As I said, the third chapter was half-written so I finished it a lot quicker. The next chapter is going to be done from scratch so it will probably take me a bit longer to update. I will try to provide regular updates, I really love this setting, but, as always, I am not making any promises. It will depend on the response I get.

"dialogue"

'thoughts'

flashbacks

Nine months ago…

Naruto came back from his scheduled trip at the hospital to find some bags hanging on his apartment's door handle. There was a note pinned on the door. He recognized the handwriting immediately.

My dearest Naruto-Kun,

I prepared some food for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Hinata.

He grinned widely. It had become a sort of a routine for him. Every time he came back home, either from the hospital, or from a mission there was some food on the door waiting.

He didn't know how she did it. One would expect that her schedule would get in the way. That she would be on long missions, that she would want to take a freaking break from making food for him every now and then. But no, that bag full of food was always waiting there for him, always hanging on his door handle.

He looked forward to receiving it in fact. It somehow felt special to have somebody like Hinata cook for him. It was the first time somebody was doing something like that for his sake.

He lowered the bag on the ground as he picked up the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He inwardly felt a small sense of satisfaction as he realized that he was now able to do it a lot easier.

"I'm home…"

There was no response…

He sighed and slumped as he went inside…

Of course there wasn't a response. Hinata merely helped him until he got his prosthetic. It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or wife or anything...

For a moment he imagined what it would be like if he had actually heard her voice.

'Welcome Back!'

He could actually picture it. Her lovely smile warming his heart as her lips formed those magic words. Her scent permeating everything inside his household. The thought of her waiting for him made his heart flutter.

Sadly, this wasn't meant to be. She was his friend, his precious comrade. She was the person who held his hand in the war and kept him from the darkness. She didn't see him that way.

Did she?

She did tell him she loved him.

But in what way? As a friend? As a comrade? As a fellow citizen of Konoha?

The possibility that she could love him in a romantic way, was something that he rejected right away.

Seriously, who could love him in that sort of way?

Naruto had long ago accepted the fact that romantic love would forever be out of his reach. He could become the most renowned and acknowledged shinobi in the world, he could become the one hokage to surpass all other hokage, but he would never find somebody to love him the same way his mother loved his father. He had accepted that this was the one dream, he would never be able to achieve.

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto's childhood wasn't entirely friendless. He might have been the nine-tails jinchuriki, he might have been considered a nuisance and people might have shunned him and told him to stay out of their freaking way, but he wasn't abused, he wasn't chased around by angry mobs and there were actually boys around his age, like Choji and Shikamaru who seemed to actually like having him around and even played with him.

The girls on the other hand...

...The girls around his age really didn't want him to be around them. Ino treated him like a leper, putting her nose up high and telling him he was beneath her, TenTen threatened him that she would use him as a target practise if he ever approached her again, while Sakura… well... the less said about the way Sakura treated him back then, the better. She eventually came to see him as a friend and comrade, but deep inside he knew that she never had and never would develop any sort of romantic feelings for him…

...When she told him she "loved" him back in Iron Country, he didn't buy it for a microsecond.

As for Hinata...

...It's safe to assume that she felt the same way as the rest of the girls felt about him. After all, she never approached him and she never talked to him back when they were kids. And whenever he happened to be close to her, she just turned red and looked away from him. She didn't insult him, threaten him, or hurt him like the rest of the girls, she just… seemed uncomfortable around him...

...She probably considered him a nuisance too…

...Then why did she tell him that he was a "proud failure"? That she got an intense feeling in her heart whenever she saw him? Why did she tell him during the chuunin exams that she "didn't want him to disappear"?

All the other girls at that time most certainly seemed to want him to just disappear…

A loud growl from his stomach interrupted his train of thought.

"Oh, right. I need to eat something."

He sat down in front of the table and took out Hinata's bento-box from the bag, placing it directly in front of him. A heavenly smell hit him as he opened it and saw the food that she had prepared for him: Chopped Pork with vegetables glazed with what he came to recognize as her "special sauce".

Vegetables… Funny...

If you were to ask him a couple of months ago about what sort of food he despises, vegetables would be at the top of his list. Kakashi-Sensei at some point tried to get him to eat them more regularly but it didn't stick. He made it look like a joke and Naruto simply wrote it off as one of the many things his sensei deliberately did in order to piss him off.

But with Hinata it was different…

Maybe it was the way she pleaded with him to get him to eat them.

Maybe it was the way she prepared them trying to make them as tasty as possible.

Maybe it was the way she seemed to actually care about him.

Whatever the reason was, he was now, for the first time in his life, eating vegetables regularly and enjoying it.

He never thought he would enjoy eating vegetables…

But, then again, he never thought she would actually go through with her promise and stick with it!

And yet she did! After that first day where she showed up with Kiba and Shino and cleaned his apartment, she's been making food for him and looking after him ever since.

As he placed some more of Hinata's delicious cooking inside his mouth, his mind went back to girls.

They certainly didn't like him back then, but how about now?

Ino, Sakura and TenTen didn't blatantly tell him to get out of their sight anymore,which was an improvement, but he could tell that they weren't interested in him either. They liked him as a person and a friend and nothing else. And he was pretty sure that Hinata's feelings towards him didn't change much from what they were during their childhood years, since she still seemed somewhat uncomfortable when she was around him.

As for the girls who seemed to be interested in him…

He first found out he had "fangirls" a few days after he got out of the hospital, about a week after Hinata showed up to clean his house. He bumped into a bunch of them on the way home from the hospital who told him that they "loved Naruto-Senpai" and that they wanted to spend some time with him.

So he took them all out for ramen and out of curiosity asked them why they liked him so much. He wasn't fishing for compliments, he genuinely wanted to find out why would someone, anyone be interested in him.

The girls proceeded to talk about how dreamy and good looking he was, about what a capable and strong Shinobi he was, about being the person who defeated Pein, who sealed Kaguya, who saved the world, who… who… who…

Who the hell were they talking about?

Because the person that they were describing seemed to be quite a different person from whom he actually was. A caricature of sorts with all his good parts exaggerated and all his bad parts overlooked. It soon became apparent to him that they weren't interested in the real Naruto, but rather the ideal Naruto that they had formed in their minds.

He had a feeling (or rather a certainty) that if those girls were to know the real him, the prankster who vandalized the Hokage monument, the screwup who farted his way out of the preliminaries in the chuunin exams…

...The weakling whose incompetence got one of his best friends killed during the 4th Shinobi War…

...They would be severely disillusioned and disappointed. Those girls didn't love and could never love "Naruto the failure". Rather, they loved "Uzumaki Naruto", the perfect Knight in shining armor, the fearless and infallible warrior…

...The "Hero" with a capital "H"...

He scoffed and snorted in disgust.

Him… A "Hero"... What a joke...

Naruto looked once more at the gift Hinata gave him on the day she first visited his house. It was a Naruto-shaped "Chopstick Helper". It was orange with spiked hair and was wearing a Konoha headband on its forehead. It had whiskers on its cheeks and it was forming a "ram" seal, as if it was about to perform the "Shadow-Clone Jutsu".

Naruto couldn't help but resent it somehow…

Part of it was because Hinata didn't feed him anymore now that he had it, but there was also something else…

...something deeper...

There was a time is his life when he was shunned by everyone in the village. When people actively feared him and loathed him for being the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki. But through his struggles and his actions in the war, he became acknowledged not only by his own village, but also the rest of the villages that comprised the newly formed Shinobi Alliance. He was now the most recognizable face in the whole shinobi world. There wasn't a day that didn't pass by when somebody didn't stop him on the street and didn't thank him or congratulate him. Kids were now calling him 'Naruto-Senpai' and asked him to teach them his moves...

...And shops were now selling merchandize in his own image...

...Because he was now considered "a Hero".

Somehow he couldn't look at himself as a "Hero" anymore. Not after people fought wars, put their lives on the line and died trying to protect him. People who never seeked glory or recognition, but rather sacrificed themselves for what they thought was right. For their friends... for their families…

People like Neji…

The real heroes of this world will never be as famous as him. They will never get their faces on a shirt or their images plastered on an action figure. They will never have a "chopstick helper" shaped after them. They will never be recognized and they will never be acknowledged. At most they will be honoured and remembered by the people that loved them, the people who lost them, the people who cried for them...

People like Hinata…

The person who lost her cousin because of his weakness, pulled him out of his despair and was now helping him get back on his feet by literally becoming his right hand. The person who made the meal he was enjoying right now.

Why wasn't she considered a hero? Why didn't anyone acknowledge her? Why didn't she have a "chopstick helper" shaped after her? Yeah! A purple one with long hair, a Konoha headband on her neck and…

...and what the heck was he thinking? How did he go from thinking about the war to imagining what a Hinata-shaped "chopstick helper" would look like?

Lately it seemed like his mind kept coming back to her. No matter what he did, no matter what he was contemplating, he would always think about her in some way, shape or form. Whenever he saw a flower, he would think about smelling it with her. Whenever he was eating something he would fantasize about eating it with her. And whenever girls tried to talk to him he would think about what it would be like to talk to her instead.

It was as if… as if she was becoming a part of him.

It's probably because she was now helping him with his hand and all that…

Yeah… That was probably it…

Still… it would have been nice if a Hinata-shaped "Chopstick Helper" actually existed. He would buy it in a heartbeat!

He smiled as he took another bite from the food she had prepared for him. It tasted great!

Hinata was incredible, wasn't she? She was a great cook, she was kind, she was gentle, she was soft spoken…

...she was beautiful…

...she would make a great wife to someone, some day...

...a great... wife… to someone...

An image of Hinata in a wedding dress flashed in front of his eyes. She was happily walking down the aisle holding a bouquet of flowers. She was smiling and she was happy as she approached the man who was about to marry her. He couldn't make out the groom's features, he could be anyone. But he was with her, he was making her happy and it wasn't him!

Naruto felt his eyes get wet. Why did the mere thought of Hinata marrying someone make his chest hurt so much?

Hinata is a wonderful person! She deserves to find someone that makes her happy! Right?

Right!

The tears… They kept coming out! Why couldn't he make them stop?

He heard a knock on his door. Who could it be at a time like this?

"Naruto-kun, it's me. I am going out on a mission soon and I've come to check up on you, before I go. Do you need my help in anything?"

No! Not now! Not when he was like this!

"Uh… No! Ev-Everything is fine! Th-Thank you for asking."

"Are you sure? You don't sound fine."

Why was he stammering? Why was he choking?

"I-I said, I'm fine! Please go away!"

"Are you… crying…?"

"N-No! I-I'm…"

"Naruto-kun, please open up! I need to see you!"

He quickly went on the toilet and splashed some water on his face before approaching the door. He quickly wiped his face, took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. He needed to appear as cheerful and happy as possible before facing her.

"I'm fine! See? All's well!"

"Naruto-kun, why is your shirt wet?"

Crap! In his panic he hadn't thought about changing his shirt. Not that he would be able to put it on quickly with one hand anyway.

"And why are your cheeks all puffy and red?

"It's nothing, OK? Please, let me be!"

He felt her arms wrap around him as she pulled him into a tight hug.

"Hinata, what are you doing?"

"You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't feel like it. I just want you to know that I will always be by your side when you need me. I will always be there for you. No matter what."

He allowed himself to melt inside her arms, using his left intact hand to pull her closer. He wanted to feel more of her, to be closer to her. He was afraid that if he let go of her now, he would lose her forever.

"Hey, Hinata, can I ask you something weird?"

"What is it?"

"Can you please repeat what you just said'?"

"No matter what?"

"No, the other part, before it."

"Why?"

"Please… I need to hear it."

"I will always be there for you."

"Please, one more."

"I will always be there for you."

"One more."

"I will always be there for you."

He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent as she kept saying it. It felt intoxicating. Her touch, her warmth, made him feel…

...he couldn't quite describe it! But whatever it was, he hadn't felt anything like it before.

"Please… say it to me one more time…"

She bought her face close to him, looked up at him and gave him her warmest smile. He felt like his heart was going to rip itself out of his chest!

"I will always be there for you, Naruto-kun! No matter what!"

Her lips! They looked so… inviting! He wanted to…

A voice was heard from below.

"YO! BOSS! THERE YOU ARE! I WAS LOOKING ALL OVER KONOHA FOR YOU! I'VE GOT THIS SUPER ULTRA PERVERTED JUTSU I NEED TO SHOW YOU, KORE!

The realization that they now had an audience in Konohamaru snapped Naruto out of his trance and made Hinata jump in shock. They instinctively pulled away from each other and turned their backs on one another. Hinata put her hood on and pulled her jacket's straps to hide her face as much as possible while Naruto pretended to focus on something that was apparently stuck on his door.

"Thanks for checking up on me Hinata! As you can see, I am all right now! Hahaha!"

"Y-yeah! I'm glad you're okay now, Naruto-kun! I have to go on my mission now! Bye!"

Hinata jumped on the roof and dashed away from Naruto as fast as her feet allowed. Naruto on the other hand jumped down from his apartment landing right next to his protegee.

Konohamaru looked at him curiously.

"Uhm… Boss… Did I come at a bad time?"

Naruto mentally chastised himself. If Konohamaru hadn't showed up at that precise moment he would have tried to…

"No, your timing was perfect, in fact."

"Uhm, really? I didn't interrupt anything?"

What would have happened if he had actually tried to do it? If he had actually pressed his luck and tried to take this further?

Naruto looked over at the direction of Hinata who was now a small dot in the distance. The fact that she was now running away from him as fast as she could told him all he needed to know.

She would freak out. She would be gentle in letting him down, sure, she wouldn't be as violent as Sakura or as cruel as some of the other girls whom he asked out in the past, but she would still reject him.

At the end of the day, he was important to her but she didn't love him.

Not in a romantic way at least.

Honestly, who could?

"Nothing that should have happened anyway." said Naruto with a sigh.

"Huh? What's the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Naruto gently ruffled Konohamaru's hair and gave him one of his patented grins.

"Never mind that! Why don't we go somewhere private and you show me that awesome new jutsu you developed!"

"All right boss! I have developed an awesome new perverted jutsu that can defeat Shinobi and Kunoichi at the same time!"

"Okay, this I've got to see…"

About a few miles away from the perverted jutsu specialists, Kiba and Shino were wondering why Hinata still had her hood on and why she refused to face them directly.

"Did something happen between you and Naruto?"

The white-eyed kunoichi got even redder under her hood. She couldn't believe what had just happened! She hugged Naruto! His face was so close! She could practically feel his breath on her lips!

He looked so handsome! She wanted to kiss him! To lower his face down and bring his lips down to hers. Why, oh why didn't she take that opportunity when she had the chance?

Images of lips connecting and tongues twirling flashed in front of her eyes.

And did she really feel something emerge from Naruto around her waist area?

Her face was practically sizzling. Shino swore he saw smoke rise from her forehead.

"No-Nothing happened!"

'Unfortunately.' she thought silently.

"Uhm… Shino, Kiba... do we pass by any waterfalls on the way to our mission destination?"

"I think so, why?"

"I need to go train under one for a few hours."

"Are you insane? It's the middle of the winter! The water is going to be ice cold right now!

"Good!"

Naruto's entire body was filled with a strange warmth as he felt the angel's arms wrap around him.

"Please don't ever leave me. I need you." he told her desperately.

He felt the angel's lips move through his shirt.

"What did you just say?

"What do you think of my 'Shinobi-Gone-Wild Jutsu', boss?"

"Huh?"

Naruto came back to his senses to see Konohamaru standing in front of him.

"I said what did you think of my new ultra perverted jutsu?"

"Uhm… It was quite good, Konohamaru! Keep up the good work."

The young ninja looked at his one-armed master concerned. Naruto was the inventor of the Sexy Jutsu, and the Harem Jutsu. He inspired him to create the "Reverse-Harem Jutsu" which, he later found out, was instrumental in defeating the rabbit goddess Kaguya and saving the world.

(Okay, it didn't really defeat her, Kaguya recovered nearly immediately from it, but Konohamaru was never one to let facts to get in the way of a good ego-boost.)

For him to be so out of focus while he was performing his newest ultimate technique was…

"Hey boss, is everything OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, Konohamaru, everything is fine."

"But, you are not screaming enthusiastically, you are not having nosebleeds like you normally do. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

Naruto sighed. Seriously, what was wrong with him? In the past, he would not only pay close attention to Konohamaru's sexy techniques but also give him perverted pointers on how to improve them. He would then try to one-up him by coming up with something even more perverted, at which point Konohamaru would swear that he would defeat him, and they would both go practising what they developed on unsuspecting civilians and shinobi. It was their thing.

This time though he couldn't get into it like he used to. His heart just wasn't into it for some reason…

He was still thinking about Hinata. His body still remembered the warmth of her embrace. How can you perform perverted techniques when your mind is fixated on a girl's angelic smile? Her kindness, her concern, her generosity?

"It's nothing Konohamaru… I guess I am just… growing up…"

BONUS SCENE:

Naruto stared blankly at the distance. He now knew what true hell, what true isolation was. It wasn't being stranded in a desert, it wasn't being trapped in the mindscape, it wasn't even sleeping alone in an empty apartment with noone by your side..

No, true isolation was being surrounded and stuck with people that made you feel isolated.

Such as the fangirls that were talking in front of him right now.

He tried to tuning in back to their conversation…

"Blah, blah, blah… and then you did that move that... Blah, blah, blah…"

Oh, they were still talking about his fights... Okay...

He tuned back out.

He knew in his heart of hearts that those girls were not bad people. But the way they talked about him and idolized him, like he was some sort of deity made him feel uneasy.

When they asked him to tell them a story about his childhood, he honestly didn't know what to tell them. His childhood was painful and lonely. It was a very sensitive subject for him. He wasn't very comfortable in sharing his pain with anyone…

...except Hinata.

So he lied. He told them a bunch of tall tales that he pulled out of thin air and told them that everything about his childhood was excellent. That he was the top student in his class, that he had lots of friends…

...and they bought it. They believed every word he said. Because he was their precious "Senpai".

Naruto hated every minute of it. He hated himself for doing this.

So he stood silently, spoke as little to the girls as he could and prayed for the sweet release of death.

Taking them out at Ichiraku's for ramen was a really bad idea.

Thankfully Teuchi picked up on this and made sure that Naruto's table got served as fast as possible. He could sense that he didn't want to spend more time with those girls than what was required to be tactful.

Naruto looked at the generous serving of ramen and reached for the chopsticks.

One of the girls grabbed them before he did, and approached him as seductively as she could. She looked at him with "puppy-dog eyes" while taking extra care to give him a generous view of her cleavage.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"It must be hard to eat with one hand Naruto-Senpai. Why don't you let me feed you?"

He grabbed the chopsticks from her hand and then placed them back on the table. He then grabbed the "Chopstick Helper" that Hinata gave to him, held it with his mouth and placed the chopsticks inside it.

"I appreciate the offer and all, but I really need to do this on my own."

"Oh…"

"Uhm… Could you please sit a little bit… further? I don't want to get any ramen broth on your clothes."

"You're so thoughtful, Naruto-Senpai!"

Naruto exhaled with relief as the girl went back to her chair and he placed a generous amount of ramen in his mouth.

He was certain she meant well and all, but the thought of a girl other than Hinata helping him out and feeding him somehow felt…

Wrong!

It felt wrong to have a girl other than Hinata by his side.

How long before she comes back from her mission, he wondered…

He wanted to hang out with her again!

Side Story: How she did it.

Tsunade looked at the documents that were lying in front of her desk and then at the kunoichi that was currently standing in front of her. She had to do a double-take and reread the whole thing because she couldn't believe what she was actually reading.

"So let me get this straight, Hyuga Hinata-san…"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"You wish, to turn down your promotion to jounin?"

"That is correct, yes."

The fifth Hokage took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. So she didn't read the documents incorrectly.

After the end of the 4th Shinobi War, most of the kids that previously comprised the so called "Konoha Twelve" (actually Konoha Eleven now that Hyuga Neji had sadly passed away) minus Naruto and Sasuke had received a jounin promotion. They had proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were all strong and capable shinobi and that they could handle themselves quite well under pressure in times of peace and conflict. The acting daimyo felt that a lot of them didn't even need to take an exam for it.

Hinata's record during the 4th Shinobi war was especially impressive. She was able to operate with her byakugan activated for days, and endured in battle when even her cousin Neji was getting seriously fatigued. When the juubi awakened and her own cousin died during the war -her cousin being a person to whom she was especially close- she composed herself and kept Naruto from giving in to the enemy. And when push came to shove and she needed to directly protect Naruto from falling to the enemy's hands, she combined her own Twin-Lion Fists technique with the ancient 64-Palms technique of the Hyuga clan and took out a great part of the incoming enemy's forces. She was practically a shoo in for jounin…

...and she was turning that down!

"May I ask the reasons why you are turning down such a promotion?"

"There's someone who needs me… I need to be there for him."

There was no doubt in Tsunade's mind who that 'someone' was. Hinata's love about Naruto may have been 'Team Eight's S-Ranked secret' but everyone in Konoha knew how she felt about him…

...Everyone except Naruto that is…

"You know, his hand is going to be ready in a few months. He is probably not going to keep you around after that."

"I know. And I am still planning to stand by him during that time. I gave him my word and I am not going to go back on it. That's our ninja way."

The acting Hokage felt a migraine coming. She furiously rubbed her temples and then threw a non-chakra-enhanced punch on the table.

"You overly-sentimental, lovesick idiot! This isn't something minor you are turning down, it's the freaking jounin position! An offer from the daimyo himself! It's something shinobi struggle to achieve all their lives! Most of them don't even get a chance to get it!"

She got off the desk and approached Hinata furiously. The poor girl needed to get through to her skull that she was making a grievous mistake.

"Do you even realise what turning down this promotion means? It means that the acting daimyo will be insulted! It means that you will most likely be the only person in your class who will never be promoted! It means that your teammates Shino and Kiba will eventually outrank you and that you will become their subordinate! It means that you will be a chuunin and receive no higher than B-Ranked missions most likely for the rest of your life! Is this what you really want? Do you really want to make that sort of sacrifice for him?"

"Yes." Hinata said simply. Without any shred of a doubt.

Tsunade sat back down on her desk and slammed her face on it. The poor girl was hopeless.

"As long as you understand what is at stake here..."

The Fifth Hokage looked up at the white-eyed kunoichi once more.

"You want something else from me, don't you? Or else you wouldn't request an audience with me, you would just send me the rejection by mail."

"Yes." said Hinata again.

"What is it? Spill it out!"

The white-eyed chuunin approached the desk and addressed her boss. There wasn't any threat or malice in her voice, but the acting Hokage could tell that this was something that was extremely important.

"Please synchronize Naruto-kun's schedule with mine."

"What?"

"Every time that he comes out of the Hospital or is back in Konoha from a mission I need to be there for him. Please arrange my mission schedule in accordance to this."

The acting hokage grabbed herself by her hair and looked up at Hinata intently. She attempted to stare her down, but the white-eyed kunoichi was so determined that she could outstare the sun.

"You know this is a big favor you are asking me to do."

"Yes."

"And you are just asking me to do it like this? You are not going to offer me anything in return? Some sort of bribe or compensation to motivate me to do this?"

"I sincerely apologize. I believed that the fact that we both care about Naruto-kun was motivating enough. Nevertheless, if you wish for me to get you anything or do something for you in exchange for this, I will be more than happy to oblige."

A wide smile formed on Tsunade's lips. She laid back on her chair and exhaled.

"I will see what I can do Hyuga Hinata-san. You are dismissed."

"Thank you Hokage-Sama."

The young kunoichi stood up and bowed gently as she exited the room. She then gave Tsunade one of her warmest smiles and closed the door.

"Shizune!" she yelled to the lone woman who was standing outside. "Cancel all my appointments for the rest of the evening! The Hokage's office is closed for the rest of the day!"

The young secretary scrambled in panic and started going through the Hokage's now-cancelled schedule. She had a long day ahead of her, both inside her office and outside of it. She picked up the phone, took a deep breath and steeled herself for the incoming rage and verbal abuse that was inevitably coming her way.

Inside the Hokage's office, after making sure that nobody was watching and that no ANBU members were going to approach her for a while, the fifth Hokage reached for the bottom drawer of her desk. She took out a key that she had placed on a special necklace around her neck and carefully unlocked it.

That place in her desk, that drawer was sacred to her. She didn't want anyone else to know about it and desecrate it. She had already made arrangements with her successor to get its contents specially sealed and sent to her personally. It was going to be the only thing that she would take from her office back to her civilian life.

It contained Jiraya's letters, a copy of his only non-smutty book "Tales of the Gutsy Ninja", the gifts that he had given her over the years, and a picture of him smiling and giving her the victory sign in his trademarked outfit and kabuki makeup.

They were her anchor, her strength, what kept her going when her schedule became overly packed and she had to spend inhumanly long hours inside the hokage's office. They were what motivated her to stick through thick and thin, to face danger and adversity and protect the village and its people when all seemed lost and a powerful enemy invaded. They reminded her that, no matted what happened, she always had someone who cared for her, and loved her!

And then she sent him in a dangerous mission in Rain Country and got him killed.

She wasn't quite the person she used to be after that.

Jiraya's picture was placed on her desk as she took out a bottle of sake that she always kept in the cupboard behind her and poured herself a glass.

"For someone to love and sacrifice so much for him… without expecting anything in return… Your student is really lucky to have someone like her in his life…"

The sake burned as it went down her throat. It left a bitter taste inside her mouth.

Come to think of it, that girl's situation was similar to Jiraya's, wasn't it? Sure, she wasn't a pervert, at least not a covert one like Jiraya, but she also went through extraordinary lengths to support the person she loved. She put her life on the line and made sacrifices for someone… without expecting anything...

...because she loved that someone…

...Just like Jiraya loved her.

Why didn't she appreciate what he was doing for her while he was still alive? Why did she always chastise and belittle him whenever she saw him? Why did she always dismiss him as an 'old pervert' whenever he attempted to flirt with her and get closer to her?

Why did Jiraya have to die in order for her to realise that she had feelings for him?

Because she was a moron, that's why. Just like…

"I… I just hope that gaki comes to appreciate what that girl is doing for him. To come to accept her feelings and cherish her before he hurts her or he loses her. Or both. I hope... they don't end up… like us!"

She drank another glass of sake and fought back the tears. She was too old to cry. It was too late to cry.

She placed Jiraya's picture back inside the desk and the sake back on her cupboard. Now was not the time to get drunk and break down. She took out Naruto and Hinata's mission schedules from the filing cabinet and placed them right next to each other.

"Now… Let's see… What do those weird star symbols mean again?"

She contemplated this for about five seconds.

"Screw it, I'll just copy the one over the other."

Whew! That was a long one! I really hope I didn't bore you to death and that you enjoyed the bonus scene and the side story.

I found it odd that Hinata was still a Chuunin in "The Last" movie, so I made the Side Story to explain why she is the only one from the "Konoha 12″ that didn't get promoted. I hope you enjoyed that particular headcannon.

I really wanted to delve into Naruto's psyche in this chapter. I wanted to set up his mindset and his conflict early because it's going to pay a huge part into what happens later in the story (provided that I get to update it, of course). I wanted to give him a better motive for not getting together with Hinata than what is commonly harped "he didn't realize he was in love with her". It does temporarily play a factor to this story, but there is something much more traumatic at play here that I wish to explore.

Do you like my interpretation of Naruto's psyche? Do you agree? Do you like the direction this story is taking? If so, please leave a review. I really appreciate it and it drives me to write more.