"Naruto," Lady Tsunade started, pausing to take a drink of her green tea, "You have been chosen for a rescue mission."
"A rescue mission? But who needs rescuing?" the blond ninja interrupted, leaning over the hokage's desk intently.
"If you would shut up for once, maybe I could finish before you ask dumb questions!" she took a deep breathed, eyes closed, and Shizune stiffened in the corner, holding TonTon closer to her chest, weary of her leader's anger. Naruto fell unhappily silent, a scowl on his face.
"Hinata Hyuga was taken captive during her last mission." Naruto gasped, worry clouding his features. "The rest of her teammates were taken out with knock-out gas and a ransom note was found within one of the pocket's of Shino's jacket. We can most likely assume that these people, rogue ninja originally from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, do not wish to harm Hinata. They have asked her all the money in our villages' treasury. Now obviously we can't give in to these demands so I'm sending out your team to get her back! Since the remaining members of team 8 are still hospitalized, you're the best one for the job."
Shizune rolled her eyes and worked very hard to keep in a snort 'Best one for the job? Ha. More like the only one left in the village right now.'
Naruto clenched his fist, a determined smile on his face, "Yeah, I'm on it. This'll be no big deal. I'll bring her back on my life, believe it." He turned to leave but stopped at the doorway and looked back at Tsunade sheepishly "Uhh, where is she again?"
The Hokage sighed heavily and handed a folder to Naruto. "Map. Intelligence on the enemy. So on. …. Oh and Naruto, you'll find Yamato waiting for you at the front gates. I can't very well let you go all alone, can I? Now go, before I change my mind."
Nodding, Naruto quickly left the office. He bounded quickly to the edge of the village, after gathering his supplies.
"Let's go" he called to Yamato, barely slowing down before leaving the gates behind him "We've just got to get Hinata back!"
"Naruto, wait, take it easy! It takes three days to get where we're going. We can't run the whole time. Naruto!"
The fire crackled warmly under the darkening sky. Naruto laid on top of his sleeping bag, arm folded behind his head; Yamato looked at him intently.
"We made good time today, Naruto, we should make there in a day and a half more." He watched as the knuckle-headed ninja smiled slightly.
"Naruto… why were you so intent to run the whole way here? Lady Tsunade told you they wouldn't harm Hinata."
"I just" he started hesitantly "I can't stand the thought of them holding her hostage. That they might, they might harm Hinata in some way. I couldn't live with myself if I could have stopped it by getting to her sooner." he closed his eyes against the thought of Hinata hurt.
A knowing smile crossed the captain's face as he asked "Do you feel this strongly about all the leaf ninja or Hinata in particular?"
"What?" his eyes snapped open and he raised himself up on one elbow to stare at his teammate, "the whole village of cou-" but as he was saying it images ran through his head.
A memory of a young Naruto taking a beating to stop some bullies from touching Hinata. A beaten up Hinata struggling to keep fighting to prove that she can be just as strong as anyone. A shaking Hinata as she offered a jar of medicine to him. A blushing Hinata as he asked her to follow him on a mission. Her smiling face and quiet laugh. Her strength and determination showing in everything she did.
A fierce need to protect her swelled inside him as he flopped back onto his blanket.
He closed his eyes, confused, not wanting to answer Yamato's question.
'Maybe' he thought as he was drifting off to sleep 'it is just Hinata I feel so strongly for.'
Nearly two days later, the pair stopped, Yamato signaling Naruto to rest behind some large boulders. "The enemy is just ahead of us, Naruto. Our objective-"
"Save Hinata!"
"Right. But to do so, we need a plan." he peeked between two rocks to gauge the enemies' defenses. "They have just the one tent, that's where they most likely have Hinata. Just 2 guards outside it. Why don't I cause a distraction to lure them away and you run in and get Hinata." Naruto nods and whispers got it. "Okay, be quick once they leave."
Naruto watched the captain dart off quickly and only had to wait a minute before a loud explosion caused the two guards to race off. Quick as lightning, Naruto dashed to the opening of the tent and slipped in, kunai in hand to ward off any other enemies.
Inside, the tent was cool and dimly lit by one oil lamp. His blue eyes fell quickly to a figure clad in purple and blue on the floor. "Hinata" he whispered as he knelt by her side, turning her so he could see her face. There were a few bruises on her face and the left cheek was swollen slightly.
Groggily, she opened her eyes, prepared to see her captive's faces. Upon seeing the concerned blue eyes of the boy she loved, her face turned bright pink and she tried to stammer out his name through the gag around her mouth.
"Oh Hinata" he brought the kunai up and carefully sliced the fabric away "Let me help" Next he sliced through the ropes on her wrists, knees, feet, and forearms. "They sure tied you up well, Hinata"
"I-i-i tried to fight my way out s-several times" she gave him a small smirk.
He grinned back at her "I believe it. I bet you did your fair share of bruising to those 2 idiots. Come on let's get out of here" He took her hand and pulled her through the tent flap. Her knees buckled beneath her and she almost fell, so Naruto caught her up in his arms and carried her back to the boulders to wait for Yamato.
He set her down gently and said "Here, we can wait for-"
"N-naruto, did you say 2 idiots?" he nodded "oh no, no Naruto there were three of them."
Just then, they heard a snicker behind them. Naruto whipped around, angling himself between Hinata and the enemy, a snarl on his face. A tall, thin young man with light blue hair stood 30 feet from them, leaning against a tree, white pants blowing in the slight breeze, his torso exposed.
"So, reinforcements have arrived, huh? Well, we're not letting her go without the money we demanded. This Hyuga princess should get us a hefty sum"
"Hinata is coming back with us and that's that. You're not getting any money you greedy bastard." he growled angrily.
Again, the man snickered and leisurely came closer to Naruto, a smile on his face, "You obviously don't know who I am or what I can do. Just ask your little friend there who barely sampled my jutsu and has the marks to show for it. If you knew what I'm capable of, you wouldn't be so sure you could take what's mine-"
"HINATA IS NOT YOUR ANYTHING. I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHO YOU ARE, YOU'LL PAY FOR HURTING HER!" Naruto blue eyes suddenly slitted and turned a dark red, his nails lengthened, and his fangs grew more pronounced.
The rouge ninja's eyes grew a little wide at Naruto's transformation but he quickly covered his shock and turned to him with an air of determination.
"Ninja art, ice shuriken barrage." he yelled as he threw his hands out at Naruto. At least 50 shuriken's made of ice suddenly appeared out of thin air just a few feet in front of Naruto. 'damn it, too close to Hinata. I can't dodge them or they'll hit her. Not enough time to make a shadow clone shield. Guess I have to take the brunt of them.'
Using his kunai, he blocked as many as he could, but there were too many and 3 lodged themselves deep into Naruto's flesh.
"Ha. Only 3 got me, your jutsu's not so tough." he quickly pulled them out and threw them aside, his blood staining the grass underneath.
The small, weak voice of Hinata sounded behind him "No, Naruto, his ice isn't like normal ice. It's infused with-"
Naruto felt his left leg, the one the shuriken had struck, wobble beneath him and he almost dropped to the ground. His enemy's cruel laugh cut off Hinata's sentence and he said, "yes, my ice is infused with poison from my body. My family, the Shiragaku clan are blessed with a most formidable power, our blood contains a deadly numbing poison. We, of course, are immune, but we can use it in our attacks to kill our enemies. Quite powerful, huh? Wishing you had giving me the money while you could, aren't you? I am Tohru Shiragaku and I will get what I want!"
"Yeah well I'm Naruto Uzumaki and you hurt me and my friend, so I don't think you'll be getting what you want anytime soon, in fact, you'll be lucky to be crawling home after I'm through with you." Naruto made a move toward him, calling forth 3 shadow clones; 2 to help him make a rasengan and the last to divert Tohru's attention. "Rasengan!" he screamed just as he was about to connect with Tohru's fleshy torso.
His chakra hit a wall of ice instead, thinly spread over the man chest. "My ice is stronger than steel and doesn't melt like normal ice. Good luck trying to break through it." He quickly threw a few thin, sharp icicles Naruto's way, but the blonde easily dodged them.
The two continued to battle for quite some time until both were panting heavily, chakra quickly depleting.
"Okay, I'll admit, you're stronger than I thought you'd be, you little leaf brat. But you'll never beat me. The poison in your leg should start numbing your torso soon and once it hits your heart, you'll die." Tohru laughed a loud evil laugh and stared viciously at Hinata "and then your little girlfriend will be mine to trade for all the money I want. I don't think they'll mind too much if she's a little broken though, so I might have to take your little rescue attempt out on her. I have quite the temper, you know?"
Naruto's anger flared "How many times do I have to tell you, I WON'T LET YOU HURT HINATA!" He lunged at the laughing man, red chakra slowly burning on the surface of his skin. 'I'm sorry, granny Tsunade, but I have to use that jutsu, just this once, for Hinata.'
With the surge of chakra from the 9 tails, Naruto quickly called forth 2 shadow clones to work on building up the jutsu.
"Not your little rasengan again. That did nothing before" Tohru scoffed, unafraid.
Naruto smirked, "not this time." his clones poofed away and he lunged at the man again screaming "wind stly rasenshuriken!"
Tohru called forth his ice like last time, and Naruto's attack hit the shield square in the middle. At first nothing happened and Tohru smiles, pleased that his ice and overcome this kids' jutsu once again. A tearing in his chest alarms him though and he looks down to see that his ice has shattered and that his body is slowly shredding to pieces. "What? But how, what is this jutsu?!"
"Rasenshuriken" Naruto panted, wounded and out of chakra "tiny wind blades will be slicing through your body by now, destroying your chakra network and body. you don't have long to live. Hinata is safe from you" he smiled as the man screamed, pain shooting through his every nerve ending until suddenly his body exploded in a burst of chakra light.
Satisfied, Naruto limped over to Hinata and smiled at her, sitting down close to her.
"N-naruto, why would you use that risky jutsu j-just for me?" she murmured, eyes sweeping over his wounded leg and oddly bent right arm.
"I couldn't let him hurt you anymore, Hinata, I just couldn't. You're … you are precious to me." he lifted his left hand to scratch the back of his head, a nervous habit, as his cheeks tinged pink.
"Precious to you?" she asked, eyes widening.
"Yeah, you've always been there for me, Hinata, even when I was too stupid to see it. You're kind and strong and- and beautiful. I can't stand the thought of anyone hurting you because I- I have feelings for you, Hinata. I'd rather die than see you be in any kind of pain." he winced and gave her a half-smile. "Which may very well happen soon because of that bastard."
Hinata reached into her weapons pouch and offered him a small jar of herbal medicine. "This is what they put on my wounds after he stabbed me with an ice blade. I grabbed it as we were leaving the tent, just in case. Your w-wound seems to be worse than mine though so I don't know if this will be enough. We need to get you back to Lady Tsunade." she started to bad his wounds with the salve, face red as she touched the one highest on his thigh. "I-I'm worried about y-your arm too, N-naruto."
"Don't worry about me, Hinata. I heal quick." He let her bandage his arm anyway. Just as she was finishing, Yamato reappeared, winded but otherwise unharmed.
"Sorry, it took me so long, those two guys were- Naruto, what happened!?" he exclaimed looking over the younger boys wounds.
"I had to protect Hinata. It was the only way. That guy used some poison ice jutsu and my leg is going numb. He said it would spread to my heart soon but Hinata might have slowed it down." he smiled at her, and stood up gingerly, then offered her a hand up. "Let's just get home."
They set off for the leaf at once, Hinata still holding Naruto's hand.