Naruto and Hinata walked together on the way back to the Hyuga Clan, Naruto with his hands in his pockets, feeling speechless as he recalled his mother's ambiguous expression when he left.
At this point, even if Naruto was dense, he should have understood what Kushina meant. It was rare for her, a person who would resort to violence at the slightest disagreement, to actually start using her brain.
Naruto also knew that Hinata had feelings for him. As for whether Naruto himself liked Hinata—gentle personality, strong heart, high looks, of course he liked such a girl.
Given the atmosphere of the ninja world, starting from graduation from school meant becoming a formal ninja. There was no such thing as early love. Back then, a group of five- or six-year-old little lolis were madly in love with Sasuke, that was early love.
Having figured this out, Naruto suddenly had the feeling of being set up on a blind date by his own mother. Although the two had known each other since childhood, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were childhood sweethearts, Naruto was completely embarrassed at this time and didn't know what to say.
Hinata was half a step behind Naruto, walking with her head down, playing with her fingers.
Hinata was caught off guard by Kushina-sensei's suggestion to have Naruto take her home. Her little head was dizzy, and she agreed to it almost unconsciously.
Now, the two of them were walking together on the street, just like on a date. So shy, should I say something, but would Naruto-kun hate it?
So, one was too embarrassed to speak, and the other was too shy to speak. The two of them walked in silence all the way to the Hyuga Clan.
Pushing open the door of her house, Hinata finally mustered the courage to turn around and say, "Naruto-kun, thank you for taking me back today."
"It's nothing, goodbye."
"Yeah! Goodbye."
Naruto waved his hand and turned to leave, so he was single for 20 years in his previous life, relying on his strength.
Behind Naruto, the closed door opened a crack again, and a small head poked out, watching his back until he turned and disappeared from sight.
...
After returning home, Naruto was interrogated by Kushina in various ways. After he reported truthfully, Kushina poked Naruto's forehead with her finger in frustration (Sasuke: I'm familiar with this action) and then went back to the kitchen to continue cooking.
The next day was still the same: accepting a boring mission in the morning and continuing to practice in the afternoon. It's just that the training ground was changed today.
In the evening, Kushina casually found another reason to keep Hinata, gave her a small lesson for a while, and then asked Naruto to take her back.
After leaving the training ground, Naruto suddenly realized that this training ground seemed to be the farthest one from the Hyuga Clan... Mom really put a lot of thought into it.
Today's atmosphere was not as awkward as yesterday. Naruto tried to take the initiative to start a conversation. Everyone was a ninja, and there were too many things to talk about regarding ninjutsu and missions.
Although Hinata's voice was as thin as a mosquito's when chatting, Naruto could clearly feel the joy in her tone.
On the third day, Kushina began to arrange for Hinata and Naruto to practice taijutsu.
The reason was that Hinata's attacks were not decisive enough, and she needed to find someone who was thick-skinned and didn't have to worry about hurting him to practice with. She required Naruto to only dodge and defend, and not to counterattack.
As for Naruto's Little Map Technique, Summoning Technique, and Flying Thunder God, he left them to the Shadow Clones to practice on their own.
Naruto's inner thoughts: ...You really are my own mother.
When facing Naruto, Hinata really couldn't bring herself to do it at first. She was restrained and worried about hurting Naruto, until she found that Naruto could easily dodge or defuse her attacks, then Hinata's attacks became more decisive.
This made Sakura, who was peeking from the side, feel uncomfortable. She thought to herself, Hinata, you weren't like this when you hit me the day before yesterday, it hurt so much.
That's right, Sakura had been secretly observing Naruto and Hinata today. Yesterday, she felt something was wrong. She always felt that Kushina-sensei had been leaving Hinata alone for two consecutive days, creating opportunities for the two of them to be alone.
Seeing Naruto and Hinata flirting with each other today, there was definitely a problem. Sakura was extremely envious. If Sasuke's mother could also help me create opportunities, that would be great...
No, I'm already in the same class as Sasuke now, I have a big advantage, don't panic, as long as I become excellent, Sasuke will notice me! Sakura clenched her fists and cheered herself up, and then studied more efficiently.
That evening, under Sakura's knowing gaze, Kushina once again found a reason to keep Hinata behind.
Naruto escorted Hinata home for the third time, and along the way, they talked about their respective tasks that morning and their training gains.
Naruto often received Hinata's adoring gazes, which made him secretly pleased. Then, Naruto, the steel straight man, also began to learn to care for Hinata, asking if the training was too hard and such.
Naruto's clumsy attempts to show concern made Hinata feel delighted.
...
Time passed like this for about 20 days. Naruto's Little Map Technique became more and more proficient, and he could use the Summoning Technique with ease. However, he hadn't tried summoning a large Toad because the space wasn't sufficient. On the other hand, he became very familiar with Toad Loyalty.
Toad Loyalty was the honest Toad who cooperated with Jiraiya to put on a show at the beginning, and his strength was enough to defeat Ebisu with one move of his tongue.
Currently, the Shadow Clones' main focus was still on the Flying Thunder God, while Naruto's main body was accompanying Hinata in practicing taijutsu.
Over these days, everyone present, even the dog, could see that there was something going on between the two of them.
Akamaru: "Woof!"
In recent days, Naruto noticed that there were many people in the village wearing Forehead Protectors from other ninja villages. In other words, the Chunin Exams were about to begin.
On the morning of June 24th, neither class went to accept missions. The six people and one dog waited in the training ground for a while, and Kakashi and Kushina each took three application forms and distributed them to their students.
Kushina said, "As you can see, Kakashi and I have recommended you to participate in the Chunin Exams.
Let me make it clear first, the Chunin Exams are somewhat dangerous, so think carefully before deciding whether to participate.
If you are sure you want to participate, bring the application form to Classroom 301 of the school at 3 p.m. in 7 days.
Of course, we are only giving you the qualifications to participate in the exam, and it is not mandatory for you to participate. If you don't feel confident, you can choose to give up at any time."
Kiba was the first to jump out and shout, "Of course, I'm going to participate!"
Shino adjusted his sunglasses and said, "Since I have this qualification, of course, I have to try it. If you ask why..."
The air was silent.
Three seconds later, everyone looked at Shino, the meaning in their eyes being, why don't you say it?
Shino was also very aggrieved. In the past, when I said this, you would have interrupted me long ago, okay? Why didn't you interrupt me this time? You're making me feel very awkward, okay?
So Shino had no choice but to continue, "Because..."
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