Dream Team (NaruHina)

#23 Interlude

Naruto and Hinata walked through the streets, watching the sun set as they made their way to their hotel. "What do you think we should do for the month?" Hinata asked as they rounded a corner. "I honestly don't know. I mean, we obviously can't just relax, but we both know that we don't need to learn anything new to win this. Maybe we just spar against each other so we don't get rusty. And of course we need to investigate Kabuto." Naruto proposed. Hinata nodded, as she took out the keys to their room and opened the door.

"But that is for tomorrow. Let's just relax." Hinata said as she took off her gear and went into the bath. Naruto smiled as he heard the water of the bathtub run and lay down on the bed, waiting for his girlfriend to finish her bath. Even though they had been together for almost two and a half years they had not yet seen each other naked, so he was quite shocked when he heard Hinata call from the bathroom: "Don't you want to join me?"

Naruto looked at the half open door with uncertain eyes. "Do you want me to?" He asked slowly standing up. "Come on, we are officially together now, I don't mind." Came the answer. Naruto smiled nervously as he slowly opened the door to find Hinata already sitting in the bathtub, water and foam covering her body. Still she went red as she tried not to watch the blonde undress. As the boy slipped into the water on the opposite side of the girl they looked at each other awkwardly before they laughed, neither of them believing how nervous they were. After that their nerves had calmed down a bit and Naruto slowly made his way to his girlfriend's side. As they soaked next to each Hinata looked at the boy next to her, smiling at his tries not to stare at her body. Turning a bit she put her arms around him, locking eyes with him. Smiling, Naruto leaned forward connecting their lips. He could feel Hinata's body press against himself, having to restrain himself he put his arms around his girlfriends back, pulling her closer. After they disconnected they looked into each other's eyes, smiling at the love they found.

As the sun rose over the village hidden in leaves, Hinata slowly opened her eyes, smiling as she found herself next to Naruto, her head on his chest. Closing her eyes again she drew small circles on Naruto's skin, waiting for the blonde to wake up.

"Good morning Hina." Naruto suddenly whispered, startling the purple haired girl slightly. Laughing at that reaction, Naruto opened his eyes, smiling, before leaning forward catching Hinata's lips in a quick kiss.

"What do you want to do today?" Hinata asked after a moment.

"I don't know, I mean I would have said that we train tomorrow so we could watch Kabuto today." Naruto suggested.

"Maybe we should tell the Hokage first, just as a precaution so we don't get in trouble for sneaking around." Hinata said as she sat up stretching her arms.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Naruto responded as they got out of the bed and changed into their usual outfits.

"Hmm, Hayate had told me that Kabuto had behaved suspiciously. But I think you can understand that I can't have you investigate something like that in my village. I will keep an eye on him. You are to stand down, I already have my hands full with the council trying to find a way for Naruto to come back, so I don't want to potentially give them a reason to keep you here for spying on one of our shinobi." Hiruzen Sarutobi said after he listened to the request from the two Iwa shinobi. Naruto and Hinata nodded and said their goodbye before leaving the office.

"So, what do we want to do now?" Hinata asked as they walked through the streets, no destination in mind.

"I honestly have no idea. The only thing I can think of would be to try to improve our skills, but we wanted to do that tomorrow." Naruto replied as he looked at the passing stores.

"Yeah, right. Maybe we just relax and look through the shops? Maybe something will stand out, after all we don't really have any decorations in our new apartment." Hinata suggested, earning a nod from her boyfriend.

The month between exams went by without any incidents. The pair trained every other day and on their days off they mostly did random things, like shopping or having a small picnic on top of the Hokage monument.

Currently they were waiting at the village gates for the arrival of the Tsuchikage, since they had gotten a letter telling them that Onoki would arrive the evening before the exams.

"Who do you think will be coming with him?" Hinata asked as the pair watched the path leading away from the village.

"Well Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi are obvious. Other than these two I think that he will make good on his word when he said that everyone who has doubts about us can watch us in the exams. I think there will be a few people tagging along." Naruto said, leaning against a tree, his eyes closed.

An hour or so later the two teens were still waiting for their leader to show up. "Do you think Onoki will want to stay after the exams to talk with the Hokage or is he really only coming to watch us?" Naruto asked his girlfriend whose head was lying in his lap, as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"I don't think that he would come all the way just to watch us. He knows our capabilities, while it is a good pretense for coming here he most likely is going to have a talk with the Hokage." Hinata answered.

Her eyes snapped open as she sat up with a satisfied sigh. "Speak of the devil." She joked as the pair rose to their feet. A few minutes later Onoki and his party landed in front of them.

Naruto and Hinata were surprised to see around twenty or so people accompanying the Tsuchikage. There was his granddaughter Kurotsuchi with her teammate Akatsuchi, Akira and his Anbu teammates were apparently the protective detail, as well as fifteen jonin, whose names the pair hadn't been able to learn yet. Apparently there was more doubt than they had realized.

After they exchanged greetings the Tsuchikage showed the two guards the papers for him and his entourage and was granted entrance into the village.

"I guess you didn't run into any trouble?" Onoki asked the two genin as they walked through the streets. "No everything went smoothly." Hinata answered smiling.

"Where are you staying?" Naruto asked as they reached the middle of the village and halted in the shade of the Hokage tower.

"The hotel is called ' Tanuki's ' if I'm not mistaken." Kurotsuchi answered as Onoki looked at her, obviously not remembering the name but not wanting to admit it.

"Ah then we will be staying at the same hotel." Naruto remarked with a smile.

"That's a lucky coincidence." Onoki smiled as they set course to their hotel, walking as the sun slowly disappeared behind the buildings.