Defining a color:

[My writing block faded after I finished that last chapter, sorry if it was a bit dry but it was kind of a "in the meantime" thing, you guys ready? :)

[Monday, July 2nd- it's been a few months, since I've had the fortune of working on my story, but I've been helping my father, and helping myself by learning the value of work. Although the events that will take place have been clearly mapped out in my head for a month or two now, I am just now able to resume, to the slough of a hundred or so faithful readers- I'm sorry, and to the potential new readers, I am also sorry, for depriving you of the opportunity to, maybe read a story you like]

Sakura stepped, slowing to a halt; she took in a large breath."Naruto, why are you ignoring me!" she asked, still gasping from the short run she had made to him."Hey Sakura-Chan" Naruto said solemnly, not looking up from his task of checking on the Hyuuga lord, that was injured in front of him."Sak" Naruto was about to say, but was hit in the head "get out of the way!" Sakura yelled simultaneously.

"I was just about to ask you to do that!" Naruto screamed, waving his fist at the pink haired medic that gave him no mind. Sakura looked around while she felt Hiashis' pulse.

"Did you do this…Naruto?" Sakura asked, noticing how dangerous the environment was, kunai littered across the ground, explosive tags, on the majority of them, the burnt ground weaving dangerously through the grass, she noted to make sure to check for fires later and returned focus to Hiashi. Naruto ignored her question.

Hiashi arched his head back and looked at Naruto "I didn't think you'd be smart enough to pull of something like this."

"Yah, well, people have a bad habit of underestimating me, the majority of the plan was mine, like the circle of explosive knives, and the Rasengan string technique, but I got a little advice, as things progressed in your favor." Hiashi, figured that he was talking about the fox, but instead of talking about something so inappropriate, he rested his head back against the dirt ground and let out a sigh."Thanks" Naruto addressed the fox. The fox didn't reply. Naruto checked Hinata's facial expression, and noticed she seemed relatively normal, but a bit concerned. Hinata looked up from her father then receiving an assuring smile from Naruto. She smiled back and looked down at Hiashi. Sakura thought, as she roamed her hands over the left leg of Hiashi "why would Hiashi Sama fight Naruto?" she then noticed an unusual look between the two and it all came together. She knew Hinata had confessed, but she didn't think it was going to go anywhere, especially so soon."Are you guys…" Sakura began to ask. Naruto and Hinata both looked up at Sakura. She didn't finish her sentence. Naruto looked to Hinata then to Hiashi before slightly turning on his heel to face Sakura. He was about to speak, but a stern voice edged in "yes, they are…" Naruto shifted onto his other foot in nervousness. He was comfortable knowing that Hiashi wouldn't accept his relationship with Hinata, but could he really be comfortable thinking Hiashi might accept his and Hinata's relationship? "That is of course, if you can find a better means to support my daughter for the moment" Hiashi added, suggesting he thought their relationship was nothing more than an infatuation, or, at least that's what Naruto could assume. Hiashi was right; Naruto couldn't do much for Hinata, even her being just a girlfriend, Naruto sighed, too low for anyone to hear. Hiashi turned his attention back down towards the girl tending to his wounds, knowing he had made his point.

"By the way, Naruto, the chuunin exams are in two days, you should talk to Tsunade-sama about competing, before it's too late." Naruto formed a smile; finally he could become a chuunin, helping him get closer to becoming Hokage and increasing his commission, it would all work if he could become a chuunin, it was now or never, soon the village would be in wartime and the chuunin exams would be stalled for the duration of the war."Help me take Hiashi-sama to the Hospital" Sakura asked. She stopped when two of the-now woken up-Hyuuga guards finally came out of the main family's home, rushing towards the group, a dozen or so yards, all of them had their Byakugan activated. Naruto put his hand on his knee in an attempt get up, but he had lied when he said he was fine; pain from his violently disturbed chakra ways and a light stinging sensation from his minor cut sent him back to the ground. He laid on the ground now, the right side of face buried in the dirt, he sighed. Sakura glanced over at Naruto quickly then her eyes shot to Hinata, who nodded and then activated her Byakugan. She stared at Naruto as he lay on the ground, he had little chakra and the chakra he did have flowed erratically.

Hinata got up off of her knee and turned around to stop the Hyuuga guards, which were readied, something to be expected seeing a how the clan head was lying on the ground with a bandaged ankle. They ran towards the group, only for them to stop, when the heir to the clan stood up and held up her hand, her palm open, suggesting they stop. The two guards; two lanky, long haired, pale faced men in metal shoulder pads, stopped, but continued to observe the "trespassers".

Neji rose when he heard shuffling, shifting his plain cotton, white sheets off his bed and slid open his paper, wood work door. He leaned his head out and looked around the sky, he could barely see the sun peeking over the top of the walls that outlined all of the Hyuuga compound, main and branch family buildings alike, which were connected through one walkway with an eight foot tall red metal fence in the middle of the walkway, one simple padlock on the door, suggesting the two households held a strong relation, yet still were different.

"It's still too early for this many people to be up, and why are they this active?" He asked, noticing the four or five people all walking in the same direction-off to his left. He "summoned" his Byakugan. Off In the distance behind the walls to the left of his room were five people, two of which he didn't know and Sakura "Hinata…Hiashi-Sama…Naruto?" He noted, examining their chakra. He pulled out his normal clothes, a white top and a solid brown "waist robe" and made his way down the path, observing the sky ahead as he made his way through the recently opened gate.

"Will you two return to your posts, we can make sure Hiashi-Sama makes it to the hospital" Hinata said in her gentle as ever voice. The two guards sighed, either way they were at a loss, if they interrogated them they would be going against the daughter of their own clan head, and if they let them go it'll look as if they abandoned the clan head himself. A muffled voice saying "it's okay" came from the center of the group. With that notion from the clan head the two guards turned around and walked off towards the entrance to the main house, to halt all of the family members flooding out of the door. The clan members were trying to wedge out the gate, mainly to see and check on the condition of the family leader. Neji was among the eleven trying to get through the gate at the same time. He pushed his way past a fat elder and a young servant boy. Neji stepped quickly towards the ring of shin-obi. He waved off the two guards who were trying to tell him "everything's ok". Neji stepped to the ring of people. He looked at each; his cousin Hinata seated formally by the left of Hiashis' face, a wounded Naruto lying face down in the dirt to the right of Hiashis' face, an unharmed Sakura kneeling by Hiashis' right ankle, and a "handicapped" Hiashi at the center. Neji knelt by Sakura "How could this have happened, right outside of the Hyuuga Mansion" he asked, looking back at the little distance between the group and the Main Branch house, he could see the Hyuuga guards still trying to contain the onslaught of curious onlookers.

He felt a speck of contempt for them which faded when he remembered that, they, like anybody, now that Konoha was in war-time could be called to war at any time, he didn't blame them, it's probably for the best they got some rest. Before Neji could press further for an answer Hiashis' eyes rolled up as he passed out. Sakura was worried for only a moment as she checked his pulse and his reaction with a flick; he just passed out, maybe from the pain, probably from stress or a combination of the two.

"Help me please" Sakura asked Hinata, who stood up and grabbed Hiashi by the shoulder, his entire body limp.

"Neji, please get Naruto-kun" Hinata asked Neji, the concern slightly annoying Neji, why is she so attracted to him? Neji nodded and stepped over to Naruto, grabbing under his right shoulder, pulling him up. Naruto watched as the two kunoichi walked, each supporting one of the clan heads' shoulders, his sight trailed to Hinata.

Hiashi awoke telling Hinata to let him walk with at least one of his own feet, probably out of pride.

He watched Hinata now walking by herself as her hips made a slight swing with each step. His attention shifted from an innocent observation to a more inappropriate gaze, finding his self now staring at the wrinkles outlines and shadows that gave a rough sketch of her butt. Neji wrapped his arm under Naruto's shoulder and looked towards him. Neji looked forward, trying to find what was drawing Naruto's attention. He could see the look and direction, in and on Naruto's eyes;"He's looking at her ass, does he think he has the right to look at her like that, what are you thinking Naruto?" He slammed his open palm on the top of Naruto's head, sending a wave of pain and a tickling sensation, like hitting your' "funny bone"."Watch where you put your eyes" Neji said, he started to walk towards the hospital with Naruto's weight on his shoulder. Hinata blushed as she read his lips through the back of her head; he wasn't really looking at her like that, was he? She didn't know, but that didn't keep the blush off her face. She deactivated her Byakugan.

They arrived at the hospital, Hiashi being taken to a private wing where his daughter and nephew followed. Naruto had already healed, it had been about three hours, now approaching noon. "Hey Sakura, can you toss me that apple" Naruto asked seated up against his all too familiar, adjustable bed."You want me to feed you" she asked, leaning over to a hospital tray. She held a raised brow at him as she wiped it off on a napkin.

"Well…" he said, wary of her intentions."All right" he finished. Sakura took a knife off of the tray and began to slice it in her palm. After the entire apple was sliced into eight perfectly cut slivers, she held out a single to Naruto's mouth. He leaned forward slightly with an open mouth. She dropped it in. Naruto chewed as he blushed. Silence led as he chewed for a moment or so."I don't think this is very…appropriate" Sakura said, perfectly aware of his relationship. Naruto sulked a bit before realizing she was right.

"I have an idea! Toss me the apple." Sakura "underhanded" the apple towards him, he threw his head at the apple biting it out of the air. Sakura smiled as she watched his attempt to grab three more, one after another."Can I leave yet Sakura?"

"No…" She started observing him "he always heals so fast, but he can't leave until we make sure his chakra system's stabilized.

"Come on, I'm perfectly fine!" He said, waving his arms around in a useless gesture.

*thud "What was that for!?" He pulled himself off of the floor onto his bed.

"You were being stupid! You can't leave for at least another hour. Now, I have to leave, stay here or else I'll hit you again, got it?" He nodded, watching her pick up her tool pouch off of the wall. She turned on her heel and stepped through the generic white hospital door. Naruto, unsure if he was allowed to at least move around the hospital, waited a few moments. He sighed and moved his legs over the left side of the hospital bed. With a slight push he was standing.

He still felt a bit nauseous, he walked out of the door, swiveling his head to look for the "right way". He found the direction and started maneuvering his way through sick people and shuffling nurses. Up a flight of stairs, thirty steps or so, was the private branch of the hospital, while generally used for the Hyuuga, the only ones that really got to use it were the higher ups of the Hyuuga. Naruto hadn't even realized but somewhere along his ascension up the stairs the walls had switched to a warm, soft red, wood, the panels lining the wall. The lighting had faded to a warming mood, leaving the customary white "dead" lighting which occupied most of the hospital. He watched in awe as he opened the private door. An occasional nurse seemed to cross into view, but overall it was quiet and calm.

He kind of wished they had this in the old hospital; he would have snuck in here all the time. He stepped down the hallway lined with clean marble tile and wooden walls. He walked around the relatively small place, looking for the person he needed to apologize to. He was still trying to decide if that was Hinata or Hiashi. He rounded a corner and at the end of the hall was a large oval shaped room with no actual door, but a large curtain, velvet. Naruto slowly pressed through the curtain.

Hinata and Neji looked up as Naruto pressed through the curtain. Neji sighed, getting up and pulling the large curtain to the side so Naruto could normally step through, rather than attempt to force his way through. Naruto was about to break into an embarrassed laugh, when Neji "shushed" him. "Hiashi-sama will kill you if you wake him up, Naruto" Neji said, his voice barely breaking through the sound of his own breathe. Naruto responded with a nod and stepped over to Hinata, who was standing behind Neji's shoulder."You all right" He asked looking down a bit to the shy girl, the concern apparent in his tone. She looked back at her father lying there in the bed, then back at the ground in front of her feet again, anywhere but at him.

"Y-"she was about to say, but Naruto needed to know if she was ok. He lifted his hand under her chin raising her head to look at him."Yah, I'm fine" She said watching his serious expression turn to a soft grin. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, all the while Neji standing a foot or so to their right. Hinata was surprised; she didn't think he would kiss her right in front of Neji. Neji stood in obvious dismay, Naruto knew Hinata's infatuation with him, so why would he do something so confusing? Was he trying to hurt her? Neji was confused himself as he watched their kiss fade.

"NARUTO! What do you think you're doing!?" Naruto whipped his head to look at Neji, was that killing intent? No, the feeling was bloodlust, Neji was about to punch Naruto In the forehead, but he noticed the tips of their fingers entwined. Neji lowered his fist the few inches he had raised it before he knew what was going on."Now you see…" Naruto turned his focus back towards Hinata "I thought he was exposed to be some kind of genius?" Neji cut in before Hinata could reply "you know if you" Naruto cut in "I know, if I hurt her you'll gentle fist me in the…" Naruto said as he lightly rolled his eyes "No" Neji cut him off "I'll cut them off with a blunt object, probably a Hyuuga family heirloom." Naruto could almost feel the pain as the thought ran through his mind. He could only manage a nod as he thought about how much more dangerous Hiashi was then Neji, what if Hiashi was planning to trick him and kill him in his sleep or something?

"Good, but you better watch how you act in public" Neji said flicking his eyes down towards Hinata's waist, It didn't take a genius to figure from the angle of Naruto's arm, his hand was resting just a centimeter high enough for it to still be acceptable, his hand on her lower back. Just a LITTLE bit lower and Naruto would have been able to well… He decided against it."N-Naruto-Kun, not in p-public.""Sorry" he responded, drawing his hand away from her waist."Wait a minute, not in public? Does that mean in private I can?" No, she couldn't mean that, he had seen her without a shirt, but that was for a fraction of a second. She had to just be speaking generally, "yeah that's it". Neji face palmed, did she really just say that, Right in front of him? She immediately realized her error for words and withdrew her statement "N-Not at all, is what I meant to say".

"Just, just, don't do anything you shouldn't" Neji whispered, looking towards Hiashi.

"O-of course not, Neji" she said in her small voice. He nodded and sat down on a plastic chair by Hiashis' bed.

"I gotta go" Naruto said, running his hand through her indigo curtain. He fixed a now stray hair.

"Why" She asked, reluctant to the idea of him leaving so soon.

"I have to check my test results with the nurse, and then I have to get my commission for that almost three month long S-rank mission" Naruto pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his nose on her head. He looked at her father, his nose still buried in her hair "I'm sorry".

"I-It's okay, I won't ever hold it against you Naruto-kun. He grinned, a grin she failed to notice, into her hair and left. He arrived and sat on his bed, just then a scraggily looking nurse stepped in. She looked as though she hadn't slept in a day or so, which was probably the case. The woman flipped a page on her clipboard.

"Uzumaki Naruto" she asked, looking up at him from her board with just her eyes.

"Yes" he said, adjusting his hospital garb, it was thin and the fabric, scratchy. That's when he remembered, where the hell was his bag? He had one bag he brought back with him, but all he remembered was walking away, leaving Yamato-"That's it, Yamato has it!" he gave himself a mental high five. The nurse stepped over to him and checked the IV. She didn't even notice it wasn't in his arm anymore, it hadn't been, for a few hours now, Sakura had removed it, didn't she know that? She got a bit too close when she reached over his lap to "check a machine". She leaned back up and looked at him, watching the slight conformities in his shirt that outlined his muscles. She had hoped he got the hint, to "make a move" on him would be well, bad. She was still waiting for him to make a move, did he not understand? She wasn't gonna push until he showed any interest in her. She looked down and read the clipboard again, this time out loud. "You're good to go, Uzumaki Naruto." She said hoping he'd pick it up. "If she already knew that, why did she check…ohhhh" he didn't know what to say to get her to "disengage". The thoughts of what to say ran through his mind, in no specific order."I'm not use to this kind of thing, what do, I do, whado, I say?" he asked.

He finally found the words "No thank you, I have a" he was still uncomfortable with the word, so he settled on "relationship". She sighed in defeat and left him with the discharge papers. He quickly signed his name at three separate points throughout the four page packet, without reading. Getting up he put on his one outfit, the orange and black combat pants and jacket. He sighed, feeling the torn right seam of his jacket; you could barely see the white undershirt underneath, more of a dull brown than white. He had to get his bag, it containing his six other outfits, which was a lot for just one, faded, dull green backpack. Six pairs of boxers, six white t-shirts, six jackets, and six matching pants were what would be found if anyone stole it. He grabbed the papers and left, leaving the packet on the front attendance desk. He walked through the new Konoha, the roads were still dusted and the grass, green as before.

The Hokage monument was serving as a hub, to keep track of his location. He watched a family of four, a middle aged woman and her two children stepping towards a man, slightly older than the wife, seated on a bench. He was probably a retired shin-obi. The life of a ninja wasn't really ideal for anyone over the age of forty five. Naruto kept walking, now with a little haste in each step. He organized his thoughts. He would go to the Hokage tower, get his commission, talk to Tsunade about the chuunin exams; she had to be back by now! He would then find out where Yamato was staying and go get his bag! It was perfect!

The shadows danced among the walls, the creature trouncing up and down the halls, his eyes struggled to see through the hallway. He blinked a few times, as well as his eyes were; he was still having issues seeing inside of this cave."Damn it!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the halls. He looked left and was just barely able to tell where he was from the way the rocks were carved. He walked until he came to a room filled with the light of a torch. A man with a mask stepped out from the shadow of where the cave wall reached inward, cutting the light of the torch."You wanna tell me why we're still in this damn cave?" The man in the mask just stared."Answer me" the boy said resting his head back against the wall.

"You think we that we… can just walk out there?" asked the man, the light from his Sharingan contorting under the shifting light of the torch. "The clones are ready, getting out of here shouldn't be dangerous."

"It isn't, we could leave here anytime we want, but you shouldn't do something just because you can, I thought your' friend would have taught you that" his voice rang out, through the halls, toneless and steady.

"Whatever" the boy said, before he leant up off the wall, grabbing the torch, he turned his head just enough to be heard "I'm taking this with me. "I really hate him, I'll kill him the second I get the chance, bringing that up, I'm gonna kill him too. Ugh! GOD DAMN IT! His fist hit the damp cave wall, the granite fell away under the hit.