A/N: Okay hello everybody! D Here's my 2nd fanfic, my 1st on this site...enjoy!

Setting: Takes place after Naruto returns to the village from his 2 and a half year journey and right after his mission to the sand village. However, it is before his mission to rescue Sasuke.

Riddle Me This

Chapter 1:

Road That Lies Ahead

It was a peaceful day in the village hidden in the leaves. Nothing unusual at all. Children playing in playgrounds, villagers moving from store to store with carts, exchanging nice greetings and enjoying their lives. Some say that they are so happy because they don't know the stress of being a leaf shinobi. The fighting, the torture, the danger. Sometimes it's good to find a place, relax, and get away from it all. Many ninja have different ways of doing this, including one of the sharpest chunin around.

He yawned as sleepiness began to consume him. 'There's nothing more peaceful than this.' he thought. Laying on his roof, he watched as dozens of clouds flew through the afternoon sky. Cloud watching, his favorite hobby. To watch the fluffy white figures soar gracefully through the air, it is a wonderful sight. Well, at least it is to him.

Right before his eyes could shut and send him into a deep slumber, a familiar noise echoed through the air. 'I can't have just one moment of peace huh?' He sat up and looked around for the source of the noise. Finally, he found the messenger bird standing on the side of his roof. He walked over, grabbed the note on it's back, and send it flying back to the Hokage's mansion.

He unraveled the note and quickly glanced over the details. His eye stared at a rather important detail, his teammates. 'I just know this is going to be a troublesome mission.' He walked over to the edge of his building and rubbed his forehead. As he mentally prepared himself for his next mission, he saw someone who caught his eye. He brung his hand down and yelled from his roof. "Hey Kiba!"

Down below, Kiba stopped as he heard his name. He looked up to see his friend calling out to him. "Shikamaru, hey what's up?"

"We got a mission," he said while holding up the paper.

"Oh cool. So who's coming? Just the two of us?"

"Nope, there's more. We have to go pick up Hinata," he let out a long sigh, "and Naruto."

-:-

'What to do? What to do? What to do?'

She sighed as she laid in her bed thinking.

'What can I do? I have to do something. If I don't then...then I'm just as weak as before.'

This is her second day. Her second day of worrying, thinking, hoping. Not even leaving her room unless she had to.

'Why am I even thinking like this. Why do these thoughts have to come up? Why am I driving myself crazy like this?'

Because she can't help it. These questions have always been within her and now after two and a half years, they are all bursting out of her. For a second, she smiled as she thought about the one person that could put her through all of this.

'Naruto-kun.'

In the past years she has been training, training like she never did before. Through all her hard work and effort, she became chunin. She often wondered what helped her gain such strength. Was it that her crush's inspiring words and actions finally pushed her to reach her potential? Or was it that she was able to focus more once that certain someone was gone? Either way, she became stronger. Too bad training can't strengthen her emotions.

'Finally, I see him after so long. I thought I had became stronger but the first time I see him...I just faint. It's always been like that. Maybe it always will.'

She was definitely in a sad and gloomy mood. It's the first time she felt like this in years. When the thought of him pops up in her head, she's instantly hit with love, admiration, and happiness. However once those are gone, pain, sadness, and self pity emerge. Those were always tough emotions to take...and she'd give anything to get rid of them.

'Naruto-kun, I'm sorry. It looks like I'm still not strong enough. I'll never be as strong as you. You will always be strong, confident, and brave. You never give up. Me...' she sighed, 'I will be the one in the corner, not strong enough to endure, not brave enough to fight, but happy enough to continue...to continue cheering for you.'

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a loud knocks on her door. She took a second to calm down before she called out. "W-Who is it?"

"Nii-chan, you teammate is outside waiting for you. It's that guy with the huge dog."

"Kiba? A mission?" She stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it to reveal Hanabi, her little sister, on the other side. "Can you tell him I'll be down soon?"

"Ok I gotcha." her sister said as she rushed down the hall.

Hinata turned around and looked through some stuff in her room. 'A mission. Finally, something to take my mind off him.'

She rushed to her closet to find a nice outfit to wear. She hadn't been on a mission in a while...or outside her house for that matter. Once she found her outfit she quickly put it on. Good thing she took a shower earlier. Kiba always complained about how long it took her to get ready. Once she was fully dressed she rushed over to her other closet. Good thing the Hyuga house is a big place. She opened the door and looked at all her weapons. Hinata was very organized, one closet for clothes and one closet for ninja tools. She grabbed as many kunai, shuriken, and paper bombs her pockets could hold. After she made sure she was prepared, she grabbed her already supplied bag and left her room, quickly running down the hall.

She didn't bother saying goodbye to her father. He just thinks that if she's not in the house, she's with her sensei or on a mission. As she exited the house, she looked across her large front yard and saw Kiba and Akamaru at the front gate. She locked her door and hurried over to her teammate.

"Took you long enough." Kiba said with a smirk.

"You always say that." Hinata said. "So umm what's up?"

"We got a mission. We got to go see the Hokage."

"Ok."

They began their walk towards the Hokage mansion. For a few moments, there was silence. Finally, Kiba said something.

"How have you been, Hinata? I haven't seen you around lately."

"Oh umm I've been ok. I've just been in my house a lot." She really wanted to get the attention off her. "How about you, Kiba?"

"I've just been training a lot. Me and Akamaru have gotten a lot stronger, right?" He was answered with a bark from the huge white dog walking beside him. "It's just been me and Akamaru since I haven't seen you or Shino around."

"Oh yeah. Shino is still on that long mission with Neji-nii-san and Choji. They've been gone for about a year now."

"Yeah. Hey Hinata, let's pick up the pace. We don't want to keep the others waiting." He started running down the street and Hinata followed suit.

"Others? Who else is coming?" she wondered.

"Oh Shikamaru is coming. Plus someone we haven't been on a mission with in a while."

Hinata grew nervous at that news. Someone she hasn't been on a mission with in a while. Of course there were plenty of ninja that fit that description, but she wondered if it was who she thought it was. "Umm who is it?"

"Naruto!" Kiba said with excitement. "It'll be nice to catch up and see how strong he really is."

Instantly, her heart began beating fast. Those common first emotions already began to overcome her. Love, admiration, happiness. Why now? A mission with Naruto. She took a deep breath as she thought about seeing him again.

'This is my chance. I will be strong. I won't faint or stutter or act weak around him. I have to be strong...I just have to.'

-:-

"Rasengan!"

The spiraling orb of blue chakra was pushed forward right into Naruto's hands. He clenched his teeth as the sphere spun as high speeds, cutting up his hand. Finally, he couldn't take anymore. The orb exploded sending naruto flying in the opposite direction. He slid on the ground before crashing into a tree, nearly knocking it off its roots. He struggled while getting to his feet. He quickly glanced over at the clone who just attacked him with his own technique. His clone grinned before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

'This is harder than I thought.' he thought to himself. He thought back to the conversation he had with Kakashi a little while ago. He remembered his sensei's words when he begged for training advice.

"If it will get you off my back, here's something you should think about. You already have a strong offense, so now you should work on defense. If you have a good defense, then you should be able to withstand a good offense."

It took a while before he understood it but he got it eventually.

'One of my strongest offensive moves is the rasengan, so if I become strong enough to counter my rasengan, then I'll be able to counter anything!' He took a deep breath. He had to continue his training. 'One more time!'

With his middle and index fingers together, he crossed one hand with the other and called out his signature jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones appeared through the smoke. They took a few steps back and began forming the rasengan. The real Naruto held his hands out ready to take the attack.

"Bring it on."

The clones dashed toward the original with the devastating orb in hand. As they got closer they finally pushed the blue ball forward. "Rasen..."

"Naruto!"

The echo of his name through the forest startled him. The two clones tripped, sending the rasengan downward onto the ground. The orb created another explosion blowing away chunks of earth. The two clones were destroyed and Naruto was sent flying back again. When he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw a leaf shinobi standing on a tree branch.

"Man, you're being troublesome already."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled. He jumped to his feet and looked up at him. "What the hell? You're interrupting my training."

'Why couldn't I go get Hinata?' Shikamaru thought. "Sorry about that but we have a mission to take care of."

"Oh a mission." Naruto said, sounding a little excited.

"Yeah so c'mon, we have to get going." he turned around and began jumping from tree to tree.

"Hey wait up!" Naruto jumped onto a tree branch and followed his friend. "So who else is coming?"

"I really don't feel like answering all your questions." he responded. "Just wait until we reach the Hokage mansion and then you'll know everything."

"Fine," he said pouting a bit. The pout slowly turned into a wide grin as they got closer to the Hokage. 'All right!' Naruto thought. 'After being gone so long, its time to remind the village of what I can do!'

A/N: 1st chapter...yay! It's short and sweet. Read & Review please.