Hey, sorry it's a bit later than I had planned but it's here and I officially hate mixing times over, it messes with my head. Anyway, also if anyone notices anything wrong with the Japanese, tell me - I'll correct it if I can.

Bold writing – demonic or summoned creatures speaking and technique names

Bold italics – demons or summoned beings thinking

Italics – people talking inside other's heads or thinking/ or letters

Normal – either descriptions or humans

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any affiliated products or characters I do however own Akaken and my other OC's

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"She is beautiful..." Naruto thought as he crouched in the bushes, taking in the sight of her lean muscle, not an ounce of fat on her. She was so graceful. It made his heart ache to do what he had to.

He drew an arrow; Akaken had taken supplies for a week which made sense since he was imitating kunoichi for at least that long, so he wouldn't be able to simply create food or go without it for too long. He was always very particular about the details of a disguise. The doe in front of him dipped her head. He fired the bow. Whilst he could have managed the kill with a kunai it was easier with an arrow not to damage the meat and he could manage it from further away.

Snap! A twig broke behind him, he had another arrow knocked and drawn in less than a second. He pointed it straight at the sound whilst spinning round to face the intruder.

"Eep!" A small voice came from the other end of the arrow. Naruto relaxed.

"Hinata! What are you doing here?" He returned the arrow to the quiver and unstrung the bow. It had been a present from his father, and the string faded into the wood and the bow itself became a quarterstaff. He entered the clearing and gathered some magic in his hand.

"We're a team, right? I thought we should get to know each other better. Or at least, that's what I told Otou-sama." She smiled slightly, putting a slight stress on the 'sama' part.

"Kami, I should have told Naruto I loved him sooner. And not just because I could never have disrespected Otou-sama like that before!" she thought, looking at the bow and just trying to imagine the kind of strength you would need to string it.

Beneath his palm there was a brief flash of light which encompassed the entire deer before disappearing with it.

"What …?"

Naruto smiled. "Prepared spell. Tou-san set it up so I wouldn't have to drag a kill home.' He walked towards her. "Now then..." he leaned towards her, "Shall we 'get to know each other?'" He grinned softly as she leaned in to kiss him.

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Team eight met up at the training ground at quarter to twelve. Naruto was smiling as he met up with the others; he had been training long into the night after Hinata left and had finally mastered his Kaze Yaiba to the point where he felt comfortable using it in combat. He had changed his outfit as well; he now wore a pair of loose three-quarter length trousers with a tight mesh shirt and a sky blue jumper with a green swirl on the back. He had removed the arms from his jumper and wore a pair of tighter fitting arm warmers with a toughened leather area on the inside of each wrist. He had also taken to carrying his Staff strapped to his back. Hopefully, it would all make him look rugged, daring and outrageously handsome.

(A/N - anyone who's seen Princess Mononoke think of what Ashitaka wears under his shirt!)

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out.

"Aburame-san!" He smiled as he bounded towards them.

"Naruto-san," Came Shino's curt reply.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun," Hinata said. Her face had visibly brightened when Naruto came up the Aburame compound. Being near the Hyuga compound, they had decided to walk together. Whilst a nice clan, the Aburame were not the most stimulating conversation holders, Shino was no exception.

"Good, you're all here early," a voice barked from the woods, surprised, the three Genin turned to look. There shadowed in the trees stood Tsume Inuzuka. "Now we can begin your Genin test."

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise. "Test?"

"Yes. Test." Her tone brooked no argument. "And close your mouth. Kuromaru doesn't like fish, but those puppies will try anything if you cut it up small enough." Naruto shut his mouth. The others wisely decided not to question their sensei.

"Now, your first test is to find Kuromaru." The Genin now noticed that her partner was not with her. "Hajime!"

They ran off into the forest, each realising that if they were going to find Kuromaru they would need to work together. That much seemed obvious to them. Naruto had been trained by his father, who being in a war firmly believed a platoon to be more effective than a single man no matter how powerful. Shino's Hive-like mind had drilled teamwork into him from birth, whilst Hinata recalled her father's stories of his team mates.

"Plans?" Naruto asked, dropping into a position between them, his mind switching to what his father had termed conflict mode. There was an objective to be accomplished. It had to be completed. No room for other thoughts which could distract him at a crucial moment.

"Hinata? Your Byakugan will help us locate him," Shino stated.

Hinata nodded. Naruto thought for a moment. "Shino, can you sense your bugs when they are outside your body?"

"Yes, the females."

"Right, Hinata - help guide Shino's bugs to Kuromaru. Try not to alert him to their presence; they'll help us if there's another stage and to track him as he's unlikely to stay still. We should also be prepared for techniques - he can speak, and has a chakra system. As Sensei's partner he may have picked up some tricks for if they're separated…" Naruto spoke with authority, easily falling into the leadership roll, and the others let him.

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Half an hour later they had finally found Kuromaru and planted a Kikai on him. But just as they approached, he seemed to sense them and run. This had begun to grate on their nerves.

Naruto growled as he removed the quarterstaff from his back.

"Naruto, you're not going to shoot him are you?" Hinata said, shocked.

"Dogs have good hearing, Hinata-chan," was all he said as he called the string from the wood. "Just tell me when we get close, I won't aim for him but the surprise may make him run where we want. When we reach him - you circle round to his side."

She bit her lip and nodded. They found Kuromaru again in the clearing. Hinata went to the right. Naruto aimed high up, and after about ten seconds he fired the arrow so that it came down centimetres from his snout. He backed off and began to turn away from Hinata in surprise when Naruto fired a second arrow, straight to where he had been turning. He recoiled before running off in the only direction he had left. Straight past Hinata as she dived taking him down. He was caught. There was no escaping this time.

"Well done! I thought you'd never figure out that you actually had to fight to catch him, however, Hinata, if that had been any other dog you would be missing a face right now." She sighed. "But I can't blame you for that. Hiashi-san was never great with animals and probably neglected to teach you their dangers. None the less, you all pass."

She smiled at them and melted from her Iron Lady routine. "Well done, pups."

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Akaken turned up at the next meeting.

"Yes, Hokage-san. The mission was a success. Your spies should send word of the war within the next week," Akaken told the Hokage.

"And you weren't recognised?" Homura asked.

Akaken raised an eyebrow. "Homura-san, I have not been seen since I came to the village - how could I possibly be recognised? Besides, using this body might have attracted attention at a later date." His voice changed. Along with his body. In his place now stood a small woman. She looked about eighteen, with long legs, and her mini-skirt was set on an angle, one side dropping down below her hip the other drawn up so that it ended only two or three inches below her hip. She was wearing a shirt which seemed to be made of a single strip of cloth, tied so loosely it threatened to fall off with every breath she took.

The council's eyes widened at the sudden change. Even Sarutobi seemed slightly taken aback. "But how did you get past …?"

"The guards?" She had moved before they had even noticed. "Well, they're not great at telling truth from lie, when it comes to civilians. Besides, this body is firm enough, isn't it, council member?" she asked from one of the civilian council member's lap with one arm around his neck. He was trying desperately to look anywhere but down and remember that this was actually a guy. No matter what his body was telling him. He blushed and stuttered. She giggled.

"Akaken! Stop incapacitating my council members!" Sarutobi called, amused.

"Does that mean I can incapacitate you, Hokage-san?" she asked, before giggling at his expression. When she had stopped she changed back into Akaken. "The escape was easy. Nobody saw me leave Iwa, they were too interested in a … accidental rockslide on the other side of the village." He grinned, and it was an eerie echo of his female persona. "Then I came straight here. Now, I'm going to take my leave of you..." He looked at each of them. "Ladies, gentleman," he looked at Homura. "Dunce."

The entire council looked at Homura and noticed that he was indeed wearing a large conical hat with 'Dunce' written on it.

"When did he do that?" was the question all of them were thinking.

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"Naruto!" Akaken called as he got home. "Huh, that's odd. Normally he would be out to greet me by now," he thought as he walked into the living room.

"Oh. That'll be why he didn't say hi." On the sofa, Naruto and Hinata were lying next to each other, kissing each other. They were so engrossed in each other they didn't notice him enter. So he sat down on the chair opposite and summoned a book with some of his favourite memories into his hands. And settled down to read.

"Mmh!" Hinata murmured when she noticed they weren't alone anymore. Unfortunately she was too involved in Naruto's mouth to make it intelligible.

"Don't mind me, I just got to my favourite part," Akaken said mildly.

"Tou-san? I thought I heard something come in..." Naruto said, sitting up. "Oh. We were just ... um..." Naruto blushed along with Hinata.

"I don't mind. You're Ninja now. You will be asked to place your lives on the line for your job. You should make the most of what you have whilst you have it." As he said it he looked at the picture on the table. "Now, Naruto we have the small matter of your graduation present!" He smiled and led them outside. "Hinata, what time are you expected home?"

"He thinks that Naruto is taking me out for dinner tonight - back by eleven."

"You told him?"

"Not exactly…"

Akaken sighed "He thinks it's a team thing? You can't hide forever, Hinata."

They reached a clearing where the trees had been cut in a perfect circle, as well as having a lot of slash marks.

"Impressive. Your staff with the Kaze Yaiba?" Akaken asked. Naruto nodded. "Now I want you to practice the Kazeken. This time, use some wind magic in your eyes. Don't ask what it'll feel like - you'll know when you do it right. Hinata, come walk with me for a moment?"

"All right..."

They walked away from the clearing. "Hinata, I wanted to ask. How far do you see you and Naruto going together?"

Taken aback, Hinata stammered, "All the way, he saved my life. I-I couldn't bear to not be a part of his."

Akaken smiled softly. "All right. In that case, I guess I should offer to teach you the Mizuken."

"What?"

"You want to become a part of our family and change yours, correct? Well, I can teach you the magic. You may need to prove to Hiashi that just because a masculine water style doesn't work for you, it doesn't mean that you are weak. You also have a slight earth affinity, so I guess it's me being kinda selfish, but I want to train you. The last person to have the same affinities as you died before he could finish working. He would have been the first wielder of mind magic. Hinata... you have the potential to become more powerful than anyone alive."

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Yay, I finally finished it. I got stuck about halfway through. But it's done now... next chapter I will probably introduce some of the other characters.

Anyway I don't think there were any new words so R&R