Chương 173: Bonds.

Haruto asked a few people including Arakawa to join the secretive Yamanaka clan research and since funds were plentiful during a private research not many rejected the offer. In the end, after agreeing to meet him at the Yamanaka Clan compound tomorrow early in the morning, everyone dispersed for the day since it was already getting late. Haruto too left the R&D department, but he didn't go back to the Senju compound, instead he walked up to a familiar place he had been at only a couple times before.

Knock Knock Knock"Hai~ Coming~!" a youthful and cheerful voice that was full of energy shouted from behind the door and a few seconds later after the pitter patter of feet indicated someone had arrived at it, the door opened.

"Haruto!!!" Naruto cheered as soon as he saw who was beyond the door.

"Am I late?" Haruto asked politely as he stepped inside the house when Naruto pulled him in by dragging his arm.

"Yes! You are late! Kakashi-sensei arrived way before you! We thought you forgot about us!" Haruto simply smiled at Naruto's exclamation punctuated sentences that were nearly causing his ears to dry up and fall off before quickly removing his sandals at the door and entering into the indoor slippers that Naruto graciously provided.

"Kakashi-sensei!!" Naruto shouted, running straight into the house with Haruto following quietly behind him. As they entered the living room, Haruto noticed Kakashi wearing an apron and working like a housewife.

'Hmm… I wonder if you're happy seeing Kakashi finally opening up to Naruto in Pureland… Kushina, Minato.' Haruto thought to himself while seamlessly blending into Kakashi's work in the kitchen by helping him arrange the dishes and the plates for their dinner. Naruto in the meantime narrated his recent experiences with school.

"And so… there's this new friend I made… he keeps telling me that things are a drag but still does them anyway. When Iruka-sensei asked him a question he told him that it was a drag to answer him and simply walked out of the class to stand outside and sleep! So cool! And this other friend I have, he keeps eating chips all the time, no wonder he's so fat… but you shouldn't call him that, he hates people who call him that. He has these super interesting comics that he shows up to class with all the time.

And then there's this annoying duck head guy in the class… he keeps looking down on everyone so much that it seems like his head is tilted permanently at a forty five degree angle… like his neck is broken or something… When I asked him why he does that, he said it's because his father destroyed that meteorite that was falling on the village a few days ago… of course I don't believe him… if his father was so powerful he'd be the Hokage… I think the father should get his child checked."

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Haruto chuckled causing Kakashi to shoot him a glare that clearly meant-'Don't laugh! Teach Naruto good manners! Not bad ones!'

"What about girls, Naruto-kun? Do you have someone you like?" Haruto asked just to keep the conversation going.

"Waaa~" Naruto fanned himself in embarrassment, "I definitely don't dattebayo!"

"Really? I get the feeling that there's already someone special for Naruto-kun in school… Hm~m? Hm~m? Lemme guess… she has white hair? No, I'm sensing something more colourful… green? No… brown? No… pink?" Haruto asked but seeing Naruto still not reacting a foreboding feeling crept into his heart.

'Either Naruto really doesn't like Sakura still, which is unlikely given his reaction from earlier… or something changed in this timeline?'

"Blue?" Haruto finally asked. Naruto's eyes widened as he nearly dropped his chopsticks.

"Ho- How did you know!?" Naruto asked, his face flushed pink from embarrassment causing Kakashi to deadpan, 'Really? He just listed all the colours known to man and you are still surprised by that?'

"So there is someone…" Haruto teased.

"What's her name?" Haruto asked gently, causing Naruto to blush further.

"Well…" Naruto started, his voice super low, to a degree that if Haruto and Kakashi hadn't leaned in, they'd have missed his next words.

"... Hinata Hyuga." Haruto's eyes widened at first, before he smiled. Kakashi's expression was hard to say from his mask, but for a second his eyes did crinkle up.

'Well as long as it's Hinata I'm glad… she truly deserves someone like Naruto and Naruto does deserve her… Hinata's probably Naruto's Sakura.' Haruto thought to himself before starting to eat along with everyone else at the table.

"The Hyuga clan heiress huh… well you have an uphill battle up for you Naruto… unless you become someone powerful enough to defeat the Hokage in a single move… you won't be able to marry her!" Haruto joked. But Naruto took the words seriously.

"Understood! I'll quickly master the jutsu you told me about and then show it to Hinata to show her my unbounded power!!" Haruto made an 'o' expression for a second before wondering if this move of Naruto would finally cause Hinata to distance herself from him.

'Maybe I should advise Naruto to change his mind?' Haruto looked at Naruto and found his gaze firm. At this point saying anything to Naruto was like spitting at the sky… it would only make the situation worse. So Haruto simply sighed and prayed for Naruto.

'Perhaps he'll forget about this by the time he actually masters the jutsu.' It was at this time that Kakashi asked Naruto a question, distracting Haruto from his thoughts, "Is your teacher good? Does he treat you unfairly?"

"Unfair!" Naruto shouted almost instantly.

"He doesn't let me sleep in class, doesn't let me practice the secret jutsu I want in class, demands that I always do homework before class, and makes me forcibly read the textbook when I'm in class!!! He's super unfair!" Kakashi and Haruto both deadpanned again. Eventually the dinner winded down and Haruto began to clear the dishes while Kakashi asked Naruto to demonstrate the fundamentals that he'd learnt in the class in the last few days.

Only, after a few minutes, Naruto jumped out of the window and ran away, claiming he didn't want to study after coming home too, leaving the house to Haruto and Kakashi. The two of them simply shook their heads at Naruto's irresponsibility before locking up the house after leaving behind a small letter for Naruto on the table. Kakashi wrote simple words, "Study well. Eat well. Play well." While Haruto was a little more mischievous, "When will you let us meet your girlfriend? Quickly invite her to our dinners."

Soon after both Haruto and Kakashi left the house. Just as Haruto assumed that Kakashi would split off from him to go towards his home, he found Kakashi sticking close to him.

"Huh? Why are you coming towards the Senju compound Kakashi-sensei? I'm sure no one will attack me inside the village, you don't need to escort me." Kakashi shook his head.

"I'm not following you. I have some work at the Senju compound."

"Oh?" Haruto looked up at Kakashi in confusion but seeing him so tightlipped, Haruto didn't pry anymore. Eventually they reached the Senju compound where Haruto heard bright laughter coming from one of the rooms.

'Tsunade's finally out of the trial I set up for her is she?'

'And it seems like she doesn't even have a split personality… I guess it ended well in spite of me being heavy handed with the test for her.' Shizune greeted the both of them at the entrance before Kakashi revealed his purpose.

"I need to meet Tsunade-sama…" Haruto was about to leave when Kakashi caught him by the collar, "You stay too."

"Hmm…?"