Chapter 88: Chapter 88:- Returning to the Village
"I also used Flickering Petal Strike (Hana Shunshin Ken) and Eight Trigrams Lightning Sixty-Four Palms (Hakkeshō Raijin Rokujuuyon Shō)."
"Flickering Petal Strike (Hana Shunshin Ken) is another move that I have recently developed."
"Eight Trigrams Lightning Sixty-Four Palms (Hakkeshō Raijin Rokujuuyon Shō) is a combination move. I have combined my lightning release with Eight Trigrams. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered all of these moves yet." But Hiashi and others were more than satisfied knowing all of these things.
"It was Naruto who gave me all of these ideas. He pushed me to train in this direction. He said that instead of limiting myself to just learning our Clan's Jutsu, I should also learn other Jutsu." Hearing this, all the elders nodded approvingly. If they had not seen the result of Hinata's training, some of the elders would have told Hinata not to waste time doing such a thing. But the result was in front of their eyes. What Hinata did may have been the starting point for a new chapter in the history of the Hyuga clan.
'I owe that boy a lot. If not for him, my daughter would not have grown this much. I can never thank him enough for everything,' Hiashi thought.
"Alright, Hinata, you can return to your room or do whatever you want. I will talk to the Elders now." Hinata just nodded and then left the training ground.
Meanwhile, Takumi got up and looked at Hinata's back. 'I lost my chance. Now, I may never get this chance again.'
"Patriarch, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave." Takumi's current goal was to train. Training was the answer to his problems in life.
"Takumi, you have a lot of potential, but without training, you will never reach your potential." Takumi silently nodded and then left.
"Come with me to the meeting room. We are going to have a meeting." They needed to discuss a few other things.
Meanwhile,
"Big Sis, are you in?" Hinata was lying on her bed when she heard Hanabi's voice from outside. Hearing her voice, Hinata became very excited.
"Come in!"
"I am so proud of you, sis." Hanabi excitedly hugged Hinata.
"I never thought that you now have the strength of a Jonin." Hinata understood that Hanabi had heard the news of her defeating Jonin Takumi. The news must have spread throughout the entire Hyuga clan by now.
Hanabi wasn't jealous of her sister. There was no jealousy between these two sisters. Hanabi was very happy for Hinata. With the strength of a Jonin, Hinata's safety was secured.
"But sister, please guide me in training from now on." Hinata nodded with a smile. She planned to do it from the beginning. This was a dangerous world. Instead of worrying that her sister would learn her Jutsu and become more powerful than her, Hinata was worried that something might happen to her sister if she didn't become powerful enough.
"Let's train together from tomorrow onwards." Hanabi nodded with a smile. Team 7 received another two-day break. It wasn't entirely a break since they had to continue their training.
Hinata, as always, remained calm. She made Hanabi sit next to her and asked her while holding her palms, "How was your journey, Hanabi?"
"This time, the mission lacked some excitement compared to our previous missions. But in this mission, we made lots of unique memories and had a ton of fun."
"Tell me everything that you all did?" Hanabi nodded and began telling Hinata everything that happened on this mission. She kept the part where she pretended to drown so that Naruto would save her.
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Scene Change_______
"Mom!" After returning home, Naruto found that there was no one in his house. All the lights in the house were turned off.
"Where are they?" Naruto was hungry.
"I guess I will head to Ichiraku."
Just a few blocks away from his house, Naruto met a familiar person.
"Naruto, when did you return to the village?" It was Ino. Ino was pleasantly surprised to find Naruto. Ino purposely took a detour to pass by Naruto's house, hoping to at least meet his mom or see Naruto if she was lucky.
She also came here to confirm another rumor that has been going on among the girls. It was that a beautiful red-haired girl was staying with Naruto. So far, Ino hasn't been able to meet this girl yet.
Seeing Naruto, Ino was really happy. "I just returned to the village. What about you, Ino-chan?" It has been a while since Naruto met Ino. Before, he regularly used to see her and others at the Academy.
'Man, I kinda miss the Academy days. Those days were so fun and peaceful,' Naruto thought to himself.
"I was about to head to the forest located behind the Hokage mountain. I need to find this rare flower that supposedly grows deep in this forest."
"This sounds dangerous."
"Well, I heard about this flower from a regular customer of mine. I don't know if it's true or not. But I am very curious, so I have to check it out." In her heart, she wanted Naruto to tag along but she couldn't get the words out of her mouth.
'I really want him to come.' Ino fidgeted with her fingers, feeling increasingly nervous about inviting him.
'COME ON, INO!!! YOU CAN DO THIS!!' Ino cheered herself in her mind. She always has been a very brave and bold girl. This was out of her character.
Ino lowered her head to the ground and increasingly became nervous. 'No, I can't!! I have never felt this nervous before.' Ino hated herself for being this weak.
"Ino-chan, how about I come with you?" Hearing these words, Ino slowly lifted her face only to see him brightly smiling at her. Seeing this familiar but very comforting smile on his face, Ino forgot about all of her worries. She stared at Naruto in a daze.
"Ino-chan! Ino-chan!" Naruto called her out while waving his hand.
"Are you alright?" Naruto then shook her shoulder. It was only then that she snapped out of her daze.
"Sorry about that." Ino's cheeks turned slightly red.
"I would be really happy if you came." This was her chance to spend a few hours with him alone.
'This is like a date, isn't it?' Realizing this, Ino felt even more nervous and excited, both at the same time.
'Wait a minute! Maybe I should have worn a better dress for this occasion.' Looking down at her dress, she suddenly regretted wearing such a simple dress.
'Naruto-kun wouldn't care about this, right?' Ino hesitantly looked at Naruto.
Naruto could see that Ino's expression was rapidly changing. One second, she looked super excited; the next second, she looked confused; and the third second, she looked hesitant.
"Ino-chan, before we start our search for this rare flower, can we first stop by Ichiraku?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and continued. "I just returned to the village and there is no one in my house. So I want to have something first. If you don't mind, that is."
"Silly, why would I mind?" Ino replied with a smile. In his eyes, her reaction was very cute.
"Let's go to Ichiraku first." Naruto and Ino started walking in that direction. They leisurely walked towards the Ramen shop.
"So how many missions has your team completed so far?" After Team 7, their team might be the second most talented team of their generation.
"We have completed 24 D-rank missions by now." It has been a week since they graduated. So their team was completing three to four missions every single day. This was a really impressive feat in Naruto's eyes.
"What about you, Naruto-kun?"
"Well, we just completed our third mission. Our first mission was a B-rank mission, which later turned into an A-rank mission. Our second and third missions were C-rank missions."
"How is Sakura? Is she as useless as before?" Naruto could tell that Ino really cared about Sakura even though they always argued whenever they saw each other.
"Sakura-chan has changed a lot. Right now, she might be more powerful than you." Naruto wasn't sure who was stronger but he said this sentence to give Ino motivation to train harder. Naruto wanted all of his classmates to be stronger than they were in his original world.
"Oh! Now that's surprising." But Ino did not take Naruto's words seriously.
"We will see who is stronger in the upcoming Chunin exam."
"I have been taking my training really seriously." Ino's biggest motivation to train and get stronger was Naruto, just like Sakura. She knew that if she wanted to be with Naruto, then becoming stronger was a necessity.
"Naruto-kun, I hope you can train me when you're free." Ino has been wanting to ask this from Naruto ever since she learned that the real reason why Hinata became so strong is because of Naruto. Besides, she can spend more time with him and use this chance to cultivate their relationship.
"No problem. If you're free, then I can come tomorrow. Though, it will be mostly my clone. Since the real me will be training. Sorry about that, Ino-chan."
"No, it's alright! A clone is enough for me." Ino said with a bright smile.
As they were talking while walking on the main street of Konoha, suddenly, a man with his right eye and his forehead covered in bandages walked past them.
As he walked past them, the man and Naruto exchanged a glance. This was the first time that Naruto was meeting the Danzo of this world.
Danzo's eyes were cold. He looked at Naruto for a second before looking at the Yamanaka clan's princess walking next to Naruto. Seeing this, Naruto's eyes became colder.
Ino felt extremely uncomfortable seeing this man staring at her. She unconsciously leaned towards Naruto. But then, she felt her hand being held by Naruto. This suddenly made her feel secure.
As they walked past each other, neither of them said anything. Once Danzo was out of sight, Ino looked at Naruto and asked,
"Who was he? I have seen him near the Hokage tower a few times in the past as well." From Ino's tone, Naruto could tell that she doesn't like Danzo at all.
"He makes me feel so uncomfortable." Ino rubbed her shoulders. It was as if worms were crawling on her skin.
"That was Danzo. He is the right-hand man of Lord 3rd." Naruto said in a serious tone.
"Listen, always stay away from this man. This man is nothing but trouble." Seeing him this caring, Ino felt warm and sweet inside.
"I will." Naruto did not let go of Ino's hand. Ino also did not say anything about it. In fact, she had been wanting to hold his hand but didn't have the courage to do so. Both of them continued walking like this. Their steps were slow but they were not bothered by it. They were lost in their own worlds.
"Naruto, is that your girlfriend?" Teuchi asked in a teasing tone. From his frequent visits to his Ramen store, Teuchi had a basic idea about Naruto's romantic life.
Hearing this, Ino blushed and lowered her head.
Naruto still held her hand. "Not yet!" It was only when Ino shyly sat down that he let go of her hand.
'He said, "Not Yet"!!! Kyaaaa!!!!' Ino was squealing inside.
'Why is it so hot here?' Ino felt her whole face and body burning.
"Ino-chan, are you alright?" Naruto leaned down to look at her face.
"Yeah, I am alright!"
"What would you like to order?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Teuchi happily watched everything. He was being fed by their interaction. One of the perks of being a Ramen shop owner is that he gets to see many interesting things, such as their current interaction.
"Same as yours." Ino wasn't ready to face Naruto yet.
"Alright."
"Miss Ino, if you're not feeling well, you can go to our washroom and wash your face." Teuchi decided to save Ino.
"Thanks." Ino quickly ran away. Seeing this, Teuchi and Naruto laughed out loud.
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