To Teach a Fox Remake Ch 4: Village Affairs
Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Naruto.
Notes: I'm alive in case anyone was wondering. I apologize for not posting a chapter in…how long has it been? I'm fairly certain that you don't want to hear my excuses, so here's the extremely belated chapter four. Before you start, I want to thank Musicfreak77 and Senkyo for beta reading for me. Now, I hope you enjoy!
Kurenai stared at the Hokage, an incredulous look plastered on her face. "Are you sure you want me to do that?"
Tsunade's sinister smile widened. "Oh, I'm sure."
Using his years of practice in suppressing visible emotions, Hiashi fought back a smile. "I think that it is a fine idea."
Kurenai glanced over at the Hyuga before sighing in defeat and sinking back in her chair. "Alright, it's going to take a lot of time and effort to set up, but I'll do it."
The Hokage grinned inwardly at her victory. Naruto was in for one interesting test. "Excellent! Was there anything else that you wanted to discuss, Hiashi-san?"
He shook his head. "We have discussed everything that I came here for."
Tsunade nodded and then looked at Kurenai. "Do you have anything you wish to ask?"
Kurenai was silent for a few seconds before responding. "Not right now."
The Hokage sighed inwardly in relief as she folded her hands in front of her again. "Then we will meet again when we have more information on this matter. Agreed?"
Hiashi immediately accepted the idea. "Yes, I believe that another meeting would be very beneficial once we know which path Uzumaki has taken."
Not wanting to sound repetitive, Kurenai just nodded.
"Very well, I will contact you when I have new information relevant to this matter," said the blond as she looked, over her folded hands, at the two others in the room.
"I will do the same. Now, if you will excuse me, I must be getting back to the compound. I have a meeting with the Hyuga Council to prepare for." The clan head stood and bowed slightly to Tsunade and Kurenai. "Tsunade-sama, Yuhi-san."
They acknowledged the bow as Hiashi quietly left the room and started on his way back to the Hyuga Compound.
Hiashi left the room feeling much more hopeful about his daughter's position than he had been in a long time. He was so hopeful and happy that he couldn't keep a very slight smile off of his face. Though Hiashi had expected both Tsunade and Kurenai to want to help Naruto and Hinata, respectively, he had not expected them to be so adamant about it.
'This has been a very productive day. I have finished almost all of that paperwork the Council bombarded me with, and I informed two influential people about the current situation in the Hyuga. Not only has it gained me two allies if a conflict within the clan does break out, but I will also have a concrete answer on whether Uzumaki loves my daughter or not. Yes, today has been extremely productive,' he thought as he walked out of the Hokage's office and down the bustling street.
'Now I just have to deal with the Council.' That thought made Hiashi's slight smile fade into nothingness.
The Kunoichi watched Hiashi leave. Once he had shut the door, Tsunade looked over at Kurenai. "I don't care when you leave to check up on Naruto and Hinata. Just make sure that you get a message back to us in plenty of time."
The other woman nodded in understanding and paused briefly in thought. "Why did Hiashi say that revealing Naruto's heritage might not help? I can't imagine any clan turning down the son of Minato."
Tsunade was slightly irritated because she wanted to be left alone for a while, but she knew that the jonin just wanted to help so she answered. "I would have to guess it has something to do with Naruto being a Jinchuriki."
Kurenai frowned but nodded. "That's all I came up with as well, but why would the Hyuga Council give up the chance to try to control a Jinchuriki? They would probably have a good amount of control over Naruto if they threatened Hinata."
Tsunade scowled and leaned forward in her chair in thought. She looked up at Kurenai after a few seconds and responded, "True, but I don't think that they will try that."
"Why wouldn't they?" Kurenai asked, curious.
The Hokage glanced out of her office window and in the direction of the Hyuga Compound, her lips pulled into a tight frown. "The Hyuga Council usually only deals with internal affairs, so not many people outside the Hyuga clan have dealings with them or even know about them. In fact, I didn't even know that they existed until I took this job."
Tsunade's anger flared up a bit, but she quickly got it under control and glanced at Kurenai. "I've had a few meetings with them since becoming Hokage, and they're probably the most arrogant people I have ever met. They believe that the Hyuga clan is the ultimate clan and that Hyuga blood is the most noble in the world. I don't have a doubt in my mind that the thought of having the main house's blood made 'impure' by Naruto, for them, outweighs the chance of having control over a Jinchuriki or Minato's son."
Kurenai scowled. "How can someone be that conceded?"
The Hokage's anger flared up again as she thought back on one of her meetings with the Hyuga Council. "I don't know, but it is infuriating beyond belief. I have to force myself not to get up and kick some sense and humility into them during our meetings."
Knowing that she probably would have been the same way, Kurenai nodded in understanding. She sat there for a few more minutes, waiting to see if the Hokage would say anything else, but Tsunade was completely absorbed in her thoughts. Wanting to get moving, Kurenai stood, bowed to Tsunade and left the room.
The Hokage was so engaged in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Kurenai had left until the door clicked shut. She looked down at her desk and sighed. 'I guess I should get back to work, or Shizune will have my head for not finishing these reports.' The blond picked up the report she had discarded and started looking it over. That only lasted a few seconds before she huffed in irritation and threw it back down on her desk. 'I can't concentrate on this at all! Damn it!'
She swiveled her chair to look out of her office window and rubbed her forehead in an attempt to lessen the brewing headache. 'Why the hell do things like this always happen to me?'
Kurenai left Tsunade's office in a state of worry and concern. 'How are we going to stop this from spiraling out of control? From the way it sounds, the Hyuga Council is going to be dead set on keeping Naruto and Hinata apart. We can't let them get away with that. Those two deserve a chance to be together as much as anyone else.' As she left the building, her mind was in a flurry of activity while she tried to think of anything that could help her student and the blond jinchuriki.
Worry motivating her, she wasted little time in getting back to her apartment. Once inside, it didn't take her long to get everything packed and ready to go. Years of missions had taught her to prepare for the next mission immediately after getting back from the previous one, so all she really had to do was toss in a few more pairs of clothes. Kurenai ran through a mental checklist of everything in her pack before heading out of her apartment door and locking it behind her.
She rocketed off towards the village's main gate. As she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, her mind turned to Hinata's situation once again. 'There has to be a surefire way to let her be with Naruto and not start a political upheaval. There has to be.'
Trying to think of some solution to the mess that had been dropped in her lap, Tsunade stared out over the horizon for about five minutes before giving up and looking down into the street. As her eyes wandered the street below, she spotted a group of children playing with each other in front of a shop. It looked as if they were playing tag, and it was obvious that they were having a good time.
The Hokage's mouth turned up into a smile at the sight, touched by the innocence of the scene. 'I wish I could be that young and carefree again,' she thought wistfully. She continued watching the children for a few minutes before glancing at her desk and sighing in frustration. 'All this paperwork is driving me crazy.' The blond turned back to her desk and absentmindedly started rummaging through some of the papers. 'There has to be some way to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.'
As she flipped through the papers, one of them caught her eye and she pulled it out of the stack to look at it. 'A request to go through all of our records and re-catalog them?' The Hokage's brow furrowed in thought. 'There's a very good chance that some documents may not have been cataloged when they were put in there. Maybe one of them can help? It's worth a shot.'
Tsunade signed the paper and set it on top of the stack of completed papers on her desk. 'Even if we don't find any forgotten documents that can help, it still gives me a valid reason to spend long periods of time in the records room. That will be helpful if the Hyuga Council starts to suspect something.' She sat back in her chair and rubbed her forehead again. 'Even when he's not in the village, Naruto still finds a way to cause problems for me.'
Tsunade sat there for a few minutes before she let out a small chuckle and smiled slightly. 'Even so, I wouldn't trade him for anything. After all, he still needs to take this job from me.'
She took one last glance in the direction of Flat Rock Springs before turning her attention back towards the tremendous amount of paperwork on her desk. 'I think I'd rather take on Akatsuki than deal with this,' she thought gloomily as she picked up a report and started reading.
Hiashi had made it back to the Hyuga compound within ten minutes of leaving the Hokage's office. He greeted the on-duty guards with his usual nod, and they greeted him with their customary bow.
As he was walking past Hiro, Hiashi stopped and glanced in the guard's direction. "Thank you for finding Yuhi-san so quickly. Having her there made the meeting very productive."
The other man was caught completely off guard by the clan head's actions, but recovered quickly and responded, "You are welcome, Hiashi-sama."
The Hyuga leader nodded and continued on his way to his study. 'It seems that their opinion of me is still rather unfavorable.' He gave a mental sigh. 'That will make things much more difficult.'
Arriving at his study door, Hiashi entered the room and took his normal spot behind table. He glanced at the small clock on his desk. 'Good, I still have half an hour before I need to meet with the Council. That gives me plenty of time to finish up the rest of this paperwork.'
Hiro's mind was racing after his encounter with Hiashi. 'The clan head thanked me? He has been warming up these last few years, but did he actually progress that far?' The guard frowned slightly in thought. 'Perhaps he was only that kind because of the outcome of the meeting?' The branch family member glanced in the direction of the Hokage's building. 'If so, what was that meeting about?'
For the rest of the day, Hiro's thoughts were plagued by concerns about what had been discussed at the meeting and what the outcomes could have been.
Kurenai had been so focused on trying to find a solution to her student's situation that she had completely forgotten about her prior engagements for the day. She had almost made it to the village gates before she remembered.
'Crap! I can't believe that I almost forgot about Asuma!' She quickly changed directions and started heading towards the training grounds. It only took her a few minutes to arrive at her new destination. After arriving, Kurenai quickly spotted the bearded man training with his trench knives on the other side of the field. Deciding to take a brief break, she silently watched him. A small smile found its way onto her face. However, it faded quickly when she remembered the talk she had put off. She bit her lower lip in worry. 'Should I tell him now, or wait until I get back?'
"So, are you going to stand there watching me all day, or did you want to talk?" Asuma asked as he lit up a cigarette and glanced in Kurenai's direction, having put away his knives long ago.
Spurred by the question, Kurenai quickly made her decision and jumped down from the tree. She landed gracefully and walked over to him, offering a slight smile. He returned the smile.
Seeing an opening to steer the conversation, Kurenai spoke first. Hopefully she could keep him from asking about their previous conversation. "I'm going to Flat Rock Springs for about a week and a half."
Asuma raised an eyebrow at the sudden news. "Vacation or mission?"
"It's a vacation of sorts," she answered.
"Of sorts?" he questioned before taking a drag of his cigarette.
"I'm actually going to be keeping an eye on Naruto and Hinata during their mission there," she responded quickly.
He grinned and miraculously spoke without losing the cigarette that was placed in the corner of his mouth, "Trying to get Naruto to finally notice Hinata?"
"Something like that," she replied.
He let out a short chuckle. "They will certainly be an interesting couple if you do manage to get Naruto to notice her."
She nodded. 'But he's gone this long without seeing. Will one mission alone with her change anything?' As much as she hated herself for thinking it, she briefly wondered if it wouldn't be better if he didn't. A few seconds of silence passed before Kurenai spoke, "Asuma?"
"Yeah?"
"There might be a major issue with the Hyuga clan shortly after I get back, so be ready."
Asuma's brow furrowed. An issue with the Hyuga? That didn't sound good. "Has anyone else been informed yet?"
"Not that I know of."
He nodded and stared off into the forest in thought for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Kurenai. "Alright."
She offered a quick smile and turned to leave. "I need to get going. I'll see you when I get back."
Asuma studied her briefly. She was avoiding something. "What did you want to talk to me about before you were summoned to that meeting?"
Kurenai silently cursed her luck and answered after gathering her thoughts. She hadn't actually thought he would let it slip, but it would have been nice. There were downsides to loving a jonin. They always knew when you were hiding something. "I'll tell you when I get back. I really have to go," she said, hoping that he would let it drop.
He took another drag of his cigarette and then nodded. He wasn't going to push her to tell him right then if she didn't want to.
She saw the nod and offered another smile before she jumped up into the nearest tree. After one last glance back at Asuma, Kurenai raced off into the forest and towards Flat Rock Springs.
He silently watched the other Jonin until she disappeared into the forest. After she was gone, he continued to stare out into the forest, smoking his cigarette and thinking about the conversation. 'Something other than the Hyuga is really bothering her.'
Asuma exhaled smoke smoke in a sigh-like fashion. 'She also took the first chance she could to direct the conversation, and then tried to get away as soon as possible after she had finished. And the way she avoided finishing our talk?' He frowned, not liking the implications. 'I guess I'll just have to find out when she gets back.'
He turned his attention to the new information he had been given. 'An issue with the Hyuga, huh? Well, Tsunade will probably inform all of the Jonin and Chunin if it does get to be a problem, so I don't have to worry about telling many people. Kakashi has a right to know, though. It sounds like this issue directly involves his student.'
He stood there for a few more minutes before looking in the direction of the village. 'I might as well go tell him now. I wanted to ask him about something anyway.'
Asuma took one last puff of his cigarette before turning and walking towards the village.
After three hours of solid running, Naruto was growing impatient. Moving from his position guarding their rear flank, he caught up with his teammate. "Hey, Hinata! How close are we to getting there?"
Startled by the blond's sudden appearance next to her, it took a few seconds for her to respond. "O-oh, um, I t-think that we s-should arrive t-there in another four h-hours."
"That long?" Naruto sighed in exasperation. He really wanted to start hunting down what was causing the disappearances.
Hinata the sigh and glanced over at him in worry. 'Have I been going too slow?' She glanced down in worry down and poking her index fingers together as she ran. "I'm s-sorry."
Naruto was caught off guard by the comment. Was there something to be sorry about? He didn't think so, but then why had Hinata said she was sorry? Confused, he looked over at her. "What for?"
She continued poking her fingers together as she jumped from tree to tree. "I s-should have been m-moving faster so t-that w-we could get there sooner."
Dumbfounded by the comment, Naruto stared at her. Why would she apologize for that? Anyone else would have told him to stop complaining and deal with it. Hinata was always so kind. One of the things he liked most about her. He grinned. "Don't worry about it, Hinata! We've been running fast enough. I just didn't know that the resort was that far away from our village. Though now that I think about it, I remember you saying it would take us until morning." He laughed awkwardly. "Sorry."
She stopped poking her fingers together and shyly looked over at Naruto. A slight blush lit up her face when she saw his grin. "Are y-you sure, Naruto-kun?"
His grin widened and he nodded. "Yeah, you've been doing a great job! Way better than I could do. I probably would have gotten us lost or attacked by now. That Byakugan of yours is awesome!"
'Naruto-kun thinks my Byakugan is awesome!' Hinata's blush deepened. "I-I'm sure that isn't t-true, N-naruto-kun."
A happy laugh spilled from his mouth as he glanced forward to ensure he wouldn't fall, completely missing her blush in the process. "You know, I'm really glad that you're on this mission with me, Hinata. I don't think it would be going as smoothly as it has if someone else had been on this mission." He paused. "I like going on missions with you."
Hinata's face almost seemed to glowed from her blush, and she felt a fainting spell starting to creep up on her. Not wanting to lessen Naruto's opinion of her, Hinata did her absolute best to fight the feeling.
Naruto was about to say something else when there was a break in the canopy. The sun was clearly starting to set and that spurred his mind back to the mission. 'Should we set up camp for the night? I can keep going, but what about Hinata?' He glanced over at her. She was breathing heavily and was bright red. His brow furrowed in worry.
'She doesn't look too good. We better set up camp so she can rest,' Naruto glanced around for a good spot to stop, hoping to find a place quickly to give Hinata a break. Off to his right, Naruto spotted a clearing that looked like a good choice. 'That'll do.'
He smiled and glanced over at Hinata. "Why don't we set up camp for the night?"
The timid Hyuga managed to nod.
"Alright, follow me!" he said, taking the lead. Hinata followed him closely, still struggling with her traitorous emotions.
A few seconds later they dropped out of the trees and into the clearing. It was a small, 10 ft clearing that was surrounded by dense foliage and numerous trees. There was a stream that had broken off from a river that ran along the edge of the clearing. Orange light from the setting sun filtered through the canopy and gave the clearing a majestic look.
Naruto looked around and then grinned in satisfaction. "This is great!"
Fighting off the fainting spell, Hinata looked around as well. Enamored by the innate beauty of the forest, a content smile worked its way onto her face.
Naruto walked a little ways into the clearing and swung the pack off of his back. He grabbed the disassembled tent on the top of it and started to set it up.
As he was working, he glanced over at Hinata to check on her. Naruto smiled when he saw her admiring her surroundings. Satisfied with his decision, he turned his attention back to putting the tent together.
The noise of a tent being formed broke her from her trance. She glanced over at Naruto and immediately felt guilty for not helping. Looking for something to do, she settled on gathering loose wood for a fire.
Notes: I hope that the chapter was worth the wait. I honestly didn't expect it to take me this long to write this chapter, and I apologize for the extremely long wait. I guess everyone has figured out that you probably shouldn't believe me when I offer a time for my next chapter, so I won't even bother giving one for chapter five. I just hope it doesn't take as long to write as chapter four did. Now, for the customary questions. Did everything make sense? Was the interaction between the characters believable and in character? Was there anything that you think that I left out? Any mistakes that you can see? Any repetition that I should fix? This has been bothering my for a while, but have I been portraying Hinata and Naruto correctly? I would really like some input on the last question, but any and all input on my story is appreciated!
Edited on September 11, 2011: Same as the last three chapter edits. Just a mild spruce up. If anyone sees something that needs edited, please send me a message. Thanks, and have a great day!