Chapter 3: Teamwork… ish

"So, what can you tell me about Kakashi Hatake?" Asked Naruto as he laid on his and Anko's bed, said purple haired woman being in a state of bliss as she wrapped herself around him and rested her head on his chest. She had been extremely happy when he had come back early before proceeding to make the best of her day off by spending it fucking him through the entire afternoon and most of the night.

As he held the seemingly always-horny-for-him woman close, her voluptuous sweaty body against his, Naruto also wasn't complaining at all.

"Is he the jonin that was assigned to you and your team?" She asked in a happy voice and when he nodded, she continued speaking in the same fashion. "Well, he is arguably the strongest jonin in the village and Sandaime-sama's unofficial right-hand man. He is proficient in all the ninja arts but his specialty is Raiton (Lightning Release). He is known as Kopī Ninja no Kakashi (Copy Ninja Kakashi) because he is known to use the Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye) he hides with his forehead protector to copy the jutsu of his foes when he is fighting them. And unless strictly ordered by the Hokage, Kakashi is always two and three hours late for everything. He is also a pervert who likes to read smut in public. You have your work cut out for you, Naru-kun."

Naruto hmmed in thought. He already knew, from his memories as Minato and Kushina, that Kakashi had been the most talented of his generation and he also had been a hard worker, so the fact that he was the current strongest jonin wasn't surprising, nor the fact that he had Obito Uchiha's sharingan and that he used it to make a name for himself. What surprised him was the fact that he apparently was always deliberately late to everything and was a blatant pervert.

'Is he purposely acting like Obito Uchiha purposely in order to keep his memory alive?' Wondered Naruto as that was the most likely scenario that explained Kakashi's change.

While the Minato and Kushina in him was glad that he managed to find a way to cope with the deaths of Obito and Rin, the Kurama in him couldn't start giving enough fucks. Also, as Naruto, who was extremely angry at the man for never attempting to even check on him. Minato and Kushina were also disappointed and angry at him, so that meant that his feelings for Kakashi were more negative in nature.

"He told us there is going to be an extra test later today," he said 'later today' because it was currently a few minutes past midnight. He grabbed a handful of Anko's ass and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "Anything you can tell me about it?"

Anko moaned in delight at his ministrations. "Just that no team that has been assigned to him has ever figured it that the test is about teamwork because he makes sure to put them against each other."

'Ah. So, he implements the bell test. That's good to know,' he thought before looking down at Anko and giving her a thankful peck on her temple. "Thanks, Anko-chan. I'll make sure to have my team work together so we can pass."

Anko smiled at his tender kiss and looked up at him. "So, who's on your team?" She asked before grabbing his semi-hard cock and began to pump it in order to get it ready for the next round. Oh, how she loved his basically unlimited stamina and short recovery time. To her, he was the perfect man for her and she knew for a fact that he was going to be the perfect man for many other women.

"Hinata Hyuga…" he said and trailed off with a smile before his face twisted in distaste as he continued. "… and Sasuke Uchiha."

Anko grimaced, stopping her actions for a moment. "Ouch. That one is a nasty piece of work."

Naruto nodded in agreement, his expression matching hers. "Yeah. While he is skilled for a genin, he thinks that his current abilities make him Kami's gift to Konoha. It doesn't help that most of the civilians and some of the ninja kiss the earth that he walks on and constantly praise him. He is an arrogant asshole and a prick. Did you know that he lives on a different house as his mother just because she refuses to help him get revenge on his older brother?"

Anko nodded her head a bit sadly. "Yeah. Everyone knows and most of them take Sasuke's side, not even stopping to put themselves on her shoes. Mikoto is a very nice woman that doesn't deserve what happened to her," she said before smirking and resuming her work on his dick. "You know, she is still very sexy and very beautiful. I think you should add her to the list of women you plan to make yours, Naru-kun. I think you are exactly what she needs right now."

Naruto grunted and smirked. "The thought has crossed my head. It also helps that you want to fuck her too, right?"

Anko gave him a shameless grin. "Yup," she agreed without hesitation before giving him a curious look. "And what about your other teammate? Hinata?" She knew some about the Hyuga heiress from Kurenai but she wanted to hear Naruto's thoughts on her.

Naruto smiled. "Hinata is a sweetheart. She still has some issues regarding her confidence on her abilities as a kunoichi but I will make sure to work with her on that," he then grinned perversely as he gave Anko's ass a hard squeeze as she began to increase the pace of her pumping of his dick. "And guess what? She has a huge crush on me, as do her friends Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, and the best part? I overheard them and they are more than willing to share."

Anko's eyes momentarily rolled to the back of her head as a mini-orgasm rocked her body as Naruto's words sent her imagination into overdrive. She had seen Hinata a few times because of her close relationship with Kurenai and had caught a glimpse of both Ino and Sakura.

Needless to say, Anko very much approved.

When she regained her senses, a crazed expression of lust appeared on Anko's flushed face as she panted before she straddled Naruto and sunk on his cock with a scream of ecstasy. "FUCK ME! FUCK ME YOU FUCKING STUD! AND DON'T STOP UNTIL I AM IN A COMA!" She screamed as she began to frantically jump up and down the length of his cock, her face contorting stupidly in pleasure with crossed eyes and a silly grin almost splitting her face in two.

Naruto grabbed Anko by her round and jiggling ass and began to meet her jumps with thrusts of his own as he grinned up at her. "As you wish, Anko-chan!"

Oh, how glad he was that ne no longer required sleep to function correctly.

XXXXXXXXXX

(The Next Day)

Even though Anko had told him about Kakashi's habit of being at least two hours late for everything, Naruto arrived a few minutes before eight at Training Ground 7 after first going to TG43 to leave clones training, which he had failed to do so yesterday. He had already mastered everything he had set to do during that week in order to develop a fighting style that went according to what his level, if he was an unprecedented genius, would be after getting a hold of the Forbidden Scroll for a few hours.

He had his clones work further on his chakra control and on the high-speed technique based off the Shunshin that would be geared more towards combat. He also had his clones work on the Kokuangyo no Jutsu (Bringer-of-Darkness Technique), a genjutsu developed by the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, that didn't require the fine chakra control that most genjutsu required to be performed correctly, meaning that he could eventually do it without achieving mastery of his infinite amount of chakra.

And finally, he had his clones work on developing the muscle memory of this body in order to successfully write the amount of seals he now knew thanks to the memories of Minato and Kushina. With the number of clones he put to the task, he knew that it wouldn't take him more than two months before he could successfully write every seal they knew without the danger of making a mistake that could result in an explosion. While he could survive even getting his brain destroyed, he didn't want to deal with the annoyance.

Anyways, the reason why he arrived early despite knowing that Kakashi would make them wait at least two hours was because he wasn't about to leave Hinata alone with Sasuke for that amount of time. That was the kind of torture that he wouldn't wish on anyone. That, he wanted to spend more time with her, both for his own selfish and perverted reasons and to keep on helping her build her confidence.

Both Hinata and Sasuke were already there when he arrived.

"Hinata-chan! Good morning!" He greeted her with enthusiasm the moment he approached her. He then turned towards Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree a few feet away. "Uchiha."

Sasuke barely glanced at him before looking away. "Hn."

Hinata smiled at him and blushed at the affectionate honorific he added to her name. It felt good to hear it coming from him. She was glad that Naruto arrived since the short amount of time she spent alone with Sasuke, who had returned the polite greeting in the same manner he just did Naruto's admittedly neutral greeting, had been spent in very awkward silence. "Good morning to you as well, Naruto-kun. How are you?"

Now completely ignoring Sasuke, Naruto turned towards Hinata and beamed at her. "I'm pretty good and excited and ready for whatever Kakashi-sensei –" Ugh. Now that he thought about it, it felt weird to call him that, what with his memories as Minato and the roles used to be reversed. "- throws at us. How about you?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah. I'm well as well. And I think I am also ready for his test," she told him. She was very determined to pass said test too. There was no way in hell that she was going to let the opportunity of being in a team with Naruto for the foreseeable future be jeopardized. This was a dream come true and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that it stayed a reality.

Naruto chuckled, easily deducing her thoughts by sensing her emotions, and smirked mischievously. "I take it that you ate something, right?" He asked, deliberately rising his voice a bit. Hinata nodded, her expression a bit embarrassed as she covered her mouth to hide her own smile, realizing what Naruto was doing. She made no move to stop him though. "Yeah. I did as well. Did Kakashi-sensei really thought that we would be so stupid as not to eat something before doing any kind of strenuous activity?"

Sasuke's entire body twitched and it looked like it was taking all of his willpower to not look at them.

Hinata giggled.

Naruto snickered.

For the next thirty minutes, Naruto and Hinata made idle conversation about every random topic that surged between them as they waited for Kakashi. Knowing that he was going to be late and unwilling to waste his time, Naruto decided to something productive in the meantime.

"Well, it looks like today is going to be a repeat of yesterday," deadpanned Naruto when there was a dull in the conversation which he used to make the show of look at the time using the position of the sun. He turned towards Hinata, who nodded in agreement with a frown of her own marring her pretty features. "How about we have that spar we talked about yesterday?"

Hinata's eyes widened a bit but she wasn't against the idea. "Would that be prudent?" She asked, worried about their sensei arriving at any moment and that her chances of passing would decrease if she spent even a small amount of energy before the test.

Naruto waved off her concerns. "I don't think it'll be a problem. Something tells me that Kakashi-sensei is going to be just as late as yesterday and I was hoping for a single spar only using taijutsu. I don't think we are going to tire that much," he said, easily deducing her concerns going by her question and sensing her emotions.

Hinata thought about it for a moment before smiling and nodding. "If that's the case, okay. Let's spar, Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned and jumped to his feet. "Yosh! Let's see who is better of the two in taijutsu, Hinata-chan!" He declared, extending a hand towards her.

With a giggle and a nod, Hinata blushed a bit as she gratefully accepted his hand to help her stand up.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and Hinata as they walked away before scoffing and focusing back on his brooding, which involved the many ways in which he would torture Itachi before killing him. Whatever those two got up to was beneath him. As long as they didn't get on his way to gaining the power he needed to kill his older brother and avenge his clan, they could do as they pleased.

Back with Naruto and Hinata…

The two of them stood a few yards away from each other, each one on their own stance. Hinata was in the base stance of the taijutsu style used by her clan, the Jūken (Gentle Fist), lightly crouching while presenting her left side to Naruto with her hands at the ready.

Naruto, for his part, was in his own costume stance, which was the one he felt the most comfortable in after successfully mixing the best and most effective techniques of all the styles he knew to make his own. Naruto's stance consisted in him crouching a little lower than Hinata while also presenting his left side to her. His left arm was extended and hung a bit low at about waist level with his finger relaxed, not completely extended nor completely curled against his palm. His right arm was flexed and slightly tucked into his body with his closed right fist being right beneath his chin.

"Ready?" Asked Naruto with an excited grin.

Hinata nodded with determined expression on her face. "Yes!"

"Go!"

The two of them shot at each other at speeds that were very high for a newly graduated genin. Naruto decided to perform at the same level he did so when he spared with Tenten a few days ago. They exchanged the first couple of attacks. Hinata was aiming for his upper body using palm strikes coming from different directions which he deflected and evaded while attempting to strike at her using his fists and elbows which she evaded with just a bit of effort.

Then Naruto was forced to step back when out of nowhere, Hinata aimed for his chin with a rising vertical kick, the sole of her high-heeled boots passing just a few inches in front of his nose and flicking the middle fringe of hair.

Naruto watched intently as Hinata slowly lowered her leg from the straight up position it ended without any effort or strain in her movements. He smirked. "My, my. Aren't you quite flexible, Hinata-chan." He said with his voice teasing and laced with noticeable innuendo.

Hinata's entire face got red and steam poured out of her ears as she struggled not to faint on the spot. In order to get rid of the thoughts that were put into her head, Hinata focused on continuing with the spar. She attacked Naruto once again and this time she mixed in a few kicks along with her palm strikes.

Naruto was put on the defensive for a moment as he adjusted to Hinata's new offensive manouvers. Naruto determined that right now Hinata was at the peak of High-Genin Level and that without enhancing herself with chakra and without her Byakugan (White Eye) activated. If she did that Naruto wouldn't be surprised if she could easily perform at Low/Mid-Chunin Level. How was she not confident in her skills he didn't know, but he was going to make sure she realized how good of a kunoichi she actually was.

Naruto then added his own kicks to the mix and it was Hinata's turn to be the defensive player this time around. She was not surprised to see that Naruto was better than her at taijutsu, even if his own style wasn't exactly as elegant and orthodox as her own, but she guessed that was what made it so effective. Its beauty laid on how unpredictable it was and how seamlessly Naruto could change between forms and deliver a completely random attack.

Hinata ducked under a sweeping backhanded punch and attempted a double palm strike towards Naruto's chest, only for the blonde to avoid it by leaning back and to the right. A normal person would have retaliated with a left roundhouse kick but Naruto responded with a sharp front kick that caught her in the abdomen and forced her back while she coughed a bit.

What surprised Hinata was how much she had lasted. Naruto's spars back in the Academy never lasted more than thirty seconds, with only Sasuke managing to last that much against him. Naruto always ended his fights fast since very few could keep up with his speed, reflexes and unpredictability. She had never had the luxury of sparing with him because their teachers for some reason always pitied boys against boys and girls against girls, so she only knew of his skill by watching spar and occasionally train when she not-stalked him.

So, she knew that he wasn't holding back. If anything, he was significantly better since the last time she saw him fight almost a month ago.

Hinata yelped as her foot was swooped underneath her when she tried to hit Naruto's temple with a kick and ducked under it while at the same time twirling around and striking at her with a low sweeping kick. Some air was forced out of her lungs when her back hit the ground sharply. She blinked when she felt something touching her forehead gently and she moved her eyes to the right to see Naruto kneeling at her side with his knuckles, which were wrapped in bandages, pressed against her forehead.

"I win," said Naruto with a grin before standing up and presenting his hand to her. Hinata sighed and nodded with a smile of her own and graciously accepted the hand Naruto offered to help her stand up. She turned a bit red when Naruto 'innocently' patted off the dust of her clothes. "There we go. And I guess this proves what I told you yesterday about your skills."

Hinata forgot her embarrassment as she heard Naruto's words. "Naruto-kun, but I lost. That actually proves what I said about you being better than me," she replied.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah. I won. But you lasted five straight minutes against me no one in our graduation class can claim that, not even His Royal Broodness, who is the other one to have graduated with the highest score," said Naruto, grinning when Hinata giggled as his nickname for Sasuke. "And that was in a taijutsu only match without using chakra. I bet if you had your Byakugan activated I would have been toasted."

Hinata averted her gaze in embarrasment but nodded her head. "I guess you have a point, Naruto-kun…" she trailed off before looking back at him with a serious expression that was slightly offset by her reddened cheeks. "But, what about if you use chakra as well? I am pretty sure the technique you used yesterday to move us from the classroom the room in a blink of an eye," she retorted.

Naruto clicked his tongue and raised both hands in the air. "Ugh, busted," he groused with a pout that had Hinata giggling once again. Naruto grinned sheepishly. "You caught me. No, the Shunshin no Jutsu is not the only thing I learned. Let's just say that if Kakashi-sensei pushes us enough, you'll be seeing the things I learned just by having the Forbidden Scroll for a few hours."

Hinata smiled a bit indulgently at him. "I will be looking forward to it."

"Alright," said Naruto with a clap before pointing back to where they had been before deciding to have the spar. "What do you say we go back and watch how annoyed the King of Brooding Darkness gets every minute Kakashi-sensei fails to arrive?" He grinned mischievously.

Hinata tried hard not to laugh but she ended covering her chuckles with her hands. "Okay," she agreed with a nod.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Two and half hours later)

"Yo," greeted Kakashi simply and lazily as he arrived in a poof smoke, crouching in one of the three wooden poles that were on the center of TG7, holding 'Icha-Icha Paradise' on his right hand and sending a two-fingered salute in the direction of the three genin with his left hand. "How are you three doing in this fine and wonderful morning?" He asked them with a matching voice.

A visibly angry Sasuke, judging by his scowl, red face and numerous throbbing veins, shot to his feet. "It's almost noon! You told us to be early and you made us wait three fucking hours!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. If there was one thing Sasuke hated was for others to make him waste time he could have spent gaining power.

Kakashi looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow. "Is that so? I'm deeply sorry then. I got lost in the road of life and time becomes meaningless when that happens," he excused himself after turning back to his book, his voice uninterested and completely unapologetic.

Sasuke gave a wordless scream of frustration and anger as he reached for a kunai.

While Hinata looked at the Uchiha with a disturbed look, Naruto chuckled and have Kakashi a thumb up. "I give it a seven out of ten, Kakashi-sensei. You'll have to give a better excuse next time," he said. He decided that he will behave somewhat neutral towards Kakashi. That way he could maintain his image even if the Minato in him wanted to give him a harsh reprimand while the Kushina in him wanted to beat his ass until he begged for forgiveness.

Kakashi gave him an eye smile. "Thank you. I'll make sure to work harder," he chirped with a 'determined' nod of his head.

Hinata noticed that Sasuke looked ready to seriously attempt to murder both Kakashi and Naruto so she intervened before things escalated unpleasantly… for Sasuke, that is. "Um, Kakashi-sensei? What are we going to be doing today?" She asked him. She didn't really mind Kakashi's tardiness if she was honest to herself. It allowed her more time to spend interacting with Naruto uninterrupted even if Sasuke was only a few feet away. He was a non-factor anyways.

At Hinata's question, Kakashi snapped his book closed and hopped off from the pole. "Ah, yes. I'm glad you asked, Hinata," he said before reaching into his pouch and producing two bells that jingled innocently as they dangled from his fingers. The three genin looked at the bells with varying degrees if curiosity. "You three are going to try and take these bells from me. To pass, each one of you needs at least one bell."

Sasuke felt the need to point out the obvious. "There's only two bells and three of us."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No, really? I didn't notice at all."

Sasuke's response was to glare at the blond for a few moments before snorting derisively.

Kakashi gave a cheery eye smile. "Of course, there is only two bells. That means that only two of you will pass and that is if you even manage to get the bells. The one that doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the Academy," he said with a matching tone as he used the cord that connected the two bells to strap them to the right side of his vest at waist level.

Naruto and Hinata exchanged uneasy looks while Sasuke got a determined one after sending a quick glare to both the blond and the bluenette.

With his eye smile still in place, Kakashi continued to speak in that completely fake cheery tone of his. "Use every method you deem necessary to acquire a bell from me. Remember to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise, you won't get a bell. You have an hour to do so. That means that you have till noon."

A worried look appeared on Hinata's face. "Intent to kill? Isn't that going too far for just a test?"

Thinking that her concern was cute, Kakashi chuckled before retorting. "I'm a jonin, Hinata. I think I can handle anything you three could throw at me. Now… start!" He shouted and he noticed how the three genin jumped into the woods around the clearing so they could hide. He looked around for a few moments before nodding in approval. "Their stealth skills are solid at least. That's good," he said before pulling out his book so he could continue reading.

With Hinata…

The Hyuga pressed her back against the back of the three she was using to hide from Kakashi as she ever so slightly tilted her just enough to look at him without the risk of him seeing her, which was possible thanks to all the foliage, and the shadows they casted, between them.

'I can't believe only two of us will have the chance to be genin under Kakashi-sensei,' she thought with a frown as she looked at the silver haired jonin, not knowing how she felt about him reading so uncaringly while in the middle of a test she felt was extremely important to her. 'This might make me an awful person, but if I had to choose, I would actually prefer Naruto-kun over Uchiha-san. However, I think I've never heard of-!'

Hinata's thoughts were brought to a halt when Naruto suddenly dropped in front of her. Thankfully, she didn't scream. Her reaction was for her body to stiffen, her eyes to widen and to get red in the face.

"Hey, Hinata-chan," he whispered to her after mirroring her position at her side, the three she had been using being wide enough to hide both of them without issues.

Hinata took a few moments to calm down before giving her crush a curious look. "Naruto-kun? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be thinking on how to get the bells from Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, some urgency leaking into her voice. If he wasn't doing so, then the chances of her being in a team with him decreased drastically, to say the least.

"That's the thing. I have been thinking about it and…" Naruto trailed off as he took a quick look at Kakashi, who was still reading without a care in the world, before he focused on Hinata. "I believe he is trying to trick us and is deliberately pitying us against each other."

Hinata's eyes widened a bit when she heard that. "How so?"

"I mean… have you ever heard of a shinobi team former with three members?" Hinata shook her head at Naruto's question. "Exactly. Me neither. Not only that, but yesterday he said that each genin has a thirty three percent chance of passing. However, if the three of us work together…"

Hinata's eyes widened further in realization. "… we have ninety-nine percent chance of passing!" She whispered-exclaimed with a low gasp before frowning in confusion. "If the point of this test is to determine whether or not we can work together, why is he putting us against each other on purpose? And telling us to not eat anything as well?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I think Kakashi-sensei is just a sadistic bastard that enjoys trolling others," he said, getting a sweatdrop from Hinata since that was an actual possibility, before growing serious. "As for why making us go against one another? I believe he also wants to test our ability to pay attention to detail. He did drop the hint about the possibility each one of us has of passing so there's that."

Hinata nodded. "That makes sense. In that case, I'm willing to work together to get the bells, Naruto-kun, but…" she trailed off as a conflicted expression appeared on her face.

Naruto understood what her concerns were right away. "… how are we going to get Sasuke to not only understand the real purpose of the test but also willing to work with us to get the bells?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes. Uchiha-san is not the most… understanding… individual. On top of that he is already angry because of Kakashi-sensei's lateness and he also has yet to eat something today, which doesn't help either," she pointed out.

Naruto blinked. "Hm, so him being late and telling us not to eat does have a meaning other than him just being an asshole," he mused before shaking his head at Hinata's quizzical look. "By doing that, he's trying to make us incapable of thinking clearly and/or deeply if we become too worked up before the test even begins. It's kind of genius, actually. The mother of all dick moves, certainly, but genius nonetheless."

Hinata just nodded in understanding and agreement.

After a few moments of thinking, Naruto grinned a mischievous smile that had Hinata's heart quickening a bit. "I guess we will have to work together with Sasuke without him knowing and trick Kakashi-sensei into thinking that we actually are..."

Hinata could only blink repeatedly as she tilted her head cutely to the side, expressing her confusion. "Eh?"

XXXXXXXXXX

(Fifteen minutes before noon)

Sasuke eventually got sick of waiting. He had been counting on one of the other two, mostly Naruto than Hinata going by their personalities, to make a move first so he could get a glimpse of Kakashi's fighting style before attempting to get a bell himself. He knew that none of them would be able to get a bell against a jonin and that he had the highest chances of getting them himself if he saw some of Kakashi's style first before attacking.

Sasuke conveniently forgot that he had never been able to win against Naruto in a spar, so, if the blond was incapable of getting a bell, then he was even less capable. Arrogance and superiority complexes had a special way of blinding people, Uchiha or not.

The first thing Sasuke did was to attack Kakashi by throwing kunai and shuriken from his hiding position. He wasn't exactly surprised when Kakashi used the Kawarimi to substitute himself with a log.

The moment Kakashi appeared once again, still reading his book, Sasuke jumped out of his hiding spot and glared at Kakashi. "You aren't taking this seriously," he said while gritting his teeth.

"Why should I?" Wondered Kakashi with actually honest curiosity as he flipped a page from his book. "You three are just newly minted genin while I am seasoned jonin. There is no need for me to take you seriously," he stated, not an ounce of arrogance in his lazy tone. He was simply stating a fact.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke as his glare intensified while slowly lowering into a stance. "Don't lump me in with those two. I'm different."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side curiously. "Is that so? As far as I know, Hinata got a few more point than you in your final scores and you have never beaten Naruto in a spar before," he commented before shrugging his shoulders. "If anything, you are the one that has the least chances to get a bell."

Quickly growing angry at Kakashi's words, Sasuke threw another set of shuriken and kunai at him.

With a sight, Kakashi easily evaded him. "You will never be able to hit me with-!" His words caught in their throat when Sasuke quickly closed the distance between them at speeds that no genin that just graduated had any right of having and forced him to quickly forgone his book to block a kick aimed for his head. 'I would expect this kind of speeds from a seasoned genin about to be promoted to chunin!' He thought to himself as took a hold of Sasuke's leg.

Only for Sasuke to twist himself and try to deliver a downwards vertical kick also aimed for Kakashi's forehead, forcing the silver haired jonin to block it was well, leaving his front wide open.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked as he quickly reached for the jiggling bells strapped to Kakashi's vest.

Quickly realizing his intentions, Kakashi disengaged himself from Sasuke by pushing him and also jumping back, looking at the Uchiha in a new light. 'His taijutsu is also very solid. I shouldn't be surprised, after all, he is…' Kakashi trailed off as his eyes widened a bit when he saw Sasuke skillfully going throw a set of six familiar hand seals. 'What?! He already has enough chakra to do that?!'

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)." Declared Sasuke as he made a circle with his index finger and thumb and put them right in front of his mouth as he spewed air from his mouth. He felt glee at the wide eye from Kakashi.

And that was when things took a turn outside of Sasuke's plan and of Kakashi's expectations.

"Uchiha-san! Good job on distracting him!" Exclaimed Hinata as she jumped out from the foliage, her pupils more distinct and the veins near her temple bulged, indicating that her Byakugan was activated. She quickly ran directly towards Kakashi and the incoming ball of fire that was bigger than the jonin with no visible concern for her safety.

Surprised, Kakashi turned towards her. 'What?! They are actually working together?! And she is even faster than Sasuke!' He screamed in his mind as he jumped back, his plan of using the Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique) to evade Sasuke's attack forgone in the wake of Hinata's surprising and aggressive offensive.

Hinata easily adjusted her trajectory in order to keep going straight at Kakashi, who braced himself. The fireball hit the ground with an explosion that ruffled their hairs and clothes and made the bells jingle multiple times as well just as Hinata reached Kakashi engaged him in taijutsu.

If Kakashi felt the need to pay attention when he faced Sasuke, he was no forced to take Hinata seriously.

Kakashi was surprised even further when he felt himself actually focusing and trying to dodge Hinata's palm strikes mixed in with some kicks, her assault shockingly ferocious, which was at odds with her previously gentle and well-mannered disposition but was also somehow fitting with her currently focused expression enhanced by her activated Byakugan.

Kakashi completely avoided every attack from her hands and blocked her kicks. 'I can't allow those to hit me,' he thought to himself as he continued to evade her attacks with some effort on his part. 'And to think some years ago she was considered a failure! What happened-!'

Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, with a triumphant look on her face, Hinata stopped her assault abruptly only giving Kakashi half-a-second to wonder what was happening as she jumped back before four silver chains glowing with a purplish aura exploded from right beneath him, cracking the ground before they wrapped themselves tightly around his arms and legs, keeping him in place.

'What the-?! Chains!? How in the-!' Kakashi thought frantically as he looked around only to see a triumphantly smirking Naruto kneeling a few yards away from him with his palms pressed flat to the ground. Kakashi tried to use a Kawarimi to escape but found out he couldn't mold his chakra as he wanted. His eye widened further. 'They are suppressing my chakra?! That means these are…'

"Chakra chains. Quite nifty, wouldn't you say so, Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Naruto rhetorically as he produced to more chains from his back that wrapped themselves around Kakashi's torso. The chains wrapped around the jonin's arms and legs were released and returned back to the ground. A moment later Naruto stood up and made a show of cleaning his hands of the dirt of the ground. "I think we demonstrated enough teamwork for you to pass us, right?"

A seething Sasuke, who had been about to scream and rage at Naruto and Hinata, paused as his eyes widened at the question. 'What?!'

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow at Naruto. "What are you talking about, Naruto? The point of this test is for two of the three to get the bells. Teamwork? I never said anything about that," he said, even though internally he was extremely pleased. 'This kid…'

Naruto rolled his eyes as he approached the restrained Kakashi. "Come off of it, Kakashi-sensei. We were onto you from the beginning. Everyone knows that shinobi teams have no less than four members. It's been always like that."

"And you told us yesterday that each one of us has a thirty three percent chances of passing the test, meaning, that if we worked together, we would have ninety-nine percent chance of success," contributed Hinata with a small smile as she also approached, her Byakugan no longer activated.

"Yeah. When we realized that, His Royal Broodness here offered himself to act as a distraction and to also make you believe that we were working together, since if it was him it would be believable considering that it is obvious that Hinata-chan and I get along very well while he just does his own thing and doesn't even talk to us. After that, it was just a matter of Hinata-chan pushing you until I could use my chains to capture you… which actually worked! Even I am surprised at that!" Said Naruto with a self-satisfied grin. Though he knew that the only reason they worked was not only because they caught Kakashi completely by surprise but because he had not taken them seriously from the beginning.

"Hm? Is that so?" Asked Kakashi, looking at Sasuke.

The Uchiha realized that the words of Hinata and Naruto made sense and he reluctantly, after seeing the pointed looks he got from the two of them, nodded his head while crossing his arms. "Hn."

"I see. In that case…" Kakashi trailed off ominously, the effect diminished by the fact that he was still wrapped in Naruto's chains, before giving a genuine eye smile. "Team seven passes with flying colors!"

Naruto grinned. "Yosh!" He pumped his fist to the air victoriously.

Hinata giggled happily as she clapped her hands.

Inwardly giving a sigh of relief, Sasuke smirked.

"Erm, Naruto, can you please release me?" Asked Kakashi after a few moments of watching his new official students celebrating. Naruto looked back at him from where he was high-fiving a flustered, but clearly happy, Hinata before adopting a sheepish expression as his chains unwrapped from around him and retracted back into him. "Can I ask how you learned to from chains out of your chakra, Naruto?" They might look different, but he would recognize Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains anywhere.

Kakashi also noticed the envious look Sasuke sent in Naruto's way the moment he asked the question.

Naruto blinked at the question before grinning. "Well, one day a few years ago I was just training how to channel my chakra throughout my entire body, just how they taught us in the Academy, when out of the sudden I sprouted one of those chains from my back. I've practicing with them ever since," he said, his voice more than a little bit smug. Inwardly, however, he amusedly thought that he was not going to tell him that he knew how to do it because a part of him was literally Kushina Uzumaki, who had been a master in their usage.

Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow. "And you didn't tell anyone about them because…"

Naruto crossed his arms and smirked. "A ninja has to have one trick or two up their sleeves, right? I wouldn't have been able to catch you off guard otherwise."

Kakashi paused before nodding. "Fair point," he said before adopting a serious expression that had the three genin focusing on him. "And yes, the point of this test was to not only determine whether or not you could work together, but also to see if you were capable of paying attention to detail and to what conclusions you could get with just snippets of information. I want you to remember these words for the rest of your lives: In the ninja world those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. And a ninja that can't look underneath the underneath is a dead ninja."

It was only thanks to the inhuman self-control that he got from Minato that he was able to stop himself from attacking Kakashi due to the hypocrisy of his words and even daring to tell them to his face just because as far as he was aware, Naruto didn't now who his parents were nor what the relationship was between them and Kakashi. The Kushina and Naruto in him wanted to beat him into a bloody pulp until he begged for the mercy of death, which would be denied, and the Kurama in him felt like taking a nap.

Instead, Naruto made the show of seriously thinking about his 'deep words' before nodding in agreement. Hinata seemed to do the same at his side.

Sasuke, for his part, just gave an obvious shallow nod of his head.

Kakashi gave the three genin an eye smile. "Alright, we are done for today. Tomorrow we begin our duties and training as the official Team Seven. From now on we will meet every day at the bridge you crossed to reach the training ground at eight o'clock in the morning. Ja ne!" He said with a cheery wave before leaving in a poof of smoke and swirling leaves.

Without a word, Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, turned around and began to walk away.

Naruto and Hinata watching him go with some incredulity on their faces.

Naruto glared at his back. "Yeah! You're welcome for basically making you pass!" He shouted and watched as Sasuke paused for a moment before continuing to walk. Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Prick. I'm pretty sure I'll never get along with that asshole."

Hinata smiled gently as she patted his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Don't worry about it, Naruto-kun. The important thing is that we passed. And besides, we don't necessarily have to get along to work effectively together, right?"

Naruto nodded before turning towards Hinata with a thankful expression on his face. "Yeah. Thank Kami we are on the same team together, Hinata-chan. I really don't know what would do without you," he said, making a show of sniffling as if he was about to cry.

Hinata's face became red when she heard his words. She averted her eyes and began to poke her two index fingers together. "I-I'm also gl-glad that we are on the same team, Naruto-kun," she said timidly, growing even more flustered if that was possible.

Naruto grinned at her. "Aww, Hinata-chan! You are so cute!" He declared before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her close. "Wanna get ramen to celebrate? My treat."

Steam pouring out of her ears, Hinata could only give a small nod as she refused to look at Naruto in the face. As Naruto dragged her away, arm still around her shoulder, Hinata could only wonder if this could be considered a date.

XXXXXXXXXX

(Konohagakure Ninja Academy – Administrative Division – Hokage's Office)

Hiruzen looked at the nine jonin standing in a straight line in front of his desk. He could tell that most of them were surprised by the fact that Kakashi was actually there on time but considering that he had explicitly told him to be on time for this meeting, it was to be expected. Though he could do without Kakashi reading 'Icha-Icha Paradise' in front of him. He had an image to maintain as the Sandaime Hokage and he couldn't have one of his subordinates tempting him to pull out his own copy.

"Report," he stated simply.

"Team One failed!"

"Team Two failed!"

"Team Three failed!"

"Team Four failed!"

"Team Five failed!"

"Team Six failed!"

Kakashi stepped forward when it was his turn. "Team Seven passed," he said simply, not looking up from his book, before stepping back.

Kurenai also stepped forward. "Team Eight pa-!" She stopped herself abruptly before looking back at Kakashi with wide eyes. "Wait, what?!"

The silver haired jonin raised an eyebrow when he noticed that everyone there, except the Hokage, was giving him bewildered looks. "What?"

Kurenai was the one to point one the reason why everyone was looking at him like he was a strange creature, which, in their line of work, was saying something. "For the first time since teams began to be assigned to you, you actually passed one of them. Because of your track record, no one thought this day would come," she said, glaring at him for daring to read 'Icha-Icha Paradise' in front of her. If she couldn't read her own copy in front of everyone because of social standards then he shouldn't be able to do so, dammit!

"Ah. Well, yeah. Those three actually have what it takes to become genin of Konoha," he said simply with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Heh," scoffed one of the jonin that had stated his team had failed. "I bet it was because of the Uchiha. They say the kid's a genius."

"Actually, no," denied Kakashi with a shake of his head. "They lead me to believe that reaching the conclusion of the test being about teamwork and looking underneath the underneath was reached in conjunction between the three of them."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "They led you to believe?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I'm positive that the ones that discovered the true meaning of the test were Naruto and Hinata and they took advantage of Sasuke attacking me first to make it seem like they were working together with Sasuke supposedly being the distraction. The only reason I passed them was because Sasuke went with their ruse the moment he realized the meaning of the test after Naruto and Hinata told me how they figured it out."

More than one was looking at Kakashi with wide eyes. For newly graduated genin, that was damned impressive.

Kakashi shrugged again before focusing back on his book. While outwardly Kakashi portrayed himself as he always did, aloof, lazy and uncaring, inwardly he cringed at what the likely reaction would be if they found out that he was actually caught off guard and captured by the admittedly effective work of two newly graduated genin, no matter how talented and skillful they were.

'It seems like I have to step up my training. Evidently, I've been slacking off,' he thought to himself. He was considered the strongest jonin in the village after all.

Hiruzen had a small, proud smile on his face. "It gladdens me to know that our future genin have such potential," he said before looking at his son. "Kurenai, please, continue with the report."

Asuma shook off the surprise brought by Kakashi's words. "Um, yeah, Hokage-same. Team Eight passed. Shino and Sakura also managed to deduce the true meaning of the test and managed to get Kiba to work with them, though he needed a considerable amount of convincing. Shino and Kiba show solid proficiency in their clan techniques and Sakura already shows talent for genjutsu."

Hiruzen nodded at her and he waited until she stepped back before looking at his son. "Asuma?"

After giving Kakashi another disturbed look, Asuma stepped up and shrugged his shoulders. "Team Ten passed. Did you expect any differently? Shikamaru quickly deduced the true meaning of the test and while Choji took almost no effort to convince to go with his plan, the only reason Ino went with it was because she saw and agreed with the reasoning behind Shikamaru's words. They managed to work together decently enough on their first try so I passed them. Despite Ino not exactly respecting Shikamaru and Choji because of their lack of work ethic, I believe that with enough time they will live up to what their fathers accomplished," he said before stepping back.

Hiruzen nodded. "Thank you. It seems life we have a good batch of 'front-liners' this year," he said, looking at Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma. "Make sure to get them ready to start taking C-Rank missions out side the village in less than two months' time. As for the others, they will be sent to the Reserve Division in order to determine what roles within the village infrastructure they are best suited for and give them more specialized training."

Despite failing to demonstrate the ability work together and pay attention to details, the genin that failed the test of their assigned jonin were still capable of successfully molding chakra, meaning that they could be of use elsewhere. The ones that managed to pass the test of their assigned jonin were the ones regularly going on missions outside the village, making them the ones that stood out the most and that had the highest rate of growth. That was how things worked since the foundation of Konohagakure after all.

The nine jonin nodded their heads.

Hiruzen nodded back at them. "Good. You are all dismissed, except you Kakashi, we have a few other things to discuss."

The others didn't bat an eye at this, knowing that Kakashi was the unofficial right-hand man of the Hokage, so they simply bowed and left.

The moment they went alone, Hiruzen gave Kakashi his most serious look so far. "Your assessment?"

Expression equally as serious, Kakashi answered. "This is only my initial observation but I believe there's nothing wrong with Naruto. Quite the opposite, actually. You said that he showed some animosity towards you after the ordeal with the Forbidden Scroll?" He asked and Hiruzen nodded, remembering how uncharacteristically formal Naruto had been with him the times he interacted with him. "I think some anger on his part was to be expected, considering that whom he thought as a grandfather deliberately withheld sensitive information from him and that he literally almost died when he found out about said information."

Hiruzen thought about it and nodded in agreement, sighing as he felt a weight lifting from his shoulders. "I see. We will have to keep an eye of him regardless, but, are you sure he won't be a threat to Konoha?" He asked, just to be sure.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I don't think so. His disposition was fairly cheerful and positive both yesterday and today, not even getting annoyed by my antics. He even said that his dream was still to become the Hokage, though I suspect that his reasons might have changed with this new development. How so? I am sure, but it is likely they did," he said before pausing and giving the Sandaime a serious look. "The one that worries me is Sasuke, actually."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "How so?" He knew that Sasuke held a deep hatred for his brother, Itachi, for killing his entire clan except for Sasuke himself and their mother, Mikoto. But for Kakashi to deem him more worrisome than Naruto, whom they both believed could lead to Konoha's destruction, was something to take note of.

"His arrogance and superiority complex can blind him to the most obvious things, leading him to overestimate himself, which can prove to be fatal on the field. Not only that, but he has not displayed any interest of getting closer to Naruto and Hinata. Also, I believe that the only reason he agreed to go with the ruse of the other two was to assure that he passed, not because he would've worked together with them even if they asked him to do so. I know this because he didn't even thank them for basically allowing him to pass," said Kakashi with the utmost seriousness.

"That is indeed troubling," mused Hiruzen before fixing Kakashi with a serious gaze. "In light of this new development, I want you to included Sasuke in your observations. Try to subtly encourage him to form bonds with Naruto and Hinata, as unlikely as that seems to be going by your words. In case that fails, try to make him form a significant bond with you. If you have to show slight amounts of favoritism in order to ensure Sasuke Uchiha doesn't become a flight risk, do so. If his relationship with Mikoto wasn't so abysmal we could've used her help but alas we must work with what we have."

Kakashi nodded his head. "Understood."

"Good. Dismissed."

XXXXXXXXXX

(Streets of Konohagakure)

Even though he showed an indifferent expression, Sasuke inwardly basked in the looks of awe and reverence most of the civilians sent his way the moment they caught a glimpse of him. 'Hn. As they should. I am an Elite Shinobi, thus, they most act accordingly towards their betters,' he thought to himself as he neared his apartment that was provided to him by the village. After the massacre, it was impossible for him to live in the Uchiha Compound. Thankfully, it had not been necessary for him to go there in order to retrieve some of the scrolls he had been using to train himself on Uchiha techniques for the past year.

"… Sasuke," he heard a voice whisper not to far way from where he was and he scowled when he recognized. He turned towards it only for his anger to increase at the sight of her.

"… Mother," he replied, his voice strained as he looked at her.

Mikoto Uchiha frowned both in sadness and in disappointment as she looked at her youngest son. Despite being in her late thirties, Mikoto still maintained a youthful appearance thanks to her good genes. She was an extremely beautiful woman of fair skin with long, straight black hair with bangs hanging on either side of her face that framed her cheeks and black eyes. The clothes she was wearing, a simple dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt and a light-yellow apron worn over it, did little to hide her curvaceous figure.

Knowing what today was, Mikoto gave a tired sigh. "… can I ask if your team passed the test by your assigned jonin sensei?"

After a moment, Sasuke answered. "Yes."

"Congratulations," she said, even though she knew it wouldn't be appreciated, which was confirmed when Sasuke just scoffed and looked away from her. Though he didn't leave, which she took as a good sign, so she attempted another question. "And may I know who are the other members of your team?"

After a longer pause, Sasuke also answered. "Our jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake. And my teammates are Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki."

Mikoto nodded in understanding when she heard Kakashi was Sasuke's jonin sensei. It made sense. He would be able to train him correctly in the use of his Sharingan when he awakened it. However, when she heard the name of Sasuke's male teammate, she couldn't help the light gasp that escaped her.

"Naruto Uzumaki?!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. "Yeah! What's so fucking special about him, huh?! He is just a no name orphan that will amount to nothing! Just a pebble in my path!" He growled, conveniently forgetting once again that he had never been able of winning against him or the fact that it was thanks to Naruto and Hinata that he had passed the test today.

Mikoto scowled at him when she heard his words. "It would do you well to not speak of things you don't know of, Sasuke," she told him frostily. If there was one thing she would never tolerate, not even from her own son, was for someone to mock anything to do with the sacrifice Kushina and Minato in order to ensure the continued survival of the village.

Sasuke just scoffed. "Whatever," he said before shoving his hands back into his pocket and walking away from his mother in direction of where his apartment was located, in one of the nicest parts of the village. He couldn't stand the sight of whom to him was a weak and spineless woman that neither lover or pride for her slaughtered clan.

Mikoto looked at him for a few moments before shaking her head as she started to make her way towards her own home. On the way, she couldn't help but curse the greediness of her 'dear husband', Fugaku, and most of her clansmen and planning a coup d'état that resulted in their termination. She also cursed Fugaku for raising Sasuke in the way he did. And finally, she cursed the moment she had simply accepted being given off to Fugaku and not fighting to be with the one she truly loved.

'Kushina…'

XXXXXXXXXX

(Hyuga Compound)

As he walked away with an air of nonchalance around him, Hinata looked at Naruto's back with a longing expression on her face.

The moment he turned on a corner and disappeared from her sight, she resisted the urge to activated her Byakugan until he was past the limits of her range of vision. Instead, she sighed longingly before making her way into the terrain within Konohagakure that belonged to her clan. She grew embarrassed when she saw the amused looks the guards at the main doors sent her way as they bowed to her in greeting as she passed by them.

Despite her embarrasment, Hinata couldn't help the warm feeling going through her entire body that she recognized as simply happiness. Not only had she managed to assure that she would be in the same team as Naruto for a long time, but she had also spent most of the day with him. After he introduced her to Ichiraku Ramen, which she was sure she was going to frequent a lot from now on, they had gone to walk around the village, just talking and being happy for passing and being on a team with one another.

Before they noticed, evening arrive and they were both hungry, and at Naruto's insistence, they had gone to for dinner at a place a sold dango and, much to her joy, cinnamon rolls. She suspected that Naruto had suggested the place on purpose, recalling that she had said she liked them, the implications of which sent her to a giddy fit after she realized Naruto paid her enough attention to do something so sweet for her.

If that she was a Hyuga didn't clue you in, Hinata wasn't blind. She knew that Naruto was more than a bit physically attracted to her and that he liked her as a person as well. Successful relationships between two individuals had started with even less than that. Hinata knew that she could 'make her move' and it wouldn't take too long or too much effort to make Naruto fall in love with her.

However, there was another factor to consider. Two of them, actually: Ino and Sakura.

Her two best friends also liked Naruto, maybe not for exactly the same reasons as she did, nor to the same extent, but certainly to the point that Hinata doubted they would like someone else just as much. Also, Hinata made sure they knew that the reason why she was who she was today and her improvements, and thus Sakura's and Ino's improvements, were indirectly and directly caused by Naruto, which was perhaps the main reason they shared about liking him.

And Hinata loved Ino and Sakura so much and was so thankful towards them for both their friendship and everything they have done to help her become who was today, that she truly willing to share Naruto with them and they knew it and were also willing to share the same man with the other. There was the fact that they also found each other more than just a bit attractive, which made the dynamic of their 'friendship' and future relationship interesting, to say the least.

Truthfully, Hinata first wanted to ease Naruto into the knowledge that if he got with her, he would have to be with two other girls as well. She knew for a fact that that scenario was a dream come true for most men and Naruto had already expressed that one of the things he liked was 'strong and beautiful kunoichi', which the three of them most certainly were. However, she knew that it could possibly be overwhelming to have such a thing happening for real, she needed to 'ease him' into the idea before doing anything else.

'I hope things don't become truly complicated in the future,' thought Hinata as she stepped into the main residence of the Hyuga Compound, where she lived with her father, younger sister and the maids tasked with seeing to the house their needs.

"Welcome back, Hinata-sama," greeted a fair skinned woman wearing a full-length black kimono with a white apron worn over it as she bowed deeply at the waist. She had short, dark green hair and large white eyes, indicating that she possessed the Byakugan as well. "Hiashi-sama requested your presence in his office the moment you came back," she told her with a small smile as she rose form her bow.

Hinata smiled back at her. "Thank you, Natsu-san. Can you prepare me a bath? I'd like to shower immediately after my talk with him. Oh, and I already ate so there's no need to worry about it," she requested.

Natsu nodded her head. "Of course, Hinata-sama. It shall be done," she said with another bow.

With another word of thanks to the maid that had been with them for as long as she could remember, Hinata made her way towards her father's office. It was not often when he requested to speak with her in such a manner, so it must be urgent or of some importance, which meant that she couldn't afford to make him wait more than was necessary.

After a few twists and turns across the long hallways of her home, Hinata arrived to the door of the room her father used to conduct most of his affairs. She gave two polite knocks before announcing her presence. "Father, is me. Natsu-san told me you requested my presence."

"Yes. Hinata, come in," said a voice from the inside.

With a small smile, Hinata slid the door open, stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Her father's office, unlike how was the norm with men and women of noble birth, didn't display his wealth. It only had the things it needed in order to be a comfortable workplace where even important meetings could be held. If Hinata was honest, she liked the practicality of the room.

She took a seat on the chair in front of her father's desk and smiled at him. "Good evening, father."

Hiashi was a middle-aged man with long black hair and featureless white eyes. He had a few wrinkles here and there that indicated he was used to be frowning most often than not. That frown, however, was nowhere to be seen as he regarded his eldest daughter with a small smile. "Hinata. I didn't think you would arrive so late today. Did the test of your assigned jonin sensei extended up to this point?"

Hinata blushed a bit. "Erm, no, father. The test ended at around noon but I went with one of my teammates for a celebratory lunch when we passed and then he insisted on walking through the village. We lost track of time and before we noticed evening arrived and he insisted on having dinner. He walked me back here immediately after," she told him, growing redder by the moment as she lost the ability to look at her father in the eye due to her embarrasment.

Hiashi's lips twitched upwards in amusement but he didn't let that show as he instead raised a shrewd eyebrow at her. "Uzumaki-san, I presume."

Hinata seemed to shrunk into herself. "… Yes."

Hiashi allowed himself to chuckle. "Hinata, you know I don't have issues with you… interacting… with him as long as it doesn't negatively interfere with your development and he… keeps his hands to himself," he said with amusement, though inwardly, he though, 'If I'm being truthful, I believe I worry more about Hinata keeping her hands to herself. She does take after her mother after all. Poor kid.' Were the dry, but fond, thoughts that went through his head.

"You don't have to worry about neither, father!" Hinata was quick to assure him. "Naruto-kun was a perfect gentleman today and it was thanks to the plan he devised that him and I managed to successfully capture Kakashi-sensei during the test. If anything, I believe Naruto-kun will only help me grow and become stronger," she declared confidently, which she was currently only capable of doing when around her family.

Hiashi raised both eyebrows. "…successfully capture Kakashi Hatake? Hinata, please explain," he requested.

With a smile, Hinata proceeded to explain how her test went.

An explanation later, Hiashi watched as his daughter, who was living image of her mother and love of his live, almost skipped out of his office after he finished his talk with her. Truthfully, he was extremely thankful to not only her friends, Ino and Sakura, whom he knew where why she was so confident in herself, but also to Naruto Uzumaki, whom he knew was the one who inavertedly stoked the fire within Hinata to become the best version of herself, someone that even the elders were proud to call the heiress.

It was the reason why he 'approved' of him, after all, and why the relationship with his eldest daughter was so good.

'So, basically a combination of Kushina-san and Minato-sama, is he? I pity the poor souls that would dare to go against him,' thought Hiashi to himself, pleased at the very high possibility that someone like him would be directly connected to the clan in the future. It didn't matter that he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, that only added to his 'worth' in his eyes. Besides, he knew that Naruto would eventually become able of controlling that power, what with his pedigree and talents pointing to that conclusion.

Oh, if they only knew. If they only knew…