Chapter 79: Hinata's Suspicion

With all their gear, backpacks, equipments and such, the group Tsunade had ordered to rescue the small village taken hostage, went on their way. They had about a week to reach their destination.

As they had already been jumping through branches for quite some time, everyone decided to instead start walking as they didn't wanna get tired so soon.

Yamato was ahead of the group as he held a map in his hand. Meanwhile, Naruto and Nia were having a pleasant conversation behind him, while everyone else stayed behind those two.

"Naruto... seems to like being by that girl a lot, huh?" The Hyuga girl noted the way the blonde walked close to the kunoichi ahead of her and how he was laughing about something she had told him.

Kiba rolled his eyes as Akamaru was to his left while Hinata was to his right, "Oh come on, Hinata... the only reason he's talking to her is because you're too scared to talk to him yourself. I'm sure that if you got over your shyness and just approach the guy already, he'd take you in an instant. He's an idiot, but there's no way he'd pass you up for that chick! I mean, she's not even good-looking! You got this!"

"Y-You really think so?"

"I know so! Right, Akamaru?"

"Arf! Arf!" The dog barked.

"It's not a matter of who's better looking," Shino, who was to Hinata's left, gave his opinion, "Hinata, you're lacking courage. You can't expect him to notice you when you're not putting hardly any effort into furthering your relationship with him. When he talks to you, you freeze. You stutter and take a large amount of time to just think of saying a sentence to him."

"Ah, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about." Kiba dismissed the boy, "All you need is a pretty face and you're gold. Your looks is much more important than your personality. Naruto just has bad taste is all. Don't worry, you don't need to work on your personality to beat that girl."

"I... don't think he just cares about looks, Kiba..." Hinata lowered her eyes as she remembered something important to her.

"I think... he can overlook it if you can make him feel really good about himself."

Kiba only laughed, "Hinata, that can only work the other way around. This may sound bad, but no guy would go out with a girl who looks as terrible as that girl."

'But she won Naruto's heart somehow... so you can't really say that...' Shino kept that thought to himself as to not upset Hinata, 'Besides, I think Hinata's right... Stroke Naruto's ego good enough and there's a chance he probably could end up liking you.'

As the Inuzuka attempted to encourage his friend to speak with her crush, Nia was smiling with rosy cheeks as Naruto kept playfully bumping into her.

"Curly Brow, what're you being so shy for? Don't you like flirting?" The blonde smiled as he kept gazing at the profile of the girl's face.

Nia only covered herself with her hands, "I do, but it's been a while since I've seen you so I'm pretty shy right now."

"But you're so beautiful." He told her, "You don't gotta be all shy with me, ya know?"

"You really... think so?"

"Mhm."

'She's so disgusting though...' Kiba, with his sensitive hearing, caught on to what the two were saying to one another, 'I don't see how he loves her. It just doesn't make sense. She's hideous! Why does he love a creature like her?'

"Curly Brow," He then heard Naruto say as he removed the girl's hands away from her face, "I can't look at you when you're hiding from me like that. Let me see you."

Feeling immensely flattered, Nia hooked her right arm around his left arm and held onto it as she gently rested her head against it as well while they continued to stroll down a path.

"I really missed hugging you this way," She told the blonde as she could feel her heart flutter a bit, "You make me feel so relaxed."

Inwardly, Naruto pumped his fist up as he felt something special was coming his way.

All riiight! If I keep playing my cards right, there's no doubt she'll sleep with me tonight! It's been so long! I'm tired of using my hand! I need the real deal, ya know!

Kiba grunted as he watched Hinata get a little down over seeing how close Nia was to the boy she "loved" since childhood.

Man just look at that idiot! What kind of moron is he letting that girl hold onto his arm like that in front of Hinata? I can't keep watching this any longer! I feel like I'm about to lose it!

Shino just sighed as he saw the girl's expression.

I was afraid this day would come... but... Hinata did have more than a literal decade to talk to Naruto... Unfortunately, she couldn't find the courage to keep making progress with him. It's actually more realistic for him to be taken since she didn't put in enough effort into trying to get with him... much more realistic.

"So... did you take the time to catch up with your friends in the last five days?" Nia asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. We caught up on a lot of things and I got to talking to everybody, ya know?"

Nia felt a bit remorseful, "I'm... sorry."

"Huh? What for?"

"I've been... hogging you all to myself. I want you to be able to spend time with your friends also. Have some space from one another every now and then. I know... how much they mean to you and everything."

The genin smiled, "Oh, don't worry about all that. Besides, they're usually on missions anyways."

"I see..." The girl returned his smile.

"Nia." Yamato stopped and turned around, "Can we have your permission to pick up the pace a bit?"

"Hm?" Nia seemed confused for a bit before she remembered she was appointed as captain, "O-Oh yeah, of course. Hold on another minute though, please?"

She turned to the four behind her.

"Excuse me," She called to them and received their attention, "Are you guys ready to pick up the pace a bit?"

"Yes, actually." Shino nodded along with his three teammates.

"Naruto, are you good to go?" Nia didn't forget to check on the genin.

He nodded as the two pulled their arms away from one another. With the kunoichi's permission, they began to once more head off into the tree branches.

Though he tried hard to focus on everything ahead of him in the last several minutes of everyone branch hopping, Naruto found himself helplessly gazing at Nia who had switched over to his right side.

Nia was nothing to look at according to everyone—her hair wasn't very pretty or long, her eyes were small, she lacked visible eyelashes, her nose was a little wide, and her lips weren't exactly the best either. She was short from what a beautiful woman was supposed to look like. She was born with features most wouldn't give a double look at. It were features everyone laughed at, insulted, hated, and mocked.

However, to Naruto, they were insanely attractive. Just like how he loved and was attracted to Sakura's large forehead even though everyone made fun of that feature of the girl when they were kids, he loved Nia's facial features even if they were a more unappealing size and shape many wouldn't find attractive.

Recently, she was able to receive some new glasses as her other ones had disappeared while in Hanshin's, or Fuyuka's, castle as it had faded into nothingness.

That was a while ago so the blonde had to adjust into seeing her with her frames on once more. Unlike the ones before which he considered thick and nerdy or geeky even, her new frames were much thinner and looked a bit more bland but nevertheless, classier.

He could feel the heat growing in his cheeks. His lips curved upwards as he kept his eyes on the girl.

'Curly Brow is so gorgeous to me now it's ridiculous,' He said to himself, 'She's so cute. Ugh, I wish everyone wasn't so mean to her, whether to her face or behind her back. Great... now I just made myself wanna hug her right now. Get it together, Naruto. Quit staring, ya know?'

As he stayed admiring the girl, Hinata had once more felt some sadness thanks to his seemingly endless gaze at someone other than herself.

'Naruto,' She pouted, 'Oh how I wish your gaze would be on me.'

Not even five minutes had passed before the genin then got lost in his thoughts again and once more gazed at the kunoichi. This time however, he was thinking of the words in her diary. He was so smitten with what it had to say about him. They were so positive, so full of recognition and strong desirable feelings.

"Naruto, look out!" He suddenly heard Hinata yell as the blonde then quickly slammed into a tree face first.

Hearing the commotion, Nia turned back to see the boy fall and flop onto his back where black swirls were in place of where his eyes should've been. A red mark had appeared on his face where he had came into contact with the tree.

"Naruto!" Nia quickly came over to him and sat him up, "Are you okay?

He only responded with a bunch of gibberish.

"What happened to Naruto?" Yamato came jumping from out of a branch.

"The idiot rammed straight into a tree." Kiba barked with attitude, "Seriously, I can't believe this guy sometimes."

"Oh, you poor thing. I'm so sorry," Nia rested a hand on his cheek, "Does anyone have any bandaging so I can mend to this red mark on his face?"

"Um," Hinata came forward as she took off her bag and zipped it open, "I have something in here... that'll help, I hope."

Handing over a few things, Nia got to work and tended to the minor injury done to Naruto's face. She cleaned it and placed some antibiotic ointment to prevent it from getting an infection.

"There, I'm not gonna put a bandage on him since his wound needs to breathe a bit." The girl finished as she then smiled at the dark-haired girl beside her, "Thank you. He's going to be okay now thanks to your supplies."

"Y-You're welcome."

"How did Naruto even smack into a tree in the first place? He's usually more careful than that." Shino asked as he watched the blonde be in a state of unconsciousness.

"He..." Hinata opened her mouth a bit to say something but was very much quiet and soft in tone, "Naruto was... s-staring at... Nia."

"Oh geez," Yamato facepalmed, "That explains his carelessness."

As the group began discussing this a bit further, Hinata lowered her eyes as the thought of the blonde gazing intently on another girl made her heart heavy somewhat.

Oh Naruto.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Nia assumed the girl felt concerned over her friend and decided that the group would take a break.

"All right everyone, we'll take a short break until Naruto gains consciousness again. It wouldn't be wise to keep moving forward and be surprised by a sudden attack while he's still out of it. That would not only put his life in danger, but ours as well." She explained.

"I agree." Shino nodded.

"Ugh, if we don't keep moving, we won't make it in time to save those people." Kiba groaned, "They'll all be slaughtered!"

"We still have a lot of time on our hands," Yamato reassured the boy, "For now, it might very well may be best to wait until Naruto is conscious again. It's too dangerous to risk anything while he's knocked out the way he is."

Kiba responded by pouting, "Fine then."

"It will also be of help if you could calm your attitude too, please." Nia told the Inuzuka, "Even if there's some undeniable differences between us, let's at least try and get along."

"Don't talk to me like that!" Kiba crossed his arms and frowned, "You're new here so stop trying to act like just cause you've been assigned as team leader means you're all high and mighty, Nia!"

"I'm sorry if I came across to you as acting like that, but trust me, I don't think I'm all that just cause of a simple positioning. All I'm trying to do is make sure we're all getting along as I've said before." Nia calmly told him, "So please... let's just rest for now."

This time, the Inuzuka kept quiet though he still wore a scowl on his face.

Nia sighed.

What's with this guy? Why does he have such a bone to pick with me? He can't seriously hate me that much just because he thinks I'm not pretty. That's completely ridiculous.

Her eyes then glanced over to the Hyuga girl once more.

And then this girl... why does she look so bothered by me a bit? Did I do something wrong? She seems very kind so I've just been treating her the way she's been treating me, but still... Was it something I said? Did I word something wrong or something?

And so, the group came to a decision and waited for Naruto to wake back up. As she had been mostly spending time with the blonde since she's been here, she realized she never really took the time to get to know his friends better.

She kept the blonde in the company of Yamato and decided to gather the courage to speak with Team Kurenai as they sat on a log talking. Despite feeling as though no one really wanted her there or liked her, Nia tried anyway to make friendly with them.

"Hi everyone," She approached them as friendly as she possibly could, "How's it going over here?"

"Tch! Go away, ugly." Kiba mumbled under his breath as Nia just rolled her eyes as she wasn't trying to deal with him at the moment.

Bitch.

"We're good." Shino answered as Hinata quickly responded the same way.

"That's nice to hear," The girl responded, "Do you mind if I sit here with you guys? I'd really like to get to know you all better since we'll be working together."

"We don't mind. Go ahead." Hinata kindly allowed Nia to sit in the group.

"Thank you very much."

"So Nia, you and Naruto are fairly close, aren't you?" Shino questioned.

Nia nodded and smiled, "Yeah thankfully. He's a really good person."

"You guys are a bit too close if you ask me." Kiba once more made a rude reply.

"What do you mean by that, Kiba?" Hinata asked gently.

"Well, Naruto is my-"

"So, how old are you?" Shino interrupted as he wanted to keep stray from having Hinata hearing about Naruto's relationship with Nia.

"I'll be seventeen in less than a week." She answered, "How about all of you?"

"I'm sixteen, but my birthday isn't till late in December." Hinata answered.

"Kiba and I are seventeen already. My birthday was in January and his was in July." Shino answered for the two.

"I see... and I take it you're all chunin also?"

"Of course we are!" Kiba exclaimed, "We're not like Naruto over there who's still a genin."

"Why so harsh? He told me he's only a genin cause he was training with Jiraiya-sensei someplace far from the village and missed it." Nia replied, "If anything, he deserves to be of a higher rank than that of genin."

"I think so too," The Hyuga agreed, "He's always putting everything he has into his training."

Nia smiled, "True."

The four continued to carry on a conversation as Yamato watched over Naruto. He sighed as he thought about the blonde's misfortune.

'Even with Sakura this sorta thing never happened before...' He thought as his eyes lingered over to Nia, 'And yet... he's so distracted by that girl... why is that?'

"Oh yeah, I'm so anti-social it's not even funny." Nia stated as Shino and Hinata laughed a bit with her.

"The feeling is mutual." The bug boy replied, "I have a hard time wanting to talk to people."

"And I'm just really shy to do so, I suppose." Hinata gave her reason.

'And I'm just not confident enough to approach people...' Nia sweat dropped, 'I feel judged and hated the second someone even looks at me.'

"Man, you guys are hopeless." Kiba shook his head, "As long as you have me around, you don't have to fear for that sudden moment of awkwardness. I'm a natural born talker, right Akamaru?"

"Arf!" The dog agreed.

As he smirked proudly, behind the four, Naruto began to open his eyes as he was finally conscious.

"Man... why does my face hurt so much?" He asked as he touched it, only to wince.

Hearing him, Nia quickly turned and went over to him.

"Naruto!" Hinata smiled as she was relieved to see he was okay.

"It's about time you opened your eyes, man." Kiba faced in the direction of where the blonde was.

"Yeah Naruto, we were so worried about you." Nia said as she then hugged him around his neck, "I'm so glad you're okay. Please be more careful."

As she did this, Hinata could only watch with a disturbing knot in her stomach.

They're... hugging again. Why does Naruto keep letting her touch him...? He said he missed her, hugged her in front of everyone in the Hokage's office, gave her a pleasing look when she solved the riddle and was assigned as team captain, continuously talked and allowed her to walk with him while hugging his arm, and then he kept smiling and gazing at her so much so that he lost focus and crashed into that tree...

She placed a hand on her heart.

Could it be that... he possibly...

Hinata watched as the blonde was once more smiling softly as he wrapped his arms around Nia as well.

...likes her?

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A/N - That's the end of this chapter everyone! Idk why, but it feels like forever since I last updated lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please comment and vote and have a great day loves ❤️

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