NOTE: THIS IS THE NEW CHAPTER

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, R.O.D., or any other quoted or cited material.

Summary: AU after Naruto leaves on his training trip with Jiraiya. Hinata realizes that to become a strong ninja, she must find her own path. Meanwhile, the ninja world seems to be heading for another war. NaruHina, maybe others.

A/N: Since no one bothered to comment on my pathetically written fight scene between Neji and Hinata, I've decided I should stick to my strengths and not bother with writing out battles since I can't do it well. So, just use your imagination to figure out how it goes between Kurenai and Hinata. Also, this chapter is dedicated to my lovely reviewers: glorfy taintedlegacy, GWise, chisay, who gave me the needed motivation to update.

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Moon,

First thing I want to do when I get back? Well, the first thing I'll have to do—no the one I want to will be cleaning out my apartment. I realized some time after I left that I didn't clear out my fridge! I bet the whole place stinks by now and my plants are all dead too. Even the cactus. Most people don't think about it, but even the poor cactus needs water, you know. And after cleaning out my apartment, I'd probably have to do laundry right away since all the decent clothes I have are with me right now and they'll be gross when I get back. Man, I hate doing chores! But I guess that's just how it is, you know what I mean? Like if you don't cook, you don't eat, so even if you're tired, you gotta cook. Heh. Even if by cooking I mean making instant ramen.

Now that I'm thinking about all the stuff I have to do when I get back, I kinda don't want to go back and deal with it! But you asked what was the first think I want to do, right? Hmmm, that's a toughie. Guess I want a nice big meal at Ichiraku's. I bet no one would be surprised to hear that! What about you, what do you like to do when you get back home after being gone a while?

Summer

Whenever she wasn't reading journals kept by deceased Hyuuga from the backroom of the Main library in order to uncover something about the Hyuuga cursed seal, Hinata was training as hard as she could in every free hour she had. Her evaluation spar with Kurenai-sensei was coming up, and while she didn't think she was ready for even thinking about jounin, she didn't want her old teacher to be horrified by her pathetic ninja skills. Hinata knew the spar itself was not a test. The spar was a favor Kurenai-sensei was doing for her—her old teacher would tell her honestly if she thought Hinata should begin training or not for the grueling jounin exam or not. Even knowing that it was stupid and irrational, some part of Hinata deep down was afraid that if she performed badly enough for Kurenai-sensei, they could demote her from chuunin back to genin. Hinata knew that was farfetched, unlikely, and not going to happen in a million years, but still, she couldn't help fretting about it.

Already she was planning out the training routine she would follow for the rest of the day as soon as this Hokage meeting she was transcribing right now finished. Hinata tried to keep her mind on what was being said, but it was hard to focus because her thoughts kept drifting to her anxiety over the evaluation spar next week. At last, it looked like every last council member had had his or her say and the Hokage said she would deliberate over their advice. People began stirring from their seats, some clustering in groups and discussing possible outcomes or exchanging pleasantries. Hinata gathered her papers and unobtrusively began making her way to the door when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

The girl turned around to see that it was the Hokage herself who stood behind her. "Ah, Hyuuga Hinata, just the person I wanted to talk to."

For one irrational moment, Hinata wondered if they were going to demote her to genin even before she failed the evaluation spar with Kurenai-sensei. Then she gathered her wits together, and said, "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

The older woman guided the two them down the hall and stopped in a convenient alcove so they could have a little privacy. "I've seen you at many of my meetings lately—and aren't they all tedious?—and I have to say, I'm glad to see you've come so far with the Diplomacy Crops." Tsunade smiled encouragingly at the girl who still seemed to be a little uneasy in her presence, "Yes, I'm glad I recommended you to them."

Hinata tried to pull herself together. She didn't want the Hokage to think she was incompetent now. "Yes, thank you. For recommending me I mean. I've really enjoyed working with the D.C."

"It must be mutual: I hear nothing but glowing reports about you from them." The Hokage smiled cockily, oddly reminding Hinata of Naruto-kun, and added "I knew you'd fit in well there." Of course Hinata had no way of knowing the Hokage was thinking of her 'fill in the blank' method of trying to match up ninja and vacancies in departments. "Now, I wanted to talk to you for business reasons as well. You're in touch with Naruto and Sakura while they're traveling, correct? I want you to send out a message to them immediately that I've ordered they return at once. Tell them I'll explain when they're back in Konoha. Make sure they realize it's urgent."

After working so long at the D.C., Hinata knew better than to pry and ask what had come up. The information would be most likely confidential and sensitive and if the Hokage hadn't already told her, she certainly wasn't going to just because Hinata asked. So the girl merely responded with "I understand, Hokage-sama. I'll send out the message right away."

The woman smiled at her once more, nodded and walked on.

A handful of days later, Hinata couldn't decide if she was more nervous or more excited about Naruto-kun's imminent return. Of course, Hinata realized he wouldn't rush out and seek her as soon as he got back, but she hoped that he would come see her in person eventually after he made it back to Konoha. After all, they were getting to be friends now, right? She definitely felt as if she'd gotten to know him much more on a personal level than she had before because of the letters; she knew more now about his thoughts and opinions than she had ever been able to gather by simply watching him in their Academy days. And she hoped that maybe he was getting to know her too. That maybe he cared to get to know her through those letters.

But Naruto-kun and Sakura would most likely return around the same time as her spar with Kurenai-sensei, and there was no doubt about how Hinata felt about that. Nervousness and dread won hands down.

The morning of the evaluation spar dawned clear. Since mornings were the best time for Kurenai-sensei, Hinata had taken the unprecedented step of canceling her sparring session with Neji-niisan—the only time he ever missed those sessions was when he was on an ANBU mission or if she were on an extended mission of her own. But she had started to feel so much more comfortable around him, she had even mentioned to him that this morning, her old jounin-instructor wanted to discuss the possibility of her trying out for the jounin exam eventually. He hadn't sneered and said it was hopeless for someone as weak as she was. He hadn't even scoffed. Instead, he had merely asked her to let him know what Kurenai-sensei's suggestions were. Yes, they were almost friends now, she and Neji-niisan . Or about as close to friends anyone could really be with Hyuuga Neji.

Hinata arrived at Training Area 11—the traditional training spot of the old Team 8—just as the sun had finished rising and began running through simple katas to warm up while she waited for Kurenai-sensei. The woman got there soon after and nodded approvingly to see that Hinata was preparing herself.

Her words, however, startled Hinata. "This is not a spar." Kurenai said without preamble. "This is a fight. Your objective is to defeat me. Use whatever means necessary."

Hinata hesitated uncertainly, and in that time, Kurenai seemed to melt into the trees. Hinata knew that she couldn't allow the woman the chance to use genutsu since only the most advanced techniques would work against doujutsu users such as the Hyuuga. And since advanced genjutsu required much too much concentration to be used in direct combat, she couldn't give her teacher the time to focus and spin an illusion elaborate enough that it might even fool the byakugan.

Hinata activated her byakugan. The fight had begun.

By the time Hinata conceded defeat and collapsed on the ground, covered with cuts and bruises, nursing a sprained wrist and a head throbbing from genjutsu residue, the sun had cleared the trees. She had used up one of her summoning scrolls filled with Paper and realized she needed to practice more with handling that much Paper at once. The sleeves and several inches of the pant legs of Paper-clothes had long since frayed as she used them in battle.

Kurenai, also looking worse for the wear, leapt down from a tree branch and helped her former student stand up and limp over to a tree. They both sat down in its shade, Hinata leaning heavily against its massive trunk. Somehow, even though she'd gotten her ass kicked, the fight had been invigorating. She could tell that Kurenai-sensei hadn't been holding back—well, she'd been holding back in the sense that she wasn't trying to kill Hinata outright, but she'd pulled out all the stops, she was treating Hinata like an adult, like a competent ninja and fighting her with all her skills. Of course after such a punishing battle, Hinata didn't think she had enough strength left to even squeeze a tube of toothpaste. She had no idea how she would actually muster enough energy to walk home afterwards.

As Hinata leaned against the tree with her eyes closed, Kurenai remarked, "You did well." Of course that remark had Hinata opening her eyes and looking at her old teacher in disbelief. That was "well"? She'd failed miserably. Kurenai-sensei was battered, but nowhere near the entirely beaten condition Hinata herself was in. Kurenai smiled, her crimson eyes lighting up with sardonic amusement, "I can see you don't believe me. Let me elaborate. You did well. The Hinata I knew as a genin would never have been able to fight her all against me, against someone she knew. But you went all out. You fought like a ninja.

"In terms of mechanics, of course there's room for improvement, just as there is room for improvement for every living shinobi. Paper Using serves you well, and I'm impressed by the flexibility you display in shifting between various forms of fighting. I can't help you with the Paper Using, but I suspect there's still room for experimentation there on your part. And your taijutsu needs significant work. I feel that you might have neglected it while trying so hard on everything else. You also need to increase your endurance and stamina, and training in taijutsu should help with those as well."

Kurenai smiled again before continuing, "And now the part you've been waiting for: I would recommend you for the jounin exam. With a year or two of determined training, I think you can handle it." Kurenai held up a hand preemptively as she said, "Listen to what I have to say before you start protesting, Hinata. I know how serious this is. I'm not just making an empty recommendation to you. The jounin exam is not the sort of thing you can take over and over like you can with the chuunin exam. This is not an exam ninja risk if they don't think they can make it. The rate of mortality for failure is astronomical. 95 percent of those who fail the exam die. That's also why the promotion rate is so high—only those chuunin who are sure of passing beyond a shadow of a doubt take it. I would not lead any of my former students into such a dangerous exam with false assurances. In fact, if by the time you decide you want to take it and I don't think you're ready, I can lodge an objection and the Hokage can even prevent you from taking the exam. The Village doesn't want to lose good chuunin in a fatal effort at promotion if it's clear they can't make it. The fact that I'm recommending you take it eventually means that I think you can handle it. I certainly don't think you're ready now. But I think that if you continue as you have been, you will be more than ready a couple of years from now. There, I'm done lecturing now."

At last Hinata spoke, "I'm honored, Kurenai-sensei that you think so highly for me. But I still don't think…."

"Do you think you can't do it or are you afraid of dying?"

When Hinata merely stared at the ground, Kurenai added, "There's no shame if you are afraid of dying. Everyone is. My point is that if you decide you don't want to train for the jounin exam, I want you to make that decision for a valid reason. Thinking you can't do it is not valid."

Softly, Hinata ventured, "Could we talk about this a bit more?"

Kurenai offered her former student a hand up. "Yes, let's discuss it in more detail over lunch sometime." And then smiling added, "Your treat."

Hinata gave back an answering shy smile.

Kurenai assessed her former student's condition quickly. The poor girl probably felt like all her muscles were made of overboiled noodles and decided that Hinata's self pride was low enough that it didn't need to sink any lower. So she decided to maintain Hinata's fiction that the girl wanted to train a little more before going home. Kurenai knew as well as Hinata the girl probably couldn't move at more than a snail's pace right now. But with that offer to buy lunch, Hinata had signaled to her former teacher that she wanted to be treated as an adult, as an equal, and Kurenai certainly wasn't going to step on the girl's already fragile ego by offering her a shoulder on the walk home. No, the determiment to her self-worth would be much worse than the awful soreness of her muscles when she finally did manage to make it back in the condition she was in. And so after setting up a time for that lunch discussion, the jounin smiled nonchalantly and left.

Hinata leaned against her tree.

Fortunately, she'd brought a small bag of supplies with her, and so she sat munching a ration bar and drinking from a canteen while reading yet another Hyuuga journal, which she'd also had the foresight to pack. It wasn't like she was expecting to be beat up into a pulp, but she tended to carry a journal with her at all times so whenever she found an idle moment, she could get some work done. And there seemed to be an unending supply from where this came from. She still hadn't made a dent at all in the personal records of the Clan founders alone. And she had yet to learn anything of substance about the cursed seal.

A couple hours later, early afternoon found Hinata still sitting under her tree, far too tired to move when she saw two figures heading towards her. It was Kiba and Akamaru. Well, her teammates had seen her in worse condition than this, but that had been during some of their most desperate missions.

Team 8 had an unspoken rule that whenever any of the members had time, they would go practice at Training Area 11. None of there schedules allowed them to set out a specific time to train together, but if they all practiced at TA 11 when they had time, eventually two and occasionally even all three of them did end up meeting up together.

From a distant the boy had thought Hinata was merely resting under the tree, but as he drew closer, he could see the damage not only to her but to the landscape around them. He ran the last few yards, and kneeling before Hinata, his hands on her shoulders, he yelled directly into her face, "What happened here? Who did this to you?" Akamaru's huge form crouched before her, whining deep in his throat, really the dog was so big now, it sounded more like a rumble than a whine.

Hinata almost laughed at his horrified expression. Really the way he was acting, it was like he expected her to say it was a missing-nin that had her battered her up. But Hinata kept the laughter in and answered with a straight face, "Kurenai-sensei." The way Kiba's face tried to transition from horrified to confused and somehow ended up getting stuck between the two was too much for her though. She laughed harder than she had in ages, she laughed until her sides hurt. It wasn't all that funny, but Hinata felt that she'd been living on the fine edge of tension so long over this evaluation spar that some of her amusement now was probably just relief at getting it over with.

And now Kiba was looking at her like she was crazy, "Really, Kiba I'm all right!"

"All right?! You look like you can barely move. I'd say chakra exhaustion and physical exhaustion."

"Yes, but not to a dangerous point. It's just that it's been a while since I've had such an all out fight," and here Hinata couldn't help looking a little accusingly at her teammate. Shouldn't he have been going all out on her all along so she could become a stronger shinobi rather than coddling her?

Of course, since Kiba didn't do subtle, it all went over his head, but Hinata was surprised to see a look of comprehension come over his face. "She was evaluating you, wasn't she." It wasn't even a question. "For the jounin exam."

"You too?" And that was only natural. Kiba was a much stronger fighter and better ninja than she was. If Kurenai-sensei had thought Hinata could do it, no doubt someone like Kiba could definitely handle the jounin exam.

"Yeah, last week." Then he grinned sheepishly. "I couldn't move again until yesterday."

"Maybe she went easier on me, after all," Hinata said feeling dejected. "I'm not in as bad shape. I'll probably be fine tomorrow, just unbelievably sore." So Kurenai-sensei hadn't been treating her like an adult after all. Kiba was better than her and if Kurenai-sensei had left him immobile for days, then she must have let Hinata off easy. She felt her heart sink.

"So what'd she tell you?" Unaccountably, Kiba looked uneasy as he asked the question and then rushed on without waiting for an answer. "I bet she sparred with Shino too. Maybe we should all talk it over, you know like in the old Team 8 days."

"That does sound like a good idea. Do you know where Shino-kun is? I don't think he's on a mission…"

"I'll send Akamaru to go fetch him if he's home." Hinata smiled at that. She didn't think Kiba even realized he'd made it sound like Akamaru was going to play fetch with Shino instead of a stick.

As the great dog bounded off in pursuit of Shino's scent, Kiba had started warming up, so Hinata picked up the journal she was reading once more. "What's that?" the boy asked curiously.

"Just a, a project I'm working on."

"For that diplomacy-thing?"

"Something like that." Hinata didn't want to tell anybody about her radical plans for a new uncursed seal until it looked like something more than a crazy idea she'd come up with in the middle of the night. Besides, she didn't really want word to get out about it all; if any Hyuuga heard about it, they'd probably have her declared a danger or a madwoman. Hmm, that's something she hadn't thought of either. If—no, when she had to think positive—she developed the new seal, how would she get the Clan to implement it and phase out the awful cursed seal? And was there a way the cruse seal could be removed? Otherwise, the Main house might just adopt the new seal and keep branding the Branch house with the old one and that wouldn't change anything at all. She certainly couldn't imagine persuading the Clan to give up a custom that seemed to have developed around the time the Hyuuga had helped settle Konoha. No, don't worry about that now, Hinata told herself firmly. You're getting ahead of yourself. What happened to one step at a time? And the first step was still finding an alternative to the cursed seal because she couldn't even ask them to give it up if she couldn't find a way to replace it.

Lost in her own thoughts, Hinata had long since forgotten about Kiba's presence until Akamaru came bounding back through the underbrush, with Shino leaping from tree to tree behind him.

He jumped down into the middle of the training area and remarked dryly, "You called?"

"Yeah, I wanted to train. And maybe we could go out for drinks afterwards." Hearing Hinata's nervous sound of protest he turned to the girl and added, "You don't actually have to get something alcoholic, Hinata, I really just want to talk to you guys."

Shino turned to Hinata and said in his usual offbeat humor, "Kiba wants to talk? Now I think we've heard it all."

"Don't be an ass," Kiba growled, rushing the other boy. They started sparring.

By sunset, the boys looked like they wanted to call it a day and Hinata had finished her journal and felt like she could probably walk again even though she could feel each step jarring her already aching body. Kiba still seemed set on going to a bar and Hinata resigned herself to it as he led them to one of the places he preferred.

Shino and Kiba both ordered beers while Hinata settled for an iced tea. It's not that she had anything against drinking, she just had an enormous guilt complex. She was sure she would be caught red-handed although no one had ever bothered to card a ninja. Most civilians figured if they were considered old enough to kill and risk being killed, than they could probably handle liquor. Besides, the idea of going home with alcohol on her breath made her shudder in equal parts fear and dread.

As the three chuunin settled themselves at the bar, Kiba his voice uncharacteristically nervous asked, "So, what'd Kurenai-sensei say to you guys about the jounin exam?"

Shino, in his usual minimal style, merely said, "It is a possibility, but there are other factors to consider as well."

Kiba took a swig of his beer. "So you mean she told you that you should train for it?" he asked to clarify. Shino merely nodded his head in response.

"What about you, Hinata?"

"She, she said that if I trained hard for a few years, then maybe…but I don't know…"

Meanwhile, Shino seemed to be deep in conversation with a bug perched on his forefinger. At some unspoken signal, the bug flew off his finger and dove into his glass, which of course elicited the loud protest from Kiba, "Eeewww, gross. Man, I'm trying to drink here. Keep your bugs outta the beer."

"She asked to try some since my bodily functions are always altered afterwards. She was curious."

"Whatever. Just keep the bugs out. It's not like I brought Akamaru in here."

"Because he wouldn't fit."

Before things could degenerate into an all out argument, Hinata hesitatingly asked Kiba, "What about you, Kiba-kun? What did Kurenai-sensei tell you."

The boy looked away embarrassed. Hinata was struck by how oddly he was behaving. Usually, Kiba would announce his own news first before asking anyone else how they did. She discovered the reason for this uncharacteristic behavior when he finally answered, "She said if I tried really hard, but things don't look to good as they are. She said I might be better off where I am, that I might never make jounin."

Hinata felt shocked to the core. How could Kurenai-sensei recommend so strongly she train for the exam while telling Kiba-kun he might be better off staying a chuunin? Kiba-kun was stronger than her! "But, Kiba-kun, that can't be right. I mean you're much better than I am!"

Shino startled them both by turning away from the bug on his forefinger who had returned from her dip in his glass, and saying decisively, "No. He's stronger. Not better. There's a difference."

"Hey, don't diss me, bug boy!" Kiba responded heatedly, but then a much more serious expression came over his face as he stared at the half full glass of beer in front of him. "But that's what Kurenai-sensei said too. That strength by itself isn't enough. And I don't know. I don't know what I want anymore. I mean isn't chuunin good enough? She said there was a good possibility of dying in that exam."

Bizarrely, Hinata found herself in the role of encouraging reckless behavior whereas usually, hers was the voice of caution, "But, Kiba-kun, isn't that what we thought when we first took the chuunin exam, but we all decided to do it after all."

The boy slouched down on his stool. "That was different, Hinata. I mean sure we coulda died, but it wasn't a frickin' 95 percent chance that we would die if we failed. And it's not like I'm scared of dying. We've all been in missions where you think you're a goner. But I don't know. There's something about dying in the middle of a damn test that bothers me. Like you lost your life for nothing. At least if you die on a mission, you died for your Village, but this…"

"'There's no shame in being afraid of death,'" Hinata repeated. "That's what Kurenai-sensei told me."

"Yeah." But still the boy sat slouched on his stool, still uncomfortable with what he had revealed.

"There's, there's nothing wrong with it you know," Hinata said in a surprisingly assertive voice. "Being chuunin I mean. People we all respect as brave ninja and good people are chuunin—like Iruka-sensei. And even if you decide you're not going to train for jounin now or you decide you're never going to train for it, it doesn't mean you've given up. You're still a shinobi!"

"Yes," Shino agreed. Although his sunglasses hid it well, he was eyeing Hinata curiously. He'd only seen his teammate behave so forcefully during some the most dire moments in missions gone wrong. Apparently, she had found a way to bring that forceful part of her personality to the fore in not just near-death situations but in regular circumstances as well.

"Yeah," Kiba said sounding a little less dispirited, "She told me that too. Even if you don't go past being a combat chuunin, that doesn't mean you can't actually be a higher rank than that in a specialized field. Like that Sakura chick, Kurenai-sensei said that she'd probably never go higher than chuunin and instead spend her time becoming ace at medical jutsu and take over the hospital or something."

"Really?" Hinata asked surprised. She would have to ask Sakura about that when the girl got back from her mission. Hinata suspected, though, that given her goal of getting Sasuke back from the Sound, her friend would further her training in combat. But she could understand Kurenai-sensei's logic. Given normal circumstances—if Sasuke had never defected—Sakura probably would be happy to stop at chuunin and instead focus her energy on advancing herself to the level of her master, Tsunade-sama, as a medic-nin. After all, Sakura had admitted in disappointment that no matter how hard she tried, she just didn't have the chakra capacity to sign a summoning contract and when it came to fighting, although she had improved phenomenally, she probably wouldn't have if she hadn't had the impetus of saving Sasuke pushing her forward.

Well, Hinata didn't have a problem like Sasuke driving her to improve her combat skills, did she? Maybe she could just stop at chuunin too. But wouldn't that be giving up? She'd told Kiba-kun that it wasn't…but Kurenai-sensei had told him that he might never make jounin. But she had told Hinata that she thought the girl could do it. Did that mean that Hinata was actually better than Kiba-kun?! How could that be possible? Hinata had sparred against him and usually, he won. But she hadn't tried any of her new stuff on him, and well, they had always been sparring. She never fought all out against Kiba-kun the way she did with Kurenai-sensei that morning. Did that mean that she'd been sabotaging her own development all along? That if she wasn't treating each spar as seriously as a fight, like she did this morning, she wasn't getting all she should and could get out of it? Hmm, that was something to think about.

She sipped her iced tea as she went back to her initial doubt—should she too stop at chuunin? There was nothing to impel her to strain for jounin like there was for Sakura…except her family. Of course they expected nothing less than jounin from a Hyuuga of the Main house let alone the tentative Clan Heir. But weren't they all used to her being the Clan Disappointment by now? Her father hadn't really even expected her to make chuunin so surely he didn't think she could handle jounin. They didn't expect any better from her, so didn't that mean she could stop instead of pushing herself uphill? But that sounded suspiciously the same as giving up. Her case and Kiba's were different. Kiba-kun might have actually reached his limit. According to Kurenai-sensei, there was still things Hinata could develop her skills in. And besides, Kiba-kun wasn't the one who had said it was his ninja way to never go back on his word. That was her. And if she gave up when she could become stronger, well, that would be going back on her word. She had said she was going to change the old weak Hinata. Besides, if she really wanted to change the Hyuuga, she realized, the old weak Hinata wasn't good enough. If—no, when—she developed that new uncursed seal, if she wanted to implement it and other changes in the Hyuuga, she would need the clout of position. She needed to have a higher rank because the only thing that meant anything within her Clan was respect and that only came with rank. The word of a jounin was worth more to her Clan than the word of a chuunin no matter how intelligent or how brave or how right the chuunin was; those things didn't matter in their eyes, only the rank did. That meant that Hinata needed to get stronger, that she needed to move up. It was the only way she could ever hope of changing the Hyuuga.

At last Kiba seemed to be returning to himself, because he prodded Shino and said, "Hey, what'd you mean you've got other things to think about too?"

"My future is uncertain. Hasami-san's clan has appealed to my clan for a formalized alliance." And after dropping that little bombshell on his teammates, Shino continued sipping his beer leisurely as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Naturally, Kiba reacted loudly, "What the hell?! You're getting married?! To the scorpion chick from Sand?!"

"Thank you for announcing it to the room at large," Shino remarked casually.

Hinata was too shell-shocked to know what to say. At last she managed, "Congratulations." And of course she had all sorts of questions, like whether they loved each other, but they seemed too rude and so she satisfied herself with enquiring, "Do you know where the two of you will live? Will Hisami-san be moving here or will you be moving to Sand?"

"That is the crux of the problem. As both of you know, the kikai insects cannot live outside the Leaf continuously for more than 3 months at a time. While they can handle it for long missions, to do so indefinitely as a marriage would require, would put too much of a strain on the main colony. Hasami-san's scorpions have similar climate issues. Her clan, however, maintains that they would like to develop a scorpion breeding program and raise a species of scorpion that is much more adaptable. Such a program though might take years, even decades to come to fruition. I think in the mean time, if the engagement and marriage go on as planned, we would travel between Sand and Leaf ever three months."

"Well," Hinata said at last, fishing around for something neutral to say. She didn't dislike Hasami-san, the jounin from the Sand—she was part of the rotating teams of ninja exchanged between the Sand and the Leaf after the Sound-Sand invasion of three years ago in an attempt to foster better ties between the Sand and the Leaf; in fact, Hinata had even written a paper on the treaty signed by the two allies that specified the rotating visiting teams—but she hardly knew the girl. Really all she knew was that she was a couple years older than Shino, of medium height with mousy brown hair, and was fascinated by insects. And it was just so disturbing to think that someone she knew well, someone who was her own age was going to be married soon.

Of course, it wasn't all that odd; some of the smaller clans preferred that their members be married by 16 since ninja mortality rates were so high; and Shino was 15. If they married young, there was a greater chance of producing children before anything happened to either of the parents. Hinata couldn't picture being married or having children. In fact, the thought was downright scary. She could already imagine the kind of person her clan would choose; she almost shuddered. Fortunately, that was one traditional practice that the Hyuuga didn't follow. Since the clan was so large and strong, there was no rush to try to preserve it by demanding its members marry young. Hinata decided to be grateful for small blessings. Of course, all this entire thought process had Hinata blushing a brilliant red by the end of it. She knew she must look like a cooked lobster by now. In order to disperse her embarrassment, she tried to change the topic by asking, "So, that was why you don't know if you will train for the jounin exam right away?"

"Indeed, this would disrupt any attempt at consistent training."

"There will always be time afterwards. Once you two settle down, and in the meantime, it's not like your wasting time—you'll still be fighting and training and taking missions and getting better."

Kiba, apparently, wanted the conversation to go in exactly the opposite direction Hinata had been trying to steer it. "So," he said, his voice suggestive and a smirk on his face, "this is all real sudden. Any reason why you're rushing to get married? Is there a little bug baby on the way?"

Hinata looked horrified at her iced tea.

Shino merely took a calm sip of his beer and responded, "I believe at this point it would be customary for me to mock your romantic prospects. But wait, you don't have any."

"Hey! I totally have a love life!"

"Do enlighten us."

"I'm going out with this really cute girl."

"Really, Kiba-kun? Who is she? Is she a kunoichi we know?"

"Her name's Aiko," Kiba looked a little embarrassed again, but continued, "she's a genin."

"Oh? Robbing the cradle are we?" Shino asked raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up! She just started the Academy late! She's only a year younger than us!"

Satisfied with his revenge for Kiba's earlier comment, Shino let the matter drop.

But then, almost uncannily, both of Hinata's teammates who were sitting on either side of her turned to face her and Kiba said, "What about your love life, Hinata?" while Shino nodded in agreement.

Hinata could feel herself turning red from her toes to the roots of her hair, "M-m-m-my l-l-l-l-lovel-l-life?"

Shino and Kiba rarely teased Hinata since their teammate embarrassed so easily, but when they did, it certainly was worth it. While she had never told them about her feelings for Naruto, Shino was keen enough to have observed and drawn his own conclusions from it. Even Kiba, the least perceptive of the three of them, had pieced together Hinata had a secret crush, he just didn't know who.

Hinata saved herself by looking at the clock and exclaiming a little to eagerly, "Oh! I have to get home for dinner!" And here she had thought she would never look forward to one of those horrid family dinners.
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To be continued...