"My name is Hyūga Hinata" she introduced herself stuttering.
Naruto had to concentrate hard to listen to her low voice "Nice name. Good to meet you Hinata". Naruto offered his hand to shake her hand she fidgeted for a few moments and raised her hand for the handshake.
Just as Hinata's hand is a few inches from Naruto a new person made stood between them. "Hinata-sama, I've finally found you. Please don't disappear like that again. Are you ok? What're all these bruises?" Hyūga Kō said not bothering with the blonde-haired boy behind him.
"Kō-san it's ok. Naruto-kun protected me" Hinata answered stuttering with a smile on her bruised face.
"Hey it's pretty rude to interrupt without introducing yourself" Naruto said to the new guy. Naruto got a hateful look in response just like the villagers look at him, so he didn't bother to conceal his anger too.
Kō ignored Naruto and looked at Hinata, he said "Hinata-sama, clan head is looking for you. Please come with me". Kō dragged Hinata with him toward the Hyūga clan compound despite her reluctance. "Hinata-sama please stay away from him, he is a demon" Kō advised Hinata after they moved some distance. "But..." Hinata wanted to defend her new friend but kept her silence as her home came into view.
The next few days Hinata escaped from Kō after her training with her father and stealthily followed Naruto. In those times she observed his hardwork and practice till he couldn't move a muscle.
...
Kakashi caught the sight of his sensei son's stalker, he looked at the stalker. He noted she is of Naruto's age and a Hyūga clan member so he made a mental note to find her details.
Kakashi approached Naruto as the latter is taking a small break, "Naruto what's the bruising?" he asked pointing at the younger kid's face.
Naruto cursed himself for not covering it properly and the timing of Kakashi as if the latter sees him a few days later it will be healed completely. "Kakashi-nii I saved a girl some guys are bullying her. I wanted to be friends with her but that stone-faced guy took her away" Naruto said with a cheeky smile. Kakashi ruffled his hair in appreciation and said "Good job. So what's her name?".
"Hyūga Hinata but she looked cute. I will talk with her when I meet her again. I should also make her eat at Ichiraku's later" Naruto said.
Meanwhile, Hinata who is hiding became red as a tomato hearing the first part and passed out at the last one.
Oblivious to the girl's present condition, "So tell me what did we teach you about the Hyūga clan?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto struggled for a few moments before answering and Kakashi gave a punishment for every wrong answer like that days went by.
...
Hokage's office
Hizuren called for a jōnin meeting, cleared his throat, and started addressing the crowd "Kumo recently contacted us to sign a peace treaty between both the villages. Raikage is sending a team of envoys to sign the treaty in his stead".
Many jōnin in the room cheered and one of them couldn't help but ask "Hokage-sama isn't it a cause for celebration?".
"The timing is odd as currently, we have no clashes with Kumogakure and only the Kage of the nations sign the peace treaty, not the envoys" Shikaku said his doubts.
"Yes I agree with Shikaku but other than this you know Kumo's stance toward the kekkai-genkai clans so we need to keep our guard" Hizuren said.
"You mean the CRA, making the kekkai-genkai captives breeding machines" Fugaku said seeing the confused expressions on some young jōnin faces.
The monkey summoner nodded to this, "Anbu will keep a tight watch on envoys but I am giving you a heads-up" with that the professor ended the meeting.
...
Soon the day arrived and it coincided with the birthday of the Hyūga clan head's elder daughter. A few days before her birthday Hiashi sent the invites to all the major clanhead families along with people in high positions.
Hinata was also instructed by her father to invite her friends so Hinata made her escape from her bodyguard to find Naruto.
Hinata found her crush after searching for nearly an hour coming out of a restaurant named Ichiraku's with Kakashi and Ayame following him.
Hinata went forward and Naruto greeted her with a smile, seeing her Kakashi said something in Ayame's ear while the latter smirked seeing her. Naruto then made the introductions between the three of them.
"Na...Naruto-kun" Hinata is struggling to say so she extended her hands holding an invitation. "You should come" she managed to say after Naruto took the card from her hands.
"Don't worry I will definitely come" Naruto assured her but suddenly a hand snatched the invite from Naruto's hands.
Naruto identified the snatcher as the guy who took Hinata away before. "Hey stone-faced guy, you shouldn't steal if you want one you should ask Hinata politely" Naruto said to the guy.
Ayame had to struggle not to laugh while Kakashi's smile couldn't be seen because only one eye is visible. Hinata covered her laugh quickly and said in a stern tone "Kō-san, Naruto is my friend" trying to persuade her bodyguard and de-escalate the atmosphere.
Kō got surprised by her tone but said "Hinata-sama it's my duty to protect you from people that will harm you. Even if you don't like it now you will understand it later".
Kakashi wanted to punch him but Ayame held him back not to escalate the situation further, "I will knock you out" Naruto declared.
"Naruto..." Kakashi wanted to stop him but Naruto shut him down by saying "Trust me Kakashi-nii" hearing this Kakashi stood back but he is ready to jump in when required.
"What does a brat like you know?" Kō said.
"I will knock you out, believe it" Naruto declared.
Kō watched Naruto with amusement and wanted to put an end to his antics, Kakashi had a weird feeling seeing this fight.
"Uzumaki Naruto secret jutsu" Naruto shouted and made the hand signs, a large puff of smoke prevented Kō from seeing what's happening, he can see it with the help of Byakugan but his arrogance made him not use the byakugan.
As the smoke cleared a few figures dashed at him but his body couldn't react seeing them and soon he started bleeding from his nose and got knocked out. Kakashi seeing this facepalmed, Ayame raised her hand and punched Naruto's head as soon as Naruto dispelled his sexy jutsu.
After giving a beating to Naruto, Ayame looked at a crimson Hinata and offered a treat to her dragging Naruto back inside the restaurant.
"Aren't you coming in?" Ayame asked Kakashi who is squatting at a knocked-out Hyūga clansmen.
"I will have a chat with him and join you shortly" Kakashi said with his signature smile and Ayame said a prayer for the guy and went inside.