Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did then Naruto would be a cynical smart-ass and he would have a kick-ass one-liner in every chapter, alas I don't own Naruto so he is an idiot that has more mood swings than Kitty from "That 70's Show."

Chapter 11: Rescue the Princess

Neji had been waiting for Hinata and Hanabi to arrive with the hired mercenary Naruto Uzumaki for hours. It shouldn't have taken anymore than an extra hour for them to arrive back at the Hyuuga compound. Neji eventually left the property for a while with the intention of finding out exactly where his cousins and the hired mercenary were.

Neji found the scene of the wreck, complete with the driver who had at this point awakened. After being told of what had occurred Neji almost freaked out, until the driver said that Naruto had gotten away from the scene. Panic was replaced by anger as at this point Neji sought out the young hanyo to find out exactly what had gone down.

A trail eventually led the young noble to an apartment complex in The Bowery district of Konoha. On the top floor Neji heard muffled speech from a very distinctive voice coming from one of the apartments. Neji narrowed his eyes as he came upon the door of choice and knocked with authority.

Neji heard fumbling around, muffled yelling and two distinct thwack noises from the room before footsteps came to the door. The door opened to find Naruto and a dark-haired boy that Neji deduced as being an Uchiha… with latex gloves on… staring at him blankly.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at one another and back at Neji for a moment before the two punched at Neji's face… and then it all went dark.

XxX

"… -out a fucking Hyuuga kid! We are screwed!"

"Shut up dobe, as long as we get them back before Hiashi finds out then you won't die a painful nameless death."

Neji awakened to find himself sitting in front of the two boys who were apparently pondering on their current situation. Neji turned to his left and saw an unconscious man in black with staples all inside of his flesh and needles in very painful areas, apparently they had pierced his nose with one the good old fashioned way, brute force.

Neji tried to move but found his body restricted, he tried to yell but found his mouth bound like his body… both with duct tape. Neji sighed and waited out the arguments from his teenage captives.

Naruto paced in his apartment, "This is just fucking great. How did he even find me anyway?"

Sasuke looked from Naruto to Neji with an appraising eye, "Sorry about the duct tape but the idiot over there used all of his rope on your neighbor over there." Sasuke pointed at the bound man in black, "I'll take the tape off of your mouth, just don't do anything stupid, we don't really care about you."

Neji nodded and Sasuke pulled the tape off of his mouth. Naruto yelled from his room, "Did I just hear you pull tape off of something deputy?"

Sasuke yelled back, "I pulled the tape off of the Hyuuga kid's mouth."

Naruto walked back into the kitchen and stared at Neji, "What's up."

Neji glared at Naruto, "You allowed a group of kidnappers to take my cousins you incompetent fool. My father said that enlisting the services of such a lowlife organization would be detrimental to the safety of our family, you ruffi-."

Naruto stared at him for a second before sighing and grabbing the roll of tape from the counter. Stretching out a piece and placing it back over the mouth of the protesting Neji, "And that's why I taped his mouth Sasuke. Not because I thought he was stupid enough to yell, but because the second he saw me and could speak he'd start mouthing off with those private school words."

Sasuke shook his head, "You idiot, he's a Hyuuga right?"

Naruto nodded as Sasuke continued, "That means he can fight, and that means he can help us get the girls you lost back."

Naruto glared at Sasuke, "I didn't lose them. They were taken from me."

Sasuke looked at Neji, "So are you willing to help us out? If not we'll just leave you here duct taped to the chair until we get back, and stop moving before you get too much tape residue on your clothes."

Neji sighed and nodded. Naruto smiled, "Good, now the tape comes off."

Naruto ripped the tape off of Neji's mouth as he yelped in pain. Naruto grinned evilly at the pale-eyed boy, "Whoops, my bad."

Neji glared at the blonde, but relented, "So you know where Hinata and Hanabi are?"

Naruto and Sasuke grinned as Naruto spoke, "Yes, Mr. Random Crony over here was very cooperative after Sasuke here started shoving sewing needles into random places. As you can see we were nice enough to give him a free nose piercing to show all of his friends for his information."

Sasuke chuckled, "What about you? You went kind of nuts with the staple gun you know. You had to refill it to keep going."

Naruto waved him off, "Hey, the staple gun was cool… can I keep it?"

Sasuke walked over to the table by the TV and grabbed a notebook with the info from the prisoner on it. Naruto snickered when he saw it, "As you can see Neji, Sasuke's super sleuthing notebook here has all the stuff we plugged from queer-bait over here."

Sasuke slapped Naruto across the back of the head with the notebook grumbling about asshole blondes and smart-ass comments.

Naruto pulled out a knife and cut Neji loose, "We know where they are and what they want with them. We were just about to gear up to ride on them, so let's go get your fine-ass cousin back!"

Neji growled at that last comment as Naruto and Sasuke grabbed their packs by the door. Sasuke leaned over to talk to Naruto, "Is his cousin really good-looking?"

Neji heard the boys talking all the way down the hall, "Deputy you would drop your fan-club in a heartbeat if you thought she was into you. But seeing is believing, you can bask in her hotness when we free her."

Neji restrained himself as he shut the door and followed the boys out into the night air.

XxX

Hinata awakened in a dark room to find her little sister looking directly at her with a scared look in her eyes, 'What happened?' Hinata remember the car wreck and the abduction, 'Uzumaki-san never had a chance to defend us… he was blindsided first.'

Hinata tried to wriggle but ended up giving herself slight burns from the rope she was tied with. Hinata looked at her frightened sister, "Hanabi-chan, we'll be fine. I'm sure help is on the way as we speak."

Hanabi looked into her sister's comforting eyes and calmed down a bit, nodding her head. Hinata sighed and sat back in her chair.

XxX

"I'm telling you teme she's a sweetheart and a total babe."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji were walking down the darkened streets following the directions Naruto pulled off of mapquest, "Man I swear, mapquest freaking makes you go around in circles instead of giving you a straight shot."

Sasuke snorted in amusement as Neji lost patience, "Where are we going? Do you two even know what you're doing?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked back at Neji before Naruto spoke up, "Neji if you're just going to bitch then go on back to the compound and wait for the orphan kid and the solo cop to get the girls back. You know next to nothing about this kind of thing, me and Sasuke are professionals."

Sasuke coughed a sound that sounded suspiciously like 'bullshit' before smiling as Naruto glared at him. Sasuke took over, "Well Naruto is kind of right, we're not really professionals, but we have done this before."

Neji stood still and took the moment in. Naruto had foregone his usual attire for black track pants he tucked into his boots and a tight black muscle shirt, he even had a knife tucked into his belt for close-up combat. Sasuke had gotten rid of his usual blue shirt and white pants and had gone in black cargo pants and a long sleeve black under-armour.

Neji was dressed in the same stuff he had on when he left the mansions, he wasn't prepared for a rescue at all.

Neji looked at the two boys who were going over Sasuke's notes and discussing amongst themselves how they should handle this. Naruto turned to face Neji who had a look of helplessness on his face. Naruto clapped the long-haired Hyuuga on the shoulder, "Hey listen, sometimes you have to do things off the grid to get stuff done, don't worry, this is your first time doing this so we'll ease you in and handle the heavy stuff ourselves if it comes to that."

Neji nodded, "So I'm guessing that three story building over there is where they have my cousins." Upon seeing the boys nod Neji kept speaking, "Well what is the plan for getting in and getting them out?"

Naruto grinned, "The original plan called for us to just kick down the front door and run amok inside, taking down every single soul we came across until we find Hinata and Hanabi and then haul ass out of there after planting charges and blowing that son-of-a-bitch sky high."

Naruto took on a heroic pose, "After which the incredibly fine Hinata Hyuuga would be endlessly grateful to me and my amazing combat prowess, and being the kind generous soul she is she would allow me to take her home and make love to her time and time again and one day marry her and live happily ever after… in theory."

Neji silently seethed as Sasuke cleared his throat, "Of course Naruto here suffers from an acute case of narcissism and oftentimes has delusions of grandeur and is not worth a damn when it comes to planning infiltration."

Sasuke flipped through his notes, "I on the other hand, being the son of the chief of police have trained extensively with Konoha's special sector of the police force and I am damn good at the heavy assault stuff, so I have actually taken it upon myself to come up with a plan that would actually… I don't know… work?"

Sasuke called for the boys to come closer, "Alright Neji, you are very important here. Listen up, do your job, and we'll all be sitting pretty at a waffle house by 4 am."

XxX

Hinata opened her eyes as she heard a door open as a group of men entered the room, "So these are the daughters of Hiashi Hyuuga?" One teenager reached out and grabbed her chin to look at her face. Hinata saw the black unruly, spiky hair along with the odd headgear and the beady black eyes of her captive.

"Oh yeah, those eyes of hers are primo, we can ransom her back, or see if some twisted scientist out there wants to study the bloodline, either way these two will fetch a pretty penny."

The man backed away as he shouted, "Start making out the fucking ransom and the fucking offers to the others. I want a response by tomorrow morning damn it."

A voice of an underling rang out, "We're on it Zaku."

Hinata shut her eyes tightly, 'This isn't happening! Someone get us out of this…'

XxX

The trio had taken a position on a rooftop within view of the building they were targeting. Naruto had binoculars out as he was scanning the building until a figure came from the main doors and began running, "Yo Sasuke!"

Sasuke ran over and looked at the man, "Take him out."

Naruto nodded and pulled a kunai out of his bag. Naruto hurled it at the man as it planted itself dead in his spine, the man choked out a sharp yell and collapsed in a heap. Naruto smirked, "Damn… You know he's dead."

Naruto and Sasuke jumped down and grabbed the dead man as they went back up the building, Naruto noticed the tattoo of the kanji 'kill' on his arm, "It's one of Zaku's goons… Small-time nobody."

Naruto began to rifle through his belongings as Neji looked on in shock, "How can you just do this to that man's body?"

Naruto shrugged, "He doesn't need it anymore does he?" Naruto found the man's wallet and pulled out a wad of bills, "I'm paying for breakfast after we're done here!" Naruto rifled through the money with a grin on his face, "Oh yeah… Oh hell yeah!"

Sasuke took over Naruto's spot overlooking the building, "Zaku Abumi? Didn't we beat his ass all through middle school? How did he set all of this up? He should know he doesn't have the firepower to risk something like this."

Neji shook his head as Naruto kept looking through his things before he pulled out pieces of paper. Naruto's eyes widened as he read, "Oh no. We should probably go ahead and start the operation… like now."

Sasuke put up the binoculars and walked over to read what was in Naruto's hand, "Oh hell… Alright let's get started."

Neji was confused by the change in attitude, "What did those papers say? What is so important that you both got so serious?"

Naruto looked at Neji, "Well, we know exactly what they want with Hinata and Hanabi." Neji looked at Naruto expectantly, "They're going to either ransom them off, or just sell them to some shady black market scientist type guys."

Sasuke nodded, "They really want your family's doujutsu."

Neji glared at Sasuke, "How do you two know about the Byakugan?"

Naruto and Sasuke gave him a dry look as Naruto answered, "I've been hanging out on your property for the last week and have had very detailed conversations with Hinata, who trusts me. So I'm going to go in there, crack some skulls and get her out."

Sasuke followed up, "My dad is the chief of police and all law enforcement in Konoha, if me and my brother didn't have any clue on the inner workings of a few of the big time players in this city then we'd be useless wouldn't we?"

Naruto pointed to the building they had been observing, "Now go do your job, and don't fuck it up, just remember what we told you."

XxX

Zaku had quickly established himself as the boss of the thugs as he was the one who had brought his idea to the others. He had found those crazy enough to attempt such a thing and had been the one careful enough to find only those that he knew would take the job, he didn't need any information about his plan getting out.

His plan to take the Uchiha children had failed, they were both far too strong for simple street thugs to handle alone, however he had the element of complete surprise on the Hyuuga heirs. A simple plan sometimes works best and crashing a car is as simple as it comes, the wreck incapacitated the kid with them' so what if he lost one man? The kid probably killed him and tied up that loose end for him.

Now all he had to do was just wait for the responses for his offers to come in and he was loaded for life.

"Zaku!"

Zaku turned towards a man walking over, "What is it? We get an offer already?"

The man shook his head, "We've got another of those Hyuuga kids here."

Zaku looked confused before a grin broke out on his face, "Do we now? More money for us I guess, I don't need to see him. I know you can tell if he is a Hyuuga or not, just place him with the rest."

The man nodded, "Sure thing Zaku." He headed off to follow his orders.

XxX

Hinata's attention was once again taken as she heard the door open again. She lifted her head to see Neji being tied to a chair on the other side of the room. Hinata hitched a gasp in her throat as she saw her impassive cousin's stare from across the room.

She waited until the grunts left before she spoke, "Neji-niisan? What? How did they get you too?"

Neji plastered a rare smile on his face, "The Uchiha and the mercenary were right… These guys are small time."

Hinata blinked, in confusion, "Why are you here? How did they catch you?"

Neji shook his head and motioned to his headband, "Things are not as they appear my dear cousin. I hope you got all of that Uchiha… Uzumaki."

Hinata's eyes widened in shock, "Uzumaki-san? He found us here?"

XxX

Chakra is so useful, as Naruto and Sasuke can most certainly attest to, seeing as how they were both hanging off of the side of the building by their feet sticking to the wall.

Naruto chuckled as Sasuke held his laptop, "Those idiots were so eager to get another set of eyes to trade they didn't even check him for bugs!"

Sasuke shook his head with a grin on his face, "All it would've taken was a quick sweep of his ear and his headband, we loaded the camera, microphone and earpiece on him."

They heard speech from the laptop signifying Neji was talking, "We're on the top floor, which room I cannot tell, it is far too dark to count rooms. Hinata and Hanabi are just fine as far as I can see."

They heard Hinata speak up in affirmation making Naruto grin, "Hey Neji, ask your cousin if I can get her number after we get you guys out of there."

They snickered as they heard Neji growl, "Alright Neji hold on, we'll be there in a few, maintaining radio silence from here on out."

Sasuke packed up his laptop as the two walked over to a grate near the top of the building. Naruto quickly loosened and pulled it off as Sasuke crawled inside, Naruto followed and pulled the grate back over the opening on the side of the building.

The two boys crawled through the ventilation system on their fingers and toes to minimize sound. Naruto ran into Sasuke as he stopped without warning. Naruto growled, "Deputy move your ass. Stop when we get to the right hall."

Sasuke kicked Naruto in the head, "Dobe… We are in the right hall, hold on."

Sasuke pulled a wire camera from his pocket and slipped it through the grate. Naruto looked on in disbelief, "How do you have all of this crap?"

Sasuke chuckled nervously, "Just remind me to get this stuff back to Itachi when we finish here."

Naruto snickered as Sasuke pulled the cable camera back up, "We're clear… These idiots don't even patrol the building."

Sasuke removed the grate and dropped down followed closely by Naruto. Naruto and Sasuke scanned the hall once more before Sasuke spoke up, "Are we still going to blow up the building?"

Naruto grinned, "Does a bear shit in the woods?"

Sasuke shook his head, "Fine then sociopath, I'll plant the charges, go get the Hyuugas out and then contact me."

Naruto and Sasuke both ran off in their own directions. As he ran Sasuke sighed, 'Why did I take the hard job? I have to sneak to the ground floor and plant charges, I'm such an idiot.'

Naruto slowed down and scanned the rooms, sensing for life behind the doors he tip-toed by long enough to get a decent reading, you gotta love heightened senses.

XxX

Sasuke had made his way to the stairwell and was about to go down until he heard footsteps and raucous laughter. Sasuke shot a look down the stairs to see one of the thugs on his phone and heading his way. Sasuke put his back to the wall outside of the stairwell and tensed his muscles, this had to be hard and fast. As the speech got closer Sasuke had to control his heartbeat. Sasuke basically stopped his breathing as the man passed right by him without noticing him. Sasuke wrapped his hand around the man's mouth and popped him in the base of the skull with an elbow strike.

After he rendered the man unconscious he dragged him into one of the empty rooms and hurried downstairs.

XxX

Naruto stopped in front of a door that he felt a presence behind. Naruto reached for the knob but could not open it. Naruto pulled the knife from his pocket with the extra long point on the end and began jimmying the lock until he heard a light click symbolizing the tumblers turning over.

Naruto smiled to himself as he opened the door slowly.

… Just to come face to face with three thugs playing poker upstairs.

The two groups stared at one another in silence for a moment until Naruto spoke up, "Can I jump in?"

The thugs looked at each other for a moment until a gruff voice spoke up, "Why not kid, pull up a chair."

Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and sat down while the cards were being dealt. The dealer spoke up, "I don't remember seeing you around here before kid. I didn't know Nanashi let a kid like you in on this."

Naruto gulped subconsciously, "Yeah, Zaku wouldn't let me in on any of the wet work, I'm his nephew so he said he'd let me get a taste though, and here I am."

Once again Naruto held his breath until another thug seemingly accepted this line of reasoning, "I can understand that. You wanted a quick buck kid?"

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah, I cannot get a real job, I am far too awesome to work a 9 to 5."

The men at the table chuckled as Naruto let anime tears fall while taking his cards.

XxX

Twenty minutes later Sasuke planted the last of his explosives and evaded contact with any of the thugs in the building until he reached the third floor, "The dobe should have been finished way before me, what is taking him?"

Sasuke pulled a mini GPS out of his pocket to search for his wayward friend and found the door he lay behind. Sasuke forced the door open, "Dobe what are you doing we have to g-."

Sasuke saw Naruto and three other guys all playing cards, Naruto had a substantial amount of chips close to him when compared to the others.

One thug stood up and pointed at Sasuke, "Who is the brat?"

Naruto tried to save face, "This? He's Zaku's… I've got nothing."

Naruto slammed one of the men's heads into the table as Sasuke ran across the room and hit a leaping kick to the head of the standing man. The last man flipped up the table as he tried to get away. Naruto and Sasuke chased him into the hallway where he was making quite a racket trying to get away.

Naruto eventually tackled him to the ground and slammed his head on the ground repeatedly until the man was unconscious. Naruto looked back at Sasuke who turned away from his partner looking sheepish, "That was really tactical Mr. Special Forces."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, "Shut up. If you were in the room I assumed it was clear."

Naruto snapped at the onyx eyed teen, "If it was clear I wouldn't have been in there!"

Sasuke looked around quickly, "Look we have to get moving. I know somebody heard all of the racket, we need to get the hell out of here."

Naruto and Sasuke started back down the hallway again.

XxX

Neji had waited for Naruto and Sasuke to arrive. He and Hinata had taken to explaining the situation to Hanabi after she had awoken and after succinctly scaring the girl had comforted her by saying that everything would be fine.

The kids heard crashing on the other side of the door.

"Keeyah bitch!"

A guard flew through the door and rolled to a stop as Naruto and Sasuke walked into the room.

Naruto grinned at Hinata, "Hello princess, miss me?"

Hinata smiled as Sasuke cut Neji loose and got Hanabi free. Naruto went to cut Hinata from her chair, "You would not believe the day I've had since I lost you this afternoon."

Naruto pulled her to her feet and led the way to the roof as Sasuke and Neji watched the rear.

As they arrived on the rooftop Naruto and Sasuke looked over the edge, Naruto scratched his head, "So how are we getting down?"

Sasuke shrugged, "We could grab a girl and jump, use chakra against the wall to slow the drop."

Naruto looked at the Hyuugas, "What about Neji, I know damn well he can't do that."

Sasuke went into his pack and pulled out a rope, Naruto pulled a kunai from his own and stuck it into the roof. Sasuke tied the rope around it securely and called the Hyuugas over, "Okay Neji you take the rope and climb down, it isn't that far. We'll take the girls and jump down ourselves. Then we haul ass out of here."

Naruto cut in, "And blow this place sky-fucking-high!"

Sasuke rubbed his temple, "*sigh* And blow this place sky-fucking-high."

Neji secured himself to the rope and began his descent as the other boys turned to the girls as Sasuke spoke up, "Ladies, let's finish this rescue so I can go sleep in tomorrow."

Hinata and Hanabi nodded as Hinata grabbed onto Naruto and Sasuke picked up Hanabi as both boys jumped off of the roof and slid down the side, meeting Neji on the ground.

XxX

Naruto's door clicked open as he walked in. He stopped as he looked at the man still tied to the chair in his kitchen, "We didn't cut that guy loose?"

Sasuke walked in behind him and shook his head, "I'll take him to the station… Did we forget something?"

Naruto dropped his stuff on the floor before his face lit up and he pulled out his phone, "Sasuke what's the number for the bomb?"

Sasuke showed him the number in his call history and Naruto punched in the number with glee. A tone was heard from the phone as a distant explosion went off. Naruto snickered and sat on his couch, "Ah, that'll be all over the news tomorrow."

Sasuke grabbed the man in the chair after knocking him out and cut him free, "I'll take this loser to the station and then I'm going home to crash out." Naruto waved him off as Sasuke vanished from his doorway.

Naruto just sat watching TV for a few minutes as his adrenaline rush from the night began wearing off. His eyes flickered closed before a knock at his doorframe woke him from his pseudo-slumber. He turned expecting to see Sasuke missing something, however Hinata standing by his door.

Naruto stood up to face the girl, "What's wrong princess? Did something happen again? Are you okay?"

Hinata smiled and walked over to him, "I'm fine Uzumaki-kun. I just wanted to come and say thank you."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Well it was nothing, you were my responsibility… Wait, did you call me Uzumaki-kun?"

Hinata nodded and wrapped him up in a hug, "I knew you would come for me Uzumaki-kun. I believed in you."

Naruto's face heated up, "Of course I did. I would have tried to help even if it wasn't my job. You're a good girl."

Hinata blushed as she looked up into Naruto's face and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Naruto raised his eyebrow as the girl pulled back, "Huh… I can't say I saw that coming."

Hinata put her hands behind her back, "Thank you Uzumaki-kun, you said I paid for the best when you showed up and you actually proved it by getting us back."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Hey listen, I think you're a really cool girl, I just wondered if we could stay as friends after my contract expires. I like hanging out with you."

Hinata nodded, "I would like that very much."

Naruto yawned, "Well princess, I'm beat. I need to get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow at the compound."

Naruto turned to his room but stopped as Hinata stayed where she stood forcing Naruto to turn around, "What's wrong, you need me to take you home?"

Hinata shifted uncomfortably in place, "Ano… if you don't mind I would appreciate it if you let me stay with you tonight, please. I don't want to be alone…"

Naruto scratched the back of his head before he shrugged, "If you're okay with it then that's okay with me."

Naruto grabbed some clothes from his dresser and threw it at Hinata, a baggy pair of sweatpants and a shirt, "You can wear that tonight." Naruto walked into the bathroom and came back out in pajama bottoms, "You take the bed, I'll hit the couch tonight."

Naruto grabbed the door to shut it before Hinata grabbed his hand, "Uzumaki-kun it would be very rude of me to simply take your bed for the night… You can share it with me, I won't mind."

Naruto lifted his eyebrow in confusion as Hinata pulled him to the bed. She got in on her side and gave Naruto a reassuring smile. Naruto acquiesced and got on the other side of the bed.

Hinata turned to face Naruto as he shut off the lamp on his nightstand, "Goodnight Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto sighed as he shut his eyes, "Call me Naruto princess… We're closer than that."

Hinata smiled as she got comfortable and closed her eyes, "Naruto-kun…"

XxX

Zaku had fled quickly after the first set of explosions had gone off in the building. He was sure none of his hired help survived, but he didn't care about that. The biggest score of his life had been walked out of his hands right under his nose.

He sat on the bed of a cheap motel room as he wiped his wounds from the explosion down with a wet washcloth, "Fuck… I'll never get close to that much money again…"

"Are you angry Zaku?"

Nanashi looked around in shock as the voice reverberated through the quiet room, "Who's there? What's going on?"

"I can feel the hatred in you as we speak Zaku… What if I could tell you that I know who ruined your brilliant plans and could give you the power to deal with them?"

Nanashi clenched his fists in anger, "What do you want from me?"

A dark chuckle cut through the space, "Kukukuku, Zaku-kun I don't want anything but for you to get your revenge… Now do you accept?"

Nanashi narrowed his eyes, "Yes, do whatever you have to, I want my revenge on the bastards that did this to me."

"Excellent Zaku-kun… A wise choice. Kukukuku…"

End chapter… I'm busy but I had to finish this to settle myself down… now I need to go find ten sources for my research paper by tomorrow. Review and let me know how I'm doing, your opinion matters… If your thoughts are any good then I'll profile and publicly respond to you next chapter, it's the least I can do.

Later days… Kenchi out.