Konoha: After the Diary Was Exposed, the Kunoichi Fell Apart

Naruto Uzumaki stood his ground before Kakashi Hatake and said,

"So cool..."

Watching Naruto from behind, Sakura and Sasuke were both starry-eyed.

Sasuke especially.

He had already begun imagining

how incredible it would feel if he were the one standing out front.

Kakashi Hatake took a deep breath as he looked at Naruto Uzumaki, who stood between him and Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.

"Hmph!"

"In that case, I hereby declare that you... have all passed!"

Huh?

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Kakashi Hatake, their mouths hanging open in surprise.

They had passed just like that?

"As Naruto said, the point of this test was never to take those bells."

"Only those who refuse to abandon their comrades, no matter the circumstances, are qualified to become ninja."

"You... have passed my test!"

Kakashi Hatake explained with a smile.

"So that's how it was."

Realization dawned on Sakura and Sasuke.

Then

they turned to Naruto.

There was no doubt about it.

The reason they had passed today's test

was entirely thanks to Naruto.

Naruto had figured out the purpose of the bell exercise right away and cleared away the distance between them.

And despite the rules, Naruto had been willing to give up his chance to become a ninja to help his comrades.

That idiot. He just loves showing off.

Sasuke Uchiha found himself liking Naruto Uzumaki a lot more.

How had I never noticed before?

That dead-last...

He's actually not so bad sometimes.

"Hey... Since you're the first students to pass my test, barbecue's on me tonight."

Kakashi Hatake was clearly in a good mood and offered to treat everyone to barbecue.

"Kakashi-sensei, are we really the first students to pass your test?"

Sakura couldn't help asking.

She had thought Kakashi had only said that to scare them.

"That's right."

"All the ones before you were idiots who did nothing but follow my orders."

"Though... I used to be that kind of idiot myself."

As Kakashi Hatake spoke, he gazed up at the sky, lost in thought.

Naruto Uzumaki didn't have to guess. Kakashi was reminiscing about Obito Uchiha again.

That look in Kakashi's eyes was so full of longing that goose bumps rose on Naruto Uzumaki's skin.

The Naruto World

really was full of that sort of thing.

At the thought,

Naruto Uzumaki quietly edged farther away from Sasuke Uchiha.

Teacher Kurenai, From Now On We're Sisters

[Morning~]

[I hereby declare Team 7 officially formed!]

[Just as I expected, that white-haired Kakashi is completely hung up on Obito Uchiha. When I said, "Someone who doesn't value their comrades is worse than trash," he couldn't even hide his smile.]

[But I might've taken it a little too far. The way Sasuke looked at me felt a bit off.]

[I'd better watch myself from now on, or it'll be trouble if my little wife Hinata and the others get jealous.]

Reading the diary, Hinata Hyuga couldn't help letting out a laugh.

Then her face turned bright red.

Naruto-kun, honestly.

Why does he keep calling me his little wife?

Ino, Sakura, and the others must have seen it too.

Oh, no~

This is so embarrassing!

"Hinata, what's on your mind?"

Just as Hinata Hyuga was lost in thought, a gentle woman's voice sounded beside her.

"Huh?"

"Teacher Kurenai!"

Coming to her senses, Hinata Hyuga quickly put away the diary in her hands and stood up.

"Hinata, was that a diary you were reading?"

Kurenai Yuhi looked at Hinata Hyuga and asked curiously.

"T-Teacher Kurenai, you can see the diary?"

Hinata Hyuga asked in surprise.

Even if she hadn't put it away in time, an ordinary person shouldn't have been able to see the diary.

Why could Teacher Kurenai see it?

Could it be...

A possibility occurred to Hinata Hyuga, and she asked in a daze, "Teacher, do you have a diary too?"

"If you mean one of these, then yes."

As Kurenai Yuhi spoke, she took a diary from inside her clothes.

So Teacher Kurenai has one too.

Seeing Kurenai Yuhi's name on the diary, Hinata Hyuga nodded. It was just as she had thought.

"Hinata, were you reading what was written in the diary just now?"

Kurenai Yuhi asked curiously.

"Ah!"

Hinata Hyuga cried out at Kurenai Yuhi's question.

Because

she had suddenly realized something.

If Teacher Kurenai had a diary too, didn't that mean she could read everything written in it?!

Naruto-kun called me his little wife...

At the thought,

Hinata Hyuga began to feel faint.

"Hinata, were you smiling so happily because Naruto called you his little wife in the diary?"

Kurenai Yuhi teased, amused by Hinata Hyuga's bashful expression.

So Teacher saw it after all.

It's all Naruto-kun's fault...

That big jerk!

As though a parent had discovered her little secret, Hinata Hyuga felt herself grow even hotter.

The next second,

her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

"Oh, no."

"I think I teased her a little too much."

Seeing Hinata Hyuga collapse, Kurenai Yuhi stuck out her tongue.

Looks like

I'll have to be more careful next time.

By the time Hinata Hyuga woke up, it was already afternoon.

"Teacher Kurenai, what happened to me?"

She looked at Kurenai Yuhi, who was sitting beside her bed, and asked in confusion.

"Hinata, you fainted."

Kurenai Yuhi smiled.

At her words, Hinata's head gradually cleared.

"Teacher Kurenai..."

"All right, no need to be so embarrassed. It's nothing."

Seeing Hinata Hyuga's face about to turn red again, Kurenai Yuhi quickly changed the subject.

"Hinata, how much do you know about this diary?"

"Can you tell me?"

Kurenai Yuhi asked the question that mattered most to her.

Back then,

the diary had appeared out of nowhere, disrupting her formerly peaceful life.

Whenever she tried to tell anyone else about it, an overwhelming sense of danger rose in her mind.

It wasn't until she saw Hinata Hyuga's diary that Kurenai Yuhi realized people who held diaries weren't bound by those restrictions when speaking to one another.

"Teacher Kurenai, I don't actually know much about the diary."

"Besides being able to read Naruto-kun's entries, diary holders can add one another as friends."

"Friends can communicate through their diaries anytime, anywhere."

Hinata Hyuga explained slowly.

"It can do that too?"