Hinata (Seeking Follow-Up Reads)

The next day.

Naruto's days continued to be filled with numerous D-rank missions. Sakura, following Naruto's advice, discussed with Kakashi how to begin her journey as a medical ninja.

Kakashi, in turn, found a teacher for Sakura in the medical department, Yū.

Yū was a medical ninja from Konoha's Golden Generation, from the same era as Kakashi. Although the survival rate for medical ninjas during that period was high, being alive to this day made him a standout among them.

While not as famous as Tsunade, in their current situation, Kakashi had no way of knowing Tsunade's whereabouts. As a Jonin, Yū was more than capable of teaching Sakura.

"Kakashi, is this your student?" Yū asked, wearing his medical ninja uniform.

Sakura looked nervously at Yū. He was a man in his early twenties, around Kakashi's age. He wore a white medical ninja uniform and a large medical ninja hat.

A large red cross was emblazoned on his chest, and a few other medical ninjas in similar uniforms cast glances at Kakashi.

"It's nice to meet you. Please take care of me," Sakura said, bowing respectfully. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I look forward to learning from you."

"Yo, Kakashi, your student is much more polite than you," another medical ninja, Hanpō, said teasingly as he walked over.

"Annoying," Kakashi replied, showing his classic dead-fish eyes.

"I heard Kakashi brought his students?" another voice echoed from within the medical department. A medical ninja named Sō, wearing a white square cap, came out upon hearing the commotion.

"And it's a cute girl, how rare," a square-faced medical ninja, Gyoton, also emerged from an examination room.

"Are you coming to our medical squad?" two medical ninjas carrying a stretcher stopped and asked, turning their heads.

"That would be great," Hyakusō, on the other end of the stretcher, said with a smile. "We're a bit short-handed lately, so it would be a big help."

"Eh?" Sakura's face turned bright red. She hadn't expected so many people to approach and talk to her, and she looked at Kakashi somewhat flustered.

Kakashi reassured Sakura, "Don't be scared. Those guys are always like this. I've been injured so many times that I've gotten used to the medical team."

Sakura nodded, and her journey of medical ninja training began in a daze.

However, Kakashi truly didn't have much time to mentor three students. Sakura was handed over to the medical team, and Naruto was still doing D-rank missions, so he didn't need to be considered for the moment.

His main focus for training was now only Sasuke Uchiha. Perhaps because they were both Sharingan users, Kakashi paid more attention to Sasuke.

After all, there weren't many exclusive Sharingan users in existence. With Obito's eyes now on Kakashi, he could manage to use them.

Currently, Sasuke was the only one who could be considered Kakashi's most cherished senior disciple.

While Team Seven was almost entirely busy with their training, a fish that had slipped through the cracks of the Will of Fire education was napping soundly in a hammock in the Konoha forest.

After returning from the Land of Waves mission, Naruto paid the price for his recklessness and had to complete twenty D-rank missions alone before he could rejoin Team Seven.

As of now, including the mission last night to find Mrs. Yamanaka's cat in the bamboo forest, he had only completed 5 D-rank missions.

After that, he just gave up.

"When will I ever finish twenty? Couldn't I just pay someone to do it?" Naruto muttered to himself, lying in his hammock and gazing at the sky through the gaps in the leaves.

And that's exactly what he did. He found a D-rank mission to collect trash from the Hokage's office and paid fifty thousand ryo to have an enrolled ninja complete it for him.

"Well, helping a struggling ninja school student with a part-time job, I'm truly a great benefactor of Konoha," Naruto stretched and then snuggled back into his hammock.

He had completely given up now, not caring if the Konoha higher-ups knew his secret of possessing Lava Style. This matter couldn't be hidden; Kakashi had probably already reported it.

Of course, he was also too lazy to hide the fact that he was wealthy.

He didn't care if there were Anbu monitoring him; he had completely let himself go. The village couldn't do anything to him, as Gato's treasure was all stored in his system warehouse.

Even if the village wanted to investigate, they wouldn't be able to find anything. Making a small fortune on missions was a common occurrence in Konoha village.

Otherwise, with the mission rewards alone, it would be impossible for lower-ranking ninjas, besides the elite ninjas of Konoha, to support their families with that money.

Admittedly, days of slacking off were indeed very comfortable.

With his eyes slightly narrowed, after an unknown amount of time, Naruto slowly opened his eyes and vaguely saw a figure standing in front of him.

"Hinata? When did you get here?" Naruto was startled and coughed violently.

The girl, wearing a light purple hooded coat, was also startled by Naruto's reaction and looked at him somewhat flustered, then quickly averted her gaze.

[Nine-Tails' Recognition 2.3%]

A mechanical synthesized voice sounded in his mind. Naruto froze for a moment. He hadn't done anything this time.

Why did the favorability progress increase?

"I returned to the village yesterday. Teacher Kurenai said she won't be taking missions for a while and told us to train individually to prepare for the Chunin Exams," Hinata said, her eyes tightly shut with a blush.

Her small body trembled slightly, as if she were very nervous.

"Oh, so that means we have free time?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Mm," Hinata nodded.

"By the way, Hinata, how did you find me?" Naruto asked, scratching his head. "This place is quite secluded."

"Byakugan," Hinata lowered her head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"So it was the Byakugan?" Naruto leaned closer curiously, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata leaned back slightly, her eyes closed, trying to avoid Naruto's gaze. "That place isn't very attractive."

"It's quite attractive," Naruto said.

"Huh?" Hinata looked at Naruto in surprise, her eyes wide. "Naruto, what did you say?"

"Looking closely, the Byakugan is actually quite beautiful," Naruto said with a smile.

"Mhm." Hinata felt a warmth spread through her heart. In truth, the other villagers of Konoha didn't have a very good attitude towards the Hyuga, and they viewed the Byakugan as an ominous symbol.

Even within the Hyuga clan, there was an irreconcilable and immense conflict stemming from these eyes. The Cage Bird Seal, that blue tattoo...

"Hinata, wait for me here for a bit," Naruto suddenly ran off.

Hinata, standing in place, was momentarily stunned. Listening to Naruto's words, she found herself unsure of what to do.

About half an hour later, Naruto returned, carrying a small, bulging package on his back, seemingly filled with many things.

"Let's go! I'll take you somewhere!" Without any further explanation, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and started running.

His hand... holding mine?

Hinata immediately felt a little dizzy, her face flushing red again. She didn't bother asking where Naruto was going, letting him lead her forward.