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"Naruto-Kun." As Team 7 entered the village gates, Naruto heard a familiar reserved voice calling to him.
"Hey, Hinata. Long time no see. What are you up to?" Naruto asked the girl with neck-length hair and eyes that were similar to the moon as she was standing with her team.
"We were just going out of the village on a mission. It's our first mission out of the village. Apparently, we have to deliver some message to someone in the Land of Water." Hinata replied as she poked her fingers together, avoiding looking at Naruto.
"Aw, that's bad timing. We just came back from a mission. I was going to call you so that we could all go out and celebrate." Naruto said in disappointment, making Hinata blush.
'Naruto was going to ask me out on a date. How exciting. Oh, my, I think I don't want to go on that mission anymore.' Hinata's face lit up brighter than a Christmas light as she looked at the red-eyed kunoichi behind her with pleading eyes.
"No, we have to leave right now. Come on, say your goodbyes." Kurenai, apparently reading her face like a book, replied curtly.
"Well, it was nice seeing you Naruto, lets's meet up again after I come back from the mission," Hinata responded after controlling her emotions, slightly.
"Yeah, we'll catch up soon. I gotta go as well. Ah, look, Yakumo's here to bring me back." Naruto replied, just as he saw the girl running back and waving at him to hurry.
'Who's that bitch?' Hinata questioned in her mind angrily, all the while looking at Naruto lovingly.
"You have to go and report, so I won't keep you here longer. Bye bye. Naruto." Hinata said as she began to walk away with her team.
"See ya, Hinata. B-bye." Naruto turned around, and started to head back, but not before feeling a short pulse of chakra come from Hinata.
"Huh?" He looked at her in confusion, but she was walking with her back to him.
"I must be exhausted. Anyways, let's get this over with." Naruto shrugged, unaware of a certain Hyuga stalking him with her Byakugan.
'Oh, Naruto-Kunnnnn'.
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"Team 7, here for reporting." Kakashi stood formally with Team 7 standing behind him, facing the Hokage spoking his pipe.
"I had a look at the mission report. I must say, you have executed the mission flawlessly, even with the obvious twists and turns you had to go through." The Hokage chuckled lightly, blowing a puff of smoke in the air.
"Thank you Hokage sama." Kakashi and the team chorused together.
"No, no. Thank you. Because of you, the Village was able to increase its finances by around a few billion Ryo, even after a percentage was left to the Land of the Waves to improve its standards of living. Furthermore, because you captured Zabuza and Haku without causing any harm, and provided them to the village, we have gained a trading tool with the Land of Water.
More so, we also got very important information regarding the Mizukage and the rebels. Currently, we are in the process of starting an alliance with the rebel leader and using Zabuza as a representative between the two groups." The Hokage revealed his current plans as he puffed out a few smoke rings.
"Hokage sama, if I may, how are you making sure that Zabuza won't betray us?" Naruto asked. While this was something he thought might happen, he didn't think the Hokage would pull this off in less than a month since Zabuza was sent to the village.
"Everyone has a weakness, and we just so happen to have his. He especially has a lot of them. One's under constant surveillance and protection in the village, while the other is the payment towards the rebel cause." The Hokage replied, impressed with Naruto asking such questions. He showed good interest in such political maneuvers.
"Now then. Since this small C-rank mission had developed in such a way, I decided to classify it as a B-Rank mission on paper. While it may be an A-rank mission considering the political consequences, we can't have your first mission out of the village be an A-rank. It would cause too many heads to turn and we don't want to reveal such precious info to outsiders, now do we? So, on top of the mission payment for the B-rank mission, you will be paid compensation from the village since the mission was not categorized correctly. Also, since you helped develop a better shipping route through the Land of Waves, you will be rewarded with a small percentage of the first month's profits generated through the trade routes. Congratulations." Hiruzen spoke, causing all the shinobi present in the room to drop their jaws.
"T-Thank you. Hokage sama, for the rewards." Kakashi was the first to snap out of it, followed quickly by Yakumo, Sasuke, and Naruto last.
"Damn, Jiji. How much money is that??" Naruto asked with dollar signs flashing in his eyes.
"Oh, it's not a big deal, now that we got such a huge influx of cash from your mission. Here, take it." Hiruzen smiled at the stunned faces of the four and passed them a check from the Konoha bank.
"Let's see, one, two, four, five,.. holy shit, so many zeros. I'm rich!!!" Naruto jumped in joy before the four were dismissed from the office.
Team 7 had one of the biggest celebration parties any jonin sensei had ever thrown in the past that night.
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"Ugh, I think I ate too much." Naruto groaned as he and Sasuke walked side by side, supporting each other by the shoulders.
"Really. I thought you said you still wanted another bite of that Mushu pork." Sasuke groaned similarly, both holding their bloated bellies.
"Hey, when such delicious food is about to be wasted, your stomach automatically makes room." Naruto retorted, causing him discomfort at the sudden movement.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get you home before you throw all your dinner out on the street."
"Hey, Sasuke, how's your training going. It's been almost three weeks since you ate my blood and chakra?" Naruto asked when they both grew silent.
"It's going good. My healing is getting faster. It feels like I'm healing faster almost two times my normal rate. My Sharingan is also getting better and faster easier. I can keep it on for more than half an hour on its own, and ten minutes if I use it in a battle. And my reserves have grown once more." Sasuke offered, recalling the grueling training he and Kakashi did in the past few weeks, while Naruto's clone helped with the bridge building.
"That's cool. My body control has improved so much as well. My eyesight's gotten so much clearer since then. Is this how you feel all the time. Having full control of your body's movements?" Naruto asked the raven-haired boy.
"I guess. Ever since I awakened my Sharingan, I felt my muscular control increase tremendously. I think it's one of the reasons why we can copy all sorts of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and use them. If we didn't have enough physical control, we would be sloppy when using the copied techniques." Sasuke replied after some thought.
"Cool."
"Hey, how are Indra and Ashura doing? Is he getting better?" Naruto asked, causing the joyous mood to turn slightly sad.
"Not by much. Indra's still out of it, but at least he isn't trying to kill Ashura every fifteen minutes. Now, he just sits and looks at Ashura as he talked about their life before he went all trigger happy and insane." Sasuke sighed, feeling sad for his predecessor.
"That's sad. But at least he's getting better. That's what's most important." Naruto patted the boy's back, as they reached Naruto's house.
"Goodbye. See you for the next mission." Naruto waved the boy away, as he entered the heavily sealed house, and collapsed on his bed, dozing off and entering dreamland.
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Just a short chapter today. Not much in terms of going forwards with the story, but don't worry, there is more coming in the following few chapters, so hold on tight.
Also, in my opinion, there was a reason Hinata always blushed when she saw Naruto, and why she couldn't meet his eyes during any conversation.
She is a closeted pervert, at least in my AU, and a yandere.
At first, I was going to have her become like the alternate reality's Hinata, the one where she is hella scary and dominating, but that was not a right fit for my story.
But don't worry, Hinata and Naruto's romance will not happen soon, and also won't be a major focus in my story.
Anyways, Enjoy.
