(In Hinata's Room)
Hinata was sitting at her desk, reading some water jutsu scrolls Naruto gave to her, studying and memorizing the hand signs that went with them. A minute later, a knock came at her door.
"Hinata-chan," a masculine voice called out from behind the door, "are you in there?"
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said happily as she got up from her seat and hurried over to the door. She opened it and embraced Naruto before kissing him. The Jinchuuriki embraced and kissed her back in return.
"I missed you." Naruto smiled as he broke the kiss.
"Not as much as I missed you," Hinata said in return before allowing Naruto to come into her room and closing the door behind them. Naruto went and sat down on the chair where Hinata had been sitting. He gestured for her to come and sit in his lap, and she happily obliged, wrapping her right arm around his shoulders.
"So, how did your time with Kurenai-sensei and your new team go?" Naruto asked. Hinata began relating everything to him, from their introductions, favorite hobbies, dislikes, and future goals. Naruto listened without interrupting her.
"So Kiba wants to be a stronger ninja and alpha of his clan," Naruto said. "I can relate. After all, when I restore my clan, I would like to be head. What did you say your dreams were?"
"To foremost become your wife and start up a whole new clan with you here in Konoha as a very strong and capable kunoichi and woman, and to abolish the caged bird seal of my clan after taking my father's place as clan leader," Hinata answered.
"Very strong words, my Moon's Eye Spring Rabbit," Naruto replied. "How did the others take it?"
"Shino just nodded in acknowledgment of my goals while Kiba teased me about wanting to bear little Uzumaki children who'd run around pulling pranks on everyone," Hinata said. Naruto snickered at hearing that, and his grin grew larger as he thought about it.
"And what's so funny?" Hinata asked.
"I'm just visualizing what Kiba said," Naruto said. "A bunch of mini-versions of you and me with my whisker birthmarks and trademark smile and your cute nose and cheeks going around Konoha pranking unsuspecting ninja and civilians. I can see the wrinkles and gray hairs on Hiashi's head already after he sees all of the mischief his Uzumaki-Hyuuga grandchildren would be causing, if he still has hair left by that time."
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata giggled, trying to sound scandalized. "…How about your team?"
Naruto related everything to Hinata from the time they waited for Kakashi for three hours to the time they left and went their own ways after being told of their coming test tomorrow.
"And you suspect that there's more to Kakashi-sensei's test than he lets on," Hinata figured.
"Precisely," Naruto stated. "He's up to something, and I'll figure it out before tomorrow. But tomorrow before my team's test, we can do our routine exercises and sparring matches before we have to meet up with our respective teams. We'll have a big healthy breakfast on the way, too."
"But didn't your sensei tell you not to eat or drink anything or you'll vomit?" Hinata asked.
"Please!" Naruto replied. "Who goes to war thirsty and starving? It's suicide."
Hinata shrugged before standing back up off his lap. Naruto got up off the seat and headed to the door.
"So tomorrow," Naruto said, "same spot, same time?"
"Of course," Hinata agreed as she went and kissed Naruto again, this time with her tongue dancing with his. After a few minutes, the couple reluctantly pulled their tongues and lips away as their need for air took effect.
"Until tomorrow, then," Naruto grinned before exiting the room and making his way out of the Hyuuga manor and quickly back to his apartment. Hinata, in the meantime, went back to reading her scrolls, though now she was partly distracted by the memory of the last kiss she shared with Naruto.
(An Hour Later)
The training ground was a wreck, with craters and rubble everywhere. Lee, after a fierce and brutal encounter, was finally asleep after being worn down with the sake's effects slowing fading while he slept. The thirty clones, beaten up and ragged, were breathing hard trying to catch their breaths.
"Damn it," one of the clones said. "We were told he was a natural drunken fist user, but we weren't told that he was this powerful and dangerous."
"I'm led to believe that he's a natural born master of it only when he's drunk," another clone remarked, "It'll be his best trump card in a deadly encounter."
"The fact that we didn't dispel the entire time is a feat also," a third clone said. "Evidently, we also got stronger."
"Speaking of dispelling ourselves," a fourth clone advised, "it's best we do so now before we're seen here."
"What about Lee?" the first clone asked.
"He'll live," the fourth remarked. "Besides, there's really no telling if he's really asleep or not, and I'm not in the mood to go and find out and start this whole ordeal again."
All of the clones nodded and dispelled all at once, leaving the sleeping Lee lying on the grass, or at least what was now left of the severely battered green pasture.
(Elsewhere)
Naruto was coming out of the showers with his towel around his waist when he suddenly started feeling light headed and sleepy, with his movements becoming more sluggish by the second.
"…Oh…no," Naruto muttered as he realized what was happening. "Damn them…they dispelled themselves…all at once."
Naruto didn't make it past his living room rug when he collapsed and passed out on top of it from mental exhaustion. It would be hours before he woke up again.
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