Itsu No Hi Ni Mo

Chapter 12 : Effort

: effort :

: Work done by the mind or body

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Patting his stomach, Naruto let out a satisfied sigh as he laid down heavily on the hospital bed with a big grin, "Man! Ramen always hits the spot, dattebayo!"

He just got back from Ichiraku's for lunch, and just in time for his check-up before his class with Iruka-sensei, too! He surely was getting a hang of this time management thing.

And as if on que, the door opened and Naruto looked at his friend.

"Ino?" He asked "Where's Sakura-chan?"

"She's looking around the village for something" Ino shrugged "Apparently Tonton broke her necklace and is missing a bead, so Sakura volunteered to find it for her"

"Can't she just replace it with a new one? I mean, it's just a bead, dattebayo..."

"Apparently not. It's a real pearl with a small Konoha symbol embedded on it. All of the pearls on her necklace apparently has it so that they could tell Tonton apart from an impostor pig"

"A small pearl? No way is she gonna find that all on her own, dattebayo!" The Uzumaki pointed out, she nodded and said "I know, right?! I told her that she should at least let me help, but she said that I'd be able to help her if I'd cover for her. I swear, her skull's so thick that it made her forehead huge"

The two blondes fell silent.

Suddenly, Naruto stood up and opened the window, Ino glared at him and asked "What are you doing?!"

"I'll find Sakura-chan and tell her I'll take over" He said as he perched on the window "I swear that my eyesight's hell of a lot better than hers and that I can outnumber her by thousands. If anyone of us could find the pearl, I have a better chance than Sakura-chan, dattebayo"

"At least let me do your check up first, you idiot!" Ino scowled as she stomped her feet, Naruto grinned and said before jumping out, "Just check everything on the list! I'm perfectly fine just like always, dattebayo!"

And with that, the Uzumaki left without even a proper goodbye.

Ino huffed and checked everything on the list as he instructed, "That moron... I swear, I don't know what Hinata sees in that idiot"

- - - - -

"Oh man, I'm craving, I'm craving beef jerky" Kiba said as if he was dying, Hinata looked up at him with her hand on her chest in worry as Shino only sighed and said "I bought you three bags last night"

"I know, man! I went crazy and chowed it all down for dinner!" The Inuzuka cried out "Don't you understand?! I'm miserable! Miserable and broke!"

"Poor Kiba-kun..." Hinata sympathetically said, suddenly, an idea popped in her head.

Kiba felt a pair of familiar small hands wrap around his forearm, Hinata pulled on him with a cheerful smile and said "I managed to save up more than I need for the past two weeks, Kiba-kun! Let's go to the store and buy some beef jerky!"

She then let go the brunette's forearm with one hand and hooked her arms around Kiba's and Shino's, she smiled up at the Aburame and said "And then let's go to a café and get some cinnamon rolls and wild grass salads, too!"

"Alright! You're the best, Hinata!" Kiba cheered as Akamaru barked in agreement, he nodded and said "Akamaru's right! I'm suddenly glad you've been hanging out with Naruto a lot, he's been treating you food! Enough that you saved up enough for such a feast, Hinata!"