Sorry for the long delay, but I told you I wasn't giving up on this story that easily! Thanks for all your reviews! The 10th chapter to what is now my longest story, here we go!

Introduction:

Near or far, we are all reaching out for someone, somewhere.

We also wonder... is someone reaching out for us?

Chapter 10: Switch

A week would transpire before Sasuke took Hinata up on the training offer. During this time, Hinata trained up her Byakugan, practiced her cooking (mostly ramen, for some reason), and returned to her recently neglected hobby of flower-pressing, among other things. In her state, there wasn't much else to do, but it wasn't unpleasant. Civilian life wasn't so bad...

Still no Naruto-kun.

It was a selfish thought and she knew it; or at least, the little voice in her head built from years of Hyuuga etiquette training said so. During her latest visit to the hospital, she had run into Guy, who had informed her that Tsunade, the medical genius of the Legendary Three, would be returning to Konoha soon enough to fix Kakashi and Lee. Hinata quickly put two and two together and figured that that's where Jiraiya and by extension Naruto would be, but Guy was overly whimsical at best and deliberately evasive at worst when answering her questions.

I hope they all make it back soon, she thought and the little voice in her head did not stir.

Oh, how she hated that little voice.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun," said Hinata pleasantly, sitting on her knees in the courtyard, her ankle healed enough to allow such a position.

"Hey," said Sasuke from behind, walking towards her as a gust of wind blew in. "Training your Byakugan?"

"Yes." She turned her head, allowing Sasuke to see her active eyes. "This spot is good for that."

"How so?"

"Well, there's many aspects to the Byakugan. There's distance, which is trained by trying to count all the posts beyond this spot. There are twenty total, but I can only see ten. My father's said he can just barely see all of them at his limit." Neji-niisan can only see nine, though, by last count, she thought with some satisfaction.

"How far away are they?"

"The farthest one is ten miles." Sasuke whistled appreciatively. "There's also the high-volume shuriken launcher, which tests clarity, the lead-chakra maze-sphere, used to test depth penetrance, and of course, there's always just testing how long I'm able to keep it active..."

"Yeah? How long's that?" Sasuke asked, genuinely curious.

"My personal best is somewhere around twenty hours, by my guess." At Sasuke's inquisitive look, she continued. "It was in the Forest of Death when Orochimaru incapacitated you and Naruto-kun, I kept look out until Naruto-kun woke up. I'm not sure of the exact time, but it was the early morning, so..."

"You watched over us?" asked Sasuke, surprise etched clearly on his usually stoic face.

"What else was I supposed to do? It was the only way to keep you safe." She began to rise.

"Well, sorry for that. Here." Sasuke offered his hand to Hinata. "And... thanks."

She pulled herself to stand atop one foot. "No problem. I would never let anything happen to either of you."

Sasuke grinned at this. "So, you want to head to a training spot?"

"Sure. Do you have some place in mind?" she asked, grabbing her crutch.

"I do, actually," he said and began walking.

Hinata breathed a miniature sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to wander aimlessly, as happened with their previous outing. "Lead the way then," she said, crutching after him.

Eventually, Sasuke led her to a familiar area that Hinata recognized as the training ground in which she, Naruto and Sasuke had first become genin. She glanced over at the three posts by the war memorial where her team had officially become ninja and smiled.

Sasuke noticed her expression and mirrored it. "Memories, huh?"

"Yeah..." Hinata muttered. "I come here sometimes to train and think..."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So do I."

Hinata made a confused face."Really? Now that you mention it, Naruto-kun said he comes here too. I wonder why we've never seen each other here before."

Sasuke shrugged. "Dunno. Anyway, you want to get started?"

She sat next to a large boulder. "Sure."

"How do you and Naruto usually do it?"

The phrasing made Hinata blush quite a bit and if Sasuke noticed he didn't say so. "I-I think you're giving me a bit too much credit. Usually I'm just here when Naruto's training and use my Byakugan to give him advice on chakra control. I don't know how much help I'll be to you, Sasuke-kun."

"Well, it can't hurt," Sasuke replied, doing some preliminary stretches. "How about this? I'll go through what I usually do. You watch with your Byakugan and tell me if there's anything I can tighten up."

"Okay. Byakugan!" With that signal, Sasuke began running through his taijutsu kata. Hinata paid as much attention as possible, but as always a small part of her thoughts was preoccupied. I wish Naruto-kun were here.

The voice inside her head shook its imaginary head at her disdainfully.

Naruto, meanwhile, was feeling less and less satisfaction at having burst a water balloon with chakra. The new exercise, blowing apart a rubber ball, proved to be far more difficult than he had expected and his so-called mentor was not helping by snoring while he worked.

"Come on! Pop, you little rubber bastard! Pop!" he roared, but the ball defied him still. A loud noise gave him a brief glimpse of hope but that quickly dispelled when he realized that it had just been Jiraiya rousing from sleep.

"Hey, what's, ah, what's with all the ruckus?" asked Jiraiya sleepily. "You get it yet?"

"No, I haven't, and shut up, and I've got this!" Naruto barked.

Jiraiya grinned. "Oh, don't be so sour. It took the Fourth Hokage three years to come up with this jutsu, you know, and he was a lot more talented than you."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto waved him off, then sighed, deflating as he wished the stupid ball would. "I wish Hinata were here," he said softly.

That he was so quiet compared to his usual exuberance pushed the smile from Jiraiya's face, replacing it with curiosity. "Why's that, exactly?"

"Hinata's always been really helpful when I've trained. I bet I could get this easy if she were around."

Jiraiya chuckled, shaking his head at how foolish his previous thought had been. "Well, suck it up. You need to stand on your own feet. You can't just rely on your friends all the time." His voice took on an uncharacteristic sadness. "Trust me, I know."

"I get it, I get it," Naruto groaned, his energy back. "I'll do it on my own! Now either give me some pointers or buzz off, 'cause I can't concentrate with your stupid snoring!"

"Concentrate, eh?" Jiraiya removed a pen from his pack and headed towards Naruto. "Give me your palm."

Naruto blinked, confused, and extended his hand.

Sasuke finished his kata, and for all the intricate techniques he had performed, he hadn't even broken a sweat. "So?" he asked, settling himself.

Hinata jumped a bit, having gotten lost in Sasuke's moves. "Oh, uhm, there was a lot of stuff in there. I recognized the Academy Standard Taijutsu, but aside from that..."

"The middle part was the Strong Fist - Rock Lee's style, or at least whatever Kakashi taught me of it. The last section was traditional Uchiha taijutsu."

"I kind of guessed that from the fireball." Hinata drew a deep breath and let it out quickly. "Well, Sasuke-kun, like I thought, there's not really anything for me to help you with. You are, as they say, a genius."

"'As they say?'" Sasuke repeated, amused look on his face.

This unusual joviality in his expression bolstered her. "Oh, come on. You know what people say about you; you're not that introverted. At the very least, you knew your grades in the academy."

"I guess so," Sasuke uttered coolly. "I wish I could learn the Gentle Fist. It sounds incredibly powerful."

Though the tone of his voice when he said "powerful" struck her a tad too intense, she asked, "How do you know about the Gentle Fist?"

"Kakashi talked about it when we were training. He figured I needed to know in the event that I had to fight Neji." He shrugged. "You know. In case Naruto lost."

Hinata smiled at the knowledge that even Kakashi's worst fears hadn't come to pass because Naruto had triumphed. "It is supposedly the most powerful taijutsu in all of Konoha, but judging from your and Lee-san's battles with Gaara, if I'd had the Strong Fist's speed I may have fared better."

"Maybe I could teach you some of it," Sasuke said easily.

"Oh, I don't know, Sasuke-kun," said Hinata, noting Sasuke's offer. "It took you, with the Sharingan, a month of near constant training to learn it; I don't think I'd be able to do it with whatever time we have until Kakashi-sensei recovers."

"Most of that was just learning elemental transformation. The physical part was easy. Speaking of which..." He took a combat stance. "Maybe you can give me some help with this, then." Swiftly forming three seals, he roared, "Chidori!" On cue, a bird-like crackle permeated the air as Sasuke's hand erupted with lightning. He rushed towards the boulder next to Hinata, thrust his arm into it, and tunneled through to the other end. As he emerged, the jutsu faded and he asked, "Any advice?"

"Well..." She thought of the best way to describe it. "Your chakra efficiency could be a bit higher."

"How so?"

"You seem to spend a lot of energy forcing chakra through your palm. Try easing it through."

"Easier said than done."

"It might not give you another shot, but it should let you not be as tired when you hit your limit."

Sasuke gazed at his hand, turning it up and down. "I'll give it a try. Thanks."

"No problem." Grabbing her crutch, Hinata began to make her way out of the training area. "Sorry I wasn't able to be more help."

"It's alright..." Sasuke muttered, looking at his feet. "But... maybe you could stick around some time and give me some more pointers. Y'know, just in case."

"Sasuke-kun," said Hinata with a no-nonsense tone, "If you want to spend time with a friend, all you need to do is ask." Sasuke did not respond. "Also, maybe I could get Neji-niisan to spar with you, if that's something you'd be interested in."

After a moment, Sasuke answered, "I'll see you later, Hinata."

Hinata smiled. "Mm-hm." With that, Hinata hobbled off.

The next three days passed rather uneventfully, with just more of the same. Training, cooking (the ramen tasted better, but she couldn't quite get that Ichiraku spark), flower-pressing, and, of course, a dash of worrying became Hinata's routine.

On the fourth day, Hinata decided to pay Kakashi another visit. When she arrived, she discovered that

Asuma and Kurenai had also apparently decided to visit Kakashi. She hesitated, not wanting to interrupt their time, and instead waited just outside the room.

She would later speculate that it was perhaps due to Naruto's influence that she activated her Byakugan and peered into the room regardless.

"And he hasn't gotten any better?" asked Kurenai.

"No... whatever happened to him, it's something that can't just be treated, apparently," answered Asuma, fingering a cigarette. His hand itched towards his lighter, but better judgment prevailed and his pouch remained unopened.

"It's unbelievable," Kurenai muttered. Her voice took on a soft tone. "Can I tell you something?"

"'Course," Asuma said warmly.

"I feel... kind of ashamed about what happened. I mean, I'm supposed to be the genjutsu specialist, right? But I got tossed around by just genjutsu. I could barely look Sakura in the face the day after, you know?"

I should go... Hinata told herself. The voice in her head seemed appeased by this. She lifted her crutch, ready to step away.

Asuma let out the sort of breath that might normally accompany a puff of smoke. "I understand, but you can't beat yourself up about it. This is a genuine Uchiha Sharingan we're talking about, after all."

Hinata froze, crutch in midair. What?

"And as if that weren't bad enough, it was that Mangekyou Sharingan," continued Asuma. "Even Kakashi couldn't stand up to it."

Mangekyou Sharingan?

"Yeah... I can't believe that sort of power exists, and yet..."

"And yet there it is."

"There it is."

Gently, Asuma put his arm around Kurenai and let out a sigh. "Geez. Uchiha freakin' Itachi."

Hinata barely managed to suppress her gasp. Her heart began pounding. Unsure of what else to do, she deactivated her Byakugan and, quietly as she could, hobbled her way out of the hospital and back home.

She slammed the door to her room shut and for a few seconds simply leaned against it, eyes still wide from what she'd heard. Her brain was still parsing the information, trying to sort it into concrete logic and speculation.

Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke-kun's brother, who killed almost his entire clan, was in Konoha. That much she knew for certain. He bested Kurenai-sensei and crippled Kakashi-sensei. Was that certain? No, she knew Kakashi could not have beaten Itachi, but it may have been something else that rendered him comatose.

"Mangekyou Sharingan..." she muttered to herself. What was that? Asuma and Kurenai had implied that it was some sort of more powerful version of the Sharingan. For all the Uchiha's vaunted power, she had never heard of it. Maybe Sasuke knew something about it.

Why was Uchiha Itachi in Konoha? It didn't make sense to her that he would come back, rough up some jounin, and leave. What was he after? Was he here to finish off Sasuke-kun? From Sasuke's description, it sounded like something Itachi would do, but it didn't add up with his actions. Sasuke wasn't exactly difficult to locate, and if Itachi had defeated even Kakashi...

Hinata shook her head, settling herself on her bed. It was useless to try and contemplate it with what limited knowledge she had. She could try asking Sasuke, but no doubt it would be stressful if he knew. Still, Hinata knew that she should tell him the truth.

Shouldn't she?

"Hinata." Sasuke's voice accompanied a knock at her door that ejected her from her thoughts.

Okay, she thought as she pulled open the door. I guess I'll be telling him pretty soon. "Hello, Sasuke-kun," she said, trying to put on as genuine a smile as she could muster. "What's... going on?"

Sasuke tilted his head down the hallway. "That Ko guy let me in. I was figuring I could spar with Neji for a bit, like you said." He grinned. "And, you know, maybe I just wanted to spend some time with a friend."

Hinata's smile turned true. "That sounds good, Sasuke-kun. I'll see if Neji-niisan is available. Byakugan!" She focused on the largest part of the Hyuuga complex. "Ah, there he is. Follow me." They began walking towards the main dojo. "Since the chuunin exam, father has been training Neji-niisan when Hanabi-chan is in the academy," she explained. "I'm sure father wouldn't mind a break..." When they arrived at the entrance to the dojo, Hinata held up her good hand and Sasuke stopped. "Wait here. I'll talk to my father."

Sasuke shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Hiashi seemed to sense Hinata approach and dropped his combat stance, signaling Neji to do the same. "Hello, Hinata," he said without facing her. "What do you need?"

Hinata gulped. "H-hello, father. I'm sorry to bother you, but... I was wondering if Sasuke-kun could take a turn training with Neji-niisan."

"Neji and I are training at the moment," he said flatly. Neji's gaze switched from his uncle to his cousin.

"Yes..." Hinata took a deep breath. "But Neji-niisan has a wealth of experience training against the Byakugan and Gentle Fist. I thought it would be good for Neji to gain some training against the Uchiha... and the Sharingan."

After a second, Hiashi turned his neck to glance at Hinata and she repressed a smile. She could see her gambit working. "You make a fair point," Hiashi muttered. Another moment passed and he directed his gaze at Neji. "Neji. We will cease our training session now and you will train with Uchiha-san." He began walking towards the other door of the training hall. "Report back to me when you are finished."

As Hiashi passed, Neji stepped towards Hinata. "That was impressive, Hinata-sama."

Hinata revealed her grin. "I know my father better than anyone. He couldn't resist an opportunity like this." She looked back towards the entrance of the dojo and called, "Sasuke-kun! You can come in now!"

Sasuke approached, stopping next to Hinata. "Neji," he greeted.

"Sasuke," Neji returned.

An awkward silence passed over them and Hinata resisted rolling her eyes at their respective intimidation attempts. "So," she said, taking the initiative, "You boys should get started and I'll just watch from over here." She took a seat at nearby bench, laying her crutch down next to her.

As she had hoped, Neji and Sasuke loosened up. "Do you need a bit of warmup?" asked Neji.

"I think I'll be alright," Sasuke answered, stretching out his limbs. "Give me whatever you've got."

"As you wish." Taking his fighting stance, Neji activated his Byakugan and rushed at Sasuke. "Here I come!"

Sasuke dodged, but Neji predicted his movement and shifted his weight, striking Sasuke firmly in the chest. Letting out a grunt of surprise and pain, Sasuke was sent flying backwards, landing on his back. Hinata stared wide-eyed, shocked that Sasuke had been toppled so easily. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a warmup?" Neji offered again.

Sasuke flipped forward, darting at Neji with his fist raised. Neji attempted a block but Sasuke feinted, weaving through Neji's guard and landing a punch on Neji's face. "Positive," Sasuke answered.

Recovering from the blow, Neji saw that above Sasuke's grin were two Sharingan staring right at him. His style... it's a lot like Lee's, but those eyes of his make it far more powerful. This'll be good training. Neji returned Sasuke's expression. "Very well." He resumed his fighting stance.

As they clashed again, Hinata gazed on, open-mouthed. Wow... she thought, having activated her Byakugan so she could better follow the fight. They're both amazing. I should keep a close watch... maybe I can use this improve my own taijutsu.

Eventually, after a particularly forceful clash, Sasuke and Neji separated, both breathing heavily. Neji glanced at the position of the sun outside. "Not that this hasn't been fun..." he muttered, dropping his arms to his side, "But we've been going at this for a while. Let's say we call it a day for now?"

Sasuke relaxed, his eyes returning to their standard black state. "Sure. How about we pick this up tomorrow?"

"Works for me," said Neji, deactivating his Byakugan. "I'm going to report to Hiashi-sama. I'll see you later, Sasuke. Hinata-sama." With a bow, he began walking towards the main meeting hall.

Sasuke approached Hinata and she noticed an uncharacteristic smile on his face. It wasn't the cocky grin he usually held when he felt confident about defeating an opponent. Could it be he had actually enjoyed himself? "Here," said Hinata, handing him a cloth.

"Thanks," Sasuke replied as he began wiping the sweat from his face. "Neji's tougher than I thought."

"Naruto-kun beat him," she chimed in reflexively, then caught herself and added, "He did use ninjutsu, though."

"Mm." A silence overtook them. "I think I'm going to head out. See you."

"Oh, okay," Hinata muttered as Sasuke stepped away. "See you tomorrow!" she called with attempted enthusiasm, but it was weakened by the thought that she'd offended him. She sighed with the realization that she had also neglected to tell Sasuke the truth about Itachi.

Maybe tomorrow.

The next day would prove to be not so fruitful, as she did not catch Sasuke before he and Neji began their training. Evidently, Hinata had slept late, most likely from worrying deep into the night, and Sasuke, in his usual efficient manner, had heard from Ko that she was still asleep and chose to find Neji instead.

A small part of Hinata could not help but feel slighted, though the voice in her head chastised her for it, and as always, she wondered what Naruto was up to.

"Hyohh!" Naruto roared, charging his palm with chakra while his other hand agitated it. "Come on. Come on!" He held the mass of chakra in his hand as steadily as possible, but it revolted against him, bursting violently. Naruto was thrown backwards by the rush of chakra and landed squarely on his back, pushing the air out of his lungs. "Damn it!" he cried as he recovered, pounding the ground with his fist. At this rate, he would never win the bet with Tsunade. It's too hard, he whined inwardly as he rose to his feet. This level of chakra control... it's on a different level from anything I've ever done before.

Naruto began to mold chakra. Once more, he wished that Hinata were there with him. Not only would she help him get a handle on this technique, but he could just picture her cute smile and encouraging words of praise. Wait, he realized. Cute? Since when have I thought Hinata was cute? I mean, I guess she is, but...

This loss in focus cost him, as the mass of chakra in his hands destabilized explosively and Naruto was blown backwards yet again. "God damn it!" He yelled.

The day would not proceed much more successfully than that.

Neji and Sasuke had completed their training session and Sasuke had taken off with little chitchat, as was his way. As Hinata waved goodbye to her teammate, Neji approached her and said "Excuse me, Hinata-sama, may I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Neji took a deep breath. "Sasuke has been hanging around here quite often... I was just wondering... do you... like him?"

"Sure. What's not to like?" Hinata said easily, noting that the question did not quite deserve Neji's apparent trepidation.

Neji blinked, as if surprised at the quickness or perhaps bluntness of her question. "I see," he said quietly. "I will take my leave now, Hinata-sama," he added with a bow and began walking away from her.

Hinata shrugged and began walking back to her room. She was halfway there when the true meaning of Neji's question struck her like a rock to the head. Her eyes widened into saucers and she swiveled around on her crutch, as if to chase after Neji, though she knew it wasn't worth the effort: Neji was in a talk with her father at this time and her father did not like interruption. Oh, what have I done now? she asked herself with a sigh. She knew her inner voice would be incredibly noisy later that night.

Days passed with more frequent visits from Sasuke. On these days, Neji seemed even more ferocious during training, though Sasuke did not appear to pick up on it. Occasionally, after training, Sasuke would ask Hinata to get food with him and once he even let her cook for him. It was a nice opportunity to see if her culinary practice had yielded good results and Sasuke seemed to enjoy her cooking.

This tranquil dance effectively masked the turmoil Hinata fought with inside. Each day, Hinata urged herself to ask about Itachi, but seeing Sasuke so happy, so peaceful for once just ate that desire away.

Then, one day, something changed.

Hinata sat on a bed in an examination room in Konoha's hospital, waiting. It was checkup day for her arm and leg. She knew wouldn't be losing the crutch or cast, but the doctor said he needed to make sure she was healing properly. Such extensive damage, he'd said, could easily heal improperly and create lifelong mobility problems.

She glanced at the clock on the wall, noting how long it had been since she had been directed to a room. Usually, Seikei-sensei was prompt with seeing her. Maybe he has a lot of patients today, she reasoned.

A small sound brought her attention to the doorway: "Bueh." Was that a pig's grunt? Hinata wondered. Would someone really bring a pig to a hospital? Her question was answered as the presumed origin of the grunt waddled through the doorway. Hinata stared incredulously at the pig until the woman following it stepped in after. She was slender with short brown hair and large, dark eyes. In her arms were several folders. Setting them on the counter, the woman plucked one out of the pile and began reading it.

Just as Hinata was about to say something, the woman asked, "You are Hyuuga Hinata-san, correct?"

"Oh, uhm, yes," Hinata answered quietly.

"Excellent." Saying nothing else, the woman began inspecting Hinata, moving her head with one hand and taking notes with the other. Closing the folder, she stepped back and said, "She'll be with you in a bit," and as if that were the most normal farewell ever, strode out of the room. "Come, Tonton," she added and the pig followed, grunting all the way.

"Um..." She? was the the first question on Hinata's mind. Her doctor was a man... perhaps it was a nurse that needed to run some tests and no one had told her.

The sound of footsteps approaching brought Hinata's focus back to the doorway. Another woman walked in, but this time, only one word rang in Hinata's mind.

Beautiful.

She was not referring to the woman's physical appearance, though the word most certainly applied there too. Instead, it was everything else that struck such a powerful chord with Hinata. Her stride, her expression, her shoulders – everything about this woman radiated powerful confidence. By just looking, Hinata could read plain as day that the woman in front of her held great pride in her strength and was unquestionably justified by that strength. It made her feel completely inadequate, like she was back in the academy struggling to speak without a stutter.

She wished that one day she could carry herself like that.

"Hinata, right?" said the woman.

"Ye..." Hinata attempted, but her throat was dry. She cleared it and tried again. "Y-yes, that's me."

"Great." She flipped open the folder the other woman had left and ran a finger down it, humming while she did so. "Okay, this shouldn't be so bad. That kid made it sound much worse. Leg."

She pointed and Hinata only realized after a second that it was an instruction. Gingerly, she raised her wounded ankle. The woman's hands began glowing green as she removed the splint and began waving her hands over it. Hinata wondered what she was doing as she couldn't feel anything happening to her ankle.

"So, Naruto tells me you make your own medicine," the woman said suddenly, not taking her eyes off of Hinata's ankle.

"H-huh? Oh, r-right." The fact that this woman, so gorgeous and buxom, knew and apparently had spoken to Naruto enough to know about his teammates inspired a bit of irrational jealousy in Hinata. But the rational part of her brain functioned independently, putting the pieces together bit by bit.

"Would you mind if I had a look at it? If you have some with you, that is," said the woman.

"S-sure," Hinata muttered, fishing a container of her ointment out of the pocket of her jacket. The woman snatched it casually, opened it with one hand, took some cream between her fingers and placed the jar back on the examination bed.

"Hmm..." The woman rubbed the cream between her still glowing fingers and small beads of the cream began levitating around her hand. "Interesting... And you've never had any medical training whatsoever?"

"N-no... W-well, except for s-some academy textbooks..."

"Just those, eh? Impressive." Her hands ceased to glow. "Alright. Let's see your arm."

Hinata lowered her leg and extended her wrist, wondering if she would do the same glowing inspection on this limb. Instead, the woman put a single finger at her wrist, right at the edge of the cast. A small bolt of electricity shot from her finger and before Hinata could pull her wrist away, it cut through the cast all the way to the far edge. With the same finger, the woman tapped the split cast and it fell away, sizzling to the floor. The green glow returned to her hands as she hovered them over Hinata's wrist.

After a moment, she sighed and Hinata immediately anticipated bad news. "Geez... at this rate, it'll hurt whenever it rains." She shot a glance directly at Hinata, who blushed, to her own surprise. "Seikei's the one who set this, right?"

"Yes..." Hinata mumbled quietly.

The woman sighed again. "I wonder if that kid ever listened to a single word I said during lectures."

Hinata blinked, confused. Seikei-sensei was the head of orthopedics, renowned throughout the hospital for his skills. In fact, Ko had specifically drawn from the ample funds of the Hyuuga to ensure that Hinata would receive top notch care from Seikei. He was at least forty – there was no way he was a "kid" of any kind. Who was this mysterious young woman, that she spoke about Seikei like he was some inexperienced genin?

The rational part of her brain finished putting together the puzzle. Medical specialist. Knew Naruto. Strong. Is this Tsunade-sama?

"I bet the only reason he attended those lectures was to ogle my chest," Tsunade continued. It was at that moment Hinata realized that she had been looking straight ahead while lost in thought, which put her line of sight right at Tsunade's cleavage. Hinata blushed deep, trying to look away with the best possible combination of swiftness and subtlety and hoped that Tsunade didn't notice. Her small chuckle was not encouraging.

Tsunade suddenly stopped waving her hands over Hinata's wrist and turned towards the cabinet on the wall. She began retrieving various vials and flasks and setting them on the counter. Hinata had recovered from her embarrassment attack to continue her train of thought. But if this is Tsunade-sama... isn't she supposed to be in her fifties? I wonder... She activated her Byakugan and deactivated it a split second later. It was enough to provide her with the information she sought. As I thought... She put a genjutsu on herself. This only opened up more questions, but Tsunade turned around and Hinata focused intently on the concoction that Tsunade had mixed, not wanting to trigger more embarrassment.

Dipping her finger in the vial, Tsunade ran a line of the mixture over Hinata's wrist. The liquid tingled as it reached her skin, but not unpleasantly so. Once the liquid covered the length of where her cast used to be, Tsunade formed several seals at blinding speed and placed the very tip of her index finger upon the liquid without touching Hinata's wrist.

The liquid crackled, turning from a dull brown to a bright blue. Then, before her eyes, the liquid sank into Hinata's skin. Only her now wide eyes confirmed this: she didn't even feel the liquid passing through her. She gulped, realizing she had been breathing heavily as she had watched.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said Tsunade, noticing Hinata's shock. "Medical ninjutsu. It's amazing stuff."

"Yes..." Hinata whispered, breathless.

"Have you ever thought about joining the medical corps? I've always thought we could use more Hyuuga."

"Oh, ah, I d-don't think my f-father would approve of that..." Hinata mumbled, still in shock at what she had just witnessed.

Tsunade nodded knowingly. "Right, right. If I recall, the Hyuuga consider medical positions beneath them, which I always found a little insulting."

It's just clan policy, Hinata wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Either way, that wrist'll be fine by tomorrow. You can leave the crutch here, someone will take care of it."

Hinata blinked, looking first at her wrist, then her ankle. "B-but... Seikei-sensei said it would take another couple of weeks to heal..."

Tsunade laughed. "Who are you going to trust? That breast-ogling brat or your new Hokage? Come on, take a step."

Something about the tone of her command compelled Hinata to obey without even registering what else she had said. She hopped off of the examination bed before her brain could decide that it was a bad idea, but when she landed, there was no pain. She stepped on the foot again and found the same result. She turned to Tsunade, a look of surprise on her face.

"What did I tell you? Your wrist'll be the same way when you wake up tomorrow. Have a nice day," she said and stepped through the doorway.

"W-wait!" Hinata squeaked with all the courage she could muster. Tsunade glanced back at her. More quietly, Hinata asked, "Is Naruto-kun back? Do you know where he is?"

Tsunade chuckled softly. "Yeah. He's right here," she answered, pointing her thumb just outside the door. "I made him stay outside and quiet while I worked. It made the complex ninjutsu I just did a lot easier, believe me." She turned to where she had gestured. "You can come in now."

Naruto bolted past Tsunade through the threshold and immediately embraced Hinata. Before Hinata's mind could adequately react, Tsunade bonked Naruto on the head. He released Hinata and turned to look at his attacker. "Ow! Hey, what's the big deal?"

"I just got done fixing her wrist," Tsunade explained. "It still needs a bit more time to heal before it's completely fixed. Try not to snap it in the next twenty four hours, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Naruto, waving her off. "I didn't hurt you, right, Hinata?"

It took a moment for Hinata to respond, as she had forgotten that she was a part of the conversation in her stunned state. "No, not at all..." she said quietly.

"See, granny? She's fine," he said, making a face at Tsunade, who merely shook her head and walked away, chuckling to herself. "That old lady thinks she knows everything, just 'cause she's the new Hokage. Naruto turned back to Hinata. "Hey. Do you wanna get some ramen? I haven't eaten since I got back and I've been craving it! I can tell you all of the awesome things that I did while I was training, too!"

"I'd like that," Hinata responded quietly, as her heart pounded wildly.

"Great!" They exited the room and began making their way out of the hospital.

Once they left, Hinata gave a quick glance back at the building before saying, "Um, Naruto-kun..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that you're back... I missed you," she added with a blush.

"I'm glad to be back." Naruto smiled wide at her and that smile washed away all the past month's stresses. "And I missed you too."

The voice in her head was silent.

And that's that. Tsunade's in Konoha and has met Hinata. Sasuke is the only one of his team that doesn't know Itachi visited Konoha. Can the secret really stay safe? We'll see.

You guys wanted more Sasuke, so here's more Sasuke. I've got big things planned for him, even if this is a NaruHina story (and it absolutely is, I promise that). This isn't the last time Tsunade and Hinata will talk, either.

As always, leave a review and I promise I'll try to get the next chapter in less than four and a half months!