CHAPTER TEN

~I don't own Naruto~

a/n: this is sorta like a filler. :]

Finishing their breakfast, the group remained quiet. All of them wanted to speak and ask questions to each other but no one knew how to break the awkward silence. It was Itachi, who finally caved in with curiosity.

"Sasuke, how did you escape the explosion?" Sasuke paused and leaned back thinking of the hawk. "I used a summoning technique. A hawk was summoned and it helped me escape. He….didn't make it though." Sasuke looked onto the fire pit, feeling slight guilt for the bird he left behind.

"I see, when did you sign a contract with the hawks?" Itachi asked.

"I didn't. I just went on a limb and chanced it. Hoping it was an animal that can help me escape. Does father have a contract with the hawks?"

"No…..mother did." Itachi smiled a bit, he knew father would be happy to hear the news. Then naruto spoke up.

"uuh..Hinata-chan." Hinata blushed a bit at the nickname. Sasuke glared at him he wasn't to fond of Hinata's reaction.

"Are you part of the Hyuga clan?" Hinata nodded slowly. "Yes, Hanabi and I are all thats left now."

Naruto felt a pang of guilt for bringing the subject up, Sasuke filled him in earlier on what had happened. Itachi cut in.

"Sasuke, I have informed Hinata of the elders intentions with her and her sister Hanabi. She has agreed to cooperate with the seal as long as Hanabi is protected when she's gone."

Sasuke locked eyes with his brother. How can he forget? Hinata is to be sacrificed. A hole dug its way into his throat. He couldn't respond. Sasuke's anger was growing more noticeable and Itachi looked at him strangely. Hinata just stared at the Uchiha with curiosity. Naruto on the other hand was confused.

"Uuhh…teme? what is your brother talking about?"

"Our mission." Sasuke said bluntly.

"Well, what is it?"

"We were to kidnap Hinata, train her forcefully until she matched my strength. When that is done, we are going to sacrifice her and take her eyes to create the Rinnegan eyes by combining them with mine. With my new power the elders hoped that I could overthrow Danzo and Konoha in a final swoop and end this war with help from the Akatsuki."

"W-what?" was all naruto stammered out. Hinata interjected then.

"Its all right Naruto-san…to be honest back in Konoha I had joined a secret force called Vulpes after my cousin Neji died. Vulpes is dedicated in finding a way to over throw Danzo and freeing the Kyuubi weapon held against his will. Maybe Sasuke will be able to help achieve this goal with our combined strength…besides my main concern now is my sister, if I fail the elders will use her….and that I will not allow."

"What? Sasuke! Are you guys serious!? Haven't you done enough to these girls!? We should just let them go! This is horse shit!"

"Naruto-san please! You must understand! They're hands are tied. Though they belong to a different village the same rules apply, if sasuke and itachi forfeited their mission purposely they may be sentenced to death. They have to think of their family and their clan too. Plus with the Kyuubi on Danzo's side who knows what damage can be caused. They need some sort of power to counter the strength of the Kyuubi."

Hinata lowered her head and closed her eyes before she continued.

"…and as Sasori-san said, the Hyuga clan is basically….dead. I only want Hanabi to live a peaceful life away from all of this, and if sacrificing my life will achieve that goal then I will gladly die for the cause."

Hinata raised her head, and stared at the fire pit.

"Hinata-chan but im-"

"Naruto!" sasuke yelled. Hinata flinched and looked down ashamed of speaking up on their behalf. Maybe it was too bold of her. Naruto stared intently at the uchiha while Sasuke merely shook his head in a disapproving notion.

"we'll-think-of-something." mouthed Sasuke silently.

Naruto nodded and kept quiet, immediately catching on as to why Sasuke stopped him. His identity couldn't be revealed just yet. Then Sasuke turned his face and looked at Hinata. Guilt, sadness and determination painted his stoic face. And just with that Naruto put the pieces together. Sasuke will not let Hinata die.

Itachi cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the group. "Well, thats enough chit-chat, shall we keep moving?"

Once nearing the entrance of the village the group decided to walk, hoping to make this peace last a little longer. Itachi held Hanabi and walked besides Hinata, Naruto and sasuke walked up ahead.

"Hinata-sama, I think its best if maybe we wake up your sister before we arrive at the village that way it will be less of a shock." Hinata smiled kindly and nodded her head.

When the genjutsu lifted, Hanabi stirred for a bit before blinking her eyes open. She saw a dark smudgy figure with long hair. She rubbed her eye for focus and realized she was being carried by none other than Hinata. Itachi had handed the girl back to her older sister before deactivating the genjutsu to avoid any screams of fear.

Hinata smiled, "Hello sunshine, how are you feeling?"

"Onee-chan!" The young Hyuga wrapped her arms around her sisters neck with joy. "You won't believe my dream! I was in this magical forest and I was able to talk to flowers and animals! Then a monkey-man came and he kept throwing bananas at my friends, so I took away all the bananas, and told him its not nice to throw bananas."

hinata giggled at her imagination which interrupting the ever excited hanabi.

"neeeeeee-chan waaaait! Thats not all!" hanabi urged.

"Oh no?…Then tell me, what happens next?" Hinata smiled she was glad to see Hanabi in such high spirits.

"The monkey-man was sad, I mean real sad after I took the bananas I felt bad so I gave them back to cheer him up… but he said it wasn't the bananas that made him sad, he lost someone, and when i asked him 'who?' he only cried more! I tried to help him look but my Byakugan didn't activate, then! Out of no where you fell down next to me one-chan! And told me too look in a lake! And when I got to the lake I saw another monkey-man there! He was sad too but when he saw you and the other monkey-man he jumped with joy! It was such a happy reunion! oh and thats not the best part onee-chan!"

Hanabi was a little breathless form and hinata at this point was blushing. Hanabi's unlikely dream had somehow combined to what was happening around her while sleeping. Hinata guessed right away who the monkey-men were in her dream. Actually the uchiha both realized who she was talking about.

"Oooneeee-chan! Listen please! I'm not finished!"

"Errr..m-maybe you can f-f-finish another t-time hanabi?."

"No! ill forget if I wait just listen!…..well the second monkey….HE was so HAPPY to have found his brother monkey-man that he took you into his arms and KISSED YOU!"

"w-w-what!?"

"Reeeeelaaaax onee-chan it didn't actually HAPPEN in real life, it was my dream! Anyways! After the kiss he turned into a prince, and you were really REALLY happy." Hinata's heart was beating rapidly from embarrassment, they all heard and by all she means Sasuke heard the story. Her breaths were becoming more labored and sweat seemed to make Hinata's skin glow.

"Whats with you onee-chan your acting weird?" Hanabi finally noticed how uncomfortable hinata was.

"Hey Sasuke…I didn't know your half monkey?" Naruto asked with an evil grin plastered on his face.

Hanabi froze when she heard Naruto speak. During the entire time she was talking to Hinata she had her back turned, never really noticing that her and her onee-chan had company. She turned her head slowly and saw the three travelers walking in front. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto and Itachi had turned and gave her a small smile and slowed his pace to walk next to them. Hanabi stared at the strange man that was nearing them.

"Hello Hanabi-san. My name is Itachi." Hanabi turned to her sister. Hinata nodded smiling, confirming it was all right to respond to the man. "H-hi my name is Hanabi Hyuga, its nice to meet you.…..hey, you look like the first monkey in my dream."

"Hanabi!" Hinata wanted to die as Itachi began to chuckle.

"Well if I'm the first monkey-man from your dream, then maybe my brother looks like the other one?"

"Y-you have a brother too?" Hanabi was awestruck from the coincidence.

"Yes hanabi-chan, actually he's the one in front of us with black hair." Hanabi turned to look at the said brother. "I don't know, I can't see his face."

"Sasuke, please don't be rude, turn around."

"Itachi, drop it. And leave me alone."

"what? I'm just trying to entertain our young guest." Veins began to pop out in the back of sasuke neck.

Hanabi pushed herself off of Hinata and jumped to the ground. She was a little wobbly standing on her feet but her determination helped her move forward. She dashed in front of Sasuke and stopped him in his tracks. Hanabi gasped in shock.

"Your the MONKEY that kissed MY sister!" Naruto dropped to the floor laughing. Itachi covered his mouth while chuckling softly, Hinata fainted.

"Onee-chan!" Hanabi ran from Sasuke to her sister.

"hinata-sama!" Itachi kneeled next to Hinata.

Sasuke turned around quickly and saw that Hinata did in fact faint. Itachi was by her side shaking her a bit to regain consciousness. Sasuke jumped from his spot moved Itachi over and picked Hinata up bridal style. He shook her but she didn't wake up. Sasuke looked her up and down, she was so light and fit perfectly into his arms he thought.

"Itachi-san, why is your brother blushing?" Hanabi whispered into itachi's ear as she saw Sasuke interact with Hinata. Itachi smiled warmly. "I think he likes your sister."

Sasuke shot the both of them an evil glare. Hanabi jumped and almost cried form fear. Itachi picked her up and patted her back. "There, there Hanabi. Sasuke still acts like a bad monkey sometimes, just ignore him okay?" Hanabi nodded onto his shoulder still sniffling a bit.

Naruto had a big plastic kool-aid smile across his face as Sasuke walked passed him with Hinata in arms.

"If you say ONE WORD Naruto, I'll tear that smile off your face." Naruto raised his hands in defeat and waited for Itachi to catch up. As they were walking, Naruto looked up to the sky and spoke to his beloved.

'Sakura, I'm free, finally. I have some new interesting friends. We're gonna have a lot of hardships ahead of us. But it should be fun. I just hope your still watching my back cause I'm gonna need it. Wherever you are, i miss you hime.'

naruto smirked to himself wondering if she actually heard his thoughts.