Here is the next chapter of our story. Sorry for the extra delay I hope you all had as an exciting a Holiday season as we did. Well this chapter really lets Hinata shine. It is also a big fighting chapter. Reviews are welcome as always.

Remember we don't own Naruto. Please excuse us while we go drown ourselves in leftover eggnog because of that fact.

What Would Sheppard Do?

Naruto looked at the dark and foreboding entry way. He cast a quick glance at Kiba who nodded silently in return. With that bit of silent communication out of the way Naruto strode boldly into the darkness with Kiba following at a more sedate pace. Hinata brought up the rear as she gently guided the distraught girls along.

Hinata was very worried; she had caught the rapid exchange of danger signals between Kiba and Naruto. She was frustrated with the lack of information about the situation they were in. It was obvious from the state the four other girls in their little party that they were in grave danger, but Hinata was unable to find out what that danger was. Before she could continue her train of thought they suddenly entered a large room.

Standing at the front of the room on a slightly raised platform was the first female Wraith that Hinata had seen. She was definitely female, one only had to look at her chest to see that. Otherwise she looked remarkably like the other two Wraith "officers" that they had seen. Hinata could also sense that they were not alone with the Queen. All along the walls were large alcoves. While she couldn't see inside them she could sense that they were filled with Wraith guards.

"Hey Old Lady!" Naruto shouted at the lady Wraith standing in front of him. "What do you want with us?"

"My My such a brave little boy. So full of spirit of youth," said the Queen as she slowly walked towards the group "I think I will save you for last."

"Hey do you think she knows Lee?" Naruto stage whispered to Kiba. Kiba gave Naruto a dirty look in return and hissed, "Naruto would you shut up!"

Hinata meanwhile had kept her eye on the Queen. She had slowly moved past the two quarrelling boys and was now standing in front of Kitamyia. As she watched Hinata was reminded of a snake getting ready to eat a small mouse. The Queen was the first to break the silence.

"I think I will start with you." With blinding speed her left hand shot forward and struck Kitamyia in the chest near her heart.

Before Hinata's astonished eyes and to her growing horror Kitamyia began to rapidly age. In the space of a few seconds Kitamyia went from a youthful looking girl to and ancient crone. Dropping Kitamyia to the ground the Wraith Queen moved several steps away. Naruto instantly rushed to her side. Gently pulling her into his arms Naruto checked for some sign of life. After a few moments he eased Kitamyia's lifeless body to the ground. Naruto slowly stood and turned towards the Wraith Queen, Hinata could feel the waves of killer intent rolling of of Naruto. The Queen must have felt it to because she wheeled around to face Naruto.

Raising his arm and pointing his finger at the Queen "I will never forgive you!"

"Forgive me? Ha I don't want or need your forgiveness! What I and my brethren want is your life force," announced the Queen as she slowly began to walk forward.

"Oh ya you and what army?" Naruto shouted back at her.

Stopping in her tracks the Queen answered, "What army? Why this army." With a wave of her hand Wraith warriors began to emerge from the darkness. Instinctively the small band of friends pulled together Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru facing outward. Their stances were loose and ready, the girls were a huddled mass in the center, and Naruto was standing defiantly just outside the little circle.

Suddenly one of the Wraith officers leapt at Hinata. Hinata focused her chakara into her hands. As the officer reached for her she slapped his hand aside and took advantage of the opening to strike his chest with all of her might. The officer flew backwards his face a mixture of surprise and pain. He disappeared into the darkness. Hinata heard the sodden thump of his body striking an unseen wall. Knowing that the numbers were against them Hinata launched herself at the rest of the surprised and shocked Wraith in front of her. Behind her she could hear her teammates leaping into action as well.

"Jujin Bunshin," shouted Kiba. Hinata could feel the rage coming from Kiba and Akamaru as they transformed. They wasted no time in going after their enemies. In a blur of motion three of the Wraith guards went down in a fountain of blood that sprayed across the floor.

Hinata heard Naruto scream out his favorite ninjutsu as he moved to attack the oncoming Wraith, "Rasengan". Risking a quick glance over her shoulder at her crush Hinata watched as Naruto hit another one of the officers square in the chest. His chest exploded throwing gore everywhere. Naruto landed lightly on his feet and swiftly pivoted to attack the guard who had been next to the officer. The guard desperately tried to bring his weapon around to no avail. Naruto landed a crushing kick to the guard's hip. The blow crushed the bone and flung the now crippled guard to the floor with enough force to cause him to slide out of sight.

"No! Please! Don't!"

Hinata spun back around as she heard the terrified plea for mercy coming from Taka. Cowering before a Wraith Officer and another trio of guards the remaining three girls clung to each other as the officer raised his arm to strike. Sprining into action Hinata formed the seals for a modified form of the Kawarimi no Jutsu Hinata. Hinata was grimly amused by the bewildered expression on the face of the officer as he suddenly realized that he was now confronting her rather than the terrified girls. Not wishing to lose her advantage she struck. Her first blow landed on the officer's chin, shattering the lower part of his face, breaking his neck, and tossing him into the air. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Hinata. She watched as the officer's now lifeless body arced through the air over the heads of his men.

Relying on her years of academy training Hinata launched a powerful series of blows and kicks at the stunned guards. Her first victim was the middle guard, landing a solid kick to his stomach she watched as he doubled over spewing what she took to be blood from behind his mask. Turning to the second guard she closed in and delivered a rapid series of strikes to where his chakra points would have been. She watched as the guard simply collapsed in on himself. Shifting her attention to the third and final guard she saw that he had managed to bring his strange looking weapon around, oddly enough he was pointing the blunt end towards her while the sharp end rested along the side of his shoulder. Just as she was about to attack a bolt of what looked like lightning shot out from the end of the staff towards her. Without a moment's hesitation Hinata bent over backwards at the waist. As the bolt flew over her she could feel her skin go all tingly. The feeling reminded her of how her feet would feel when they had gone to sleep. Somehow Hinata knew that if one of those beams touched her it wouldn't be as harmless as a sleeping foot. Before the guard could fire again Hinata closed with him. Focusing her chakra into her hand she slammed her open palm onto his chest and forced her chakra outward. She could feel his internal organs burst under the pressure in the brief instant before he flew backwards.

Hinata paused to take a breath and check on her teammates. She slowly became more aware of her surroundings as she came off of her combat high. Sometime during her fight the lights had come on at full strength giving her a full view of the room that they were in for the first time. The floor and in some cases the walls were covered with the corpses of Wraith Officers and guards. The girls were still huddled in the center of the room under the watchful eyes of an exhausted looking Kiba and Akamaru. Catching her eye Kiba jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Following the direction of his thumb Hinata saw Naruto along with several of his clones.

Hinata barely recognized him. He was surrounded by a evil looking red chakra. Sensing her attention Naruto's head whipped around. He didn't look quite human, in fact he reminded her of Kiba when he was in his beast clone form. The red chakra was at such a powerful level that it only added to the image. Within moments of spotting her Naruto began to visibly relax. As she watched he slowly reverted back to her beloved Naruto-kun. Suddenly his clones disappeared in a series of pops and puffs of smoke. Naruto staggered slightly as he absorbed his clone's memories. Forgetting her usual shyness Hinata rushed to his side.

"Naruto-kun are you alright!" Hinata shouted. Suddenly she became aware of the howling of sirens in the room and it seemed throughout the ship.

"Guys we have to get out of here," said Kiba as he came up behind them. "Akamaru and I can't take this much longer and there are many more guards coming. I don't think we can take much more of a pounding from those lightening throwers."

"Let's head back to the ships maybe we can make one work and get out of here," Hinata said. "Naruto, can you help with the girls?" Naruto nodded his head.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto said as he formed the needed hand seals. Instantly, seven clones popped into existence. Pointing to several of them Naruto ordered, "You three go carry the girls, the rest of you hold off the guards while we get out of here!" The clones rushed off to their tasks.

"What happened to the Queen?" asked Hinata.

"She escaped sometime during the fight. What a coward." Answered Kiba. "We better get going they are going to be here in a few seconds.

Swiftly and without a backward glance the small band moved out the door they had entered, heading back towards the ships.

"Rodney go fix the transport beam, Rodney go fix the internal sensors, Rodney go take the Puddle Jumper out and test the engines, Crap!" Rodney was unhappy and in typical Rodney fashion was letting everyone know it. Well not everyone he admitted to himself that would be hard to do since he was the only one of the team to have been captured by the Wraith.

Gathering up his meager supply of scavenged tools, Rodney tried to ignore the blaring alarms as he worked to open the door to the interrogation room. The day had finally started to look up. First Sheppard had assigned him to take the most unreliable Puddle Jumper out on a trip to the sun and back to test its engines. Next those engines had failed, right when he found himself staring face to face with a Wraith Hive ship.

When he had found himself being strapped to a table next to a bunch of very unpleasant looking tools, he had thought that he was going to die in this miserable excuse for a galaxy.

"Its' all Sheppard's fault, we could have tested the engines at Atlantis safe and sound in my lab, but noooo he has to have them tested under field conditions. Why doesn't anyone listen to me? What good does it do to have the smartest man in this galaxy or any other galaxy for that matter, when you won't listen to them?"

His luck had suddenly taken a turn for the better when alarms had suddenly started blaring. The Wraith that had been getting ready to interrogate him had left so fast they forgot to completely strap him down. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth he had wasted no time in leaving.

"Damn!" Rodney swore to himself.

As he cautiously looked into the main hanger bay he could see the Puddle Jumper sitting off by itself. Unfortunately there were about ten guards between him and it.

"Now what would Sheppard do in a case like this?" Rodney mumbled to himself. He suddenly stiffened as he heard a male voice behind him.

"I don't know who Sheppard is or what he would do, but I know what we are going to do."