In the simple, elegant living room, the pastries Hinata had brought were unpacked from their gift boxes and arranged in neat rows on the table. Everyone ate and chatted about the past.
Hinata and Shizune knelt facing each other, speaking softly and gently. Their temperaments were so alike that they looked like a picture of tenderness.
"Where's Sakura?" Iruka asked.
"She went home." Naruto slid the shoji door shut, then sat down between Shizune and Hinata, forming a triangle.
Seeing how easily the two were getting along, he felt relieved. He'd been worried Hinata might be too shy to speak.
Hinata folded her hands in her lap, overcome with emotion. Her heart was close to melting, but good manners kept her composed.
So she wasn't the only one who'd been thinking about Naruto. He'd been thinking about her, too.
She had only mentioned once that she wanted to become a medical ninja, yet Naruto had actually brought her one of the legendary Sannin's students—the sole disciple of Tsunade—as her teacher.
Had he gone out of his way to find her?
Could it be that because she'd told him, Naruto had specifically asked Lord Jiraiya to find her before he left this time?
She didn't dare look at Naruto, afraid her face would turn fiery red, grow unbearably hot, or even make her faint.
Shizune smiled warmly. "Naruto, Hinata has a real talent for Medical Ninjutsu. She's well suited to learning it."
"That's good." Naruto was distracted, unable to stop seeing the look on Haruno Sakura's face when she'd kissed him.
Shizune continued, "However, she's the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Family, so we'll need to pay her father a visit."
Hinata couldn't help feeling nervous. She still vividly remembered the cold, harsh look on her father's face when Teacher Kurenai