Author: G.A.M.M.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


"So what do you think?"

"Shika was right. This guy is paranoid. I can understand the castle, the walls, even building it into a cliff, but three score of guards? There's a patrol in almost every room."

The castle was built upon the side of a cliff a good two hundred feet up. The narrow canyon was a gauntlet for any who tried to trade without Lord Omada's approval. A winding road cut into the cliffside and led up to the plateau. Palisade walls at the top made the bastion a formidable stronghold. Getting in was going to be hard enough. Once they were inside they were inside the true challenge would begin.

"Almost every room." Hinata corrected. "With my Byakugan we should be able to avoid them. If not, I'm sure we'll think of a plan B."

Naruto had learned early on in their partnership that Hinata's eyes were an extremely useful utility. In battle she could kill a man with a touch. To be able to sneak up on Hinata one would have to catch her asleep, drugged, and drained of all chakra (this he knew from experience.) In covert operations she could slip between shadows only using trace chakra, making even the greatest tracker pressed to catch her. Now that he'd worked with her for two months he often wondered how he'd ever managed before. With Hinata using her Byakugan the infiltration part of missions went at least three times faster while improving his previous stealth.

He grinned. "Winging it is half the fun, eh Hina-san?"

The Hyuuga heiress smiled back deviously. "Hai, Naruto-kun."

Naruto had worked to improve his own character over the last four years, weeding out bad habits and enforcing discipline, but patience had never been his strong point.

He hated waiting.


There was no moon that night. The silhouettes of Dark Fox and Night Orchid played against the shear walls of rock they scaled. Any ordinary man or woman would have been daunted by such a task. Without advanced chakra manipulation, walking straight up was rather difficult. For these two it was just another idle day at work. When they reached the top they took cover behind a medium sized boulder to slow their breathing.

'And the world gets crazier every day.' Naruto thought wryly. 'I used to scream about having fair fights. Now I cringe whenever I step on a brittle leaf. How I lived through those days I'll never know.'

In complete silence the pair made their way over to a small depression that contained a thick set of shrubs. Underneath was a small rusted disk of metal just large enough to allow a man through it. Naruto pulled it deftly aside and revealed the secret entrance below. Hinata's Byakugan had located an escape tunnel for them that would lead somewhere into the castle. Once they got in it would be up to her to help them avoid the guards.

There was no light. In absolute darkness they felt their way through the narrow passageway. At times it curved and became steep, going up more often than not. After what Naruto judged to be around ten minutes Hinata touched his arm. One firm grip, three brushes of one finger and two taps followed by a mild pull.

'Alright. So the exit's about twenty yards from here. We're on the third floor. The patrols are near so I wait for her signal. We need to get to the fifth floor though.' The touch language of the ANBU was vital for missions done in darkness and silence. Hand signs were the most commonly used form of silent communication, but when one couldn't see or talk touching tended to be the most practical.

Taps indicated space. Specifically ten yards. A tap with a fingernail meant only a foot. A brush communicated area. If they were working in sectors it would be 'A,B'C,', but in this case it was only floors. A firm grip meant near certainty, moderate confident, and soft only so-so. A pull indicated danger. The stronger the pull the stronger the danger. Hinata's eyes likely saw only a few guards.

They switched positions and she took point, leading him by the hand through the darkness. Half a minute later they stopped and Hinata waited.

He hated waiting.

Several minutes later she tapped against something on the wall and a large portrait swung open and led them into the seemingly blinding light of the corridor.

"We can speak now." Hinata said quietly.

Naruto nodded. "Just show me the standard outfit."

"Hai. Henge!"

Her gear was altered to mimic that of one of the guards. With any luck they would be able to pass themselves off if they got cornered. Steel plates served as shoulder pads and a traditional samurai suit of armor with a helmet and greaves were included. A katana was strapped to her waist.

Naruto transformed into his own parody. His mouth had not moved, nor had his hands.

"You can do silent snap jutsu?" Hinata asked curiously.

In ANBU 'silent snap' was slang for a jutsu that one could perform both instantaneously and without any verbal or visual component.

He gave her a long glance. "Of course. If we don't screw this one up, I'll teach you. You can do it with almost any jutsu. Its just the amount of time you're willing to spend."

She turned her nose up to him. "I already know how to do them. It's just usually not worth the chakra- with my reserves anyway. I still can't figure out where you get it from."

Naruto shrugged in his usual dismissive way. "Let's go."

They made their way up a staircase down the hall and around the corner, proceeding to the fifth floor with no problems. They had to pause several times in their advance in order to dodge patrols once they got near the treasury. Finally they were left with the permanent guard in front of the door- a contingent of four heavily armed men.

"Hey, what's this?" Their leader, a squat but thickly muscled man, asked coarsely. "You new?"

Naruto had already told Hinata he would do the talking. "Yes. We were hired as extra precaution. Lord Omada fears that treachery may be afoot. He is calling all of his most loyal servants to him now. We were given orders to guard the treasury while you reported to his side."

Behind him Hinata discreetly began to form hand signs.

"That so?" The man spat. "Well I aint heard nothing 'bout that. Lord Omada woulda' told us."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You calling me a liar?"

"No. I'm calling you a... uh... ahhhhhh..."

As he trailed off the rest collapsed on the floor along with him.

"Got the stuff?" Naruto turned back to his partner.

"Yup." Hinata winked. "One drunken guard contingent sleeping off a bender."

Several bottles of hard sake appeared out of a sealed scroll. Using a funnel she poured enough for each man to be drunk enough not even to remember their encounter with the two. As insurance she hit tenketsu upon the base of their skulls to help provoke short-term memory loss. A useful trick to have for an ANBU operative.

Naruto looked at their work with a critical eye, then snickered.

"What?" Hinata questioned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Naruto assured with a wide grin. "It just reminds me of my days as a prankster. You know."

"Ah," she smiled back, "of course. Looks like I'm your accomplice now too."

"Accomplice? You were the one who doused them in sake." He pointed out the flaw in her reasoning.

Hinata rolled her eyes. "It was your plan to begin with."

"You're right. I am a genius, aren't I?"

Before she could open her mouth to retort he had already opened the door to the treasury and zipped inside. The Hyuuga heiress just shook her head and laughed lightly before following him in.

The treasury wasn't all that impressive. It did contain a great deal of money. On the other hand, what Naruto had imagined was a room stacked with gold and jewels and small wonders of every sort. Massive amounts of paper marks wasn't his idea of interesting. Then again, it made his job much easier.

"Found it." Hinata had already made her way to the other side of the room and was holding the box in the air like a trophy.

Then again, with Hinata, his job was always much easier.

"Good." He tossed her an identical copy.

She nodded and put it in its place. The scroll was unsealed and a perfect parody of the box appeared. The only minor difference was that all of the text in the replacement would run together as if it had suffered water damage. Fortunately that was easy enough to back up.

The veins around the indigo haired ANBU's eyes bulged and she took a low stance. With lightning speed she sent a burst of chakra through the stone directly above the table upon which the box sat. The tiny hole obediently supplied a slow drip of water.

"Looks like you were right about the piping system." Naruto made a casual gesture. "Y'know, this is not at all what I expected."

"The mission?"

"No, the treasury. Its bland." There was an honest note of disappointment in his voice.

"Well, maybe some day I'll take you to see the Hyuuga royal treasury. It's nothing grand, but they do dress it up to make it look fantastic. That way no one will ever know when we finally go bankrupt." She gave him a small smile.

"I don't know what's funnier: picturing myself in the Hyuuga treasury surrounded by a bunch of shinobi aristocrats about to Jyuken me half way to Suna, or your father begging on the street for scraps."

Her smile withered. "I'm not joking."

"Gomen... I may have spoken out of turn." Naruto apologized quickly.

"No need. Shall we go?"

His departure from the room was all she needed to know his answer. In the space of several heartbeats she had caught up with him and was heading down the stairs to the fourth level. When they rounded the last few steps and came out onto the third, Hinata grabbed him.

"Patrol. Fifty feet. We need to hide." She whispered urgently. "Door on your left."

Naruto nodded calmly, inwardly cursing himself for his haste. In moments they had both gone through the door and into what appeared to be an art gallery. Various paintings of likely priceless values were hung upon every wall. Pedestals held sculptures and old books of poetry. The lighting was extremely dim, giving the green themed room an eerie feel.

Noises began to grow louder outside the door. Eventually they could make out voices.

"The treasury guard were found napping so we have to check every room in the castle for thieves! Lord Omada is certainly an interesting customer." One said.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. What does our resident shinobi have to say on the matter?" Another questioned mockingly.

"A former chuunin only, sir."

Naruto's eyes locked on Hinata's with great intensity. 'They're going to come in here, and unless we do something that chuunin will notice something is off.' He signed.

Hinata nodded. 'Any ideas?' She signed back.

Naruto shook his head. 'Only one. Hiding in plain sight. Not by the book. Come here.'

The Hyuuga heiress obediently walked up right next to her partner, who was leaning against the far wall. When she was in range he took her hand and swung her around, placing her back against the stone. He moved closer so his body shielded hers. His arms wrapped around her and pressed her close against him. Hinata struggled for only a moment before she understood the nature of his tactic. She swiftly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face close.

Despite the tense nature of their situation Naruto couldn't help but have mixed feelings. On one hand it was his fault that they were about to do what they had to do, on the other hand he didn't mind all that much... but Hinata. 'She's staring right through me. Those eyes. What is it about her eyes? Every time we get too close like this I feel strange.'

Said shinobi was doing her best to control her breathing, but the blush on her cheeks was visible. Her face felt embarrassingly hot and no matter how she tried she couldn't tear her gaze from his eyes. The bright blue depths were bold and intimidating. Yet, behind them was a tenderness she knew existed somewhere. He was a difficult man to be close to in every sense of the word. Still, she was drawn to him somehow.

When he finally leaned forward and kissed her, her half lidded eyes opened wide-awake. The shock of it was greater than she had anticipated. She had barely remembered the kiss of over two months ago when she was drunk. That was her first kiss- she never had been close to boys... men. Now that she felt the firm softness of his lips on hers, the wet hot feeling that made her head spin, she wondered at exactly how ignorant she was. Tenten and Sakura always extolled their encounters with their partners to her. She had thought them liars when they said that kissing the one you loved was like embracing fire. She knew differently now. She closed her eyes. 'Though they're wrong about the love part.' She thought absently, pressing harder.

Her pressure elicited the smallest of groans from Naruto. It was difficult to tell if he was just acting, or actually being vocal. Her body against his felt wildly erotic. The fullness of her lips and the softness of her curves were all together more pleasant than he had imagined. He wasn't technically a never been kissed. 'But I feel like I was until now...'

The sound of the door opening behind them didn't interrupt their intimate embrace. Hinata crushed him to her, using one arm to grind his pelvis into hers. The electricity that had caught hold of them intensified and the female ANBU stifled a gasp. The slight opening of her mouth gave Naruto the opportunity to press the kiss even deeper. By reflex she shut again, but the tiny nips at her lips made her give in seconds later. His tongue came to meet hers in a tangle of desire, exploring hungrily at something he had yet to discover. The kiss was deep and passionate, and in their embrace each could feel the raw want of the other, and the fascinating feeling of flesh pressed against flesh... even if it was through a layer or two of gear. But it was going too far...

Naruto pulled back ever so slightly, breaking the connection. The heat of her body was intoxicating. "H-Hina..." He managed raggedly.

Her eyes fluttered open. She was completely dazed. "N-Naru-" She cut herself off, unable to resist the pull of his body. She kissed him this time, soft first, then deeper than before. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she felt as though she might explode for lack of release from the energy coursing through her. The objectivity of the tactic was lost to both of them now, or very nearly. What did it matter anyway? She could die like this, suffocating in the most intense moment of her life. His kiss was ecstasy.

"You there!" A loud voice cut through their bout, sobering the intoxicated operatives, who jumped apart instantly. "You're not supposed to be in here! Go get friendly somewhere else!"

Naruto turned around, startled. "G-gomen. W-we didn't know."

The single shinobi in the group gave them the once over. "Its fine... and with her I can understand how it would be easy to forget yourself."

Hinata blushed furiously. "Arigato..."

Naruto took her by the arm and led her past the guards. The men leered unabashedly at his partner. A smoldering feeling of possessiveness overcame him and he glared at them. Fortunately they didn't make anything of it and just hooted at the pair as they rounded the corner at the end of the hall. The second they were out of sight both shinobi broke into a run, halting in front of the portrait. Hinata worked furiously to move it aside as footsteps were heard coming from another direction. The picture popped loose and they both disappeared into the darkness, closing the portal behind them.

Less than a minute later Naruto used touch to signal a stop. Both were panting heavily, and both knew it wasn't from the run.

"Well," Hinata attempted humor, "that certainly wasn't by the book."

Naruto coughed. "Yeah, believe it or not Kakashi-sensei taught me that one... said 'when all else fails grab the nearest girl and kiss her silly.' Guess he was right."

"Guess so huh?" The stiff exchange petered off into silence.

Finally Naruto spoke. "We never speak of this to anyone. It didn't happen. The mission ran smoothly. Just forget it."

"Yes, I think that would be best." She agreed. "It never happened... and it will never happen again."

Naruto couldn't have said it better himself. "No, no it won't."