Hi. Here's the next chapter of For Whom the Bell Tolls! Sorry if you were expecting it earlier – I had a little bit of writer's block, and was busy with work experience. But, that's finished now, so…

HERE IT IS!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I honestly don't.

Chapter Two

"Stand up, Hanabi."

Hiashi Hyūga glared at his seven year old daughter, who had just been through a severe three hour training regime, and had collapsed onto her knees. But Hiashi was having none of it. Right now, a guest had just arrived, and suddenly, he was taken back to about a year ago, when Kurenai Yūri had taken Hinata in after he had disowned her. Now she was back, and Hinata with her.

"I really don't see what you're proposing," Hiashi snapped at Kurenai. "I'm done with this inferior, useless novice. Can't you see that?"

"The Third Hokage wishes it," Kurenai replied. "She will be entering the chuunin exams in a few weeks, and you should train her up for it, even if it's just for the day."

Hinata wasn't saying anything – she had her head down.

For years, she had suffered from verbal and occasional physical abuse from her father due to her lack of confidence. It hadn't helped that, shortly after giving birth to her sister, Hanabi, Hinata's mother, Konno, had died. This had made things a lot worse for her.

Hiashi really didn't want to take Hinata back on to train her, but it seemed he had no choice. He still remembered Hiruzen's warning.

"Alright," he decided. "Hinata! Prepare your sparring attire! Let's see if you can actually win against your six year younger sister this time, shall we?"

Kurenai left the building, but doubled back against the side, where her two other students, Kiba and Shino were waiting.

"OK, you two," she said. "You need to keep this under close observation. If Hinata gets brutally attacked in any way, you will have to step in."

Kiba nodded. "Alright, we'll make sure she comes to no harm, sensei."

"It will be difficult to keep it under close observation though," Shino commented. "We will not go unnoticed – not with Hiashi's Byakugan."

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Kurenai replied. "You are both excellent trackers. Espionage should really be your thing."

Hinata stood nervously on one side of the room. She had removed her jacket, forehead protector and sandals for the sparring. She felt quite exposed, especially next to a man whom she knew would not hesitate to beat her severely for failing. She unconsciously moved her hand to her back, where she still had marks from a beating she had received three years ago.

"Hinata!" Hiashi snarled. "Get back into your Gentle Fist position!"

"Sorry…" Hinata mumbled, activating her Byakugan.

Her sister Hanabi was at the other end of the room, overall more focused than she was.

When the order was given, Hanabi sprinted forward, her eyes set on determination.

Hinata immediately leapt backwards to give herself another second to make her decisions on her own defence.

Hanabi swung her hand forward, and Hinata blocked it. They went on like this for several minutes, just general hand-to-hand Gentle Fist fighting style. Hanabi aimed a kick at her sister's head, so Hinata jerked her head backwards in order to avoid it. To prevent her going off balance, she placed her hands on the ground, and prepared to back-flip in order to avoid the next attack and possibly return the favour of a kick. However, Hanabi was too quick. She aimed a blow straight at her legs. Hinata inadvertadly collapsed, and skidded along the ground, the knee to the sole of her right leg stinging.

But this time she was determined not to give up. This time she wanted to prove something.

But to whom? That was something Hinata was struggling with. Who had she got? Kurenai-sensei maybe, and also Kiba and Shino…

And yet for some reason, Hinata felt very deeply that these three were just not enough, and that there should be someone else, someone who, like her, was an outcast, and yet still carried on regardless of what life threw at them. Someone who never gave up, and treated her like an equal…

But Hinata had to snap out of these fantasies. She knew that such a person was an impossible dream. And in any case, it was time to concentrate on the sparring.

Hanabi watched her sister get back into the fighting stance. Strange, she never normally persevered for so long. She supposed this was good for her – after all, her father had always told her that her sister shouldn't be so weak.

Hanabi ran forward again, determined to continue it, swinging one of her palms straight at her sister's chest. Hinata blocked it, and then continued to block her attacks.

Hanabi was so focused on her strikes that she turned a completely blind eye when Hinata performed a leg sweep, causing her to stumble to the ground.

Hanabi immediatley leapt to her feet, hoping her sister would not strike her.

She didn't.

Hanabi was confused. Her sister was not preparing an attack at all. Instead, her arms were in the position to defend. Why?

Then some realisation dawned. Hinata was perfectly aware that she would be able to strike Hanabi, and possibly defeat her, but refused to, as she didn't want to harm her.

For some reason, instead of feeling grateful, Hanabi grew extremely angry. So this was how it was, was it? Proving her superiority by being merciful? This was not how it worked with her agenda. So, Hanabi leapt at her, striking her once, only to have it blocked. But now, Hanabi prepared a technique she had learned.

"Eight Trigrams!" she called. "Thirty-two palms!"

The quick relay of thirty-two strikes at Hinata's chakra points was too much for her to block every attack. Therefore, after coughing up some blood, she collapsed back onto the floor.

After seeing her sister on the floor like this, after she had been merciful on her, Hanabi had a sudden, dramatic change of heart. He got out of her fighting stance, and deactivated her Byakugan. Then, she walked forward and helped her sister up.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered guiltily. "I just felt that…that…"

But she was lost for words.

A vein throbbed in Hiashi's temple, and his face contorted into a wild snarl, his eyes shimmering with rage.

"HANABI!" he roared. "I thought you had more sense than this! What do you think you're doing?"

Then he fixed his penetrating gaze on Hinata.

"And you…" he seethed. He raised his hand and struck her hard across the shoulder. Then he did it again. Hinata took it all in silence. She was already far too used to this. When she had tried to get away last time, her father had simply grabbed her back by the hair.

Hanabi wasn't sure what to do. She watched with some horror as her father repeatedly attacked her sister, wondering which one of them was in the wrong.

However, the decision had already been made for her. An explosion of glass and wood over her head heralded the approach of someone who had their mind made up.

With a writhing mass of bright chakra, two identical figures dived into the room.

Both man-beast clones immediately got between Hiashi and Hinata. The one who was Kiba pulled Hinata to the side of the room away from further harm. The one who was Akamaru stopped Hiashi from moving any further.

"What the…?" the Hyūga elder raged.

Not responding, Kiba quickly half-carried Hinata out of the room, Akamaru soon turning back into a dog and following him.

As they found themselves in a long hallway, Kiba remarked,

"All the other senior Hyūgas are here by the sounds of things. I hope they'll let us leave."

"They won't give us any problems," came a stoic voice to their left. They looked to see Shino walking calmly towards them, several insects crawling back up his leg, and away from where they had just been – near the unconscious Hyūga elders.

"That was a little over the top, wasn't it?" Kiba asked, half exasperated, half amused.

"Maybe," Shino replied simply. "Anyway, that's not the problem right now. We need to get Hinata out."

And so, Team 8 quickly left the building.

Kiba wiped his brow.

"Well, I'm glad we pulled that off," he remarked. "Hiashi won't be able to complain about this – the Hokage will just laugh in his face! Ha!"

He then turned and saw Hinata, sitting against a tree, hugging her knees, eyes downcast.

"Oh no…" he muttered. "Not again." He knelt down and examined her shoulder. Red marks had seeped across it. Another one of her encounters with her father had gone terribly.

"What are we going to do about this?" Kiba asked desperately, looking at Hinata's still frame, completely indifferent to anything that was going on around her.

"There's nothing we can do," Shino replied simply.

"What?"

"You heard. As unfortunate as it is, it is beyond our control."

"But…then…"

"Only one person can sort it out," Shino continued, ignoring Kiba's stammers.

"Who?"

Shino paused.

"I'm not sure," he replied honestly. "But if we try to sort it out ourselves, with our lack of experience, it is likely we could make it worse. Come on, let's go and inform Kurenai-sensei of what happened."

He began to walk away. Kiba straightened up, took one last look at Hinata, still sitting there, hugging her knees, still without her jacket or shoes, looking exposed…

And vulnerable.

The shadows scuttled their way along the walls, as Tayuya strode through the dark, foreboding corridor, followed by Naruto, Zaku and Kin. They had been moving through this deep, interior part of the Hidden Sound Village for about half an hour, and they were all surprised to see how large it was. For once, Naruto was silent. He still remembered how Tayuya had become so angry at the mere mention of the Kyuubi. If he started probing questions about it, he would be lucky to escape decapitation.

Kin was also quiet. This Kyuubi business was something she felt she needed to follow up. If it had something to do with Tayuya's clan, then Kin knew it was her duty to her own clan to discover the truth. She frowned slightly as she thought of the Tsuchi clan's ideals. She was unsure whether it would be customary to tell her team-mates – after all, she reminded herself, she barely knew anything about them.

Eventually, Tayuya stopped at a door at the far end of a shady corridor. Turning the handle, she pushed it open with a loud creak that made them all cringe.

"You'll wait in here until a sensei is found for you," she informed them, nudging them all inside. When they were inside, she shut and locked the door behind them.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of imprisonment. He had heard stories of Sound Village prisons – they certainly weren't places he wanted to visit in a hurry.

Perhaps this was some sort of test too?

Other than the three of them, the room had only one occupant – a genin that was far more of a mystery to them than the Kyuubi. He wore bandages around almost all of his face – only one eye was visible. Even though it couldn't be seen now (as he was sitting down) he had an extraordinarily hunched back, and long sleeves. This was an old acquaintance of theirs - Dosu Kinuta.

Dosu was currently seated against the wall at the far side of the room, his visible eye closed.

"You know," Zaku commented loudly. "I've never understood why you feel the need to constantly meditate!"

Dosu opened his eye and peered at Zaku reproachfully.

"Well," he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "If you're stuck in a completely bare room for a week, there is little else you can do."

He stood up, though if your back is as hunched as Dosu's, this is not much of an impressive move.

"So, how come you three have taken so long to pass?" he growled.

"Naruto," Zaku replied at once, other things now on his mind, "Did you say…a week?"

"Yes, but you won't have to wait that long. We'll be getting our sensei soon enough."

Kin nudged Naruto.

"Hey," she whispered. "Maybe we should ask him."

"What about?"

"The Kyuubi of course."

Dosu froze.

"The Kyuubi…" he muttered, having heard every word they had just said. He paused. They could tell from his visible eye that he was deep in thought.

Eventually, he nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I've heard of the Kyuubi…"

"What is it?" Naruto demanded, taking a step forward.

Dosu surveyed him cautiously.

"Why should I tell you?" he requested.

Zaku cleared his throat loudly.

"This stuff is completely classified!" he growled. "Any mention of it is strictly prohibited! Anyway, Kin…" he rounded on her. "What about you? You're clan has been up to something. I've been noticing it for a while."

Dosu also looked at her questioningly. Kin scowled.

"That too is classified," she told them tartly.

Naruto groaned in frustration.

"Honestly! Why do you guys have so much to hide?" he demanded of them, not realising the sheer irony of what he had just said.

The long, pale, bony fingers tapped rhythmically upon the arm of the chair. The owner of them looked at the ninja kneeling before him through gold, slit-pupil eyes.

"Rise, Kabuto," Orochimaru said softly. "What news?"

The silver-haired bespectacled ninja straightened up, as usual, a smug expression on his face.

"Naruto and the other two lagging genin have now passed," he said formally. "They are with the Kinuta boy in the secure room, awaiting training."

Orochimaru smiled.

"Good. Better late than never. The Kinuta boy you say? This certainly makes things interesting…" he licked his lips tenderly, his grotesque tongue snaking its way across his face, thirsty for blood.

"So," he continued. "Have you come to request that you be the one to train them?"

"Oh no, my lord," Kabuto replied, still smiling. "You see, with such a cast as those four, I feel only one person can train them up properly." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a ninja info card.

"I'm pretty sure you'll agree," he commented, handing the card to the snake sennin.

When Orochimaru saw which ninja was on the card, his eyes lit up with malice, and his white-fanged grin seemed to glow in the half-light.

"Oh yes…" he crooned.

"Perfect…"

And there you have it! Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Rate & Review, as per usual. I'm afraid I can't confirm when the next chapter will come, nor the next chapter of my other fanfic, Caught in the Crossfire (if you haven't read it yet, you're perfectly welcome to look at my profile!), but I'll try my best to get them both to you! So, have a good morning/afternoon/evening!