The aroma of grilled fish slowly and steadily filled the air. Naruto pulled out a few simple seasonings from his backpack and sprinkled them evenly over the fish.
As the fire roared and time flew by, each team member took turns washing up since the water source was a bit of a distance from the tent. Shino, being an insect master, had to be careful about getting into the water. Kiba preferred washing up with Akamaru, and Hinata planned to train a bit longer before cleaning up.
Naruto walked downstream, carrying the Kyubi with him, and casually tossed the fox into the water, along with a bottle of sake. He stood on the riverbank, arms crossed, watching the fox drink.
"You're really doing this?" Kyubi surfaced, baring its fangs in annoyance.
"Hurry up and drink. Stop dragging it out." Naruto said nonchalantly, throwing a few more bottles into the water. Yawning, he added, "I'm going to take a bath nearby. Call me when you're done."
Kyubi didn't answer, but gathered all the bottles on a reef while soaking in the water and leaned against the reef to avoid the rushing currents. Under the moonlight, the waterfall glistened like silver, and the fox, with both paws on the bottles, gulped down the sake.
Not long after, Naruto carried the drunk Kyubi back to the tent after having thoroughly scrubbed him in the water, and threw him next to the extinguished campfireto dry.
Inside the tent.
"Why are you so afraid of me?" Naruto couldn't understand and frowned as he looked at Akamaru and Shino who were keeping their distance.
"The insects are uneasy." Shino said, staring at the drunken Kyubi in the corner.
"Naruto, what on earth did you bring back with you?" Kiba held the trembling Akamaru in his arms helplessly, "Akamaru's scared out of his mind."
"What? It's just an ordinary fox dog." Under the bright yellow tent light, Naruto gently kicked the completely knocked-out Kyubi, "Look, it's out cold now. How scary can it be?"
"Anyway, let's wait for Hinata to come back, and then ask her if she's willing to sleep next to you." Shino put his hands in his pockets and said, "It's hard to overcome the fear rooted in instinct of living things in a short period of time."
Akamaru clung tightly to Kiba, his paws digging in, refusing to let go.
Outside, footsteps approached. Hinata lifted the tent flap and walked in. She usually gave herself extra training to improve her strength.
"Ah, perfect timing, Hinata." Kiba walked over and pointed to the spot next to Naruto, then said, "Hinata, you should sleep next to that guy."
"Ah!" Hinata's carefully built mental preparation crumbled instantly. Her face flushed a deep crimson, and she trembled as she weakly replied, "O-Okay."
Kiba was stunned for a moment and didn't hear her clearly, and he seemed to have realized the awkward implication of his words. Just as he was about to explain, Shino spoke, "Both my insects and Akamaru are afraid of Naruto's fox dog, so we're asking you to sleep there instead, Hinata."
Everyone had their own sleeping bags, and the tent was spacious enough that where they slept shouldn't matter. But even if Kyubi was drunk, his oppressive power over the lower-level animals was still strong.
Hinata was too shy to say anything, and Naruto, already in his sleeping robe, squinted at the quietly conversing group. Raising his voice, he said, "Actually, I could just toss this thing outside and bring him back in the morning. He won't even notice."
As soon as the words fell, the tent fell silent instantly, and Shino, Kiba, and Hinata all turned to look at Kyubi sprawled out in the corner.
The drunken Kyubi, unaware of his impending fate, rolled over and continued sleeping.
"Absolutely not!" Kiba, a staunch dog lover, reacted strongly, and rebuked, "It's your companion too! How can you treat a dog you've adopted like that?!"
Shino didn't say anything, but subtly nodded in agreement with Kiba's point of view.
There is an insect master and a dog trainer in Team 8. Both from clans that had dealt with animals for generations, so naturally, they cherished their pets more than ordinary people.
"Alright, alright." Naruto chuckled awkwardly, 'Thanks to these two, this stupid fox escaped the fate of being thrown outside.'
"But, won't Hinata get embarrassed?" Naruto suddenly pointed at Hinata and said, "After all, I'm different from you guys who had been teammate and trained together every day. This is the first time I'm sharing a tent with you guys."
"You bastard! Don't say it in such a disgusting way!" Kiba retorted, visibly repulsed, "If you try anything funny with Hinata, I'll beat you up."
"Huh? Did you say something? Your words are like gibberish to me."
"You…!"
Looking at the two people who continued to bicker, Shino took a step forward and said to Hinata.
"Hinata, are you okay with this?"
"I…" Hinata's face turned crimson and she lowered her eyes. She had already said it once, but no one heard her. Saying it again...
"It's okay. If it's too uncomfortable, I can take that spot." Shino offered in a neutral tone.
"… But your insects won't be able to bear it, right?"
"True, even just being in the same tent is already making them uneasy." Shino said truthfully.
"In that case, I-I can do it." Hinata said, lowering her gaze even further, her voice growing softer, "I don't want to trouble everyone."
Shino didn't say anything, unsure of what else to say for a moment. The Hyuga Clan's emphasis on not causing trouble for others was deeply ingrained, so he could only nod.
The tent gradually grew quiet as the four settled into their sleeping bags, lined up in a row.
Naruto was on the far left, with Hinata next to him. Kiba, who was holding the trembling Akamaru, was beside her, and Shino lay on the far right.
Perhaps because the insects were more sensitive than dogs, the insects in Shino's body remained extremely uneasy. The cause of all this, Kyubi, was sound asleep in the corner of the tent.
In the middle of the night, Hinata, who was too nervous to sleep, opened her eyes, gasping softly. Her left cheek felt burning hot, as if it were being roasted over a fire.
For no reason, she suddenly thought of the campfire, the grilled fish, and the embarrassing incident that happened the day before yesterday.
Being caught in such a situation by Ino and her mother… Though she was too tense to notice at the time, it still had made her so embarrassed that she couldn't sleep all night after crawling into bed at home.
Now, recalling that feeling, Hinata's face flushed again.
She instinctively shook her head, trying to calm herself down. But at that moment, Hinata suddenly saw out of the corner of her eye that Naruto had opened his eyes and seemed like he had been watching her all along.
Naruto, still half-asleep, noticed Hinata moving around restlessly after opening his eyes, so he stared at her for a while.
Hinata's body suddenly froze, and she turned her head to look at Naruto. A surge of unfamiliar, bittersweet emotion washed over her, making her feel as if her entire body was softening.
Her heart was pounding wildly, and the dim environment made her feel both ashamed and anxious, as if she were about to burst into steam.
Even though Naruto said nothing and just looked at her, Hinata felt as if she could hear his voice echoing in her ears.
'This is also part of the training.'
'That kind of thing…' Hinata's mind turned to mush and her face was getting hot, so hot that she thought she might faint.