Naruto and Hinata: Stories After "The Last"! (Bi-weekly Updates)

Back to the Past: Part Five

Neji squared his body toward Naruto in rage...surely making him eat mud was both disrespectful and a sign of intolerance. He was a man, a Hyuga, who valued such morals; even more so now that he felt free from the destiny that once bound him, which he owed to Naruto. Truth be told, he'd honored that lesson from the years since, and had softened because of it. But to be the target of such a pathetic prank...well, maybe Naruto was making himself a little /too/ familiar. He had a lot of work to do if he wanted to be a reputable ninja, like say, his master Jiraiya.

But...that wasn't the case at all! Naruto felt bamboozled by that very master, who seemed to set him up - he didn't want to fight Neji, let alone feed him something so grotesque. And something told him that this /wasn't/ how he was going to win over Hinata, who sat in her place in a state of horror, not good impression. Naruto's shadow clone disappeared, and his real self rose from the table, cryptically slow. Was he really about to do this...?

He brought his eye level to the ground intently, standing across from Neji. The Hyuga duo looked on unsurely, one impatiently, and the other just wanting it to end. It seemed like a life time before Naruto finally reacted, but perhaps not in the way that anyone expected.

"Neji..." his voice was serious and raspy..."...I'm sorry!" Naruto then croaked out desperately! "I didn't mean for this to happen - please, believe it!" he plead on, shaking his clenched hands. It only worked to insight anger in Neji further out of confusion. But he Narrowed his blaring byakugan eyes further in scrutiny; he wasn't about to let down his guard just yet to a worm-like apology. Neji was an intellectual of course, and wasn't so easily swayed.

Hinata's eyes shimmered from the side lines, she wanted to crawl into her skin, wondering how this had escalated so drastically. Finally she took some type of solace in the fact that Naruto had explained it all to have been an accident. Right, Naruto wouldn't do that...would he?

Meanwhile, Jiraiya hung his head with a sigh, This wasn't as he had imagined either, maybe for reasons of his own. But either way, Naruto wasn't looking like anything right about now but a sad wuss. So much so, that it had embarrassed the toad sage. He pushed away from the table and stood up, knowing full well that Neji wouldn't give this up over a simple entreaty. And so, with once swift movement, he came between the two, which surprised the small group even further.

"First to beg, and then to let your sensei come to your aid? Stand up for yourself." Neji hissed, still tasting the foul texture on his tongue. It was true that backing down wasn't in Naruto's nature, but he didn't intend this, and didn't want to fight Neji.

"Guy would jump to yours just a swiftly." Jiraiya brushed him off, as if it were fact, which it likely was. "Now this is all a misunderstanding, as he's already said."

Neji kept his stance for a moment longer, before his byakugan retracted and he stood straighter. Something was strange there, but respect and honor came first, and he wasn't about to question a sannin. With a 'hmph', he turned on a heel and started in the other direction, dark hair flowing behind his back. "Some party." He quipped. "Let's go, Hinata."

It was immediately after that that Hinata rose as well, the gift bag between her dainty hands. She looked to Naruto, catching his attention briefly, before dipping forward for a bow. "Thank you for inviting me." she squeaked, before running after Neji for support. Naruto's shoulder's drooped, his eyebrows furrowed, and he scowled to watch the apparently ever-elusive girl go.

"See what you did?" Jiraiya stuck up his nose.

"Me??" Naruto shrieked. "Everything you've instructed me to do has ended up this way you lousy old pervert!"

"Now wait just a moment, Naruto." Jiraiya scolded. "You have to have a little faith in the system, trust me, it works. You don't want to see more of that, do you?" he took Naruto by the shoulder and directed his attention toward the pair scurrying off. "Your girl, chasing after someone else."