Chapter 1: The Start of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End?

In Too Deep

They all had many chances to ignore it. To pretend it never happened or didn't exist. So why did they wait until they were in too deep to get out? Unfortunately for all of them, it was too late. They were stuck in this world of lies and damn, who knew how low they'd pull themselves down to get the truths?

The characters are 19/20 yrs old in this. Kiba's gen being 18-19 and Neji's gen being 19-20.

This is a Neji/Kiba fanfic.

I don't own Naruto. If I did I'd probably change most of the story. Neji would also still be alive.

Kiba kicked at the dirt, eyes pinched in anger. "Man.. I'm so pissed off! This is a B-Rank mission but there hasn't been any action yet!" Akamaru winced when Kiba punched each tree he walked by.

Naruto glared at Kiba, annoyed with all of his non stop yelling.

"Shut up, Kiba. You're scaring the kids. And it's a B-Rank mission because of potential danger. You get it? Potential meaning there could be bandits or ninjas coming to attack us. C'mon, you're acting even worse than me. Plus, we'll be getting paid a lot of money this time. I'll be able to eat at Ichiraku's once a day for over a year!" Naruto fist pumped the air and whispered hell yeah to himself.

Kiba rolled his eyes and murmured, "Why did I have to get stuck with Dandelion-chan on this mission?" Though this was directed toward himself, he smirked when Naruto clenched his fists and bared his teeth.

"Teme, who the fuck are you calling 'Dandelion-chan'? And for your information, I'm here because we're escorting this family to Kirigakure and Tsunade-obaa-chan thought that it'd be a totally! fantastic! great! idea! to improve my relations with the shinobi there," He said, dramatically throwing his hands up in the air. "She told me I better start acting like a Hokage if I wanna be one. Trust me, I wanna leave as much as you do."

Kiba, now walking backwards, rolled his eyes again when he bumped into something. A something with a particularly flat chest- "Ow!" They both yelled when Sakura smacked their heads.

"Are you two done with your stupid rambling and ready to actually pay attention?" Sakura asked. "The mist is getting deeper and we're near a village where many bandits and missing-nin take the opportunity to rob newcomers. Hinata already scouted ahead and said there wasn't anything to worry about, yet. But we should always be prepared for an ambush or unexpected attack."

Naruto grinned and saluted. "Aye-aye, Miss future Uzumaki-sa-NGH!" Naruto choked when his mouth was stuffed with Sakura's infamous medicine pills. Naruto choked while he swallowed down possibly the worst tasting thing he's ever had.

He'd rather go back to Sage-mode training and eat bugs again than this shit.

Sakura smiled with a too sweet, too innocent look on her face. "Make sure you guys catch up with us!" She exclaimed as she ran off after the carriage carrying the Yuu family.

As this happened, Kiba was laughing so hard he was gulping for air every few seconds. "Man, haa! Never seen a guy rejected so many times before," He said as he continued to laugh while repeatedly slamming his hand against a tree. If he wasn't about to throw up, Naruto would have been just about ready to kill the Inuzuka.

After calming down, the two of them ran to catch up with the rest of the group. After a long walk through the woods Naruto sheepishly grinned while rubbing the back of his head.

"Umm, I think I gotta go pee," he said before he ran off somewhere deeper into the woods.

Hinata blushed while Kiba laughed. "How do you put up with him, Sakura? He's so embarrassing." Sakura sighed, resting her eyebrow against the palm of her hand while shaking her head and said, "I ask myself this every single day and I still haven't found an answer."

When he was finished, Naruto started walking back towards the group when he heard a rustle in the trees.

Frowning, he squinted his eyes and looked around reaching for a kunai in his pouch when a figure hopped down onto a branch.

"Oh my," said the man with long blue hair tied low at his neck in a ponytail. "Well look who we have here, precious Jinchuuriki-san."

Naruto's eyes widened.

What?

"Dynamic entry!"

Neji easily evaded the attack frowning as his meditating session was interrupted. "Of course my youthful student was able to dodge such an attack!" yelled Gai-sensei. "I should have expected no less of such a wonderful student radiating youthfulness!"

Tenten and Neji sighed simultaneously, knowing what to expect next.

"AAAAHHH!" A figure flew down ready to kick Neji as he assumed position and pushed his hand forward, ready to knock Rock Lee off of his feet. Lee, already expecting this, back flipped away and skidded across the ground, bringing his hands up in the all too familiar pose.

"Today is finally the day I will defeat my rival!" Lee ran forward again punching and kicking Neji hoping to land a blow, but Neji dodged them gracefully, already used to Lee's style of fighting. After a good ten minutes of fighting the two stopped.

"Gai-sensei, did you see that?! I'm getting better at predicting his attacks!" Gai gave lee a thumbs and a big grin. "Oh, my youthful student! Your training has definitely paid off. How about 200 laps around the village to celebrate?" He asked.

Neji inwardly chuckled. Because that's a great way of celebrating.

Lee grinned and saluted. "Of course, Gai-sensei. Neji, Tenten, want to join us?" Lee asked expectantly. Neji gave a straightforward no and Lee frowned. He looked at Tenten and raised his eyebrows. "Haha, Lee, I'd love to, but..."

"But?"

"But I have... to clean my house! Yes! Spring just began and I'm behind on spring cleaning!" Tenten laughed awkwardly, hoping Lee would back off. "Aw, okay," Lee said, the sadness evident in his voice.

Tenten felt a little guilty and apologized. "Sorry, Lee." "It's okay, Tenten! Let's go, Gai-sensei. The last one to finish their laps has to walk on their hands backwards around the village for 400 laps! Is that okay, Gai-sensei?!" "Why of course, my youthful student. Let's go!"

The two bolted off in a cloud of dust yelling something about youth. Neji looked at Tenten and raised an elegant eyebrow. Tenten crossed her arms and frowned.

"What's that look for?" She asked.

"Spring cleaning?" He questioned as he sat back down, ready to continue his morning meditation.

Tenten stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, shut up. I didn't know what to say. I hate running laps with those two. I had to make up some sort of excuse and that's all I could think of."

She rolled her eyes when Neji didn't respond and continued her morning training. After a while, Tenten left because she was hungry and promised she'd meet Ino somewhere.

Neji, finished with his meditation, looked up at the sky. A flock of white birds flew south.

Free..

He closed his eyes, enjoying the comfortable silence. Neji almost didn't hear, or rather, sense the person standing behind him. He opened his eyes. A hooded figure.. a white mask with the face of a wolf.

ANBU

He inclined his head a fraction, acknowledging the ANBU operative. "Tori," said the man. Neji raised his eyebrows at the use of his call name but expected no less from an ANBU operative. "We need to talk." Neji knew what this meant.

A new mission.

"Someone attacked you?"

"Yeah, but someone called for him and he ran off telling me he'd 'see me soon.' Whatever the hell that means, anyways."

The group had finally reached the small village and checked into a hotel. Kiba and Hinata were assigned to guard for the first half of the night. Naruto brought the kids to their room and waited until they fell asleep while Sakura made sure the parents were okay and assured them that nothing had happened.

Of course something had happened.

But... what?

Sakura rubbed her chin, her eyebrows tightly knitted together. She had expected some difficulty... but this? She hadn't expected this at all.

She cracked her knuckles. "You said he had a sword?" Naruto nodded and said, "Yeah he did, and he was pretty fuckin' strong too. Damn it... who the hell was that guy?!" Naruto ran his hand through his hair in frustration as he paced around the room in circles.

"But it was weird... He knew me. I mean pretty much the whole freakin' world knows who I am since I'm a jinchuuriki, but still. It was almost like he was expecting to see me there." Naruto shook his head, unsure of himself. Sakura sighed and got up from her kneeling position, dusting her hands off on her shorts.

"Well there's nothing we can do about this now. We'll stay on the lookout for any suspicious people. I'll let Hinata and Kiba know about this, too," She said while stretching.

"Don't worry about it too much, Naruto. If it becomes a real problem we'll let Shishou know when we get back to Konoha. Let's focus on the mission for now. The Yuu family's safety is our top priority," She added. Naruto nodded and yawned, falling back on his futon.

After a little bit more of discussing things, they both went to sleep.

Running. He was running endlessly with no destination. He was panting, his eyes were tearing up. Why? What is this feeling in his chest? His hands were covered in blood. Did he kill someone? Impossible... he was only 4 years old.

"You did great, son."

Son?

Dad?

"How's it feel," his dad asked, "to be a killer?"

Kiba jerkily shot up from his bed, panting. He was drenched in sweat.

A nightmare?

Akamaru whimpered, automatically knowing that Kiba had a nightmare. Kiba sighed and patted his comrade's head.

"I'm alright, Akamaru." He gave a half-assed smile, attempting to reassure his buddy. Lately, he'd been getting many nightmares. Most of which were about his dad.

Dad, huh? Why's that bastard creeping into my dreams?

Kiba shook his head and got up from his bed. He needed to take a cold shower.. Yeah, that'd make him feel much better.

NOT

"What the hell is wrong with this hotel? The shower isn't running. Shit. Way to go, dickhead." Kiba smacked Naruto across the head. It seemed more like a playful gesture but he fully intended to see blood dripping from the blonde's head. He was just too shaken up and weak from the nightmare he woke up from.

Ugh. I guess I'll just wash up down at the river.

Naruto humph-ed and crossed his arms. "Why are you so grumpy? And it's not my fault that the hotel I just so happened to choose is not functioning properly. Learn to give a guy a break, geez." Kiba gave a humorless laugh that got caught in his throat. He cleared his throat.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Kiba waved him off with his hand. "Yeah, I'm about to give you a break. A broken face, actually." Naruto laughed. "Wow, what a clever comeback. I never would have thought of that one."

Kiba glared at Naruto and gave him the finger. Naruto laughed harder and stuck his tongue which led to him accidentally biting his tongue. Now it was Kiba's turn to laugh while Naruto covered his mouth with his hand in pain. The door to their room opened.

Sakura walked in, followed by Hinata, smacking both of their arms. "Remind me to never go on mission with the two of you again." Hinata smiled and said, "I think it's fun going on missions with Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled while Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Hinata," Kiba stated, "you're only enjoying this because you like Nar-" Hinata covered Kiba's mouth with her hand, her face turning a deep shade of red. Sakura chuckled, knowing too well the affection the timid girl had for her blonde teammate. Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking confused.

"What?" He asked. Sakura just smiled and said, "Nothing. Let's get dressed. We still have a long journey ahead of us."

Kiba rolled his shoulders and gave Hinata his sorry sad puppy look. Sure enough, she smiled. Apology accepted. Kiba got his backpack and headed out the door to wash up in the river.

Naruto looked around still looking extremely confused.

Kiba looked over his shoulder at him and chuckled.

Man, he's so slow.

A/N:

1. Sorry if this is short! The chapters will get longer later in the story. I just didn't want to put too much in the first chapter. Anyways, hurray for a new story! Yeah. Hopefully this one won't fail.

2. The summary is vague, I know. Sorry if this bothers you. I have a whole plot thought out and everything but just like every other story I've written, I'll probably get way too into this story and change things around as I see fit. This chapter might seem all over the place? Don't worry, it won't stay like that. I'm really bad at writing the beginnings of stories. Also I'm leaving this as M for now. I just want to be sure, you know? Just note that I don't plan on writing smut. Hey, why not? Because I don't want to.

3. There will probably be two main pairings and then many other small pairings. The main main pairing, though, is Neji and Kiba. I'm also planning on having a lot of big character roles. Mostly the Konoha 12 (including Sai, and, well, Sasuke) but I also want Genma, Yamato, the senseis, and characters from other villages to make regular appearances. Warning: There will be SasuNaru. But don't worry, the main characters will be Neji and Kiba.

4. Why Neji and Kiba, you ask? Welllll, Neji is my favorite character and I'd probably only ship him with me, obviously. BUT, I don't know, I just feel like those two would work? They're both somewhat assholes in their own ways. Cute assholes.

5. This is where I'm supposed to ask you to review, right? Well honestly if you want to review, go ahead. If not, I'm happy that you at least read it and (hopefully) enjoyed it.

6. Have a good day, evening, or whatever.

7. Man, Naruto Gaiden… amirite?