When Sakura and the others reached the training field, Lee, Tenten, and Neji were already there. Lee had obviously been working very hard, but Tenten and Neji didn't look nearly as exhausted. She looked around and thought to herself, these are all the Konoha shinobi that made it past the second part of the Chuunin Exam. She realized that she had been working on her training so much that she had barely spent any time with anyone, except for a mission with Naruto. Maybe I need to get out more. As soon as Lee saw Sakura, he smiled wide. "Sakura-chan!" Sakura gave a small wave. "Hi, Lee-kun." Lee walked towards her and asked, "Did you come here to see me defeat Neji-san in battle!?" Neji rolled his eyes but said nothing. "Um," Sakura was a little taken back, "No, I didn't. I came looking for Naruto." Lee looked slightly crestfallen, but Neji answered before he could say anything. "He's not here. We've been here most of the morning, and he hasn't come by at all." Tenten nodded her agreement. Kiba frowned. "I thought for sure he'd be here." Shikimaru shrugged. "I guess we'll have to train without him." Chouji looked disappointed. "I see no reason to give up until I have earned my free lunch." Sakura almost laughed at how serious he looked. Ino looked back at Shikimaru and Chouji. "Wait. You two were going to train? Willingly?" Shikimaru shrugged. "As a chuunin, I have a responsibility to be strong enough to protect my team." Chouji nodded. "And I want to be strong so that people can depend on me!" he added. Sakura could still remember Shikimaru's face when he had been told two of his team members had been close to death. She looked at Kiba, Shikimaru, Chouji, and Neji, and saw something pass silently between them. She remembered being told that nothing could bring people together like death. She shivered.

"What are you all doing here?" Everyone turned to see Kurenai standing a little ways off. Only Neji didn't appear startled. "We're out here to train." Kiba answered. "It would be a shame to waste the spring time of youth!" Lee added. Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's fine, but there's a murderer on the loose. S-class. He could kill all of you quite easily. From now on don't go anywhere without a chuunin." Shikimaru raised his hand. "An experienced chuunin." The hand stayed up. A vein popped on Kurenai's forehead. "Fine, but I still want you all to be more careful." "When did the murderer become S-class? They've only killed 23 people so far. And how do you know it's a he? Do you know who it is?" Ino asked. Kurenai looked at the Genin (And Shikimaru) and wondered if she should tell them. These were Naruto's friends, they might go looking for him if she told them the truth. Then she realized something. She glanced around quickly. "Do you know who it is?" Ino repeated. Kurenai ignored her. "Kiba, where are Shino and Hinata?" Kiba looked puzzled, but answered. "Shino is outside the village training." Damn! But I suppose Shino is smart enough to get away if something happens. The real worry was… "And Hinata? Where is Hinata?!" Kiba was starting to look a little scared. He couldn't remember ever seeing Kurenai like this. "She said she was going to go talk to Shino. You know how she likes to ask him for advice." Kurenai took a breathe. Shino would be able to keep Hinata safe. "Oh yeah! And she didn't say directly, but I think she's going to go look for Naruto afterwards. Not that she's likely to have much more luck then us." He crossed his arms, but Kurenai didn't even notice. She didn't notice anything around her. In her mind, she could see her student's body, torn apart like all the other victims. She could imagine the look on Hinata's face just before the boy she loved killed her. It made Kurenai want to puke.

"Kurenai-sensei?" A firm grasp on her shoulder brought her back to reality. Naruto was somewhere out there. Hinata was somewhere out there. So was Shino, but he could take care of himself. A competent bug user could probably escape Kyuubi Naruto. Still, she had to get them both. "Shikimaru-san!" Shikimaru recognized when he was being called for duty. "Who would you choose here for a retrieval mission?" Shikimaru didn't move. Then he asked, "What kind of target?"

"Human."

"Obstacles?"

"A S-class murderer who kills for fun and doesn't understand the meaning of the word pity."

Shikimaru frowned. He took a quick glance around him at the assembled crew. "Myself, Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura. Anyone else might help, but they'd probably just get in the way." Six. That was too many. "Drop two, excluding yourself." She said. "Rock Lee and Yamanaka Ino." Shikimaru said without hesitation. Both Lee and Ino looked furious with him. They might have done something, but Kurenai was already pulling the team together. "Fine. You three, come with me. The rest of you report to Asuma-sensei." They weren't about to argue with her. "Where is he?" Tenten asked. "His team will take you there. Ino began walking, and motioned for the rest to follow her. After a glare from Kurenai, they did so, hurriedly.

Shikimaru watched them go. Then he turned to Kurenai. "We're going after Hinata, right?" Kurenai had started for the gate, she only nodded. The rest followed her. Sakura walked beside Shikimaru. "Shikimaru-san?" Shikimaru looked over to her. They had barely ever spoken before graduating from the academy, and they still didn't talk much now. "Why did you pick me? I mean, Kiba-san is great for this kind of thing, plus he knows Hinata pretty well. Lee-kun is very fast, and would defend someone to his death, and even Ino can go into someone's mind. Why did you pick me?" Shikimaru just watched her for a moment. "You're a medical-nin. Hinata could be hurt, and this mission has a high probability of us having to fight." Sakura nodded.

"Also, there is another reason." Sakura looked up. "I don't want to speculate or jump to conclusions, but you might know the murderer." Sakura was shocked. "Don't tell Kurenai-san. I'm only deducing from what she's said and how she's acted." Sakura managed to nod. After walking a bit more she asked, "Who do you think it is?" Shikimaru just shook his head.

Outside the village

"Hinata-chan, we've been traveling away from the village for over an hour now. Where are you taking me? And what did you mean 'I'm not safe anymore'." Hinata and Naruto were flying through the trees. She was trying her very best to ignore the fact that she and Naruto were alone together. She had been trying so hard not to think of that, or anything else even, that she had gotten lost. Not that she had known where she was going in the first place. "Are you lost, Hinata-chan?" Hinata was always struck when he said her name. It almost always made her breath catch. She landed on the ground and continued walking. She only knew that she had to get Naruto away from the village. "Hinata-chan, please tell me what is going on." Hinata looked into his eyes, and could see there how much he hated not knowing what was going on. But there was also something more. She stopped walking and just looked at him. "Naruto-kun. I know about the Kyuubi." For a moment Naruto did nothing. Then he simply sank to his knees. "Then, do you… do you hate me?" Naruto was just staring at the ground. See him like this made Hinata want to cry. "Of course not, Naruto-kun. I could never hate you." Naruto looked up in disbelief. "I know that the Kyuubi is something else inside of you. I know that you are Naruto-kun, and nothing can change that." She wanted to add that she loved him, but just thinking about it made her feel unstable. Naruto's eyes were shining. She had seen them shine like this before, after the battle with the giant bee, but this time it was stronger. "Hinata!" Naruto cried as he jumped up and hugged her. Hinata couldn't move a muscle; she lost all thought control. "I'm so glad that you don't hate me, Hinata-chan." By this time she was completely red. After a short while, Naruto released the embrace. "Thank you, Hinata." He whispered.

Hinata took a few minutes to regain control of her faculties. In that time, Naruto sat down and patiently waited for her. "Naruto-kun, I saw you last night." Naruto scratched his head. "Last night? I went to bed early, then woke up out in the woods. I was a little worried about that, so I was going to go see Granny Tsunade to ask-" "No!" Naruto looked taken back by Hinata's sudden outburst. She herself was surprised, but she knew this had to be done. "You can't go back to Tsunade-sama. You can't go back to Konoha, Naruto-kun. Ever." She saw Naruto pale. She was well aware that she had just told him that he couldn't go back to his only family, the only place where he had ever been accepted. She thought he might get made, but he just asked, "Why?" Hinata took a long breath. "The Kyuubi has found a way to take control of you. I think they will kill you to stop it getting out again." Naruto looked scared. Hinata continued. "I saw it last night. I saw you jump out of your apartment. You were covered in a red chakra. You laughed and it sounded so… so evil." Naruto said nothing. He stared hard at the ground. "I… I thought…" Hinata fell silent, unable to continue. Naruto finally spoke up. "You thought that I was going to kill you." It wasn't a question. Hinata nodded slowly. Naruto didn't look up, but he knew. For a long time they stayed there, Naruto sitting, staring at the ground, Hinata standing, staring at Naruto. Finally Hinata decided that Naruto didn't really need her there. She began to walk away. "You…" Hinata turned around when Naruto spoke. He was looking at her now, instead of the ground. "Please don't go to far. I don't want to feel alone right now." Hinata tried to smile. "I'll be here for you, Naruto-kun." I'll always be here for you.

Inside Naruto's Mind

Naruto walked along the cold, damp passageway of his mind. He knew where he was going. He could get there even if he wasn't drawn by the power of the Kyuubi. He turned a corner and came up to an huge cage, seemingly empty except for two giant eyes.

"Hello, brat. Why are you in here?" While the Naruto on the outside had appeared distraught, the Naruto in here was visibly shaking with rage. "Damn you Fox, you know why I'm here!" The Kyuubi didn't seem very interested in Naruto. "Actually, I don't. Do you need my power for something again? You're pretty pathetic, so I wouldn't be surprised." Naruto thrust out his arm and screamed at the Nine-tails. "You murderer! I know that you've been taking control of my body! I know that you've been murdering people in my village! I demand that you stop, now!" The fox stared at him intently, "You think you can control me?!" It demanded suddenly. Naruto was startled by how angry it seemed. "I'm not a guardian here to protect you. I would kill you in a second if I could get past these bars. But I am trapped in your body. Even when I am in control, The Fourth's seal keeps me inside of you." Naruto stared at the demon for a long time. "When did you start getting out?" The fox blinked. "Once the elemental seal was destroyed, it was only a matter of time before I found cracks in the foundation seal." Naruto vaguely remembered Jiraiya saying something about breaking an elemental seal when they were training for the third stage of the Chuunin Exam. "Why must you kill?!" The fox blinked again. "Because I want too." "That's not an answer!" Naruto yelled. "Yes it is, you just don't like it." Naruto was furious. "There's no way to stop you, is there?" The Kyuubi laughed. "Of course not." Naruto smiled a terrifying smile. "But if I die, so do you." The Nine-tails stopped laughing. "If I let myself get killed, then you'll be gone forever." The demon growled. "You can't let yourself die. You have to much pride." Naruto crossed his arms. "To save the people I love? Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan. All of my friends. Even Granny Tsunade. I'd sooner die than see anyone else get hurt. I swore that I would do everything in my power to protect them. Everything." The fox roared at Naruto, but he was already leaving. His mind was made up.