Different

A Bit of Change

Hinata sighed as she strolled down the street, her necessary items for her mission in her backpack. She wasn't really looking forward to this mission, it wasn't like she was on the best of terms with two of her teammates anyways... Kakashi looked down on her because she cared about her friends, if anything she could say; he was a real prick as a kid. Although, that didn't feel very nice to say or think either, he had, had his issues. Just as they all had. She sighed as she strolled closer to the village gates where they were all supposed to be meeting. She didn't see anyone there though, but a weight pulling on her backpack made her turn and blink at the person who had yanked on her backpack.

"Kurenai-chan, Asuma-kun, Izumo-kun, Kotetsu-kun..." she greeted the group and the spiky haired boy grinned at her. "So you're a chunnin huh?" Kurenai asked and Hinata could hear the jealousy in her voice. Kurenai was one to be like Sakura when she was younger, so she was sure that Kurenai would make her the rival if this wasn't settled. Hinata sighed and nodded adjusting the vest the Hokage had given her with a sour look. "Yeah... but you will be one too, all of you will make chunnin and some even jonin. Trust me, you're all really strong." Hinata said with a smile and Kurenai looked at her oddly, it was mainly surprise.

Asuma nodded and smiled at her, he was still the same. He was still friendly and had the ability to calm anyone with just his presence. You could tell just from that alone he was going to be an intelligent and capable shinobi. Izumo and Kotetsu were bickering again and but that all stopped when Kakashi walked by and scoffed at them like they were a nuisance. Hinata furrowed her brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "He still doesn't get it..." she grumbled and the four behind her watched her curiously.

"What doesn't he get?" Asuma asked curiously. "He doesn't see that you need friends. He doesn't see that if you abandon them, you will be all alone and when you do need someone... no one will be there to help you because you pushed them all away. There is also the fact that things could be reversed... And... by the time he realizes he needs his friends... it may be too late to save them..." she said softly while looking at her fingers and Asuma smiled. "He will come to see in time that things change. He has all of us as friends, and as much as he may try to push us away... we will always be here." Asuma said and Hinata smiled up at him and nodded.

"I need to go, talk to you all later." She said and he nodded, and much to her relief, Kurenai smiled instead of giving her the look of jealousy she had before. Hinata turned swiftly to run over to the group but collided with someone. She blushed as she helped him straighten up. "Sorry, Obito..." she said with a blush and he scratched the back of his head, a slight blush on his cheeks too. "Ah... yeah... my bad. I shouldn't have been standing so close... I should have also figured you would run into me. Seems to be a common occurrence lately." He sighed and she blushed.

"Yeah... I've noticed that..." she said and he shrugged. "Might as well go, Minato-sensei is waiting now." He said and she nodded. They waved to the group behind them and took off running towards the gates once more. 'Guess things weren't as bad between us as I had thought them to be...' Hinata thought with a smile and a small sideways glance at her dark haired friend.

Kurenai blinked and looked at Asuma. "So apparently Hinata has a thing for Obito..." she said and Asuma chuckled. "Well... that's a bit of a surprise..." he said and Kurenai nudged him. "You think that's who she wants to help?" she asked and he shook his head. "He had no idea who she was on her first day of the academy, so it must be someone else." Asuma said and Kotetsu grinned. "Yeah, its me. She totally digs me." he said with a grin. "Yeah... Alright, a hole to bury you in is the only thing she's going to dig you." Izumo said and the other two laughed while Kotetsu's ego deflated.

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Hinata sighed as she thought over the mission details, it was a simple escort mission in her own time. But... as usual this was yet another warring period, so this was not a normal escort mission of a merchant. Being as why Minato's team had been chosen. A jonin, two chunnin, and two genin, they were quite the group in her opinion. Two medics, and three frontal assault shinobi. Hinata wasn't going to be shoved to the back, though. She knew medics weren't supposed to be part of the front fighting group, but there was no way Minato was going to let her sit back and wait for them to get hurt.