In fire country stood a village, a village hidden in the leaves. Konoha was one of, if not the strongest of the hidden villages. It had produced many strong ninja such as Konoha's yellow flash the forth Hokage, The white fang Hatake Sakumo, and the three legendary sannin. These are heroes of a different time however. Two of them where already dead, one of the sannin three had turned evil and the other two were getting older.

Now there was a new breed of heroes emerging from the village. Three members of the rookie nine once under Hatake Kakashi's command had been trained by the sannin. However one of them had abandoned the village and forsaken his friends to do so. All the other's from the rookie nine had not given up hope however, they also trained to become the best shinobi they could be.

There was an unusually subtle breeze blowing through the village hidden in the leaves, and the sky was a cloudless, ominous blue. A familiar sound rang out through village streets.

'But Saaaaakkkuurra-chan...' whined a supposedly matured Naruto.

'No Naruto' She replied glaring at him. 'Even if I wanted to you wouldn't be able to do it'

He lowered his head as she started to explain.

'Each shinobi has his or her own style of fighting Naruto. I can't teach you how I got Tsunade-sama's strength you're the wrong type' Sakura explained with a shake of the head 'You see, there are three major different types of ninja. I am a Genjutsu type, meaning that I am best suited to using Genjutsu which requires a lot of chakra control. You are a ninjustu type. Didn't you learn this with Jiraiya-sama' she tilted her head expecting an opposition from him. He just sat listening to her.

'You haven't heard a word I've just said have you Naruto' she questioned.

Snapping out of his boredom induced trance he replied carefully so not to anger her. 'Sorry Sakura-chan I blanked out there'

'Idiot!' she said shrugging. 'Anyway why aren't you out training with Jiraiya-sama today?'

Standing up from the log he had used as a kawamii earlier in their training and answered her.

'Ero-sennin has...research to do' he paused as he held his chin in thought 'meaning he's probably at the springs, peeping on the girls'

'HE'S DOING WHAT WHERE!!!' yelled Sakura. Suddenly Naruto saw a fury in her eyes he had seen only once before. In Tsunade. She had passed on more than medical jutsu and her insane strength. She had passed on the scariest thing about Tsunade. Her temper.

That purvey old fool still hasn't learned his lesson from Tsunade-sama beating him senseless. Well, I'm just the person to teach him a lesson. This time I'm doing it properly.

As a grin that Naruto also recognised from Tsunade crept across Sakura's face she cracked her knuckles. Naruto shivered, if she found Ero-sennin he wouldn't be able to train till he got out of hospital.

'Calm down Sakura...' replied a terrified Naruto. 'I'll sort ero-sennin out' Naruto left, with some speed, after saying this. It was never a good thing to interfere when she was going to hit someone. He started to head towards the springs in town.

Frustrated, Naruto strolled along the streets of Konoha, ahnds in his pockets, kicking a can he had found. How was he going to get stronger if no-one was going to train him? Ero-sennin was always doing...research, Kakashi-sensei never quite put his all into training, he was far too busy reading one of the Icha Icha trilogy.

'Hey boy' growled a rough voice.

'What do you want, you stupid animal?' Naruto replied as he walked up to its cage.

'Why are you worrying about training? If you release me you'll become more powerful than ever'.

'Do I look stupid Jiraiya told me abou...'

Naruto was pulled from his conversation with the thing inside of him. He hit the ground with an 'oomph' and started rubbing his butt. As his eyes came back into focus he was about to yell at the person for walking into him. Then he realised who it was sitting on the ground in front of him. Her hair had grown quite a bit since he last saw her and she had filled out in all the right places a fine woman like her should. The one thing that made Naruto realise who it was more than anything else was the little habit she had, of playing with her index fingers when he was around. He thought it was kind of cute the way she did.

Wait, did I just think that it was...cute? He started to think. Ahh! Better say something before I seem weird.

'Hinata-chan...Is that you' he asked, just to make sure.

'N-NagulpNaruto-kun' she said in her delicate, quiet voice while playing with her fingers even more.

He jumped to his feet with a laugh; he held out his hand and helped her to his feet. Just as she was regaining her balance she was thrown off by Naruto giving her a huge bear hug.

'It's been so long since I saw you Hinata' he exclaimed letting go of her. 'What are you doing here?'

Hinata had now turned a dark shade of scarlet. 'S-Shopping...' she replied pushing the words out her mouth.

As Naruto looked around he saw many different sized white boxes that he hadn't noticed before. He picked them up feeling slightly stupid he just asked what she was doing here, when all these boxes lay scattered.

'Hinata-chan theres a lot of boxes here, are they all yours?' quizzed Naruto

'S-Some of them are for Neji... I-I told him I'd pick them up' mumbled Hinata in her soft voice.

'Let me help you, there's far too many for you to carry' He said holding her boxes.

Naruto-kun... Hinata thought with a blushing smile. As they set of to walk Hinata limped with a pain filled moan. Naruto stopped and looked back at her.

'Hinata-chan your leg is hurt' he said puzzled.

'N-No it's just twisted' she returned slowly. She limped over to Naruto's side and gave a small smile slightly blushing at him. Naruto shifted the boxes to his right hand and with his free left hand hooked round under Hinata's arms and took her weight.

'Lean on me till we're back at your House Hinata' Naruto said with a small grin on his face.

Hinata did so and they started to walk back to her house, she noticed that Naruto had changed a lot in the two and a half years she hadn't seen him. He was stronger, much stronger, she could feel the muscle in his arm around her waist. As she walked she took a few glancing looks at Naruto, who the whole walk had a self satisfied smile on his face, like he had done something great. There was something in his smile that made Hinata feel safe and comfortable like she could do anything. She rested her head on the side of Naruto's chest as they walked. As she did this Naruto tilted his head and rested it on top of hers.

Naruto didn't see Hinata taking quick looks at him admiringly, he saw only her sweet, soft beauty as he realised his biggest mistake through the years. It was not realising how much she cared for him. It seemed that the lessons of a drunken Ero-senin were far more useful than his training. Not either of them spoke to the other for the whole walk; they were just enjoying each other's company. Their silence spoke to each of them more than any words could.

The inner peace of their walk was broken as Neji appeared from the confounds of the Hyuuga Household. Clearing his throat Naruto spoke up. 'Neji, these are yours' he said handing the boxes over. He turned to Hinata, unsure of what to say, he looked deep into her lavender eyes 'Your leg still hurt?'

With a slight giggle Hinata responded with 'I-It's fine thanks t-to you, Naruto-kun'

Neji stood there and closed his eyes with a slight smile. 'Hinata don't be too long, your Father wants to speak with you 'he said calmly.

As he started to walk inside the thought to himself It's taken long enough for him to realise she likes him. He let out a quite personal laugh as he continued inside.

'I...I better go inside' she said softly 'bye Naruto-kun'

As she walked inside Naruto could only stand and stare at her graceful movement. The way she swung her hips made his jaw drop.

Wow! I'd like some... His thoughts stopped there. 'Damned Ero-sennin, corrupting my mind' he said crossing his arms.

As he started to walk away from the Hyuuga household he heard a sound that was becoming as common as hearing Tsunade chasing a certain Ero-sennin. It was the sound of her student beating this certain Ero-sennin.

'Oh no! I forgot, I was meant to warn Ero-senin about Sakura' he said to himself. He started sprinting towards the screams of violence ad curse words that were unmistakably Sakura.

He arrived just in time to see Jiraiya go flying into a nearby wall, Sakura leant over him to implant her fist into his face.

'Kage Bushin no Jutsu' Naruto yelled while making a cross with his fingers, with a poof of smoke 10 shadow close sprang into action. They ran at Sakura to hold her back. She turned and roundhouse kicked them out of existence. Now she was mad. 'Kage Bushin no Jutsu' Naruto yelled again.

Many, many shadow clones later Sakura was finally restrained. She was held down with 3 shadow clones per limb at least. She was still struggling to try and get free however.

'She takes after Tsunade far too much' Jiraiya said as he dusted himself down.

'But that's good in a woman' he said giving Naruto his usual perverted smile.

Naruto hung his head. 'You'll never learn will you Ero-sennin' he said angry that he was having thoughts like him.

'Oh! By the way Tsunade wants you in her office right away, so don't keep her waiting' Jiraiya replied choosing not to hear Naruto's comment.

'Maybe a Mission came up' shot Naruto quickly

With that Naruto jumped up and vanished off across the rooftops to the Hokages room. As he got out of range his shadow clones also vanished with a poof of smoke.

'Ero-senin...'Sakura said in an evil voice as a loud crunch came from her knuckles.

What Tsunade-sama wants Naruto for is a mystery, What will happen between Naruto and Hinata, Will Jiraiya get his just desserts. These will be answered soon in THE MISSION.