CHAPTER THREE
Centre stage-Part 3
Six days later….
"You guys impressed me out there y'know"
Back in Konoha, team four was being treated to lunch by their sensei and his unofficial assistant at Ichiraku Ramen. It had been four days since they got knocked out of the Chunin exams by team 7 from Kumo, who had gone on to win the entire tournament.
"I guess losing to the eventual winners does make it sound a bit more dignifying" Moegi muttered while picking at her serving of Ramen.
"You mean comforting?" Konohamaru responded. "We were on track to win, I still don't get how it all fell apart so quickly"
"Oh I have a theory….", Hanabi responded, barely hiding the anger in her voice. Hinata decided to step in before things escalated between the two yet again.
"Come on guys, you've been going at it for days now".
"But it's literally his fault we lost!" Hanabi complained, leaning further on the counter to get a better look at Konohamaru, who immediately responded to her accusation.
"My fault? You should've moved away when I asked you to!"
"And you shouldn't have tried to burn your own teammate like a total idiot!"
"I was trying to help you Hanabi!"
"I never asked for your help Sarutobi!"
"Oh please, that girl was tearing you a new one out there! I had to do something !"
"She was NOT tearing me a new anything, certainly not a new ass-"
"Okay, okay, knock it off!" Naruto interrupted their heated exchange, his mouth still full of Ramen. "We came here to celebrate, not argue".
"Celebrate what? We failed when it mattered most. We let you down Naruto-sensei"
Surprisingly, the last comment came from Moegi. She twirled her chopsticks in her food even more dejectedly.
"Hey, a lot of us failed the exams on the first try. I mean, I didn't get promoted to Chunin till I was almost eighteen" Naruto admitted, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Huh? Is that true lady Hinata?" asked Moegi
"Mhmm!" Hinata replied, with a small smile on her face. "I also…. didn't get promoted on my first try" a small blush spread across her cheeks with her confession.
"Eh?" Konohamaru couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I get big bro failing but you too lady Hinata?"
"No wonder we lost! Our teachers are both failures!" Moegi said with an even more dejected look on her face.
"Haha…. That's kind of hurtful y'know" Naruto laughed nervously.
"Failures?! Do you know who you're talking to Moegi?" Hanabi sat up, determined to defend her sister and her (future) brother in law's honour. "Brother Naruto and Hinata are heroes throughout the Shinobi world"
"Indeed they are, but I don't think everyone in this building needs to be reminded of that, lady Hanabi" Ayame, the co-owner of the business chimed in as she walked up to the counter with another serving for Naruto. "Your group is making quite the ruckus Naruto".
"Sorry Ayame, we're still a bit tensed up from the exams but I promise we'll try to keep it down " Hinata apologized on behalf of the group.
"Yeah, keep it down Hanabi" Konohamaru said with a smirk on his face.
"You keep it down ugly!"
"UGLY?!" Konohamaru got up from his seat but was quickly reprimanded by Naruto. "Hey, sit back down Konohamaru, that's enough from you".
"Big bro, she started it"
"And I'm ending it" Naruto decided that comment sounded better in his head the moment he said it. "I don't care who started it, one more word and you're….. paying for every one's lunch!"
"No way!"
"Oh, believe it!"
"Why are you taking her side bro?"
"Well…Hanabi is a respectable young lady, you shouldn't start fights with a girl"
Konohamaru looked across at Hanabi as she cheekily flicked her hair over her shoulder at the mention of her being a lady to be respected, earning a face palm from Hinata. Konohamaru folded his hands and grumbled.
"Hanabi, that goes for you too. A happy meal without your constant fighting would be nice y'know" Hinata said as she finished her meal. "Let's try to have a good time and celebrate what we achieved"
"Oh come on, have my back for once big sis!"
Konohamaru grumbled loud enough for Naruto to hear "You've been acting really uncool ever since you got a girlfriend Naruto-sensei"
"Me? Uncool?" Naruto didn't really do well to hide his surprise at his protégé's words.
"Yeah, in fact I think Naruto-sensei's uncoolness is starting to rub off on you too big sis" surprisingly, Hanabi decided to support Konohamaru.
"Yeah, sometimes you act like our parents or something" Moegi said, glancing at Konohamaru who was doing his best to hold back laughter at Naruto's reaction. "Maybe this sensei thing is getting to your heads and you're becoming boring old geezers prematurely"
"Parents?" came Hinata's response. "We're just looking out for you"
"And we appreciate it big sis….or I guess 'Mum' would be more appropriate for you these days" Hanabi said, stressing on the word 'Mum' and enjoying watching her sister and her partner scramble for a suitable response as their faces turned red.
"I think I should start calling you Dad too Naruto …..or maybe old man" Konohamaru said in-between chuckles.
"Hey! We are not uncool!" Naruto affirmed, while Hinata nodded in support. "We're the coolest senseis around!"
"You know what? We're going to the café" Hinata declared while getting up from her seat.
"The one near auntie Ino's shop?" Hanabi inquired, with a hopeful expression on her face
"Yes, we're getting cinnamon rolls"
"Alright!" all three genin cheered in unison.
Later that night, Naruto escorted Hinata and Hanabi as they walked home to the Hyuuga compound.
"Okay, maybe you're not entirely uncool big sister" Hanabi said with a stick of dango in her hand.
"I'll take that" Hinata said with a sigh, Hanabi replying with a giggle.
"Hey Hanabi, we're not just spoiling you cause we want you to think we're cool, we're actually really proud of you y'know, I meant what I said earlier. You were awesome out there" Naruto said with a smile.
"Clearly I wasn't awesome enough" Hanabi replied, staring at the ground. 'I let everyone down".
Hinata briskly walked in front of her sister and stopped her.
"Hanabi, you were amazing. I couldn't take my eyes off you in the arena"
"Yeah right you should've seen your sister, she almost had a heart attack watching you for longer than 10 seconds haha" Naruto added, earning himself a glare from Hinata. She turned back to look at her sister in the eyes.
"I'm so proud of you Hanabi, everyone back home is. That was the bravest showing I've ever seen, you kept on impressing the whole arena even though you were outnumbered the whole time. You really showed everyone why us Hyuugas aren't to be messed with". Hanabi didn't quite have the reaction Hinata was looking for, so she decided to continue.
"Don't tell anyone, but I think I heard that last bit from Father",
"No way"
"It's true!" Hinata added with a playful tap on Hanabi's nose. "I'm still finding it hard to believe the courageous warrior I watched four days ago is the same bratty little sister I've always had"
Hanabi felt a tear run down her cheek as she wrapped her hands around her sister. "Thanks a lot Hinata", she managed to say as she fought back sobs. "You're still uncool by the way".
"You're the one crying into my sweater you big baby" Hinata said with laughter as she squeezed her tighter, drawing more laughter from both of them.
"Sorry to break it up, but I promised your Dad I'd bring you back home by 10pm" Naruto said nervously looking at his watch, as Hanabi finally released Hinata and turned to face him.
"Good night Naruto-sensei" then she ran inside the compound.
Finally alone, Naruto wrapped his arm around Hinata's waist and drew her closer to him.
"You know, when I asked you to settle things between Hanabi and Kono, I didn't mean for you to completely side with her over him" Hinata said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Hey, it all worked out in the end don't you think? Maybe teasing us is the best way for them to get along" Naruto said with a shrug. "And I don't want to admit it but Hanabi might be my favourite student, I guess I'm just biased towards Hyuugas"
The two of them laughed as a light breeze blew across the street, sending chills into both of them
"I need to go inside Naruto-kun, it's getting a bit cold"
"I got a new uhh heating system installed at my place y'know" Naruto suggested, "Maybe we could…."
"Heating system huh", Hinata giggled before reaching up to kiss him. "Not today my love".
"Aww, come on…"
Hinata responded with another kiss "Maybe I'll see your 'heating system' some other time, Naruto-kun"
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Uzumaki?" a familiar voice rang out from inside the compound as the couple broke their embrace in an instant and hurriedly put as much distance between each other as they could.
"Hi-Hiashi-sama" Naruto stuttered nervously as he turned in the direction of the voice to respond to his partner's father, standing at the gate. Hinata decided to take charge of the situation and walked up to her father.
"Good evening father" she calmly greeted, before stopping abruptly in front of him.
"This can't be…." Her doubts were immediately confirmed as her father transformed into Hanabi in a puff of smoke.
"Hahahaha!" the young girl in front of them erupted in a fit of laughter, leaning on the gates for support. "You should see the look on your faces!"
"Ha-Hanabi!" Hinata couldn't stop herself from turning beet red. "That wasn't funny at all!"
"No it definitely was"
"Well you got us good Hanabi" Naruto admitted. "See you tomorrow!" he said hurriedly turning around to go home.
"Not so fast sensei" Hanabi said firmly, indicating her open palm. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Hanabi, I practically got you every sweet in Konoha today!" Hinata's protest was met with a raised hand from her little sister.
"You know the rules big sis, no public shows of affection on the compound….and that includes making out at the front gate"
Naruto decided to defend himself "Come on, we were standing outside the front gate"
"Outside the HYUUGA front gate, so still the compound!"
Naruto wanted to protest again but decided against it, and reached into his pocket producing a coin which he promptly tossed to his student.
"I saw nothing" Hanabi declared with a polite smile as she stepped aside for Hinata to walk inside.
"To think I called you my favourite…." Naruto muttered to himself
"What?" came the query from Hanabi
"I said good night Hanabi"
"Good night Naruto-sensei!" and she closed the gate behind her.
Outside the gate, Naruto took a deep breath and looked at the starry night sky, then walked off in the direction of his apartment.