Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A friendship... ❯ Meeting with Hokage ( Chapter 3 )

<Hinata's POV>

We come into the room and see Gaara. I blush and Neji glares at him. Gaara just glares back at Neji.

“Yay!” yells Naruto, as he comes in. “We're all here. What ya doing here, Neji?”

“I was sent to fetch Hinata-sama,” he replies.

“You're dismissed, Neji,” says Tsunade-sama. “Ah. Iruka. Thank you for coming.”

“You wanted me for something?” he asks.

“Yes,” she answers. “For this mission, I giving you your jounin status back and you're in command of these three brats.”

“HUH?!?” shouts Naruto, causing all of us to wince. “You're a jounin, Iruka-sensei?”

“I was, but I decided to go back to being a chunin,” he answers. “What's the mission?”

“You four are doing a scouting mission,” she says, grimly. “Reports say that Sound is moving in from the West so I want you to check it out.”

“Oh, yeah!” shouts Naruto. “We'll kick some Sound's ninjas' butts. Maybe we'll even find Sasuke. Believe it!”

Iruka and I groan as Gaara snorts. Naru-chan's energy is just too much sometimes. I giggle and we leave the office.

“Hey, Iruka-sensei,” says Naruto. “Can we have ramen before we go?”

“Sure,” says Iruka-sensei and we head to the ramen stand.

~At Icharaku Ramen~

“Hello, customers,” says the chef. “What can I do for you?”

“Beef Ramen!” shouts Naruto, “And be quick about it. We have a huge mission coming up!”

“Naruto!” hisses Iruka-sensei. “Your not to let other knows your going on a mission.”

“Sorry,” says Naruto.

*Sigh* “We'll have two shrimp and one vegetable ramen,” says Iruka-senei.

“Coming right up,” says the chef.

We sit and eat (or in the case of Naruto-devoured) our meal. He pats his stomach and sighs. The three of us just stare and then we got up and left after paying for our meal.

~In the woods~

Iruka-sensei takes us to a secluded area.

“Okay, team,” he says. “We are going to practice first. I want to see how where we all are. So, the first thing to do is to get this (shows a scroll) from my hand. Now, go!”

*Poof* He disappears. It was only a clone. I look over to Naruto and he seems excited.

“Yay!” he cheers. “I get to show Iruka-sensei how much I know. Come on Gaara! Hinata! He went that way!”

I roll my eyes at his enthusiasm. Gaara snorts his agreement and we follow our hyperactive friend. If it wasn't for his mask, everyone would know his secret. Like Gaara and I, our life been horrible and we discovered our own way of covering up our pain. He covers his hurt with the face of the fool, Gaara covers his with anger and I show by fear. Since our youth, we have been able to break free somewhat from that pain now that we have our friends and each other. Our roles are played in public, but amongst our closer friends we are ourselves. But I digress…Naruto performs his shadow clone jutsu and orders his clones to fan out while I activate my Byakugan. Gaara just relaxes against a tree and I sense his sand crawling amongst the ground. I feel a slight pull of my sleeve and see one of Naruto's clone. It motions for my silence as he leads me to an area. Once there I quickly jumped to the right missing having a kunii jammed into my ribs. The clone is really Iruka-sensei. He forgotten I have the Byakugan and can see through the jutsu.

“Good job, Hinata,” he says with a smile as he assumes a offensive position as I crouch defensively.

“Where Naru-chan?” I ask.

“Fighting with a clone of Sasuke,” he answers as he takes a swipe at me with a kunai.

“I knew the bastard was acting different!” shouts a voice. `Naruto!'

“Do we really need to continue this?” asks Gaara as he flips something up in the air and catches it. “I already got it.”

Iruka-sensei stops attacking and pats his jacket with a surprised look.

“Good job, Gaara-sama,” he says with a smile. “I'm proud of you. You too, Naruto. Hinata.”

Naruto smiles and chuckles sheepishly, I blush and play with my fingers, and Gaara just snorts, but there's a faint blush on his cheeks. He's not used to getting praise or acknowledgement from others. Positive feedback from others is still new. Now we can start our mission.