A Night Out
Disclaimer: Ya know it would be cool if Naruto were a little smarter in the series. Too bad I don't have the licensing needed to change that.
A/N: In response to those who say they should just incapacitate Sasuke and use his sperm to impregnate a bunch of women. The whole idea of keeping him active is to show other villages that they still have an active Uchiha in their midst. Sure it may only be one, but just the stigma of the clan's bloodline acts as a deterrent. Now, if he does something truly diabolical, then they may consider him doing more harm then good by staying out in the open. At that time they may take actions against him.
He was still musing over his actions in the council chambers as he walked into the front yard. It was nice having a place away from crowded streets. There weren't nearly as many glares on his walk here, which was a big plus, and since there were so few people here the chance of hate riots showing up at his doorstep would be down for at least a little while giving him time to set up security measures. Being as this was now officially his property, by law he was allowed to protect it by any means he saw fit. Which basically meant that if he wanted to make the whole thing one big exploding note he could as long as it didn't damage anything off his property. Not that he would go that far of course. He wasn't about to let his home get blown to smithereens when he finally had a place of his own just because some drunk asshole decided to climb his fence some night to piss on his doorstep. He would however make sure that said drunk would never be able to make it to his doorstep. The doorstep he was now standing on. The door step in front of the door to his house. He smiled as he thought about how good that sounded.
Shaking his head he unlocked the door and walked inside. Turning around he locked it again just before two sets of hands grabbed him from behind and dragged him over to the couch. He was about to get up to see what was happening but was forced back down as a giggling girl landed on top of him and kissed him deeply. "Welcome back Naruto-kun." Hinata said happily before kissing him again.
"You seem to be in a better mood than you were this morning. And from the smell of it I'm guessing the shower works." His thoughts were cut off however as Hinata sat up on his waist and a new pair of lips met his. "Ha-Haku-chan...Hi-Hinata-chan...huh?" The gears that had been working so feverishly lately, suddenly ground to a halt at the new actions that were too much of an overload on his system.
"Hinata-chan and I had a good long talk while you were away. We decided that it would be very unfair to have you two messing around here, while I'm in the same house with nothing to do, so we took my suggestion from Wave and decided to share you. At least for now." Haku said with a smile.
"We agreed that at the moment there just isn't anyone our age mature enough to be with us better than you, so I hope you don't mind Naruto-kun." Hinata bit her lower lip as she looked at him and tried not to blush too deeply.
"Um, uh, well I guess if you're ok with it Hinata-chan. I, uh, promised you I wouldn't leave you, so this is completely your decision." The hamster wheel inside of his head was beginning to struggle once again.
"Wow. Even when faced with every guy's fantasy he differs to you. I'm so jealous Hinata-chan." Haku mocked the younger girl causing her to blush deeply once more.
"Naruto-kun it isn't fair to any of us in our current situation to have to sit around and do nothing so no one feels left out. This way no one is left out." Hinata finalized the deal with a peck to his lips.
"Um, O-ok then."
"Well now that that's out of the way how about we learn what our boyfriend had to do that was so important that he had to leave two gorgeous women alone in his house..." Both girls stared holes into his head.
With Hinata still sitting on his stomach and Haku now kneeling beside the couch near his head, Naruto had little choice but to comply. "Well, I was rather pissed about what Hiashi-teme tried to do to Hina-chan so I went to see the Jiji-san about it. Unfortunately he was in a meeting with the ninja council, but I convinced the guards to let him know I was there and needed to talk to him urgently. Long story short I turned Hyūga law around on Hiashi in front of the ninja council. That was why your story had to be right Haku-chan. You see when he disowned and denounced Hinata-chan as a Hyūga and family member he immediately made her into a regular ninja of Konoha. Since he did that before activating the seal, he basically made it so that they can't put a seal on her without her permission, otherwise it is considered an aggressive act against a fellow Konoha ninja, which is punishable as a traitorous act. That would most likely lead to imprisonment for all parties involved or in the worst case, execution."
Hinata was only slightly saddened at this point. It still hurt that her own family would do this to her, but part of the talk she had with Haku was about her family, and Haku helped her to see that she is probably better off now that she wouldn't have people constantly looking down on her and expecting her to do everything perfectly.
"Aside from that I gave Hiashi a bit of a scare when I showed him the seal and explained to him what it would have done. I'll spare you the trauma and leave it as, the caged-bird portion of it was probably the nicest part. That surprised even Hiashi, so my guess is that he had no idea that they added extra seals to it. 'They' being the Hyūga council of elders. My guess is that there is some serious tension going on at the Hyūga compound right now. Oh, that reminds me. There is a serious lack of knowledge of seals in this place. I mean seriously, the council was impressed by a simple projectile explosion tag. It's almost shameful."
"Um Naruto-kun. Traveling with Zabuza-teme I visited a lot of places. Seals aren't something that most people can grasp. We were hard pressed to find a decent exploding tag in most places. A lot of times we would lay two just in case one was a dud."
Naruto looked surprised and appalled at the concept, then thoughtful. "If that's the case...then why is it so easy for me. I mean I can tear apart a lot of seals in no time, and all those books I found were easier than most of the academy lessons, well...the ones I didn't sleep through that is."
"I don't know Naruto-kun, maybe it's just your niche."
"Heh, I though playing pranks was my niche. Well anyhow, after getting Hinata-chan off the Hyūga most wanted list, I told Hiashi I wanted compensation for the stuff his clan destroyed in my apartment."
"But you don't really need any of that stuff here. I mean this place is fully furnished."
"I know. I did it more to piss him off than anything." They both looked at him with a deadpanned expression. "What? It was funny to see the Hyūga head lose his cool."
"One of these days you are going to do that to the wrong person."
"And when I do my two angels will be there to save me."
"Oh look at you going all Casanova. Just a few minutes ago you were trying to figure out just why we would share you."
"Well can you blame me? I find it easier to just go with the flow. Besides, like you said it's every guy's fantasy. Well that and seeing two girls together." As the words left his mouth a furious blush crept up both of the girls necks. Naruto looked from one to the other before a trickle of blood dripped out of his nose. "Oh you have got to be kidding..."
"W-well, while you were out and we were taking a bath, and...we kind of got lost in the discussion of the three of us being together. Haku-chan mentioned that if we were b-both going to be kissing you then it would be kind of like us kissing each other." Hinata hid her face in her hands and Haku laughed though she still had a blush all over her face.
"What she is trying to get at is that after I said that she leaned over and kissed me. I kind of decided to tease her a bit and kissed her back...just a little longer than she kissed me for."
"I'm going to regret this...how much longer?"
"About fifteen minutes." Naruto just stared at the two. These girls that both liked him, had decided to share him, and had made out in the bathroom of his house. A second trickle of blood joined the first. "Oh come off it. It's not like we haven't basically done the same thing when you came back."
"Ok, ok fine. It's not that big of a deal to imagine two cute, naked females making out in my bathroom. No big deal at all." Naruto argued as he tried to stem the crimson flood.
Haku laughed and even Hinata giggled into her hands. "Anyhow that isn't all we did while you were away. We also had a nice long discussion, part of which was about this house. How exactly did you get possession of the house of the former Yondaime Hokage that was off limits to everyone for twelve years? We also heard that some council member tried to get in and fried his brain from some seal, so how did you even get in?"
…
…
…
"What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone no matter what. At least not yet. Promise me." Both girls looked at him confused and a little worried at his serious tone, but none the less promised him they wouldn't tell a soul about whatever they found out. "Follow me." He lead them up the stairs and into his room. Having them both sit on the bed he went over to the small black box and opened the lid. They saw him take out a photograph before walking back over. He turned it towards them so they could see it. Haku didn't really know the people, but there were familiarities in them. Hinata however knew one of them immediately.
"That's Yondaime-sama, but who is that woman?" Hinata pointed to the red-headed woman in the picture.
"That is his wife, Kushina. Not many people knew about her. Very few in fact. They didn't want the Yondaime's enemies to seek revenge through her."
"I see, where is she now?"
"She's dead. She died during the Kyūbi attack. Aside from that though, this is a family portrait. The only one I know of. There are three people in this picture."
"But Naruto-kun I only see Yondaime-sama, and Kushina-sama. There is no one else there."
"Hinata-chan, take a closer look at where she has her hand."
"It's on her...Oh my god! She's pregnant!" Suddenly everything started clicking into place. Naruto's birthday, the Kyūbi attack the similarities. "Naruto...you're his..."
"Yes. My real name is Namikaze Naruto. I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and his wife Uzumaki Kushina. That is why this is my house."
"You need to tell people this. Why are you hiding it? If people knew..."
"No! If people knew then we would have Iwa assassins on our doorstep tomorrow. The less people that know this the better, and the reason I will keep it a secret is the same reason Minato kept his wife a secret. To protect the ones we love from those that would try to harm us through them. I will not risk anyone precious to me just so I can live an easier life. You cannot tell this to anyone. Promise me."
"Naruto-kun we already did promise you."
"Promise me again...please...for my sake."
"We promise Naruto-kun we promise."
He knelt down and hugged them both close. "I will protect you with my life so never ever put yourself in harms way for me."
The rest of their morning was uneventful as they finished cleaning and setting up their rooms. The girls hadn't explored too much, and Naruto's own rush around wasn't all that extensive, so when they were finished they took a walk around the property to familiarize themselves with its layout. When they got outside it quickly became apparent whose domain the yard would be. Both Haku and Hinata were dismayed at the state of the gardens and yard, as neither had been tended to in a long time and it was glaringly obvious. The grass was long and had many weeds throughout. The gardens were more wildflowers than anything. They did manage to find a flagstone pathway, but with all the overgrowth it blended in with the surroundings to the point where they just looked like clumps of moss with small flowers growing out of them.
The front yard was in no better condition though. The only feature that really stood out was the pathway from the door to the gate. There were bushes along the front of the house that were in dire need of trimming, and the ivy that crept over the outer fence made it look more like a huge hedge row instead of a barrier. With the mass of greenery hanging off of it the girls feared that the plants may have damaged whatever supports the fence may have had. They all began a search for gardening tools at the girls' insistence, and even though they hadn't finished their explorations Haku and Hinata soon had Naruto helping them do yard work. They had more tools than manpower though so Naruto created a few clones which the girls happily set to specific jobs. This was all well and good until they found out there were some jobs that Naruto just wasn't good at.
Weeding would have been fine, if Naruto knew the difference between weeds and flowers. In his defense though there were a lot of herbs that looked just like wild flowers, and a lot of wildflowers that looked like they would make good decorations. Swordplay and weapon work was easy for him but, as one clone found out, a pair of clipping sheers could best even the most adept swordsman if he didn't know how to use them. One cut one poof. He began to wonder at how he had done some of his D-ranks, then realized that any of the ones involving yard work had been cutting grass. Anything that had been labeled as weeding, he was instructed to just clear out a patch of land that hadn't been planted yet. Even his job for the old farmer was just clearing out the land. After hearing his life against plants the girls decided there was one place he could be used to effect, so Naruto was delegated to grass cutting and trim work around the gardens. They may have been overrun, but the difference between grass and plant was easy enough for him to differentiate. Not to mention one of the girls would follow him around their current work area as he trimmed the outline of the garden, just to make sure.
Soon they had an actual outline of where the boarders of the yard really were. Naruto was pleasantly surprised as he really didn't know there were so many gardens. When he had first seen the back yard he assumed that it was just an open grassy field. Now though it could be seen that the only place that was really garden free was the small training area near the back. Most likely because the jutsu and weapons use would have ruined anything living nearby. As the girls worked on the weeds with a clone each to carry away the quickly growing piles, Naruto made quick work of the overgrown yard. Within an hour the back yard was down to a manageable length, and the front was nearly done as well. His next task was ivy removal. Again he was ordered at what he was allowed to rip away and what was going to stay. They left small patches about every ten feet, each patch being about two feet wide. It gave the effect of green columns sticking up in what was revealed to be a stone and mortar wall. This job was his favorite so far. As soon as he was instructed where to pull he had to actually work a little to get the plants off of their perches. The roots didn't go deep into the mortar, but there were enough of them that they stuck to the wall like glue. This job took another two hours and it soon was getting late in the afternoon. With the yard semi decent now, all three were more than ready to take a break.
"Let's wash up, then I'm taking you two out to dinner." The girls squealed and rushed off into the house to get ready as Naruto slowly followed. They would be using the large upstairs bathroom, so he opted to settle for the downstairs one and quickly washed the dirt off himself before heading to his room and getting some clothes. He debated against arming himself, but there was still far too much angst towards him in the village, and he wasn't sure about the Hyūga either. Then their was Danzo, who as far as he know was still free to do as he pleased. 'Better to be prepared for anything then find out I need something and don't have it.' He really didn't want to have weapons everywhere if he was taking two people to dinner, but necessity overruled decency, so he strapped on his ninja-to, leaving his still unfamiliar katana behind. He left his shuriken holster lay as well, but strapped on a weapons pouch that held a few kunai, and some of his more custom seals. It was this that met the two girls in the living room when they came down dressed for the evening.
"Naruto-kun. Why the weapons? I don't think the food will fight back." At the sound of Haku's voice he turned in their direction and all brain function ceased for the second time that day. Where they had managed to find the clothing he didn't know, but the two wouldn't need weapons since they were dressed to kill. Haku wore a dark blue spaghetti-strap dress that came to a few inches above her knees, and a pair of dress shoes. Beside her Hinata was in a dark purple dress that had a split down one side that went to about where Haku's dress stopped. The back was low-cut and a pair of black heals finished off her garb.
"I-I hope you don't mind Naruto-kun, but we borrowed some of your mother's clothing. It was in some storage boxes in my room..." Hinata was obviously the more nervous of the two, as she wasn't used to wearing such clothing in front of people, yet here she was about to go into public with it on.
"Y-you two look...wow...um...just wow. I'm surprised my mother's clothes fit you though. I mean you aren't exactly her size."
"They must have been old clothes that she just hadn't gotten rid of. From the picture she didn't look that old so she probably hadn't grown out of them that long before..." Haku died off as she realized where she was headed with that statement, and a small uncomfortable silence followed, but was soon broken by the sound of a stomach letting them know it was empty.
"Eh heh. I guess we should go get some food. I kind of need to apologize ahead of time though. I'm not exactly welcome in most of the places that you two are dressed for, so it may take awhile before we find somewhere nice enough." He looked a little dejected at the thought of trying to figure out a place good enough for these two beautiful young women. Ichiraku's was definitely out, and most of the other places he knew would tolerate him were only slightly higher scale.
'D-don't worry Naruto-kun. We're just wearing these b-because we wanted to look nice for you." The blushing Hyūga turned away a little, but was smiling and stealing glances at him.
"Yeah, if you want to go to a beef bowl we don't mind. We just didn't really want to walk around in your clothes in town. It probably wouldn't send the best message, especially if a Hyūga saw Hinata."
He couldn't help but agree to that, so silently he turned and opened the door before holding an arm out to each side. The two girls happily rushed up and took an arm each as he lead them out, taking only brief moments to close and lock the door and gate. They made their way across town in the direction of the restaurants. Along the way they got more than one ogling eye and even a few cat calls. Naruto was suddenly very happy the girls had dressed up as it took attention away from himself. There were a couple less than savory moments though when some of the more haughty men around town tried to steal one of the girls from him or worse cop a feel on one of the ladies. They were greeted by cold steel and a glare from Naruto, a byakugan enhanced glare from Hinata, or a literal cold shoulder from Haku. It was a rather eventful walk, but they did eventually make it to a restaurant that Naruto hadn't tried to get into before. It was a sushi and sashimi restaurant and they were soon inside and seated much to the blond's surprise, but it was probably just the fact that the doorman couldn't take his eyes off the two women long enough to see who they were with. 'Oh well it got us in anyway. Now hopefully we can get through a meal in peace.'
The waitress came and took the girls orders with a smile on her face then turned to him and the smile turned to a sneer. Like it or not though he had made it to a table and she was obliged to take his order, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "Your orders will be out in a few moments ladies. Sir, yours may take a little longer." She walked away with shaking fists which wasn't missed by the trio.
"What was that all about? Did you do something to make her so pissed off at you. I mean she's far to old to really be hanging around academy students and such."
"Don't worry about it."
"But, she seemed so mad."
"I said don't worry about it." Naruto half snapped.
It was obvious he was hiding something, but Haku really hadn't pried into his private life much, and Hinata wasn't able to follow him all the time, so they brushed it off as some chance meeting with bad memories. Maybe he had broken something of hers in the past from one of his pranks and never repaid her for it. They made some idle chat until the girls meals were brought out and they happily dug in. Their waitress made no move to inform Naruto of the status of his meal. She simply turned and stalked off. By the time the two ladies were almost finished, they were starting to get a little angry. The waitress still hadn't come back with Naruto's meal. It was only sashimi, it shouldn't have taken this long to prepare even if they had to go out and by all the ingredients being as the market stores were literally on the next street. Like the perfect gentleman though, Naruto sat their with a smile on his face. He had to apologize every now and then when his stomach reminded him of its needs, but other then that he just let them eat their fill.
When the waitress did finally come back it was without Naruto's food, but she was all too quick to give him the bill. "We apologize sir, but the chef had to take the rest of the night off. We won't be able to prepare your order." It was a complete and utter lie. Even as the words left her mouth the other customers in the place were happily receiving freshly cut dinners. The girls glared at the waitress, but to their surprise Naruto didn't.
"I, see, thank you anyway. We will be on our way then."
"Naruto-kun what are you talking about? They obviously have someone preparing food if everyone else is still eating. Even the people that came after us got their orders." Haku argued, clearly not happy with the events.
"Don't worry about it Haku-chan."
"Naruto-kun this isn't right." Hinata chimed in.
He fixed them with a firm glare. "I said don't worry about it. Here is your money we'll be on our way now." He bowed to the waitress and began to walk out.
Said waitress held the girls back for a moment. "You shouldn't be around someone like that. Who knows what he would do to you if given the chance. If you give me a moment I will send him away so you can go off in peace." The statement shocked Haku more than Hinata. This wasn't the first time she had seen Naruto get this sort of treatment, nor was this anywhere near the worst she'd seen though she never really understood why. Haku on the other hand was furious.
"If there were a man half as decent as Naruto-kun I still wouldn't go near them. Naruto-kun has shown me more gentleness in the past hour than I have seen from a single other person in this village since I came, save for Hokage-sama. Maybe if you weren't so jealous he would be nice to you too. I pity whatever man you ended up with."
The waitress made to slap Haku but was stopped mid swing by a firm grip. She looked over directly into the pale eyes of Hinata who was glaring at the woman. "If you so much as lay a hand on her I will make sure you cannot walk for a month." To emphasize the point she placed her other palm at the base of the woman's spine and channeled just enough chakra to bring her discomfort.
The waitress tugged her arm free and moved away quickly, but not before calling out one last thing over her shoulder. "Damn demon lovers."
The two walked out of the restaurant and looked around for Naruto, but couldn't find him. They started to panic but were relieved when they saw him walk out of a small shop across the street. He walked calmly over to them with his hands behind his back. "I see you decided to join me finally. I hope you didn't get into any trouble."
"Naruto-kun why..."
Whatever Haku was about to ask was cut off as Naruto reached them and, with a flourish, offered a small bouquet of flowers to each. Hinata's eyes widened at the gesture. "N-Naruto-kun, they're beautiful..." She took the offered flowers, light violet nearly matching her eyes, and breathed in their scent. A smile crept across her face as she hugged him tightly.
On his other side Haku was torn between what to do. She wanted her question answered, but she never had anyone give her flowers. She studied the collection of ice blue petals and tried to decide what to do. Her decision was made for her though when Hinata pushed her towards Naruto. Haku was forced to grab the flowers out of the way to save them from being crushed as she stumbled into his arms. She looked at him closely before he leaned in and kissed her. Right in the middle of the street for all to see she wrapped her arms around him her inner turmoil forgotten.
"What the hell!" A growling shout rang out through the street. The three groaned as they looked down the street to where three figures stood with one pointing at them with his mouth hanging open. "You said you were with Hinata, and then you go and kiss Haku right in front of her?" The boy's companion barked in agreement.
"Just because she's shy and won't do anything about it doesn't mean you should take advantage of her you damn womanizer, cheater, BAKA!" The shrieking accompaniment made everyone in the street flinch from the volume.
Kiba ran over to Hinata. "Don't worry Hinata, just because Naruto-teme is cheating on you doesn't mean every guy would. What do you say the two of us go find a quiet spot to get acquainted?" He tried to get closer and grab onto her, but was stopped when a strong punch hit him in the chest, surprising everyone.
Shy, weak, delicate Hinata just sent strong, brash Kiba sprawling on his ass. Time seemed to stop as no one really knew what to do, at least not until Naruto figured out just what sound would go best with the action. His loud laughter soon filled the street soon joined by Haku's giggling as Hinata glared down at the boy. "Don't you dare touch me Kiba-san. Just because I'm not a Hyūga anymore doesn't give anyone free rights to pursue me. I will stay with whom ever I choose." She walked over, and after calmly moving Haku out of her way she spent the next couple minutes making out with Naruto in the middle of the street. It wasn't the calm quick kiss that Haku had given him moments ago, but a full fledged lip lock complete with tongue. Kiba and Sakura stood, or sat in Kiba's case, in horrified shock at the scene. When the two finally finished they moved their heads back and smiled at each other, then smiled at Haku who smiled back. All three then turned to team seven and smirked at their reactions.
Naruto was suddenly curious about something though. "Um why is team seven walking around together anyway? After Wave I thought you might have disbanded or something."
"Hn, like the council would allow that dobe. Like I said back then they would do nothing to me. Now Hatake says he's going to have us do pointless bonding training to work on our teamwork. I swear the man has no brain at all. He should be working on getting me stronger." Sasuke said with dismissal though he seemed a little more angry with something then he let on, giving the impression that simple team building exercises wasn't their full punishment.
"Ah the ever so humble Uchiha finally graces us with a word." Haku spat at the avenger.
"I see the ice slut has lowered herself to keeping the village idiot happy. Try not to breed like rabbits, one moron like him is enough to cover all of Fire country." At the pinkette's jibe Haku looked ready to charge.
"Haku-chan, don't. Attacking a fellow leaf ninja is against the laws unless they make an unwanted move first, like Kiba did with Hinata-chan." Team seven smiled evilly at her. They could make all the verbal stabs they wanted and get away with it. "Besides, they'll make good fodder some day, assuming they live long enough to be that useful." Naruto chuckled again at the smiles now turned sneers. "What, you thought that you were the only ones that could toss insults around? Well keep up on that teamwork training and maybe someday you'll be able work up to actual combat training. That is if Kakashi-san feels you're ready. After all, the council can force him to teach you, but they can't force him what to teach you." Naruto swung Hinata out to one side to open his other side for Haku who readily took it. "Now if you don't mind I need to get some food." Naruto simply walked away down the street as the trio attempted to make a few feeble retorts. He ignored them all though as he chatted with his two ladies.
"That dobe! How dare he ignore me like that. Don't worry baka. I'll make sure you get the beating of a life time, then you'll know the proper humility to show the Uchiha clan." A furious Sasuke could only glare at where the blond had once been.
"Womanizing-baka. Just wait Sasuke-kun will give you what you deserve!" Sakura shouted, earning another cringe from everyone in hearing range.
"And he thinks he can just walk off with Hinata and Haku. I'll show him that there are people more worthy them him to have a pack." Kiba snapped a stick on the ground near where he sat before standing up so quick he nearly dislodged Akamaru and stomping off towards the Inuzuka compound. Out of the three of them, he would be in for the worst night as he would soon discover his added punishments to be wrought on him by his clan.
• • •
The trio stopped at Ichiraku's despite Naruto's not wanting to stop there that night with two overdressed ladies at his sides. The familiar sound of bells jingling signaled the customers' arrival and they were welcomed into the stand by a jovial Teuchi who had his back turned to them. Ayame soon came out from the back of the stand and when she saw the trio she smiled and smacked her dad on the back to get him to turn around. "Oh I didn't realize you brought company Naruto! You two ladies look lovely, but shouldn't you be someplace a bit nicer? Don't get me wrong I don't want to turn away customers, but you are a bit overdressed for a ramen stand." The man remarked.
"Oji-san, we were already at a sushi restaurant. I was just a little hungrier than what they had to offer. These two already ate, so it'll just be me. Bring out the ramen and keep it coming." He gave the man a big grin which was returned with a knowing half grin and a nod. They knew all too well what the boy went through. Teuchi turned and got to work while Ayame set her elbows on the counter to get the dirt.
"So which one of you is Naruto-kun's girlfriend?" She watched as the boy blushed a bit and scratched his nose.
"W-we both are Ayame-san." It was now the waitress's turn to blush. She hadn't seen that coming from the girl. When she looked closer though she was even more surprised that it was the little Hyūga that she always saw staring at Naruto from around the corner as he ate. Surprise turned to a bit of anger though as she turned back to Naruto.
"And just what are you trying to swindle yourself into, huh? You can't have two girlfriends!"
"Eh? It's not like that Ayame-nēchan, honest. I was just dating Hinata-chan, but I met Haku-chan on a mission and I guess she started to like me too. They decided on their own that they would both date me I had nothing to do with it I swear."
She looked at him skeptically, then to the two girls who each smiled and nodded with a bit of a blush. Ayame blushed a bit herself again , but fixed another glare on Naruto. "If you hurt either of them I'm going to dump a pot of boiling water on you." She watched his fear-filled eyes grow as he hurriedly nodded his head while the two girls latched onto him protectively. Ayame just smiled and shook her head before being called by her father to serve their customers.
Thirteen bowls of ramen later Naruto was walking the two girls home. They took their time and walked the now moonlit streets with their heads on his shoulders. Despite all the crap that they had to deal with lately, or rather in spite of it, they had still managed to have a reasonably good time. It wasn't until they were back inside the house that Haku remembered the question she wanted to ask before, but she decided to save it for another day as she didn't want to ruin the contentment that had finally settled over them. With nothing else they could really do though they soon began to feel the strain from the yard work starting to take its toll. With a couple kisses they bid each other good night, and after double checking of the locks Naruto followed them to bed.
If one were to listen closely they would be able to hear what sounded like the howls of a dying dog in the night. Over at the Inuzuka compound there was a gathering of their council along with Tsume. They were all glaring dangerously at the boy in front of them. Despite being the boy's mother, Tsume looked at her own offspring with disdain after the news she had heard. Her daughter, Hana, sat off to the side since she was required to start getting knowledge of how to handle these types of events if she was going to be considered the next in line to be clan head. Growling, Tsume began the verbal abusing of her own son since some physical abuse had already been done before some of the council had been able to stop her and remind he of her position. "Inuzuka Kiba. You have disgraced this your family and clan mere moments after graduating from the academy. You tried to force yourself on an unwilling female and then you lost a fight in the middle of the streets. A fight that you started." Hana was growling a little as well at this point from the memory and none of the council members seemed too please either.
"I would congratulate you on completing an A-rank mission, but instead of hearing praises about your performance on said mission, I had to listen as your actions embarrassed us in front of the council and the Hokage. You were charged with intentions to harm a fellow Konoha ninja."
"I didn't touch him!" Kiba barked out as he attempted to defend himself. All he accomplished was earning a backhanded slap from his mother.
"You ignored him when he was injured. That's just as bad If not worse. You also argued with your comrades and caused an air of malcontent." She glared at him when he opened his mouth to say something, silencing him with an unspoken threat. "And I want to know exactly what these suspicious actions you were involved in entailed. I don't want to hear any complaining either, just the information we seek."
Kiba grit his teeth as he knew this wasn't going to end well even if he kept his mouth sealed tight. "We were planning on knocking Naruto-teme down a few pegs. We were going to spirit him away and show him just why he shouldn't try showing us up... It was Sasuke's idea." What had sounded like a good idea at the time, was proven quite the opposite as he received another backhand to the other side of his head.
"So you felt the need to torment a fellow Konoha ninja because he was stronger then you? Did you ever think that maybe he would help you get stronger yourself if you tried being nice to him?" Tsume asked him, voice now closer to that of an animal then normal.
"No, he was probably thinking with his balls and trying to prove himself to some female like usual. I swear if we weren't related I would have neutered you ages ago." Hana half mumbled, but made sure it was loud enough for those present to hear.
"What his reasoning was is unimportant. What is important is that it was wrong. The only reason you should have for attempting such a thing during a mission is if you've found a traitor in you midst. Any other reason is inconsequential and can be ruled as treason on your part for endangering a mission for your petty squabbles." They could see Kiba's knuckles whitening as he tightened his fists in anger. "Furthermore, you have been found to be irresponsible and are dangerously close to being considered, by us, to be unfit for ninja duties. The pack takes precedence above all else and if you can't get your ass out of your ego long enough to figure out the difference between what is right for the mission and what your personal grudge is, then we have no choice but to...retrain you." Even Hana paled at the thought of being retrained, Kiba nearly fainted.
Retraining consisted of, basically, getting the loyalty beaten back into you by the higher ups in the clan over the course of days or months depending on the severity of the offense. The guilty party would be stripped and kept in a small, arena-type building for the duration, and given just enough food and water to survive. Their partner would be taken from them for the entirety of the event so that they were completely alone throughout the experience. For many Inuzuka this was the worst part since their companion became a part of them, a friend through thick and thin that was closer then any other human ever got. The event would include Tsume herself, and may even include Hana this time being as she was in training for her future position. If this didn't help him out of his actions, they would most likely take him out of active duty until he got through puberty, or learned to keep a level head. In other words, he was very close to having his ninja career ended.
Kiba hung his head, finally feeling a little shame at what he did, but whether it was for himself or those he aimed to hurt was unknown. "...Can I at least court Hinata now? She is no longer a Hyūga or clan heir, so there shouldn't be any issues with us getting together..."
Hana nearly jumped on him to beat him to death. Luckily for Kiba one of the council members was close enough to catch her before she could land on him. Even without that he was thrown back into a wall from her hand meeting his face. He sat there, stunned, against the wall as his hand went to his cheek where there were now four this slash marks courtesy of Hana's elongated claws. "You swine! Get it through your thick head. She...doesn't...want...you!" She was snarling now, and barely restrained.
"Enough!" instantly Hana was sitting once again as her mother's voice commanded obedience. "Kiba, you will refrain from pursuing any female until we deem you worthy, and you are to seek approval of any prospective mates with us before you start chasing them. Rest assured that if you do not comply your punishment will be...severe. Hana, heal your brother's wound. His retraining hasn't started yet. You can give it back to him later." Kiba shivered and Hana grinned evilly while she healed his cuts.
"Don't worry little brother. I'll make sure you get some nice marks to show off."
"Since we are this close to the chūnin exams, we will wait to schedule the retraining until we find out if you have been deemed worthy to enter. Despite your actions we will not hurt the chances of your teammates to advance should your sensei see fit to nominate you. Knowing Hatake he'll probably put you in just to see how well you do and to show you what would be expected of a chūnin rank ninja, so you have something to aim for. Just so you know, even if you should make chūnin, you will still be going through retraining. You've brought this on yourself Kiba. Now get out of my sight." Even though she was his mother, it sickened her to think of just how low her son would sink. It was times like this that she wished Kiba had been born a girl. Sure Hana had her moments, but at least she didn't chase after every boy in town, hoping that they would fuck her. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of what would have happened if that were the case. They would have needed to expand the compound if she'd accepted every invitation she'd gotten if she had the drive Kiba did.
After Kiba left the room Hana turned to her mother. "You know he's going to milk this for what it's worth. Since he knows he's already going to go through retraining he'll do the same shit without fear of what could happen since it's going to happen anyway."
Tsume sighed, knowing her daughter was right. "Well, Uzumaki-san knows he can contact me if things get out of hand. If I have to I'll assign him guards to keep him in line until his sensei decides if they are ready for the exams or not. Until then we have other things to worry about. Like your temper." Hana looked down with a little shame at her prior actions, but refused to run in fear from her mother as it was her duty to learn exactly what she had to be to accept her mother's seat someday.
• • •
They had once again attacked the yard the next morning. Haku and Hinata worked on the garden while Naruto busied himself with repairing the training posts and cleaning out the pond in the meditation area. Around mid morning they were brought out of their thoughts when Hinata suddenly shrieked. Haku and Naruto rushed to her aide to find her staring at a little bug on the leaf of ivy in front of where she had been working. "Hinata-chan what's wrong? It's just a little bug."
"I-it's one of Shino-san's kikaichū. I think my team is looking for me. I-I completely forgot about team practice!" She was up and running towards the house in an instant.
"You know she's right. I haven't done any training or missions since we got back from Wave. Haku-chan we were given a week off, but I don't really think we should be sitting around too much. Oh, I forgot Jiji-san want's to see us too!. Argh, we'll have to work on this place on our days off. Otherwise we'll end up running out of money for food. Since Hinata-chan has team stuff anyway we might as well see about some missions and such ourselves. You need to learn where that kind of stuff is too anyway since you're still new here." Naruto and Haku ran off towards the house too as they all rushed to get into their ninja garb. They met again in the living room, with Hinata almost crashing into them as she was heading for the door.
"S-sorry I need to hurry." Naruto caught her on the arm as she tried to leave. "P-please Naruto-kun I need to go or I'll be in more trouble than I already am!"
"Hinata you don't even have any weapons on you. What are you going to do if you have to go on a mission?"
"I-I use Jūken so I'll be fine, please."
"No, I'm not letting either of you go out without gear." He ran upstairs quickly, relying on Haku to keep Hinata restrained until he came back. It only took him a minute but Hinata was already frantic by the time he got back down. He tossed both of them a supplies pouch and a shuriken holder. Hinata didn't even take the time to strap them on as she bolted out the door. Haku and Naruto followed afterward and saw Hinata waiting impatiently at the front gate. It was still locked and on the other side were her teammates and a somewhat annoyed looking sensei. "Sorry Hinata-chan I forgot the gate was locked." Naruto put his arm past her and unlocked the gate allowing her to rush out and bow in apologies to her team.
Kurenai, having seen who was there, brushed it off. She had seen how close the two had gotten but she wasn't about to get in their way, that was Hiashi's problem. To her the two made a cute couple, she just hoped they weren't doing anything...beyond their age. Seeing the other girl though she brushed it off again as a pointless worry. "Hinata, if you were going to skip out on training you could have at least told someone where you were. It took us a few hours to find you. As a ninja you have a responsibility to do missions with your team for the good of the village. I'm sure Uzumaki-san is grateful for the help with his mission, but that doesn't excuse you from slacking off. We will discuss your punishment later." She set cold eyes on the girl before turning to Naruto. "Uzumaki-san I thank you for looking after Hinata, but I believe you have duties to attend to as well?"
"Eh heh. Yeah, a lot has happened in the past few days. Kinda slipped our minds." This caused eyebrows to raise on all of team eight, save for Hinata who knew exactly what he was talking about.
Kurenai however narrowed her eyes at the boy dangerously. "Uzumaki-san, I think I need to have a little chat with you if you don't mind?"
"Eh? Sure, come on in. Um, you guys excuse us for a few minutes we'll be right back." Naruto led Kurenai into the living room of the house and shut the door.
Immediately the woman turned on him. "Alright spill it. First off why do you have a key to this house. I know very well whose house this is and there is no way anyone should be in here."
"This is my house."
"Liar! The Hokage forbid anyone from purchasing this estate and to ensure that, he bought it himself. It's in his name and it was sealed off."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't ever call me a liar. I do own this house and Hokage-sama is the one that sold it to me. If you don't believe me you can go see him and look at the deed yourself."
"Oh believe me I will, and when he hears about this you will have ANBU on your ass so fast you won't be able to make it two feet before you're in a cell."
"As much as I'd like to go with you and see your face when it falls, I have better things to do with my time, so unless you have something else to say..."
"As a matter of fact I do. As this is obviously not some mission you are on, what exactly are Hinata and that other girl doing here? She is the Hyūga heiress and if you are doing anything indecent to her, even the Hokage won't save you from Hiashi's wrath." Naruto started to laugh, confusing the woman. "What the hell is so funny?!"
"Kurenai-san, the Hyūga wouldn't care if Hinata-chan died right now. In fact they would probably prefer it." Kurenai stepped back in shock. "You seem to be behind the times, which is kind of unacceptable considering your her sensei, but I'll fill you in on why exactly Hinata hasn't been around for training in awhile. First of all, the day I got back from my mission to Wave, we three were attacked. Haku-chan and Hinata-chan were poisoned and spent the night in the hospital. I'm surprised you didn't know at least that much. Anyhow, Hiashi-teme..."
"That's Hiashi-sama brat."
"Oh don't worry you'll be calling him a teme soon too. Now, Hiashi-teme found out that Hinata-chan and I were together and he ordered her to stay away from me. When Hinata declined, he and the Hyūga council completely cut ties with her. Hinata-chan is no longer a Hyūga by their own laws." Kurenai fell backwards into a chair. She couldn't believe what she just heard. How could a father disown his daughter for seeing a boy. She suddenly had the urge to throw up when she realized she encouraged Hinata's actions. Even though the girl would have continued anyway it didn't make her feel any better. "Well they tried to put a very harmful seal on her, worse than the one on their branch members. Haku-chan saved her though and brought her to my apartment. That was just after I had acquired this house. I found them there when I went to pick up some of my stuff and brought them both here. I couldn't let them out in the village after I heard what happened. I knew the Hyūga would be after them. When I got them here I went to see Hokage-sama and found out why the Hyūga hadn't been searching extensively yet. Hiashi and the other clan heads were in a meeting with Hokage-sama. Long story short I explained why they couldn't put a seal on Hinata-chan since they threw her out before they applied it. It would have been an assault on a fellow Konoha ninja. After that we just kind of hung around here and kept ourselves busy cleaning up the place to keep our minds off of recent events. I guess we just lost track of time."
She could certainly see why someone would want to be distracted after all that, and the place looked a lot cleaner than she'd expected now that she thought about it. She couldn't prove the boy was lying, but it did seem far fetched for the Hyūga to oust their own heir. "I will trust you for now Naruto-san, but I intend to verify this with Hokage-sama."
"Please do. From now on if you can't find Hinata, or if you need her for a mission, stop by here. Since she can't go back to the Hyūga she is living with me." At the glare from the woman he sighed. "Don't worry, separate bedrooms, and she doesn't have to pay anything. Same goes for Haku-chan. Since she doesn't really have a place to go and I had another room so she's living here too. See one big happy family." He gave her his best grin, slightly breaking the tension.
Kurenai got dangerously close to him. "If I ever find out you hurt her. ANBU will be the least of your worries."
He turned his head to talk to her in a similar seriousness. "If I ever hurt her you won't have a chance to touch me as I will already have punished myself far worse than you could think of doing."
The coldness in his voice sent shivers down her spine. How he could stand to meet her glare so easily and send one out that nearly overwhelmed her she would never understand. She only moved after he was already holding the door open for her, once again smiling as those waiting at the gate waited for them. "Glad we got that cleared up Kurenai-san. Now I wouldn't want to keep you from your training." With a beaming smile he lead her to the gate and waited until she was through to lock it behind them. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have missions to do." Team eight watched as the newly expanded team eleven took off towards the missions center.
"Shino-san, Harume-chan, head to the missions center as well please and grab a good one for us. I need to talk to Hinata-chan a moment." The two nodded and walked off. Once they were out of sight Kurenai turned to the girl who had regained her rare habit of poking her fingers together. "Hyūga Hinata," She started, but soon lost the rest of her sentence.
"K-Kurenai-sensei, p-please don't call me that...I-I am no longer of that clan."
She was shocked. If that was true, how much else that Naruto said was true. She suddenly dropped to her knees, startling Hinata a bit, then surprising the girl as she hugged her close. "I'm sorry for doubting it Hinata. I'm sorry for scolding you. There will be no punishment, you deserved to have the time off. It must be difficult. I just want to know why I wasn't told about this sooner." She had expected sob, a wet feeling on her shoulder and distraught whimpering. She got none of the above and soon looked at the girl with questioning eyes.
"D-don't feel sorry for me sensei. I am happier here than I ever was at ho...at the Hyūga compound." Hinata beamed a smile that showed nothing but sincerity and it soon spread to Kurenai's face as well.
"Well let's not keep Shino-san and Harume-chan waiting then. They might start the mission without us." Nodding, Hinata took off making her sensei have to catch up to her for once. 'Well whatever the case, thank you Naruto for taking care of her. At least she's happy.'
• • •
Haku couldn't help but doubt Naruto's over eagerness at first. When they had gotten to the mission hall he didn't even hesitate as he picked out over a dozen missions from the D-rank pile. After a short explanation of the ranking system she was already wondering why he would chose something so easy when they could do a C-rank for more money. She got her answer as soon as they left the hall and he created a massive number of clones. He handed out their duties as he left the most physically demanding one to himself and Haku. They ended up digging a trench around some guy's property to reroute part of a nearby stream to 'make his place look nice'. With the help of more clones they were finished by lunch and back inside the mission hall. Haku was still a little amazed that all the clones had finished their tasks as well, so they now stood in front of the poor chūnin that had to tally all of the missions. All total they had done enough missions to equal the payout of a mid C-rank. The main difference was that they didn't even have to leave the village for it, and it only took half a day.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what mission team eight got?"
The chūnin looked up at Naruto, gauging what the boy was after. "They were sent on a low C-rank to guard some paranoid businessman on a week long vacation to southern Fire country. Should be an easy one, but man I wish I could have been so lucky. An all expenses paid vacation as a mission. I envy them."
"I see...thank you." Naruto turned around and started to walk out of the room. On their way out of the building they bumped into team seven again. Luckily their sensei was with them so there was little they could do. Not that they were any real threat at all. "Ah Kakashi-san, getting your mission for the day huh?"
"Actually, dobe we just finished. Tora the pain, and before lunch."
"That's right baka. Even Kiba actually came in use for once since he could track the furball down. Sasuke-kun did all the real work though since he caught the beast."
Kiba meanwhile was at the back, trying to keep the cat from sinking its claws into his face more than it already had. "Heh why even bother telling him about it? If he ever gets this mission he would be out there all month just trying to find the thing. There would probably be a mission assigned to find him. Not that anyone cares enough to look for him."
"Ne Kakashi-san," The jōnin looked up from his book, which rather surprised his team since he never did that when they talked to him. "Make sure you take your team to the record boards. They might have been close to the top." Kakashi just smiled at him as team eleven walked away from the building.
Outside Haku turned to her teammate. "Why boost their ego like that, and half a day to catch a cat?! The cat would have to be invisible for that to even be a challenge."
Naruto just chuckled. "Tora is the bane of all Konoha genin teams. It's the fire Daimyo's wife's cat. She basically tortures the thing with kindness and it runs away every chance it gets, which sometimes means multiple times a day if it's caught fast enough. After running from ninja so often, it's picked up some decent evasion skills."
"Ok that still doesn't explain why you stroked their egos."
"Because the higher you are the farther you have to fall."
"Huh?"
"I'm the holder of the record for catching Tora. It was my first mission and I completed it in less than thirty minutes...solo." That did it. Haku was on the ground laughing as she tried to visualize the faces of team seven when they saw the record board. She wasn't denied as they saw team seven walking, or rather stomping out of the mission building. When they noticed the two laughing they sent them death glares and looked ready to jump in for an attack, but a quick word from Kakashi and they sent one last glare before continuing on, with Kakashi giving them a smiling wave as he marched his team away. This of course sent Haku into more fits of laughter for another ten minutes before Naruto was finally able to get her settled.
"Oh that was classic. I wish we had a picture for that moment. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard." Haku exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Well now that we've had our comedic relief, what say we go get some food before we get our afternoon missions?"
"Afternoon missions?"
"What you thought that was it? Hell no. I have two beautiful women to support now. I'm going to need some money." Haku just laughed again and kissed him on the cheek before they walked off towards the food stands.
• • •
The next two days went pretty much the same way. Missions in the morning, lunch, more missions, dinner, then an hour or so working on the grounds of the estate before they bathed and went to bed. The monotony was broken only a few times when they would cross paths with one of the other teams and stopped for a quick chat, or to trade a few barbs. Haku was soon amazed by the amount of money they were getting, not that they would be considered rich by any means. At the same time though, she felt a little guilty that it was really Naruto doing most of the work even if he was using clones. On the third day they got a pleasant surprise in the afternoon when the met team eight in the mission hall. They looked a little tired and Kurenai looked very pissed.
Ignoring the mood Naruto rushed over to Hinata and gave her a kiss. "I thought you were going to be gone a whole week?"
"Ano, something happened and we ended up failing our mission and coming back early." Hinata blushed a bit and turned her head away.
Kurenai was more than happy to explain though. "What happened was that fat bastard of a businessman thought we were his slaves in the full sense. He tried getting fresh with me and I let him off with a firm warning, but when I caught him trying to grope Hinata and Harume...lets just say I made my point perfectly clear that ninja were not his personal escort service." She huffed and turned back to the scared chūnin that was in charge of missions for the day.
"She broke both his wrists, two ribs and his left leg.. She also knocked out four of his teeth, gave him two black eyes, a busted lip and possibly a concussion. His vacation was cut short so we failed and now we're back." Harume wasn't nearly as nice about her description. She had always been blunt and straight to the point.
The one that shocked him though, was Shino. "It was...scarey..." The boy had no emotion in his voice, but from the blanching of his skin it was clearly something that he hadn't wanted to see.
Naruto stepped away from Hinata and bowed low. "I thank you Kurenai-san, for protecting that which is precious to me."
Kurenai smiled at the gesture. "It was my pleasure Naruto-san. Now since that's done with, we'll need a mission for today please. It'll have to be something D-rank though since we just got back." The chūnin nodded and dug into the stack. To Kurenai's dismay it was catching Tora. "You don't have something a little...faster?"
"Oh don't worry Kurenai-san Tora is easy. Let's see it's just after one so that would put her...around training ground twelve. If you leave now you should just be able to get her before she moves. If she does move you'll have to wait about twenty minutes then she'll be at the dumpster behind the fish market." The mouths of everyone in the room just dropped open as they stared at the boy.
"W-well um thank you Naruto-san. Uh I guess we'll take that one then." Composing themselves team eight left with their now very easy mission.
"That was nice of you Naruto-san, but how do you know where Tora will be?" The chūnin asked still a bit perplexed.
"Oh, we kind of set up a few meeting spots for me to pet her. She has to move often though so whatever team is looking for her looses track. Have to defend my title after all."
"So basically you could have taken that mission and finished it in minutes?" Haku asked.
"Well yeah, but if you'd seen how she gets treated you'd want her to be free as much as possible too. Pity though. Since they stalled they missed her. Guess they won't be breaking my record this time." Haku and the chūnin just sweat dropped. "Well since Hinata-chan is back early how about we call it a day then and we'll celebrate her team getting the second best record?" The couple smiled as they walked out of the room leaving one very confused chūnin.
They just walked around for awhile and ended up being right on time to catch team eight leaving the mission hall. Hinata ran up and planted a hard kiss on him. "Thank you Naruto-kun. Now we have the second best record for Tora!."
"Hai, thank you Naruto-san. Without your assistance we would have had a much longer mission." Hey it wasn't outright emotions, but it was still appreciation from the bug boy.
Kurenai was all smiles. Sure they had a little help, but her team was now on a record board and she couldn't be happier. Well maybe if they hadn't missed the cat in the training field. Oh how she would brag to her peers tonight. "Well since we got that done you are all free for the rest of the day. Get some sleep tonight because tomorrow is a training day. Thank you once again Naruto-san. Your help was greatly appreciated."
"No problem. So Hinata-chan, Haku-chan. Lets go get washed up and celebrate!"
The three dashed off towards their home and in no time they had washed the day's grime off and were dressed for a casual night out. They soon found a decent barbeque restaurant and decided that was where they would eat. It was one of the few places that Naruto wouldn't get tossed out of, even though he would get some glares, so it was better than most of the other places in his opinion. When they were seated they soon found that they were right behind another genin team from Naruto and Hinata's academy class. Team ten was eating at their normal table, mostly watching as Chōji sucked down mouthfuls of meat. After placing their own orders, they couldn't help but listen to the loud conversation that was going on next door.
"So I heard that Sasuke-kun's team was going to go to the chūnin exams. He's so cool. He must be so good at missions that they didn't have a choice but to move him to higher difficulty missions, and the only way they could was by watching him beat the snot out of a bunch of other genin so he could be promoted! I even heard that his team finished a C-rank turned A-rank mission. Sasuke-kun is so cool!" If the voice had a little more screeching to it they would have easily guessed it as belonging to Sakura, but the bobbing platinum blonde ponytail made it obvious that it was Sasuke's other self proclaimed number one fan, Yamanaka Ino.
"Ino-san please keep it down it would be troublesome if you were overheard."
"Nom nom nom nom."
"You know, I was thinking of getting you three entered in the chūnin exams too." Sarutobi Asuma had to be one of the laziest sensei's ever, but he seemed to fit his team perfectly.
"That would be so cool! Me taking the chūnin exams with Sasuke-kun. Maybe if I get to fight that bitch Sakura I can show him how strong I've become. Yeah! Let's do it!"
Had Shikamaru not fallen asleep and Chōji been paying attention to more than his food they may have disagreed, but as it was they ended up with no say in the matter. Being his team, Asuma had to make the final judgment call, something he never really liked doing since it took too much brain work for his liking. He just shrugged. "Ok I'll get you the forms tomorrow."
With a Sakura-like shriek Ino startled half the restaurant including her two teammates who just realized something happened that they wouldn't like. "Troublesome..."
Naruto just chuckled at their antics and shook his head. "They'll soon find out that the chūnin exams aren't all fun and games. If Shikamaru had any motivation at all he'd probably kill Ino and his sensei."
"You don't think they're ready for it Naruto-kun?"
"Not really."
"Then why not tell them it's a bad idea?"
"Two reasons. One they need to experience it so Ino understands what being a ninja really means, and two Shikamaru will keep them out of trouble. He may be lazy but he's an expert at getting out of things he finds too troublesome, and believe me he would find a fight too troublesome."
Their food arrived shortly after and they were soon enjoying the barbeque feast. Due to Chōji's appetite they were finished well before team ten and left for home without the other genin knowing they were even there. In minutes they were inside on the couch in the living room. Naruto sat in the middle with a girl on each side cuddled up to him under some blankets as he read over a random jutsu scroll. One of the few that had been left in the house. About halfway through he remembered something and turned to Haku whose eyes were drooping dangerously.
"Haku-chan, we need to go see what Hokage-jiji wants us for tomorrow." A half asleep uh-huh was all he got and he chuckled as he kissed the top of her head. He would deal with it in the morning it wasn't that important, and he already had a feeling what it was about anyway. Turning he gave an already asleep Hinata a kiss as well before settling back into his scroll. In less than an hour he joined them in dreamland as they stayed cuddled together on the couch without a care in the world.
• • •
The next day Naruto woke feeling a little uncomfortable. As he blinked open his eyes he looked around trying to register where exactly the feeling was coming from. He was still on the couch and covered by blankets, but the heads that had been next to him the night before were nowhere to be found. Shrugging it off he threw the blankets to the side and froze. He was now wide awake as he found the source of his discomfort. The two missing heads were laying on his thighs while two small hands encircled his, ah...third leg through his pants. He tried to hold back the nose bleed, but there was no holding back the beet red blush as he twitched in their grasp. He could only pray that he found a way out of this before they woke up. Luckily he didn't have to worry about it too much as the two girls rose as one and began rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, successfully removing their hands from him without even realizing it. Before they could get their bearings he quickly kissed them and excused himself so they wouldn't see his arousal as he dashed up the steps and into his room.
Thirty minutes and one breakfast later they were all dressed and ready for their day with neither of the girls being the wiser of the mornings events. Hinata's team once again picked her up at the gate as they went to pick up their daily mission. Meanwhile Naruto told Haku once again that they needed to see the Hokage first and they sped off towards the tower. They entered with no problems as the secretary was too tired this early to even look up from the appointments book as she waved them through.
Inside the office Sarutobi sat working diligently on his morning paperwork until he heard the door open. He wasn't used to getting visitors this early, but was pleasantly surprised to see Naruto and Haku as they entered through the door. "You wanted to see us Jiji-san?"
"Ah Naruto-kun, Haku-chan. I hadn't expected you this early in the morning, though I must admit I did expect you to come before today. No matter though. Here, I need you to fill out these forms Haku-chan, and then I need both of you to fill out these." He handed Haku a few sheets of paper, then handed a single sheet to both of the genin.
For Haku the small stack was basically her swearing in for her ninja duties. Something the old man had obviously forgotten. A few signatures later and she handed them back to him without a second thought and happily received her official hitai ite. The other sheet was exactly what Naruto had expected based on what he had overheard in the restaurant from team ten. It was a registration form for the chūnin exams. There were a few things on it that he had to question though as he read through the rules. "I assume these will be modified for our unique...situation?"
"Ah, yes, for you of course won't have a third teammate, so just forget about what those say, and the part about the jōnin sensei, and the part about needing three people to pass to the next portion, and...well basically it'll all be set to allow for your situation so don't worry about it." Getting a satisfied nod from the blond he soon had two completed and signed registration forms on his desk. He gave them their Identification cards with one last piece of advice. "I suggest you both train hard from now until the exams. These will be against ninja from other villages as well as our own so familiarize yourself with their possible techniques as much as possible. You are the most likely to succeed out of all those that have been nominated this year as far as I'm concerned, so do your best."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama, with Naruto-kun and myself working together we shall breeze through the exam with ease." Haku said with an air of confidence.
"I do hope so."
The two left the office with a bow and made their way to the mission hall. Just because the Hokage said they should train hard didn't mean they had to slack off on their missions. They would keep it to mornings only though as much as possible. They kept their D-ranks simple so that they wouldn't waste energy, easily finishing before lunch, and leaving for home.
"If we're going to spend more time training we should probably get some food to keep at the house. That way we aren't leaving for every meal. Besides it would be nice to actually use the kitchen for more than cereal every once in awhile. I'll go for some supplies this afternoon and we'll work out a training schedule this evening." Haku said as they made their way through the village.
"Alright. I had been meaning to do a little chore for awhile now anyways. Tell you what. Here's some money. You go get yourself some lunch and supplies and I'll go start my task. We'll meet back at the house for dinner. I'll be in and out all afternoon in case you get back early."
They separated to their tasks as Haku went towards the center of town and Naruto headed, oddly, towards their house. It wasn't until he was halfway to his destination that he realized that his lair was only a block away from where he now lived. Thinking back to what the lair was originally used for it sent a slight shiver down his spine that no one even knew it was their, or what had been happening literally right under their feet. 'It's about lunchtime though so no one should be around, but what about later...what can I do to make sure people aren't nosing around where they shouldn't be. Ah got it!' Making a quick detour he stopped at a storage shed of the maintenance department to grab some supplies. Some paint and stencil work later he had just what he needed to ensure some privacy.
Heading back to the entrance to his lair he set out the barriers he made around the area. Each clearly stated 'Caution: Sewage Leak' If that didn't deter someone then he would question their ideas of an enjoyable atmosphere. He ducked into his second home and began the somewhat slow process of sealing up the numerous scrolls that he planned on taking with him. He also grabbed some history texts so Haku would have something to read to get to know about the village she was now a part of. Along with the literature he stashed away some of his weapons stash. It wouldn't do for them to have nothing readily available, and now that Hinata didn't have a supply from her clan she would need a place to get hers from. As he worked he set everything into a wooden box to ensure a safe journey to his house. Not that he couldn't defend his own property, but it would just be easier this way. By the time he filled the box he had only stored about one twentieth of what he had here of scrolls and texts, and barely touched the weapons. He also sealed up his small smithy, his sealing supplies and some of his training equipment. Closing, sealing and locking the box he left the lair, locking everything up behind him. He now had enough to cover most of the sections of shelves in his new library, and the weapons would be fine in storage until needed.
As he headed back to the surface he had to duck down as he saw team seven passing by, unfortunately he wasn't fast enough as Kiba's eye caught his blond hair as he ducked behind a nearby bush.
A/N: The chūnin exams are coming up soon, so now will be time for training. The actual exam won't start until chapter twelve, just so you know, but that's not to say there won't be a bit of confrontation before then as I'm sure you can tell.