Hey everyone
Here's the next chapter
for those who saw the fillers, you'll be able to tell certain differences between this one and them.
I tried to make Naruto look less of an idiot since I didn't like how sometimes he was so immature and sometimes he was so serious. so inconsistent.
He's still an idiot, but not by much.
Anyways enjoy, and let me know if i missed anything or somethings need correcting.
Chapter 9
"Did you find anything out about where Hinata is?" Naruto asked. They had been walking for a good two hours now, and just, suddenly, Shino's bug came back to him.
"It's no good. The other bugs were probably killed by their bees" Shino said.
"Damn it. Then we have no choice but to humbly comply with the exchange" Kiba said, looking pissed off.
"And right when we found it too" Naruto said gloomy.
"Then, do you want to abandon Hinata?" Shino asked.
Taken aback, Naruto responded without hesitation, "We can't do that. No matter what happens, I won't abandon her. Those who abandon their comrades are trash."
Smiling, Kiba just nodded, "Right on" Akamaru barked in agreement.
"We'll just find another way to find Sasuke; Hinata is more important" Naruto continued.
"However, will Hinata be happy with that?" Shino asked as he looked at the sky.
Naruto had a confused looked on his face.
"This mission was proposed by Hinata. It's true that I was the one who told her about the Bikochu, but the possibility of finding it is extremely low. Hinata, however, didn't give up. Even if there was a slight chance, she strongly requested that we give it a try" Shino explained.
"Hinata did?" Naruto couldn't help but feel astonished.
"She was really intense then, so even Shino and I agreed to do it" Kiba said.
"This is the first time that Hinata has desired for a mission. Therefore, we want this mission to succeed for her" Shino looked at the two of them and nodded.
"There will be one place where Hinata will show herself, it will be our one chance" Shino said.
"The exchange location" both Kiba and Naruto said at the same time. They all agreed and proceeded to the location.
'Hinata, hold on, we won't abandon you no matter what' Naruto promised.
All three of them approached the location, where the three Kamizuru Clan members were.
"Give us Hinata" Naruto yelled.
"Confirmation first, place the Bikochu on that rock" the women of the group said, holding Hinata.
Shino walked up to the rock and placed the small container, while the big bee user approached to confirm it. He stared at bug for a long minute, "what is the meaning of this? You mock our clan" he threw the container to the ground, smashing it.
The bug flew up in the air, and the henge got canceled, "A beetle?"
The man rushed up to Shino, but Shino just held a kunai to his neck.
"Now Shino" Naruto yelled, revealing another Shino approaching from behind, attacking with his bugs as another Kiba got Hinata, "rescue mission: Success"
The Shino with the kunai suddenly popped, and Naruto ran up to the man and punched him in the face, throwing him back with his comrades.
"It's over for you guys" Shino attacked them with his bugs.
Suddenly, all three of them, including Hinata, turned into wax, and the bees started appearing.
"Damn there's too many of them, and whenever I slash at one, honey comes out" Naruto complained as he kept slashing.
"Wait, don't move" Shino ran up to the bee that was in front of Naruto and slashed at it, "This bee is real. Its stinger is poison. Looks like some of these bees are a mix of summons and real ones."
"I can't tell the real ones apart, what are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked as he kept slashing.
"Naruto, Kiba, cover me" Shino began producing a huge amount of his bugs, creating them to spin around and kill the rest of the bees.
"Not bad for a genin, but had you given the Bikochu up, everything would have been a simple trade. But your smart, you wouldn't dare bring it to a battle field, so were just going to eliminate you and look for it ourselves" another heard of bees was sent towards them.
"Boring technique" Kiba said as Shino brought his rotating bugs again.
Naruto looked outside of the rotation and noticed something that made him pale, "Shino, Explosive tags!" The three of them jumped out before they got hit with the explosion, and fell through the trees.
"Bug clone justu" Shino created three look alike while the three originals ran.
"Damn, that didn't work so well, now what" Kiba asked.
"The Bikochu will be safe where I left it. For now, Hinata is our top priority" Shino said.
"Right" Naruto agreed and the three sped up in search of their comrade.
Akamaru was sniffing the ground as Shino picked up one of the pieces of his fallen bugs, "no doubt about it" he looks up at the dome in front of them.
"It's here" Kiba continued.
Getting anxious, Naruto quickly ran inside, "Hinata! Where are you?"
"Hey. Be careful. I don't sense their presence, but it could be a trap" Kiba yelled after Naruto.
Akamaru ran forward in front of the hexagon shapes, and begun barking.
"Is she there?" Naruto ran to where Akamaru was barking at, "Hinata" he began to rip the thin layers covering the hexagon.
He heard a sound, and saw what was in front of him; Hinata, covered from her mouth to her toes in honey wax, "Hintata" he begun to pull her out of the small confining area.
"Are you okay Hinata? We'll get you out of that now" both Kiba and Naruto got there kunai's out and began, carefully, to break the hardened honey.
"All right we got it all off" Naruto proclaimed.
"Naruto-kun" Hinata started to say, with tears in her eyes and had a blush on her face, "Thank you" she gave him a big hug, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"H-Hinata?" Naruto appeared surprised; Hinata never acted so bold like this. Actually, something felt very off about her. 'Hang on a sec', "Shino" Naruto gave him a look that said 'somethings off'. Shino threw the Kunai where Hinata was, and she let go to avoid it.
"Who are you?" Shino asked.
"Now that you mention it, I smell two scents" Kiba said, with Akamaru barking in agreement.
"Naruto-kun. It's me" Hinata said, looking away.
"I don't believe you. Hinata always appears to act weird around me for some reason, but what gave you away were your eyes; hers look innocent and honest. Yours has that hard appearance in it with experience" Naruto explained.
"Believe me" she looked at Naruto with teary eyes.
"Then, let's see what you were trying to put on Naruto's back" Shino grabbed her hand and shook it until an explosive tag fell out of her hand.
"An explosive tag" Naruto said.
"Were you planning on blowing up Naruto" Kiba asked, getting into a stance.
Hinata suddenly began to laugh, and then her appearance changed from Hinata to the women from before.
"I thought that it'd go well" she said; Hinata's jacket fell off of her shoulders.
"You're….I see. The ones at the hill were replicas" Shino confirmed.
"So by wearing Hinata's clothing, you deceived the scent" Kiba figured out.
"Where is the real Hinata?" Naruto angrily spoke, lifting his kunai in front of him.
"Who knows? I wonder where" She taunted, "hehe, you guys are nothing but summer flies flying in fire", everywhere was a surrounding of explosive tags, "If you're lucky, then let's meet again" and with that all the tags exploded, making a crater in the ground where all three of them fell downwards.
While they were falling, Kiba began to focus chakra into his hands, and grabbed the walls to prevent himself from falling further. Both Shino and Naruto grabbed onto each of his legs.
"Ahhh, hey guys, let go" Kiba was feeling the pressure on his hand increasing.
"We have nowhere else to grab, endure it for now while we look around" Shino explained, as he became aware of his surroundings.
"Ahhh, that's a massive army of bee eggs" Naruto yelled out.
"This is a bee hive" Shino explained, "But why are they so ridiculously big?"
"Okay, let's do this Akamaru" Kiba flipped over, causing Shino and Naruto to let go, "Gatsuuga!" they created a hole on the side wall.
Once they all landed, another appearance made its way; larva's.
"How many are there?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Kiba?" Shino sounded worried.
"I can't release any more power, it's like my body is….." Kiba was panting heavily.
"Could it be…" Shino began.
"It seems like my chakra is being absorbed" Naruto concluded; his legs were beginning to give out.
"Summoning justu" a sound could be heard from above.
"Either continue to be food for the larva's, or become prey for the queen, you choose?" It sounded like it was coming from above.
They were in a tight spot.
Kiba suddenly collapsed, and then Naruto followed shortly after.
Shino threw a shuriken onto the queen's face; it bounced off.
"Haha, something like that won't work" and her summon sprayed the nectar downwards.
It covered the entire underground. 'Now all it will take is time' Shino thought as everything went dark.
Voices could be heard, slowly awakening Shino.
"Oh. You caught them?" one of them said.
"They're a bunch of morons. They made her angry" the women voice said.
"So they got encased by her wax? Bees release honey, you know?" the other one gloated, "You're a bug user. You didn't even know that?"
"So where is it?" The women asked.
"It's no use. I had all the bees fly around to search for it, but they can't find it" It sounded like the third person of the party.
"I bet these guys have it"
"I don't think so."
"That means…"
"We have no choice but to ask these guys."
At this point Shino had fully woken up, and decided to control the state of the conversation.
"I can tell you; however, we will only exchange it for Hinata"
"Are you stupid? An Exchange?" the women said.
"I don't think you realize your position here" the man with blode hair said.
"There is no way you guys can find the Bikochu. Time is running out. It is you who will regret this" Shino said with a calm voice.
By this point Naruto had stirred, "Hinata" he mumbled. The three bee users seemed to be discussing something.
"Naruto, trust me and let me handle the situation, you'll know when to make a move" Shino said.
Naruto had fully awoken to see the situation at hand; he was covered in the wax. Turning his head to the side, he saw that Kiba and Shino were as well. He didn't seem to have a plan so he decided to take his word for it.
"Okay Shino, you're in charge, I'll keep quiet. But, are you planning giving up?" Naruto whispered.
Shino just made a shake of his head indicating no.
"Saving Hinata?" He whispered again.
Shino nodded indicating yes.
With a nod of his own, he looked towards the three huddling.
"Hinata…." Naruto said with a quiet voice.
"Are you worried?" Shino asked.
"Of course I am." Naruto shot back.
"She's strong. She's much stronger. Than you think" Shino said.
Naruto had a look of astonishment on his face at that statement as the footsteps came closer to them.
"Okay. The negotiations have been completed." Each one of them were picked up and carried.
The sound of water could be heard as they kept on the move.
Suddenly, the one carrying Naruto dropped him, and ran up to the stream.
"What's wrong?" The female asked.
"The girl is gone! The wax that held her is gone. She most likely was carried away by the waterfall" He responded back.
Naruto froze when he heard that, his eyes slowly turning to slits.
"It couldn't be helped, I told her if she made any stupid moves, she would be carried away by the water" he said frustrated.
"Bastard, what did you do to Hinata?!" Naruto slowly began to inch towards them the way a worm would.
"Shut up kid. That girl is probably at the bottom of hell by now."
"What did you say, ouf" The man stepped on his head to shut him up.
"Could that girl be your girlfriend?" He mocked.
"Teme" Naruto's eyes were slowly changing.
His head was stomped on again and again.
"So what will you do, boy? Although her death was not part of the plan, will you let your comrades die, or will you tell us where the Bikochu is? That way, we could spare your lives."
'I still need more time' Shino mentally cursed.
"You better not tell them!" Naruto growled out. All of them turned towards him, "I'm going to beat these assholes up!" Naruto was slowly starting to push upwards from the guy's foot.
The man looked pissed at that, "Shut up, you brat!" he stomped as hard as he could, but, when he saw Naruto's eyes, he jumped back; they looked bloodthirsty red.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Both of the bee users asked, looking surprised.
Shaking, he got his kunai out, "Shut up, I've got to kill him" and he began charging, ready to kill Naruto with the kunai.
Suddenly, a kunai flew in front of him. When he looked down, he saw an explosive tag connected to it.
All three of them jumped back, waiting for the smoke to clear. Once it cleared up, what they saw left them jaw slack; the girl they thought that had been killed by the waterfall was standing in front of her bee waxed comrades.
Hinata had returned, and this time she is going to be the one to fight.
And done
I thought I'd finally be finishing the Bikochu Arc in this chapter, but I guess the next one will complete it and I can get back to the other characters as well.
On another note, I've started a new story called "Unwavering Heart" It just came to me and I wanted to try it. Every Friday will be it's posting.
Cheers