Hinata, Stop Pretending

"At forty or fifty, I'd retire and find a virtuous, low-maintenance wife. She just shouldn't be ugly. Then I'd have one or two children."

"Beneath blue skies and white clouds, the kids would run around and play in the sunshine while I played shogi with my friends. When I was thirsty, my wife would bring me tea; when I was hungry, she'd cook for me."

"Then, when my life came to an end, I hoped I'd be the one to die first. I wouldn't want to sit silently beneath the lingering glow of the sunset, shedding tears after my lifelong partner was gone."

Choji paused. "Shikamaru, doesn't your dream sound a little too mature?"

Hinata suddenly chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, Shikamaru. We're not even ten yet. Isn't it a bit early to have our old-age lives all planned out?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Is that so? Then what's your dream, Hinata?"

Shikamaru's question seemed to stump Hinata. Her large eyes fluttered as she sank into thought. Yeah, what was her dream? As the saying went, what was the difference between someone without dreams and a salted fish?

The old Hinata might have been stumped by that question too. Later, with Naruto's help, she had found her dream: to become someone as brave as Naruto.

But things were naturally different now. Hinata was no longer that Hinata, and she no longer intended to become the Crown Princess.

She pondered silently, and verses from her past life about the passage of time unconsciously surfaced in her mind—time flies like an arrow, days and months pass like a shuttle, tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows were there?

Her mind turned slightly, and she had it. "My dream is that, decades from now, it'll still be all of us, not one missing, sitting whole and complete around the same table, reminiscing about the dreams we have now."

It was a perfunctory answer, but it also reflected her true feelings. After all, although she had already spoiled the events of Naruto, perhaps because Hinata was no longer the Hinata she once was...

Hinata's fate had become impossible to predict, and there was a strong chance she would affect these rookies as well. So she was merely passing off the truth as a joke.

Yet once she finished speaking, the entire room suddenly fell silent. Sakura and Ino returned to their seats, while Naruto and Kiba Inuzuka stopped arguing.

Ino, seated beside Hinata, patted her on the back. "Hinata! How could you say something so sentimental? Now you've made the atmosphere so depressing."

The Ninja Academy had always taught them to cherish their comrades, but those who had taken it to heart had already done so, while those who disdained it did so as well. Everyone had heard it enough times to grow tired of it.

Yet Hinata's words had brought out the meaning behind those teachings through friendship. Cherish your comrades—perhaps when you were old and looked back suddenly, how many people would still remain by your side?

Hinata looked at the mood in the room, somewhat speechless. Aren't you all taking this a little too... whatever? If I brought over some books from my past life about this kind of thing...

Would you all quit being ninja and spend every day clutching those books, contemplating life?

Naruto said, "Don't worry! Once I become a ninja, I'll definitely protect all of you."

Shikamaru said, "What a pain. Hinata, you said my dream was too mature, but yours is pretty mature too, okay?"

After saying that, he picked up the kettle beside him and personally filled everyone's cups with water. Then he said, "Well, even though I don't really like doing things this way."

"Hinata's words do seem pretty good. So let's use water in place of wine and wish that, decades from now, we can still sit together, with no one missing and everyone whole."

Although they were all only a few years old, aside from Naruto and Hinata, the two exceptions, everyone else understood very well that being a ninja was no easy profession.

Compared to a few years ago, this could be considered a time of peace. But was it truly peaceful? Perhaps during a mission, a piece of intelligence might be incomplete. Or perhaps one moment of carelessness while fighting someone else. Or perhaps disaster might simply fall from the sky.

It might take only one or two seconds to be dragged into a battle between high-level ninja, and by then, a person might no longer remain whole.

It was terrifying and dangerous, but for their respective dreams—or simply to avoid living ordinary lives—everyone had already made their preparations.

The group clinked their cups together. "Cheers!" Their eyes burned brightly. What collided was their conviction.

Afterward, the atmosphere returned to how it had been when they first entered the private room. Sakura and Ino clearly only needed the slightest spark to start tearing into each other again.

Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto, however, seemed to have reached some kind of reconciliation. After tossing a piece of roasted meat to Akamaru, Kiba said to Naruto, "Naruto, you're not bad! I acknowledge you on the road to becoming Hokage, so let's compete together! Of course, I won't hold back."