Hey again. As you may or may not have known, I was quite unsatisfied with this chapter. I felt it was just... too low quality. Too rushed. And since I decided to stop being such a lazy ass for a change (and I hope this change remains permanent), I felt the need to rewrite this chapter, for starters.

Naruto: As per protocol, this story belongs to him, but any and all characters are not.

Hanabi: I didn't know you knew the word protocol.

Naruto: ... Sh-shut up! I know lots of wor--

Right, right. Let's get this over with, eh? A warning for any readers out there, though. This story has yet to be beta'd, but I've tried my best to wrinkle out the mistakes and make it perfect for your reading enjoyment.

The sun burned bright within the sky, and the winds blew gently throughout the village. The soft sound of the villagers going about their business brought life to Konoha.

Hanabi slowly trudged through the village streets, the ninja academy as her destination. She stopped for a brief moment, shielding her eyes from the sun. Were anyone to pay attention to the young Hyuuga, they would have noticed a small smile on her face.

It had been two weeks since her meeting with Uzumaki Naruto in the forest. It had been slightly difficult at first, but Hanabi persevered, and slowly, her outlook on life had begun to change. She had taken Naruto's words to heart: to look on the bright side of things. Of course, this hadn't gone unnoticed, to both her peers and fellow Hyuuga. She'd been stared at quite often nowadays, and her peers often commented on how weird she had been lately.

Normally, this would bother most other people. But Hanabi, Naruto's wise words not forgotten, shrugged them off and looked at the silver lining in the clouds. Her cups were now half-full, not half-empty.

Smartly deciding that being late to class would not be good, Hanabi began walking to class once again. She was not in a rush as most would be, however. No, she felt as though she had all the time in the world.

The soft, small smile hadn't left her face.

:ooooo:

When the young girl had arrived at class, she noticed she had been slightly earlier than expected. Iruka was missing, and there were seven other students within the class. Hanabi headed over to her designated seat at the back of the classroom and sat down. She glanced at the clock and saw there were about 10 minutes left until class began. Hanabi rested her head in her arms and waited.

Time passed slowly. And as time passed, the rest of the students began to enter the class. Sitting up straight, Hanabi took another glance at the clock.

'Huh?' It was time for class to start, yet Iruka had not arrived. Iruka was always on time. 'But some people do have their off-days... Maybe he's late.'

Hanabi took a moment to observe the class. Most of the students were tired and groggy, and some were even sleeping. A few were studying, and the rest were chatting amongst themselves. Most notably of the students chatting were Konohamaru and friends.

While Hanabi didn't know Konohamaru well, she did note how he'd changed since his grandfather's, the Third Hokage's, death. At first he'd gone into a withdrawal, refusing to speak to anyone. But slowly he'd begun to open up, mostly thanks to Udon and Moegi, and he'd returned to his old self.

Suddenly, the door slid open, and walked in Iruka, along with someone else... Hanabi's eyes widened in surprise. 'Wait, is that...?!'

"Good morning, class!" Said Iruka. The students, excluding the surprised Hanabi, and oddly, Konohamaru and friends, returned the greeting.

"Before we begin, I'd like to introduce a previous student of mine." Iruka pointed to the person beside him. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and he'll be joining us today as the assistant teacher." So surprised was Hanabi, she had yet to regain her composure.

"Heya! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet ya'!" As Naruto was, well, Naruto, he gave a great big wave to the class, with a great big grin plastered onto his face.

And though Hanabi hadn't come out of surprise yet, Konohamaru had. He stood up and shouted, "EH?! Naruto-nii-san?! What are you doing here?!" There was a small "yeah!" from Udon and Moegi.

Naruto looked surprised. "Oh, heya, Konohamaru! Didn't know you were in this class!"

"Answer me!"

"Geez, Konohamaru, you should more attention to Iruka. I'm your assistant teacher, remember?"

Iruka scoffed, "Like you're one to talk, Naruto."

"But Iruka-sensei, your classes are so booooring..." The class laughed. Naruto was answered with a smack on the back of the head by Iruka. "Ow! You don't have to be so mean..."

"And you shouldn't be a hypocrite." Naruto gripped his head in pain. While he did so, he surveyed the classroom. Only Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi stood out. That is, until he looked at the back of the class.

"Woah, Hanabi-chan, you're in this class too?!" The entirety of the class looked surprised Naruto knew Hanabi, and turned to look at her. This was enough to knock Hanabi out of her reverie. Becoming aware that she was the target of the stares of everyone in the class, Hanabi became uneasy.

However, she shrugged that off and gave Naruto a small smile. "Hello, Naruto." Naruto grinned, happy that Hanabi still remembered him.

Konohamaru and friends looked back and forth between Naruto and Hanabi, and this time, it was Moegi who voice their, and the rest of the classes' question. "Naruto-nii-san, you know Hanabi?"

Grin unrelenting, Naruto answered, "She's my friend." Unnoticed to Naruto, Hanabi had turned a quiet hue of red.

Iruka gave a loud cough. "I hope I haven't been forgotten, because, you know, class began several minutes ago."

The majority of class groaned, some looking disdainfully at Iruka.

"Ya' know, it's been ages since I've last been here. Kinda... what's the word... nostalgic! Yeah, nostalgic." Naruto commented.

"... A part of me wouldn't like to remember those days." Naruto was a tough kid to handle back than. All those pranks... Iruka shuddered as some memories flashed through his mind.

"Huh? What was that, Iruka-sensei?"

"Nothing."

:ooooo:

'Class didn't feel long at all. In fact, it went by pretty quickly...' Hanabi thought to herself. Class had finished, and the students were packing up their stuff.

It occured to her during class that Hanabi hadn't actually formally thanked the blue eyed blond. She felt she had to change that.

Taking things extra slowly, Hanabi was the last one out of class. Iruka and Naruto were discussing something, but it didn't matter to her if she was going to interrupt them.

Walking up to Naruto, the 15-year old stopped his conversation with his mentor and turned to Hanabi.

"Oh, Hanabi-chan! Did you want something?" Naruto asked.

"Um, w-well..." She stuttered, her face a light shade of red, though it went unnoticed by both Naruto and Iruka, "I realized that... well, I have actually said thanks, for the other day, so... Thank you. For, well... everything."

Naruto was given no reaction time, and in but a swift moment, Hanabi had planted her lips on Naruto's cheek. Iruka gaped.

Ending her kiss on Naruto's cheek, she quickly scurried out of the class room. Though, if she had stayed behind, she would never let Naruto forget about his impression of a fish for the rest of his life.

:ooooo:

"Hokage-sama!" Shouted a secretary.

"Hmm?" The Hokage stopped what he was doing.

"The neighboring villages are requesting that we send ninjas to help them with a sudden bandit outbreak."

The Hokage crossed his arms in comtemplation, before sighing. "Just when I thought things were becoming peaceful..." He said to himself, "Alright. But tell me, how bad is the situation?"

The secretary nodded, and shuffled through a few papers. It didn't take much time before she found it. "Apparently, the bandits outnumber the all the villages three to one. The problem spans three villages, and the average population of each village is estimated to about 100, at least."

The Hokage gave a small whistle. "900 isn't a small number... Hmm. Call Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi, Might Gai and Rock Lee for me, please. Tell them they have a mission. Ranked... let's see..." The Hokage paused briefly, "I think this would classify as a Rank S, considering the numbers, but seeing as how they're bandits, I think this should qualify as a rank A mission."

The secretary nodded, before turning away and leaving the room. "Well, that was a bit sudden, but..." The Hokage turned back to what he was doing.

"It comes with the job, Naru." Said the other occupant in the room.

"How many times have I told everyone to stop calling me that? Now they've even got you calling me that..." He sighed. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, damnit! I'm the Hokage!" Naruto pouted.

The other person giggled, and smiled at Naruto. "I think it's cute."

"... I'm okay with you calling me that, I guess."

The other person slowly slid their arms around Naruto, hugging him close. "You know... I can scarcely believe it's been 10 years since we've met."

"Hanabi-chan... I'm really happy we met. I don't regret a moment of it."

Hanabi smiled, and welcomed the comfort of Naruto as she continued to hug him.

Every once in a while, someone would ask her, "Why did you marry Naruto, of all people?"

When they did, she would smile and answer, "Because he's my silver lining."

Owari

I like this version of the chapter much, much better. Anyways... like it? Hate it? Liked the old version better? Anything I can touch up on? Review and tell me! Also, I'm quite aware that by the time that Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya, Konohamaru and friends have graduated. Well, in this story, they haven't yet.

Naruto: Hah! I'm Hokage! Hell yeah!

Hanabi: Settle down, Naru.

Naruto: ... Yes, ma'am.