Date Part Two Electric Boogaloo

Sakura left Naruto at his apartment with strict instructions to at least wash and wear a clean tracksuit, before running to her own home to get changed and ready. This left Naruto in the awkward situation of working out how to wash and dry both his clothes and himself before the date started. He began frantically scrabbling through the scrolls he had for camping in the hope that one of them held the dark, esoteric secrets to effective laundry work. He found no such luck, however, so began scrambling towards the door. He froze halfway there, realising that if he ran to the library and learned a new technique now he'd barely get back in time to change, let alone actually bathe and wash his clothes. He'd need to be in two places at on-

If Naruto and Kurama had been on speaking terms at that moment Naruto was sure he'd be able to hear the fox howling with laughter at that moment. As it was, the blonde boy merely made a cross with his fingers, summoning a shadow clone, and hopped into the bath. The clone ran out the door, jumping onto the rooftops and towards the library.

The scroll clone-Naruto found was a wealth of useful information. The title was 'Freaky F ranks to Alleviate Choredom'. If E-rank techniques were things that academy students could pick up relatively easily, then F-ranks were techniques so easy and simplified that anyone with the vaguest ability to mold chakra could employ them. In essence, it was a book of techniques that your average housewife could, and oftentimes did, use. Quick cleans, paint restoring, fixing leaky pipes, and a host of other things that, given the time to learn them, Naruto was sure could take his apartment from ramshackle to homely in under half an hour.

More importantly, it held a technique to clean and dry things faster. It scaled with chakra reserves. A civilian would only really be able to remove the last traces of dampness from clothes or hair before running out of energy. With Naruto's reserves, however...

The entire bathroom filled with steam, soaking Naruto and his clothes anew the first time he used the technique. In retrospect, it may have been a good idea to drain the bath before evaporating all the water in his vicinity.

Once he returned to the main room of his apartment, he found more success in drying both his nicest tracksuit and himself. Checking the time, he found he still had a little before he needed to leave for Ichiraku. Once, Naruto would've spent his spare time either thinking of pranks or masturbating, but Sakura's influence on him was starting to take effect. He grabbed the scroll he'd taken from the library, walked over to his kitchenette, and started looking at the leaky pipe under the sink.

Sakura dressed down for the occasion. Light makeup, one of her nicer casual dresses, and a pair of earrings she'd bought back during the land of waves mission. She'd decided to drop by Hinata's place, both to show her to Ichiraku and to make sure she hadn't over-prepared for the date.

Thank god she had, because Hinata was dressed to the nines. Sakura met her at the doors to the Hyuga compound. Hair done up in a tight bun, Hinata was wearing a tight-fitting dress with a long slit down the side. She had heels and a full, carefully applied face of makeup on. When she saw Sakura, she let out a surprised 'eep'.

"I overdressed, didn't I?" She was blushing furiously.

Sakura stifled a giggle. "Just a little. Don't worry, we have time. I'll help you dress down a little."

Hinata nodded furiously, opening up the compound doors again. The other side was spacious, a long hallway with a large number of doors leading off from it. She began leading Sakura down the hall, until a voice echoed out from one of the closed doors.

"Hinata? What is the Haruno girl doing here?" The voice was unyielding and stern.

"Sh-she's here to help m-me change, father. She'll also be coming out to the congratulatory d-dinner." Hinata was trembling.

"Stop stuttering, Hinata. It makes us look weak. If she leaves your room unsupervised I'll throw her out myself." There was a tone of finality in his voice.

Hinata didn't reply, dropping her head down and continuing down the hall. Sakura gave the door a lingering look before hurrying down after Hinata.

Once in the bedroom, Sakura started looking through the wardrobe while Hinata ducked into the bathroom to undress and remove her makeup. When she emerged, Sakura was sitting on the bed with a few choices laid out beside her.

"Isn't he proud? You're most of the way to chunin, as long as you're impressive in the final test you've got it in the bag."

Hinata shrugged, a morose expression on her face. "He says it's the bare minimum of what's expected. That I shouldn't be lauded for just reaching the bar."

Sakura snorted. "Well that's bullshit. You were incredible out there, Hinata."

"R-really?"

"'Course. You kicked those sound guys' asses. It was really nice to see after last ti-" Sakura cut herself off, realising what she was about to say.

"Last time? What do you mean by that?" Hinata cocked her head in confusion.

"I'll... explain it to you by the end of the month." Naruto would probably let it slip before long anyway, but Sakura preferred to wait for at least a little longer. "Anyway, which one of these do you most like the look of?"

They settled on a grey affair, one that matched Hinata's eyes while remaining casual enough for Ichiraku. Hiashi didn't stop them as they left, and the two of them made their way out of the compound and towards the ramen shop.

Naruto reached Ichiraku before the two women, quickly finding a booth to sit in. Ayame perked up a little when she noticed him, and walked over.

"Naruto! You're back! How'd the exam go?"

Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head. "It was mostly pretty easy, Ayame. Worst part was Orochimaru's attack."

Ayame looked confused. "Orochimaru?" Only being a couple years older than Naruto, and never particularly interested in ninja, Ayame had never come across reference to the Sannin.

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "Some snake pervert who's obsessed with Sasuke. Strong, but not too bad if you can dodge him."

Ayame chuckled. "Well, great to know you're okay. Here for a victory bowl?"

"A date, actually!"

Ayame blinked owlishly. "A date? Sakura said yes?"

"Sakura and Hinata!"

Ayame furrowed her brow. "And?" She stuttered for a second, trying to say something before letting out a long breath. "Well, if it goes wrong, I'll be here if you need to talk." She turned to walk back to the counter, throwing a worried look back at the blonde boy.

As she left, Sakura and Hinata arrived, quickly making their way over to Naruto's booth. Sakura narrowed her eyes, sniffed, then cocked her head in surprise.

"You're drier than I expected. I thought your hair would still be wet."

Naruto grinned. "I grabbed some F-rank techniques to help with chores."

"Huh." Sakura sat down in the booth, pulling a hesitant Hinata down with her. "We'll have to run over them together, sounds fun. Sorry we're late, by the way, I dropped by Hinata's place to help her prepare."

Hinata blushed, trying to retreat into her chair. "H-hi Naruto."

"Hi Hinata!" Naruto's smile was infectious.

The date was not going well. Hinata's nerves were in full ****, and despite Naruto's most outgoing efforts, the grey-eyed girl just couldn't seem to break through her shell. For all his enthusiasm, Naruto was only really good at getting other people to talk on the battlefield. Sakura, grasping at whatever she could, spoke up.

"So how does it feel to have beaten Neji, Hinata?"

"I-I'm really not sure how I did it, if I'm honest. I've never beaten Neji before. He always got inside my head."

"Well, how'd you stop him from getting in this time?"

Hinata looked very intently into her bowl of ramen, her cheeks reddening to a new degree. "I was wondering why you and Naruto were so red when you came down to the prelims, and why your hair was all messed up and..." She mumbled, eventually fading into inaudibility.

Sakura laughed. "It's probably exactly what you're thinking. We got a little frisky while we were waiting for it to start."

"I-I-I, uh, y-you're v-very open with that." Hinata's stuttering would soon render her words unintelligible

"Of course." Sakura's smile grew sly. "You'll have to get comfortable with that eventually, you know. Especially in private."

"P-p-private?"

"Well, you'll want to join in, won't you?"

"I- you don't want me to do that."

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other. "Of course we want you to join, Hinata! You're so nice, and pretty, and strong, and-"

"have one hell of a rack." Sakura finished off the list. Naruto and Hinata both blushed.

"Y-yeah, that too." Naruto's blush was different to Hinata's, as it was accompanied by a wide grin rather than a fervent wish to dissolve into the background.

"Do you mean that?" Hinata's face was hopeful, despite the extent to which she'd disappeared into her seat.

"Of course, Hinata. The only thing that's remotely unattractive about you is your lack of confidence. Watching you take down those sound ninja really did something for me." Sakura shuffled over to the black-haired girl's side, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "I'm looking forward to that side of you coming out sometime."

Hinata shivered. "I don't know if I could do that."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, we'll have a long time to work out if you can." He leant back in the booth, eyes going wide once he realised what he'd said.

"I just think my father would be disappointed if he found out."

Naruto and Sakura shared a long look. Sakura's was a measured one, trying to communicate the nuance of letting Hinata in on the secret right now, and what benefit that might have. Naruto's look was puppy eyes. Finally, Sakura nodded at Naruto. "Tell her."

Naruto turned to Hinata. "Hinata, you aren't going to need to worry about your dad finding out. Well, not for more than a month, anyway."

"Y-you aren't planning on doing anything to him, are you?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope! Well, not right now, anyway. What I mean is, in a month, on the final day of the Chunin Exams, there's going to be a big fight between Orochimaru's village and Konoha. Right towards the end of it, me and Sakura-"

"Sakura and I, Naruto."

Naruto sighed. "Sakura and I are gonna be thrown back to the start of the month. The first time through, I ran into a big barrier thing that Orochimaru used, and it messed with Kurama. Oh! Kurama's the nine-tailed fox. Anyway, the chakra got all tangled up and made a," he paused for a second, looking at Sakura questioningly "temporal?" She flashed him a thumbs up, "A temporal jutsu. The month keeps repeating for me. If I fail the exam, die, or reach the end of the month, I wake up at the start of it."

Hinata looked between the two of them. "How did Sakura end up in the loop? She doesn't have any connection to the Demon Fox."

Naruto took a breath to continue talking, but Sakura stopped him. "It'll sound better coming from me." She turned to Hinata. "He came to me about two loops ago, running the line that if I could develop some amount of romantic attraction and sleep with him, that I'd be able to enter the loop. It took most of the month for me to believe him, but eventually we did the deed and I woke up at the beginning of the month."

"S-so you're planning to sleep with me?"

"Well, yes. I understand if you're not ready yet, bu-"

"Can we do it tonight?"

Naruto and Sakura looked at her, wide eyed. "What?"

"I believe you. I've loved Naruto for long enough, I'm not going to delay the chance to do this."

After a long moment, Naruto grinned. "Guess we better pay, then."

The trio left a thoroughly confused Ayame at Ichiraku, and began the journey back to Naruto's apartment.