Sasuke and Kakashi entered the training ground to find Sakura sitting alone, away from the Uzumaki family, who were doing the usual stretching. Kakashi frowned and greeted her casually but loud enough to get her attention.

Sakura looks up, and Sasuke can see her red eyes and puffy cheeks, swollen from crying. "Is it true?"

Sasuke frowned, "What's true?"

"Are you engaged?!" Sakura jumped to her feet, surprising Sasuke and Kakashi, who winced at the sharpness of her voice.

"Yes, it's true."

Tears streamed down a mortified expression on Sakura's face. "H-how? How could you have gotten yourself engaged to Hinata without anyone knowing?"

"We're ninjas, Sakura. Discretion is a skill natural for us to have."

The pink-haired girl glared, her foot tapping irritably, "Don't act like that! I've been asking you out for years, and you never once mentioned you were engaged! You led everyone to think you were single!"

"Exactly. What would be the point of involving Hinata with the madness the fangirls bring? Do you think I am stupid enough to let any one of you mistreat her just because of your jealousy?"

Sakura sputtered. Sasuke was always blunt, but this was more than she ever expected from him. "I am your teammate and your friend! How could you not tell me?"

"I was never going to say anything about the engagement to anyone until we were old enough to wed, but she found out. If I had my way, I'd rather no one knew! Is it so wrong to want Hinata for me?"

Kakashi couldn't help but smirk under his mask at Sasuke, blatantly admitting his feelings for his fiancee. The jounin looked up and saw how torn Sakura was; he wondered whether he should say anything.

"I hate you, Sasuke! You are a jerk!"

The side-eye was evident; hell, Kakashi could have sworn even the birds in the trees were looking at Sakura. He noticed Rina and her kids were looking over, too, and they were just as sceptical about what Sakura just said; how could it take her a year and a half to know Sasuke?

Sakura stormed off, and Rina watched her, a little irritated that she left the training grounds without permission. Rina orders Karin to go after Sakura and make sure she's okay. Naruto asks Rina permission to drag Sasuke away to simmer down; she readily agrees, so the blonde wastes no time quickly approaching Sasuke.

"You all right?"

Sasuke scowled, "Fine. Let's just get started already."

"Nope. You need to cool off. I don't need you being a dick this early in the day. Come on."

Sasuke opens his mouth, ready to retaliate. Still, Kakashi laughs good-naturedly and ruffles Sasuke's hair before pressing his hand against his back to usher the boy to follow after his teammate.

Meanwhile, at the Hyuuga Compound, Hinata took Neji by the arm and dragged him to the closest private quarters, which just happened to be Hanabi's room.

"What in the hell did you say to my father?"

To say Hinata's apparent anger rattled Neji was an understatement. She surprised him; he didn't think she could express such emotions.

Hinata grew up.

"Answer me!"

Neji swallowed thickly, "I don't know-"

The Hyuuga heiress cuts him off, "-how dare you try to lie to me?"

"Hinata-sama, I am not lying. Your father-"

"-just happened to bring up pre-marital sex in the middle of breakfast?"

Neji faltered; he agreed that it was surprising for Hiashi to suddenly speak up during their morning meal to warn Neji and his daughters to avoid unprotected coitus while unmarried. He looked at Hinata more pointedly than the others as if directing his gaze at her.

"I genuinely don't know what brought on what happened this morning, Hinata-sama."

Hinata's usually full lips thinned irritably. Her distrust in his words was apparent, which hurt Neji a little.

"Come on, none of you know?"

The two genin turned to see Hanabi standing in the doorway, a Cheshire-like grin on her face from what had transpired. "Because it's spread like wildfire, people saw Sasuke publicly threaten to punch Neji for being rude to Onee-sama at the marketplace yesterday!"

Hinata's eyebrow raised, doubtful."Did it become that well-known? It's not like Sasuke-kun punched him."

Neji groaned, realising that Lee and Gai must have spoken about it with others, and maybe even the villagers from the marketplace who were nearby when it happened had overhead and must have gossiped about it, too.

"Yes, but people are saying it was very romantic."

Hinata looked at her sister, even more confused. She tries to speak calmly, remembering their age gap and differences in maturity."There is nothing romantic about a fiancee defending his partner Hanabi-chan."

"So you say, but I think Sasuke truly loves you. You remember everything he said that day to Otou-sama at the dinner party, don't you?"
How could anyone forget? It was the most heartfelt thing ever said in a Hyuuga house.

Neji sighed, "Now that the mystery is solved, may I leave?"

Hinata didn't even look at him. She waved him off as she exited, saying, "Do whatever you like, but do not overstep your boundaries."

Hanabi watched her go, and she turned back to see how tired Neji looked. "If you're wondering how long she's going to be mad at you, it's unlikely there's an end to it anytime soon."

Neji frowns, "What do you mean?"

Hanabi tilts her head, carefully reading his expression," You don't know anything?"

Neji shakes his head, but Hanabi smirks, clearly amused."You deserve it, then."

Naruto prattled on and on about his missions. Most seemed interesting, with much bodyguard detail, information gathering, and courier work. Sasuke was surprised to hear that Jiraiya was using these missions to give Naruto tips on connecting with strangers. It was clear that Jiraiya was hoping to train Naruto in spy networking, and it made Sasuke a little jealous that things were going well for Naruto. He hoped things would go better for him, too.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke blinked, looking up to see his fiancee in full ninja genin garb. She looked surprised, but a gentle smile came, and he couldn't help but feel lighter at the sight of it.

"Feeling better now, Sasuke?" Sasuke blinked and then realised where they were; they were three blocks away from Hyuuga territory - Naruro had intentionally brought him to see his fiancee to cheer him up.

Kakashi concluded the same and smirked under his mask."You are a terrific kid, Naruto."

Naruto just grinned, and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how Naruto could still be a friend to him after all that happened at the Valley of the End.
Naruto was a saint, and Sasuke would have to make up to him someday for the way he had hurt him.

Sakura was a mess, and Karin was so annoyed by it. She had been listening to Sakura drone for an hour and wanted to return to ninja training.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself, Haruno?"

Sakura sniffles, glaring at Karin, "You're mean."

The redhead laughed at the childish retort, "What are you? 6 years old?"

The pinkette scowled, and Karin shook her head, "Haruno, please tell me you have other goals besides the Uchiha."

Sakura blows into her tissue, "Why do you care?"

"Because you're my teammate, and since Naru is a Chuunin now, that leaves you, Sasuke, and I left as a genin team to enter the next Chuunin Exams. I'd rather we all get along and work together to achieve our goals."

Sakura sighs, "Honestly, my aim is pretty tame. I want to be a Chuunin and learn more high-level chakra healing techniques. In the meantime, I'm studying medicine from Tsunade-sama to become a physician like Tsunade-sama and Mitsukai-sensei."

Karin was surprised. "Well, I want to be a special jounin specialising in medical ninjutsu and later become a hospital administrator to care for many people."

"That's a nice dream", admits Sakura.

"You've got reasonable goals for yourself too. For what it's worth, Shizune-san speaks highly of you in my lessons with Hinata. She mentioned you should be catching up to our knowledge level before the end of the year - soon, we would all be in the same class."

Sakura hums thoughtfully, "Do you know if Hinata-chan likes Sasuke-kun too?"

Karin rolls her eyes, "The fondness in her voice when she talks about him is nauseating. She truly believes he's a good person at heart."

"He is. Sasuke-kun pretends he doesn't care, but he has looked out for Naruto and me on our missions, so he's not as much of a jerk as people think he is."

Karin smirks, "Glad you finally admit Sasuke is a jerk."

Sakura sighed, dejected, "He always was, but I looked past it because I had always imagined that he would let someone into his heart one day; I just never thought it was someone, not his teammate."

"You're wrong about that. From what Sasuke said earlier, Sasuke liked Hinata for a long time but pretended to be obtuse about girls so his fan club didn't bother her. Naru broke his way past Sasuke's guards and made him realise that people care about him and want what's better for him. Haven't you noticed the way Sasuke looks at Naruto sometimes? He can't believe Naru has no grudge against him for what happened."

Sakura blinked, realising Karin was right. "Maybe Naruto was a saint in his past life; he can be a dumb-dumb sometimes but does have a kind and good heart."

Karin smiled. Maybe Sakura wasn't as bad as she had thought.