Note: I don't own Naruto.

Note: Some of the things here may conflict with the facts of the actual anime, but in this universe things like Sasuke and Naruto's fight and Tsunade's return and Sarutobi still being alive were all under different circumstances. I'm basically doing the story my way. Please bare with me.

Stop! Do not read this story if you have not read Naruto&Hinata: True Strength Revealed. Or you will not understand some of the story.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each of the 3 Chunin went seperately with a group of black op. ANBU. It was believed that their target since was last seen in the woods by Gaara, may in fact be hiding out there.

Naruto was jumping from tree to tree through the forest with his group. Meanwhile Neji and his group were running on ground through the forest. Shino on the other hand was standing atop a cliff with the ANBU by his side. Shino reached out his arms and dispatched his insects from his sleeves among the forest.

As the groups were scanning the area, off in a distance atop a village building stood the two cloaked figures. Their lips were moving but no sound was heard. It was possible they were masking their words so Naruto's hearing would not pick them up.

" They seem to be aware of our presence here." Said one figure.

" I say we just cut through the ANBU, grab our target and go." Said the second figure

" It will not be that easy Kisame, we need to bring back the brat alive, if we risk killing him we will have failed our mission. Also we have to get him to come peacefully, that's where the Hyuuga girl comes in." Said the first figure.

After a while Naruto and his group stopped to regroup. Naruto was thinking to himself.

" If he's here I should let Hinata-chan know so she can be on guard. " Naruto thought.

Later at a coffee shop.

" No, she didn't..." Ino said to Hinata

Hinata nodded embarrassingly.

" I can't believe Hanabi would say such a thing. She should really have more respect for her big sister." Sakura said.

" Well... technically I am not her sister anymore. Because I am no longer of the Hyuuga clan." Hinata said.

" Still. She shouldn't treat you with such disrespect when you're trying to teach." Sakura said.

Ino looked at Hinata and Sakura in their Chunin vests and sulked a bit.

" This stinks, I'm the only girl in the group not a Chunin." Ino said sulking.

Hinata and Sakura looked oddly at Ino for a second.

" Oh Ino-chan that's not true, TenTen-chan's not yet a Chunin and..." Hinata stopped.

Hinata turned her head to Sakura.

" ...Well, Temari-chan is considered part of the group right?" she asked Sakura.

Sakura smiled and nodded.

Hinata turned back to Ino.

" Yes, those 2 have not yet made Chunin either. But I am sure you'll make Chunin in the next exam." Hinata said encouragingly.

Ino sighed and looked at Hinata. "Hai, you're right. Oh man if I make Chunin and get a T.A. job at the academy and Hanabi dares to say anything about My ass, she's gonna find I'm not as patient as you Hinata-chan."

The 3 laughed.

" Soooo..." Ino said nearing Hinata. "How have things been going with Naruto?"

Hinata blushed as she looked at the ground smiling.

" Things have been going very well actually. He and I seem to be doing wonderful together." Hinata said shyly.

Sakura smiled. " I'm so happy for you two. I really think with someone as calm as you, Naruto will settle down a little."

" Well..actually..." Hinata said. " Ironically I think he has ha a greater influence on me, than I on him."

Ino and Sakura blinked.

" I know, I don't know what it is about Naruto-kun, but he just makes me feel happy and confident, I want to be like him..."

" You want to eat your weight in ramen?" Ino asked.

" Haha no , I mean I just want to be courageous and out going like him." Hinata said.

" Maybe, but you got alot of good qualities he could learn from as well Hinata-chan." Sakura said.

Hinata blushingly smiled.

" Oh you two are so cute together." Ino said.

" Arigato." Hinata said.

" So speaking of couples, what's going on between you and Chouji, Ino-chan?" Sakura asked.

Ino snapped her head to Sakura and blushed.

" Nani?" Ino said.

" Well it's just that you two have been hanging out alot lately, and I mean alot even for teammates." Sakura said.

Ino looked at the table. " I really don't know, I mean I don't know what's going on between us. We haven't really talked about it."

" (gasp) do you like him?" Hinata asked.

Ino didn't answer, she just continued staring at the table while blushing.

(((((Flashback)))))

Ino-Shika-Cho had just come back from a dangerous mission. Ino was pretty well banged up as well as exhausted. So exhausted that she had to be carried by one of her teammates. That very teammate just happened to be Chouji Akimichi. Ino kept passing in and out of conciousness, regardless of that, she felt extremely comfortable on the back of her portly teammate.

" You alright?" Chouji said to Ino

" Mm-hmm yea I'm fine, I can walk." Ino said slipping off Chouji's back.

Unfortunately her knees hit the ground a soon as she did. Chouji immediately scooped her back up.

" Nice try, but I better carry you. I don't mind" Chouji said.

"Arigato." Ino said.

(((((End Flashback)))))

" I don't know what it was, but after that whole incident I've just seen him differently." Ino said.

" That's wonderful Ino-chan, I think you two should talk about it." Hinata said.

" Well I don't know, maybe he knows, it's a really odd story of how we went to the festival together actually." Ino said.

((((Flashback))))

Ino was at the door of the Akimichi compound talking to Chouji.

" Sooo are you going with anyone to the festival?" Ino asked Chouji.

" No actually I'm not." Chouji said.

" Oh... well I'm not going with anyone either." Ino said.

" Oh, really? I thought like a dozen guys would've asked you out." Chouji said.

" No...not really." Ino said

around the side of the Akimichi compound, a rather large woman was tending to the garden her hair was brown like Chouji's, she was inadvertantly listening in on the conversation her son was having with Ino.

There was in fact an awkward silence between the teammates.

" Ok then, maybe I'll see you there." Ino said leaving.

" Ok, see ya Ino-chan." Chouji said walking in.

The Akimichi woman's eyes lit up, she immediately got up and went straight through the back door.

"Okaa-san, we got any more barbeque ch..." Chouji satrted but was cut off when his mother's hand tugged his ear.

" Chouji Akimichi, you go out there and ask that girl to the festival right now." She said sternly.

" Ino-chan?" Chouji said blushing. "Okaa-san, she doesen't wat to go with me."

" Just go out there and ask her, that seems to be the reason she came all the way over here, now git!" She said giving him a slight kick in the butt as he walked out the door.

" Why bother, Ino-chan likes guyslike Sasuke, she's not gonna want to go with me." Chouji thought.

Chouji slightly jogged to catch up with Ino until he saw her.

" Ino-chan!" Chouji said as she turned around.

" Ino-chan, sorry, I was uh just wondering would you like to uh...go...to... the festival with me?" Chouji asked blushing.

A smile came onto Ino's face. She delightfully nodded. "Hai."

Chouji couldn't believe it, Ino really did want to go with him, he had no idea why, but when fate throws him a bone like this, it was best not to question it.

"Great, so um... should I picck you up at your house around...like 5?" Chouji asked.

Ino nodded as she smiled then walked away.

((((End Flashback.))))

" Aww, that is so sweet." Hinata said.

Sakura looked on as her two friends talked about their love lives. She felt a little out of place considering there wasn't much going on for her in that department. The truth was she still missed Sasuke and wasn't really interested in any of the other boys in the village.

" Sakura-chan, you ok?" Ino asked.

Sakura suddenly snapped out of her stupor. " Oh, I'm fine" she said throwing on a smile.

" I wonder what Naruto was called for." Ino said.

" I ...don't know, I haven't heard from him since he left, I hope he's alright." Hinata said.

" Hey I got an idea let's go by his apartment and if he's there, we can reem his ass out for why he didn't call or anything and making you worry." Ino said.

Hinata brought her hand to her mouth, she didn't want to seem like a controlling girlfriend.

" Come on Hinata-chan, men are like pets, you got to let them know when they do something wrong so they'll know not to do it again." Ino said.

" Nice analogy Ino-chan." said Chouji walking up behind her eating a bag of chips.

Ino snapped around.

" Chouji-kun, geeze you scared me." Ino said.

Shikamaru was seen coming up beside Chouji with a coffee in his hand.

" So what are you 3 making such a big fuss about?" Shikamaru asked.

" We're headed over to Naruto's, and if you 2 can behave yourselves, maybe you can come too." Ino said.

" Whatever, I got nothing better to do." Shikamaru said.

The 5 went off to Naruto's apartment to see if he was there.

Meanwhile Naruto was talking with the ANBU squad leader. According to their data that they collected, Itachi is no longer in the forest.

" He may be lurking through the village. We may have to start searching through there." The ANBU squad leader said.

Naruto nodded in agreement.

" Look I have to go tell my girlfriend that Itachi may be here and she should lay low." Naruto said to the ANBU leader.

"Absoluely not." He said.

" Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.

" We cannot have anymore people know about this, we are trying to prevent a panic remember?" The squad leader said.

Naruto blinked." But I want her to be safe, she needs to know what's going on."

" You can't, that's my decision, if you do not like it you can take it up with the Hokage." He said.

" Fine I will." Naruto said.

" You can see him after we are finished for the day." The leader said.

Naruto slightly sneered at the leader, but reluctantly continued searching. As Naruto and the ANBU continued searching by jumping atop the buildings in stealth mode. Naruto pulled a fast one. As he let the ANBU get ahead of him a little, he produced a clone while jumping over a building. The clone dropped to the ground then went off to warn Hinata of Itachi's possible presence.

Back in the Hokage's office, a figure appeared before the Hokage, as he came into the light it was Kakashi.

" What is the report?" Sarutobi asked.

" This." Kakashi said presenting pictures to the Hokage.

As the Hokage looked through the pictures he grew very concerned.

" Is this...?" Sarutobi asked.

" Hai." Kakashi said.

" We must get Naruto back here now! Send full notice to the other Jonin. Naruto is in grave danger!" Sarutobi said.

Back at Naruto's apartment complex.

Hinata and the others were at his door knocking. Chouji and Shikamaru decided to do their own knock as Shikamaru constantly rang the doorbell, while Chouji knocked by kicking the door with his heel.

" What did I say about behaving!?" Ino said.

"Gomen." Chouji said.

" Well I don't think he's here, so we should go." Sakura said.

Chouji turned ready to leave but gasped as he did.

" Hm? Chouji-kun?" Ino said turning around.

Suddenly the group was confronted with the two cloaked strangers in the hallway of the apartment building. One had pale blue skin and dark beady eyes. His darker blue hair was spiked up in a peculiar fashion. But the one thing that was truely scary was his sharp-toothed grin, one could swear this man was half shark. He wore a black robe which was adorned with red clouds, and on his back was a large handle sticking out, no doubt a sword. The other figure was far easier on the eyes, he had pitch-black hair he also had dark eyes but in the normal sense. Along with this he had a normal.. some might say even bishi face. He like his comrade also had a black cloak with red cloud adornments.

The young man spotted Hinata among the group. He calmly walked over to them in a peaceful manner.

" Pardon me Hinata-chan, but we would like you to come with us." He said.

Hinata had a surprised look on her face. She had no idea who these men were.

" Who...are you?" Hinata asked. (Since none of the group aside from Sasuke had seen Itachi they had no idea what he looked like.)

A smile came across the young man's face. " I'm a friend of Naruto-kun's. He sent me to get you, he's been hurt, he wants to see you right away."

Hinata and Sakura looked over to the shark-like man.

" He's an associate of mine, he means you no harm I swear." He said.

"So why is it just Hinata-chan you want? We're all friends o his, if he's in trouble why can't we help?" Shikamaru asked.

" He simply asked for Hinata-chan." The young man said bowing to Hinata.

" Hinata-chan, shall we?"

Hinata didn't know what it was but something was giving her a bad feeling.

" I would like my friends to come please, If Naruto-kun wants them to leave when we get there they can leave on their own" Hinata said not letting her guard down.

What made the gang especially susupicious was that the two strangers were wearing headbands with scratches across their symbols. One of Kirigakure and the other of Konohakagure. It was clear the men were beginning to lose their patience. Suddenly Itachi grabbed Hinata's hand.

" You will come with us now! Alone!" Itachi said.

"Hey! Get your damn hands off of her!" Sakura shouted as she released assassination wire from her arms.

Itachi however punched Sakura out the window at the end of the hallway before she had a chance to do anything. Chouji decided to charge the sharkman but was slammed against the wall by the sharkman's large sword. Lucky for Chouji the blade was wrapped in a thick cloth. It did however knock Chouji out. Hinata struck Itachi's wrist with a Juuken move to release herself from his grip, then charged Kisame. Kisame swung his weapon at Hinata, Hinata howeveer ducked then swooped in towards Kisame striking her palm against his stomach.

"N-Nani?" Hinata said.

She saw her strike did absolutlely nothing, no chakra went through his system, she looked up and deactivated her Byakugan wondering what just happened. Kisame looked down at her smiling.

"You think you dodged that swing but really I got you." Kisame said.

Hinata had shock on her face.

" My sword cancels out chakra from just about anyone."

Hinata was trying to charge up another Juuken attack but suddenly couldn't charge any chakra in her body.

" And the effect lasts a while." Kisame said.

That didn't stop Hinata from fighting as she stomped on Kisame's foot.

" Gah! little punk!" Kisame said as he grabbed Hinata wrapping his arm around her neck.

" Itachi let's go!" Kisame said.

Itachi knocked Ino and Shikamaru against the wall at the end o the hallway. As they were running out the doorway with their bait while she was punching and biting, they were blocked by noneother than Sakura.

" Think I can't handle a fall from a window? Let Hinata-chan go or you'll be sorry." Sakura said releasing assassination wire from her whole body.

The battle was on...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Time

Sakura: I won't let you set one foot outside this building.

Itachi: You have no idea what kind of matters you're getting involved in, little girl.

Naruto: Next Time! Give Hinata-chan Back NOW!

More coming, sorry for the lateness, would you believe me if I said I was busy xmas shopping?

No reviews in my stocking is worse than a lump of coal.