TSoL Chapter 24 - Weekend

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After finishing their last lesson at the academy, Naruto and Hinata decided to finally talk to Ino. Naruto wanted to make sure that she was okay, and at Hinata's suggestion, they offered to take her into town to distract her from recent events.

When Ino got ready, she didn't follow her usual routine of walking with Sasuke's group of fan girls, which had actually become a bit smaller after his recent harsh words. She barely even responded to Sakura's fervent inquiries, who couldn't understand why Ino had acted this way. It was evident from Sakura's face that she was feeling a bit stir-crazy after hearing Uchiha's words. In spite of constantly competing with Ino, she still felt a sense of concern for her.

That's why she seemed even more irritated when Naruto and Hinata approached, interrupting their conversation.

"Hey Ino-chan, I'm sorry this happened," Naruto appeared genuinely sad as he spoke, "I think he's just a fool for rejecting the feelings of such a wonderful girl like you, dattebayo!"

Upon hearing the blonde's words, Ino laughed slightly, appreciating his sincere support. Even Sakura didn't say anything regarding the "wonderfulness" of Ino, knowing that her words would definitely not help her friend at the moment. Regardless of their rivalry, it didn't mean that she had ill feelings towards her.

This is where Hinata decided to speak up:

"Naruto-kun is right, Ino. I don't entirely understand what you saw in that guy, but I'm even scared to think about how I would feel if Naruto-kun rejected me in such a way. It was definitely quite harsh on his part. I'm sorry it turned out this way. He's simply not worthy of your tears."

Listening to their words, Ino couldn't help but feel warmth in her chest. She really began to think that this guy was definitely not worth her worries, and having such good and supportive friends couldn't help but please her. Even Sakura seemed to be worried about her, although it was evident that she still wanted to go after Sasuke.

That's why Ino stood up from the table and slapped her cheeks sharply with both hands, which surprised the people gathered around her. Especially Naruto, who had recently seen Tenten do the same thing. He even momentarily thought that this must be a kind of mind-calming technique, similar to his own.

After the slap, with slightly reddened cheeks, Ino smiled and said:

"You're right! Enough of being sad over a brute who can't appreciate such a beautiful flower like me," Ino put one hand on her hip and the other on her chest, pointing to herself. And she wasn't at all embarrassed that with her cheeks red from the slap, her statement sounded a bit comical.

Smiling at her actions, Naruto raised his thumb and said:

"Now that's the spirit, dattebayo! Since the beautiful flower has been freed from the rough and uncomfortable pot, I suggest we celebrate this and have some fun, what do you say?"

Slightly embarrassed and laughing at his allegory, Ino smiled and replied:

"You're right. Right now, I'd like to unwind and express a few complaints to my friends," she looked at Naruto, Hinata, and even Sakura as she spoke.

Surprised, Sakura pointed to herself and asked, "What, me too?"

"Well, I'm not forcing you. Either way, I'm going to say a lot of things I've been hoarding about this silent gloomy idiot for so long, so this might not be too pleasant for you." Ino said.

While Naruto and Hinata laughed at the blonde's words, Sakura was slightly annoyed. Although she didn't like how Sasuke rejected Ino, that didn't mean she was ready to badmouth him. She still had feelings for the boy, and even to support her friend, she wasn't willing to endure bad words about him.

"You're right, I don't think I can sit still while you or your em...," she glanced at the calm Naruto and Hinata, "...friends speak ill of my Sasuke-kun. Nevertheless, I'm willing to accompany you to any place you're heading to. I won't be able to catch up with Sasuke-kun now anyway," she said.

Ino was somewhat surprised that she had agreed to escort them at all. Especially since Sakura thought she wouldn't start venting along the way. But deciding that this was a unique way for the pink-haired girl to show support, she decided not to escalate the situation and nodded in response.

"Great, then I've been wanting to visit that little restaurant where petunias are hung in the hall and calamondin is placed in pots by the windows. This is certainly not a flower, but such a plant is quite difficult to get. I would love to see it."

Nodding, Naruto replied,

"Of course, I'm fine with it. How about you, Hinata-chan?"

"Um, wherever you're going, I'll go too, Naruto-kun," Hinata smiled affectionately, hoping he would someday be her husband.

Once that was decided, the group headed for the exit of the academy. Sakura wore a sort of frown on her face the whole time, as almost all the conversations were about their training and spending time together. Even though she couldn't participate in the conversation, she could at least listen to what her friend might be doing with someone like Naruto

She still didn't really care for the blond, but even a stubborn person like her had to admit that Naruto wasn't the idiot he used to be. Thinking of his recently rising grades, Sakura thought it was a result of him finally taking up his studies. Though his frequent absences still struck her as something wrong and sloppy.

Over time, this warm and cheerful atmosphere among them began to cultivate a slight envy within Sakura. She hadn't spent time with friends in a long time. Because of this, she thought:

"Gosh, do they have to look so happy when they're together?" After looking at the smiling Ino, Sakura let out a slight sigh, "When was the last time I had fun with my friends like her?" Here Sakura suddenly froze and stopped in her tracks.

A sudden realization came to the girl's mind that had never come up before:

«Unless you count Ino... who else have I been socializing with?» The fleeting faces of classmates with whom she hadn't interacted outside of Sasuke immediately began to come to the girl's mind. And the most vivid memory, besides Ino, was the one cheerful blond who was constantly trying to make contact with her, but even he eventually stopped his attempts, which, as unpleasant as it was to admit, she regretted a little bit nonetheless.

Standing and staring brokenly at the ground, Sakura finally had the most shocking thought:

"I have no friends..."

That thought made the girl start to feel really lousy. Remembering Sasuke's face, she realized that he definitely didn't consider her a friend. Ino, had been her only friend since they started chasing after Sasuke. There had been other girls, but all of them had slowly disappeared over time at the academy, as each year of training became more difficult, and not everyone could keep up. Naruto was the only one who, with bad grades, somehow managed to keep his place in the academy.

That's why her circle of friends was getting smaller and smaller. It hadn't bothered her much at the time, but now that she tried to remember herself and Ino at the academy, she realized that the other classmates were more willing to socialize with her blonde friend than with herself. The exception was Kiba, who drove a wedge into any pretty girl. But he wasn't exactly a friend. Though now, at the very least, he could consider Ino as such.

Looking up, she realized that the group was standing silently, watching her with interest and anticipation. Realizing that all this time she stood still, and the group in front of her patiently waited for her, could not help but restore her hope that perhaps not everything was lost.

At the very least, she would like to improve her relationship with Ino to begin with. Since she no longer intends to fight for Sasuke, the feud between them no longer makes sense. This means that Sakura can stop using hurtful nicknames.

Shaking her head, she looked at the group, and said:

"I'm sorry, I was thinking a bit," Sakura asked as she approached Ino, "So, Ino, how much farther to the restaurant?"

With a surprised raised eyebrow, Ino only smiled at Sakura's usual address, and replied:

"It won't be that long. Five more minutes and we'll be there."

Nodding at the blonde's words, Sakura continued on her way with the group. As they started talking again, Sakura thought:

«I guess I should try to get close to someone in the class. Staying the only one in the class who only has one friend would be too sad an outcome. I'm not sure about who to start a conversation with, but the class is full of people, so it's a decent choice.» Throwing a small glance at Hinata and Naruto, Sakura thought, «I think someone as kind as Hinata would be perfect, plus she's not at all interested in Sasuke, which is already a huge plus. As for Naruto,» the girl had mixed feelings on her face, «I'm not sure. I'd better start with Hinata. I'll try to have a conversation with her at the academy after the weekend.»

Thinking like this, Sakura had no idea that as of next week, the professors would decide her friendship for herself. Assigning her the people they saw fit to be her teammates.

Eventually, when the group got to the restaurant, Sakura decided to stick to her earlier decision after all, and leave them at the entrance. She didn't want to hear Ino spout her resentment about Sasuke anyway, even if he did deserve some of it.

She still had to think about how to expand her circle of friends, at least a little. Otherwise, her lonely existence in the four walls behind her studies would get her down sooner or later. That's why, she decided to prepare some topics of conversation to interact with Hinata.

At the same time, the group settled down in the restaurant, and thanks to the two representatives of the big clans, represented by Hinata and Ino, Naruto was able to enjoy all the benefits of the establishment, while listening to all the angry dissatisfactions towards the scowling Uchiha. From time to time, Hinata, with a gentle smile, carefully wiped Naruto's mouth with a napkin, under an odd look from Ino. Normally she would have felt jealous, but this time she cared more about the angry thoughts that went unspoken, so she continued her tirade.

Toward the end of the day, when they were just walking around Konoha, she felt much better. Spending the day with friends was really a great idea, especially after what happened this morning. After agreeing to meet up this weekend, they went their separate ways. Naruto and Hinata walked hand in hand, and chatted nicely. Finally, Naruto remembered Ten Ten, and said:

"Hey, Hinata-chan. We didn't get a chance to talk to Ten today, so let's do it tomorrow. Let's talk about what happened to Ino too. I think she'll be interested to know that too."

"Of course, Naruto-kun. I'd love to go with you to tell her about us becoming a couple," Hinata couldn't help but be pleased inside. There was a certain schadenfreude about narrating her successes to her main rival.

After saying goodbye in the form of a quick kiss, the couple went home in anticipation of tomorrow's weekend.

The next day, Naruto was getting ready to leave the house to meet up with Hinata, with whom they were going to head to Ten Ten. Unfortunately, his intentions had to be deflected as his mother and father appeared behind him.

"Naruto-kun. Before you go, can we talk?" Kushina looked a little serious as she spoke.

With a surprised look at them, Naruto only nodded, and replied:

"Mom, Dad? Sure. Did something happen?"

Nodding her head, hinting to her son to sit down, Kushina and Minato waited for Naruto to sit on the couch so they could sit on either side of him and hug him, making the boy a little embarrassed.

Stroking her son's head, Kushina got a nod from Minato, and spoke:

"Look, we know that you're quite talented and savvy, and that we shouldn't worry and interfere with your training, but we couldn't help but be concerned when we heard about the sudden practice sessions. "

Looking around at both parents, and noticing their slight concern, Naruto said:

"Um... What about it? Is it hard?"

Shaking his head negatively, Minato replied:

"That's the thing, we don't know. Back when I was a Hokage there was no such thing, so we can't know. But we do know the real work of the ninja."

While Naruto bowed his head in confusion, Kushina continued:

"If practical lessons are anything like a field missions, it could be dangerous. Your father and I are not sure why Hiruzen decided to establish something like this, but usually something like this falls under the category of emergency training."

Hearing her words, Naruto furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he had come across a similar term before, and using his memory, the pieces of information he needed quickly popped into his head and his eyes widened slightly as he finally began to understand something. Looking with mild disbelief at his father, who was a past hokage, he asked:

"Isn't emergency training only undertaken in wartime?"

Nodding, Minato replied with a slight smile:

"I'm glad your time in the library hasn't gone to waste."

Minato got a little serious here, "True, that only happens when there's a war. As much as I and my predecessors tried to make peace, Konoha has always been a tidbit for many hidden villages, so it's possible that during my absence, the situation might have escalated. In particular there are two countries and hidden villages that are looking for any opportunity to undermine our village's power. Unfortunately, the peace between the hidden villages is extremely fragile."

Naruto looked at the floor at a loss, pondering his father's words until Kushina spoke:

"Nevertheless, things may be completely different from what we assume," seeing that her son was distracted from his heavy thoughts and paid attention to her, Kushina continued, "To be honest, your father and I are more inclined to a different theory of these activities."

"And what's that?" Naruto looked interested.

With a sly smile, Kushina replied:

"Well, we think it's a preliminary test."

Clapping his eyes, Naruto repeated:

"A test?"

Naruto tilted his head sideways again, which Kushina found extremely cute, and clasping her boy in her arms, said:

"That's right, a test, the purpose of which is to weed out the less capable candidates, and test the values of the shinobi. Or as old man Sarutobi used to call it - 'To test their will of fire.', Kushina parodied Hiruzen's voice, causing both Naruto and Minato to laugh."

"Hehe, yes, he once told me about this will of fire," Naruto scratched the bridge of his nose before he thought of something and asked, "then about the test, what advice will you give me?"

With a sly smile, Kushina replied:

"Ah-ah-ah! What kind of a test is it if you get an answer right away?"

Her words made Naruto pout slightly, causing his mother to smirk. Seeing that, Minato decided to say something nonetheless:

"Maybe we won't give you a hint, but at the very least we can give you a little advice", seeing that Naruto was listening attentively, Minato continued with a smile, "Whatever obstacles are waiting for you, don't forget that you won't meet them alone."

Thinking about his father's words Naruto just nodded and replied:

"Understood, thank you, Mom, Dad," Naruto hugged both of his parents.

"Of course, we couldn't leave our treasure in complete ignorance," having said this, Kushina embarrassed her son again by squeezing him in her arms.

Letting his mother hold him in her arms, Naruto looked at his father, and asked:

"By the way, Dad. What are those two villages that you say have the most reason to conflict with us?"

Smiling at his son's curiosity, Minato replied:

"I could tell you everything for nothing. But I think it would be quite an exercise in information gathering for you. So try to study some historical summaries, and match the information you get with what I said. And when you come to some conclusion, I'll tell you whether you're right or wrong."

Sighing dejectedly at his reply, Naruto replied:

"Why are you doing this, Dad? I've had enough of Sistema-chan with her tasks, and you're going to have to do the same."

Grinning, Minato replied:

"Don't forget who created it, and with whose help it functions."

Letting out another sigh, Naruto just nodded his head. After all was said and done, Naruto's parents wished him good luck, and returned to the seal. Naruto himself finally went to meet his girlfriend.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were already on their way to the training area, where Ten Ten was usually waiting for them. Upon meeting her, Naruto and Hinata decided to first talk about what happened with Ino.

This caused quite a bit of surprise to the weapon-lover, but nevertheless, in her gaze one could detect a note of respect. Ten Ten understood that Yamanaka had shown great courage to not just confess her feelings, but also to demand an honest answer from the guy, on terms that were disadvantageous to her.

Sighing, Ten Ten said:

"Yeah, she's always acted pretty confident, and as it turns out, it's not just for show. Well done for taking her out. I'm sure you're the only reason she's remained so positive."

"Uh-huh," Hinata nodded, "t-though she was hiding it, but... I could see that she was hurting inside," Hinata smiled sweetly, "it was great to watch her come to her senses, eating cakes and speaking in a not so good tone about Sasuke-san."

After laughing, Ten Ten glanced around at her friends, who were sitting suspiciously close to each other this time, and finally said:

"So, as I recall, there was something else you wanted to tell me?"

After receiving a nod, she asked again:

"It has something to do with the fact that you seem much closer than usual. In every way, I must say," she said the last part with a sort of displeasure.

"Well..." Naruto hesitated slightly, looking a little embarrassed.

With a raised eyebrow at his reaction, Ten Ten began to suspect something. And her suspicions were confirmed when Hinata, looking equally embarrassed and blushing, still looked at her with a slight superiority, and defiantly hugged Naruto's arm and said:

"I recently c-confessed to Naruto-kun, and now we're a c-couple!" Having said that, Hinata looked extremely happy.

Ten Ten's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She knew something like this would happen sooner or later, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. She had thought recently that Ino had been brave for deciding to work things out with her boyfriend. But now, remembering her white-eyed friend's timidity, she realized that it was much harder for her to muster the courage to do so.

Shifting her gaze to the blond, who was slightly embarrassed himself, she got a confirmation of Hinata's words without any response. Taking a deep breath to calm down a bit, Ten Ten squinted at Hinata, and said:

"So you decided to go straight after all, didn't you, Hinata-chan?"

The girl's tone embarrassed the white-eyed girl a little, but she still continued to hold Naruto's hand, along with a winning smirk.

Nodding as if getting an answer, Ten Ten turned to Naruto, and asked:

"How long ago did this happen?"

Naruto wasn't quite sure what the atmosphere was. It was as if he found himself being questioned by a member of the interrogation officer, who had had several conversations with him about several of his most grandiose shenanigans. Naruto hadn't expected to get a similar feeling from his friend.

Swallowing, he replied:

"Well... the day before yesterday?" Seeing the girl raise an eyebrow, Naruto hastened to add, "Well, we wanted to tell you the very next day, but there was this incident with Ino, and we couldn't leave her alone."

Naruto didn't understand why he felt a certain nervousness, but the girl's gaze was giving his inner sensors signals that he needed to answer any questions or requests from her at this point.

Nodding at his response, Ten Ten asked:

"I see, then what about your wish?" Tenten nodded towards Hinata, "Is she aware of your intentions for your clan?"

Becoming serious, Naruto nodded and replied:

"Yes, that's the kind of thing that makes no sense to hide from your friends."

"And she agrees with that?" Ten Ten seemed a little suspicious.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, yes?" Since Hinata didn't directly voice her agreement, Naruto didn't sound as convincing as he wanted.

Staring intently at the blond, Ten Ten only shifted her gaze to Hinata, as if wanting to confirm the guy's words. So Hinata replied:

"Yes, I'm aware of that. And yes..." Hinata sighed, showing a little annoyance, "as much as I wanted to take Naruto-kun all to myself, I agreed with his desire to create a big family."

Hearing the tone in which she said this made Naruto feel a little ashamed of himself. Ten Ten, on the other hand, felt a little relieved. Even though she wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of a large family yet, she was calmer, feeling that the way to Naruto wasn't closed yet.

Looking at her friends once more, Ten Ten wondered. Was she really unsure? After all, whenever she heard about Naruto and Hinata becoming a couple, she felt her insides tighten as if she'd lost a relative or something.

Looking once more at the slightly nervous, worried yet gentle look in the guy's eyes, Ten Ten realized that he himself wasn't entirely sure how this whole thing was going to work. He's just going along with his dream, solving all the problems as they come. Ten Ten couldn't help but thinking:

«Damn, Ten Ten, when did you become such a piggy bank of doubts? Not only Ino, even Hinata decided to take that leap of faith, am I really going to let her take the absolute lead, and emerge as the unchallenged leader? No way!»

The girl's inner resolve flamed up as she looked confidently at Naruto, and said:

"Naruto-kun! When will you be free?"

"Uh..." unprepared for her question, it took the guy a while to remember his schedule, "I'm not sure. Starting next week, we're going to have practice sessions, with simulated shinobi missions, so I have no idea how busy my days will be. But at the end of the week of class, I'll absolutely be free."

Slightly surprised by the information about the practical classes, Ten Ten nodded, and replied:

"Yes, we've also been told that there will be practical classes soon, whatever they are," Ten Ten smiled and looked intently at Naruto, "then as soon as you have free time, we go on a date!" she pointed her finger at the bewildered boy, "and it's out of the question, you got me!?"

The girl decided to go ahead, as she usually liked to do in most social interactions. Hearing the girl's statement, and watching her confidently point her finger at him, Naruto only swallowed, and nodded his head in response:

"Of... of course, Ten Ten-chan. As soon as I'm free, I'll come straight to you."

Hinata, who was sitting next to her, was staring at the whole thing with her mouth open and her eyes dilated. She literally couldn't believe that this devil woman would say something like that in such a brazen and direct way.

The weapon-lover herself, however, only smirked at Hyuga's reaction, as if to say that she wasn't going to get behind her.

Thus ended Naruto's strange weekend, and the day of practice began. Naruto was on his way to the academy and had no idea how this practice would turn out for him.

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Author's Note:

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