Naruto's Popularity on the Rise

A/N: Here is the next chapter. Don't get too used to this speed of updating as I won't always be this quick. I am just in a mood to write and get this down right now. Thank you for the reviews I have gotten so far. To be honest I wasn't expecting all the positive feedback and the number of hits so far. Please let me know if there are grammar issues or things like that. Enjoy!

Sakura started running to the two figures with tears falling from her eyes. She jumped onto Naruto giving him a big hug. Naruto was surprised to say the least. He had wondered if anyone even noticed that he was gone, but never dreamed that someone would be waiting for him, especially not Sakura.

“Err… hi Sakura-chan, how are you?” He said returning her hug.

“Oh Naruto, I’ve really missed seeing you!” Sakura was now openly weeping into the chest of her teammate. She was so glad to have him back.

“… I missed you too Sakura-chan, but I thought you disliked me and that I annoyed you?”

She looked up at him still holding onto him as Naruto wiped her tears away with his thumb. She smiled at him and said.

“I always thought that too, but after you were gone nothing seemed right and it wasn’t until I talked with Hinata that I realized that you brought balance into my life and made everything feel right.”

With a confused look on his face Naruto asked, “Huh, what does Hinata have to do with this?”

Everyone in Kohona knew about Hinata’s feelings for Naruto except for Naruto himself. Even Jiraiya knew after only meeting her a couple of times. Seeing where this conversation was probably going, Jiraiya started to walk away.

“I will leave you two to talk; I have to go report to Tsunade anyways. I will catch up to you later Naruto.”

“Wait Ero-Sennin, why are you leaving? What are we going to talk about?!” Naruto shouted to Jiraiya as he disappeared into the village.

Sakura could tell that Naruto was still clueless about Hinata’s feelings for him and knew she had to some how help him realize it. She may have missed the guy but to be fair, Hinata was in love with him and she had no right to interfere with that. Sakura still wasn’t completely sure about how deep her feelings ran for Naruto anyways, whether she missed a friend or she missed someone more than that.

“Come on Naruto, lets go to Ichiraku’s and we can talk some more while we eat.”

“REALLY?!” Naruto was overjoyed about going to his favorite restaurant ever. “Awesome, let’s go!” He grabbed Sakura’s hand and started running full out towards the shop.

Unfortunately, someone else was watching and waiting for his return in the shadows. Hinata grew suspicious of Sakura’s feelings for her Naruto-kun and kept a close eye on her. She had followed Sakura to the village gates everyday to see what she did. Of course she also wanted to see Naruto the instant he got back so she had another excuse to be there.

When she saw Sakura run for the gates, Hinata looked up to see that Naruto had returned and consequently started to feel faint. Moments later she awoke to see Naruto grab Sakura’s hand and run off with her. Hinata was furious wondering what Sakura said to him and quickly started to run after the pair. When she finally caught up to them she found that they were sitting at the bar of Naruto’s favorite restaurant. Hinata knew it was his favorite because she saw him going there almost every day when she followed/stalked him three years ago.

INSIDE ICHIRAKU’S

“So Sakura-chan… what did you want to talk about?” Naruto asked after already finishing his second bowl.

‘Good to see some things haven’t changed’ Sakura thought while watching him eat. Now that she had a chance to actually look at him she saw he grew taller than her and looked more mature. He was wearing a black and orange jacket and matching orange pants. He was starting to look a lot more attractive in her eyes.

“I wanted to talk to you about Hinata. She’s been kinda depressed these past three years, you wouldn’t happen to know of a reason for that would you?” She said. ‘This would surely get him to see Hinata’s feelings,’ Sakura thought.

Naruto stopped eating for a moment to think about her question. “Nope! Can’t think of any reason she would be depressed. You would have a better idea anyways since I have been gone for three years.”

‘OH MY GOD NARUTO! How can you be so dense, I practically gave you the biggest clue ever.’ Sakura’s inner self screamed.

“Though now that you bring it up…” Sakura came back to reality when he spoke. “For some reason while I was gone I couldn’t stop thinking about Hinata. She appeared in my dreams almost every night and Ero-Sennin would tell me that I had the biggest grin on my face while I was sleeping.”

Sakura couldn’t believe this, did he actually return Hinata’s feelings without realizing any of it.

“You don’t say, what did you usually think about with her?” Sakura was hoping to get more information out him. However, the bright red blush that appeared on Naruto’s face made her cut him off before he could reply. “What the hell Naruto?! What kind of perverted thoughts were you having about innocent little Hinata?!”

“No, No Sakura-chan! It wasn’t like that at all! All we did in my dreams was talk and hold hands, we did kiss in one of my dreams but Ero-Sennin woke me up complaining I was making kissey noises in my sleep”

Now it was Sakura’s turn to blush. She didn’t realize how sweet Naruto could be. Seeing that he was blushing just because of those sweet dreams he had about Hinata made her smile. She knew that they were meant for each other.

BACK TO HINATA

Hinata had been watching as the scene played out in front of her eyes. The thought of using her Byakugan to read their lips never even crossed her mind as she was too mad about the thought of Sakura being with her Naruto-kun.

Once she saw both of them blushing she couldn’t take it anymore. Hinata ran inside Ichiraku’s and started yelling.

ICHIRAKU’S

“SAKURA! What do you think you are doing?!” Hinata’s stutter was gone due to the rage she had inside.

Naruto was in the middle of chugging his 5th bowl of ramen when Hinata came in screaming. The sudden shock scared him half to death and he started chocking on the food.

“Hinata, it’s not what it looks like I swear!” Sakura pleaded with her friend.

“Yeah right! I saw you two holding hands at the gates and just now when you were both blushing!” Neither of them were paying any attention to the boy choking on his food next to them until he started to gasp for air.

“OH MY GOD, NARUTO!” They both shouted. Hinata was the first to react as she quickly got into the Gentle Fist stance and with a precise blow to his chest Naruto coughed up the half chewed ramen onto the floor. He was finally able to take in a breath and was kneeling on the floor trying to recover as both girls ran to him.

“Are you ok N-Naruto-kun?” asked Hinata rubbing his back. Her stutter returning from the anger being replaced with concern.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t notice sooner Naruto!” sobbed Sakura kneeling next to him.

“Ahem… cough, its ok you guys I’m feeling better now. Thank you helping Hinata-chan” He said while standing up. “Now Hinata what were you yelling about?”

“EEEP!” Hinata squealed remembering that she caused this to happen from barging into Ichiraku’s.

“Actually Hinata and I need to go talk about that for a minute, excuse us Naruto.” Sakura quickly pulled Hinata out of the restaurant and down the street out of ear shot leaving Naruto really confused.

‘Oh well’ he thought, “Hey old man give me another bowl please… how about beef flavor this time.”

‘The boy just got done choking on ramen and he wants another bowl?! He really loves his ramen.’ Thought Ayame. “Coming right up Naruto!” Yelled Teuchi to his best customer. Both were glad to have him back, not only because he generally provides at least half of the stores annual income but he was just such a happy person that he brightened up their day when he was around.

DOWN THE STREET

Thinking that they had moved far enough Sakura started to explain to Hinata. “Hinata, I promise it’s not what it looks like. At Ichiraku’s I was trying to get Naruto to realize how you felt for him without actually coming out and saying it.”

Hinata’s eyes grew wide while she was listening to what Sakura was saying. She could tell by Sakura’s body language and the pleading look in her eyes that Sakura was telling the truth.

“I did learn something really juicy though,” Sakura winked at Hinata causing her to poke her index fingers together out of nervousness, “ Naruto told me that while he was gone he dreamt about you almost every night and that’s why we were both blushing!”

All available blood in Hinata’s body went rushing up to her face as she blushed profusely before she couldn’t take any more and passed out saying, “N-Naruto-kun… dreams about m-me…”

Sakura was trying to wake up her friend by lightly smacking her face and calling her name. When Hinata woke up she was barely able to stand after hearing her long time love actually dreamt about her.

“Are y-you sure that’s w-what N-Naruto-kun said” Hinata whispered. Sakura nodded the affirmative and started to squeal in delight for her friend. Once she calmed down she whispered to Hinata a plan she had come up with to get her and Naruto together. Hinata wasn’t sure about the plan but knew she had to say something to Naruto before it was too late again. She wanted to say something three years ago but got there too late as he already left with Jiraiya.

ICHIRAKU’S

Naruto finished his last bowl of ramen feeling completely stuffed as he heard the two girls walking back towards him. He could here them giggling and could only wonder what was in store for him.