Orange, Spirals and Everything Nice

Twenty-Three: Mission Gears

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the setting of the story. They all exclusively belong to Mr. Masashi Kishimoto in all its rights.

After Naruto and Hinata were stuffed with ramen, they decided to walk around the village as they continued to catch up on lost times. Hinata told the hero about the people she met during her clan duties and how memorable her trips and missions were despite all of the strict rules and formality of those events she attended.

Naruto also shared his stories and re-told her about his jounin exams. Until he got to the part where he caused a scene inside the Hokage tower the moment Kakashi announced his promotion. Typical Naruto. He might have matured along the way but he's still definitely his own character.

"I can't wait for you to become a jounin, too, Hinata." Naruto exclaimed which suddenly made her stop on her tracks.

Of course, she would've been a jounin now if she hadn't rejected the badge that Lord Sixth had given her a while ago. Hinata almost second-guessed her decision when she heard the hero say those words. Now it was just her and Shino who are still Chuunins in Konoha 11.
Although Shino will undoubtedly earn his promotion soon, Hinata wasn't so sure about herself. Maybe the enormous scale of the spring dance had drained all of her will to take on a proper jounin examination now. Besides, all she'd been doing for months were clan-related. She rarely went on missions with her team, too.

"Hinata?"

Her pale eyes instantly widened as she stared directly into Naruto's deep, blue eyes. She hasn't realized how deeply she was in her own thoughts that she failed to calculate the distance between them. The hero is currently bent down to her  eye level and his whiskered face was only inches away from hers.
The heiress stayed frozen in her spot and feared that her racing heart was almost too loud for him to hear. Her eyes simply took the chance to take in every single detail of Naruto's good looks — his improved and mature gorgeousness.

Naruto on the other hand was worried about Hinata who suddenly fell silent during their conversation. He was starting to wonder if he said something offensive and might have hurt her in any way. But he knotted his forehead when she didn't respond after he called her name.

She was just quietly looking at him intently.

"Hinataa." Naruto tried again but said it much softer this time. And his heart immediately skipped a beat when a sweet smile appeared on Hinata's lips as an answer.
The heiress can be really beautiful at times for her own good.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata finally said after a long pause and slowly stepped back from the blonde after she regained control of her body.
She then unconsciously held his hand and dragged him towards the empty playground and stopped by the swings. Hinata sat on a swing and blankly stared at the empty field before her as Naruto settled down beside her as well.

"Is something bothering you?" Naruto impatiently broke the silence between them out of worry.

"I'm thinking about becoming a jounin." Hinata admitted without looking at him. "Hokage-sama actually promoted me as a jounin along with Choji-kun earlier before I bumped into you, Naruto-kun." she confessed.

"Really!?" the hero beamed.

Hinata nodded with a smile. "But I rejected it." she added and told him the reason why she didn't accept the badge.

Naruto was clearly baffled. He wanted to say a lot of things or protest about Hinata's decision, but no words came out of him.

"Why would Hinata reject becoming a jounin?"
"Doesn't she want to be a stronger shinobi anymore?"