Naruto; Emperor

Meet Haruto

Naruto discovered that Hinata actually shared his sense of humor, which was surprising because most of the other kids would find his humor tasteless or dumb. When he asked her, she told him that humor does not need to be smart to be enjoyed. When he asked her if 'Naruto' has vulgar humor, she blushed and nodded, "He does but I have a feeling that some was just something he repeated because it was funny and him being himself, wanted to share the humor, while others was because he didn't know better. I knew because he repeated some of the vulgar jokes but the ones Iruka-Sensei scolded him for was never repeated,"

Naruto felt warm as he hid his own smile. It meant that Hinata had really watched him to even notice the difference. When night arrived, they were told to sleep in the carriage after dinner and Hinata opened a loose board that also worked as storage to pull out two sleeping bags, "Here,"

Naruto accepted them, "T-thank you,"

As they lay down side by side, he asked her, "Why do you believe that Naruto can become Hokage?"

She smiled, "Because he never gives up. His tenacity is inspiring. People call him a failure but I have never seen or met a prouder failure. The fact that even with everything that goes against him, no matter how much life put him down, he kept standing back up. I always think that this made him strong, stronger than anyone I have ever known. Surrounded by perfection all the time, I knew that not many can come back from failing even once let alone a hundred times. I think a Hokage that does not give up easily or at all is a splendid Hokage,"

Naruto bit the inside of his cheeks so he won't squeal from hearing such high praise, "I guess so,"

Hinata nodded, "Just you wait. One day, the whole world will hear Uzumaki Naruto the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato," She yawned, "I love...I love that about Naruto-kun..."

Naruto looked at her to find her sleeping. Her last, sleepy words burned his ears and he covered his face with his hands. His excitement caused his glow to grow and Naruto quickly breathed to calm down. He had never heard people talk about him like that. Hinata actually sounded happy to talk about him. Iruka usually sounded exasperated and (dare he hope?) tiredly fond of him. Jiji sounded the same too. Everyone else talk about him as a nuisance or something that they wished to get rid of permanently. Most rather think of him as nonexistent.

No one was excited to talk about him. It was like when someone asked one of the girls what they like about Uchiha Sasuke. Does that made Hinata his...fan? He has a fan? Naruto looked at her and stared as she lightly snored beside him. He never did get a good look at her because usually she would turn red, looked down and away from him, hiding her face in the process.

Now that she's asleep and at peace, he could really look at her. He supposed she wasn't cute like Sakura but there was just something alluring about her. Now that they actually talked (about him!) and he could see the way she really was like without her stuttering and blushing and hiding her face, he realized that Hinata was actually pretty. Not cute but pretty. He liked the soft curve of her eyes, especially when she smiled and they crinkled a little. There was just something so...sweet and genuine about her smile when she talk about him.

He really like her expressions and the way her face come alive, especially when he asked her about 'Naruto'. Hinata...really like Naruto. She had even shared how 'Naruto' would save her again and again from bullies. It made her happy but also sad because she had never returned the gesture. She had even admitted that he had helped her find her way home a long time ago during winter on the saddest day of her life. She had ran away because she felt terrible and had gotten lost. She doesn't know why Naruto was out so late that night but she was glad that he held her hand as they ran around Konoha trying to find her way home. And he did find her home for her!