Chapter 2: New Rules, New Insecurities
On the next day during morning, at the Hyūga compound, Hinata was having a spar with her cousin, Neji, as part of her training. She made huge progress in the past 3 years due to her pure determination and the mentality of not giving up on her goal to become a strong kunoichi in the future.
"You made a lot of progress this morning, Lady Hinata..", Neji said as he stopped sparring with her.
After hearing Neji's words, Hinata who was quite breathless, smiled brightly at him.
"A-Ahh.. Really ? We-Well.. Thank you.! It's all because of your help, Brother Neji..!", said Hinata as she tried to catch her breath.
And then Neji smiled back at her, "I think that's enough for today, I have to go now.. Guy sensei and the others are waiting for me.", said Neji as he prepared to leave her house field.
"O-Okay, Thank you for today, Brother Neji..! Take care, and please don't push yourself too much..", shouted Hinata while waving goodbye at Neji.
With eyes full of admiration, she knows fully what it means to be with Guy's team. She then thought in her mind while watching Neji walk out from the distance,
"I can't imagine how tired Brother Neji must be to train with his team all day long, He's such a hardworker, no wonder he was made a jonin at such a young age..!"
After watching him for a while, Hinata realized she was alone at the home field. She walked towards the corridor of her house and grabbed a towel to rush to the bathroom while thinking about other stuff she wants to do for the rest of the day since no one was currently at home.
But, as she walked past the living room, her favorite talkshow program appeared on the television that had been on for a long time. She sat on the sofa and watched the show.
20 minutes has passed, and her sweat covered all sides of her face. She then looked at the clock and suddenly remembered about taking a bath.
"Ah, I forgot to take a bath..!", shouted Hinata as she looked at the clock on the wall.
When she was about to get up to take a shower, the television channel she was watching suddenly changed to an impromptu news broadcast. There was an urgent announcement that everyone in the village needed to know.
"W-Wait, What's this..?"
Hinata was surprised since this was a rare occurence in Konoha. She quickly sat down again to watch it carefully with a hint of worry.
Shizune then appeared on the news holding a paper while rocking a new sleeveless office shirt.
"Good morning, citizens of Konoha. I would like to inform you about the new rule that was just written and passed by Lady Tsunade, regarding some issues that have occurred recently."
Each word of Shizune had Hinata's full attention.
"New rules ? W-What has been going on lately..? I'm getting worried about this..", said Hinata to herself as she felt so worried about the situation.
"And the new rule is.. that every kunoichi has to wear sleeveless tops all the time from now on, anywhere and everywhere. This rule would take effect as of this morning." Shizune said.
Hinata, after hearing Shizune's words loudly shouted, "E-EHHH ?! W-WAIT.. B-BUT WHY?!".
Hinata yelled as she felt uncomfortable with the new rule. She really hated wearing revealing clothes especially sleeveless because her armpits sweat easily. That's the reason why she wears her hoody all the time even during summer.
"From the results of the analysis conducted by the Hokage, wearing sleeveless clothes will help our kunoichis move freely, better, and faster with having no sleeves on their arms. We noticed this effect since most of the sleeveless kunoichi in Konoha have a greater amount of success rate on their missions.", explained Shizune.
"Eh..!? I don't understand this at all", shouted Hinata.
"Please follow the rules so you can avoid any problems, and also, please be aware. Thank you for your attention, and stay safe..", Shizune sternly added.
Shizune then fixed her hair by tying it to a ponytail, putting her hands behind her head for a good 20 seconds tying her hair while she's live on TV.
After the broadcast is over, the television program returned back to normal. Hinata was still gaping at what she just heard, not long after, she screamed "NOOOOOOOO…!" and ran to her bedroom.
Time passed by, and it has been an hour since the announcement but Hinata was walking back and forth in her room. She is very nervous and worried about the whole thing.
"I-I can't believe this is happening! I'll be forced to wear sleeveless tops!"
Then, Hinata immediately lied down the bed holding her forehead and overthinking.
"I sweat easily by simply walking or even doing simple activities..! This is bad, I don't want my friends or other people see me sleeveless..!", yelled Hinata as she rubbed her forehead.
Hinata went silent for a while, then with a blank expression, slowly took off her hoodie and revealed a purple tanktop beneath it. Hinata then got up and walked towards the mirror and raised both of her arms up.
"Oh God.. My armpits are getting sweaty all over again", yelled Hinata as she raised her arms high while checking closely at the mirror.
Meanwhile, Kurenai saw the latest news about the new law. She wasn't concerned about it since she wore a sleeveless outfit all the time. Who she was worried about was Hinata since she's too shy to wear anything that would expose her body. So she picked up her phone to call her shy student.
On the other side, Hinata kept her hands up for a while as she kept checking herself and sighing every couple of seconds.
"It's either wearing sleeveless tops for the rest of my life or.. be punished by Lady Tsunade !", said Hinata panicking a lot.
Suddenly, she got interrupted by her phone ringing. Hinata then put her arms down, put her clothes back and picked up her phone as she saw Kurenai calling her.
"H-Hello, Kurenai sensei..", Hinata greeted as she answered the call.
"Hello Hinata, I'm sure you've heard about the new rule right ? How do you feel ?", Kurenai asked.
"K-Kurenai sensei, I uhmm.. I don't like the new rule at all. Y-You know how shy I am about exposing my body to the public, right ? But I'm forced to do it now or Lady Tsunade will punish me..", Hinata answered honestly as she was scared and terrified about the things that might happen to her.
"Alright, don't worry, I'm coming over to your place", Kurenai said as she hang up.
"O-Okay..thank you, Kurenai sensei..!", Hinata said nervously.
After 30 minutes, Kurenai arrived at the Hyūga compound as Hinata welcomed her at the main door. Hinata noticed her sensei carrying bags with her.
"What do you have in these bags?", Hinata asked confused a bit.
"I have some outfits for you to try out,", Kurenai answered as she gave Hinata the bags.
"Hinata, I'm sorry but I'm not going to give you an advice. Just think what Naruto would want you to wear.", Kurenai added as she smirked at the blushing Hinata.
"I-I never thought about it, and I don't have any feelings for Naruto!", Hinata blushed as Kurenai laughed at her shy student.
"I'll be leaving now, try these outfits and see what suits you the best.", Kurenai said while leaving.
After a couple of minutes, Hinata looks at the clothes that Kurenai gave. She sighed and placed her hands on top of her head, blushed and thought,
"Would Naruto-kun be happy to see me wearing sleeveless?"