Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. I do own all of the characters I introduce and the storyline of this fanfic.

I got bored because I didn't have anything to do this afternoon. So what do you do? You write some (OK, at least I do). I actually had to do some research for this chapter. I had to make sure I was correct about the locations of the different countries and villages. I didn't even know Konoha was in the fire country feels ashamed.


Naruto woke up by falling to the ground, hard. "What the hell is going on?" he questioned out loud.
"I told you, you have to get up at sunrise. The sun's been up for at least two minutes," said the sensei, probably with a grin on his face. Not that you could see because of the mask.
"What did you do anyway?" Naruto asked.
"I was doing a little demonstration of the technique you're supposed to learn. This time I didn't use a kunai, however."
Naruto could picture the grin getting wider. "Whatever," was the boy's only response. "Let's just eat."


After they finished their meals (A/N: do I really have to describe each meal? They just ate "something"), Hannoki started talking. "ANBU are getting closer, we're going to be traveling for a while."
"So where are we going?"
"We'll be heading west, towards the Grass country. You won't be able to practice your kunai control during the day. You can still do your speed training though, we won't be walking."
"So you're saying I'm supposed to run after you with these things on my legs?" Naruto said, pointing to the weights he still had on.
"Precisely"
Naruto sighed. 'This guy isn't going to go easy on me. Furthermore, I'm still supposed to make the kunai float by the end of the week.' "And what are we going to do once we arrive at the grass country?"
"A change of scene will have a positive effect on your training. Different countries use different techniques and you can only benefit from that."
Naruto looked at his sensei, he didn't wear a forehead protector. Instead he had a weird symbol on his forehead. It was a reversed triangle with a smaller regular triangle inside and a circle around it. "So what village are you from?"
"I was raised and trained in the Stone country. I never graduated the academy, though. An old man trained me and I still have no regrets. This has the added advantage that I'm no missing-nin. Which brings me to another advantage of going to Grass, nobody will know who you are." With that, Hannoki stood up. "We better get going if we want to stay ahead of those ANBU." Naruto followed his teacher's example and they both walked outside.

"Hmm, we still need a sleeping bag for you." Hannoki said casually.
"Couldn't you have thought of that before you made me sleep on the bare floor?!"
"What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger, right?"
Naruto cursed at his sensei inwardly.

They got a sleeping bag for Naruto from the shop and started going westwards. "We'll have to speed up a bit" Hannoki said as he jumped from branch to branch. Naruto tried to follow him, but he was lagging behind because of the weights. "Come on boy, you don't want those ANBU guys to catch you? Who knows what they'll do to you." Mischief blinking in the man's eyes.
Naruto swallowed, that brought back some memories he didn't want. It did give him the motivation he needed to keep up with his teacher.


Back at Konoha, Tsunade received some bad news. "Hokage-sama, someone has spotted a blond haired boy with blue eyes in a nearby village. There was also a man with black hair and dressed in a black cloak with him."
"It's certain now, Itachi has him and will most likely take him to Akatsuki. We don't know their objective but we must prepare for the worst."
"There is one odd things though, Hokage-sama."
"And that is?"
"They were heading west, instead of north-east" (A/N: that's where the Sound country is)
"Orochimaru isn't a part of Akatsuki anymore, we have no reason to believe they would be heading that way. We must warn all Konoha ninjas of this, I want you to gather them all here."
"Of course, Hokage-sama"


"That's all the information we have up to now," Tsunade finished her explanation. "We don't yet know why they have kidnapped the boy or what they are planning to do with him. I expect everyone to report directly to me as soon as you have more information". She hadn't mentioned anything about the Kyubi, 'There is no need at this point to tell them the entire story. It would only hurt Naruto in the end.'

Hinata was shocked. 'I..I wasn't able to tell Naruto-kun how I feel. I may never get the chance now. If I see him again, I will defiantly tell him. I will change, I will become stronger. Naruto-kun, please come back. I'll be waiting for you.' She went out to the training area they had last met. 'It was the last time we met. I was able to speak to him then. I never had the courage to do that before.' Hinata was reminiscing. She started to hit one of the logs out of frustration.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?" A voice asked
"Neji-oniisan! I...I'm just doing some training..." she shyly responded

"Hinata-san, that's not really training. The only way you'd be able to defeat an enemy with that is by making them laugh themselves to death."
"Go-Gomen."
"Don't apologize, you haven't done anything wrong to me. I know you're worried because Naruto has been kidnapped. I know how you feel about him."
"You do?!" she started blushing heavily
"It's pretty obvious. Everyone knows... Everyone except Naruto. Don't worry, he'll come back. He still has a dream to fulfill."
"You're right, I'm sure he'll be fine." she was now sliming at Neji
"Now as far as training goes, do you want me to help you?"
She looked up in surprise. "Would you do that?"
"Of course, you'll have to become stronger if you want to tell Naruto about your feelings."
Hinata nodded. They started training, Neji instructing the girl. From a distance, Hiashi watched the two in approval.


Naruto and Hannoki had been running through the forest for a couple of hours now. Naruto was having more trouble keeping up with his sensei. The weights required him to focus chakra to his feet in order to run and jump. His regular chakra supply was running low. "Hannoki-sensei, could we rest for a minute," Naruto asked while breathing heavy.
"We've build up some distance already, I think we can stop for a while now. I would still like to go a little further today, but since we're not heading for a town, there's no hurry."
"You mean we'll be staying in the forest tonight?" Naruto swallowed.
"What's the matter? You're not afraid, are you?"
"Of course not!" Naruto yelled, jumping up.
"You're quite energetic, are you sure you want to rest?"
Naruto fell down again. He didn't have much sleep the night before because he was training. He started to feel the effects of that now. His arms and legs also started to ache because of the extra weight that was attached to them. "Ne, sensei, what are you going to teach me after I finished the kunai training?"
"I'm thinking about some battle tactics, history and science. These are skills that any ninja should posses and effectively make use of during battle."
"By boring your enemies to death?"
"You're going to learn them, one way or another."
"And what if I decide to leave after the first week?"
Hannoki's eyes changed for a brief moment, before returning to normal. "You'd miss out on all these powerful and cool jutsu I was planning to teach you."
"You're trying to trick me into staying with you, aren't you?"
"And what if I am?" he said bluntly.
Naruto didn't have an answer ready.
He sat there quietly for another half hour before continuing.


It was still long before dusk when they stopped again. Hannoki went to collect some wood for a fire while Naruto proceeded with his training. He didn't really like the prospect of the studying that was ahead, but he still wanted to figure out this technique. By the time Hannoki had made the fire and was preparing dinner, Naruto hadn't advanced much. The kunai wasn't just shaking now, it was rotating instead. The teacher was watching his student in amusement.
Naruto was pulling his hair out. "Sensei, can't you tell me what I'm doing wrong here?"
"I was starting to wonder when you would give up. It's very simple, your trying to grab the kunai from all sides with your chakra. This causes the chakra to start spinning, which is it's natural flow." He paused for a moment.
"So what can I do about it?"
Hannoki sighed. "You have no brain at all do you? Let me try to give you a hint that even you could understand. How do you usually grab a kunai with your hand?"
"You just place your fingers on each side of the kunai and close your hand."
"Exactly, now try the same with your chakra."
Naruto was puzzled for a moment. Than all of a sudden his face brightened up. "I got it! You're supposed to use only two strings of chakra, one on each side."
Hannoki looked pleased. "Correct. However, knowing how it's done doesn't mean that you'll be able to do it."
Naruto didn't listen, he had newfound enthusiasm and eagerly tried this new method.

Hannoki quickly raised his head. "Quiet boy, we've got company."
Naruto looked up in surprise, he hadn't heard or sensed anything.
Several silhouettes were now visible on the edge of the clearing.
"We have no business with you, if you leave us alone I won't harm you." Hannoki began the conversation.
"We have no intention of leaving you alone. Besides what can you do? You're outnumbered and by the looks of it, neither of you belong to any hidden village."
Hannoki motioned Naruto to stay silent.
"Now hand over all your money and valuable possessions and we might let you live."
"You'll have to come and get them." Hannoki replied
The men didn't wait a moment and jumped out from the darkness.
Hannoki performed several hand seals, but he did it so fast Naruto couldn't see what it was. "Wind Barrier!" A whirlwind appeared for a short moment, knocking the opponents back.
One of the enemies threw a kunai towards Hannoki. Instead of dodging it, he simply caught it and returned the favor. The other ninja moved to the side, dodging the weapon. Hannoki continued his attack. He ran towards the man at an inhumane speed, placing his elbow on the opponent's gut.
The other assailants didn't stand around and came rushing at their target. The "target" performed a rotating kick, hitting several enemies with high force.
Naruto didn't want to miss out on the fun and charged up his Ransengan. He hit a surprised ninja on the chest with his powerful move, knocking him out.
The attackers realized that they couldn't win this fight and retreated, carrying the wounded. Naruto wanted to go after them, but his teacher stopped him. "We have already won this, there is no gain by going after them."
Naruto was a little disappointed, but he remembered rule number 3 'always do what I say'.
"I'll teach you a very important lesson now."
This caught Naruto's interest and he was all ears.
"You shouldn't attack anyone unless there is a need for it. The same, but in a higher degree, counts for killing someone."
Naruto nodded, he understood what his sensei was telling him.
"However, if the need arises to attack or even kill a person, you should not hesitate. Today's little brawl was a very good demonstration of that. I first tried avoiding combat at all, but when they wouldn't back down I immediately went to fight them. You should always try to judge a situation before acting."
The boy, who had been listening carefully, nodded again.
"That's it for today's lesson, go on with your regular training."
Naruto got out the kunai once again and tried making the kunai do what he wanted once again.

Author's Notes:
I hope the whole Hinata stuff wasn't too corny. I'm not really that much of a romance writer.
I promised a fight and you got it. I hope it was obvious enough that Hannoki was extremely fast (think Rock Lee again, before taking off the weights). I just want to say that this defiantly wasn't his full power. After all, it was just some everyday thugs.
This chapter came out a lot longer that I had originally intended, but I don't think you guys will mind. I won't describe each day in such detail in the future, it's just that the first couple of days are very important. After this I'll most likely write the next of the first week in a single chapter.