Boom! The early winter chill wasn't pronounced yet, feeling much like late autumn.
But by afternoon, the sky had suddenly turned overcast. Large, ink-black clouds rolled in, pressing down heavily. In moments, it seemed as if the ink could no longer be contained.
Countless raindrops fell like knives, slicing straight through the sky.
Choji had always seemed simple-minded, but he was neither dull nor foolish… in fact, he could be quite sharp. Even though he often said Shikamaru was too clever, so he didn't need to think much himself.
As he passed the Yamanaka Flower Shop, he sensed something was off before even entering. Picking up on some subtle clues, he turned it over in his mind. Without mentioning it to anyone else, he waited until he saw Naruto to voice his suspicions.
"I think Ino might be..." Choji frowned, his expression indescribable… a mix of conflict, resignation, and a sense of inevitability.
"I know." Naruto left those words behind and turned into the rain. He no longer had the mind to deal with reporting the mission to Kakashi. Choji watched his retreating back and scratched his head.
He didn't know how Naruto would handle it. Telling him now might be for better or worse, but Naruto needed to know to avoid being caught off guard later.
Shaking his head, Choji muttered something under his breath and headed upstairs.
The rain grew heavier.
Naruto went home first, changed his clothes, and took a shower. He wasn't in a hurry to go out. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the sofa, deep in thought.
Ino was pregnant. He had been mentally prepared for this possibility, but he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
Since the end of last year, for most of these past several months, the two of them had still spent more time apart than together. Yet, when they did meet, it was even more intense. Once certain things started, they were hard to stop.
Sometimes they met in the afternoon, chatting on the sofa before inevitably ending up tangled together. Sometimes it was in an empty office, though after one close call, that became rare.
Adding it all up, it hadn't actually been that frequent. Perhaps it was because they'd both had more free time recently, meeting more often in private and... experimenting more.
A pregnancy wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The difficulty lay in the fact that they weren't married. Ino hadn't yet worn the white bridal kimono, and her father, Inoichi, hadn't given his approval. To make matters worse, they had managed to keep it hidden for a while.
If he had found out immediately, he wouldn't be so passive now. But even Choji had noticed. There had been chances to find out earlier, but he just... hadn't gone.
This was his habit: when faced with tangled problems, he would go home, shower, sit quietly, and slowly sort things out.
In the end, it was his own negligence. Being busy running around might serve various purposes, but it was still just an excuse. Ino was pregnant. The way to get Inoichi to agree was actually very simple: get married.
They were both adults. Many people married younger than them. Getting married early would be good for Ino and would also give the Yamanaka Clan a proper explanation.
Thud.
He fell back onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling and muttering to himself.
"My seniority isn't enough. What's the use of me jumping around by myself?"
He stopped thinking about the pros and cons of marriage. It would definitely be a blow to Hinata, but he could always find a way to pacify her. The real problem seemed to be... the wedding. It lacked an elder.
Kakashi? His status was high enough, and he was Naruto's teacher. But... Kakashi wasn't of the same generation as Inoichi, as he was one generation younger.
When it didn't involve weddings, funerals, or marriages, generational seniority was a distant concept for the youth of the Land of Fire. But once it was involved, it became a matter of solemn respect.
"Who can I ask? Pervy Sage is unreliable. Tsunade is who-knows-where. Don't tell me I have to ask Orochimaru?" Naruto muttered to himself, utterly vexed.
'Iruka...' Naruto had transmigrated early and hadn't developed a deep subsequent bond with Iruka. Thinking about it, Kakashi seemed like the only option.
He scratched his head. He didn't know how far things had progressed on Kakashi's end.
'Would getting married before him be... No, the issue was the wedding.'
He turned it over and over in his mind until the rain outside gradually stopped.
His thoughts were still a tangled mess. Finally, he sighed and stopped thinking about it. If he knew then what he know now... Before transmigrating, family planning flyers were posted everywhere on the streets. Why hadn't he paid attention?
In the current situation, one misstep led to another. There was no room for carelessness.
Knock, knock, knock!
Several rapid knocks sounded at the door.
"What?" Naruto jolted awake, scrambling up from the sofa, his heart pounding.
Feeling somewhat dazed, he walked to the door. The knocking continued. He didn't know why he was panicking. Though his mind was fuzzy, he reached out and pulled the door open.
The rain was still falling outside, sheets of water pouring down.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto was stunned, his gaze involuntarily darting behind her. No one was following.
"Choji told me you were back…" Hinata's voice was soft but not hesitant, "I have something I want to say to you."
"Come in first, it's raining outside."
He looked at Hinata, the hem of her clothes dampened by the rain. A thought instinctively popped into his head, which he quickly dismissed.
'It couldn't be such a coincidence.' He told himself, 'It probably isn't that.'
"Mm." Hinata seemed very obedient, but this wasn't her first time here. She skillfully changed her shoes at the entryway.
Naruto stared blankly at her fair feet, mentally calculating the date of his last intimate encounter with Hinata. It wasn't actually hard to remember, as it was roughly two or three days apart from his time with Ino.
Hinata bent down to change her shoes, droplets of water from her hair continuously falling to the ground. When she looked up and noticed Naruto staring at her feet, her face instantly flushed.
"Oh, you got soaked?" He snapped back to reality. Instead of fetching a towel from the bathroom, he directly took off his upper garment and wrapped it around Hinata's head, rubbing it gently a few times.
Naruto was tall and had a strong constitution. Even in winter, he only wore two thin layers. Young men seemed to have a fire burning inside them, like roaring, galloping steam engines.
Wearing two layers wasn't because two layers weren't enough to keep warm, it was because wearing short sleeves in the dead of winter made you look like a lunatic.
At home, he naturally wore just one long-sleeved thin shirt. Now, he very naturally took it off to dry Hinata's hair, which immediately made her blush deeply.
Though her head was covered by the shirt, so Naruto didn't notice.
Even if he had noticed, he probably wouldn't have paid it much mind. Others often found it hard to understand a young woman's heart. Hinata wasn't inexperienced, but she felt affected by the atmosphere, her heart trembling involuntarily.
She had originally come to see Naruto about something. But after he finished drying her hair and removed the shirt, he was met with a pair of dazed, dreamy eyes. Before he could speak, Hinata stood on her toes and sealed his mouth with a kiss.
Naruto was somewhat startled. It was rare to see Hinata take the initiative, as her nature was usually gentle. No matter what, she tended to endure silently, rarely speaking up.
Though puzzled, he didn't want to spoil her mood. Harmony often came from mutual accommodation. Even if he wasn't always in the mood, if the other party was willing, he wouldn't refuse.
Drip...
Drip...
Sweat dripped onto Hinata's body. He didn't let his mind wander, briefly casting those earlier worries to the far corners of his mind. The rain continued outside, accumulated water flooding a corner of the flower bed at the base of the building.