New Found Attraction

Hello again everybody! Been extremely busy lately; I won a trip from my university for being in the top 20 of my course, so my fellow nerds and I went to the beach for a week. :-D he he he. But still, I didn't want to disappoint, so here's my next chapter! The plot begins to unravel here...it's time to find out what the Hokage wants from Naruto this time around...

Chapter Nine

The secret message

Naruto reached the top of his balcony, shielding his eyes from the sun that was staring out at him from behind one of the taller buildings in the village. The sun was setting, giving the sky a reddish glow and a chill suddenly ran up Naruto's spine as he remembered the conversation he had had earlier that day…

Naruto looked into his home, spotting the scroll on the kitchen counter, exactly where he had left it. He sighed and turned his back on the beautiful sunset before him, making his way back indoors and closing the glass door behind him. He made his way over to the scroll, taking it in his hands once again as his memories came back to him.

"Enter," the Hokage said clearly, and Naruto opened the door on which he had just knocked to see the Hokage sitting with her back to him, staring out at the afternoon sky.

"You called for me, Tsunade-sama?" Naruto said, edging into the room slowly and shutting the door quietly behind him.

"Yes, Naruto," Tsunade said, turning around in her chair to face him, a puzzled look on her face, "I'm glad you could come on such short notice."

"No problem," he said, and Tsunade smiled at the young man before her, who she had grown to like so much. She suddenly sighed and looked down at the page before her, considering what to tell him.

"I've called you here today, Naruto, concerning a matter of extreme confidentiality."

Naruto looked at her, confused, and Tsunade sighed again.

"In other words, what I tell you here must be kept a secret."

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed, and he snapped his full attention onto her, intrigued to hear what she had to tell him.

"Take a seat," she said, and Naruto sat down hesitantly. He had never been told to take a seat in the Hokage's office before. This must've been serious.

"Naruto, how is it going amoungst you and your friends?" Tsunade asked suddenly, and Naruto was taken aback slightly.

"A-Alright I guess…" he said vaguely, and the Hokage nodded.

"Do you feel that you have grown closer to them? Do you feel that they can trust you, and you them, no matter what?"

"Of course!" he said, "They're my friends! I'd put my life on the line to protect them, and I'm sure they'd do the same for me!"

"As I expected of you," Tsunade said, smiling slightly to herself, "You have always been extremely loyal to your friends, Naruto."

"Well…no…not really, I just…"

"Don't like to see them get hurt?" the Hokage suggested quietly, and Naruto nodded firmly.

"That is the reason why I have called you here; of all the ninja I know, you are the most suited to this assignment; your loyalty and honorability knows no bounds."

Naruto blushed slightly at the praise the Hokage was giving him, and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. What was so important that she needed to tell him?

"Naruto, how close is your friendship with Hinata Hyuuga?"

This time Naruto blushed even more deeply, and the Hokage's eyes widened slightly at his reaction to the girls name.

"We're…close…" Naruto trailed off, and he averted his eyes from the Hokage's piercing stare, "We've become close friends over the years."

"Good, then I'm sure you won't protest if you hear what I am about to tell you. It concerns Hinata greatly, and it is of utmost importance that you understand what I am saying. Please, just sit and listen. I will answer your questions afterwards."

Naruto nodded to show that he understood, and the Hokage took a deep breath before talking again.

"As you know, Hinata is the eldest of the Hyuuga children, and therefore she is to succeed her father as the head of the Hyuuga family after he has died. However, because of Hinata's lack of strength as a child, her father declared her unworthy to take her rightful position as head of the family, and gave the honour to her sister instead."

Naruto nodded again, and the Hokage took note of the stern expression on his face before continuing.

"Due to certain new events, however, her father has once again declared her worthy of the title. Hinata has been training harshly with her cousin, Neji, for years now, and Sir Hyuuga has noticed her improvement. He was in here only last week telling me about how proud he is of his eldest daughter, and that he was wrong to ever doubt her. This sudden realization couldn't have come at a better time.

"Two days ago, Naruto, a messenger came to see me. He claimed that he was from the Fire country, but after interrogation it has been confirmed that he is from the Rice country…from the hidden village of Sound."

"Wait, but…does that mean that…Orochimaru!" Naruto blurted out, and the Hokage silenced him with a hand, and he fell silent once again.

"We must not jump to conclusions," she said, but looked up at Naruto with a girlish twinkle in her eye, "But, yes, there is a possibility that Orochimaru could be behind whatever is about to happen."

"What did the messenger say, Tsunade-sama?" Naruto asked again, but fell silent once more beneath the Hokage's piercing glare.

"I was about to get to that Naruto, but I thank you for asking anyway. The messenger came bearing a scroll, containing some information that could easily be overlooked by others…"

The Hokage paused and opened up one of her drawers, scratching inside of it and withdrawing a small blue scroll with strange markings around the edge. Naruto looked at it curiously, and the Hokage proceeded to open it and read the contents to him:

Dear Kage,

I am writing to provide an invitation to you and your village to join us in the participation of an extraordinary event that we hope to soon grow very popular among the hidden villages of this world.

All Ninja Villages tend to have a Head Family that lives within their borders and fights with their lives to protect the village that they call home. These family's, often with their very own powerful bloodline limit, intrigue me, and I wonder if perhaps I could interest them in a little…competition.

Who amongst all the Hidden Villages is the strongest? This can only be determined by a test of the villages' most noble family's, in order for them to prove to us that they belong where they have been so highly placed. I require fighters from the soon to be successors of these households (in other words the first born children of the Heads of the family's), and I require them to fight for my enjoyment, and for the determination of the strongest ninja village in the land.

Different families will battle each other randomly, until we have an overall winner. That Head family member will then battle my child of noble birth. Soon we will determine who is stronger…the Ninja Villages, or my child of destruction.

Write if you show any interest, and, if not…well, they'll get to compete either way. An attack on a village will be only a taste of my true power.

Looking forward to your co-operation,

Lord Tsibiki

Of the Fire Country.

There was silence in the office as Tsunade finished reading, and Naruto shifted slightly in his chair as she sighed and placed the scroll down.

"Do you realize the serious situation of this all?"

He shook his head slowly; he was still trying to make sense of what he had just heard when Tsunade slammed her hand on the desk, making the entire floor tremble.

"We have no choice Naruto! We have to partake in this ridiculous affair in order to ensure the safety of our village! If Orochimaru is indeed behind this, who knows what he could do to our village? We need to send the eldest child of our most noble family to him, which means that Hinata and the fate of the entire Hyuuga clan are in danger! This is why we need to devise a plan…"

Tsunade scratched into one of her drawers again and withdrew another scroll, but this one was blank. She rolled it out onto her desk and proceeded to draw a summoning array onto the parchment. She then rolled it up, took a large stamp from her desk and placed her seal upon it, before handing it to Naruto, who took it lightly, confused.

"Tomorrow at dusk, I want you to open this scroll. Two people will appear from it. They will tell you all that you need to know. Naruto, I recommended you for this mission, because I knew you would not back down from it once you knew all the details, and because I know you will do everything in your power to protect your friends."

Naruto was still confused. Exactly what did she want him to do? He opened his mouth to ask some more questions, but Tsunade silenced him with her hand once more.

"There is nothing more that I can tell you at this moment, the rest will be left to the other two. I need you to protect her, Naruto. You are one of the few that I can trust to do it. You may go."

Naruto stood up obediently and left the office without another word. His mind was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice Temari standing right outside the door, waiting to go in. He didn't notice Shikamaru pass him on the way into the building either. He just clutched the scroll tightly in his hand and made his way back home, barley noticing where he was walking…

Back in his apartment, Naruto sighed and placed the scroll into one of the drawers below the counter, trying to block it from his thoughts. Instead he went to his bedroom and threw open his cupboard doors. He hadn't been out with his friends in a while, and he was actually looking forward to it.

There were almost no clothes in his cupboard; the majority of them were sprawled al over the floor and the bed, and Naruto remembered that he hadn't done any washing for almost two weeks. He scratched within the piles of clothes that he had already worn, sniffing which smelt the most clean and picking out the ones that were the least wrinkled. Finally he decided on a checked orange shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, white sneakers and a white jacket to complete the look.

'Good,' he thought to himself, and then picked up the rest of the clothes and threw them into the wash basket right outside his door, 'That should do it for now.'

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Hope you all liked it. :-D Next chapter we check back in with Hinata to see how she's doing...and a brand new mystery ability is experienced. Looking forward to hearing what you all have to say, so please: Review, review REVIEW!