Chapter 172: Two Years Progress
Disclaimer:
Naruto and all its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 172: Two Years Progress
As soon as he landed, someone was already clutching his neck in excitement.
"Hinata..." Naruto called her name, but she refused to let go.
"Were you flying?!" Kiba exclaimed, pointing at him with a shocked expression.
"Just for a bit… Lee, can you grab this?" Naruto asked, holding Gaara out for the other boy to take.
"Thank you for your assistance, Naruto," Lee said politely, taking Gaara. His eyes moved to the new seal that had been placed over the original one.
"You used fūinjutsu to stop him?"
A soft whoosh sound announced the arrival of three more figures.
The newcomers wore white masks with different animal designs.
Naruto's eyes moved to the one with a fox-shaped mask. "Kakashi," he said, recognizing his former sensei's aura despite Kakashi's exceptional ability to hide it.
It was no wonder Kakashi had always been able to sneak up on him in the past. Even with Naruto's enhanced senses, locating him still required some effort on his part.
"Naruto, welcome back. And it's 'Fox' now," Kakashi corrected him before glancing at Rock Lee.
"May I take him from here? We'll handle it."
The other two ANBU remained silent, patiently waiting. Their intervention was clearly no longer necessary.
"Here," Lee said, handing Gaara to Kakashi. The latter briefly inspected the seal Naruto had placed.
"Five Elements… Not bad. Lord Jiraiya must have been a great teacher." There was a faint bitterness in his tone.
Naruto acquiesced to Kakashi, though he was just trying to be polite. In reality, most of Jiraiya's teaching consisted of handing him books and leaving him to figure things out on his own.
Not that Naruto minded, as it was how he'd always learned, in both this life and the one before.
Despite seals not being a top priority for him, he could confidently call himself knowledgeable in the field.
Kakashi gave everyone one last glance before turning to leave. Hinata was still clinging to Naruto's neck, softly sobbing.
Ino, who hadn't spoken yet, was staring intently at him.
"I know you all have a lot to say to Naruto but don't delay him for too long. Lady Hokage is waiting for all of you to report," Kakashi reminded them.
"I'll visit her as soon as possible," Naruto replied.
Kakashi lingered for a moment. There was much he wanted to discuss with Naruto, but now wasn't the time or place.
With Gaara securely held under one arm, he signaled the other two ANBU to depart. In an instant, they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Ino sighed. "Well?"
Naruto now had a proper look at the blonde girl in front of him.
Her childishness was gone, though her proud, slightly arrogant attitude remained. However, what had changed the most wasn't her appearance.
Using his enhanced senses, Naruto could roughly gauge the benefits of the cultivation method she had obtained two years ago.
It was hard to compare her progress to the cultivators of his previous world, but judging by the intensity of her aura, she would be somewhere around the Qi Refining Stage. The same stage he was at when he left for his last journey.
What impressed him most was the purity of the yin chi emanating from her body. He could almost feel her cold aura on his skin.
"I can see that you've worked very hard while I was away," Naruto acknowledged her efforts.
A smug grin appeared on her face as she placed her hands on her hips. "Of course I did!"
Her pupil-less blue eyes shifted to the other girl. "Hinata, how long are you going to do that?"
"A bit longer..." Hinata muttered softly but didn't let go.
"Ehmm... maybe we should leave," Kiba said, clearly feeling awkward to be watching this.
"Ahh... yes, maybe we should," Lee agreed. "We can go ahead and inform Lady Tsunade that our mission was a success."
Kiba mounted Akamaru. "Let's do that..." He gave Naruto one last look. "When am I going to get a partner too?" he muttered to himself.
Akamaru growled in response.
"I meant a girlfriend!" Kiba shouted, realizing too late that everyone had heard him.
Feeling the stares from Ino, Naruto, and Lee, Kiba became embarrassed and quickly ordered his ninja dog to retreat at full speed.
"Oi, wait for me!" Lee called, hurrying after him. "Ahh, I see...you want to race, Akamaru?!" He now had a challenge.
Once things calmed down, Naruto placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and gently moved her away.
"Let me take a proper look at you. I can't see you clearly if you keep clinging to me like that."
Hinata nodded and took a step back. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Sorry..."
Naruto used his hand to gently wipe them away. "Why are you crying? I told you we'd see each other again in two years. Was I late?"
"Two years was an awful long time!" Hinata said, her brows furrowing into a frown.
Though Naruto couldn't sense any real anger from her, he noticed that her aura was very similar to Ino's, brimming with Yin Chakra.
This meant that Ino had followed through on her promise to share her cultivation method with Hinata.
The fact that Hinata had progressed as much as Ino, despite the method not being designed specifically for her, was impressive in itself.
Naruto could also tell there were still hidden depths to this technique.
"Hmm... Naruto?" Hinata tilted her head.
Ino stepped closer and tapped Naruto on the shoulder.
"Naruto, I know Hinata's matured into a beautiful girl with glistening long hair and, uh, other... features, but staring so much is kind of rude."
"Ino!" Hinata exclaimed, blushing as she covered her chest. It was true they had grown over the last two years, but she didn't want that to be the focus.
Naruto chuckled. "It looks like you two are getting along much better."
"Humph," Ino huffed.
There was still some work to do there.
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