An Isosceles Love Triangle

Chapter 3

Time was his limiting factor.

There were too many things he wanted to do-eat, sleep, make up with Sakura, and train, to list but a few. Nine hours was simply not enough time to do everything that he felt needed to get done.

So he settled for satisfying his body's necessities-eating and sleep. The rest would have to wait.

Hopefully Ayame-nee kept his ramen just short of boiling hot, which was how he liked it.

"Shion-sama, are you all right?"

Shion quickly gulped down a cup of ice water that Ayame quickly readied. Upon finishing the glass, she set the cup down and took a few quick breaths through her mouth to provide additional cooling for her scalded tongue.

Ayame realized her blunder and apologized. Only Naruto liked his ramen just short of boiling temperature. Naruto liked his ramen to be over 90 degrees Celsius. The rest of society liked theirs at around 70 degrees.

She gave her customers a rueful smile. "I'm sorry. Our best customer likes his ramen far hotter than other guests, and I was...on autopilot." She finished lamely. She entertained a thought for a few seconds then added, "Meal's on the house. It was my fault."

A double failure tonight. Allowed customers after closing time, and gave them a free meal. She was going to get chewed out by her father in the morning.

Shion laughed and shook her head. "No, it's no problem at all! I mean, it was hot, but it was good too! I was eating far faster than I should have because I liked it so much so this is really my fault."

Her escort inwardly smiled and resumed eating his own bowl. He thought nothing of the chef's error and wondered why the chef was kicking herself so harshly for it. Leave it to his liege to lighten the situation.

He spun a sizable ball of noodles and ate it, enjoying the flavor far more than he had anticipated. At its best, the taste of ramen was a myriad of small amounts of vegetables and spices, with the main ingredient winning out just enough to be noticeable. At its worst, eating ramen was no different than drinking saltwater, and he had experienced that on far too many occasions. He had his doubts when he saw the relative youth of the chef, but her ramen was pretty much the best that he'd ever had.

Which was why he allowed himself to smile ever so slightly when the chef relaxed and thanked her liege.

Also, there was no way he was going to eat here for free. Considering what he had paid good money for in the past, it would have been blasphemous.

Time languidly flowed by as Shion delicately worked through her bowl while her escort finished his and asked for another.

He finished his second bowl as Shion finished her first. After downing another cup of ice water, she smiled at Ayame radiantly.

"It was incredible! I wish my country had food of such quality!"

Ayame laughed and thanked her for the compliments before asking, "What country are you from?"

Her escort's attentiveness increased ever so slightly. Where they were from was no secret, but he felt that the fewer people who knew of his liege's identity, the better."

Shion sensed this and knew how to respond. "I am from Demon Country. I am a priestess on a pilgrimage."

Her escort chuckled. The answer was perfect. It was almost entirely true, and yet couldn't be farther from the truth. He knew of his liege's goals, and to call her journey to accomplish those goals a pilgrimage was too much.

Ayame was impressed. "Demon Country! That's at least a two week trip!"

Shion shook her head. "It's a two week trip if you take the roads. The roads take much longer because they go around Swamp Country, which as its name suggests, has no roads. We took a...shortcut, that not many people know about to get here much faster."

Ayame nodded, satisfied with the answer.

Shion relaxed, relieved at not having to clarify. She didn't want to divulge the fact that she flew over all of swamp country in her angel form while her escort simply did whatever ninjas do to traverse through by land. They met the idiot duo and their wagon at the border of Swamp and Grass Country and rode inconspicuously the rest of the way.

Finished with their meals and small talk, Shion paid for her meal and her escort paid for his. Ayame was floored at the size of the tip the man gave and sputtered incoherently at how it was too much and that it wasn't necessary.

Her escort put an end to that by holding up his hand to stop her rambling and telling her it was more than deserved.

Ayame then began sputtering anew, saying bits and pieces of 'Thank You Very Much' as fast as she could while bowing profusely. Shion laughed and promised to come back as her and her escort left. The sounds of horseshoes again filled an otherwise quiet village and faded off into the night.

Ayame then gave her attention to the sizable amount of money she just received. She shakily picked up the paper bills and counted them. She crunched the numbers in her head and chuckled weakly. It wasn't everyday that a customer paid an 800% tip.

Feeling great and now looking forward to her father praising her, Ayame hummed a soft tune to herself as she looked over Naruto's meal. To cap off a perfect evening, she was satisfied with its temperature just as Naruto materialized in his seat.

Naruto, being a ninja, couldn't help but the happiness and sunshine radiating out from her.

"Ayame-nee!"

"What's up, Naruto? Did you get Hinata back okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I ran into Neji at the front gate and he took her."

"Good!"

Ayame resumed humming and poured Naruto's meal into a bowl and set it in front of him.

Naruto just stared at her for a few seconds before trying again.

"Ayame-nee!"

"What's up, Naruto? Aren't you going to eat?"

Naruto nodded, but this time he wasn't going to be thrown off topic. "No, I'm going to...but...Ayame-nee?"

"What's up, Naruto?" she replied while humming merrily.

Playing around the bush wasn't working, so Naruto decided for the direct approach.

"Are you okay?"

She finally gave him her full attention. "Hmm? Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Naruto was getting confused. "You just seem...happy. Really happy?"

"Naruto! I'm always happy!"

"I know! I know...but it's like...you're...weirdly happy. I don't think I've seen you like this before." Naruto straightened up. "Did someone put a genjutsu on you?" He put his hand on her arm and focused his chakra. "Kai!"

After nothing happened, Ayame rolled her eyes and lightly tapped him on his forehead. "Okay fine, Naruto. I had some customers come in while you were dropping Hinata off. They ordered three bowls altogether and..." Ayame tried to build up the moment. "They left an EIGHT HUNDRED PERCENT TIP!"

Naruto visibly recoiled, not at all expecting that. He himself had begun to leave around a 200% tip after every meal for the past year or so, ever since he started doing high A-rank missions. He had just been trumped, and trumped badly.

There was no way he could afford to leave an 800% tip each time he went unless he ate out at most once a month or saved a filthy rich princess every other Tuesday, and the prospects of either happening weren't very high.

As Ayame did some fist pumps and said how awesome a chef she was to no one in particular, Naruto smiled. Ayame was family. Her happiness was his happiness.

"That's great Ayame-nee. They must have really liked your cooking. Who were they? Gai and Lee?" He couldn't think of customers in the plural that would go to Ichiraku's in the dead of night. Gai and Lee could have needed a meal after an inspired late-night jog around the world.

"No actually, it was two people from Demon Country. A priestess and her escort."

Naruto couldn't hide his surprise. That was pretty much the last answer he expected. Demon Country?

He thought of Demon Country and a certain pushy priestess that lived there and smiled. Those were good memories.

"Oh yeah? A priestess from Demon Country? I know a priestess from Demon Country. Had a mission over there." Naruto stopped. He lost himself in thought for a few seconds, but quickly discarded it from his mind. There was no way that that was possible.

But just in case...

"What was her name?" He asked as he at last began to eat his meal.

Ayame opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. "You know, I didn't ask..."

The next morning

Kakashi looked bored, Sakura looked like the cover girl for Kunoichi Monthly, and Naruto looked...not eager. Much less eager than he was for the previous mission. Once you get and accomplish that first S-rank, much of the luster goes away.

Even so, Team Kakashi looked rested and fit for duty.

Tsunade sighed. In front of her were documents for no less than half a dozen S-rank missions. She discarded the ones not labeled 'high-priority' in her sake drawer-she never failed to open that at the end of every day and she could just organize them then.

Six folders became two. A mission to search and destroy a group of rogue ninja concocting and selling methamphetamine or a two-week border patrol shift at the Grass/Stone border.

If she thought about it, the choice was obvious. Kakashi had his dog summons and Naruto had his shadow clones. Together, they could find and track pretty much anything if they really tried. Sakura wasn't much helpful in that facet, but she could more than make up lost ground in the 'destroy' part of the mission.

Sending Naruto to the ANYTHING/Stone border would likely trigger the Second Tsuchikage to blow a head gasket and send his entire jounin corps to kill him. Something told her Grass Country wouldn't appreciate that, seeing how they were allies.

It was so obvious which mission she should send the team, and yet, she was hesitating. The intangibles that weren't on the documents were rather significant for the latter mission. While Tsunade had sent full chunin teams to assist Grass, Stone country caught on and had been sending jounin cells for the past month. Grass ninja were getting slaughtered, and two outposts had already been lost. Tsunade herself had lost about a score of chunin, and about twice that were injured. The cries for help at the border were getting too loud, and they needed a boost of morale. At the very least, sending Kakashi and Sakura would do that.

She smiled grimly. She really didn't want to split the team apart at such a critical point in the team's well-being, but she couldn't see a feasible alternative. She'd send a reserve with Kakashi and Sakura, and have Naruto on standby for the s&d mission.

Tsunade looked up. At her side as always, Shizune stirred. Tonton was wiggling profusely in her arms like usual.

"I'm splitting you guys up." She began. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, Naruto's eyes narrowed, and Sakura remained expressionless. "Kakashi. Sakura. I'm putting...uh...Shizune, who do we have available on reserve right now?"

Shizune searched her memories. "Genma should be cleared for duty sometime today or tomorrow. We're expecting Shikamaru's team back this afternoon, though they'll likely need rest." She paused.

Tsunade waited all of three seconds before asking, "That's it?"

Shizune scrunched her face trying to remember. Naruto briefly smiled, thinking the act cute. Then he remembered she was sixteen years older than he was.

She got it. "Anko should be ready. If you're thinking about the border mission, she's wanted to go back for the past week. Some stone jounin got the best of her her last shift and she's wanted vengeance since."

Tsunade smiled. A motivated Anko was more than she hoped for.

"Kakashi. Sakura. I'm temporarily putting Anko in your team for a two-week shift at the Grass/Stone border. Stone has been sending jounin regulars for the past month, and the lines are more or less falling apart. I'm going to send three chunin cells later in the afternoon that will be under your command. Your mission will be to at the very least, hold the current lines and if possible, get back the lost territory. Do NOT overextend, however."

Now Sakura's eyes narrowed in what Tsunade thought was distaste while Kakashi visibly relaxed. In a tone that he'd discuss the weather with, he asked who the team leader was going to be.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You are, Kakashi. Don't be ridiculous."

He shrugged. "I assumed as much. Just be sure to remind her of that before we go dillydallying with some stoners."

Tsunade and Shizune laughed. Few ninja could call elite stone ninja 'stoners' and get away with it. It felt good to send Kakashi to the border fight. She all but expected Grass to be kissing her ass before the two weeks was up.

"You're dismissed. Shizune, contact Anko and tell her to get ready. You all leave for the border in one hour."

Kakashi and Sakura nodded in assent, and quickly left. Shizune followed after them.

Naruto was very confused. "Oi, Grandma. What about me?"

She gave him a rueful smile. "I send you to the border, and the fifth great war begins in Grass Country.

He sighed in defeat. He knew firsthand how bloodthirsty and irrational stone ninja got when they saw him. Irrational at times was a good thing.
Bloodthirsty never was.

He threw his hands up. "So...what do I do? Got anything for me?"

Tsunade realized then just how much he'd grown up. The Naruto she first met would have cried bloody murder at being left behind.

"I'd have to check. I can't send you on a S-rank alone, and the missions we've been getting lately are almost all just that. I do have a high priority S-rank that needs to get done, and I'd love to send you on it, but it requires a three-man team with a history of working well together in the past."

Naruto wasn't terribly eager to jump right into a second straight S-rank, but he was a jounin, and had to pull his weight. "I know Hinata's in the village. I saw her last night...or was it this morning...at Ichiraku's."

Tsunade blinked. Apparently Shizune forgot about Hinata. "Anyone else you can think of?"

Naruto searched his brain and found...nothing. "No. No one."

Tsunade's right hand began inching closer to her sake drawer. "Think of one more person that you can work well with in a search and destroy mission. Come back here when you do." Naruto gave her a mock salute and turned to walk out.

Tsunade had no other appointments for the morning and managed to get Shizune out of the office. With about 40 minutes left before Team-Kakashi-minus-Naruto-plus-Anko were scheduled to arrive, it was relaxing time.

Naruto decided he need to confirm that Hinata was available for the mission before searching for teammate number two. It wouldn't do to assume she was.

He squeezed in a daily exercise of using wind chakra as he made jump after jump using nothing but the wind as added propulsion.

He arrived at the Hyuuga gates and saw Neji sweeping up dust.

Naruto facepalmed. He forgot about Neji.

He briefly entertained the thought of having Neji be teammate no.2 but decided against it, as having two sources of Byakugan was borderline cheating. Also, Neji would go looking for trouble to outkill Naruto, and that just would not do.

"Hey Neji. You have cleaning duty today?"

Neji was a bit surprised that it was Naruto he had sensed. He felt an irregularity in the wind, but did not attribute it to a ninja. Naruto was getting really good at wind manipulation if even he was so easily fooled.

"I sweep every day. If I don't do it then an elder from the branch family will be made to." Neji no longer grimaced at the injustice, as he knew Hinata would right it. They all just had to be patient, and if it meant he had to wake up an hour earlier than he liked for now, so be it.

Naruto looked away. "I see."

The two remained silent for what seemed like a minute, both lost in their thoughts.

Neji broke the silence. "Why are you here today, Naruto?"

Naruto flinched. Right, he was here for a reason. "Do you know if Hinata's here? I wanted to ask her on a mission."

That earned Neji's full attention. He stopped sweeping and turned to look directly at Naruto. "Really? What for? Do you need the Byakugan?"

"Yeah. It's a search and destroy mission."

Neji smiled. "I'll go."

Naruto fidgeted around, angry with himself for revealing the mission type. "Yeah, but if you go, the mission will take like two days and we'll compete with each other for kills and we never keep it down and then people see what we're doing and think we're crazy and it'll be boring and-"

Neji put a hand up, stopping him. Sadly, the rant contained nothing but truth. There was such a thing as sending overqualified teams for a mission. They inevitably grow bored and end up doing what Naruto just ranted about.

"Right. Well even so, I think it's time that I ask for a mission. It's been admittedly stuffy around here lately."

Naruto held up his index finger, remembering something. "Why didn't Shizune-neesan remember you and Hinata were available for missions?"

"Jounin that have a clan affiliation are not part of the general rotation. We can go ask for missions, and be requested to go on specific missions, but we can't be ordered to go on them. Only exception is if we apply for and get a genin cell. It has to do with the higher level of danger involved, and clans wanting to protect their secrets or bloodlines."

Naruto had no idea such a policy existed, but it did make sense.

"Right. Well, do you know where Hinata is? I think Granny said the mission was high-priority, so the faster I find her the better."

"High-priority almost makes it sound like we should go together and just get it over with."

Naruto shook his head. "No, I'd like to get out of the village for awhile."

Neji understood. He felt that way every day.

"And hey! Hinata's not that bad."

Neji chuckled. She was nowhere near the fighter he was, but he conceded that she likely was as good a tracker.

"Lady Hinata would have finished her morning rounds at the hospital, so you'll likely find her in Training Ground Eight practicing genjutsu with Yuuhi-san."

"She works at the hospital?"

"The clinic. She does easy stuff like diagnosing colds and healing simple training wounds."

Naruto got ready to go. Training Ground Eight was a good two miles from where he was, and he hoped to cover it in less than five minutes.

"Thanks Neji. Next time we should go ask Granny for a kill-everything mission together."

Neji smiled and nodded. He'd look forward to that one. "Later, Naruto." He said as he resumed sweeping.

The sound of a strong wind hurrying by was how Naruto replied back.

Shion stretched out her arms, legs, and took a deep breath. The mornings in leaf country were amazing. The sun felt like it was hugging you, making you feel nice and warm.

She had a lovely breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and hash browns. Western style breakfasts did not exist in her country and she would see to it that they would in the immediate future.

The door to her room opened and Shion raised her guard ever so slightly before her escort came in.

"Who do I love?"

He replied, "family, friends, and future members of both."

She relaxed and turned from the window to greet him.

He had two cups of tea with him. "Apparently this inn is famous for its green tea."

She smiled. He was a man that tried anything that had a good reputation. He loved making decisions like that for himself.

The tea was pleasant going down, but nothing special. The aftertaste it left however, was superb, to the delight of both.

As they cleaned up and got ready to check out, her escort asked her what her plans were for the day, and if he should look into finding another place to stay for the night.

What she really wanted to do was spend time at Naruto's place, but that was a fantasy best left in the confines of her mind.

"I was hoping to meet Naruto today and spend time with him...see if he's still the man that I remember four years ago." She was convinced that he'd remain the cheerful, irrationally confident person that he was, but it never hurt to be sure.

See if he's still the man I love.

"Do you plan on spending the entire day with him? That may be fine for you, but he is an enlisted. He might have a mission today, or already be out on one."

Shion sighed in mild frustration. How did she forget to ask the Lady Hokage where Naruto currently was?

He understood. "We could go back to the Lady Hokage and ask her-"

She cut him off. "No. She will be busy, and we were terribly rude to come by unannounced last night and she still met with us. This is not a problem for her village and we should respect that."

"That is true Shion-sama, but I will remind you that you are the head of state of Demon Country and the problems of your country should be the top priority in your mind."

She gave him a crooked smile in defeat and relaxed into a chair. "And that is why I make a terrible high priestess."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her look up in surprise. She knew he hated making body contact with anyone. "That may or may not be so, but I cannot see how anyone else could do better."

She gave him a radiant smile and briefly brought her hand on top of his in silent thanks for his support. She got up, grabbed her belongings and walked towards the door and said, "Well, I'll just wing it then. We'll see what happens."

He left it unsaid that he'd keep her safe no matter what she did or where she went. It came with being a godfather.

Hinata was doing her best.

She, Kurenai-sensei, and Naruto were at a local bar relaxing after the training session. Earlier, Naruto showed up at the training grounds to her horror and asked her if she wanted to go on a mission with him. At the time she was sweaty, tired, had spots of dirt on her face from a brief taijutsu session, and was failing to correctly dissipate a double-layered genjutsu.

It was pretty much her apocalypse.

Kurenai-sensei was surprised at Naruto's arrival, but thought nothing of it and even asked him to help out in their training.

Hinata wished she had the mental fortitude to ask him herself. Baby steps, baby steps...

Kurenai-sensei used upwards of twenty genjutsu combinations on him to see how he would react. The training session ended up being very valuable to her and she wanted to thank him for his assistance.

Hinata knew that Kurenai-sensei loved shochu sake and coming here was as much for her enjoyment as anything else.

It didn't help Hinata that she felt pangs of jealousy at her own sensei for being so casual with the boy she liked. They were talking like old friends and she felt cut off from the conversation. She really did not want to be there.

"Hinata!"

She turned towards the source and made eye contact with Naruto. Before she had time to think, he asked her if she wanted anything.

"Orange juice?"

Naruto nodded and got the bartender's attention. "Orange juice here please!"

The bartender was briefly caught off guard at a non-alcoholic order, but quickly composed himself and completed the order.

Hinata just left the cup of orange juice sit in front of her.

Naruto grew a little frustrated, but kept it inside and encouraged her. "You ordered it, right?" She nodded timidly. "Try it. Let me know if it's good."

She took a sip and loved it, like she knew she would. "It's good Naruto-kun...thank you."

Naruto was far more pleased with himself than he thought. "Good! Let me know if you want a refill." She nodded meekly in response and he was satisfied.

Kurenai, however, was not. "Hinata, we're at a bar. Loosen up a bit. If you like orange juice, at least order a screwdriver."

Hinata stilled. She loved her sensei, but she hated that trait of hers. Hinata hated alcohol. It made people lose their inhibitions and lose control of themselves. Her friends have tried to get her drunk in the past for her to 'come out of her shell', but she liked her shell just fine. She even felt that her 'shell' was a big part of who she was. She was a controlled, careful, shy person by nature.

If they wanted her to leave her shell, it meant they didn't like who she was.

Naruto didn't even hesitate to order orange juice for her. She saw the funny looks he got from the other customers for ordering a non-alcoholic beverage in a bar that mainly serves career ninjas. He thought nothing of it and only sought to make her happy.

She stopped there. She already liked him. She knew that he knew that she liked him. She also knew that she was teetering on the like/love barrier as is, and she didn't want to fall in love without knowing how he felt about her. She knew it was cowardly, but again, that was a part of what she was.

But as Kurenai-sensei and Naruto began talking with each other again and leaving her out, she decided that it didn't have to be.

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto stopped and looked past Kurenai, who was sitting between them, to focus on Hinata. "Yeah, what's up?"

She mustered what willpower she had. She started it, and she hoped she had the strength to finish it. "That mission you were talking about?" She paused.

He saw her having trouble and decided to encourage her again. "Yeah? What about it?"

It helped.

"What's the mission? Do you think that I would be...helpful?" She trailed off.

He smiled and confidently replied, "Well, I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't think so."

She found herself smiling a little at his response. "But what's the mission?"

Now Naruto hesitated. "I'd tell you here, but it's S-rank."

Hinata looked down at her drink. S-rank! There was flattery and there was this. He wanted her help on a S-rank!

Kurenai was surprised but didn't react to the news. She then got up from her stool, surprising both of them. "If it's S-rank and I'm not involved, I don't want to know about it. As a jounin instructor I'm allowed to know, but I'd rather not if I don't have to."

Naruto nodded-that was standard protocol. Hinata just looked mutely at her sensei.

Kurenai noticed this and decided to leave with a twist. "Naruto-kun." She said as she lightly touched his face. "You really helped me out with my training today. I'd love it if you helped me out with my training in the future if you're available."

Naruto was always happy to help and everyone knew it, Hinata thought rather viciously. He of course agreed enthusiastically and thanked her for his drink. She then ordered a bottle of sake to go and left the bar.

Hinata resumed staring at her drink. Was her sensei always such a shank?

She found him looking at her as she walked out the door. Jealousy again flared throughout her along with disdain for her sensei.

This would not do.

She took Kurenai-sensei's seat and leaned towards him but made no body contact. "So? What is the mission? How can I help?"

Naruto saw a determined look on Hinata's face-a look that he hadn't seen on her since her fight with Neji all those years ago. He was quite happy to see it and quietly began telling her the mission specs.

Hinata had trouble focusing on his words due to his close proximity, but she steeled herself to do her best.

This was for the man that she wanted to love.

Kurenai took a deep breath as she began walking home to make lunch for her son. The atmosphere in the bar was stifling, to put it kindly.

She acted most out of character, and it took a lot out of her to do it. She wanted to come across as playfully flirting while making it clear that he had no chance without making the latter seem too obvious to Hinata.

Needless to say, it was quite the difficult acting job.

But, it appeared that she was successful, if Hinata's radiating anger was any indication.

She'd have to make up with Hinata later, but she didn't see that being too difficult to achieve. The girl was just too kind.

And so was Naruto.

She twirled her sake bottle around leisurely as she quietly wished Hinata all the luck in the world.

I have a habit of not wanting to give original characters' names. Is reading the story this way alright or does it really come across like I'm trying too hard to avoid it (i.e. is it too wordy/repetitive/annoying)? Would appreciate a few responses.