attitude, Uzumaki senpai obviously knew what he was doing. He went through and rapidly marked up things that needed to be changed, crossed out things that needed to be eliminated, and highlighted areas that could be expanded instead. Hinata listened attentively and took notes for her own reference as well.

When he turned his attention towards her resume though, she couldn't help tensing in nervous anticipation. "I'm not going to mark up yours that much, because otherwise I'd just end up repeating myself."

Hinata wilted. Was it that bad? She wanted to cry, but before the tears fell, Uzumaki-senpai continued, "You've got the white space down, your experience is pretty good for someone who doesn't have professional experience, and it's not too long. Overall, it's one of the better first-time job seeker resumes I've seen. But you need to be more assertive. I would convert all these bullet points into active tense. Try to add a measurable result, too."

Hinata blinked, pulled back from the brink of tears by this unexpected reversal. Her eyes were still red, and when Uzumaki-senpai looked up, he exclaimed, "eh?! Hinata-chan, what's wrong?"

"I-I'm sorry," she sniffled, "I-I'm just a bit stressed out."

"Hey," Naruto fumbled, "Job-hunting is hard for everyone, especially since it's your first time. You'll find something."

"D-Do you really think so?"

"Absolutely. Believe it!" Naruto thumped his chest.

For some inexplicable reason, Hinata really did feel more optimistic, "Th-Thank you, Uzumaki-senpai."

"Hey, you can just call me Naruto. We're friends now, aren't we?"

We are? Hinata wondered, We've only been talking for 20 minutes about professional matters. Still, she didn't want to disappoint this sunny boy, so she nodded shyly, "Ehn, friends... Naruto-senpai."

('｡• ω •｡')

Tenten waved as both Temari and Sakura left in quick succession after the wardrobe crisis was quickly resolved. Finding herself alone, she sighed. Boyfriends. Who needs them?

Instead of going back to bed and resting or studying for her last exam, Tenten made the very prudent decision to sooth her loneliness and look for her friends on Way instead. She was delighted to find both CL and Spin online, and quickly joined the two of them in the mission area

[Team] System: SharpandPointy has joined the team!

[Team] SharpandPointy: Hey guys!
[Team] Chun_Lee: Heya ^_^
[Team] SpinFan96: Why are you online?
[Team] SharpandPointy: Of course its because I missed you guys~
[Team] Chun_Lee: Aww! We missed you too.
[Team] Chun_Lee: How are your exams going?
[Team] SharpandPointy: Not bad
[Team] SharpandPointy: I got food poisoning last night, so I'm resting today.
[Team] Chun_Lee: I hope you feel better soon!

[Team] SpinFan96: are you going back to your old trade?
[Team] SharpandPointy: Eh? How did you know?

Tenten frowned and wondered, I don't think I've ever talked about smithing in front of him.

[Team] SpinFan96: I have my ways
[Team] SharpandPointy: Soon
[Team] SharpandPointy: I'm broke Q.Q

It was true. Even though smithing could make a lot of money, it was expensive to train a smith. Since she wasn't in aclan, she had to pay for her own material and rent a forge if she wanted to keep up with her own level progression. She wanted to join a clan for the support, but very few clans were willing to support a smith as n00b as she was, especially with how irregularly she played. She could only grind on her own for now.

[Team] SpinFan69: Figures.
[Team] SpinFan69: Be careful your apricot branches don't get lopped off.
[Team] SharpandPointy: ?

Neji sneered as he saw her message. She was in a proper relationship now, with someone who was an Uchiha, no less. If she wanted to continue to do compensated dating while actually dating someone like that, she was digging her own grave, even if they were just pretending.

[Team] Chun_Lee: Now now, let's do some missions, okay?
[Team] Chun_Lee: Especially if you need cash
[Team] Chun_Lee: we can do a guarding mission
[Team] SharpandPointy: Works for me!
[Team] SpinFan69: Fine

Somewhere in Iwagakure, CL frowned at the screen. Something's not right here. Following an instinct, the search results confirmed the hunch. CL read out loud, frowning deeper while reading more. "The apricot branch hangs over the garden wall implies a wife cheating on her husband. What in the world is Spin thinking?"

( ^ ___ ^ )

AN: Huehuehue Sakura the frog is getting slowly boiled~

Okay soon is relative, but I'm going to count it this time! Huehuehue. Lots of call backs this chapter; some of my plotting is (kind of? Maybe?) coming to fruition, muahah. NaNoWriMo is going very well for me; I may actually be able to get moar chapters out this month. I've also got another fandom related project on the boil, but you'll hear about that much, much later (and its for another pairing). In tragic news, though, Love O2O is leaving Netflix on Nov 10th :( Which is probably inevitable given the Zheng Shuang controversy, but noooo. Viki still has it though! For how much longer Iunno, but I may or may not be speeding through some reruns. Man I hate streaming sometimes *sighs in digital dino*. Anyways, as always, comments, reviews, kudos, favourites, bookmarks, and fossils made of VCRs always make my day. See you soon!