A/N: I have received a total of 107 hits and zero reviews. Out of those I can assume perhaps half that read the entire chapter. Of those I'll guess only half want to read this chapter, but I digress. Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or any affiliations thereof and write this purely for enjoyment. No money was made for this writing, and no one was harmed in the process of writing this fan fiction.

Black and White

Chapter 1: Naruto and the World of Tomorrow

Naruto awoke early that day, he was excited, and everyone knew it. He was going to go on an A ranked mission. He had been waiting for this day since he had made Genin almost 5 years ago. He was no longer a Genin, but he still never got the missions that would allow him to prove himself. 'That's all over now though. This is my big chance to prove I'm worth something.' Naruto thought solemnly.

Naruto grabbed his pack of supplies he had very little that he needed, mostly because he wouldn't know what would blend in or stand out. So he planned on buying clothing when he got there. The only things he wanted were his wallet, his headband, and his old picture of Team 7.

Naruto smiled at the memories that picture brought back. A lot of good times had come from that time, and he was happy they were all still around to remember them. 'Enough thinking about the past for today, its time to go to work,' Naruto thought with a smile.

Naruto arrived at the training grounds where they were supposed to meet and noticed that a woman was already there. The woman was sporting a pair of short khaki pants, leather boots, leather gloves, a rather skimpy red tank top, and a pair of goggles resting atop her red hair. Naruto frowned and spoke when she saw him. "Excuse me... Miss, but can I help you?"

"Are you one of the five fledglings I'm waiting for?" The woman asked with a smile.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked with a perplexed look.

"I'm your transportation to the Land of Technology." She said with a smirk. "Name's Tsubame and you are?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said as he adjusted his headband with a smile. Naruto was just about to continue when he heard something behind him and quickly turned.

"A little jumpy today aren't we Uzumaki?" Neji said as he continued to walk into the clearing with Hinata.

"I'm s-sorry we startled you N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a blush.

"No worries, like Neji said I'm just a little jumpy." Naruto said with his trademark grin.

Neji was staring at Naruto as he smiled down at Hinata. Just as he was about to say something to Naruto, he noticed Naruto look over Hinata's shoulder. Neji turned ever so slightly toward Naruto and tried to see what Naruto was looking at out of the corner of his eye.

The bush moved again and out burst Ino dragging Shikamaru along behind her. "I'm sorry about us being late. I had to get this good for nothing real quick." Ino said and then turned to glare at Shikamaru.

"This is such a drag, troublesome woman. You had to drag me into this didn't you?" Shikamaru said as he looked up into the sky.

Before Ino could work herself up to throttle Shikamaru, Tsubame spoke up. "Listen up fledglings, its time for you to earn your wings. I really hope none of you get air sick." She said with a smirk.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked squinting at her.

"You'll see, you'll see."

Before anyone could say another word she turned around and sliced open her finger. The five watched as Tsubame pulled out a scroll and opened it quickly, smearing her blood along the paper. She quickly went through the seals and slammed the scroll onto the ground and with a burst of smoke appeared a giant swallow.

"What is it this time Tsubame?" The swallow boomed out.

"I've got to get these five to the Land of Technology, Fei Yen. You are the only one that can carry all of us at once. You know I will make it up to you." Tsubame said in a no nonsense tone.

"Let's get this over with already. I'm tired of being reduced to a pack animal." Fei Yen said before lowering her wing to let them onto her back.

Naruto looked at the bird and then back to his friends. "Well, I guess I know what she meant now." The others just looked at him in disbelief. "Come on guys its time to go. We don't want to sit around out here all day, do we? Of course not, let's go." With that Naruto jumped up onto the bird and made himself comfortable.

Shikamaru just sighed heavily before saying. "At least I can watch the clouds on the way." Ino looked at him and climbed up after him. Neji went up next without a word and Hinata just sat there for a moment before starting to climb.

Hinata was near the top when she slipped and felt herself falling backwards, until she suddenly felt herself stop. Naruto and Neji were both holding onto an arm and pulled her up slowly.

"Hinata, you must be more careful." Neji said before sitting back down.

"Well, that was close wasn't it? Not that it was very far to the ground, worst you would have got was a bruise, but still…" Naruto said with a smile before sitting down as well. Hinata blushed profusely at her clumsiness and quickly sat beside Neji as she stared at her feet.

"Well then, Fei Yen, its time to fly." Tsubame said as she lowered her goggles over her eyes. She sat leaning forward, hands resting in front of her on the bird's back, where chakra seemed to be emanating from her hands. Naruto noticed this, and was about to say something when the swallow lifted of the ground and launched itself into the air.

Naruto made a wild grab and latched onto a few feathers before using chakra to attach himself just like the woman in front of him. He looked back to see the others already doing what he had just done. Naruto frowned at his lack of foresight, but just shrugged and waited for the ride to be over.

Hinata had grabbed on as soon as Tsubame had got onto Fei Yen. She watched in horror as Naruto nearly flew off the back of the speeding bird as they took off, but was glad to see his quick recovery. She was thoroughly terrified of this whole experience and nearly fainted when Fei Yen turned and gave her an amazing view of the ground far below.

Neji watched over Hinata cautiously, she seemed shaken by her experience on the swallow, and he was keeping a close eye on her incase she released her death grip on the bird. Neji looked at the other two and saw Ino looking around excitedly with Shikamaru beside her leaning back and staring at the clouds.

Once they were in the air, the ride itself was highly uneventful. It took close to three hours flying at top speed to get there and as they grew close to the drop of point Tsubame screamed at them. "Okay fledglings, pay attention. We aren't landing. Fei Yen will circle the clearing once before making three passes over the clearing. The first for luggage, the second for you, and the third to check that everyone is there. Fei Yen and I can't stay long. The government here doesn't take well to unidentified flights coming into their territory. Everyone understand?"

The group nodded silently and looked out off the bird to the ground. They had flown over water most of the journey and now they were over a sea of trees. They waited tensely, there mission was in high gear at the moment, and anything could happen at this point. The clearing quickly came into view and they heard Tsubame yell over the wind. "Okay, everyone ready? We're about to circle the clearing. After that we'll fly low over the clearing. File to the back, that's where you get off."

Naruto grabbed his small bag and crawled towards Fei Yen's tail slowly and watched as she circled the clearing quickly. The others were sitting beside him looking at the ground as well.

As they made there first pass over the clearing, Naruto threw his bag as planned and watched it thud along with four other bags. He looked back at everyone in time to see Hinata back away from the others and away from the jump zone. Naruto crawled over to her quickly. "Hinata, come on, it's time for us to get on land." Naruto tried to say as quietly as possible over the wind.

Naruto looked at the others for a moment. Neji was watching him and yelled. "It's time to jump."

"Go, will jump on the third pass." Naruto replied quickly.

Hinata stared at him wide-eyed and Naruto frowned, 'This is not a good time to let your fears get the best of you Hinata.' Naruto thought sullenly. "Hinata, I'll be right here with you. I won't let you get hurt, okay?" Naruto said with a reassuring smile.

Hinata nodded slowly and slowly edged back to the others. The two looked over the edge and saw the clearing coming up fast. Naruto looked at Hinata again and smiled before grabbing her hand. "Let's get off this crazy bird," Naruto said with a grin. Hinata gave a weak smile and nodded her head in agreement.

The two jumped off and were dropping quickly. Naruto knew they were going to land on their feet, that is, until the air buffeted Hinata and turned her. He looked at the ground and made a quick decision. He grabbed her other hand quickly and pulled her to him and turned so that he would land on his back.

None of them had time to react to what Naruto had done before Hinata and he had hit the ground. Naruto lay there motionless for a few moments, his arms wrapped protectively around Hinata. Hinata lifted herself off his chest and looked at him fearfully, worried for his health. The others gathered around quickly in time to hear Naruto groan.

"Ow, that hurt." Naruto moaned before lifting himself up onto his elbows. "You okay Hinata?" Hinata nodded wordlessly, to which Naruto smiled. "Good, I would hate for that to have been for nothing. Now I would like to stand up, if that's okay with you Hinata?"

Hinata blushed a vibrant red and quickly jumped off of him before staring at the ground as she poked her fingers together. Naruto picked himself up and dusted off his jumpsuit before looking at the others. "I have a feeling you are the one in charge of this particular mission Neji. Well then, where to now?"

"We travel on foot to the town of Tamasa. It should be close by." Neji said calmly before motioning them to follow. They walked through the trees for close to twenty minutes when the trees suddenly ended. Before them lay open grassland, and the town of Tamasa lay on the horizon. The group saw a road in a short way over and walked to it, deciding that to pass as normal citizens they should walk along the road instead of push through the grass.

They walked along the road for close to ten minutes before Tamasa lay sprawling in front of them. "This is the biggest town I've ever seen." Naruto said as he looked up at the buildings that easily topped the Hokage's tower. "If this is what they call a town, I don't want to see a city."

"We are looking for Tamasa Flats Apartment complex. It's supposed to be off the main street. When we get there, we will talk about our current situation. Understood?" Neji said as he looked at the others. Naruto nodded in affirmation, as did Ino and Hinata, Shikamaru just shrugged.

It took them a few minutes to find the building and a few more to get into there room. The land lady had given them a hard time about proving they were who the said they were. Finally she was satisfied with the answers she was given and gave them the key to their room. Neji took it and walked them to room #307.

"Welcome to your new home everyone. We may be here for quite some time." Neji said before tossing his bag onto a spare chair.

The five were standing in a spacious living room, outfitted with two couches, a loveseat, and a chair, all facing a small television. The living room met the kitchen in by way of a large archway that allowed a great view of what was happening in the other room. A small dining table was tucked into the corner in the kitchen.

A hallway was opposite the kitchen and had two doors on the left, one on the right, and one at the end of the hall. Naruto was just about to inspect the other rooms when Neji said, "You all can look at the rooms later. Right now we need to talk about what we are going to do while we are here."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as a confused look crossed his face.

"He means what we are going to do as our cover." Shikamaru said as he lay down on the loveseat, letting his legs hang over the arm as his was propped up to see them with the other arm. "This is going to be such a drag." Shikamaru muttered.

"We are not receiving any funds to help us, so we will have to maintain residence of our own means. More importantly, I want one of us to be with Hinata at all times, that means at most a room apart from her. Hiashi expressed the wish that Hinata would attend a local university to study. I think it would make an excellent cover for her." Neji said as the others sat down on the couches.

"Doesn't Hinata get a say in this?" Naruto asked.

"If that's what my father wants, then I will go." Hinata said as she stared at the carpet.

"That means one of us is going to have to go with her. I believe someone who would get the most from classes involving government, politics, diplomacy, and so forth." Neji said as he looked pointedly at Naruto.

Naruto looked first at Neji, and then to the others and saw that all of them were watching him expectantly. Even Hinata had looked from the carpet and was watching him. "You mean me, don't you? Fine, I'll agree, but only because I promised to protect Hinata."

"And all for the better if you learn something in the process." Neji said with a hint of a smirk. "Now then that means Ino and Shikamaru will have to find a job. We have to maintain a normal lifestyle and for that we will need money. I have already found me a job. I assume you can find one as well."

"I'll make sure the lazy bum gets a job." Ino said as she reached over and hit Shikamaru's leg. Shikamaru just mumbled something about troublesome women in response.

"I have taken the liberty of enrolling you both in a nearby local university. You have classes tomorrow. Do try to show up for them." Neji said as he handed Hinata and Naruto schedules and then added. "Naruto, you might want to get something to wear that isn't your jumpsuit. That goes for all of us." They group just nodded.

"We only have three bedrooms. That means two of us will be sharing. Ino I hate to impose, but I would like it if you shared a room with Hinata. You are the only other girl, and it would allow someone to be with her during the night."

"Sure, it'll be like a constant slumber party. We can do each other's nail, fix each other's hair, and make fun of Naruto just like every other time." Ino said with a grin.

"Do you really talk about me during your sleepovers?" Naruto asked.

"No." Ino answered in a deadpan. To which Naruto lowered his head in sorrow.

"That leaves Naruto, Shikamaru, and me with two rooms. How would we like to decide this?"

"I don't mind sharing." Naruto said as he picked up his bag and stood. "You two can decide who gets to share a room with me."

Shikamaru sat up and yawned while stretching. "I do not want to share with Naruto." Shikamaru said before he stood up as well.

"We could draw lots?" Neji suggested.

"We could play Shogi for it?" Shikamaru countered.

"That's hardly fair." Neji replied.

"I don't particularly care about being fair." Shikamaru said with a frown.

"In that case, as leader of this mission I order you to share a room with Naruto. It's not fair, but you said you didn't care about fairness." Neji said as he grabbed his bag and walked to the far door and walked in.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this installment. Please review, if you don't I will know it. I can't do anything about it, but I will know. Now for a preview of the next installment of Black and White:

Chapter 2: Learning can be Fun.

"Uzumaki?" The professor called out.

"Here." Naruto replied.

"Welcome to Speech, where you will learn how to effectively communicate your thoughts towards an audience and hopefully sway them to agree with you. If you don't want to learn how to do that, maybe I can convince you otherwise." The teacher said with a smile as he paced n front of the class.

"But I digress. My name is Mr. Vadanya. You can call me Mr. Vadanya."