Wow, I didn't think I'd finish this chapter so quickly. Well, here's the update.

Hinata slowly opened her eyes. She looked around her, the last place she remembered being in was the forest a small distance away from the gates of Konoha. She then remembered what happened, she got up, but her vision was blurry.

"Whoa, easy Hinata." Kiba appeared to her left side and caught her, just before she fell. "You're still a little woozy."

"Where...am I?" Hinata asked, still unable to clearly see where she was.

"The hospital." Kiba said, "Sakura brought you here from the forest last night." He then leaned over to the side and looked at the bruise on Hinata's temple, "That's a pretty nasty hit."

Hinata's vision slowly started to go back into a crystal clear view. She rubbed her temple gently, which still gave off a small sting of pain when he put a small amount of extra pressure on it. Remembering more of what happened last night, she forced herself to sit up. "Where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, "Did he...?"

"I'm sorry Hinata." Kiba frowned, "Sakura told me everything. He's gone."

Hinata's eyes began to fill with tears. She had hoped that everything that happened last night wasn't real and that the bruise on her temple from from an accident, but now she knew it was true. She burried her face in her hands as she cried uncontrolably.

"How could you let him go?!" Sakura yelled.

Kakashi simply stood there, apparently not interested in this arguement. "Naruto made a choice, Tsunade-sama agreed to it and ordered me to not stop him. I'm not one to oppose what the Hokage ordered. Besides, Yamato is with him, that'll keep the Kyuubi in check if the problem should arise."

Sakura's rage slowly faded, remembered that she now knew of Naruto's secret, she had to ask, "Kakashi-sensei, that day when Itachi sent Sasori's puppets to attack, you told Tsunade-sama something about Naruto's condition." Sakura still had that momery fresh in her mind, "Were you talking about...the...Kyuubi?"

Kakashi sighed, "Yes." He looked down at Sakura. Seeing that she was still just as upset, now that both Sasuke and Naruto are gone, he tried to comfort her, "He promised that he'd come back. You know Naruto, he never breaks a promise." He smiled through his mask.

"But he also promised that he would bring Sasuke back." Sakura said.

"Which is why he promised he'd return." Kakashi answered reassuring her, "So that he can keep his promise to you."

Hinata slowly opened the door. She walked in the apartment, taking off her shoes as she closed the door behind her. She looked around Naruto's apartment, which apparently Naruto didn't take much time to clean. She walked around across the room and to the bedroom. Inside, there were clothes scattered everywhere, and manga lying on the floor with them.

Hinata sat on the bed, holding onto the only piece of item that was left of Naruto. His forehead protector was the only item that gave Hinata hope that Naruto would come back.

...Flashback...

Naruto brought his hands to the back of his head and began to untie his forehead protector. He removed it from his head and placed them in Hinata's hands. "Can you hold on to this for me?"

"Your fore...head protector?" Hinata didn't understand why he gave this to her.

"Just so you know that I'll be back." Naruto said with a small smile. "I promise, I'll be back for it." He move forward and held Hinata in a hug. This feeling he had when Hinata hugged him was something he wanted to feel one last time before he left.

...End...

With determination in her eyes, she got up from the bed and went to the window. She opened it up and looked off into the horizon.

"I'm going to make your homecoming unforgettable." Hinata said with a bright smile on her face, "I don't know when you're coming back, but when you do, I'll be waiting." She looked back at the bedroom. She wanted to keep her word on making Naruto's homecoming unforgettable, and she knew how to start it off.

(Three years later)

Hinata stood in the middle of the living room, holding a broom in her hand. She looked around the place with a smile of accomplishment. She walked over to the bedroom and looked at the clean room. She walked back to the living room, placing the broom back in the closet it came from. She sat down on the couch in the living room. She reached out for a picture that was on the small table in front of her. The picture was one of Naruto, standing alone and smiling. It was one that was taken sometime before he first left with Jiraiya for the two and a half year training period. His smile was so bright that it made her smile as well.

She dedicated herself to keep Naruto's apartment clean while he was gone, of course making sure her father approved of this. There were times when Sakura, Ino, and Tenten offered to help. Even on rare occasions, having the boys help too, of course, bribes were made by the other girls to have their full cooperation. But Hinata always liked it better when she was the only one there.

"Hinata." Sakura's voice came from the other side of the door, followed by a knock, "Come quick!"

Hinata quickly got up from the couch and went to the door, opening it, "What is it?"

"Tsunade-sama wants us in her office right now." Sakura answered, "We have a mission."

"Two members of Akatsuki were spotted in this village not too long ago." Tsunade said as she pointed to a location on a map that was on her desk. Sakura, Sai, Hinata, and Kakashi stood by her desk, looking at the map, "The reason behind this is either Naruto or Sasuke might be there."

Hope filled Hinata's heart, after three years of not seeing him, she might be able to see him once more. Ever since Naruto left, Hinata was put on Kakashi's squad as a replacement, while Kurenai worked with only Shino and Kiba.

"Your team will be sent to this village to find clues as to why they were there. Report back once you found the information." Tsunade said. "The Akatsuki might still be there, so be prepared should you come across one of them."

"Hai." The students bowed.

Over the course of the three years, each of them went through some changes. Of course Kakashi never really changed from his jounin uniform.

Sakura had her hair grow back out to the long length she originally had, but she had it pulled back into a ponytail, with several strands hanging over the front. Her forehead protector was now placed on her forehead, and not on the top of her head like before. With a little inspiration from her friend, Ino, Sakura now wore her dark pink shirt with a trim at the bottom, which now showed her midriff. On the back of the shirt, a large Kanji symbol was stitched there with read; 'Strength'. She abandoned the leather gloves that she occasionly slipped on for whenever she needed it, now replacing it with fingerless gloves that she wore all the time. On the back of the hands, the Konoha symbol was stitched on them. Her skirt is one of the only things that she hasn't changed, along with her legwarmers.

Sai had finally chosen to change from the clothes that others never liked, mainly because of the shirt that showed his midriff, which they had told him isn't common on men. He now wore a black karate uniform with the sleeves cut just an inch over the elbow, with a large dark blue sash around his waist. His sword was still strapped to his back, for it was something Sai can use with in combat when jutsus fail to assist him. His hair also grew out, allowing him to put on a ponytail, while still maintaining his original hairstyle in the front, just longer. On his left arm, he had a black metal gauntlet on that hid an empty scroll inside it. On the outer side of the gauntlet, there was a tab that was for Sai to pull on to reveal the scroll, giving him an empty sheet for painting on for his signature jutsus. To what Sai had told everyone, by using his chakra, he can erase the paintings on the scroll, making it reusable and never run out. His fingerless gloves were still on him, but they also had the Konoha symbol stitched onto them.

Hinata changed her outfit into Hyuga robes. She now wore a robe that had a small feeling of blue. The robe reached down to around several inches above the knee, and was tied together by a solid white sash. Her pants were white and went down to her shins, and was wrapped under bandages. Her forehead protector was replaced with Naruto's showing that she still had just as strong of hope as she did three years ago. She still wore it, hanging around her neck.

"We'll leave in three hours." Kakashi said, "Go home an prepare."

Hinata had her bag filled with the nessecary items for the mission. As she left her room, making her way to the front door, someone's voice got her attention.

"Where are you going?" Hiashi asked.

"Otou-san." Hinata bowed as she turned and saw her father, with Neji.

"You have training with Neji." Hiashi reminded her.

"Gomen, I have a mission." Hinata said.

"A mission? Well, then better hurry." Neji said.

"What is the mission Hinata?" Hiashi asked.

Hinata knew that her father wanted to know if she was participating in a dangerous mission, for he's been having a concern for her ever since Naruto left the village. "I'm going to a village south of Konoha, Hokage-sama says that Naruto-kun might be there." She chose to leave out the fact that Akatsuki members were spotted there, as well as it possibly being Sasuke that could be there.

"Naruto?" Hiashi asked. He saw that Hinata eyes were filled with hope. "Don't give up hope on him Hinata. Now go, do your best."

"Hai, Otou-san." Hinata bowed and proceeded out the front door.

As Hinata left through the doors, Hiashi turned to Neji. "Do you have anyone else you can train with?"

"Hai, I'll go find Tenten." Neji answered.

"Neji." Hiashi called to him before the young jounin was about to leave, "Do you believe Hinata will make a fine heir to the clan?"

"I believe Hinata'sama will do moe than what we can expect." Neji answered him, "In the three years since Naruto had left, Hinata-sama's master many jutsus even I don't know."

"But I worry for her." Hiashi said, "I know of the private training she received, I'm concerned if she is ready to use what she learned in real combat."

The journey wasn't too far, they only stopped for one night. The main trouble came when they finally arrived to the village.

"We'll split up." Kakashi said, "Meet back here in an hour."

"Hai." They all said in unison. They all dispersed into clouds of smoke.

Hinata wandered around the streets of the village, looking for any clues that could lead her to Naruto. The whole time, she had her Byakugan activated. She looked everywhere in the billage, but no luck came, there was no sign of Naruto anywhere. She knew that there could be Sasuke, or Akatsuki, but she wanted to find Naruto more than anything else right now.

Hinata slumped on the dirt floor, leaning on the stone wall behind her. She sighed heavily as she was now exhausted from the walking.

"You seem lost."

"Huh?" Hinata looked over to her left and saw someone sitting next to her. The voice clearly revealed that it was an adult man. She found it strange that she didn't notice him, seeing as how comfortable he was, he was there for quite a long time. Maybe her exhaustion clouded her sense of surrounding.

This man was mainly covered by a dirty gray robe that was ripped on the bottom. The collar was up high enough to cover his mouth. He wore a large, flattened conical shaped straw hat that covered more of his face. He wore sandels that strapped around his ankles. A stick was on the ground before him, possibly his walking stick. He had a fairly long peice of straw in his mouth that bobbed up and down as he cheed on it.

"I said, you seem lost." The man repeated, "Are my suspisions correct?"

"Well, I'm looking for a friend." Hinata answered, "I was told he'd be here, but I haven't found him." She chose to leave out the part of Sasuke, another Jinchuruuki, or Akastuki possibly being here."

"A friend?" The man asked, "What would someone from Konoha be doing here?" Hinata knew he saw the Konoha clan symbol from the forehead protector that was loosely around her neck.

"He disappeared three years ago." Hinata answered. She remembered back to the night when he left, leaving her with parting words, as well as a bruise to the temple.

"Hinata!"

Hinata looked up and saw Sakura running towards her.

"I found something." Sakura said. She offered a hand and lofted Hinata onto her feet, "We gotta hurry, they might not be there if we're too late."

"Who?" Hinata asked.

"You'll find out if we leave now." Sakura said.

"Well, I hope you find your friend." The man said as he got up from his spot. "If you truly care about this friend of yours, you'll find him in time." With that, he turned and walked away, using the stick as support for walking.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked.

"Over there." Sakura pointed to an open field that had two figures standing there. Sakura and Hinata were hiding behind trees while they were spying on these other two.

The figures were dressed in black robes with red cloud designs on them. They both wore straw hats that covered their faces, but it made no difference, for their backs were against the konouchi.

"There's no point in hiding forever." One of them called out.

"Uh oh." Sakura knew they both couldn't hide now. They came from their hiding spots.

The two Akatsuki members turned around. Deidara smiled while Tobi had his expression hidden under his bizarre mask.

"I should have known we'd find you Konoha ninjas here." Deidara said, "But it makes no difference."

"We came here to do a mission and we're going to complete it." Tobi said with determination. Sakura gave the two a look of determination of her own. "Damn, she's scary." Tobi quickly scurried behind Deidara. "You go first senpai."

"Typical." Deidara mumbled. His hands came out from the pouches hat were on each side of his waist. The mouths that were on the palms of his hands were chewing the clay that they had just bitten into, preparing for one of Deidara's bombs. The mouths then spat out the clay figures, which were in the figure of spiders. He threw both spiders at the two ninjas, growing into larger sizes as they came closer and closer to them.

"Hinata, look out!" Sakura jumped to get out of the way of the explosion, but Hinata didn't move. She stood in place when she saw the giant spiders coming at her. She never really liked spiders, but to see a large one, it made her tremble. "HINATA!" All that Sakura last saw was an explosion that consumed te Hyuga.

When the explosion settled and the dust fell, Hinata was still alive, on her knees and shielding her eyes.

"What?" Deidara looked in shock.

"Wow..." Tobi said with an un-surprised tone.

"Hinata?" Sakura looked in shock to see that she was still alive.

Hinata looked around her, realizing that she was still alive and undamaged.

"You really should have run."

Hinata looked ahead of her. Standing in front of her, the same man from before was standing there. He wasn't using his cane for support, he was standing with a straight back. Deidara looked in fury to see that his clay bomb failed.

"How the hell did you save her from my bomb?!" Deidara asked in rage.

"You won't live long enough to know." The man grabbed onto his gray rags and threw it off. He now stood in a Konoha standard jounin uniform. "Unless you wish to resist, this will be a quick battle."

"Captain Yamato!" Sakura looked shocked when she saw that the 'begger' was actually her once temporary leader.

"Tobi, be productive for once. Distract him." Deidara ordered his student. He put his hands in his pouch and began to produce more bombs with the clay.

"How?" Tobi asked.

"The same way as you always do; run."

"But he'll catch me if I do." Tobi complained.

While the two were argueing over a plan, Yamato turned to Hinata. "Go back to Sakura, I'll deal with these two on my own." The man said.

Hinata did as she was told, she got up and ran over to Sakura. "Hinata, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Hinata answered.

"Ahh! It doesn't matter anymore." Deidara pulled his hands out of the pouches, "Its done." The hands produced many small clay birds. Deidara grinned in evil delight when he threw them at Yamato. "Try and stop these!"

Yamato stood there, apparently not worried of the coming attack. He threw his hands forward and touched his index fingers and thumbs together respectively. "Moku Jouheki(Wood Locking Wall)!" From the ground below, small roots began to sprout out. The roots then began to grow into larger, thick roots and began to mesh together to form a half dome that seperated Yamato from the clay birds.

The birds collided into the wooden wall, exploding on contact. The explosion covered the field, forcing Hinata and Sakura to sheild their eyes from the coming debris. When they were positive that the explosion settled, they opened their eyes. The grass around Yamato was now more destroyed than before, but the wodden dome was still intact, only with several splinters from the bombs.

"Great." Deidara groaned, "And I thought this would be easy."

"Looks like you were proven wrong, yet again, Senpai." Tobi commented.

From what seemed to be a muttered curse, Deidara produced a large clay bird. He hopped on with Tobi landing behind him. "This isn't over Konoha ninjas." He called out to the three.

"You haven't seen the last of us!" Tobi yelled.

"Can it." Deidara said, landing a swift hammer hit on Tobi's head.

When the clay bird was far from sight, Yamato turned to the two girls, "We need to go."

Deidara's clay bird flew through the clouds as both Deidara and Tobi were heading back to where the other Akatsuki were.

"Well, that didn't turn out so well." Tobi commented.

A vein popped in Deidara's head, "You know Tobi, what happened back there, that was an embarrassment. And you striked out more than three times." Deidara reminded his student about the many comments Tobi made during the short-lived fight. "And you remember what I do when you reach three strikes?"

"Yeah." Tobi answered with no interest, "So, what are you gonna do?"

"SENPAI!!!" Tobi yelled with plea from down on the ground, as Deidara continued to fly away on his clay bird. "I SAID I'M SORRY!!" He rubbed the back of his head as he ran after his teacher.

Deidara rubbed his right knuckles, which were bruising red. "I should have went for the stomach." Deidara said, wincing in pain when he rubbed over a sensitive spot, "That mask hurts."

The door closed as Sakura and Hinata looked around in the place. It wasn't too great, but it was still well furnished to live in comfortably. Yamato brought the two girls to his home, making sure he avoided himself and the two shinobi from the eyes of others. Once inside, he removed the gray cloak and hat, placing them on a hook that was on the wall.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have left you two out of my sight." Yamato said.

"Captain Yamato, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, "And where is Naruto?"

Yamato didn't answer, instead asking his own question, "Who else is with you?"

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked again. She wasn't going to accept nothing for an answer.

"If you came with Kakashi-senpai, then I must speak with him first." Yamato answered, ignoring the question again. "He must be the first to know about the past three years."

"I'm not going to tell you anything until you tell me about Naruto." Sakura said strongly. "Tell us, for all our sakes. For Hinata's."

Yamato looked over at Hinata. The pleading look in her eyes of wanting to know of Naruto was something he could no longer ignore. After not seeing him for two years, he thought the two deserved to know.

"Look, I'm sorry." Yamato said after sighing, "But I don't know where he is. He disappeared a few days ago."

"What?!" Sakura yelled, "What do you mean 'he disappeared'?!"

"I mean, he's gone. Out of my sight and nowhere to be found." Yamato answered. "Now look, I need to find Kakashi-senpai. At least we can use his help in finding Naruto."

"Ok." Sakura calmed down. "We're meant to meet him and Sai in a few minutes."

"Then let's go." Yamato said.

As the three prepared to leave, Hinata looked back in the small house they were about to leave. She noticed that Naruto's orange and black clothes were left there, folded up and placed in the corner of the room. "Naruto-kun..." After hoping that she may at last see him again, that hope was shattered.

I was originally planning to make chapters of what happens during the three year time skip, but it seemed to be a pointless filler. I thouht to myself, Naruto did a time skip and made Naruto Shippuden, why can't I do that with my fanfic?

Anyways, please review.

Coming up next:

More trouble occurs and Hinata reveals what she learned in her special training.