Camp was broken in silence the next day. Shikamaru, despite having the most uninterrupted sleep, was not a morning person, and disagreed somewhat with having last watch. Hinata was as alert as she always was, and still pondering the look on Naruto's face when he had awoken her. Naruto had run out of new skills to dream about, and started to wonder about his old friends. Kiba… Choji… Sakura-chan, who had occupied his thoughts less and less over the last few years…
"Sasuke…" he muttered angrily.
Once the tents taken down and they were ready to leave, Shikamaru turned to his team.
"We have to cover a day's travel and then some in as little time as possible. It's troublesome, but I'm gonna pick up the pace a little more." And with that, he sprang into the trees, running faster than he should have been able to maintain. Naruto and Hinata leapt after him.
There was very little talk that day. The three were concentrating on maintaining their speed. There was a short break, during which the three ate, and impossible task whilst running through the treetops, and which was extended a little to allow the group to catch their breath.
The day seemed to drag, thoughts occupied largely by keeping a regular breathing pattern and finding the next branch. Shikamaru kept his senses alive, however- this was where their chance of being attacked increased. Hinata, sensing this also, began activating her Byakugan from time to time, searching the nearby vicinity for threats. On one such occasion, Hinata suddenly stopped and signalled downward. Her two team mates followed her lead, dropping from their branches to the ground beneath. Shikamaru, a few steps in front, found himself no more than fifteen feet from a group of men, 50 strong at least, wielding various weapons in varying states of repair. At the front stood a tall, lanky man holding a long katana. A sash on his left thigh read 'Leader'.
"Eeehhh… Hinata… why did you signal us down?" Naruto questioned. "they're just bandits!" Hinata pointed, and both Naruto and Shikamaru noticed a girl, tied and thrown over the shoulder of one of the more muscled bandits. This seemed enough to change Naruto's mind.
"Oi!" he yelled. "Pu-"
"Who are you calling 'Just Bandits'? Do you not know who we are?" Naruto, not seeming fazed by having his heroic proclamation cut off, blinked and suddenly looked confused.
"I think I have." Shikamaru put in. "You're the 'homeless bandits'. You have no center of operations, you just roam around looting completely at random." The 'Leader' smirked.
"Good to see someone's heard of us, at least…" At this, the prisoner seemed to twitch. A short, skinny man scuttled forward, holding a rusting cooking knife in exactly the way Hinata had watched the head cook in the Hyuuga household telling her pupils not to if they wanted yo keep their fingers.
"Who are they, boss?" The 'Leader' sighed exasperatedly.
"They're ninja, by the looks of them. Now be quiet!" the strange man seemed not to notice the order.
"but they're so young…"
"That just means they're weak, now shut- UP!" and with the last word he slammed the back of his fist into the smaller man's face, sending him flying back into the ranks of the men behind, a few of whom laughed.
"Oi! Who're you callin' weak!?" Naruto stepped forward, raising his fist to add to his challenge.
"Calm down, Naruto!" Shikamaru muttered.
"N-Naruto-kun…" Naruto wasn't distracted.
"Well!?" The 'Leader' looked the blonde teen full in the face and smirked.
"You." That was enough for Naruto, who charged straight at the man, all jutsu seemingly forgotten. The 'Leader' smiled. "Too easy…" Raising his Katana, he lunged straight for Naruto's exposed midsection. To his surprise, he missed: Naruto dived to one side at the last minute, grinning and forming his favourite hand seal as he sailed past the man.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (shadow replication technique)!" Naruto cried, and with a poof of chakra another Naruto appeared, with one foot standing on his opponent's sword, the other already twisting into a kick which met satisfyingly with the man's temple. He flew through the air and slammed into a tree, unconscious. The replication disappeared, leaving Naruto surrounded and alone. The men around him had just raised their weapons when they all shuddered, and as one muttered various phrases to the effect of 'What? My body won't move!' then, like a troop of synchronised swimmers, they all fell into the same, ridiculous pose- which was already occupied by Shikamaru, who stood exactly where he had been before Naruto charged..
"Kage mane no jutsu (shadow limitation technique), success." He intoned, before falling into the next pose, which he followed with a rapid set of hand seals. "Kage kubi shibari no jutsu (shadow neck bind technique)!" A shadow with the form of a hand snaked it's way up the bodies of the men surrounding Naruto, and once it reached their necks, it began to strangle them. Naruto spent no time admiring Shikamaru's handiwork- he had leapt to the rescue of the prisoner, kicking her jailer in the face and catching her as he dropped the woman before whisking her to the side, in the safety of the trees. Hinata, who had bee stood next to Shikamaru, disappeared with a poofing sound, and quickly the real Hinata drooped out of the trees into the middle of the crowd of men. Taking her ready stance, she shot toward the nearest bandit.
"Jyuuken (Gentle fist)!" she cried and as she touched the skin above the man's heart he fell, the vital organ struck through with an invisible blade of chakra. She didn't stop there, flying from man to man, striking them down with as little as a brushing touch, before any of them could swing their cumbersome weapons in the space limited by their own numbers. Naruto returned to the battlefield to see his enemies numbers rapidly dwindling. Smiling, he re-formed his hand seal and pumped far more chakra into it than he had before.
"Now who's weak? Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (mass shadow replication technique)!" and with that, fifty Narutos popped into existence. Shikamaru smirked.
"Well, there goes their advantage of numbers…" The many Naruto's exploded into their enemies, and in a matter of seconds very few remained standing. Naruto released his jutsu, and suddenly there was only one of him.
"Man, that was easy!" he laughed.
"Y-you di-d ve-very w-well, Naruto-kun…" Hinata stammered even as she struck down two last enemies, one with each hand.
"You were pretty awesome too, Hinata! I loved the way you just appeared in the middle of all of them! You and Shikamaru!" Hinata blushed deeply. 'He said I was awesome…' Hinata began to feel a little dizzy. 'But… I didn't get to use all my techniques. You'll like those too, Naruto-kun!' she thought, determinedly and without her 'usual' stutter.
"Once you've finished nattering, Naruto, let's have a talk with the poor prisoner. Then we can finally be clear of this troublesome business…" he turned to where Naruto had left the girl, and the three began to congregate. Her gag loosened, the prisoner began to roll around and cry her thanks in an all too prone way. Shikamaru frowned. It was almost mocking. Naruto moved to untie her, but Hinata stopped him with a stuttered call. After he backed off, she turned to the freed prisoner, now begging to be untied in a similar manner, her Byakugan still active.
"You can drop the illusion now." She seemed strangely confident, and something inside Naruto made a note of this. The prisoner suddenly stopped rolling about, and as she began to talk, her voice changed, becoming a little less feminine and growing more and more confident.
"So, you noticed. I wondered if a Henge no Jutsu (transformation technique) would work against the Byakugan…" by the end of the statement, the voice's transformation was complete. Shikamaru's eyes widened- He knew that voice!
With a poof, the 'prisoner' dropped her illusion.
A/N:My first fight scene! How'd I do, everybody? Tell me, I wanna know so the next one is better for you!
And who likes the cliffhanger?