"Hi there, long time no see eh?" Naruto asks the bright red Hyūga that had to be centimeters from her face.
"N-N-Naruto-kun?" The girl stuttered out trying to keep herself together. "How did you know I was here?"
Naruto leaned on the light pole and looked at the sky. "If you weren't a shinobi I would think that you would suck at stealth." He said scratching his nose, Naruto then turned to face her again. "But the how is neither here nor there the real question however is... Why are you following me, Hina?"
Hina? Did Naruto just call her that? When did he start calling her that? A nickname from him was the last thing that she thought would come out of his mouth, and with that, the whole situation was too much for the girl now identified as Hyūga Hinata. "Wh-Wha..." That was all she managed before fainting.
"Oh shit!" Naruto forced the words as he moved in front of her to catch her before she fell on her face. Dropping with her as gravity took them both, gently he was able to somehow alter the descent to lay her back first he held her up until he could sit on the roadside comfortably and lower her head on his lap. With that Naruto couldn't help but wonder about the familiarity of the situation. 'I guess you two are sisters after all. I just hope you are not as pushy as Hanabi was.' The thought came to mind while looking at the unconscious girl. Relaxing and looking up at the sky he was more than willing to wait for her to wake up. 'It's the least I can do as the Hina I knew took care of me at my lowest.' He silently continued his train of thought. "It would be bad if I am late to meet up with Kaa-chan though. Maybe she wouldn't mind if I brought you along."
After a few minutes, Naruto heard a voice coming from above him as he was reading a book shortly after a yarn left his mouth. "Naruto?"
His eyes met the girl who called out to him, one Yamanaka Ino. He was genuine in his surprise as the girl was sporting a haircut similar to what he had in his transformation, even wearing her headband in the same way. "Oh, you got a haircut." Naruto said in a mildly delighted tone.
"Who's fault do you think that is Naruto?" Ino said in a huff, all the while pouting. "At least if you are going to copy me, do it right." She spoke leaning to make direct eye contact with her hands down at her hips.
"I did not have a point of reference, so I improvised. As I thought, it's a great look on you. You should keep it, you look cute." Naruto said putting his book down to give her more of his attention. He noticed that her face went bright red at his words so he gave her an equally bright smile in return.
"I don't get you." She dropped down to take her spot next to Naruto opposite Hinata who was still resting on his lap trying to hide her embarrassment by looking anywhere but his face. "So should I ask about the flowers that you gave me? Did you know what... What the meaning behind them was?"
Naruto dawned a thoughtful expression looking up as if he would find the answer in the sky. When he looked at her he frowned at the longing in her eyes, he quickly replaced it with a grin shrugging at the grin. "What, the pink Hydrangeas? Well of course. I wouldn't have if I didn't, plus your dad wouldn't have allowed me to cover for you if I didn't. The man threw a test at me as soon as I entered the store."
Ino blushed finding her lap particularly interesting, after what she learned hours prior in combination with him seemingly not caring for Sakura in that way anymore she could not help but wonder what the boy was after with her. Then she was made completely aware of the elephant laying on his lap. "What happened to Hinata? Why is she on your lap?" She hoped the tinge of pain in her chest did not show itself in her voice.
With that said he pointed at the girl and spoke dismissively. "Why are you asking me? Ask her yourself." He felt Hinata stir trying to say as still as she could. "I am pretty sure she is awake." That said, Hinata's lifeless form sprung up. "Are you okay Hina?" Hinata, still not used to the nickname, looked at her former classmate red faced stammering out a quick positive confirmation to the boy, to her surprise he took it in all the awkwardness in stride. "That's good I thought you might have been sick or something, I am glad you are okay."
"I-i-it's nothing like... I was just feeling lightheaded." She said cupping her cheeks, her blush growing darker. The other two looked at her not believing a single word but found it more tactful to not call her out on the lie.
'Jeez, how obvious can you be?' Ino thought to herself.
"Well if that's the case, I am supposed to meet Lady Tsunade at Ichiraku. Do you want to join us? Maybe putting something in your stomach will help. And you don't have to worry about paying, I will." Hinata's eyes seem to light up at that proposition, but when Naruto looks at Ino's there was something in them that he did not want to confront at the moment. 'You better thank me later dumbass.' He thought about his other self. "Would you like to join in Ino? I have a lot of money on me since I had to come home early."
"Sure, whatever." A quick response came out of Ino's mouth.
"I would love to." Hinata replied not wanting to be left out.
"Right, then let's go." Naruto said getting up and offering both of his hands to help the girls up. The trio then headed in the direction of the ramen stall, while engaging in conversation. The topics included the boy's time outside of the village which he had to come up with. He found it easier to stick with the time in between switching with Naruto and "returning" to Konoha. He had quickly figured out that not much changed before his birth, well not what you would think. He is hoping to never spend an extended amount of time with the youngest of the Uchiha, and he is hoping above all that he never calls him a dope because once that line is crossed he will take no responsibility for Sasuke returning in a body bag.
The three of them made it to the ramen stand within the hour with Tsunade waiting, obvious to anyone that she had not ordered yet, choosing to wait on the boy. "Oh, Naruto you're here did every..." She stopped mid-sentence getting distracted by the sight of her off-world brat with a girl on each arm. "What's happening here?"
Naruto visibly processed the question asked before his thoughts were cut off by a squeal before Ayame the owner's daughter entered his vision. "Naruto!?" She said leaving her station before taking him into an embrace. "When did you come back? Dad and I really missed you being around. You have really sprouted up in such a short time. Have you been eating well? How did your training go? It's been two years. I bet you have a lot of stories, I want to hear all of them. Dad had to take today off, hey, can you come back here tomorrow? Dad will be here."
Naruto took her shoulder and held her at arm's length breaking the embrace to look her over as he could see her excitement radiating. "Calm down Aya-nee, I just got back today. I was going to see both you and Teuchi-san. I just had to see Lady Tsunade first." He said looking over Ayame's shoulder at Tsunade who was happily watching the scene play out. "Ah, Lady Tsunade, sorry for the wait."
"Did you do what you needed to do?"
Naruto looked at Hinata for a split second, Tsunade noticing, before answering. "In a way, I hope you don't mind that I invited these two to come and join us."
Tsunade gets a handle on the situation from the mortified Hinata and by blushing Ino's expressions she got the idea to put Naruto on the spot and test how the two girls would react. "Aya was it?"
Ayame turned to the Hokage as she called, taking her eyes off the two girls that she had just noticed were there. "Oh sorry ma'am." She said letting go of Naruto and returning to her post. "Did you need something?" Her getting back into full-service mode.
"No, that's quite alright, I just wanted to know. Naruto holds you highly and you have known him since he was a child, so I was wondering how you would react to our brat bringing two girls home after not seeing him for a while." Tsunade answered while holding in a grin under a mask of indifference.
Hinata was the first to react fully getting the meaning behind the line of questioning, at the same time Ino suddenly looked down not wanting to look anyone in the face, Naruto stayed stoned face, and Ayame after fully digesting only had one thought. 'Interesting.' examining the teens. "Well, I would like to see what their intentions with him were, hopefully, you are unaware of Naruto's childhood lady Godaime. Though he will not probably say as much that he did not have the best of childhoods, if those girls had anything to do with it or taking advantage of that fact I would kindly ask them to leave." Ayame retorted with a terrifying glint in her eye.
"I know the feeling." Tsunade added.
"But knowing Naruto that is not the case. So guessing that the person you were waiting for is Naruto, would you like to put in your order ma'am." The cold temperature that had taken over returned to what it was.
"Let's see." Tsunade began looking at the menu posted over the kitchen area. "Miso pork Katsu ramen." Answered taking out a purse from her kimono.
"Right away ma'am." She said, writing the order down. "And I guess you want your usual Naruto?" She continued watching the teens take their seats at the counter on either side of the Hokage.
"Actually, nee-chan, can I get a Tonkotsu bowl? I will get my usual when I come by tomorrow." Naruto asked, smiling up at her.
Ayame was taken aback at first but took down the order anyway. "That's alright, what about you two?" She asked the girls.
"A diet ramen bowl for me." That earned Ino a raised eyebrow from Naruto.
"I-I will have that the same as Naruto..." Hinata answered
Ayame looked at the girls' orders with scrutiny, she was interested in them but did not say anything about them. "I hope you don't mind that this might take some time, it's just me today so it might take longer than it usually would."
"Not to worry, I had taken the rest of the day off to talk with Naruto. So you can take your time." Tsunade answered, watching relief wash over Ayame.
"I can help nee-chan, I have eaten and watched you cook for so long that I am pretty sure that I could lend a hand." Naruto said that with confidence Ayame not knowing that this Naruto would help her counterpart whenever he was free to do so and her father was away or off during the lunch rush.
"You don't have to worry about that Naruto. It's fine." She said as she began the prep for the meals.
"No really Aya-nee, it's no trouble. We can even catch up while we work." Naruto insisted, getting up from his stool.
Ayame feeling her fight leave her relented and nodded to him, smiling at the wide grin that found his face. "Fine, but you have to keep up with me because I am not going to slow down if you need help." She said passing him one of her dad's aprons.
"Please Aya-nee, I am a shinobi of Konoha." He retorted while putting on the apron like it was second nature before washing his hands at the sink near the stovetop. "I can handle anything."
Patting his back, moving him aside so she can wash her own hands she giggled before replying, nudging him with her shoulder all the while. "I will hold you to that."