Chapter 3

Naruto and Hinata raced through the maze close together. So far no traps they triggered had surprised them, and they had only run into a few dead ends.

"Man, this maze is bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside." Naruto complained. He and Hinata slowed their pace to a walk for the time being.

"It's getting dark, too. I'm glad we packed for more than a day." Hinata was looking up at the ever dulling sky, their only connection to the outside world besides their audio transceivers.

"Naruto-kun, there's a clearing up ahead where we can set up camp. There are also a couple of trees that we can use for firewood." Hinata used her Byakugan to peer further along the corridor the two Leaf ninja were in.

"Good eye, Hinata. You'll prove yourself sooner than you think." Naruto complimented her. When they got to the clearing, it didn't take long for Naruto and Hinata to set up camp. Hinata drew a hatchet from her backpack and, with remarkable ease, hacked branches for a fire and more for extra fuel. It was night by the time she had a fire blazing. Naruto and Hinata sat by each other eating ramen that Naruto had brought along.

"It's been fun so far, hasn't it, Hinata?" Naruto asked after several moments of silence.

"Yeah, and the night is really calm. For the first day, it's been easy." Hinata agreed.

"Even so, I kind of want some action," said Naruto. Hinata blushed. He can't be thinking of… she thought. "Ume said that there's some pretty nasty stuff in here, and we haven't seen any. Maybe it was just a bluff." Naruto's comment was immediately answered by crackling over the transceiver. It was Momo.

"Naruto, Hinata. The ninjutsu over the maze have detected a large creature moving to your position. Be on your guard." Naruto put his hand to his ear.

"The ninjutsu detected it?" he asked, "Do they act as some sort of scanner or something?"

"Yes. The chakra for the ninjutsu is directed to this monitor room where we can see just about every living thing in this maze, but that's not the point. It's almost there!" Momo warned them. There were five minutes of silence. Naruto and Hinata braced themselves for the worst.

"Momo-chan, are you there? We don't see anything, even with my Byakugan." Said Hinata.

"I-I don't get it either. It just jumped off radar. Maybe it was a false alarm. Even ninjutsu can fail, you know." Naruto and Hinata sighed.

"Perhaps we should get some sleep," Hinata suggested, "We'll have more energy to fight anything if we rest now."

"Good idea," Naruto nodded, "I'll see you in the morning." And with that the two retired to their tents. Naruto and Hinata fell asleep to the sounds of their fire burning, what little wind that existed blowing through the hedges, and night birds singing their eerie lullabies.

The morning held even more sounds, but these were harsh grunts and growls and clashing pans rather than the soft and easy sounds of the night before. Naruto peered out of his tent to see what the commotion was, and his eyes got as wide as Hinata's, who was looking at the same thing from her tent opposite his.

A huge, lumbering, lizard and bear-like creature sniffed around the Leaf ninja's camp. It looked like a salamander with a row of thick, white fur running down its spine. It had hard, scaly, dark green skin with spikes adorning its long tail. The creature's eyes blazed yellow and were easily the most menacing part of it.

Until it roared in frustration from lack of food.

Its bellow shook everything around it, making the surrounding hedges look like they were breathing. The bass was so deep it was nearly silent, but it hurt Naruto and Hinata's ears. Hinata screamed from the pain, and unfortunately attracted the attention of the beast

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! The reading is back! It's right on top of you!" Momo called on the radios.

"You don't think I already know that?! What is that thing?" said Naruto. The creature bellowed again.

"It could be anything. Not even the best Flower ninja know exactly what is in the Lovers' Labyrinth." Momo replied. The time for talk was over. Naruto jumped and threw a kunai to get the lizard-thing's attention. The kunai simply pinged off the creature's armor-like skin, but got its focus away from Hinata.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto made about ten shadow clones and the all jumped on the monster, confusing it. It shook in attempt to dismount the clones, but they held on hard

"Hinata! Run, I can't hold him much longer!" the real Naruto cried.

"No! You can't fight alone!" Hinata pleaded. She rushed into battle as well, but in her uncertainty of how to act, she was blindsided by the creature's tail and sent flying. Luckily, the barriers around them were soft hedges, so Hinata's only injuries were from the tail lashing.

"I can't let something like this keep me down! Naruto's giving it everything he's got for the both of us, and I need to do the same!" the Hyuuga hyped herself up. She assumed the Juuken stance.

"Naruto!" she called. Through the action of the animal's thrashing, Naruto saw that Hinata was gearing up for an attack. He jumped off and dismissed his clones, leaving the beast dazed.

"Do it, Hinata!" he cried. The surrounding area darkened, and teal concentric circles emanated from the Hyuuga.

"Shugohakke: Gohyaku Juunishou!" Two strikes, four strikes, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred twenty-eight, two hundred fifty-six, and finally five hundred twelve strikes sailed into the lizard and bear-like creature. It roared in pain, and then lay utterly limp in the center of the Leaf ninja's camp. The 1022 palms used to kill the monster left Hinata exhausted and she collapsed. She heard Naruto calling her name before she lost consciousness.

Hinata awoke several hours later, somehow moving.

"Oh, Hinata-chan. You're awake." Naruto looked down at Hinata, who quickly realized she was in Naruto's arms. He was carrying her. She involuntarily squeaked and flinched.

"Whoa, relax!" Naruto calmed her, because when she squirmed, he almost dropped her.

"I-I'm sorry. Where are we?" Hinata asked.

"Somewhere further in the maze, but I'm not entirely sure." Naruto replied. Hinata noticed a lack of straps on Naruto's back.

"Our stuff, where is it?" she asked.

"It was all crushed by that monster." Said Naruto.

"Oh, I see. I-I can walk, now, Naruto-kun." Hinata requested to be put down. Naruto complied.

"That was really awesome how you took out that thing back there. I sure couldn't have fought him alone." He said after setting Hinata down. She blushed yet again.

"N-No, not at all. It was because you worked so hard to protect me, I had to help you, too." Hinata replied modestly. Naruto was not convinced.

"But that move! I've never seen it before; it was so strong!"

"M-my Protective Eight Trigrams: 512 Palms… I just finished developing it. I-I thought it was best to try it out on a mission like this." Hinata twiddled her fingers timidly. Naruto was about to comment on this when the ground below them cracked.

"Ah!" Hinata screamed. The Konoha ninja tensed up, and were just regaining footing when the ground then crumbled away, sending the two into a dark dungeon.

Sunlight lit the portion of the dungeon that Naruto and Hinata fell in. Right when they landed, Ume called their transceivers.

"Naruto, Hinata. We've detected that you've fallen into the dungeon."

"Yeah, we fell alright. What the hell is this place?" Naruto said, rubbing his head.

"This is where we leave you to your own devices." It was Momo this time.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"You've been on the right path to the Lovers' Blue Rose. You could call this dungeon a checkpoint of sorts. Often times this is where many couples panic and perish, but you two are doing remarkably well. Just keep moving, and your love will show you the way to the rose." As Ume finished his voice faded away and the radios died.

"It looks like we're on our own now." Said Naruto.

"Ume said… our love will help us find the rose… and I know that I… but you…" Hinata couldn't finish her thoughts.

"What? Hinata, you're not making any sense." Naruto was obviously confused, but as he was about to say more, Hinata buried herself into him.

"We have to use love to complete this mission but," Hinata's voice was muffled in Naruto's jacket, "I don't know if we're feeling the same love for each other." Naruto's jacket was getting wet. Hinata was crying.

"What do you mean 'the same love'? Do you think we're supposed to—"

"I love you, Naruto! I really do! Ever since that day in the academy—always… I've just never known how you felt about me… you always wanted to impress Sakura." Hinata had fallen to her knees in tears. Naruto was dumbfounded. He was in a dungeon in a strange village, on a mission that no one has ever truly completed, and his teammate just confessed her love to him. While he didn't know what to say, thoughts flooded into his head about him and Hinata.

He thought about all the times she had been there, looking at him, supporting him. She was the only one to have faith in him when everyone else chose to condescend. In the Chunnin exams, she wouldn't stop fighting Neji even against insurmountable odds, because that's what he would have done. Before he left to train with Jiraya, Hinata had told Naruto that she wanted to be strong like everyone else, and she had only told him because she knew that Naruto was the only one that would commend her for it. Even now, Hinata was the one to save the both of them when that giant creature attacked.

And what had Sakura, the one Naruto thought he loved, done for him? Not much; they were on the same team, and they were friends, that's it. Seeing this beautiful, strong girl at his feet, throwing herself at him for the sake of this mission, Naruto realized something amazing. He loved Hinata, too. He dropped to his knees as well and hugged her.

"I don't know why I didn't see it sooner Hinata. Through all this, you're the one I loved all along. I'm sorry I've been so clueless about it until now." He said. Hinata lifted her head, and her large, lavender eyes sparkled with tears as Naruto looked into them.

"Naruto…" Hinata said her love's name, and her lips fell onto his. Naruto smiled.

"I think we can finish this mission easy, now." Hinata wiped her face with her sleeve and nodded agreement.

"Yeah. Let's finish it, for Konoha."

"No, Hinata. For us."