The sunset glowed red.
When the butcher handed over a full bag of beef, Naruto naturally reached out and took it.
Hinata pressed her lips together, took out a wallet embroidered with the Hyuga clan crest, pulled four thousand-ryo bills from a thick stack, and paid.
Naruto remembered where Hinata lived.
When he was three, he'd had nothing to do in the middle of the night, so he'd gone wandering in a snowstorm. He'd come across Hinata lost in the snow, crying, and taken her home.
It was a large estate on the outskirts of the village, in the same direction he was headed.
"Hinata, thank you," Naruto said sincerely. "May I walk you home?"
Hinata parted her lips as if she wanted to say something, but didn't. She gave a small nod.
The two of them walked toward the edge of the village in the sunset's afterglow, while the streets behind them gradually darkened.
Naruto was a chatterbox, while Hinata barely said a word. Mostly, she nodded or shook her head, but she always responded.
When they reached the old apartment building, Naruto said, "I'm going upstairs to drop this off. Wait here for a moment."
"Go home and cook, Naruto. I can get back on my own."
Naruto shook his head firmly. "Wait for me."
With that, he darted up the metal stairs on the side of the apartment building.
Watching Naruto's retreating figure, Hinata felt happy for the first time that she had money.
Five minutes later, Naruto came back down, holding a folded letter in his left hand. It had a green frog and a red frog drawn on it.
Hinata, ever observant, noticed at once. Her Byakugan quivered uncontrollably.
Could it be... a l-love letter?!
She panicked, more flustered than she'd ever been. Her face burned red, and the heat spread from her neck to her ears.
She even forgot when Naruto had called for her to leave, how she'd crossed the bridge, and how they'd arrived outside her family's courtyard.
Standing beneath the black-tiled wall, Naruto held out the letter to Hinata and said, looking a little embarrassed, "This is my first time writing one. If anything's wrong, tell me and I'll fix it right away."
Hinata took the letter with nearly trembling hands, shaking her head again and again.
She was close to suffocating. She waved frantically, then turned to run home.
"Hinata! Read it first!" Naruto called anxiously. "You haven't answered me!"
"I... I-I accept!"
Hinata thought even the gate was too far away. She vaulted straight over the wall, clutched the letter to her chest, and leaned against it, panting.
Her heart felt ready to leap out of her mouth. She stared at the frogs on the paper, too afraid to open it.
Then Naruto called from outside the wall, "I'll wait here, then!"
A tingling feeling spread through every bone in Hinata's body. She wanted to jump, dance, do anything that would release the emotions surging inside her.
A date? Were they going on a date right now?
She looked up at the now-dark sky. Her upbringing made her refuse Naruto for the first time. "It's too late today! We can't! How about tomorrow afternoon?"
Naruto thought about it and agreed. Something like this should be approved by her parents. "See you tomorrow!"
With that, he left.
Their loud conversation over the wall, however, drew the attention of a middle-aged man in a kimono who had been practicing Eight Trigrams Palms in the courtyard.
The man also had the Byakugan. His features were stern and straight, and his long black hair hung loose behind his shoulders.
As if doused with cold water, Hinata gripped the letter tightly. "Father."
The man was Hyuga Hiashi, head of the Main Family of the Hyuga Clan, and Hinata's father.
Hyuga Hiashi held out his hand. "Give it to me."
Hinata had always been obedient, but now she looked reluctant. Still, she couldn't bring herself to object.
Hyuga Hiashi furrowed his brows. His arm flickered, and he snatched the letter away before Hinata could react.
He opened it. Two large characters greeted him: IOU.
Amount borrowed: 100,000 ryō.
The date, place, and borrower were listed below.
A note at the end read:
"Hinata, thank you so much. But I can't take your beef for free, so I'm counting the cost toward the loan, too. I'll pay you back in full, with interest, in three months. —Uzumaki Naruto"
Hyuga Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief. He'd thought his daughter was about to start dating.
As the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Family, Hinata had to keep her bloodline pure and eventually marry someone from the clan who had awakened the Byakugan.
He murmured, "Uzumaki Naruto," as a surge of force burst from his palm and shredded the letter.
"Get inside. You're not to have any more contact with that boy."
Hinata's eyes dimmed at once. She knew she had no chance of going against her father.
The flame of love that had just ignited went out before it could even begin.
In the mechanical voice she'd learned through years of training, she said, "I promised Naruto I'd see him tomorrow. Please go apologize to him for me, Father."
"I'll handle it," Hyuga Hiashi said coldly. "Get inside!"
Night had fallen. The servants lit the stone lanterns in the courtyard.
Hinata crossed the lawn in silence and followed the marble path into the solemn estate, built with black glazed tiles and a multi-tiered hip-and-gable roof.
Hyuga Hiashi knew Naruto's whole background, and had heard about his poor character.
But he hadn't expected the boy to be so greedy as to target his own daughter.
He could have the money—he just had to stay away from his daughter!
The next day, at a farm east of the village.
The three members of Team Seven were bent over, digging up sweet potatoes, while Kakashi lay in the shade of a tree, reading that damned Icha Icha Paradise.
The field was huge, so Sasuke and Haruno Sakura worked especially hard, treating the task as a chance to train themselves.
Kakashi acted like a foreman. When he got bored of reading, he'd get up now and then and shout stock phrases like "Faster," "Control it," and "Wrap the sweet potatoes in Chakra."
By noon, the three of them had packed all the sweet potatoes into crates and hauled them into the shed.
The farm owner was a Chunin, and he praised Kakashi highly. As he signed the mission form, he said, "Your three subordinates work fast. I'll hire you again next time."
Back at the mission assignment hall.
Today's staff on duty were Hiruzen Sarutobi and Iruka. A banner hung beneath the reception desk, reading: "Everyone, keep up the good work!"
After Kakashi finished checking in, Hiruzen Sarutobi took his pipe from his mouth, picked up a D-rank mission scroll, and scanned it.
Seeing the Third Hokage, Naruto stepped forward and slapped the desk. "Lord Hokage, I want a higher-ranked mission."
Hiruzen Sarutobi froze.
He wasn't even calling him Grandpa anymore...
Iruka slapped both hands on the desk and shouted, "Naruto! Don't be difficult! Newcomers need to gain experience with simple missions!"
At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi put a hand on Iruka's shoulder. "All right. I'll assign you a C-rank mission."
Naruto grinned, and so did Sasuke.
"Lord Hokage!" Iruka tried to dissuade him again.
"I've made up my mind," Hiruzen Sarutobi said firmly.
Ever since his conversation with Naruto, he'd spent an hour every day observing the boy's life.
Naruto hadn't gone around telling everyone that his father was the Fourth Hokage, nor had he reacted with vengeful rage. He'd continued living just as he always had.
That only deepened the guilt in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
He pulled out the C-rank mission with the highest reward available—60,000 ryō—and handed it over.
Kakashi took it and read it carefully.
Low-ranked missions with such high rewards were rare. After all, 80,000 ryō was enough to post a B-Rank Mission, and clients generally chose the minimum reward for a higher-ranked mission.
Only clients whose finances truly wouldn't allow it, who couldn't raise the fee even by emptying their entire savings, would offer an amount that fell between the two.
Such missions usually required serious attention. They couldn't be treated casually.
After memorizing all the details, Kakashi looked up with his dead-fish eyes. "The mission is to protect Tazuna, a bridge-building expert from the Land of Waves, until the bridge across the sea is completed."
"Dismissed. Go home, pack your things, and meet at the Konoha gate at seven tomorrow morning."
"Yes," Sasuke and Haruno Sakura replied, following Kakashi out of the hall.
Naruto didn't hurry to leave. "Iruka Sensei, has Team Eight received a mission today?"
"No." Iruka looked puzzled. As far as he knew, Naruto didn't have much to do with the three kids from the prominent clans. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm waiting for Hinata." Naruto waited expectantly for her to arrive.
Haruno Sakura whipped around as if shocked by an electric current, glanced at Naruto, then quickly faced forward again.
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