I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters. Takes place in an alternate universe where the Akatsuki never made their move so Naruto never had to go after Gaara.

Speechless

Naruto leapt out of the window behind Tsunade's desk and took off sprinting and sending out shadow clones. Most people would have thought the village was under attack but it was much simpler than that. Naruto had returned to the village from his trip with Jiraiya about an hour ago and had been forbidden to go find his friends until he and Jiraiya had met with Tsunade, a meeting which had just concluded.

He planned on making up for lost time, hence the clones. He himself ran through the streets scanning the crowds for anyone he knew. He had met Sakura and Konohamaru when he first arrived but that still left at least nine for him to find. Finally one of his clones disappeared and knowledge of a long conversation with Neji hit him as if he had personally had it. Neji had been happy to see him and then had promptly made fun of Naruto for being the only Genin in the Konoha 11 when he himself was a jounin. Naruto had attacked him and Neji had easily taken him out. Soon a second disappeared voluntarily letting him know it had found Ino and Tenten both of whom had been happy to see him. A third had found Choji and Shikamaru who seemed mostly indifferent since Shikamaru was bored and Choji was waiting for his steaks to finish cooking. A fourth found Lee training and began to train with him until Lee decided he wanted to spar and destroyed the clone before it could react. That left three and Naruto himself found two of them standing under a tree, even though he only recognized one.

"Kiba!" Naruto shouted running over then noticed the massive dog Kiba was sitting on. "Whoa! Is that Akamaru?"

"Yeah why?" Kiba asked.

"He's huge!" Naruto said. "When I left you carried him around on your head!"

"Really?" Kiba asked. "Hm, I don't remember."

"Well it's true," Naruto said.

"You don't recognize me at all do you?" Shino asked.

"Um...no," Naruto said. "of course, it might be easier if you didn't have your entire face hidden."

Shino pulled his hood down and Naruto raised an eye brow as a similar looking ninja appeared in his memory.

"I creep you out because I'm a stoic and I control bugs," Shino said.

"Oh, the bug kid," Naruto said. "What was it...Sino?"

"Shino," Shino said. "Close enough I guess."

Naruto shrugged and looking past them thinking he saw movement and suddenly froze. He just barely caught a glimpse of a face but it was enough to make his mind go totally blank. The face had been of an absolutely and undeniably beautiful woman with long blue hair in a hime-style haircut with shoulder-length strands of hair framing her face. The face rang multiple extremely loud bells in his mind and vague memories flashed through his mind but it was only getting more and more fuzzy as the face continued to stay rooted in his mind.

"Naruto!" Kiba said snapping Naruto back to reality.

"Huh?" Naruto asked. "What?"

"You okay?" Kiba asked. "You spaced on us. You've been completely unresponsive for two minutes now."

"Oh," Naruto said. "I...um...have to go."

He released all of his other clones and walked to the corner he had seen the woman at and turned to see her hiding against the wall. Her face was bright red and when he got to the corner she squeaked and backed away several steps as if afraid of him. Now that he saw her for more than a second, he recognized her perfectly.

"Hinata," Naruto said. "Wow. You look...incredible."

"Th-thank you N-Naruto," Hinata said her face growing an even darker shade of red. "I-it's g-good to s-see y-you."

"Yeah," Naruto said still partially mystified and unable to look away from Hinata's face even long enough to see what she had on. "It's been a long time. How have you been?"

"G-good," Hinata said. "I've b-been training w-with Neji."

"Cool," Naruto said just before Kiba placed a hand on his shoulder turning him and snapping him out of his partial daze and allowing Hinata to relax without Naruto staring at her.

"Naruto," Kiba said. "I think you and I need to talk."

"Okay," Naruto said grateful that Kiba snapped him out of it and nervous about what might happen if he bumped into Hinata when he wasn't around, or worse, when Sakura or Hiashi Hyuga were.

Naruto had never met Hiashi but had been informed that if Hiashi ever found Hinata and him taking alone or even with anyone else around, cut and run.

"Alright Naruto," Kiba said as they stopped out of sight and earshot. "What's up with you? You've been acting off since you...oh. It's about damn time."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"You sly dog," Kiba said. "You have feelings for Hinata."

"No I don't!" Naruto said.

"Then how would you describe her in one word?" Kiba asked grinning.

"Angel," Naruto said before he even had time to register the question or think about answering it.

Kiba stared in surprise at Naruto and Naruto mirrored his feelings.

"Wow," Kiba said. "Poor Naruto. You're not going to be able to talk to her ever again. What was she wearing?"

"She was wearing..." Naruto tried to remember but all he could picture was her face.

Even her exact hairstyle was lost on him.

"That's what I thought," Kiba said. "Good luck."

With that, Kiba left and Naruto stood their desperately trying to remember what Hinata had been wearing. He kept coming up with blanks and just stood their dazed and quickly losing the ability to think coherently the more he thought about Hinata. He didn't notice the sun slipping below the horizon and would have stood there all night if Neji hadn't found him.

"There you are," Neji said landing beside him. "What the hell were you doing?"

"I...when did it get dark?" Naruto asked.

"A couple hours ago," Neji said. "Tsunade has had half the village searching for you. She wants to talk to you, it you're done being in a walking coma."

Naruto nodded and went to Tsunade's office and entered to see Hinata reporting not being able to find him. This time he managed to make himself check her outfit so that the question would leave him alone. Then he fixed his gaze on what little he could see of her face and again entered a daze.

"It's alright Hinata," Tsunade said. "He's here. Naruto, we found Sasuke."

"Huh?" Naruto asked forcing his way out of his daze and looking at her in confusion.

"Are you feeling okay?" Tsunade asked already knowing what was wrong as well as what he would say.

"Never better," Naruto said. "Neji said you were looking for me."

"Yes," Tsunade said. "Hinata you're dismissed."

Naruto's eyes drifted to Hinata as she bowed. He hair fell in her face and then she stood and turned to leave smiling at him as well as blushing bright red before leaving. And just like that, he was as stupefied as when he had first seen her and just before Neji had found him put together.

"Naruto!" Tsunade said snapping her fingers in front of him and resisting the urge to punch him.

He very slowly registered his surroundings seeing that it had been over an hour since he had spaced out then looked at Tsunade blinking.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"Oh that is it!" Tsunade said. "You are going to the Hyuga Compound and you are not leaving until you kiss her!"

"What?" Naruto asked face turning red without even knowing who she meant. "Wait, who?"

"Ugh, forget it," Tsunade said resting her face in her hand. "The reason I called you here is that Jiraiya told me about a group of shinobi you both met in your travels. As it happens, there has recently been an increase in the animal population of a straight line heading through the Land of Fire toward here. If we're right, they should be here within a day. Now, Sakura brought a message while I was trying to get your attention. The Konoha 11 are supposed to meet in the usual spot. You're dismissed."

Naruto nodded and turned to leave.

"And Naruto," Tsunade said. "Don't let them get to her. Keep her safe."

Naruto nodded still not entirely certain who she meant and leapt out of the window. If Tsunade was right, everyone would need to be careful and hope the jutsu didn't fuck them up too much.

THE END

Read and review. Honestly, I know, it was a little much as far as Naruto's reaction but I based it on how I thought he'd react if Sakura kissed him when they were young. And I may have multiplied that reaction a few times. Oh well, hopefully later chapters will make up for it.