"Know that I'm very proud of the two of you," Hiashi stated, a smile gracing his lips, "I'm confident both of you will make fine shinobi."
"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," the two replied in unison, bowing their heads.
"Remember: the pride of the Hyuuga clan rests on your shoulders."
- - - - -
"So," Neji stated as he swiftly evaded a strike to his chest, "You've finally graduated."
Naruto blocked the counterstrike and made to breach Neji's guard, "It was actually disappointing...the graduation exam..."
Neji quickly countered Naruto's counter and sealed a tenketsu in his abdomen; without missing a beat, Naruto quickly sealed off one of the tenketsu in Neji's offending forearm.
"Touche," Neji replied, balling his left hand into a fist: no use trying juuken with an arm that can't exhert chakra.
"But what gets me," Naruto continued, attempting to parry and counter a flurry of punches and kicks, "Is that it was 'too' easy. No one in our class failed. I don't think that was the real test."
Neji swiped the blonde's feet out from under him but, as he was falling, Naruto hooked his left leg behind Neji's right, effectively forcing the Hyuuga prodigy alongside him.
"You let your guard down," Neji commented, lifting himself from the ground.
"You did too," the blonde replied with a smirk.
"Anyway," Neji continued, drifting to their previous subject, "I can't exactly tell you what to expect from here. You might be put through another test, you might not."
"I kinda figured you'd say something like that..." the blonde sighed, defeated, "Guess I'll find out soon enough, huh?"
Neji smiled at his blonde companion, "Only time will tell. You'd best prepare for dinner, Hiashi-sama will punish both of us if we show up looking like this."
- - - - -
That night, Naruto found it difficult to sleep and, after a fit of tossing and turning, found himself seated in a familiar spot on the manor's rooftop.
"I knew I'd find you here," Hinata's soft voice penetrated the silence, "I take it you couldn't sleep either?"
"You know me too well," Naruto replied, a smile gracing his features.
He stared into the night sky, and briefly considered counting the stars. Nights like this were probably going to be few and far in between as soon as he began going on missions. Part of him was nervous about finally getting one step closer to his dream...but with that nervousness came excitement that enveloped it threefold. Who knew what the future had in store for him? Whatever it was, he was willing to tackle it head-on.
"So..." Naruto began after a few minutes of silence, "Does it look good?"
Hinata puzzled over Naruto's question for a moment before she faced him. Immediately she smiled; he was talking about his hitai-ate, which was currently tied around his forehead.
"Hai, it does," the heiress supplied. It was true, too, it really did suit quite well; though it gave him a bit more of a refined look, Hinata enjoyed the more wild look that his bangs gave him without the headband.
"Hey, Hinata-chan?"
"Yes, Naruto-kun?"
A brief moment passed between the two.
"We did it..."
"...Yeah..."
The two talked for nearly an hour before Hinata stifled a yawn.
"Sleepy?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"N-no!" Hinata was quick to respond before she was attacked by another yawn.
Naruto grinned at the blushing girl; he knew she was just trying to make an excuse to sit on the roof with him, but even he could tell that she was about to pass out.
"You should really head to bed, Hinata-chan."
"I'm not tired at all, promise," Hinata whispered out, leaning her head on Naruto's shoulder.
"Not tired, huh?" Naruto's face bore an expression of obvious disbelief. It didn't matter what he or she thought though; her snores were now drowning out any reply he could think of.
'Wow...she even snores politely...' Naruto chuckled to himself, noting how quiet her snores were, 'Guess I'd better...'
Naruto paused when he noticed a strange figure on an adjacent rooftop several hundred yards away.
"You're not ANBU," the blonde stated quietly as he activated his Byakugan. Naruto could make out the man's face in excruciating detail, and wasn't oblivious to the man's wide eyes and lip movements. Naruto decided to hold onto the phrase that came out of the intruder's mouth; it was very colorful.
Before Naruto knew it, the man had traveled a great distance away from him, obviously making his way out of the village. Naruto only had one thought in mind. Hiashi was not going to like this wake up call.
- - - - -
"Hiashi-sama!" Naruto practically yelled as he turned the corner to the Hyuuga leader's room, "Hiashi-sa..."
The blonde was stopped as he noticed a gathering of branch shinobi outside Hiashi's quarters. He was going to try breaking through their ranks, but after hearing a few comments, many of them about the man he had seen, he decided against it. It was foolish of him to think that the guards wouldn't have noticed the intruder.
"Silence!" Hiashi ordered; immediately the hall went quiet, "I understand their was an intruder, and I understand that he was heavily equipped...I even understand that he retreated too fast to have been any lower than Jounin status. What I don't understand is why not a single person here saw his face!"
Looks of failure passed over several of the guards while many more simply wore the same stotic expression they'd had on since Naruto had arrived.
"No one here saw the intruder's face?" Hiashi double checked, annoyance plaguing his voice.
"I did."
The entire group turned around to see Naruto standing behind them. Aside from being so preoccupied that they hadn't noticed him, the majority of the guards seemed unfazed.
"You saw the man's face, Naruto?" Hiashi asked, a smile playing over his features. After a brief nod from the blonde, Hiashi bid the guards return to their stations and to keep their Byakugan active.
"Naruto," Hiashi began as he escorted the blonde to his study, "What are you even doing awake at this hour?"
"I couldn't sleep, Hiashi-sama," the boy replied, "So I was stargazing on the roof with Hinata-chan when I noticed him."
Hiashi cocked an eyebrow at the boy.
"She...kinda fell asleep on me," Naruto chuckled as he moved his right hand to rub the back of his head, "So I was about to take her to her room and...well..."
"I see," the elder Hyuuga responded, "I hate to do this to you, seeing as tomorrow is your first official day as a Genin, but I'm going to need you to desribe the man to the Hokage."
"Hai, Hiashi-sama."
- - - - -
The Hokage stared at the Henge'd version of Naruto for a several moments after the scritching of the artist beside him came to a halt.
"And you're certain that this is what the man looked like?" the Hokage clarified, taking a large puff from his pipe.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I was about to head inside when I noticed him on a rooftop several hundred yards away," the Hokage chuckled at the thought; had anyone said that other than a Hyuuga he would have slapped his forehead, "But he quickly noticed me...I'm not sure if he felt the chakra I'd used to activate my Byakugan or not, but after spotting my gaze, he muttered the phrase-" the Hokage and Clan head's mouths dropped at the words that came out of the blonde's mouth, "-and tuned around and fled to the western gates."
Naruto fought to surpress his laughter at the looks the two leaders were giving him, but instead decided to point it out to them.
"Are you okay Hiashi-sama? Hokage-sama?"
The two snapped out of their stupor quickly.
"Yes, I'm fine," the Sandaime supplied, "I would suggest never using that phrase again."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto replied mechanically, knowing full well that the Hokage hadn't ordered him not too...and planned on taking advantage of that.
"Naruto," Hiashi gave the boy a stern look, "I'm going to have to ask that you not repeat anything you saw or discussed tonight to anyone."
"Hai, Hiashi-sama."
"Now, I would suggest you follow the house guards to the compound. You've got a busy day ahead of you tomorrow."
"Are you not coming with us, Hiashi-sama?"
"No, the Hokage and I have a bit more to discuss. Have a good night Naruto; I will have Hinata come and get you should you sleep in."
Naruto bowed at the waist before he turned and exited the chambers. After a few moments and spotting Naruto and the branch guards heading back to the compound, Hiashi turned to continue his discussion with the Hokage.
"The man he described," the younger man began, "Do we have any records of him in our bingo book?"
"Surprisingly, no," the Hokage replied, setting his pipe down and walking up to the clan head, "Someone who was able to not only slip past our barriers and get past our guards but manage to avoid the sight of more than one Byakugan and detect the use of another would have to be a high Jounin status ninja. I have no idea why he wouldn't be in our books."
"What if he wasn't a ninja at all?" Hiashi replied, staring at the Hokage Monument, "It is possible he recieved training in the ninja arts without ever joining the program."
"Not likely. We are one of the few villages that will allow our ninja trainees to quit and become civilians. Most other villages would sooner execute their ninjas than allow someone with training to walk around freely."
"I see..." Hiashi began, but was interrupted when Naruto burst through the doors, much to the protest of the guards and secretary.
"What is it, Naruto?" the Hokage asked, seeing the panicked look on the blonde's face.
"Sorry...old man..." Naruto replied through huffs of breath, completely forgetting his manners, "I...forgot...to mention...something...about the man..."
Naruto hit his knees panting for breath before standing up again, 'Didn't realize I was that tired...' the blonde noted to himself.
"What is it, Naruto?" Hiashi stated.
"When he...was running away...I noticed something...strange about...his chakra," the blonde continued, catching his breath, "It was an odd color, and seemed to be flowing through his arms and legs in a sort of erratic pattern."
"What color was it, Naruto?" the Hokage asked, getting a better picture of who the man was.
"Almost white. But I could still see a tinge of blue."
The Hokage's eye widened significantly before returning to their normal size.
"Thank you, Naruto," Hiashi replied before ushering the boy out of the room, "Now you should head to bed." It wasn't a suggestion.
"Hai, Hiashi-sama."
Once again the two waited for the blonde to get out of sight before they continued their conversation.
"That explains how he got through the barrier," the Hokage theorized, "If he were to stand beside it and create a clone, it could create it on the other side of the barrier if the proper amound of chakra is put into it."
"But then why was the man's chakra so erratic?" Hiashi asked, unfamiliar with that specific chakra pattern.
"It was a lightning clone," the Hokage stated simply, "And seeing as the clone had an almost white chakra, though still slightly saturated with blue, it narrows down our search significantly."
"Why is that?"
"Only one clan in the elemental nations is known to have that specific chakra color. ANBU!"
Three ANBU decloaked themselves from the Hokage's walls and stood before their leader.
"Get me as much information as you can on the Konda Clan from Kumogakure. I need to know if they've had any members disappear on missions lately or if any went rogue. You have your orders." The ANBU quickly disappeared from the room.
"Let's hope nothing comes of this."
- - - - -
"Naruto..." Hinata whispered into his ear as he lay on his bed, out like a light, "Naruto-kun, it's time to wake up."
"Don'...wanna..." the blonde mumbled as he rolled over.
"N...Naruto-kun!" Hinata sighed; this was proving more of a task than she thought it'd be. She was currently on her knees with her elbows holding her up on the bed. She reached her arm over to his shoulder and shook him slightly, "Naruto-kun, we've got to head to the academy soon. Father asked me to wake you so you could have breakfast."
Naruto mumbled for a moment before he tried to fight her shaking by pushing his right arm against her...she flushed a deep red as his hand made contact.
Naruto, for his part, was having a very good dream concerning himself and an all you can eat ramen buffet at Ichiraku's, at least until, for some reason, he stuck his right arm in it. 'Squishy' Naruto thought to himself, wondering why he was touching it and not eating it. "Eep!" Naruto's eyes flashed open.
"Ramen doesn't 'eep'," he stated out loud, turning his head to his right arm. There, on the other end of his right hand, was a brilliant shade of red that was in the shape of Hinata...and then he noticed where his hand was.
"I-I-I-I-I-" Naruto quickly turned the same shade of red as Hinata and attempted to sputter out an apology, only to say something completely undiscernible from unintelligible banter.
Hanabi, in all her infinite wisdom, took this opportunity to burst in on them to see what was taking so long. What she came upon, however, left her with more questions than she could ever think to voice. Sitting on the floor facing eachother were Hinata and Naruto, the former a bright red, poking her fingers together and shifting uncomfortably, while the ladder was a deep shade of red, playing with his thumbs with his eyes shifting uncomfortably side to side.
"Uh...Father says to hurry up...the food's getting cold," Hanabi stated, completely confused.
"H-Hai!" the two chorused, even with the studder; Hanabi felt her confusion grow.
"Uh...see you down there..." she left before she could think any more on it, if only to save herself.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry ab-bout th-that, H-hinata-chan..." Naruto practically whispered, still staring at his hands.
"I-it's o-okay, Naruto-kun," the younger girl replied, for once studdering less than Naruto, "A-anyway, let's go before Father dicides to come get us himself."
Naruto's face flushed slightly pale at the thought of Hinata's father discovering the two. There was no doubt in his mind that Hiashi would demand to know what happened, and it was this knowledge that fueled Naruto as he got dressed faster than he had ever before and dragged a blushing Hinata behind him.
- - - - -
"I'm surprised Hiashi-sama didn't ask why we were so late to breakfast," Naruto pondered out loud as the two walked to the Academy.
"I'm 'thankful' he didn't ask," Hinata blushed brightly at the memory.
"I'm really sorry about that, Hinata-chan," the blonde apologized for the twentieth time that morning.
"It's okay, Naruto-kun," she replied, then smiled deviously, something that frightened the blonde, "I'll just have to repay the favor some day."
Naruto paled slightly; recently his wilder side had been rubbing off on the heiress, and that scared him to no end. He knew his pranks were sometimes dangerous, and some of them could be considered along the lines of partially suicidal if the desired outcome was denied...like the first time he'd snuck into the Uchiha compound and set paint bombs to go off when the door to the clan compound was opened. Naruto was lucky he was talented with the 'leave no trace' concept.
Hinata couldn't help but laugh at the face Naruto was making; it was a strange mix of pride, worry, and absolute horror. She was going to enjoy this.
"I'm glad at least one of us is enjoying this," Naruto stated blandly.
"Naruto; Hinata!" the two looked around for the voice calling them, and were greeted by Nara Shikamaru. While Shikamaru was, majority of the time, lazy, he, like everyone, had a few distinct things that motivated him...one of which had been Naruto's pranks while they were growing up, making him close friends with both Naruto and Hinata.
"How's it going, Shika?" Naruto had given up on calling the genius by his full name shortly after they had become friends, and Shikamaru had given up on having Naruto address him by his full name soon after...something about it being too troublesome.
"Pretty good. Chouji's parents needed to talk to him for a while, mind if I walk with you guys?"
"Of course," Hinata replied. He noticed Naruto pale as she glanced his way.
"What happened between the two of you?" he dared ask.
"There was...uh...an incident this morning when she woke me up..." Naruto informed his friend, his eyes never leaving Hinata's but both of them turning slightly red, "And she's promised to repay me for it..."
Hinata grinned at the blonde and Shikamaru burst out laughing as the blonde paled further.
"I'd keep my guard up, Naruto," Shika replied, "She'll probably strike when you least expect it."
"I know that..." Naruto replied, "And that's the problem. We live together! How am I supposed to sleep at night!?"
"Very restlessly..."
Naruto let out a small wimper as he turned his gaze forward, "This is not going to end well for me at all..."
- - - - -
"Alright class, settle down," Iruka commanded as he entered the room, "It's time we separated you into teams."
The class seemed to calm down a bit, until finally he had their full attention.
"As Genin, you will be operating in three man cells under the command of a Jounin. There are several reasons for this, but all you need to know is it's for instructional purposes," the man continued, "After a select number of missions completed successfully, your instructor may give the the application for Chunin. Once you have become Chunin, you will remain in your three man cells as a base, but more often than not, you will be included in missions where you may lead as many as twelve Chunin and Genin alike. After you've made it to Jounin, you will either be included in joint operation missions, working alone, or taking over a Genin team, as well as being applicable for every position that a Chunin would."
He soon realized he had the classes full attention.
"You may have finally achieved your goal of becoming a ninja, but you are still on the bottom of the charts. Only through time, experience, and backbreaking training will you reach the heights of Jounin and ANBU," Iruka nodded his head at the students, "But before you can do any of that, you must first meet your teammates and instructor. Now, when I call the names for each team, please take a seat next to your new teammates."
- - Flashback - -
"Hokage-sama, are you sure this is such a good idea?" Iruka asked, his head spinning.
"Yes, I'm certain," the Sandaime replied, "Your ideas for teams were excellent, but unfortunately, a new bit of evidence had sprung forth and forced me to change your designs for teams. You may handle them as you see fit, but the cells are set."
"B-but! Sir! This throws off the teams to an incredible extent!"
"No, Iruka, you need to look at each of your students individually and stop looking at their families. My formations are not flawed, and you students will prove themselves. Have faith in them."
"Hai, Hokage-sama..."
- - End Flashback - -
"Teams one through six," Iruka stated as he finished calling out team six, "You are to head the the training grounds, your Jounin instructors will meet you there. Mizuki-sensei will be waiting for you."
When they had filed out of the classroom, only nine students were left, and Iruka ushered them to the front rows.
"I something wrong, sensei?" Ino, a blonde haired girl wearing purple, asked, seeing the worry on his face, "No...and yes."
"Yes and no?" Sasuke asked, his onyx eyes boring into Iruka's, "What do you mean?"
"Alright, I was requested by the Hokage himself to relay this information to you, so Kiba," a boy with brown hair and red face paint lifted his head up, "Shikamaru," the boy tried his hardest not to dose off, "And everyone else, I need your undivided attention."
The room quickly became silent and shuffling ceased and they stared into their sensei's eyes.
"Last night, Konoha was infiltrated," the scarred man began, "By an operative from Kumogakure."
Iruka waited for an outburst, but quickly discovered that it wasn't coming, 'They must realize how serious this is'.
"The Hokage is currently unaware of the intentions of this operative," he looked directly at Naruto and shifted his gaze to Hinata, "But we have our guesses. This infiltration is one step shy of forcing Konoha on a warpath." This time there were collective gasps.
"However, being that we don't have conclusive evidence for this, our village is currently on high alert, though we aren't expecting another attempt for several months. This information and hypothesis has demanded a reorganization of scheduled teams. Originally we had planned to turn you nine into a combat team, a tracker team, and an assault team, but the Hokage has deemed it necessary to have other precautions taken. We don't know what Kumo was after, but we think they want our bloodlines."
Naruto didn't flinch, having assumed this himself, but Hinata placed her hand on his arm and squeezed, remembering the assault on her younger sister a few years prior.
"Therefore, I have been given the order to place you in teams the Hokage has chosen."
Many in the group now wore nervous expressions; it wasn't often the Hokage rearranged the teams to his liking.
"Team Seven will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka Ino," there was no argueing and no cheering, only the shuffle of feet as the three took seats beside eachother.
"Team Eight will include Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata." More shuffling of feet.
"Team Ten will have Aburame Shino, Akamichi Chouji, and Haruno Sakura."
"My apologies, sensei," a pink haired girl piped up, "But isn't it a little odd to have two Hyuugas on the same team?"
"It won't really matter who's on who's team actually," a man with silver hair commented while two others joined him in the front of the classroom, "Because you'll all be training together. The assignment of the teams is currently a formality."
The man nodded to Iruka and paced back and forth in front of the students.
"I see why the old man decided on these ones," a man with black hair and a cigarette in his mouth whispered to the woman beside him, "I was a witness to their graduation exams. These nine graduated at the top of their class ability-wise."
"But we haven't seen them in action yet," the silver haired man replied quickly, his one visible eye shooting to each student before moving on to the next, "This is a hit or miss affair kids, you either do great, or you die," many of the students swallowed the lumps in their throats, "You've been inducted into the Hi no Kage apprenticeship; for the next three months your lives are going to be a living hell, I promise. We will push you until you can't be pushed any farther, and then we'll push some more. You will learn all the ways of the shinobi, not just your fantasies, so if you're going to quit, don't waste my time. Quit now!"
The room stayed silent.
"You have three days. In three days you will be taken from your family and forced to live together in a base camp. You will have no outside contact, no letters, no friends coming to visit, nothing. You will learn to live and operate as a unit and as pieces of a whole. By the time we are done training you, you will be worthy of the title Hi no Kage."
A.N.:
I haven't remembered to do this for the past few chapters, so I'll do it now.
I'd like to give a special thanks to my BETA: Maiden of Books.
She's been reviewing my stories and has helped with a few terms that I'm not too familiar with, but overall, she's given me constructive criticism.
Now, I'm probably going to be deleting the later chapters, seeing as this is practically an entirely different story now with the same basis, but I'm not going to do it for a short while.
I'm sre you've noticed that Kakashi isn't really the same as he was in canon...this is mainly because I've decided that he's going to go straight from ANBU Captain to Drill Sergeant in all meanings of the words. There's not going to really be a time skip over their training either, seeing as taking assassination missions and such will be part of their training. I managed to get this chapter done much sooner than I thought I would, but don't expect the next one to be quite as fast (I'm going to the gym every day now, so I don't have a lot of free time...gotta stop being fat...lol).
Anyway, I've been inspired by a few stories, so I hope this one turns out as good as or better than what I've used as a muse.
Remember (I'm stealing this from another author, lol), it's nice to favorite, but it's AWESOME to Review! Click on that awesome button!
