new Team 7

Chapter 11

Naruto arrived later that day, just before midday. He watched them as they trained taijutsu, cheering Hinata over and over again screaming, "You can do it Hinata!","Give it your best Hinata!", "Don't let that bell-less bastard hit you!" and all sort of comments like that. Hinata felt really happy with his presence there, she wanted the person she admired to watch her do everything in her power to catch him, follow in his steps and never give up.

On his part, Sasuke just felt annoyed listening Naruto's voice cheering for Hinata, as if that was a tournament match or something.

As they trained, Naruto made a small fire so he could heat some water up and then he took some cup ramen from his stuff to have lunch. It was just about then when Hinata and Sasuke decided to take a break so they could rest and eat something too.

Sasuke was carrying some onigiris in his backpack and Hinata accepted one of Naruto's cup ramen with a shy smile. The boy gave her his precious noodles as if he giving away a diamond, asking her to enjoy it because it was really worth it.

Sasuke watched them smile at each other feeling a little bit distant. Even though it was him who had been training with her since dawn, it was Naruto who got her attention and appreciation for being there. Sasuke ignored them, but deep down he felt somewhat frustrated. There he was, trying to do something for someone else for the very first time in his life and he didn't even get recognition for it. He shook that irritation from his mind and stopped thinking about it, discarding all of those thoughts as the result of being tired. He didn't care about Hinata, they were barely teammates, much less friends.

Then it was Naruto's turn to train and fight Sasuke. The whole thing escalated quickly and it became a bit more serious than the training done before.

Hinata watched them go at each other from the side. The Uchiha boy began to look more and more entertained each time he managed to hit Naruto's shadow clones and they disappeared. The Uzumaki kid would shout and scream in frustration, warning Sasuke he would pay for it. He in turn would laugh it up calling him a loser over and over again, especially when he managed to tie up his feet with invisible threads and Naruto fell face first to the ground. Sasuke laughed loudly and taunted Naruto when he told him that this time he definitely was going to hit him and instead he ended up punching a log (Sasuke was really good at using the replacement jutsu).

Evening came sooner than they expected and the three of them were exhausted. Naruto and Sasuke took off their shirts, sandals and socks very casually and went into the river clothed only in their boxers. Hinata covered her face horrified. She had never seen anyone wearing so little clothing and the fact that they had just undressed like that in front of her almost made her faint.

Naruto didn't understand why she was making such a big deal out of it and Sasuke grunted from the water that she was exaggerating things, inviting her to join them. Hinata quickly shook her head, covering her eyes until they were both covered by the calm water of the river.

She could only watch as they swam and cleaned the sweat and grime from their bodies. She wasn't carrying a bathing suit (and even if she had been she wouldn't have dared to be around others in such a small scrap of fabric). Naruto suggested she take her coat off and swim with them in what she was wearing, even insisting that they wouldn't spy on her if she decided to get in the water naked instead.

Sasuke swiftly punched him in the head, telling him that he had no tact or respect for their partner and the female mysteries (although deep down he too didn't see anything wrong with getting in the water naked, of course, that's because he was still at that age where those issues hadn't yet caught his attention). Slightly flushed, Hinata finally agreed to sit on the edge of a rock overlooking the river and dip her feet into the cool water.

It was just then when something odd happened.

Naruto and Sasuke had never gotten along. They had never said a friendly word to each other. Yet somehow, as the sun started to set in the mountains and they continued to play in the water, they glanced at each other and understood that they were thinking the same thing.

"Guys?" Hinata nervously asked when she noticed both Naruto and Sasuke had disappeared after diving into the river. "Gu..Guys?"

"Now!" Naruto yelled coming to the surface right next to Hinata and grabbing her right leg. Sasuke did the very same thing, only with her left leg.

Hinata sank heavily into the water with her eyes wide opened, glaring at her team mates underwater. They were maliciously smiling. She understood why Naruto would do something like that but she couldn't believe Sasuke had gone along with such a childish act. Generally he was so indifferent and serious; seeing him smile and play like others his own age was something completely new to her and it seemed very likely it was something new to him too.

Hinata was mortified as they broke the surface of the water and the two boys began laughing at her. Miraculously, instead of passing out, she began to laugh too.

"Hinata-chan! Can you swim?" Naruto asked all worked up with excitement.

"Ye..Yes." she answered coughing out a little bit of the water she had swallowed when she was ambushed.

"Great! Let's go!" Naruto screamed with enthusiasm. "The three of us, lets have a race from here to that rock over there!"

"You'll never defeat me, dobe." Sasuke told him with a small half smile on his face.

"Na..Naruto-kun, I'm not… I'm not that fast".

"Are you frightened, Hyuga?" Sasuke asked swimming close to her in an intimidating way.

Hinata promptly blushed at his proximity and the intense way he was looking at her.

"It's.. It's not that… I…"

"Let's go! Let's go!" Naruto complained. "On the count of three! The loser has to carry the backpacks when we return!"

"Three!" Sasuke yelled out.

They began swiftly swimming across the river to get to the rock Naruto had marked as the goal.

When Sasuke finally slowed and pulled his face from the water, he was sure he had easily beaten them. Instead he was very surprised to see that Hinata had gotten there before him. He stared at her as he raised one of his eyebrows.

Naruto came to the surface to check who had gotten there first.

"Who won?" he asked grabbing some air.

"Hinata." Sasuke answered, suspicious as the girl moved her eyes quickly to the side.

"Really?" Naruto questioned them again, surprised that she had told them she wasn't fast and later managed to beat them. "Hinata-chan is amazing! Then, who lost?"

"You." Sasuke answered with a smirk on his face.

"Nooooo!" Naruto screamed as he held his head and sank into the water.

"Wow, that's a very pleasant way to waste some time."

Kakashi sensei's sudden voice almost caused Hinata and Sasuke to scream, as they saw him standing on the water in front of them. One of Sasuke's eyes was twitching and Hinata was stunned speechless from his sudden appearance. How did he even manage to walk over water and come right to them without being noticed?

"What have you three been doing all day?" Kakashi asked as he took out his Icha Icha Paradise book and started reading it with his visible eye.

"Training" Sasuke answered shortly "And now we are swimming".

"I have some news. Tomorrow you'll have your first D rank mission" Kakashi announced to them.

"A mission?" Naruto asked raising both of his hands enthusiastically and promptly sinking back under the water. He came up sputtering "What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?"

"How much do you like to pick up trash and find missing pets?" Kakashi asked as he smiled under his mask.

The tortuous D rank missions had just begun.