Chapter Nine
"Naruto-kun, why are we taking the long way to Iwa?" Hinata asked as they camped out in one of the forests in the northern region of Hi no Kuni near the border of Yu no Kuni. After dropping Gaara off with Yagura and Utakata they went to Shobikou but came right back to the human world, essentially just saving them a trip by sea. They were both in their human forms in case someone happened to spot them out here.
"I told you Hinata-chan, appearing too close to Iwa would be a terrible idea. It would make them think that we're attacking them." He explained.
"I know that. What I meant was why did you want us to take the long way? We could have gone to Shobikou then reappeared closer to Iwa but not too close. Instead you insisted we go on foot the entire time. Why? If you wanted that we could be going to Kumo since it's closer."
"You want to go to Kumo?" Naruto asked.
"Well not without something already planned for us, but I'm not questioning the destination Naruto-kun. I'm questioning the route. Why take the long way?"
Naruto shrugged. "Maybe this way we can get a little more experience in. Besides, according to Yagura both of Iwa's jinchuuriki are older than us, older than him even, so they're not incapable of defending themselves until we get to them. Maybe this time we can afford to take our time and improve our own skills."
Hinata scooted closer to him wanting to bring something up.
"Another thing, you didn't bother telling Kyuubi-sensei or Kushina-sensei about this extra trip. Are you trying to avoid them?"
Naruto tensed he slowly turned to Hinata keeping a straight face.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because you weren't that happy with what they told you earlier. I know you well enough to know that what they said bothered you Naruto-kun. You don't have to lie to me. I am here for you"
Naruto put his hand on his but didn't meet her gaze. Trying hard not to look at her he let out a sigh wondering how this all started. "Hinata-chan, you're probably the only person in this world I can trust to never lie to me."
"Not even your mother or Kyuubi-sensei?" Hinata asked, a little surprised.
Naruto struggled to answer that properly but in truth he gave out a weak shrug. "It's more like I think they might lie if they thought it was for my own good, not to be cruel. You on the other hand would be honest even if it hurt me."
"Do you think they lied to you?" She asked as she cautiously leaned on him. She was grateful that he didn't push her away but even more happy he accepted her being near him.
"No, I'm sure they were both honest. But what they want... I'm not sure I can face them until I know what I want." He replied.
-Flashback-
"Hey Naruto, before you take Gaara away could we speak with you in private for a moment?" Kyuubi asked Naruto back outside Kuo.
"Sure Kyuubi-sensei. I'll be right back Hinata-chan." He followed Kyuubi and Kushina around out of sight and earshot of Hinata and Gaara, making the white-eyed girl a bit uncomfortable but not afraid. "What's on your mind?"
"You saw your mom and I kissing not that long ago right?" Kyuubi asked.
Naruto was void of expression, but it looked more forced than natural. Something he learned to do plenty when he was in Konoha growing up. "Yeah, why?"
"We decided to tell you why." Kushina said. "You see, when you and Hinata are out doing your own thing, I don't really have anything to do. Sure I could train too, but I've got years of experience and I'm not trying to learn senjutsu so the exercises you two are taking wouldn't do me any good. I get bored easily, so in that time Kurama-kun keeps me company."
"You kissed him because you were bored?" Naruto asked.
Kushina shook her head. "No, not that. I'm getting to that part. For the most part, Kurama-kun and I just chatted. We talked about some of the things we both remembered. He was inside me too for a time so he saw a lot of my life too you know. I was actually quite surprised to find out how much he had paid attention to what was going on. At the time I figured he didn't care and was only looking for a way out."
"For a while I was." Kyuubi admitted with a chuckle which earn him a mock glare from Kushina. "I mean, Mito was only supposed to contain me until Madara's genjutsu wore off. I still don't understand why she let me be transferred into you instead of letting me go home when she died."
"Maybe Mito wasn't as noble as you thought." Naruto suggested. "Or maybe you were still under the genjutsu and can't remember all the details."
"I really hope that's the case." Kyuubi commented.
"Anyway, back on topic boys." Kushina gently scolded. "It's been really nice having an adult to talk to here that I can connect with. Very much like how you can connect with Hinata. The fact is we're going to be around each other a lot for a long time so we decided that we might as well see where our connection takes us. We just want you to know so you don't get confused or feel like we're hiding something from you."
"So... you two are dating now?" Naruto asked but sounded more like a statement.
"Not yet, but it is highly possible." Kushina answered, then briefly gave Kyuubi a look as if to give him a hint. "Are you okay Son?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I be? After what you went through you need someone important in your life Okaa-san, and who better than Kyuubi-sensei?" Naruto quickly answered, though both adults could tell this response was masking something else.
As Kushina watched Naruto leave the forest to get back to Hinata she let out a sad smile, wondering how but also what is Naruto feeling.
-End Flashback-
When Naruto finished his recollection, Hinata didn't speak. She wasn't sure what to say that would have any effect on him at the moment. And even if she did, she wasn't sure what effect was going to be the one Naruto needed.
Naruto took her silence as an opportunity to continue. "You probably think I'm stupid don't you?" He took a deep breath. "I mean I understand what she went through... well sort of. It's just, she just came back to my life and now this is happening."
Hinata leaned against him, a gesture he had come to realize was meant to make him feel wanted. Then she intertwined both their hands. "I never have thought you were stupid before Naruto-kun, why would I start now?" She then made eye contact, looking at him affectionately. "But she also deserves to have some happiness in her life, and she wants you to be part of that happiness."
"Yeah, but I feel like there's something wrong with me."
"Why?"
"I know I'm supposed to be happy for them, but I'm not. Not completely anyway. That has to be wrong." Naruto explained.
"Well why are you bothered by it?" Hinata asked, her tone in no away reprimanding him for his choice.
"What if they fall in love and get married? What if they have a kid? That kid will have everything I never did. It will be loved from the start. Hell, it will be wanted, not like me. Sure, Okaa-san says she doesn't regret my birth, but I get the feeling that if she could go back and prevent her rape she would at least think it over. Even if it meant I was never born. If she gets a husband and kid, where will I fit in?"
To Naruto's relief Hinata did not move away from him, instead she continued to face him.
"I see. Even though you want to be supportive, you fear that someday you're not going to be welcome in your mother's life anymore. You'll be as big an outcast as I was. Am I right?"
Naruto slowly nodded. "Yeah, I want to be happy for her, I really do. I mean, Okaa-san was mistreated pretty badly too back in Konoha. She was even killed. She deserves to be happy. But..." He struggled to avoid sounding whiny. "I can't help myself. When I think about what she may get, I feel like I'm being buried alive. And that did happen to me once."
Hinata got comfortable again. "I know exactly how you feel Naruto-kun. Remember, my father already was everything you're afraid your mother will become." Naruto stiffened a bit. "Naruto-kun?" She asked, wondering if she had said the wrong thing.
"I'm okay Hinata-chan. You just surprised me there for a moment. I didn't think of it that way before, but I think you were onto something there. Maybe I'm just afraid that my mom will become like your dad. Once she has someone else to love, she won't love me anymore."
"Naruto-kun, your mother and my father are not the same person." Hinata told him, seeing he was now willing to listen to her. "My father wanted me to be just like him and other Hyuuga. He didn't hate me because he only had enough room in his heart for one child, he hated me because I wasn't just like him. He looked at me and expected to see himself, but he didn't, and he got mad like it was my fault his expectations weren't met. Your mom from what I've seen doesn't expect you to be anyone but yourself. Don't forget that."
Naruto nodded in understanding and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you Hinata-chan. I guess I did forget that. I probably owe her an apology... well maybe both of them."
Hinata relaxed in his embrace, enjoying the warmth of his body much more than that from their campfire. "Talk it over with her first. Let her know your concerns, but don't try to stop her from doing things her way too Naruto-kun. She is an adult after all and free to find love wherever she can." Leaning over she kissed him on the cheek, a first for her even after all their time together. "She deserves it as much you do."
Naruto smiled. "Yeah. Are you ever wrong Hinata-chan?"
"I sure hope not." She joked, glad the mood was lifted.
"Kurenai-sensei, there's something you might want to know."
"What is it Shino? Is there trouble in the area?"
"I'm not certain. One of my scouting insects came back and told me two people close to my own age are not that far away from here, and one of them is a Hyuuga."
The red-eyed jounin tensed up. "Pardon?"
"So what? Maybe one of the other teams happens to be nearby." Kiba suggested, about to eat his dinner with Akamaru.
"Two people our age together out here? With no jounin sensei or third teammate around? Doesn't that sound just a little bit suspicious to you baka?" The kunoichi genin asked the dog user. She was Ami, forced to fill the empty slot on Team Eight since Hinata mysteriously left the village.
That was something that Kurenai was still bitter over. She had helped care for Hinata, finding her to be a welcome change from the self-important Hyuugas. There was only one thing about Hinata she didn't like, her interest in Naruto.
At first this attitude wasn't intentionally disrespectful to Naruto. Kurenai originally was not in on the plan regarding him, but she had been observant enough to know that he wasn't liked or properly educated. Kyuubi jinchuuriki or not, that much she was aware of out of job necessity, when she looked at Naruto all she saw was a hooligan, a disaster waiting to happen one way or another. Why not? He was uncouth, loud, a vandal, disrespectful to even the hokage, to her Naruto was the living embodiment of immaturity, therefore someone Hinata had no business finding appealing.
Despite her best efforts Kurenai could not break Hintata's fascination with him. The jounin had hoped Hinata was only interested in him because he was so different than what she dealt with every day and would soon see him for what he really was, or at least for what Kurenai saw him as. But that never happened, and Kurenai was getting concerned the longer it lasted.
Then one day she was approached by Hiashi.
-Flashback-
"You asked to see me Hiashi-sama?" Kurenai greeted, the 'sama' suffix forced but she had enough experience to disguise her desire to refer to him as something else.
"I ask nothing Yuuhi-san, I expect." The Hyuuga head replied.
"Expect or not, I am not under your authority so you cannot do anything about my presence except ask for it. I am under no requirement to actually be here sir." Kurenai stressed.
Hiashi frowned but did not counter. "The reason you are here is because I require your assistance in something important. I believe you will find yourself glad to be involved in this matter."
'Somehow I doubt that.'
"As you know, Hinata is for some unfathomable reason attached to the Kyuubi brat. This absolutely cannot go on any longer. I allowed it up to now only because I thought she would outgrow it and while she had this interest I could possibly learn a thing or two about him, but unfortunately her interest is growing instead of waning. Something that cannot be allowed to continue for much longer."
Kurenai nodded. "I've noticed and I'm concerned too. I've tried to gently steer her away for her own good without breaking any laws, but she will not budge. In a way, I guess she did inherit your stubbornness."
"If only she had inherited it the right way." Hiashi quietly complained. "Anyway, we can't let her get close to the boy. Her one saving grace is that she barely interacts with him, but that may change someday. I will not allow that to happen. Since I can't wait for her to come to her senses and I can't reveal to her what the boy really is, I need to to use your skills to force her to change her mind."
"Let me get this straight, you want me to use a brainwashing genjutsu to force your daughter to start hating someone?" Kurenai asked.
"Yes. It's for her own good."
Kurenai sighed. "I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I agree with you Hiashi-sama. Her interest in the boy will never lead her anywhere good, and I'm concerned about her adamance in refusing to listen to reason. If this can help her get back on track, then I will try. But only after Hokage-sama approves."
Hiashi did not like the sound of that. "This is Hyuuga business, he has no jurisdiction here."
"With all due respect Hiashi-sama, once you got me involved this stopped being purely a Hyuuga affair. Bringing people from outside the clan robs you of the clan-only shield you love to use so much. And genjutsus aren't as simple as you assume. What you're asking could impact Hinata in more ways than you intend it too. I will not be held responsible for something going wrong all because you wanted to keep Hokage-sama out of this. If that was the case you shouldn't have asked for me in the first place."
"So you won't correct my daughter?"
"I didn't say that, I merely said I'm not doing it behind Hokage-sama's back." Kurenai proclaimed.
-End Flashback-
'I tried my best, but nothing worked. And Hiashi didn't want to get more people involved lest he lose control over the situation.' Kurenai rued, wondering where she and the others went wrong regarding Hinata. 'Are my skills not as good as I thought they were?'
"Are we in trouble?" The client asked. Team Eight was currently on an escort mission guarding someone traveling to the capitol of Shimo no Kuni.
"I don't think so, but it's hard to say for certain." Kurenai reassured. "Shino, is there anything else you can tell us about them?"
"I'm told there are a boy and a girl, both with unusual chakra. The Hyuuga is the girl." Shino answered, giving what little information his beetle could gather without getting too close.
'Could it be Hinata? And does that mean Naruto is with her?' Kurenai thought, seeing a golden opportunity here to settle a big problem for Konoha. While originally left uninformed of Namikaze's plan, upon addressing Sarutobi about Hinata's mental freedom she was brought into it. Kurenai couldn't say she completely approved, but she was convinced that the rewards were worth the cost. Plus she was smart enough to know she couldn't do anything about it and decided going along with the plan was simply the wisest decision. This also only reinforced her belief that Hinata needed to be separated from Naruto, even if involuntarily.
'If those two are here, I'll have to capture them and return them to Konoha immediately. Hinata needs to be where I can keep an eye on her, and the future of our village is dependent on the boy being under our complete and total control.' Kurenai told herself before standing up. "I'm going to go get a closer look at these two. Everyone, stay here in case there are more threats around. I'll let you know if I run into trouble."
"Sure Sensei." The genin said before Shino told her where to go.
"Baki-sensei, why won't you go let us look for Gaara?" Temari asked her half-masked sensei when they were out in one of Suna's training fields.
"It's pointless Temari. Gaara clearly does not want to be here and if we try to force him to come back he'll only kill us." Baki explained, overlooking their training as always. 'Gaara must had enough of the village, but sooner or later he might come back to find more victims. We need to be ready.'
"He's our brother. Maniac or not we have to do something." Kankuro insisted.
"And what makes you think he left?" Temari added. "For all we know he was taken. We did have someone visiting Suna the night Gaara was last seen after all. Couldn't he have been kidnapped?"
"Gaara kidnapped?" Baki asked, his tone somewhere between 'Are you kidding?' and 'Yeah right'. "Gaara's invincible. He's too powerful and well-trained to be such a liability."
"Just because it's never happened before doesn't mean it never can happen Baki-sensei." Temari insisted, then frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were glad he's gone."
"In a way I am." Baki admitted, but not in a rude way. "The cold stares, the death threats, his disinterest in participating in our activities. I can't exactly say I miss all that."
"He may not have been perfect but he was our brother." Temari declared.
"Even so, tell me something Temari. If he wasn't your brother would you want him back?" Baki asked.
Temari didn't want to admit it, but deep down her answer was no.
Unseen by all three Suna nin was a desert fox hiding in the sand. 'So the missing boy's siblings are concerned. Naruto-san should hear of this.' The fox then poofed away back to Shobikou, the smoke from the act mistaken for a small sand whirlwind.
'I can't believe it. It is her.' Kurenai thought when she saw Hinata seated next to a red-haired boy wearing orange. 'I can only assume that's Naruto, the whiskers are a dead giveaway. But why did he change his hair color but nothing else? Does he really think that will trick us? Doesn't matter, I need to trap them both.'
Using a genjutsu on herself to make herself invisible, Kurenai moved as silently as a Kiri assassin to get closer to the two teens, who talked with complete unawareness to her presence. Reaching into her supply pouch, Kurenai took out a small kunai with a paper seal attached to it, this one not an explosive tag but one that emitted a sedating gas into the air. With this, she'd knock them both out long enough to tie them up, and if by chance Naruto wasn't effected she assumed that as a jounin she could easily beat him up. Not to mention it would give her a good excuse to take out some of her frustrations on him.
As soon as the weapon was in her grasp she was ready to throw, but she felt something grab her wrist. Something she couldn't see. "What the-?" The tag was suddenly ripped off the kunai and pressed into her face by the invisible hands, releasing the knock-out gas directly into her nose and mouth. Needless to say Kurenai was out before she hit the ground.
"How pathetic. She never considered someone might use genjutsu against her." Naruto said as he shimmered into visibility. The two of them back by the campfire dispelled, the disguised shadow clones no longer needed.
While they had been comfortable, Hinata would activate her byakugan every two minutes or so to scan the area for threats. Before Team Eight learned they were nearby, she already learned they were close. Knowing Kurenai and her tracking team was bound to discover them, the two kitsune hanyou's set up a trap.
And it looked like their trap was much better than the genjutsu mistress's tracking skills.
"She was either overconfident in her skills, or didn't consider we learned a few things in our months away." Hinata said as she became visible too. "I must say kitsune genjutsu is quite a useful thing. She didn't even bother masking her scent. Even if we couldn't see her, our hanyou noses could tell where she was."
"You're telling me." Naruto agreed. "Should we get out of here before she wakes up and alerts her students or do a little extra?"
Hinata smiled. "A little extra. While we can outrun them all, delaying them a little more won't hurt. Besides, I'd like to get back at her for betraying my trust. And I know just how to do that."
As she cracked her knuckles, Naruto felt a slight shiver up his spine watching the once shy girl, now a deadly kunoichi. 'I'm so glad she's always been on my side.'
"Huh? What happened?" Kurenai asked as she regained consciousness. "Why does my mouth taste like pine?"
"Kurenai-sensei?" Ami asked.
"Ami?" Kurenai responded, her eyes struggling to focus. "Why do I feel like I'm tied to a tree?"
"You are Sensei. I'm trying to untie you, but these knots are tough."
"Where are Kiba and Shino?"
"I told them to go away. Trust me Sensei when you see the state you're in you'll be glad I did." Ami answered.
Confused but in no condition to object, Kurenai waited for Ami to get her loose. Her arms were bound around the tree trunk and so were her legs, specifically designed to have her legs spread apart and her arms unable to shield her, like an X. She could feel the bark against her skin, letting her know that her clothes weren't exactly how she remembered them.
When she was free, she quickly saw why Ami didn't want the two boys around. Kurenai was currently wearing nothing except her bra and panties, her ribbon-style outfit torn to shreds on the ground spread out but all pieces in sight.
"How could this have happened?" Kurenai asked as she covered herself up, feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment. 'Hinata let this happen? That lousy boy must have forced her to let him. No way she'd approve of this. Even she can't be that sweet on him.' She thought bitterly, certain that only a boy could come up with this humiliation.
"That's not all Kurenai-sensei. Whoever did this to you stole all your equipment and wrote on you. And they stuffed this in your mouth like a gag." Ami said, holding out a pine cone but also her storage scroll.
"They what?" Kurenai asked. 'If they took my supplies then they took my one spare outfit. I won't be able to dress up again until we reach a city. And with a client here I can't let myself be seen. That will make me and by association Konoha a laughing stock once word gets out.'
"Yeah, on your forehead they wrote 'bitch'. On your stomach they wrote 'Come and get it'. And on your back, they wrote 'I like to be spanked'." Ami stated, bothered by the words on Kurenai's skin. "Whoever did this has a sick twisted mind."
'I swear when I get my hands on that boy I'm going to strangle him until his head falls off.' Kurenai vowed, using a henge to make herself appear clothed and unmarked.
Kiba and Akamaru meanwhile were going after the two. Shino had to remain behind to keep the client secure, but Kiba was available to chase down the ones who humiliated their sensei before they got away. Fortunately he had been able to get a whiff of their scents from Kurenai's clothes, a faint whiff but one nonetheless, and he was hot on the trail.
'One boy, one girl, and I think two foxes.' Kiba told himself. 'Their scent says they're in front of me, but I can't see them yet. I better go faster.'
The trail turned right all of a sudden and so did Kiba and Akamaru. To their shock, it went cold after three meters, something he didn't notice until he passed the end. "What the heck? The scent just disappeared. That's never happened before."
Akamaru sniffed to regain the trail and barked to his master. Following his dog, Kiba soon realized what had happened. "I get it, they simply redirected themselves and retraced their steps, creating the illusion of a scent trail dead end. They must have been prepared for me to follow them then."
Akamaru caught the fresh trail and continued the chase with Kiba quickly catching up. The new trail darted from tree to tree and even up and down, all to confuse their noses but this time they were alert for such basic tricks.
They ran out of trees and came to a fenced off field filled with farm cows sleeping or grazing late at night. In the background one could see a barn and a silo. Kiba stopped, trying to figure out how to go from here.
'It's likely they henged into cows here to hide from us. But if they know an Inuzuka is after them they should know I can spot them despite the henge. Are they hoping the scent of the cattle and manure will mask their scents?'
Akamaru sniffed the air then growled, and ran into the field right away. "Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, not wanting his partner to run off blindly into a situation. But the dog bit one of the cows and it vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Wait a minute." Kiba then took an inhale and realized what he had previously missed. There was a scent of cattle here, but it wasn't from the cows themselves. "These are fakes. Diversions." So he joined the white-furred canine in removing the fake cows one by one, which resulted in a lot of smoke.
Within that smoke Kiba heard something move, but when he turned to look he felt a set of hands grab him from behind. Hands that were coming out of beige sleeves, and in one of those hands was a rag that was quickly pressed to his face.
Kiba then found out that chloroform was even quicker acting when you had an enhanced nose.
Kurenai got back to Shino and the client with a genjutsu to hide her lack of clothes and derogatory comments she'd have to scrub off next time she bathed. Since Kiba wasn't there they had to follow Shino to find him, which led them to a now empty farm field that had only a passed out Kiba and Akamaru in it.
"Who are these guys doing this to us? What do they want? What did we ever do to them?" Ami asked.
"It may not be personal at all." Shino told her. "It could just be local shinobi not wanting to be found trying to get rid of us before an actual fight can break out."
'Almost Shino.' Kurenai thought. 'I get the feeling the one responsible for this is trying to keep us away from him or from Hinata. But his mistake was letting us live. Now we can get back to Konoha, tell the hokage where the damn boy is hiding, and send ninja specifically here to take him down and bring Hinata back home to be reeducated no matter what it takes. I'd do it myself but our mission is to get the client elsewhere first, if I capture these two now they'll only compromise that mission and have several chances to get away. Better to escape now and come back better prepared.'
"Wake up Kiba and get the client ready. As of right now, we are to finish this mission ASAP." Kurenai ordered.
Ami and Shino went to get their fallen teammate, but Ami backed away as soon as she got to him. "OH GROSS!"
"What is it?" Kurenai said, approaching herself for a direct look, only to grimace. "I see what you mean."
Kiba was laying face down on the ground with his face resting on a pile of horse excrement like it was a pillow. Fortunately he wasn't obstructed from breathing, but the fact he was breathing right next to the crap itself showed just how drugged he was. But that wasn't the worst part. Nope, the worst part was his pants had been pulled down a bit and it looked like something was wedged between his ass cheeks. Something... meaty for lack of a better term. Underneath his hips there was a puddle of blood and light reflecting off metal.
Akamaru was left relatively alone, though he had been buried to look like he was without a body. Or as if victim to the Headhunter Jutsu.
Knowing no one else would do anything, Shino had his insects remove the obstruction from Kiba's rear end. They did, and came back to the Aburame. "It appears that the thing in question is a severed human phallus, positively identified as Kiba's. No DNA of another was on it, just tiny bits of plastic indicating the one responsible wore gloves."
"Someone knocked him out, left him lying in a pile of crap, and cut off his dick before raping him with it?" Ami asked, sounding like she wanted to throw up.
"I can't confirm any actual penetration. I think a doctor would be best to determine how much damage occurred." Shino said. He moved Kiba to see what metal thing he was atop, and saw it was a bear trap clamped on his genitals. The shaft part had obviously been removed completely by this but the scrotum was still attached to the body, albeit barely.
A gust of wind blew by and Kurenai could swear she heard laughter. Looking around, a small piece of paper flew on the wind to her and dropped at her feet. She picked it up and saw it was a picture of Naruto and Hinata as she remembered them, arms wrapped around each other and sticking their tongues out at the camera while pulling on their eyelids with their middle fingers.
Before Kurenai could say anything the picture suddenly ignited, forcing her to drop it out of surprise. It became ash before she had any chance to salvage it.
'Is Hinata... actually helping the boy with all this?' Kurenai asked herself, well aware that picture was a message to her. A message that Hinata was not Naruto's prisoner but his partner in crime. 'What on earth happened to her?'
Team Eight could not leave that area fast enough, even before Kiba recovered. To keep him from getting worse, the patched up the wound, sealed up his severed penis in a scroll since they didn't have ice, and forced him to swallow some blood-replenishing pills before wiping his face clean. Before they left, they kept hearing laughter on the wind.
"Hey Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked when they were south of Ta no Kuni the next day.
"Yeah Hinata-chan?" He asked. The two were running to their destination while trying their senjutsu exercises at the same time, still trying to get a handle on it.
"Do you think we were a little hard on those two last night?"
Naruto thought about it, then shook his head.
"No, not really. Kurenai tried to destroy your free will and Kiba betrayed our trusts. You know what it said about him in the file? When he was asked by the hokage if he was my friend? Shikamaru and Chouji admitted they were my friends, but Kiba said the only reason he had anything to do with me was because when we got in trouble I got sole blame. It didn't matter what he did, if I were involved I got all the blame and he got off scot-free. I was a punishment lightning rod as far as he was concerned, nothing more. Besides, what about what he did to you? That was even worse. Much worse."
Hinata nodded. "Oh I remember. He came to me and said he smelled a dangerous chemical on my jacket that would only hurt me if I wore it any longer. I was spooked, but when I didn't take it off right away he tried to take it off me for me. I panicked and hit him, then told the teachers he tried to strip me. Next day there was a flaming bag of dog feces at the Hyuuga estate."
"And I got blamed for it and punished by having to be your father's punching bag for an hour. His one restraint was I had to live throughout it all." Naruto finished. "I think after that Kiba had an attitude to you, like he had to make you pay too."
Hinata nodded. "He did. He felt he needed to reassert his right to satisfy his wants, and told me that I could fight all I want, but it would be you that suffered, not him. So I had to... let him touch my chest a couple of times in private."
Despite the fact he had heard this before during their time together, it still got Naruto pissed. Someone he once considered a friend had used the both of them all because he felt he could get away with it. And worse, everyone who was supposed to help them let him get away with it.
"You're right, it was a stupid question." Hinata said. "No one we care about would have blamed us for killing Kiba right then if we wanted to, and Kurenai... she may think she's working in my best interests, but it's really her own she's working in so I don't feel guilty for hurting her. Maybe I was just being meek when I asked before."
"In a way, I'm kind of glad you show some regret." Naruto said, surprising her. "Despite what they did you don't take complete pleasure in their suffering like other do. That tells me you're still you, you haven't stooped to their level. You're just giving them the only form of justice they understand."
Hinata smiled, happy that Naruto understands. "Thanks Naruto-kun. You're right, we will never be like them, but that doesn't mean we have to be merciful to any of them" She said with a grin.
"Thanks for bringing me here. Were we really in so much danger?" The client asked Team 8 when they got to their destination, stopping only to take Kiba to a hospital and get him back to normal, while reattaching his body part. He did NOT want that to be known in Konoha.
"You heard what happened to one of us, just imagine if they had gotten to you." Kurenai explained, lying to hide the fact she had been in a hurry for a different reason. She was properly dressed now, but still needed a genjutsu to hide the words on her, which weren't washing off yet much to her annoyance.
Speaking of marks, once they cleaned the horse crap off Kiba's face they saw his Inuzuka facial marks were gone. As if they had never been there in the first place. Kiba was shocked, this bothered him almost as much as the damage to his manhood. To an Inuzuka, the marks were a part of their identity. Without them, it was like he was a symbolic outcast. Like he was a nobody.
Needless to say Kiba had nothing good to say about his first mission out of the village and was already not looking forward to the next one. He was also dreading the idea of what his mother would say about all this.
"Well, thanks for your help. Just follow me to the back and I'll get you your money." The client told them before leading them to behind the Daimyo's palace, where the people he was supposed to meet with were supposed to be. The client took them past the stables, and the horses got agitated. Agitated enough that they bayed and kicked against their confines.
"What's up with them?" Ami asked.
"I have no idea." The client said. "They usually aren't-"
He was cut off by one of the more aggressive horses, a large black male Clydesdale, broke free and ran towards the group. The group started to run for it but the horse followed.
"Split up." Kurenai ordered, hoping the horse would lose interest if it couldn't get them all at once. Shino went left, Ami went up a wall with chakra, Kiba went right, and Kurenai grabbed the client and went up a tree.
The Clydesdale turned right and followed Kiba, who was trying his damnedest to run despite the medical wrap around his waist hindering his movements.
"Why me?"
Elsewhere, Hinata and Naruto were wondering if their last part of their revenge against Kiba was any good. They had put some female horse urine on the inside of his jacket. A breeding female horse, courtesy of the nearby barn at the time, with an unmistakable scent to breeding males. In a way, Hinata had just used Kiba's 'contaminated jacket' trick against him.
Payback is sweet, but revenge is even sweeter.
Four days after that Iwa had some unexpected visitors.
"Tsuchikage-sama?" One of the many chuunin of the village said when he came to the office of the hidden village's leader. "There's a pair of clients here to see you about a mission."
Oonoki, the oldest of the kages still in power and the shortest one known dead or alive, looked up from his paperwork. "You know where to send them to discuss making missions official."
"I'm afraid you don't understand Sir, they requested this mission for you specifically."
Oonoki put down his pencil. "I am Tsuchikage, I am too busy to do missions myself, even the S-rank ones."
"I know, that's what I told them. But they... Sir, with all due respect, I think you actually want to hear this request."
Confused, Oonoki couldn't help but admit he was intrigued. "And why exactly is that?"
"Maybe you should ask the clients yourself."
"Very well, bring them in."
The chuunin left and in no time in walked Hinata and Naruto, both sporting their now-natural red hair to avoid any physical similarity to Namikaze.
Oonoki noticed four things about them right away. First, their red hair screamed Uzumaki, a clan he may have disliked but he respected them for the tenacity they brought to the battle. Second, the girl had a byakugan, implying she at least was from Konoha even if the boy wasn't. Third, they both sported no hitai-ates but their chakra levels were too high for non-shinobi. And fourth, they were kids.
With this in mind Oonoki refused to relax. He didn't know what they wanted or why they insisted on seeing him about it, or how Konoha was involved, but Oonoki just knew there was something wrong here. The only question was what was it?
"Tsuchikage-sama I presume?" Hinata politely greeted.
"Yes, I am the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Oonoki of Both Scales. Who are you two? Obviously one of you hails from Konoha if not both. What business do the two of you upstarts have in my village?"
"First we want to thank you for not having us killed on sight for this. I suppose the things they say about Iwa back in Konoha are a bit exaggerated." Hinata started.
"That tends to happen between enemies." Oonoki calmly admitted since it was an undeniable fact of war times and such attitudes did linger afterwards.
"Anyway, we first wish to reassure you that we are not Konoha shinobi." Hinata continued, being the speaker here since they really needed a diplomatic approach rather than Naruto's usual way of talking to kages. "We were considered official shinobi of the village for at most a few hours, but we learned something that destroyed any love and loyalty we had to the village."
"And let me guess, you wish to join this village instead, hoping that if you bring me some information I can use against Konoha I'll consider it?" Oonoki asked.
Both teens shook their heads, surprising the old man though he did not show it. But curiosity got to him wondering why they are in his office but also why come to Iwa? Such a trip would not be done without a purpose.
"We have no need for such a thing Tsuchikage-sama. We both already have a new home and we're quite content there. Our reason for being here is we need your help with something. If we succeed all of us will get what we want, Konoha's downfall along with the ruin of the Yellow Flash."
"You two think you can destroy Konoha?" Oonoki asked, with a 'you and what army?' tone of voice. "And what do you mean ruin of the Yellow Flash?"
"Destroy Konoha? By ourselves? No. Not at all. And even with help not any time soon." Hinata reassured. "Tsuchikage-sama, allow me to make our intentions clear here. Destruction is not our goal. We do not want to completely eradicate the village. As terrible as it is, you must admit that its removal will result in a power vacuum that could spark a new shinobi world war in the effort to fill the void. Unless a village is already prepared to fill that void and allowed to by the other four great villages, total destruction of Konoha will only result in more unnecessary chaos for innocent lives."
Oonoki nodded then turned to Naruto. "Why aren't you talking boy? You mute or something?"
"No, she's just better at this than me. If I were talking, I would have probably said something like 'hey old man wanna fight a common enemy?' or something like that."
Oonoki quietly chuckled to himself seeing his youth and eagerness. "Well at least you're honest." He turned back to Hinata. "Go on. You have my attention."
"To put it in the simplest terms, the Yellow Flash faked his death. He and Konoha intend to become the sole power in the Elemental Nations. As in wipe out all the competition. Since before we were born they have been planning this and working for it, all while keeping the other villages ignorant and unaware. We are not yet certain exactly when they intend to strike, but it will happen soon. Unless we do something about it."
Oonoki leaned forward and rested his chin on his clasped hands. "Go on."
"You're not just humoring me are you Tsuchikage-sama?"
"To some degree yes. I mean, you are children and have no proof."
"Oh, we have proof." Naruto said before holding up the folder that had changed his life forever. "You can see it, but let her finish first."
With no objection, Hinata continued. "We are aware that your village has two ninja called jinchuuriki, meaning two of the nine bijuu are sealed inside them. The Yellow Flash intends to rob you of both and take those bijuu for himself. He is using a group of S-ranked missing nin called Akatsuki to do the actual labor of hunting them down and taking them. He intends to do this to all the bijuu, and once he has them all he will use the bijuu as a weapon to destroy anything and everything in his path until Konoha and only Konoha remains. With him in charge again."
Oonoki sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I knew something like that was going to happen someday. I knew once the bijuu were distributed that someday someone would come along and decide they wanted them all for themselves. I sometimes wondered if Konoha had intended that from the start and only used the giving away as a ploy to keep the rest of us off guard."
Naruto shook his head. "From what we can tell, the Shodai Hokage was genuine in his peace offering. It's the hokages that came after him that thought he never should have done that."
Hinata nodded. "We came here to warn you to protect your jinchuuriki better. This man must not be allowed to get away with this. For the good of your village we recommend letting us talk to the jinchuuriki directly to give them an idea on where they can be safe."
Oonoki frowned. "So you plan on taking our jinchuuriki from us before Konoha can?"
"Not at all. If we wanted that we wouldn't have bothered to come to you first." Hinata replied.
"Good point." Oonoki begrudgingly agreed.
"The jinchuuriki have a right to know someone's after them, and strong enough to pose a serious threat to them. You deserve to know that your enemy is still alive and working against you. We deserve a chance to do something about it. We all have a common enemy. The only thing to ask then is are you willing to work with us or will you insist on working alone?"
Oonoki lightly stroked his goatee. "For argument's sake, let's say I agree to work with you. What exactly do you have in mind? And are you two really working alone?"
Hinata shook her head. "No we're not alone. We've got allies, and much older and experienced strategists than us to help us. We are here mainly because we were available to show up, but the others weren't. We have already alerted the jinchuuriki of Suna and Kiri and they are all in a safe place now. We are here to offer your jinchuuriki the same invitation, with your permission of course, or to at least warn them so they will be better able to defend themselves from the threat."
"And how is letting me know all this part of the plan?" Oonoki asked.
"Simple. This way if the jinchuuriki go off you know they weren't taken from you. You can spend your time preparing for Konoha and Akatsuki instead of hunting down two missing ninja." Naruto explained.
"You make a good point, but there's one thing you're forgetting." Oonoki replied. "You admit your preferred goal is to get the jinchuuriki out of Iwa. The enemy, Konoha as you admit to being from, is planning on doing the same. Why should I believe you two are not working for Konoha or Akatsuki to take the jinchuuriki from me without fighting?"
"I guess you need to see this then to be convinced." Naruto said, handing Oonoki the file. "Before you read, you should know my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and her name is Hinata, formally from the Hyuuga clan. Trust me, our names will be very meaningful once you see what this says."
Years of doing paperwork had basically trained Oonoki to go through documents quickly without missing important details. It took him only an hour to read the entire thing.
Once finished, Oonoki paused to compose himself. Even with all those years of doing the paper work the old kage rubbed his eyes but yet all the details everything is in there.
"So if this thing is the genuine deal, the Yellow Flash is in fact still alive, has the support of most if not all of Konoha in some twisted desire to rule the world, has led Kiri into a civil war, has started an S-ranked criminal organization as a front for his activities to act as a sort of smokescreen for himself and Konoha, and you boy, are his son?"
Naruto frowned. "I do not consider that man my father. While unfortunately half of my DNA is his," 'though the change to hanyou may have changed that amount,' he added in his mind. "I refuse to accept Namikaze Minato as a relative in any sense of the word. Do not put me in the same category as him."
"Even so, you being his progeny does make my suspicion of your real intentions all the more valid." Oonoki claimed.
"Old man, you read what happened to me. If Konoha doesn't care that I'm the Yellow Flash's son, why should you?"
Oonoki paused for a moment. While he was distrustful of how sincere these two were being, and had been since they showed up, he could see in Naruto's posture and eyes, which were henged to hide the rinnegan, and hear it in his voice that this boy had no love for Iwa's greatest villain. That alone made him consider the possibility that these two kids really were trying to take down the Yondaime and were asking for his help. Which Oonoki admitted was something he was having a hard time turning down.
But Oonoki was called a fence sitter for a reason. He liked to get the best of both situations. He didn't settle if he could go for more. Someone once joked that his blood type was AB because he didn't want to choose between type A or type B and went for both. Here Oonoki saw another situation where he could get more than offered and decided to go for it.
"Here's what I've decided. I am going to prepare my village for this crisis without letting it out that I know the nature of this crisis, to ensure the enemy doesn't catch on. I will inform my jinchuuriki myself. And I will let you two leave, but I will have no further interaction with you until you can verify beyond a doubt that you are working for the goal you say you are. Right now, I have only your word, both spoken and written, but I'm afraid that's not enough to convince me you are my allies."
"How can we confirm such a thing?" Hinata asked.
"You could bring me the jinchuuriki you've already warned."
Both teens shook their heads. "Not an option."
"And why is that?"
"We didn't save them just to hand them off to another kage. We're not just rescuing the jinchuuriki, we're giving them the one thing we were all denied, the right to live our lives our way." Naruto insisted.
"Jinchuuriki are not denied that right. They just need to fulfill their primary role first before they can use it." Oonoki said.
Naruto's anger flared up at these words. "So you think that just because people like you put demons inside us, when we can't do anything about it, that gives you the right to play God with our lives? And only after you can't use us or keep us down anymore you let us do things our way?" He came close to dropping the henge. Hinata held him, keeping him calm enough to avoid it while reinforcing it if she had to.
"That's just the way it works kid. Always has, always will. Your little way of keeping them safe is nothing more than ensuring the current jinchuuriki aren't killed off before they're replaceable, and keeping one village from having sole ownership of them. Sure, you're protecting them now but once the threat is gone the villages will want them back and won't suddenly treat them any better than before." Oonoki proclaimed, trying to sound sagely like a grandparent correcting a child's misplaced beliefs.
Naruto growled like an animal. "Ownership? Replaceable? You're no better than Namikaze as far as I'm concerned. Good luck defending Iwa, because right now, I don't care if you're taken down. I'll protect the jinchuuriki, but no one else here."
"This has been going on since Senju Hashirama was Hokage. You must be pretty arrogant to think you alone can change the world. And if you're truly as noble as you'd like to think you are, you can't pick and choose who to protect."
Naruto immediately he took the folder back before Oonoki could stop him and both Naruto and Hinata disappeared.
'That boy might be more like his father than he'd care to admit.' Oonoki told himself, then went frigid with a bit of a shiver. 'If that's the case, I might have just made a big mistake pissing him off.'
