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Hearing someone call out,

Naruto looked up and saw the Byakugan girl standing by the shore. After meeting his gaze for a moment, she lowered her head to look at the ground again.

By then, Naruto was also finishing up.

"Hah..."

Naruto thrust both fists forward, producing a dull thud.

Dropping his stance, Naruto walked to the shore and picked up his clothes. As he dressed, he said, "It's Hinata. Did you come here to hang out?"

"Um... Choji and Shikamaru are here too. They're talking to Sasuke." Hinata did not dare look at Naruto as he got dressed. She kept her head lowered, staring at her shoes, which exposed ten tiny, fair toes.

Once Naruto was dressed, he could see the top of Hinata's head and her slightly flushed neck when he looked down. Seeing that she was staring at her own feet, he said, "Hinata, there are lots of rocks on the mountain. Don't wear shoes that expose your toes. You'll hurt your feet."

Naruto did not understand it either. It seemed that in Konoha, every ninja wore shoes that exposed their toes. Didn't they know those shoes were inconvenient for training and traveling?

He had stopped wearing such shoes ever since he began training.

"Mhm."

Hinata replied softly, then raised her head to look at the tall Naruto. "Does Naruto-kun always train like this? It must be hard."

"It's not hard." Naruto shook his head at Hinata's words. "I don't find it hard at all, because I want to become strong."

"Become strong?" Hinata did not yet understand what being strong meant. She asked curiously, "Is becoming strong Naruto-kun's dream?"

Naruto still shook his head. "Becoming strong is only a means to achieve my dream."

"Does Hinata have a dream?"

"I..." At Naruto's question, Hinata could not