TSoL Chapter 13 - A place under the sun

Walking under the morning sun towards the shinobi academy, Naruto literally glowed with a good mood after yesterday. Finally, his life began to improve, and he no longer feels as lonely as before.

"It's so great to have a friend, dattebayo! Meeting Tenten is truly the best thing that has happened to me lately." Naruto walked with such a contented and carefree smile that even the people around him were embarrassed by his cute appearance, although they quickly turned away, restoring their displeasure.

Upon reaching the academy, Naruto went inside the building and headed towards his class. Inside, everything was as usual. Kiba was talking boastfully to Shino, Chouji, and Shikamaru, the latter of whom was more interested in sleeping than talking.

The female half of the class, led by one pink-haired girl, circled around the gloomy Sasuke, who did his best to ignore them, which, to his credit, he did perfectly well.

The only difference was Ino, who, although she was in this group of fans, showed much less activity than usual, as if her head was occupied with something else besides the Uchiha sitting in front of her.

At that moment, Naruto's attention was drawn by a quiet and slightly timid female voice.

"G-good morning, Naruto-kun."

Turning towards the speaker, Naruto noticed Hinata looking at him with a sweet smile and slight embarrassment. She hesitated a little, but to the blond's surprise, this time she didn't look away and tried to maintain eye contact.

Finally remembering that he had been putting aside his attention to her person for quite some time, Naruto smiled, and waving his hand, replied:

"Good morning, Hinata-chan! You know, I've been noticing something about your reaction for a while now, and I'm curious."

As soon as she heard these words, Hinata panicked:

"M... my... reaction?..." Hinata's stutter returned as it was too unexpected for her.

"Yes, your reaction," Naruto nodded, noticing that her stutter had returned, so he pointed it out "that's exactly the reaction I'm talking about, I was wondering where all this came from," then looking a little embarrassed, he asked, "I… I'm just not sure why you're reacting like that around me, and I thought maybe I did something wrong, or offended you. If that's the case, then I'm ready to apologize." Naruto confidently stated, looking at Hinata expectantly.

Hearing his words, Hinata panicked even more as Naruto accepted her hesitation as if she was offended. She chattered quickly, trying to explain everything:

"N-no, Naruto-kun! It's... it's not like that! It's just that I…" Trying to explain, Hinata said Naruto's name loudly enough to be heard by some of the students.

One of those students was Ino. Noticing Naruto, she was a little confused and nervous, but after taking a deep breath, she quickly calmed down and decided to go up to him to say hello, and try to finally find out what kind of person Naruto really is:

"Good morning, Naruto. How was your day yesterday? You kind of said you had some plans."

Distracted from Hinata, Naruto looked towards Ino and replied with a satisfied smile.

"Oh, good morning, Ino-chan! Yesterday was one of the best days ever. It was my first time spending time with a friend and it was wonderful!"

"For the first time?" Ino finally began to realize that Naruto's life was definitely not the brightest.

Scratching his head in embarrassment, Naruto nodded and replied:

"Well, yes, for someone like you, this is probably not a problem, but for me, making friends is not easy, and the fact that everyone in the whole village and even in my own class doesn't like me doesn't make this task any easier."

Hinata, who had been sitting next to him all this time, was a little upset that they had completely forgotten about her, and looked at Ino with slight resentment, which prevented her from explaining everything to Naruto. But upon hearing the blond's words, as well as his somewhat bitter expression, the young Hyuuga grew a little bolder and said:

"I-It's not like that, Naruto-kun!" After receiving Naruto and Ino's attention, Hinata continued to speak, although a little less confident than at the beginning, "T... there are people for whom... you are very important." with every word she became more and more embarrassed, but tried not to take her eyes off Naruto, "S... so... y... you shouldn't think like that…"

After finishing speaking, and seeing how Naruto looked at her in surprise, the girl finally lowered her gaze in embarrassment, blushing even more than before, and bringing her index fingers together, only occasionally looked at the blond boy.

Naruto, seeing the girl's reaction, and realizing her words, could not help but smile, filled with a rare warm feeling inside, catching himself thinking that she was really cute.

"Hinata-chan… you… thank you." Naruto was really glad to hear those words, as it meant that his changes really affect the attitude of the people around him.

Hinata was glad that Naruto felt better, and from his look and smile directed at her, her young heart began to beat even faster. But then, this moment was again interrupted by one blonde Yamanaka.

"Hinata is right, don't think that everyone hates you. Personally, I don't remember saying anything like that." After saying that, she brushed her hair back with her hand and placed the back of her fist on her thigh.

Naruto couldn't help but squint at Ino, whose manner and movements were clearly trained to attract attention, something the young Hyuuga hadn't gone unnoticed. Looking at Ino with slight indignation, Hinata thought about her words.

"Maybe she didn't say that, but she clearly showed it before. And why did she suddenly become interested and interact with Naruto-kun?" Before, Hinata almost never noticed Naruto interacting with any of the girls besides Sakura, and this is the first time she has seen a girl make contact with him herself. This situation made Hinata feel a little uneasy, "I should be glad that Naruto-kun is finally making friends, and I was really happy for him when he started talking to Kiba that time after the sparring, but... why right now, I feel so… uncomfortable…"

While the confused Hyuuga was trying to sort out the situation and her emotions, Ino finally asked what she came for:

"You know, Naruto, I recently realized that despite the fact that you and I have been classmates for a long time, I don't know you very well."

Surprised, Naruto looked at Ino strangely, and replied:

"Um… well, we haven't talked much, Ino-chan, so it's not surprising. I don't know much about you either. Although I can definitely say that you are a very good person! You helped me so much that time when I asked you for that little thing, although you could refuse. Thank you."

Hearing his words, Ino felt a little uncomfortable again, as she felt ashamed that Naruto was speaking so highly of her, even though she had been thinking of him as nothing more than an annoying idiot all this time.

"It's... nothing special. Not worth mentioning, really…" Ino looked away in shame to hide her embarrassment.

At this point, the three of them were finally noticed by the other students, as their group attracted a lot of attention with their completely unexpected lineup.

The most popular and beautiful girl in the class from the Yamanaka clan, the quietest and most status girl from the Hyūga clan, and the loudest and most troublesome boy in the class who has been acting much calmer lately.

Looking at them, even Shikamaru scratched the back of his head in surprise, trying to figure out if he was really seeing this, or was still asleep.

Kiba was also a little confused as he watched Naruto having a nice conversation with two cute girls, temporarily forgetting his desire to have another sparring session.

But the one who was surprised the most was Sakura. She watched with genuine surprise and incomprehension as Ino, her rival in love, and perhaps only friend, voluntarily moved away from the object of their disputes and passion to communicate with who, in her opinion, was the most annoying person in Konoha.

Glancing at Sasuke, who continued to diligently ignore his surroundings, Sakura knew that as long as Ino wasn't around, and besides her, there was no one else around who could compare to her, this was a great chance for her to show herself.

That's just her inner curiosity, did not allow her to do this. That's why, she decided to find out why her friend and rival suddenly stepped back to hang out with someone else.

Approaching Ino, who looked a little embarrassed for some unknown reason, she spoke.

"Hey, Ino Pig! Did you decide to trade the conquest of Sasuke for communication with this idiot? Should I take this as your surrender?"

Ino, who was ashamed of her past self from Naruto's kind words towards her, felt even worse when she heard Sakura call Naruto an idiot, and therefore, angry, she replied:

"Shut up, you big forehead lamp! I am more than sure that my absence from Sasuke will not affect his attitude towards anyone! If he didn't show any interest in anyone before, then nothing will change now," Ino's tone was quite firm and aggressive, "and since I didn't manage to get to know Sasuke better, I decided to make up for my relationship with classmates and hang out with the people I know the least."

As she said this, she looked at the surprised Naruto with a smile, who was looking at Ino with a blank look, then at Sakura, who looked annoyed at Ino's words.

Away, looking at another girl joining the conversation, Kiba, who did not hear the topic of the conversation, could not stand it, and said:

"Damn Naruto! Why the hell is he getting so much girls attention? I can't leave it like this!"

Kiba was about to go and intervene in their conversation, but he was stopped by the hand that belonged to Shikamaru. Looking at Kiba's questioning look, Shikamaru explained:

"Now is not the best time to climb in." Seeing the dog lover's puzzled look, Shikamaru sighed, and muttering something about troublesome guys, he said, "read the atmosphere, it's another squabble of lionesses begins there. If you don't want to get badly hurt, it's better not to get involved," then he turned his gaze to the calm Naruto and added, "Let Naruto handle the situation, lately he seems to be more patient and attentive, so he will definitely do something, and take first hit on him."

Hearing his friend's words, Kiba looked at the girls again, and finally noticed how they threw sparks at each other, arguing about something incomprehensible to his mind. Feeling a chill run down his spine, Kiba decided that Shikamaru's words definitely made sense and it would be better to wait a bit.

At the same time, Ino and Sakura continued to shoot each other with lightning eyes, which already pretty tired Naruto, who, noticing how worried Hinata looked, decided to finally intervene:

"Um, Ino-chan, Sakura-san, please stop arguing, I thought it was me who used to be noisy, don't try to take my place in this field, it's not worth it, really."

Naruto tried to lighten up the atmosphere a bit with a little joke about being loud, but unfortunately it had a slightly different effect that he didn't expect.

The arguing Ino and Sakura looked at Naruto in surprise, and thought of the same thought:

«Sakura-san?»

Sakura was surprised at first, since before Naruto always added the suffix "Chan" to her name, but suddenly, having received such a distant and formal "san", she felt something strange. This feeling was very small and hardly noticeable, but it definitely wasn't good.

Usually, if a person suddenly changed his address from close and friendly to more formal and distant, then this indicates that you somehow offended this person, or lost his disposition towards you.

She felt like she had done something bad, and it made her think:

«Why does this feel so uncomfortable? This is Naruto-baka, who always annoyed me, trying to talk to me. I certainly should not care how he treats me, even if I somehow hurt him. It's not like he and I were friends, so there's nothing wrong with that, right?»

Thinking it shouldn't be something important, Sakura chose to ignore the feeling. But she didn't know that this most "unimportant" feeling for her would become stronger and stronger, which would open her eyes to one very simple thing that she didn't notice all this time until she lost it.

On the other hand, Ino was thinking about something else. Such a sharp change in Naruto's address to Sakura made her understand that with Naruto, their places with her rival were reversed, because now he adds the suffix "chan" to her, but not to Sakura. Although Ino could see that there was still sympathy in Naruto's gaze towards Sakura, the blond Yamanaka couldn't shake the feeling that this was her small victory in their rivalry, though not in the battle for Sasuke's attention.

Deciding to listen to Naruto and stop the quarrel, Ino said:

"All right, so be it. If you learned everything you wanted, then you can go back to watching Sasuke. I still want to ask Naruto something."

Irritated at the same time by both Naruto and Ino's attitude, Sakura snorted and moved away from them towards Sasuke, although as she walked she thought:

«What the hell is wrong with her? Isn't she going to seek Sasuke's attention?» looking at the cold Uchiha, her eyes lingered on him for a bit until her gaze became more distant, «we are rivals, so I should be glad that she was distracted... but... why in this particular situation, continue to attract Sasuke seems less important than before…»

Looking back at Ino and Naruto, and seeing how they smile, Sakura remembered the past for a second, and how earlier she and Ino also smiled at each other, and had fun, until Ino became interested in Sasuke, and she followed her. Sakura didn't know why, but she felt bad even though Sasuke was right in front of her.

All the while, as Ino continued to question Naruto about his activities outside of the academy, Hinata grew more and more worried. She finally figured out why she felt so uncomfortable, and mentally reasoned:

«Before, no one was interested in Naruto-kun, and I didn't worry, but now, Naruto started to change, and now he naturally began to attract other people…» glancing at Ino, Hinata frowned slightly, «I... I should become more confident, otherwise this girl will have all of Naruto-kun's attention. I promised to start changing like him, and... now... it's time to find in myself the very courage that I lacked before.»

With that thought, Hinata finally clenched her fists, and resisting a lot of embarrassment and nervousness, she spoke:

"N...Naruto-kun!" Successfully capturing Naruto's attention, and consequently Ino's, she continued, "do you... do you mind, g... going home after the academy t... to... together...?"

Having finally said what she wanted, she looked expectantly at the amazed Naruto, who clearly did not expect such an offer from her.

Ino was also surprised by the boldness of the white-eyed girl, as it was extremely out of character for someone as timid as Hinata. She wasn't sure what caused such a drastic change until she noticed Hinata's look on herself, which made her think in bewilderment:

«Um… what's that look, why does she look so determined and hesitant at the same time? How did she manage to put such a cute expression on her face. And why is she looking at… me…» then Ino seemed to understand something, and looking first at Naruto, and then at an even more embarrassed Hinata, she smirked, «so that's it! She must have thought I was a threat to her little crush!»

Finding this situation amusing, Ino smiled even brighter and thought:

«Heh. Not that Naruto interested me in that way, but even if he did, does she really think she would really be my rival? Pfft, this even hurts my pride a little. It seems that she had not acted so openly before just because she didn't see potential rivals? Well then, perhaps I should show her that although I can become an obstacle for her, perhaps even an insurmountable one,» Ino couldn't help but smirk in smugness, «but I'm far from someone she should worry about.» here she again stealthily glanced at the blond boy next to her, and remembering his changes, the song and that warm and deeper and more thoughtful look than before, she mentally added, «well... at least for now... after all, i know him not very well. Anyway, I have Sasuke... yeah... right.»

At that, Naruto finally came to his senses and replied:

"Of course, Hinata-chan! I'll gladly take a walk with you, Dattebayo!" Naruto was happy that Hinata wasn't actually offended or afraid of him. That means he can try to befriend her, which was really cool.

"Th… then… s...see you after school, Naruto-kun!" Hinata literally glowed with embarrassment and happiness at the same time. She was glad that she could do something as bold as asking Naruto to go home together.

"Yes, of course, Hinata-chan," Naruto showed her his warm and gentle smile.

Realizing that now is the right time, Ino looked at the satisfied and melted Hinata, and with a sly smirk, she said:

"By the way, Naruto. What was that friend you were walking with yesterday? Could you tell us a little about it?"

"Ah, of course! Her name is Tenten, she's a year older than me, and she's the best girl I've met so far!"

Those words were like throwing a bucket of cold water over not only for Hinata, but also for Ino, who immediately thought to herself:

«T-the best… girl? Now this really hurts my pride! What the hell, Naruto!?» Ino clearly didn't like hearing something like that while she was standing next to Naruto.

Ino remembered exactly what this "Tenten" looked like and was absolutely sure that she was definitely more beautiful than her in all respects. But now, after Naruto's words, her confidence in her attractiveness was slightly shattered. She wondered what it was about her that made Naruto think so highly of her.

"I guess by making friends with Naruto, I can get to know this Tenten as well, and then I can see for myself what is so "the best" about her." with these thoughts, Ino looked at Hinata, who looked like she had turned into an ice sculpture. "hah, what will you do now, my little and innocent 'rival' " Ino didn't know why, but watching Hinata's inner turmoil gave her inexplicable pleasure. She believed it was because of the big difference between her and Sakura, since unlike Sakura, all of Hinata's thoughts were literally written on her face.

At this time, Hinata, who had heard Naruto's words, regained her only suppressed nervousness again, and mentally panicked:

"The b…best girl? Na… Naruto-kun speaks so highly of her… was there anything between them...? How can it be... I... I... even though I know Naruto-kun the longest, I'm so far behind... why have I been so indecisive all this time?" Hinata didn't know what to think, she blamed herself for their timidity and insecurity.

Glancing at Naruto again, Hinata realized that his smile was helping her relax a bit, like a warm little sun. That is why, she quickly gathered herself, and closing her eyes, she finally decided:

"Naruto-kun never gave up and I don't intend to either. I will fight for my place under the sun…" Returning her gaze to his smile again, she added, "Under this sun… I will do my best to make Naruto-kun notice me!"

At that moment, Iruka walked into the classroom and said:

"So everyone, get back to your seats and get ready for class. Today is a new topic." Iruka put the folder of papers on the table as he said this.

"Hai!" The students answered in unison as they sat down at their desks.

While the class was going on, Naruto thought about how it would be nice to stop by Ichiraku Ramen before going home, and if Hinata would like to go with him. He was sure that she would definitely like such a great dish as ramen. This is the food of the gods after all.

Also, his mind was occupied with the next training after that, as his father finally said that it was time to level up on the Seal of Resistance. This meant that it would become more difficult for him to move again.

"It's good that lately I've been eating well, and my body copes with such a load much better. I even began to notice that my physique, just a little, but began to change. If things continue at the same pace, then I will definitely be able to catch up, and maybe even surpass my peers in both height and strength, hehe!" Naruto couldn't wait to look down on them. This was especially true for Sasuke.

Naruto may have become more calm and reasonable, but his natural childishness is quite difficult to shake off, especially for someone like the Uzumaki.

Finally, after the end of the lessons, sparring was held, where Kiba finally tried to take revenge, only this time Iruka didn't allow it, saying that sparring partners must constantly change, otherwise they will quickly get used to each other's movements, and this will have a bad effect on their progress.

To the surprise of everyone except Hinata and Ino, Naruto was completely in agreement with this and didn't even show any displeasure.

By the end of practice, Naruto met Hinata in order to fulfill their plan.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! Are you ready?" Naruto turned to her with his best smile.

"Y...yeah, we can go now, Naruto-kun." Hinata was very nervous, and blushed a lot, but she tried to act as natural as possible so that Naruto would not think again that something was wrong with her.

Nodding his head, Naruto said.

"Then what do you say we're going to have lunch together at some amazing place on the way home?"

"H…have lunch… t-together!?" The white-eyed girl was definitely not ready for this, since it would definitely look like something like a date. But realizing that this was her chance, she quickly pulled herself together, and timidly nodding her head, said, "Yes… I would love to…"

"Great! Ichiraku Ramen is a great place. I promise you'll love it, because old man Teuchi makes ramen that's divine!" Naruto seemed very enthusiastic talking about the ramen.

"Uh-huh…" Hinata was still too embarrassed to answer anything more, but she was wondering why out of all the places, Naruto would take her to the ramen place, but she didn't mind at all, since she also really liked ramen , which made the young Hyuuga even more happy, because they have something in common.

With these thoughts, the two set out on their journey.

* * * * * * * * * *

Author's Note:

(About Chapter)

This is one of my hardest chapters as there are a lot of characters, thoughts and dialogue, but also one of my favorites as I enjoyed writing about this whole situation around Naruto's little changes.

(About my situation)

After going through a lot of problems and pressure, I was finally able to write a new chapter and published it on my Boosty. That is why I am finally posting one old chapter here.

If you want to support me as an author, or get access to new chapters a little earlier than others, then you can subscribe to my Boosty (russian analogue of Раtrеоn) and read it right now.

My Boosty profile link: (site name) dot (to) /silentdudestory

Or you can just find the link in my Webnovell profile, or in the fanfic description.

Thanks to everyone who is still with me!