Chapter 3
Later that afternoon, as they walked through the underbrush, Naruto felt the presence of another's chakra, and he whispered to Hinata to use her Byakugan. Hinata did as she was told, and she soon found they were being followed by 2 ninja from the Land Hidden in the Swamp.
"Well, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.
"There are two of them, in the trees a few feet behind us…" Hinata murmured. Naruto smirked.
"Only two? That's no fun."
"Be careful, Naruto-kun. Hokage-sama told me that these ninja were very skilled." Hinata whispered.
"Heh, no worries. Alright, ready?"
"Yeah. Otomiya-sama, get behind me." Hinata ordered. Kazuya did as he was told, and Hinata flipped out a Shuriken, which she held at the ready. Naruto did the same.
"Alright, you goons! Come out so we can fight!" Naruto shouted.
No sooner had he spoken, two ninja appeared before the group, staring darkly at them. They both wore black shirts and masks concealing their faces. Their arms showed swirled tattoos snaking all the way down to their wrists.
"So, Byakugan, eh?" One spoke in a low, rough voice.
"Yeah, and now you get to see something else you've probably never seen before! Shadow-clone jutsu!" Naruto commanded, and ten other clones of Naruto appeared, surrounded the two swamp ninja.
"Come now, do we really have to fight?" The other swamp ninja asked in a whispery voice. "Just hand over Kazuya and we'll just be on our way."
"Not a chance!" Naruto snapped.
"Well then…" The husky-voiced ninja sighed, and positioned himself,, ready for a fight, "We shall fight."
"Fine with me!" Naruto shouted, coming at the smaller ninja with the murmuring voice. But just when he thought he had collided with the enemy, he suddenly found himself flying through the air and fell headfirst into the ground. Naruto sat up, rubbing his head, completely taken aback.
"Damn…faster than I thought they'd be…" Naruto muttered, before standing up once more and looked around for the ninja. He found the husky voiced one fighting with Hinata, who was putting up quite a defense against him.
"Come on, girlie, let me have Kazuya…I don't want to have to kill you." Otomiya sighed, as if bored.
"Get away from him! What do you want anyway?" Hinata snapped.
"Just him, nothing more, however, I wouldn't mind taking you with me." The husky voiced ninja smiled.
"You won't lay a finger on either of them!" Naruto yelled, pulling the swamp ninja from behind so he would step away from Hinata and Kazuya.
"You little runt!" The ninja snarled angrily, making a quick hand sign. "Ninja Art! Root Entanglement!"
The ground began to shake continuously, and thick, green roots emerged from the earth, shooting out at Hinata and Naruto from all different directions. A root grazed across Kazuya's shoulder, causing him to hit the slowly breaking earth. Hinata gasped, glanced at Naruto, who signaled for her to get out of the area with Kazuya safely, and flung Kazuya on her back, then advanced into the tree branches, where she jumped swiftly through the forest.
They stopped in a small clearing, where Hinata set down Kazuya and found he was bleeding.
"Otomiya-sama!" Hinata said anxiously.
"I'll be fine! You should go help Uzumaki-san. He probably needs your help." Kazuya assured Hinata, who shook her head in protest.
"No, my mission is to protect you. Now please, don't mind me and let me tend to your wounds." Hinata insisted.
"Fine…" Kazuya sighed heavily in defeat, removing his shirt as he did so.
Hinata soon discovered that the roots were poisonous, and that if they had pierced Kazuya any deeper, he probably wouldn't have survived. She applied an antidote, and then they waited for some sign of Naruto, or the enemy.
After sitting in the forest for what seemed like hours, Kazuya turned to Hinata, who looked at him in a conflicted manner. She knew Naruto needed her, but Kazuya also needed her protection. She should be able to understand that she was to stay with Kazuya, but why did she feel so guilty?
"Just go." Kazuya finally whispered.
"But Otomiya-sama-!" Hinata protested.
"Hyuuga-san...you love him." Kazuya said, as if this was the reason she should go.
Hinata had nothing to say to this. She just blushed and stared at the ground.
"Go." Otomiya said firmly. Hinata stood.
"Thank you." She murmured, before sprinting back the way they'd come.