Chapter 56: Reunion.
"Naruto Uzumaki has returned to the Hidden Leaf Village." – A loud voice could be heard coming through the window.
'Did he find another pole closer to the Hokage Tower?' – I thought to myself as I heard the obnoxious voice from outside.
"And that should be him. I have to give an examination given the status of the previous leader of Team 7." - I said as I continued eating my lunch.
"Is that so…" - Hinata replied without turning.
" In fact, I instructed him and Jiraya to meet me at the third training ground. Do you want to come with me?" – I asked smiling innocently.
As the words dropped from my mouth Hinata froze up. A chilling silence descended on the room as I simply stared at her back on my desk with genuine curiosity in my eyes.
After about a minute Hinata turned her head to look at me, her face carrying a serious and determined expression.
"Yes." – She replied as I simply stared at her.
It only took a minute for her determined stare to turn into a rising blush as she immediately turned her head around.
"Then we should head out." – I said as I rose from my seat and grabbed her hand while still smiling lightly.
As Hinata's red face turned to see mine her face got even redder, her expression quivering as she immediately turned her head around.
Deciding it was too much fun to pass on I bent forward.
"Your ears are red." – I whispered into her ear as she quivered once more, opting not to speak.
(A/N: Someone get the fire extinguisher, smoke is coming out of her head. P.S: Just imagining the anime, if Naruto actually did something like this to Hinata, she would have died on the spot, her head would have exploded.)
-------------------------
The sun shone on the sky and the weather was clear, a perfect day for some light exercise.
As Hinata and I arrived at the training field I could see a dozen figures standing around, Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of the Rookie 9 staying on the field, Shikaku was napping under a tree while Jiraya and Tsunade were discussing a little further away.
"Would you look at that? The troublemaker shinobi has returned." – I spoke as everyone turned to look at me and Hinata.
Naruto was the first to greet me.
"You better believe it. How have you been Kei-san?"
As Naruto ran and greeted me, not noticing a person running right behind him.
*BANG* - was heard, a collision between Sakura's fist and Naruto's head. A
As opposed to last time, this didn't end with a simple concussion as Naruto's head headed straight for the ground with quite an impact, the earth caving in and cracking under the force it was hit with.
'I wonder if this is the universe telling me to not target his head. He must have built quite the tolerance after all that abuse… then again it might be proportionate to his loss in IQ so who knows.'
"Naruto, show some respect when speaking to the Hokage." – Sakura said as she looked at him and then turned to me.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, he's still an idiot." – She said as she returned to screaming at Naruto.
Turning to look at the other they were all exasperated at the sight in their own way.
"It seems it is quite disturbing seeing Naruto getting 'educated' by Sakura."
"Rather than that Hokage-sama, you imply smiling at all this is getting to them in a deeper level." – Shikaku spoke as he had quietly made his way towards us while we were speaking.
"Oh my. Do not pay it too much heed, it comes with the territory. Being a politician and shinobi is not that easy. Shinobi have kunai, politicians have words and smiles." – I said keeping my smile up the entire time.
"By the way, the village has expanded quite a bit." – Naruto mentioned as he got up.
"yes, with a rather large influx of refugees coming from the north, mostly from Iwa or smaller villages around it. Some are even from other large villages." – I explained as I studied his expression.
With no surprise his smile slightly fell when Iwa was mentioned, probably pushed a little by Jiraiya's opinion as well as the act himself. Jiraya wasn't an idiot, he should have already implanted ideas about me in the boy's head, meaning trying to grow closer to Naruto would be either difficult or right down impossible.
From this point on his guard towards me would only increase.
----------------------------
(3rd Person POV)
While the Rookie 9 could not directly open a conversation with the Hokage, it was much easier with Shikaku as their intermediary. As the conversation continued, Kei did not forget to keep an eye on Hinata's reactions. Ever since she arrived, only when she saw Naruto for the first time did her heart speed up a little.
As she continued observing him, her expression became cold and disappointment crept into her mind. Naruto had grown, physically, slightly emotionally… maybe, and not at all intellectually.
Naivety, Naruto reeked of it. Many could see it and Hinata could definitely see it. She had grown up to be a confident young woman and he had remained a child.
As she had grown she could also clearly sense the atmosphere around her. She saw how the 2 Sannin kept themselves at a distance, discussing between themselves and only giving a nod in acknowledgment of Kei being here.
She also noticed that she wasn't the only one from Rookie 9 that noticed it, Shikamaru also catching on to the distance between the two parties, prompting him to take his stance closer to the entire group and acting oblivious.
As Hinata continued obs3erving with a cold expression Naruto appeared in front of her face.
"Hi Hinata, what's up?" – Naruto greeted enthusiastically.
"Hello Naruto, welcome back. I'm sorry but I can't talk right now, I need to speak with Kei." – Hinata replied with a straight face as she smiled lightly and made her way past him.
As Hinata passed him, Naruto came to a realization, sensing that something was wrong as he turned around with wide eyes.
"Why can she can call him Kei but I can't?" – Naruto thought out loud as judgment followed soon after.
*BANG*
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone