All three entered the dango shop as planned.
"Miss, can we get three plates of dango and three teas?" Naruto asked before turning to Hinata. "Three is okay, right?"
"Yes, Naruto-kun," she replied with a gentle smile.
"Alright then, bring three," he confirmed.
"Yes, sir," the waitress said before heading inside to prepare their order.
Naruto turned to Hinata. "So, what were you doing here, Hinata?"
"We originally came for dango, thanks to Anko-sensei. She invited Kurenai-sensei, and then we just tagged along," she explained before glancing at Naruto and Karin. "Good thing I decided to go with Kurenai-sensei… otherwise?"
Karin raised an eyebrow. "Otherwise... what?"
Hinata smiled sweetly, but there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have caught you two on a date."
Naruto coughed."W-Wha—?! It's not a date! We were just—uh—searching for Kakashi! Yeah, that's right!"
Karin sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Nii-san… we already established that was a terrible excuse."
Hinata giggled. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. No need to be shy about it. I mean, technically…" she glanced at their still-interlocked hands, "…you're my boyfriend too, aren't you?"
Karin immediately let go of his hand. "Tch! Sneaky Hyūga…" she muttered under her breath, folding her arms.
Naruto, looking between them, could feel his sanity slipping away. "Why do I feel like I'm being outplayed here?"
Just then, the waitress returned with their dango and tea, setting the plates down with a polite smile. "Enjoy your meal!"
Naruto sighed in relief. Finally, something simple.
As they started eating, Hinata casually commented, "By the way, Naruto-kun… if this isn't a date, then what would you call it?"
Naruto froze mid-bite.
Karin smirked. "Yeah, Nii-san. What would you call it?"
Naruto gulped. This is a trap…
"It's called..." He sighed and mumbled, "A date, sorry ah."
Hinata crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. "It's okay, Naruto-kun. I understand. Do you even realize how much of a handful you are? If we leave you alone for even a second, you'd already have another woman to flirt with."
Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Ehehe… that's not entirely true."
Karin scoffed. "Oh, really? Should we start keeping track?"
Naruto gulped. "Uh… no need for that!"
The three of them continued eating, chatting, and teasing each other, while outside, Anko and Kurenai watched from a distance.
Anko smirked. "Look at them, all happy and cozy. You think he even realizes what kind of trouble he's in?"
Kurenai sipped her tea. "Not yet… but he will soon."
Anko chuckled. "Poor kid. He has no idea what's coming."
"Well, well, well, looks like Naruto's gotten himself into some interesting trouble," a teasing voice interrupted, one that both.
Kurenai and Anko recognized immediately.
"Naruto?" Both turned, and sure enough, there he was, leaning against the doorframe with a mischievous grin.
"Yo, what's going on here?" Naruto asked casually. "I thought you two had already left after helping Hinata catch us."
Anko raised an eyebrow and surveyed the group. "Which one's real, and which one's the clone?" she asked, her gaze darting between Naruto and his companions.
Naruto smirked. "Don't worry, the real one is the one spending time with his girlfriends. I guess you two came back to enjoy the show, huh?" he said with a playful tone. "But where are Kiba and Shino?"
"I sent them both back," Kurenai replied, a bit distracted by the situation.
"Then how about I take you two on a date now?" Naruto said, flashing them a teasing grin.
But Anko and Kurenai shared a knowing look, both unconvinced. "I think we'll pass on that one, Naruto," Kurenai said with a slight chuckle. "We don't date clones."
"Yeah, not interested in the fake version," Anko added with a smirk, glancing at him suspiciously. "Better luck next time, clone boy."
Naruto blinked, looking back and forth between them, realizing what they meant. "Wait, seriously? You're rejecting me just because I'm the clone?" he asked, feigning surprise.
The two women laughed, clearly enjoying his confusion. "Maybe we'll consider a real date when the original shows up," Anko teased.
After that, both Anko and Kurenai left while Naruto's clone dissipated, sending its memories back to the real him.
Naruto blinked as the memories settled in. 'I see... So they already have some kind of feelings. But is it romantic? Or something else? Or maybe they're just messing with me, using excuses to tease?' he wondered.
Before he could overthink it, Karin nudged him. "Hinata, then we both need to find Kakashi. That guy didn't even show up to yesterday's party."
Naruto huffed. "If we hadn't convinced Mom, who knows what state Kakashi-sensei would be in right now?"
Hinata smirked. "At least this time, you two are actually going to look for Kakashi, right?" she teased.
Karin playfully rolled her eyes. "Tch. No faith in us at all."
Naruto just laughed, shaking his head. "Come on, let's get this over with before Kakashi pulls his disappearing act again."
They paid their bill and left the shop.
"Then, Hinata, be careful," Naruto said, patting her head.
Even though Hinata had grown more confident, she still wasn't used to this level of closeness, even if she enjoyed teasing others. Her face turned slightly pink, but she nodded and parted ways with them.
As they walked, Karin glanced at Naruto. "So, any ideas where to find Kakashi?"
Naruto smirked. "Oh, I think I know exactly where he is."
Karin raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
"Did you hear? Jiraiya just released a new volume of Icha Icha," Naruto said, grinning mischievously.
Karin sighed, already understanding. "I see… So you're saying Kakashi probably ran off to buy it the moment it hit the shelves?"
"Exactly," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles. "Time to catch a certain masked pervert in the act."
Karin shook her head with a smirk. "Lead the way, detective."
With that, they arrived at the bookstore. The place was packed with shinobi, many of them rushing in to grab books, but the ones coming out were almost all clutching Jiraiya's latest Icha Icha novel.
Naruto whistled. "Man, Jiraiya's making bank off this."
Karin folded her arms. "So? What's the plan? We just gonna wait for Kakashi to walk out drooling over his new book?"
Naruto smirked. "Actually, I just got an idea for a new business."
Karin blinked. "What? Out of nowhere?"
"As you can see, Jiraiya's rolling in cash from these books," Naruto said, rubbing his chin. "What if we started writing books too?"
Karin immediately narrowed her eyes. "Oh no. If you're talking about those kinds of books, I'm shutting this down right now."
Naruto flicked her forehead—not too hard, but enough to make her yelp. "Baka. I don't mean those books!" he said, grinning. "I'm talking about writing our own stories—adventure books, fantasy, maybe even some shinobi training guides! And if we do it right, we could set up a publishing network all over the world, just like how gambling houses are everywhere."
Karin rubbed her forehead, staring at him in surprise. "You actually thought this through?"
Naruto shrugged. "Eh, kinda. It just hit me. But c'mon, think about it—books that inspire, teach, or just tell amazing stories. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Karin smirked, crossing her arms. "Huh. Not a bad idea, actually. But first, let's catch your masked sensei in the act."
Naruto grinned. "Oh, absolutely."
Just then, Kakashi came out of the shop, his mask hiding his emotions, but it was clear that he was happy about something.
"He is really happy about it", Karin said.
"You don't know, he can leave without anything, but he would never live without it", Naruto said.
"Yo, Kakashi!" Naruto called out with that usual mischievous grin.
Kakashi, caught off guard, instinctively tried to slip the book into his pouch like a guilty kid hiding contraband.
Karin folded her arms, smirking. "We saw that from a mile away, Kakashi. Busted."
Kakashi let out a sigh, clearly defeated. "Alright, alright… what brings you two here?"
Karin raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You forgot? Naruto, Sasuke, and I just graduated, and you skipped the celebration yesterday. Do you even know how mad my aunt and the others were?"
At that, Kakashi visibly gulped. A cold sweat started forming on his temple.
"K-Kushina-san… is she still mad?" he asked, voice dropping to a nervous whisper.
Naruto and Karin exchanged a glance before Naruto smirked. "What do you think?"
Kakashi sighed, already knowing the answer. "I'm guessing… very?"
Karin crossed her arms. "Bingo. And if it weren't for Naruto calming her down, you'd probably be buried under her fury right now."
Kakashi shuddered at the thought. "Yikes. I suppose running was a bad idea."
Naruto chuckled. "Oh, absolutely. But hey, lucky for you, I convinced her not to hunt you down."
Kakashi sighed in relief. "That's—"
"—for now," Naruto interrupted with a mischievous grin.
"Anyway," Karin said, waving a hand, "you can sweet-talk Kushina in your own way later. For now, let's get Sasuke and start taking some missions."
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "No need to throw you to the wolves just yet. Wait till she cools down a bit—then you can crawl back into her good books."
Kakashi exhaled with visible relief. "You two are saints."
"Don't push it," Karin teased. "Now, Sasuke's probably still training, right?"
"That guy lives in the training grounds," Naruto said with a grin. "Bet he's already ten katas deep, trying to one-up me even in his sleep."
Karin smirked. "Boys and their rivalries..."
"Hey, I call it motivation," Naruto shrugged playfully.
"Let's go, before he finishes training and disappears into the emo void," Karin said, already turning to leave.
"Lead the way, future best-selling author and occasional hero," Kakashi said dryly.
Naruto just grinned. "Hey, one mission at a time, Copy Ninja."