'll add that to their current training," he replied. "Are you staying with us today?"

"If that is okay," Shisui answered.

"Of course!" Kushina said. "The more, the merrier. C'mon, kids, let's go inside so you can show Shisui what you learned!" She ushered everyone inside and closed the gate behind them.

"Okay, Team Minato, take your—"

"They're named… Team Minato?" Shisui interrupted.

"Yes, why?"

Shisui glanced at Kushina. "Well, Kushina-san is training them as well, right?"

Kushina tilted her head in thought, just as Hinata had done earlier. "That's right… So why is their team named after you only?" She huffed, her hands on her hips. Minato began sweating, fearing that his wife's quick temper would come to the surface.

"W-well, you and I both decided it, remember?" Minato said.

"Did you really?" Shisui asked. "Or did you just say it and let Kushina-san go along with it?"

Kushina began to make her way closer to her husband. "You know, I think I remember you just calling them that in the middle of training and I didn't even think twice about it!"

"We can change the name, honey! It was just a temporary thing until they were assigned a teacher," Minato was now laughing nervously and their students seemed to fear for their sensei. Kushina could knock him into next week and turn to them with the sweetest smile as if she'd never been angry. It was terrifying. Sasuke and Hinata felt for Naruto sometimes.

Shisui chimed in again. "So I was thinking, what if you combined your names?"

Kushina stopped in her tracks, much to Minato's relief, and thought for a moment. "Hm, maybe something like Kushinato?" She thought aloud.

"Oh, that sounds good!" Shisui nodded along. "But I hear it's done with the first part of the names. So…KushiMina?" He offered.

Kushina's nose wrinkled. "It sounds weird. What about…MinaKushi?"

"I like that one!" Naruto called out. "What about you guys?" He asked his friends.

"I-I think it's really pretty," Hinata said nervously.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, and it sounds cool, too." His eyes were a little shifty, clueing into the fact that he was scared as well.

"Then it looks like it'll be Team MinaKushi!" Minato announced. "So Team MinaKushi, show Shisui your transformation jutsus."

Naruto's hand shot up. "Oh, wait! I've actually been working on a type of transformation! I've been waiting to show you guys." Naruto got into position as the others watched. "Transform!" A huge cloud of smoke appeared and when it settled, everyone's mouths collectively dropped.

There stood a taller Naruto with pigtails and a shapely female body, whose privates were only covered by the smallest bikini. "What do you think?" His voice was high-pitched and sultry.

Hinata let out a small 'eep' as she slapped her hands over her eyes to cover them and turned away with a bright red face. Sasuke's face was just as red but he stayed glaring at his idiot friend. Shisui broke out into a fit of laughter a few moments later with tears in his eyes. Minato slowly looked over at his wife and felt terrified for his son when he realized he was looking at the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero.

"Naruto Uzumaki! What are you doing?!" Kushina was instantly in front of her son and holding the transformation by a pigtail and shaking him. "That is the most inappropriate jutsu I've ever seen! Just look at Hinata, I'm surprised she's still conscious with how red her face is! Shisui, quit laughing!"

Shisui struggled to calm himself but eventually, he managed to stifle his laughter to just snickers and breaths of laughter. Hinata was still hiding her face while Sasuke made sure to stand in a way that blocked her sight of Naruto just in case.

"M-Mom, ow! Stop it!" Naruto whined, struggling against her. He released the jutsu as soon as his mother smacked him on the back of the head.

"You're way too young to be learning such jutsus! Has Jiraiya been around lately, Minato?! Where did he learn it?!" Kushina said, glaring daggers at her husband. "If I find out you had something to do with him, you better run far from this village!"

Minato stood at attention. "He's been out of the village for years, Kushina. You'd be the first to know he was here, and I don't even know that jutsu," Minato said, trying to calm her down.

"I-I just came up with it when I saw how dumb guys acted around pretty girls, so I thought it would be a funny prank," Naruto explained, holding his head.

"You…came up with it?" Kushina asked, her anger deflating a little bit. "I…That's—It's still not appropriate, but I'm impressed. And if I ever catch you using it again, no one here will see you for a very long time, you hear me?!"

Naruto nodded almost violently. "Y-yes, mom, er, ma'am. Yes, ma'am!" He said, bowing deeply.

She moved back to Minato's side. "Okay, then. Continue showing Shisui what you've learned."

"Hinata, it's okay to look now," Sasuke said, gently pulling her hands from her face. Shisui watched their interaction closely and felt pity for the younger Uchiha. Hinata slowly lifted her head up to look at Sasuke before leaning over to see for herself that Naruto was now Naruto again.

"Th-thank you," Hinata said, smiling at her friend.

"Now, correctly, the transformation jutsu," Kushina said, narrowing her eyes at her son. Naruto gulped and told himself he was never going to use that jutsu in front of his mother ever again. He knew how easy he got off with Sasuke and Hinata here, and he wasn't going to push it just because of that.

After walking Hinata to her house and Sasuke to his, Shisui made a stop by the lake he and Itachi normally trained at. He was surprised to see Itachi there.

"Itachi? You finished your mission already?" Shisui asked as he got closer.

"Yes, it was successful. I went by your house but you weren't there."

"I was watching the kids train."

"How did it go?" Itachi inquired.

"They've gotten really good! Oh, man, you missed it. Naruto came up with this type of transformation jutsu where he transforms into a half-naked, sexy woman," Shisui explained, barely getting through the sentence without laughing.

Itachi's eyes widened. "Please tell me Kushina-san was absent today." Shisui shook his head, breaking out into laughter once again. "Naruto must truly have a death wish."

"I think she would've killed him had there been no witnesses," he laughed. "Hina-hime's face got so completely red that I thought she was going to faint! Even Sasuke's face was just as red. I wish you'd have been there to see it."

Itachi chuckled. "Now I'm sorry I missed it."

Shisui sighed happily. "It was amazing. Anyway, before training, they asked me to teach them the Body Flicker, so I showed them how to do it. Hopefully, they'll continue practicing it on their own."

"They'll continue practicing until they completely get it down. They're a stubborn bunch, but it's a good quality to have these days," Itachi assured him. "You'll be impressed the next time you see them."

"I don't have a single doubt. Speaking of, Sasuke. How he is with Hina-hime…" Shisui trailed off.

"I know." Itachi sighed. "But there's nothing that can be done about it."

"What will you do when he admits it to himself?"

Itachi sighed again and rubbed his neck, really feeling pressure there. "If Hinata-san grows to feel the same way, then I do not mind them having a relationship despite our marriage. She can be my wife legally and the mother of my children, but I will not stop her from seeking romantic love elsewhere," he stated. "It's the least I could do for not being able to love her as a husband."

Shisui shook his head. "You're an idiot, my dear cousin," he scoffed.

Itachi raised a brow. "How so?"

"You should know better than anyone that Hina-chan is very loyal. So long as you two are to be married, she will never allow her heart to wander to another," Shisui explained. "And don't even get me started on how Sasuke will react if you tell him that. This is gonna be messy, isn't it?"

"It appears so."

"...Well, at least we won't be bored."

Itachi glanced at him as he shook his head with a smile. "Getting your entertainment from other people's troubles? You're so twisted."

Shisui laughed. "And yet you enjoy being with me, so who's more twisted?"

Itachi grinned and they talked leisurely until the sun began to set.

When it was dark, Shisui became quiet. "Itachi…" he said after a moment.

"What is it?"

"Danzo will come to me soon," he replied. "He has been gathering information on me for a while now."

"That can't be possible," Itachi said, perplexed. "There's no way anyone can-… Unless you let them." He refrained from pinching the bridge of his nose. "Shisui, what are you doing?"

"I need him to come to me, so I can figure out exactly what he is planning. I won't underestimate him, but I will be able to defeat him and his foundation should I have to," Shisui replied confidently.

"You should not be meeting with him alone. Let me be there with you."

Shisui shook his head. "No. He will never show up when it is both of us. He knows he will lose should a fight break out, and that is exactly what's going to happen. The information I managed to gather on this man…none of it is good."

"What have you found?" Itachi asked.

"That's the thing. There's not much available on him. That means there's something for him to hide."

Itachi let out a long sigh through his nose and closed his eyes in thought. "Okay. Okay, I understand. I trust in your strength and fighting abilities."

Shisui pushed his shoulder against his. "My heart flutters when you speak of me so."

Itachi shoved him but couldn't stop the smile on his face. "Be serious," he chuckled.

Despite the smiles on their faces, they knew that danger was lurking around every corner now. If there was anything Shisui had discovered about Danzo, it was that that man was the truly twisted one who needed to be brought down for the sake of the Uchiha family and, more importantly, the village.


A masked man stood before a sickly, pale man with deep-red hair and bowed deeply. The pale man asked him to raise his head before him.

"Nagato-sama, we must keep up appearances," the man in the orange mask stated as he straightened his back. His mask had a swirled design on it that led to the single eye opening it had. If one looked hard enough, a sharingan could be seen throughout any battle.

"You should not bow to me…" the man said, his voice filled with exhaustion. "Madara-sama."

Behind the mask, the man smirked. "I'd like to make a request."

Nagato gestured for him to continue.

"I'd like to infiltrate Konoha and bring back Shisui of the Body Flicker. His skills are going to be necessary when the hunt for the jinchuuriki begins," Madara explained. "I believe he can be persuaded to join our cause."

The other man thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, if you say he is necessary then you are right. For peace, we must do whatever we can. Bring back this Shisui."

"Yes, Nagato-sama. I will leave right away." In an instant, the man in the mask vanished and Nagato was left in the room with his most trusted friend, Konan.

"Nagato," she said. "I do not…trust this Madara," she admitted.

"He is vital to the plan," he replied easily.

"I do not believe he is who he claims to be. Please, be careful," Konan pleaded quietly.

"Yes."

But they were both aware that Nagato was willing to do whatever it took to bring about peace to the Shinobi world or he was going to die trying.


"Hinata, on your feet!" Hiashi called out. Hinata jumped to her feet and rushed her father once again, Neji quickly following behind her. Before reaching, she jumped up and landed behind Neji, distracting Hiashi long enough for Neji to land a hit on his forearm. Hinata came up immediately after and used the substitution jutsu when Hiashi struck a palm out toward her to get him from the rear, but Hiashi moved quickly and when he thrust his palm out, Hinata put up the tiger seal and body flickered back to her original position and landed a kick on his shoulder.

Hinata and Neji jumped back, putting some distance between them and their trainer. They were both panting heavily after a couple of hours of constantly attacking Hiashi together. Their teamwork was getting better, but Hinata still felt herself flow more easily with Sasuke and Naruto. They had different fighting styles, whereas Neji's was always going to be similar as they practiced their family style.

"You learned the Body Flicker?" Hiashi asked, rotating his shoulder and rubbing his forearm. Their hits had more and more strength behind them with each passing session.

"Shisui-san taught us how to do it today before Minato-sensei and Kushina-sensei arrived for training," Hinata explained.

He hummed approvingly. "He is the best person to learn it from. You have become allies with many strong people, my daughter. You've done well," he praised.

"Thank you, Father," she replied, bowing. "I will continue to train harder and bring honor to the Hyuuga name."

Hiashi's eyes softened just a bit as he looked at his young daughter. She had really grown out of that shell of her from when she was a child and he knew it was thanks to her friendship with the Uchiha brothers and her training with Minato and Kushina. He felt pride.

"I think that's enough training for today," Hiashi said. "You've both grown stronger and I must rest my bones now. There, of course, is still room for improvement, but you both are steadily meeting our expectations."

Neji and Hinata bowed and thanked him.

"Father, please let me check your injuries," Hinata said. He sat down and let her examine his arm and shoulder for a brief moment before healing him. "No bruises should appear now."

"You've become more proficient with medical ninjutsu," Hiashi said.

"Kushina-sensei is a wonderful teacher. Did you know she learned from the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade Senju-sama, herself?" Hinata's eyes were filled with excitement. "I would love to learn from her one day, but sensei said she doesn't practice medicine anymore."

Hiashi patted his daughter's shoulder. "Maybe one day it will happen." Hinata smiled widely at him before bowing again and leaving with Neji as they made conversation with one another. Seeing them so close made Hiashi want to seek out his own brother. They have spent more time together lately, but Hiashi was aware that Hizashi still held ill feelings towards his circumstances and he didn't want to push. Maybe though, tonight, he would invite him and Neji to have dinner with them.

"Hinata-sama," Neji said. "Would you like to have some tea with me?"

Hinata smiled at him. "I thought that's where we were going," she giggled. "I'll always have tea with you afterward."

Neji blushed and smiled to himself. "You're so kind."

"You are my family."

When they arrived at the tearoom, Sasuke was already there sipping on tea. He looked up when the door opened, smiling with he saw Hinata before pursing his lips at Neji who eagerly returned the sentiment.

"Sasuke, have you been waiting long?" Hinata asked as she entered the room and pulled out her book of gardening.

"No, I've only been here for a few minutes. How did training go?"

Neji poured himself some tea and waited for Hinata to sit before taking his place next to her and across from Sasuke. Neji poured Hinata's tea as well.

"Thank you," she told him. He smiled. Sasuke refrained from rolling his eyes. "Training went very well. Our teamwork has gotten better, hasn't it?" She asked her cousin.

"Yes, Hinata-sama. And you've gotten so strong and strategic! Using the body flicker technique was most impressive," he praised.

"You used it already?" Sasuke asked incredulously and mildly impressed.

"My body just reacted and I was doing it before I even realized," she explained, a blush on her cheek from the attention. "Were you able to train with Itachi-san or your father today?"

"With Itachi. It was a lot of fun. We did the target training thing he does."

"Did you end up surprising him?"

Sasuke's smirk told her what she wanted to know. Over the last couple of years, they still trained regularly without their sight, but in secret, until Sasuke was proficient at it. He was much better than the first few months of doing it. She tried teaching it to Naruto, but he could be impatient and he had trouble with being in complete silence so he was slowly progressing.

"I wish I could've seen it," Hinata giggled. "He must've been so shocked!"

"He was. He wanted to know where I learned it and even wanted to continue training like that."

"I'm glad he's returned safely from his mission. I did not have a lunch prepared for him today though."

"He wanted me to tell you that he'll be dropping by tomorrow for some tea," Sasuke said.

"It'll be wonderful to see him," Hinata replied.

Even though Sasuke and Neji were better with one another, they seemed to have a natural rivalry. Hinata didn't necessarily understand it but she did understand that it made them better in their training. She couldn't really find it in herself to stop it and even felt envious of it at times. Neji was a great rival, and he still was, but she longed for a nice banter with someone the way Sasuke and Naruto had. Although she knew that even if she did find someone, it wasn't in her nature to be so competitive.

"Is gardening really so fun that enjoy reading books about them so much?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, I think it's very interesting," Hinata replied. "Being able to identify plants and their uses is something everyone should be able to do. It could easily save your life or the life of your teammates."

Sasuke tilted his head. "Never really thought of it that way," he admitted. "It's good we're on the same team then so I don't have to learn it."

Hinata exhaled a laugh.

"Sasuke-san, don't push all the work onto Hinata-sama's shoulders," Neji said, glaring at the Uchiha in front of him.

"If she likes learning it and doing it, then I don't see the big deal," Sasuke shot back.

"But you can save her some trouble if you at least attempt to learn it."

Sasuke glared. "Hinata is capable of handling herself. You don't need to hover all the time!"

"I do not hover!"

"You do so! Every time you're not training or at school, here you are attached to her like super glue," Sasuke humphed and turned away with a smug smirk.

"We're family, of course we're going to be near each other, so what is your excuse?!" Neji retorted. Sasuke's smirk dropped and he narrowed his eyes at Neji. "You're here all the time and you're the one who is 'attached to her like super glue' throughout the academy. You even train together, and you walk her home and then spend time here after your own training is complete."

Hinata watched the scene unfold in shock before shaking herself out of it. Just as Sasuke was about to answer, she spoke, "That's enough, you two." Immediately, they glared at each other before both looking away in opposite directions. "Sasuke, Neji is my cousin and it is his duty to be by my side whenever possible. Neji, Sasuke is one of my best friends and we enjoy spending time together as we will be part of the same family one day. If you both cannot accept one another then I ask that you both refrain from speaking to each other at all."

When they both remained silent, Hinata sighed. "Understand?" She said, already getting frustrated with their behavior.

Neji was the first to look at her before bowing his head deeply. "Yes, Hinata-sama. I understand."

Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, I got it."

Hinata nodded. "Good. Now, apologize."

"What?!"

"I will do no such thing."

Hinata's gaze hardened and they two instantly deflated and begrudgingly turned to one another and mumbled out apologies. When she saw that was the best she was going to get, Hinata accepted it and smiled warmly at the two.

She picked her book back up and went back to reading while Sasuke and Neji made faces at one another.

It was an understanding and Hinata was willing to put up with it in the hopes that it got better as time passed.


EDIT: I didn't realize I had forgotten to add how long this time skip was until I got a comment asking about it yesterday! Sorry about that :) So, right now, they're all currently 7. Thank you, everyone, for your comments and support! 3

Here is upload #2! I leave for vacation on Wednesday and will return the following Tuesday. Ch 12 will be posted that Friday night/Saturday morning. We hope these chapters keep you satisfied and that you'll comment your thoughts and theories for where this story is headed! Thank you for reading!

-hina

NEXT UPDATE: 04/22/23