A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of my THIRD surgery-hurts like hell!-and I'm back again! I've been on an updating spree as of late, and finally had time to answer a request. I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead and I recently caught an infection in the form of the flu. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. I'm hanging tough though, having just come out of my first surgery...with two more to go! UUUUUGH! I'm on painkillers almost daily and I feel like crap, as to that effect. But nevertheless, despite this pesky little hiccup-I wanted to get word out any way I could, and since for some strange reason the site is being buggy, I wasnt able to work on this anywhere near as much as I would've liked.

Still...I'm alive. And good news! We got some snow up here! Going outside did wonders for me! Hehehe XD So...

...away we go!

"By the Force!"

~Uzumaki Naruto.

Tribulation

"This is why we can't have nice things."

Naruto grumbled morosely as he found himself tugged incessantly forward.

It was surreal, walking along Konoha's streets with Hanabi's arm clamped through his like it was a casual date between lovers. Yes, clamped. As in not voluntary on his part. The raven-haired girl that walked beside him could easily have passed for Hinata with only the smallest of changes and she possessed equal grace. But where Hinata always seemed to keep people at a genteel and polite distance, her tone betraying only the hint of emotion, her twin expressed everything deeply. Her voice was rich with inflection, tone thick with the promise of untold pleasures.

And they were only fifteen for crying out loud!

"I have to say, when I heard you left, I had thought you weren't going to be coming back. It's rare for me to be glad I made a mistake, Naruto," Hanabi said, leaning a little closer, her voice almost whispering in his ear like the brush of the softest feathers. "I'm glad someone saw sense and decided to put us on the same team. I think there is so much that we can...share."

He felt the faintest shiver pass through him when she used his name, though he wasn't sure if it was from her presence, the knowledge of just what she was, or something else entirely. Yoda had stressed that Jedi were not slaves to their emotions, but he hadn't been expressively adamant where Hinata had been concerned. Perhaps it had something to do with being his last pupil. Perhaps he'd simply taken pity on the two of them and in doing so, doomed him in the here and now. Perhaps this wasn't his fault at all, and the blame lay with him for being so weak when it came to the opposite sex.

Whatever the case, Naruto was certain he'd much rather be an emotionless, unfeeling, uncaring statue then have to suffer with...this. He could feel Hinata's gaze boring into his back, though whether out of anger or out shame remained to be seen. It didn't really matter what he said or did, Hanabi was practical enough to know that she had to be annoying him by now -discomforting him- so she would take it as a hint of desire. Despite the fact, he was almost grateful when someone finally intervened.

"Please let go of him." Hinata's voice was gentle but her grip was not; her pale fingers digging deep into her sibling's arm. "Sister." When her twin failed to compliy, she tightened her grip, actually drawing a pained hiss from the younger, if one considered the matter of one minute, sibling in her grasp.

Nonplussed, Hanabi allowed her grip on Naruto to slacken, repressing a frown as he wriggled away. Evidently her sister finally gained a backbone in her seven-year abscence from the village. How quaint. Ordinarily, she would have tried to quash it, but surprisingly Hina had garnered more than a bit of steel in her spine. Her newfound courage wouldn't be squashed quite so easily.

To make matters worse, their sensei was none other than Hatake Kakashi. After being forced to wait an hour, they'd been ushered to the rooftop for introductions. Everything had gone well enough; Naruto was not that same unruly little boy he'd seven years prior, despite his intense ire at having Hinata's ill-mannered twin on their team, he'd managed to resist the urge to prank his new sensei out of pure spite. Introductions had been sparse at best, knowing Naruto and Hinata had revealed preciious little about themselves and their new skillsets. But Hanabi knew. There was something new about them; the way they seemed to string one sentence to another, finishing each other's thoughts like they knew what the other was thinking.

No friendship was that close. There was a higher power at work here. She was sure of it. Just one glance at them was more than enough to arouse her suspicions, inflame her desire to an almost feverish degree. It was no secret that she found Naruto attractive, but with her sibling in the way -clouding his mind, she reminded herself- those efforts were utterly wasted. How could she get him to fall for her, when her twin stood firmly ini her path. She'd have to do something about that, she supposed. But not now. Later. Now there's an idea...

"I'm going on ahead." she chiruped, a sudden smile tugging at her lips. Before Naruto could react she took two sharp steps backwards-her face now mere inches from his own. Something warm and soft brushed against a whiskered cheek seconds later, darting away before he'd the chance to stop her.

"Ja ne, Naruto." her grin spoke volumes, as did Hinata's dismayed gasp. And then Hanabi was gone, darting down a sidestreet, leaving him rooted to the street.

'Somehow, I get the feeling she isn't going to give up on me that easily,' Naruto gulped.

"We...should keep going."

"Right." Naruto followed after her, his mind whirling.

'...unexpected, that was. Oh god, Yoda's rubbing off on me...

With that sour thought firmly in mind, he continued to mentally prepare himself for Hinata's reaction. Thus far, nothing had proved simple today. Neither had what they'd thought would be their first mission.

Only to be told by their new instructor that the three of them would particpate in an exercise to assess their teammwork. Survival exercise he said. Don't eat breakfast he said. Arrive bright and early in the morning, he said. Lies he said! Having trained for the better part of a decade in complete isolation with one of the greatest masters ever to grace the jedi order, Naruto knew a bluff when he saw one. This was obviously a test of his-Kakashi's-own machinations, designed to test their teamwork. Working with Hinata was an easy thing, but Hanabi...

Suspicious, Naruto said!

"I swear by the Force I'm going to prank the living hell out of them," Hinata whispered in his ear.

"Hanabi or Kakashi?"

She gave him a look that managed to convey both amusement and vengeful determination with only her eyes. "Both."

The Jedi-to-be couldn't help himself; he burst out laughing.

"Did I ever mention how much I love you?"

To her credit, Hinata flushed only slightly. Naruto froze, immediately realizing his verbal gaffe. Nice job, genius.

"Alright," he began slowly, "It sounded good in my head, but that just went somewhere terrible."

"I...don't mind." her words were the most naked of whispers. "Besides," she continued, stepping closer until she was almost past him.

"I don't like to share."

Dozens of different emotions and nuances seemed to be in her voice, and they matched the equal number that were suddenly ricocheting around his brain like kunai and shuriken. They were still walking but it was slow now, his feet almost dragging on the road underfoot. There were so many things he wanted to say, all at once, but he did his best to suppress his instincts, using his head. What, the hell was going on here? Was Hinata coming on to him? Little, shy, Hinata? The girl he'd grown up with, trained with? He tried to get a read on her with the Force, but she'd carefully suppressed her emotions. It was like staring at white sheet; innocent and pure, utterly unreadable.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

"Wait-

Just like that Hinata turned away as well, departing hurriedly before he could ask her what he meant. By the Force, what was going on here? Since when had Hinata been this bold? And then there was Hanabi-her crazy twin who seemed hellbent on making him hers as well. He was suddenly aware of just how empty the street was-the setting sun shooting shards of orange and saffron into his eyes. Alone, with nothing more than these strange thoughts of the two girls in his life and with nothing better to do, the last Uzumaki continued to wander; his weary feet carrying him away from the more populated residential district into sparse streets-towards what had once been the Uchiha Compound. He knew Sasuke's family had lived somewhere around here, but he'd never bothered to ask where.

"Why me...

He was still walking when he saw it; a flash of bright hair. Someone was here. He spied her standing between a ramschackle old building and what'd once been a storefront, the decrepit kiosk suggesting these streets had since seen better days. Despite his niggling sense of unease, Naruto stepped forward and made his prescence known.

"You lost, miss?"

Her head turned toward him, a slow calculated move, and he immediately found himself captivated by her stunning features, that heartshaped face from which emerald eyes shone, framed by long russet red hair. If he hadn't been trained to suppress his emotions, Naruto was sure his jaw would've long since fallen clean off his face by now. As it were, he merely sputtered a moment, before reigning his emotions in. If he had to guess, she was somewhere between sixteen and seventeen, though you'd never know it by looking at her.

"As a matter of fact, yes." her words, that voice, nearly flung him. "I was told I could find a little green man here."

Yoda? Why would anyone be looking for Yoda? His teacher had never told him why he'd come to this planet in the first place; only that he had. I've got a bad feeling about this...

"I take it your search hasn't been going well." he willed his hand not to stray towards his hilt.

"Right. No pain, no gain and all that."

"In this case, yes," she agreed. "Perhaps you can help me, then."

Naruto's head cocked slightly. "Me? What do you mean?"

"Well, on one hand he seems to be the most last of a dangerous order this side of the galaxy that I can determine from these records," she said, full lips curling in a smile. "On the other hand word has it he trained two apprentices before vanishing in this region." her jade eyes strayed to the lightsaber at his belt dangerously. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"No," Naruto bristled, his danger sense screaming, "Not a damn thing."

"Is that so?"

He barely jerked out of the way when her lightsaber ignited; the violet blade carving an angry indigo line where his head had been mere moments before. He ignited his weapon in a flash, the sunset-colored blade cold in his sweat-slicked hands as he whirled away; backpedalling. before she had a chance to press her advantage

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Oh," she replied, laughing softly. "Looks like you have some skill after all, Uzumaki Naruto."

"How do you know my-

The dark eyed woman eyed him angrily.

"Prepare to perish!"

With that she lunged!

A/N: ENTER MARA JADE! And there we go! Seven years have passed, leaving Naruto and Hinata well on their way to becoming jedi. It's going to be a difficult balancing act, with their responsibilities as shinobi added into the mix. Hinata's sort of a vent for Naruto, she's one of the few people who can quell his anger and rein him in. But as we can see, Naruto's still very much struggling with all that pent up fury and frustration...within good reason! After all, seven years of anger doesn't just vanish overnight, even in the prescence of a Jedi Master.

Yoda's going to have to keep a watchful eye on him...

Hinata also has quite the backbone now...even if she does swoon a little around Naruto. Another minor change, Hanabi has been made to be her twin rather than her little sister-thought it might add some much-needed spice to this story. What difference will this make? You'll have to wait and see! Now...Naruto and Hinata are on the same team! What manner of changes will this bring to the Narutoverse? Will Kakashi be able to handle two Force users? Will the Empire eventually become aware of them and hunt them down? Find out next time...

...on Maelstrom of the Force!

So...in the immortal words of Yoda...

...Review...You Must! And of course, enjoy the preview! On another note, you can expect an update for Die Another Day any day now! You'll have to excuse the pun, lol

(Preview)

Hinata's entire body felt weighed down: her bones turned to lead and her blood condensed into thick, sluggish crude. The situation they were in seemed impossible. Every fibre of her body screamed for her to move, to dodge that massive zanbato carreening towards her head, but her body was inexplicably frozen in fear.

Vzzzm!

Naruto was suddenly between her and the blade, his eyes an angry, eerie red. His lightsaber flashed, once, twice, thrice, and the hulking cleaver spun away, its edge eviscerated. But he didn't stop there, continuing his swing, bringing the orange bade scything upward and into Zabuza's arm.

The Demon of the Mist scarcely knew what hit him.

"Pick on someone your own size, asshole."

R&R! =D