I didn't think my last story was any good so I removed it. It didn't do its original any justice. Plus I never thought I was any good at writing anyway. Here is a better attempt at a sequel to "Lonely Birthday".
Chapter 1
It Was a Matter of Time
Hinata couldn't understand it. The Hokage was there. Jiraiya was there. Even Sakura was there. Hinata knew that Jiraiya had been Naruto's mentor the last 3 years, the Hokage cared for Naruto very much; Sakura was also part of Naruto's genin team and probably had a bond with him. But she didn't understand what was going on. Why would this require all three of these people's attention, especially from someone so high ranking as the Hokage?
Shikamaru stood next to Hinata. They were both chuunin, in fact Naruto was the only member of their academy class that was still a genin, though Shikamaru had serious doubts about any of their class being able to defeat Naruto in a fight. They had just arrived at the Hokage's office when Shizune looked sadly at Naruto and informed them that they should give their report to the Hokage at Naruto's apartment.
The three of them had been sent on a mission that required very good strategy, Shikamaru; caution and the ability to see what shouldn't be seen, Hinata; and someone with speed and who could serve as backup, Naruto. Naruto had become the fastest in the village using the same speed technique the 4th had used. It wasn't that hard to understand. The 4th had been trained under Jiraiya, Naruto's life is forever connected to the 4th's if nothing else than because of the seal on his stomach, and the 4th's and Naruto's personalities were very similar. It made sense that Jiraiya would teach him the same techniques the 4th used.
Over all though, Shikamaru, who had been the leader of the team, was very impressed by the team's success on the mission. They had been contracted to steal some information on a scroll without it being known that the information was stolen. They also were supposed to assassinate the leader of the bandits that had the information. This again was supposed to be done without anyone knowing it was a ninja.
Shikamaru and Hinata scouted the camp of the mercenaries turned cutthroats while Naruto stood guard. Hinata used her eyes to get the position of everyone in the camp and the location of the information needed. Shikamaru had them watch the camp for 48 hours before doing anything. In the end the full 48 hours wasn't necessary, but it was best to be thorough on B rank missions. Shikamaru came up with the plan and they executed it flawlessly. Naruto was going to be the one to go into camp. He would enter so fast no one knew he was there, then he would kill the leader in his own tent while his second in command was in there. The 2nd was to be knocked out and blamed for the murder. Naruto would steal the scroll just before leaving the tent screaming that the leader was dead. In the confusion Naruto would slip away and they would all head back to Hidden Leaf Village.
The plan had required Naruto to entrust his forehead protector to Hinata while he completed the mission. She had just given it back to him when they were walking through the gates of the Leaf. Now they were standing just inside Naruto's apartment door. Shikamaru had wondered why the Hokage was there while they were going there. But now it was completely evident. There was something hanging in the air, it wasn't physical. Shikamaru thought that the 3 non team members and Naruto were radiating this thick feeling.
Shikamaru had been surprised with Naruto's professionalism on the mission. He had been very quiet, calm, and not really like the loudmouth he was inside the village. Apparently he had grown up. Now though Naruto was a very different kind of quiet. It was one of anger. Naruto didn't seem to be angry about the apartment though.
Hinata noticed immediately that the apartment was the same one Naruto had grown up in. Ever since Naruto had lived there the land lord couldn't rent it for the same price again. It had been empty most of the time Naruto had been gone and Naruto willingly moved into the same apartment at a lower rent. Now the apartment looked nothing like she remembered it looked like 3 years ago. It was a total mess, but more than that, one couldn't spend the night there.
Every piece of glass in the apartment was on the floor. Every mirror, drinking glass, picture frame, and window pane; nothing was left whole. The couch had been ripped to shreds and destroyed. The door had been busted down. The bed had been completely destroyed. Next to the door was a fox. It had been killed by a kunai meaning a ninja had done it. It had also been burnt symbolizing "Fire's defeat of the Fox Demon". Hinata remembered the reason the villagers had claimed they needed to burn the wooden fox every year in the ceremony. It was always held on October 10th, Naruto's birthday and the anniversary of the demon fox's defeat.
This one had been alive. It disgusted her that someone would do that to an innocent animal and then put it in a person's apartment. That was if she set aside that this was Naruto's apartment and she felt more for him than anyone else. Hinata looked around the room, there didn't appear to be anything that hadn't been damaged or destroyed.
"Why didn't the neighbors try to stop them, or at least call for some help? This couldn't have been done quietly." The question came from Sakura.
All three chuunin present watched as the other occupants of the room seemed to involuntarily react to the question. There wasn't so much of a physical reaction from any of them but the air seemed to get thicker with anger, sadness, guilt, and…secrets. Hinata noticed Naruto go to his dresser and pick up a slashed headband sitting on top of the dresser. It had been Sasuke's and it seemed to be the only thing left alone. Apparently the vandals had done this only to the stuff specific to Naruto.
No one had answered Sakura's question, or even attempted to venture a guess at a reason. After a few seconds Sakura understood. She had known about Naruto's secret since his first real mission back from his training. They were able to just barely save Gaara, but she had been told by Kakashi and Naruto. The Sand elder had also helped fuel the conversation but didn't give specific information about Naruto. What had hurt Sakura the most was that Naruto was in danger of the same risk as Gaara was in at the time. Naruto was in danger just by being alive. The Akatsuki would never stop hunting him. She feared for Naruto and he didn't even acknowledge her fear, but that was something that kind of reassured her. Now Naruto was just standing there looking at his home. It wasn't even safe anymore.
Shikamaru had been lazily looking over the destruction. He hadn't been cavalier about Naruto's loss but it didn't help that the damage wasn't fully assessed. There was something about this that everyone except him and Hinata knew. Sakura had shown a flash of not knowing, but now she seemed to know what was going on. She must have just been confused about the neighbor's actions.
Sakura bent down and picked up some of the glass surrounding her. She had been inadvertently grinding it into the floor just by her pacing. Hinata immediately moved to help out. She was not about to force Naruto to take care of it when she could help. Sakura's actions helped relieve her of her shyness and she joined in. Shikamaru was still thinking. Though what he thought about was normally kept hidden. Naruto seemed to be the one most unaffected by the damage. In fact he seemed almost oblivious to the state of the room if one saw that his anger wasn't directed at the damage.
"Hokage-sama. Request permission to give latest mission report." Sakura and Hinata immediately stopped cleaning. Shikamaru was quite shocked too. They had never seen Naruto act so uncaring about an injustice he saw. Why would he not care about it now? It was his apartment, he should be the one demanding justice. Now though, Naruto stood at perfect attention in front of the Hokage. He looked as if he was just another ninja reporting in to a superior instead of one of Tsunade's most loved in the village. Because of the odd situation and tension in the air only Jiraiya and Tsunade dared moved for a long time.
The Hokage had been caught off guard. She had expected Naruto to have more concern for his things than some mission report. Tsunade looked back at the apartment before looking at Naruto really hard. "It is customary for the team leader to give the report on a successful mission." She wasn't about to let Naruto go like that. He wasn't going to go on living like what ever the village did to him didn't matter.
Naruto never left perfect attention, the three chuunin had been so shocked that they were almost afraid to move. All three of them had almost predicted that Naruto would eventually crack and become his normal hyperactive and complaining self. Then he would declare revenge and go after whoever did this.
Shikamaru was the first to fully come out of his shock induced comma. Glancing around to make sure that he had taken in the whole room, Shikamaru stepped forward. The whole time he had been thinking however, Naruto has had to grow up living like this, alone. This isn't a lot of stuff really, a table set, a couch and a bed. But then again, they were all Naruto really had. "Ma'am, team leader Nara reporting to give official report."
Tsunade had to hand it to Naruto. His friends were definitely loyal and oddly enough willing to go along with what he was planning. She could see that Shikamaru didn't really know what was going on, but he saw that Naruto didn't really want to deal with it right now. She had no choice but to accept the leader's request to give the report.
Shikamaru gave a report that could have been used as an example to some of her jounin. It was simple, concise and it gave her not only the success but also informed her of the capabilities of the team members and their ability to work together. Shikamaru had taken into account all three of their respective skills and devised a plan to perfectly fit each one's strengths.
The report only lasted a couple of minutes. It served its purpose however. Naruto was able to get a handle on the situation and to be the person he was. He put on that false smile. That smile he always wore, the one that made him look like a moron. He dropped the seriousness and picked up the happy go lucky attitude. He almost started to brag about how he could have defeated the whole group by himself, but someone put her hand on his shoulder.
She couldn't believe it. After all this time of watching him, she hadn't been able to see it until now. She had always known he had deep pain and that he was determined. She had always known that he was despised. What she didn't know was how much it really affected him. His smile for all those years had been only a fake. He had been hiding is true feelings behind it for years. Probably even before she knew anything about him. Yes he was determined. Yes he would never give up, but he was deeper than all the others saw. She had thought she had figured him out, seen his true strength. But now she was really seeing it. It was the ability to show a happy face when all he really wanted to do was cry or show anger.
Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She started to cry. Her hand slipped from Naruto's shoulder as her mind seemed to go into a kind of hyper drive. She wanted to sit, cry, and help clean up all at once. What ended up occurring was a beautiful girl of 16 years of age, trying to pick up some of the larger pieces of the broken chair and failing miserably. Her eyes were clouded over by the steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes.
If Naruto's almost sudden attitude change from sad to happy-go-lucky didn't put someone into momentary mental shock, then the heir to the Hyuuga Clan's sudden inability to pick up some broken pieces of wood did the job. Hinata couldn't see even the larger pieces because of the tears flooding her eyes. Sakura was much more used to Naruto's odd shift in normal behavior to acting stupid. She was the least shocked by Naruto's sudden shift in attitude, but she was thrown back into mental shock as she watched Hinata collapse in tears. On instinct Sakura walked over and helped Hinata. The rest of the chair was easily picked up, but Sakura was more concerned for Hinata than Naruto's apartment. There was no reason for Hinata to be crying like this. It was an awful sight, but they had all seen worse damage before. Why did Hinata care about it so much if even Naruto didn't seem to care?
Naruto had been in a stunned sadness since he felt Hinata's hand on his shoulder. He didn't expect her to try and console him. In his surprise about someone actually touching him in a soft manner in order to console him, he dropped his defensive mask. He was once again angry, and sad. He did have slightly more control than he did before though.
Shikamaru saw the way Hinata had reacted to Naruto's seeming indifference to the violation of his own home. He saw Sakura move to console and quiet Hinata. The real prudent thing to do though was to start looking for information and catch who did this. He started to run through all of the information he could remember on anyone that would want to do this to Naruto. Instantly Shikamaru remembered the parent's reactions to Naruto's entering the ninja academy and their reactions to his passing the genin exam. In fact it seemed that the whole village looked at Naruto with distain. It didn't take a ninja to notice their eyes as they looked at Naruto. If looks could kill, there would be 4 or 5 convictions of murdering Naruto every day if not many more. Shikamaru had always found it odd how Naruto seemed to never notice the looks and mistreatment he got.
Instead of narrowing down the list of people who would want to do this, the list had expanded beyond what Shikamaru thought prudent. "We need to find out who did this." Shikamaru's words contrasted with Hinata's now light sniffles.
"It will do no good to look for evidence. Those who did this wouldn't have left any real clues, maybe some false ones, but none that were not left on purpose." Oddly enough it was Naruto that had said this.
Shikamaru was about to protest when the 5th Hokage cut him off. "I can find out, whether they left evidence or not. They will be punished."
"You don't want to do that." It was Jiraiya's voice this time that dissuaded finding the vandals. "It would take too much of your power to find out. You also don't want to reveal anything valuable to the misinformed members of our population."
This greatly confused Shikamaru. What would the Hokage be revealing and why would it take too much of the Hokage's power to find the vandals of a genin's apartment. If it was a shinobi then others most likely knew about them doing the work. Besides crimes against another konoha ninja were strictly forbidden and harshly enforced. Then he noticed it again. It was there, the thickness of the air that wasn't there. It felt like it was a secret that no one wanted to tell. Something that they felt guilty about.
Hinata wasn't thinking along the same lines of Shikamaru. She had known the secret since Naruto had told her on his latest birthday. She had finally gotten over her shyness and tried to comfort him on the saddest day of the year for him. Her father had even sent a few Hyuuga branch members to assassinate him for breaking the 3rd's law about telling someone in her generation. She couldn't help but feel even more respect for the man that had endured treatment like this everyday growing up.
Naruto was the first one to speak up after Jiraiya's comment to Tsunade. "Is there another mission you have ready for us or are we free for the day?" The question was directed at Tsunade.
Sakura was caught off guard by that question. Naruto was seemingly acting like there was nothing wrong with the apartment while she was still trying to clean it up. Now he was getting ready to leave when any normal ninja would be expecting the rest of the day off because they just returned from a week long mission. She herself was tired because she had spent the entire day training with Tsunade. She had been learning the technique her teacher used to regenerate in battle.
Tsunade's answer was slow in coming. It was also not what any of the 3 chuunin were expecting. "There is a mission I was planning on giving a more experienced team, but if you request it you can have it. The only problem is that it is B ranked and been deemed necessary for a 4 man team. Sakura would do to be the fourth member on this mission."
Naruto looked at Shikamaru for confirmation. He wanted to get out of the village. Shikamaru didn't have to be a mind reader to see that. He sighed to himself thinking how troublesome it was having the only genin in their academy class assigned to him. Almost reluctantly, but with a more air of being tired and lazy Shikamaru turned towards the Hokage and nodded his acceptance of the mission.
"You are to protect Nami Shiro. He is the son of a noble lord. His father has hired you to protect his son while he travels to and attends the Fire Lord's daughter's marriage. The marriage will take place in the Fire capital. Lord Nami believes that his son is the target of a Cloud shinobi's mission. He believes someone has hired a cloud ninja to assassinate his son. I do not know or care about who hired the cloud ninja, you are simply to escort his son and return him safely home. Defend yourselves but don't go looking for a fight. There will be cloud at the wedding because as you all know the groom is the son of a lower lord from the Country of Cloud. There will undoubtedly be shinobi protecting him. You have your mission."
Sakura was a little shocked at first, but was able to listen and pay attention to the details. Shikamaru thought the whole idea was very troublesome but idly listened to the Hokage and thought of the best way to accomplish the mission. Hinata had to admit to herself that she was still tired from the day's traveling but she could endure more if necessary. Naruto had already placed his happy mask back on his face and was ready to leave again. But he turned to Shikamaru for orders.
"Be at the west gate in one hour. Be ready to travel until nightfall. It will take us the rest of today and until noon tomorrow to reach the Nami estate." With that the three chuunin decided to leave the apartment and get ready for the new mission.
Naruto was left alone in the trashed apartment with the Hokage and the perverted hermit. They both regarded him with a look of understanding. The Hokage was a little bit more confused than Jiraiya though. She was still trying to decide why he had chosen this course of action. "You know, your team leader is the only one of your team that doesn't know. It is not a good idea to keep something like that a secret from your leader. Especially Shikamaru, he has the intelligence to put it to use rather than hate you. Him knowing could influence the outcome of this mission."
"I know what it means when my friends do not know who I am. I have lived it my whole life. Tsunade, you know what happened last time I told someone. Her father tried to have me killed. And now that the whole village knows I am back and that Sakura knows and hasn't rejected me, they are doing this. I won't let them start doing it to my friends. I must start to prepare for my next mission." Naruto was serious but he still hid his true emotions from the world.
Jiraiya and Tsunade left the apartment and headed back to the Hokage tower. Jiraiya spoke just as they got to the street. "Why did you really give them that mission? What did you not tell them?"
Tsunade looked at Jiraiya with a little bit of shock and concern. She must be slipping. Normally he was blinded by the size of her chest. Now he had seen right through what she had said. She had expected Shikamaru to notice and realize there was something more about this mission. But if Jiraiya had figured it out that meant that pretty much the whole team she was sending had figured it out, including Naruto. He had gotten much more intelligent in his training away from Konoha. "We suspect it isn't cloud nin like the lord thinks but really sound that are trying to make Konoha look weak. They want to make Konoha look weak so they can ally with cloud against us. Or at least get cloud to join on their side once the war starts. Either way, there is a war between us and the sound that is probably going to start with this mission."
Jiraiya wasn't shocked, or at least he didn't show it. Instead he lowered his head with a serious look on his face. This mission was going to start a war. If that were true, then it was most likely that one member of the team just sent was going to die. "Is that why you sent two with medical training on the team?"
Tsunade was expecting Jiraiya to come to that conclusion. In fact it was true she had expected the team to need more metical training than normal. But the medical nin in question also had very strong fighting capabilities. Hinata had only had some light medical training for quick field techniques. Sakura had been taught almost everything Tsunade knew so the team was well off medically. As for fighting capability, Tsunade didn't know if they were ready. Shikamaru's intellect could win most fights, but some times even that wasn't enough. Hinata had her Byakugan, which helped with her gentle fist style and her defenses. She had been trained in the techniques of her clan and could fight with great skill. Naruto and Sakura were the wild cards.
Tsunade generally considered Sakura to be a much better fighter than most chuunin because of her precise control of her chakra and her strength. She had started out as a genjutsu style fighter though. So Sakura realistically had more potential at fighting ability than even her. The problem was that since Sakura became Tsunade's apprentice, she hadn't gotten much battle experience.
Naruto was a different story all together. Tsunade had no doubt that Naruto had been trained in advanced techniques and in that respect he was mid level Jounin in strength. He also had the stamina and chakra reserves of a small army even without the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi did also give him quicker healing. There was also no question about his fighting experience. He had probably gotten into more fights for his life with Jiraiya, knowing Jiraiya's preferred method of training, and he probably had to fend off a few of the other countries' shinobi. The question was could he fight with strategy in mind rather than just a frontal assault. He also tended to disregard warnings and just fought rather than think.
The mission has little chance of success, the real mission is to stop Orochimaru from making us start a war with cloud or from making us look weak.