Title: Tsutsudori, chapter IV

Claimer/Author: This story is written by and belongs to Emmy Kay.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.


The heat and the humidity of summer was something Hinata had never been very good at tolerating. By the looks of it, most everyone else seemed to be wilting and drooping in the sultry, soupy weather.

It was a rare moment that Sakura and Ino and Hinata could escape their duties to relax under the shade of a large tree at the edge of the village. Ino and Sakura sat, lazily fanning themselves. Hinata had long ago dispensed with tabi, and now left her sandals and fan on shore while she padded in the shallows of the great lake.

"It's so hot," Sakura said, heaving a great sigh.

"It's lightning warrior weather," Ino commented.

"What's lightning warrior weather?" Sakura asked.

Ino looked surprised. "Maybe it's just something we say here. It's the sort of weather that makes everybody mean. It's all hot and humid, then it rains with lots of lightning, and it's still hot and even more humid."

"I just heard Tsunade say something about it and to be careful. I guess the heat could be too much for some people."

"Maybe. But it's also the time we look out for bandits. The weather seems to bring them out, especially with such a good harvest coming," Ino said matter-of-factly. "At least, that's what my father says. It's never happened here that I can remember - but it has happened in lots of other villages around here this time of year." Deliberately changing the subject, she said, "Let me tell you about the Midsummer dance. It happens every year by the lake, and it's going to be in two days, when the full moon is out."

"A dance?" questioned Sakura.

"Come on, get up - take your fan with you."

Ino then demonstrated the women's dance, a moderately difficult dance of many steps that repeated. While Sakura and Hinata attempted it, Ino clapped out the beat.

"No, no," corrected Ino. "You start with your left foot. Let's do it again." After the third misstep, Ino stopped entirely.

"What's wrong now?" asked Sakura, who was becoming a little irritable.

"It's left, right, turn, wave fan," yelled Naruto, from the tree above them.

"Shut up!" hissed Shikamaru from a branch nearby. "You're giving us away!"

With a surprised cry, the girls looked upward. Ino actually flung a rock in his direction.

"Ow!" cried Shikamaru.

"Go away!" yelled Ino, arming herself with another rock.

"You go away," countered Shikamaru. "We were here first!"

"Just wait till I tell your mother!" Ino threatened.

"C'mon, Naruto - let's get out of here," Shikamaru grumbled. "It's getting too troublesome to stay."

After a moment, peering up through the trees to make sure the boys were gone, Sakura and Hinata tried again. As Ino counted out, "Left, right, turn - " Sakura twisted awkwardly and fell to her bottom.

Loud laughter erupted from above them. "I never said, left, right, turn, fall down!"

"Naruto!" groaned Shikamaru. "Stop giving us away!"

"If you can't go away, stop distracting them," scolded Ino, hurling the stone into the branches for good measure.

Sakura screeched, "If you're so critical, then you do it!"

"Okay," Naruto said, jumping down.

Ino, her face creased with mirth, handed Naruto a fan. The girls watched, fully prepared to laugh. But after the first few steps, their faces showed nothing but astonishment. Sakura's jaw dropped. In front of them, they watched the dance as performed by a woman, with all the grace and fluidity of a woman's body.

"How did you learn how to do that?" Ino asked, flabbergasted.

"Just now?" Naruto shrugged. "Jiraiya and I have to occasionally do roles as women." He paused, and opened the fan with a practiced flick of the wrist, then lifted up the fan flirtatiously to his eyes, his movements as coquettish as a courtesan's, one hand on a hip, head tilted girlishly to the side. "Not every story is about two men." He snapped the fan shut, dropped his hands and transformed back to a lean young man without a trace of femininity about him. "You should see Jiraiya play Ame-no-Uzume."

"I'll bet," muttered Ino. She heard a low chuckle above her. "You come down here, Shikamaru Nara!"

"There is no way I can dance better than Naruto," Shikamaru protested. Then he added, slyly, " - and neither can most women."

"What!" shrieked Sakura, outraged. "You will show me how you just did that," she demanded of Naruto.

Hinata stood up slowly, unprepared for when Naruto grabbed her hand, yanking her upright. She was incredibly self-conscious - feeling only the dirt beneath her bare feet and the mass of her hair, sliding untidily out of its paper ribbon. She was unaware of how her hair had begun to shine with health, and how her features had begun to soften from a convalescent stringyness into a delicate femininity which might draw an admiring eye.

"C'mon, Hinata, let's show 'em." With Naruto at her side, Hinata stepped through the dance, her blush growing. Her natural reticence was brushed aside as Ino continued to count out loud and an instinctive sense of rhythm came into play. She turned, twisted, and waved her fan, her steps becoming more confident with each beat.

Naruto turned his head towards her, his smile positively effervescent. They did not move any closer to each other than an arms-length apart, but she was completely aware of where he was and what movements he was making, down to the breaths he was taking. She felt as if they were moving in accord, their steps perfectly matched. It was a moment Hinata wished she could save, knowing it was as fluid and as transient as water cupped in a single hand.

After a moment of bobbing her head, and a first false step, Sakura stepped into line, a heavy frown over her eyebrows as she looked down at her feet and counted under her breath. After a few measures, she sighed with relief as she completed the dance without error. Then she smiled. "That wasn't so hard!"

Ino and Shikamaru continued to squabble in the background.

"You - ! You! Ohh! You just climb a tree already!"

Shikamaru laughed. "I'm already in one! Hey - "

A whistle shrilled across a particularly pregnant-looking series of clouds low in the sky. Ino and Shikamaru jerked into motion; Shikamaru dropped out of the tree and Ino hurridly picked up her sandals. "To the village, right now!" she commanded.

"What's happening?" asked Hinata, startled.

"Attack on the village!"

"Go to Tsunade's hut," panted Shikamaru, nervous sweat dripping off his face and neck, soaking the neckline of his robe as he raced for the village perimeter.

Naruto grabbed hold of Hinata's hand and started running.

"My lady!" Sakura exclaimed, turning back after running ahead, hampered by Hinata's slow progress.

"Go ahead, Sakura," Hinata huffed.

Naruto pulled her along, while Sakura and Ino fled ahead. It wasn't for very long, but Hinata ran as she couldn't ever remember running - desperately, so hard she could feel every step jarring her bones, and so fast there was no time to think about how much it hurt her bare feet.

Hinata had never seen the village look so full - residents and their children were everywhere, anxiously gathering their most precious belongings, releasing animals into the woods, putting out fires, securing their small homes.

After leaving her at Tsunade's hut, Naruto shot off to a far point in the village. Sasuke, Iruka and Kakashi were already there, alongside Shikaku, both of them kneeling in front of Tsunade. Shikaku breathlessly detailed the threat, "-maybe fifty men at arms, a handful on horses. Potentially enough to take the village, burn the fields so close to harvest time, and raze all the buildings."

Tsunade said, "We're going to have to muster all available men. What's our strategy?"

"We can line up archers in the trees, and lay a line of men across the main entry into the village. Shikamaru is gathering up the men. Chouji and Lee are getting together whatever weapons there are - knives, farm tools, flails, anything we have on hand. Chouza Akimichi said he had been stockpiling weapons for some time - so we'll see what we have. After that, there'll be fighting all over the village."

"We need to save the store houses and the fields, that's most likely what they'll be after. We've got to show these bandits no one attacks Konoha lightly." Tsunade faced Hinata and Sasuke. "It is good that the both of you are here - I'm asking for your men to help us, and stay and fight."

"Our men and horses are at your service," said Sasuke. Tsunade glanced at Hinata, who nodded vigorously.

Shikaku shook his head. "Don't want your horses."

Tsunade said, "Shizune will handle the evacuation - women, children and the elderly that can walk will escape over the hill. The infirm need to be moved to the temple. Masako will find room for them all. Perhaps Kurenai will assist her."

Sasuke turned to Iruka. "Take Hinata to escape with the women."

Hinata bowed her head to Sasuke and Tsunade, and headed back to her hut. On the way, a leather-gloved fist grasped Hinata's arm. "Wha -?" she began, looking at a suit of light leather and lacquered wooden armor, her eyes shooting up to the intimidating, face-covering helmet on top.

The gloves moved up and pulled the helmet came off, revealing Tenten looking as fierce and proud as any warrior Hinata had ever seen. Tenten declared, "I want you to take my son with you. Promise me."

Astonished, Hinata could only gape. Tenten gave Hinata's arm an impatient shake. "Promise me." Then, as if it cost her dearly, she begged, "Please. Take him. I'll come for him if I can."

Dumbly, Hinata nodded.

"Thank you. I have left him with Sakura." With a funny twist to her mouth, Tenten added, "I think he takes after his father's side of the family, anyway." Then briskly, she headed to Tsunade's side.

Hinata came into the house to find Sakura and Karin were hastily throwing together packs of clothing and goods, and Haruki looking anxiously around the room. "We have to hurry, Lady Hinata. We're supposed to be going past the temple and over the hill."

"Bring as little as possible," Hinata ordered, scanning the contents of the packs.

"Hinata!" Naruto called as he walked into her rooms, clad in the orange and blue kosode.

"You can't come in here!" squawked Karin.

Sakura only sighed. "Naruto, you do have a way of going into places that you aren't supposed to."

"Lady Hinata," Chouji said, his hoarse, forge-roughened voice a safe distance from the door. "Lady Hinata - I beg your forgiveness - for disturbing you - "

Naruto chimed in, "I was hoping to do this later, in a nicer way -"

"- Lady, I was only able to finish a single sword so far - "

" - but we don't have a lot of time."

Hinata stepped outside.

Chouji cleared his throat. "Lady, you need to take this from me." In his enormous hands, he held out a katana, sheathed in a very simple wooden saya. Hinata received the blade tentatively, astonished at its light weight. "Now you give it to your samurai," he gently instructed, his voice a low rumble.

"Thank you, Chouji." He nodded and after begging pardon for all the things he needed to do, left.

She turned, at her side stood Naruto. She simply handed the sword to him with both hands, but instead of merely accepting it or taking it from her, his hands came up to cover hers. "I will protect you. The promise of a lifetime."

She looked directly into his eyes; so blue, so honest, so simple, so dear, so inspiring. "You are, and shall always be, in the service of the Hyuuga."

He thrust the blade into his obi. He looked so complete, so confident and happy, Hinata could only smile in reflected contentment. Naruto smiled back, then seemed struck by a sudden thought. "Hinata, listen," Naruto said, urgently. "Promise you'll save yourself - you'll try to protect yourself. Promise me."

"I - I promise."

"Good." He stared at her intently, with those blue blue eyes and then suddenly, he swooped in, and crushed her to his body. Then he pressed a kiss, as awkward, as cherished, as new as a first step, against her mouth. "Hinata - I will be back," he whispered into her hair. She had become so precious to him - if he could do anything, it would be to keep her safe. The sounds of preparations made around them brought him back to his immediate situation. "My honor on it!"


Hinata and and a fractious Haruki joined the group waiting at the edge of the village. Sakura and Karin followed closely behind, each carrying a small pack. As Haruki started to whine, Hinata tied an ombuhimo onto her body, and Sakura helped her load Haruki into the cloth baby carrier, pulling the straps through the metal rings set into the body. Once seated, he calmed down, chewing contentedly on some fabric.

Konohamaru was fiercely objecting to his role as a child. "I am not a baby! I don't wanna go with the babies! I want to fight! Naruto's fighting! Shikamaru and Chouji and Shino and Lee are fighting!" he argued.

"We are not about to let you fight! You're not even twelve years old!" Shizune snapped, anxious, at the end of her patience. "I have better things to do than -"

Hinata interjected, "Konohamaru!"

Konohamaru's head turned. "Oi, it's Boss Man's Lady!" He gave her a brief salute. "What can I do for you?"

Shizune bit her tongue and waited.

Rapidly, without pausing to reflect on what it meant to be "Boss Man's Lady," Hinata said, "Konohamaru - Tsunade and Naruto and Shizune and I - we have decided that you are to have a very important job. Naruto told me especially."

"A job?" Konohamaru's small, round eyes squinted in thought. "What kind of job?"

"It's very important, and it needs a very smart person, a very good fighter."

"What?"

"You're to stay at the back of the line of children and women - we need you to protect them and keep them moving. Can you do that?"

Konohamaru looked a little skeptical. "Truly? It's not just to keep me with the babies?"

"Yes, truly," Hinata said, fully investing in the words. "It's a grown-up, important job. Look at Iruka -"

Iruka jerked his head up at the sound of his name. "What?"

"Iruka's here to protect the women and children, and he's Naruto's own teacher."

Following her lead, Iruka confirmed, "Yes, guarding women and children is the most important job you can get. They are the next generation, the inheritors of the future - you always keep them safe."

"Hn," Konohamaru considered. While not fully convinced, Konohamaru fell in line as the group began to move, a swagger in his step, his hand firmly on his bokken. He constantly looked over his shoulder, just in case anyone was approaching from the rear.

As they continued to walk, the babies strapped to their caretaker's bodies, the women grimly marching, the children began to flag. Shizune looked back over her shoulder at the long line straggling behind, telegraphing her frustration that they weren't able to go any faster. Hinata caught that look, and slowed down her steps so she wound up at the main end of the children. She began to sing a little song about a rabbit, and as she sang, she mimed jumping with her hands, and the children all jumped with her movements. Each time she sang, she sang a little bit faster, moving the children along at some speed. The mothers smiled at her, nodding as she moved along their ranks.

Hinata sang every song she knew, many times over. When even the singing couldn't move the children, Hinata went to consult with Shizune. "Maybe we could rest, just for a minute?"

Shizune looked grim, but nodded. They collected under a tree, and bottles of water and small snacks were freed from deep within sacks. With Sakura and Karin's help, Hinata released Haruki to run about. She sighed. He was very heavy for such a small person. Then she opened up the pack Tenten had made, hoping there would be something for Haruki to eat. There was several small bundles wrapped in cloth, and as she pulled one out, she saw something peculiar at the very bottom of the bag. It almost looked like an architectural drawing of some kind - the lines were very crisply drawn, and in the corner were some notes she could almost read, and neat, angular handwriting seemed so familiar - if only she had some more light -

"Lady Hinata, is there anything for Haruki?" Karin asked, curious.

"Oh, yes, I think so" Hinata said quickly, pulling out a small bundle and shutting the bag, firmly. Deftly, she untied the cloth and revealed some leaf-wrapped rice balls, which Haruki took greedily. "Tenten packed enough for a while."

After the all-too-brief break, Shizune stood up, exchanging another look with Hinata. Hinata nodded. She would take care of this; every adult knew what was expected, and even though the children were refreshed after their break, they were none-too-eager to begin the next part of their march. But the only thing to do was to continue onward, giving up was unthinkable, failure impossible.

She took a deep breath. "Naruto told me a funny story - " and proceeded to tell the story of Naruto falling off the roof of the temple. In the middle of the story, she got up and started walking. The children's attention successfully procured, they began to hurry to so they could catch all the words she spoke. The children laughed and laughed, and some piped up to comment on it. She continued to tell funny, improbable stories; all the stories Naruto had ever told her. She called on every single child whose name she knew, and when she didn't remember, she made up nicknames. She used every trick she could ever remember Naruto and Jiraiya using; she made funny noises in her throat, she made faces, she used different voices, she made up words and most of all, she kept walking.

And the children, with their mothers and elders, followed.


Time had passed strangely that day - speeding up during the frantic preparations, and then slowing down while they awaited attack, and then suddenly, it was time.

As Tsunade took up position in front of the storehouse with Tenten, she spotted a familiar blaze of white hair on top of a brightly colored robe. "What're you doing, old man?"

Jiraiya sniffed. "I can use a sword as well as any man out there. And if nothing else, my body will slow those animals out there long enough for the women and children to escape." He held an old spear in his hands and gestured meaningfully with it.

"You've got to evaculate!" she yelled, pulling out her tessen, as if to strike him with it.

"With the women and children?" Jiraiya pulled a scornful face. "Don't be ridiculous. I'll stand this ground with you."

"I did not save you so you could die like this. This is not some play, you fool!" she shouted.

He nodded, gravely. "I know. I've always like the idea of battling to the last right here."

Then came the sounds of deep-throated yelling and hooves pounding against the earth, shaking the threatening grey sky, stretching the nerves of the already stressed villagers.

Tsunade eyed him grimly, "It's your funeral."

Jiraiya looked delighted. "As long as you're there when the cherry trees blossom over my remains, dearest Tsunade, it will be worth it."

"Cherry blossoms?" Tsunade snorted. "More like hydrangeas." She turned her attention to the battle about to begin front of them, her hands knuckled into hard fists.


The bandits came - in raggedy clothing, unkempt, savage-looking, some riding horses that were little more than skeletons, spurred by heavy whipping. In their hands lay any variety of rusty, dirty, blood-encrusted weapons. At their head rode a frightful figure - a gaunt, pale man with matted black hair, his native beauty sunken into decay. As the onslaught began, he laughed, thrilling in the sheer pleasure of destruction.

Shikamaru and Shino were with the archers high in the trees, shooting arrows, throwing down rocks and emptying baskets of dirt into the path of the speeding marauders.

As the bandits cleared the trees, spitting out dirt and rubbing at their eyes, they tripped over hidden wires strung between trees. Some of the horses dropped to their knees, throwing their riders. Humiliated, enraged, the bandits rose up and swarmed over village.

Sasuke and Naruto stood shoulder to shoulder, their swords moving to defend Konoha. Joining them was an incredibly enormous-seeming Chouji, wielding the largest axe Naruto had ever seen, and most of the Hyuuga samurai with their swords. Kakashi stood with an deceptively relaxed mien, his arms crossed about his chest, until an opponent came within reach and he sprang into action, faster than the eye could follow, as befit the Hyuuga master-at-arms. Rock Lee had a bo, on which had been strapped a hand-scythe sharpened to razor's edge. He handled the improvised weapon dexterously, as if he had been practicing for an unholy amount of time.

Then there was Kiba. Surrounding him and his mother lay many of the great white and liver-colored dogs of the Inuzuka; some nearly the size of ponies, their eyes half-shut, their tongues lolling out in a calm that escaped their handlers. At the first sounds of horses, the dogs jerked to their paws, tugging at their restraints. Once unleashed, they starting chasing and harrying the larger animals into a frenzy, their excited baying echoing over the hills. The leader leaped off his crazed horse, jerking out his sword as he landed.

Out of arrows, the archers waited until the last of the bandits ran under them. Then they dropped to the ground, pulled out hand weapons, and spread out through the village. Shikamaru and Shino were immediately chased by a vengeful horseman. Shikamaru ran straight ahead, Shino dodged left. The rider followed Shikamaru, who slipped into a tight space between two houses. The horseman, seized by the thrill of the chase, followed, and was caught, his mount impaled on a hidden piece of fencing embedded with spears. Shino, having doubled back, pursued the rider and pulled a shuriken from his obi and threw it, nearly severing the horseman's head from his body.

The clouds tore open, the rain began to bucket down, and the hard-packed earth became a slippery, muddy, bloody nightmare to navigate. Tenten and Jiraiya fended off a wave of bandits - easily overcoming the numbers with their skills, despite the new challenge of the weather. Tsunade sat, her face calm, as she watched the action all around her. One bandit approached too closely. Tsunade raised her tessen, with a deep grunt, and bashed him heavily across the face, sending him reeling backward into Jiraiya's ready weapon.

When Tenten took a fraction of a second too long to dispatch an adversary, Chouji materialized out of nowhere, running incredibly fast for his mass, chasing down and virtually barreling over the bandits in his way, his weight making him effectively unstoppable, until he could reach her side and take down the enemy with his own hands.

"I could have taken care of that myself," Tenten reminded Chouji, tartly, as they stood next to each other, prepared for the next wave.

"I know," he said, humbly.

Villagers stood at attention by the fields, alert to the possibility of fire, ready to defend their livelihood. Once the rain started, they began to converge around the buildings, circling the remaining bandits, taking back their land.

Sasuke had become separated from the main body of the fighting, ending up against the edges of the village. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone running towards him, the deadly intent from his sword dripping with blood and rain. As Sasuke turned, his normally steady footing faltered and he slipped to his knees. His adversary stepped on Sasuke's arm, and Sasuke dropped his sword. The bandit's next move was to kick Sasuke's face, and step on Sasuke's neck. Time slowed as Sasuke stared up into a white face and cold, dark eyes while his killer licked his lips in anticipation, sword raised. Sasuke could see his own frightened expression reflected off the reptilian pupils. Lightning flared and the killer's eyes widened in shock as he took in Sasuke, and then he spoke, the sound covered by the roll of the thunder.

Then a sword slid between Sasuke and his death, deflecting the incoming blow. Naruto turned fully to the killer, who leaped backward. They exchanged several blows, Naruto seeming to snarl as he drove the bandit backward. Finally, Naruto swung one last time, catching the would-be killer off-guard, who, though successful in fending off a direct impact, was unable to stop Naruto's sword from slicing into his arm. The bandit fled in a panic. As the enemy ran off, Naruto howled at his back, demanding his return.

Sasuke slowly got on his knees to stand. "Naruto - " he began.

Naruto spun toward Sasuke, as nimble as a cornered animal determined to locate additional foes. There was something in Naruto's narrowed eyes, a red ring around the pupils, an accentuation of the whisker marks on his cheeks - a rabid, vulpine bestiality - that seized Sasuke's heart in an icy grip. In the briefest of impressions, Sasuke understood that it was Naruto, this side of Naruto he had to fear, not the mad bandit.

Then it was gone, and all that was left was the clear blue of Naruto's usual expression.

"Naruto - I want to thank you - " Sasuke said, starting to rise.

Naruto extended a hand, starting to grin. "Nah, it's nothing. I'm already in the service of the Hyuuga."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed, taking Naruto's hand and standing. "You are."


A/N

Hydrangeas produce blooms from early spring to late autumn, in comparison with the cherry tree blossom, whose shortness of bloom is often compared to the life of a samurai. Hydrangeas are also known for the large size of the heads of flowers.

saya = scabbard

katana = long sword (daito). Wakizashi = short sword (shoto). A shōtō and a daitō together are called a daishō (literally, "big and small"). The daishō was the symbolic armament of the Edo period samurai, even though fighting styles varied and actual use of both swords at the same time was relatively uncommon.

onbuhimo = Japanese baby carrier worn like a backpack.

tessen = war fan. These fans were made outer spokes made of plates of iron which were designed to look like normal, harmless folding fans or solid clubs shaped to look like a closed fan. Samurai could take these to places where swords or other overt weapons were not allowed, and some swordsmanship schools included training in the use of the tessen as a weapon. (from wikipedia)