1AN: What's up everybody!!! I'm back with the latest chapter!!! Sad to say there is only one more left after this one before I start to work on my other story Hinata: The Woman Behind The Mask. But those of you who know me already, already know that when I say I'm gonna work on one story I go and write a different one instead lol! (but for real I will work on that one) Anyways please, please read and review. I want to at least reach 100 reviews with my first fanfic Anyways on with chapter 9! Enjoy!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...but if I did you already know that Sakura would have kicked the bucket and Naruto and Hinata would have at least 5 children by now...

An Unknown Enemy, Bad Feelings, and A Gift

Naruto walked towards the entrance gates of Konoha. As he neared his exit out of the village he could already hear Gai and Lee's declaration of the springtime of youth and what not. Naruto didn't really care though because he knew sooner or later Sasuke was going to chidori both of them in their mouths and shut them up for good. What was really on his mind was the fact that when Hinata came to see him before she left, he had been asleep so he didn't get to say goodbye to her, say good luck, or kiss her and wish her a safe return. She did however leave a note for him that she slipped under the door. It read:

Hi sleepy head. I figure you must have been up pretty late not to answer the door, but I won't bother you about that. I forgot to tell you yesterday about my mission. Its nothing big. We just need to check out the border of the land of fire for any signs of danger. At least three squads do this every week so I should be back within a day or two. But I just wanted to see you before I left, but I guess I can wait until I get back...although that might be difficult. I don't know why I'm writing so much when we have to go so I'll just cut it short. I hope you have a safe journey to the village hidden in the mist and back and I hope you'll be thinking of me!

- Love Yours Truly,

Hinata

Naruto read the letter over and over again, feeling guilty for not waking up in time to wish his love good luck on her mission. He sighed when he came to the last line of the letter and smiled a little. 'Of course I'll be thinking of you..' he thought. (Wow! He's a love sick puppy…or would he be considered a fox in this case...oh well on with the story)

His thoughts, however, were cut short as he was pounced on by a familiar green beast and his pupil, "NARUTO SO GLAD YOU COULD JOIN US!!!" Gai yelled as he grabbed Baruto in a head lock.

"YOSH!! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NOT SHOW NARUTO BUT NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE WE CAN BEGIN OUR MISSION!!" Lee yelled.

Gai released Naruto and turned to Lee with tears in his eyes, "THAT"S THE SPIRIT LEE! ALWAYS READY FOR THE UPCOMING MISSION!!"

"IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU GAI-SENSEI THAT I AM PREPARED FOR THIS MISSION!" Lee responded with tears in his eyes.

"LEE!" Gai ran towards Lee.

"GAI- SENSEI!" Lee ran towards Gai.

"LEE!"

"GAI –SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI" They both hugged each other with a sunset background behind them.

Naruto's sweat dropped. "You know Sasuke, I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"Whatever," said Sasuke, "let's just go." He turned to leave. Naruto followed him.

"He you two! We're leaving!" Naruto called back.

Lee and Gai stop their tears and broke apart. "Are you up for a race Lee!"

"You bet Gai-Sensei!"

"Alright then! On your march get set go!" and Lee Ad Gai-sensei were off…not like Naruto and Sasuke cared.

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"Hinata do you see anything?" Kiba asked.

"No. Everything is clear." Hinata answered.

"Alright, then I want Kiba and Akamaru to go down and sniff out any traps Hinata may not be able to see," Kurenai started, "and I also want you to go down there as well Shino. Maybe your bugs will be able to track hidden traps as well. Hinata and I will watch you from above for any sign of ambushes. Understood?"

The three nodded. "Alright, then Go!" Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino left to do as they were told and Hinata and Kurenai began following them while keeping an eye out at the same time.

Some time had passed and they found quite a number of traps and disarmed them. Although Hinata was doing her job, Kurenai could tell something was bothering her.

Kurenai stopped jumping. When Hinata stopped moving as well, she asked, "What's wrong Hinata?"

"Huh? Nothing's wrong sensei" Hinata answered and turned her head to continue looking out for Kiba nad the others.

"Don't give me that I know you to well for to fall for that lie. Now tell me, what's wrong?"

Hinata didn't speak for a moment but then said, "The purpose of this mission was just to check out the borders of the land of fire, right?"

"Yes." Kurenai said not exactly sure what Hinata was getting at.

"And there are many teams that check this place out every week right?"

"Yes, but what are you getting at?" Kurenai questioned.

"Well if there are many people that check out the border every week…why are there so many traps? I mean all the other teams were tracker experts as well so…" Hinata trailed off.

Kurenai thought to herself, 'Hinata is right. If the ninja that were sent here were tracker experts as well then…then they should have seen all of the traps and disarmed them. Tsunade told me that every report was always good saying that there was nothing to worry about. Why would they say that…' Kurenai didn't finish her thoughts. She turned to Hinata and said, "We need to finish this and quickly."

Hinata nodded and thought, 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

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"Kiba do you sense something…unusual about this place?" Shino asked.

"As a matter a fact I do. I didn't want to worry about it before but it seems as if the feeling is getting stronger." Kiba answered and Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Maybe we should tell Kurenai and Hinata before it really turns into something bad." Shino suggested.

Kiba was about to agree with him before he heard a voice say, "It already too late."

Suddenly the ground began to shake violently and Kiba, Shino and Akamaru were thrown off balance.

"W-What the hell is going on!" Kiba yelled.

"I-I don't know but it isn't...Ah!" Shino started but was interrupted when a root from underground pierced him through the back.

"Shino!!!"

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"What the! Byakugan!!!" Hinata yelled as she activated her byakugan after hearing her teammate scream.

"Oh no... Kurenai-Sensei!!! Kiba and the others are in trouble!!!" She called out to her sensei, " There being attacked!!"

"What let's go!" Kurenai said as she and Hinata began running towards their comrades.

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As the root was mercilessly pulled from Shino's body he let out agonizing scream before falling to the ground unconscious. Kiba and Akamaru wasted no time as they ran to their fallen comrade. "Shino!! Shino!!!" Kiba yelled as he checked for a pulse. "Good he's alive."

"Not for long and you will meet the same fate soon. You and the rest of you comrades" the voice said.

"Who the hell are you!!!" Kiba yelled. "Woof!! Woof!!!" Akamaru barked alongside his master.

"...I am the cause of your death." the voice said as the ground began to shake again.

"Oh no!" Kiba shouted.

Yet another root came from underground and was about inflict a blow similar to Shino's onto Kiba.

"Kiba look out!" Hinata yelled as she sliced the root in half with a kunai.

After getting over the shock, Kiba turned to Hinata and thanked her. Kurenai ran to the aid of Shino.

"He's losing blood fast!! We have to get him out of here!!" Kurenai shouted.

Kiba and Hinata ran over to her as Akamaru watched their backs.

"I can stop the bleeding sensei, but I wont be able to heal the wound completely. I'm not that good unfortunately." Hinata said as she began gathering chakra in her hands and healing Shino.

"That's good enough Hinata. Now Kiba, what's going on here?" Kureanai questioned.

"All I know is that there's some weird guy speaking to us and every time the ground shakes, a root from the trees comes out and attacks us." Kiba briefly explained.

"Awww...why do I have to be the weird guy...couldn't I have been the guy who will kill you instead?" the mysterious man asked while laughing maniacally.

"Alright, come on out and show yourself!!" Kurenai demanded.

"Why shall I do? It's much more fun killing you without you knowing where I'm at."

"Coward!!!" Kiba yelled.

"No I believe its called be smart." the man said once again laughing his evil laugh making Kurenai and Kiba very angry.

Once again the ground began to shake.

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She could hear Kurenai and Kiba arguing with the unknown foe but she was more preoccupied with preserving her friend's life. 'Almost done' she thoughts. As she put the finally touches to the healing she did for Shino , she suddenly felt the ground shaking.

"Hinata!!! Jump!!! Get off the ground!!!" Kiba yelled as he and Kurenai jumped into the trees.

Hinata scooped up Shino and jumped up into the trees and was just barely missed by the roots that came up out of the ground. 'That was close' Hinata thought as she joined Kurenai and Kiba in the trees. "Is everyone..." Hinata was interrupted as a branch suddenly pierced her arm.

"Ahhh!!" She screamed as the branch was retracted from her arm. Shino fell from her arms as she grabbed onto her wounded arm.

"Oh no!! Shino!" Kurenai yelled as she reached for Shino. Luckily she caught him.

"Haha!!! If I can control the roots of th trees, what makes you think I can't control the tree itself!!" the man laughed as he explained, "You are all going to die here!!!"

"Damn it!!! How are we suppose to beat this guy if we can't find him!!" Kiba yelled in frustration.

" I don't know!! But what I do know is that we need to get the hell out of here! There are too many trees!!" With that said Kurenai picked up Shino and started to jump through the trees out of the forest followed by Kiba and Hinata who was still clutching her arm.

"You fools!!! Do you think you can honestly escape!!!" the man yelled as more branches were sent flying at the fleeing team.

"This is not good!! Everyone keep you guard up!!!" Kurenai yelled, "We're almost to the clearing!!" 'But I don't think that's going to help us.' she thought afterwards.

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Naruto, Sasuke, Lee and Gai-Sensei along with the council member arrived in the land of Mist and without any problems, which is a first for Naruto.

"Man I can't believe that there weren't any ninjas after us. You and that scroll must not be that important, huh?" Naruto said looking at the council member making him turn his head in anger.

"Would you prefer them to waste our time and get in the way of you seeing Hinata earlier." Sasuke pointed out.

"I guess you have a point." Naruto said with a smile.

"Yosh!! What an accomplishment!! Finishing a mission early!" Lee Shouted.

"This call for some special training!! What do you say Lee!" Gai -sensei yelled.

"Yes what a marvelous idea Gai- Sensei!" Lee shouted as tears started to flow from his eyes. Suddenly the sunset background appeared out of no where.

"Oookkaaayy. I think there's another one of their scenes is about to come Naruto. Let's drop this guy off to his meeting or whatever and find something else to do." Sasuke suggested.

"Gotcha!!" Naruto shouted as they grabbed the council member and ran before they could witness a horrible scene between Gai and Lee.

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After dropping the member of the leaf's council off, Naruto and Sasuke began looking around the village. As they looked through the shops, Naruto noticed something sparkly. He went over to the store to see what it was. His gasped at what it was. It was a diamond engagement ring that hint was silver with a hint of lavender in the diamond. The minute Naruto saw the lavender, he instantly thought it would be for Hinata.

"Sasuke!", Naruto shouted, "Come look at this!!!"

Sasuke walked over to his screaming friend and said, "What is it?"

"Dude wouldn't that be perfect for Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Uhh you do know that that's an engagement ring right?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well are you trying to propose to her? I mean it hasn't really been that long. Are you sure you wanna take it to that level."

"Of course I do! I love her! I'm going to propose to her but its not like we have to get married right away."

"Well then get it for her. I mean the diamond does match her eyes."

"Yeah it...Hey, hey, hey! How do you know what her eyes look like! Have you been looking into her eyes Sasuke."

Sasuke just sighed and walked away.

"Don't you walk away from me!"

"Uhhh sure?" The salesman said.

Naruto turned his attention to the man, "Huh?"

"Are you going to buy this ring or what?"

Naruto thought about it and figured that Hinata was definitely worth it. He nodded a followed the man into the shop to purchase the ring.

After paying for the ring, Naruto began walking around and thinking of ways to propose to Hinata. 'This is going to be sooo great! Especially if she says yes!' Naruto thought to himself as he looked up into the sky.

'Maybe I should head out to the hotel before it gets late.' with that thought, Naruto headed towards the hotel where he and the rest of his team were suppose to stay.

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Kurenai and her team made it to the clearing and panted as they tried to catch there breath but never letting their guard down.

"Hohoho!! So you made it to the clearing after all. I need to stop going easy on you if you were able to dodge all those branches. I think I'll come out just so you'll see me kill you." After the unknown man said that, the ground began to quake and roots sprouted out in the form of a cocoon.

"What the.." Kiba said as the cocoon began to open.

Out of the cocoon came a very young looking man with spiky green hair and yellowish colored eyes.

"Let me properly introduce myself. My name in Hantori and I control the forests. And I assure you that you will not make it out if her alive."

"I find that hard to believe because now you've shown yourself to us!" Kiba yelled.

"Now we know where you are so now we can attack you!" shouted Kurenai as she pulled out a kunai.

"Just try it." Hantori said with a grin.

"Hinata watch Shino!! Come on Kiba!!" Kurenai yelled.

"Let's go Akamaru!!!" Kiba shouted.

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Hinata watched as blow after blow was deflected by Hantori with roots. Nothing Kiba or Kurenai did affected Hantori.

'There not getting anywhere with this. How can we stop him? More importantly...how is he control the trees and their roots.' Hinata thought.

She silently activated her byakugan. What she saw shocked here. He was pouring enormous amounts of chakra into the roots in the ground. 'In order to beat him, his chakra points have to be cut off. I-I can can do it but who will watch Shino...I got it! I'll just create a shadow clone, duh!!! Okay here it goes! Clone Jutsu!' Hinata created a clone directly behind and ordered it to watch Shino. She gathered her chakra into her hand and began to wait until she found an opening.

When Akamaru came to biting on Hantori's hand, he began focusing on Akamaru longer letting his guard down for the others for a moment.

'Now's my chance.' Hinata thought as she sprinted forward towards Hantori.

Hantori saw her out of the corner of his eye and said, "I don't think so."

He turned around and faced the running Hinata and sent a root speeding towards a surprised Hinata. Not prepared for the attack Hinata had no time to move and was pierced through the chest.

"Oh no! Hinata!" Kiba yelled.

"Hinata!" Kurenai yelled her eyes filled with worry for her student.

Hinata spat out blood and thought, 'Crap! I'm only two feet away from him!'

"Did you really think that you would be able to stop me!" Hantori screamed.

For some reason, the words that Hantori had spoken had triggered something in Hinata and she thought, 'I am not going to fail this mission! I will kill him! I will!'

With those encouraging thoughts to herself Hinata began walking forward towards Hantori deepening the pierce that the root already had in her chest.

"What are you doing! Do you want to rush your death!" Hantori screamed.

'I will do this! I will!' Hinata continued to think.

"Hinata stop it!" Kurenai yelled desperately.

Hinata had walked far enough so that she was able to grab his left hand that controlled the root.

"Aww you're holding my hand as you die. Well good riddance!!" Hantori said as he tried to expand the root but nothing happened.

"What the!"

Hinata spat out blood and laughed, " I sealed off the chakra in you hand. You can't extend this root."

Hantori looked shocked at first but then he grinned and said, "That doesn't mean I can't use my other."

He raised his right hand to bring up another root but wasn't quick enough as Hinata still had her chakra built up in her right palm, "You wont get the chance to!!" Hinata screamed as she slammed her palm into his heart.

"Ahhhh!!!" Hantori screamed in agony as heart burst from the shear amount of chakra that was forced into him.

"Y-you...wretched w-woman." Hantori said as he fell on his back and died.

"I...did it." Hinata said as she fell unconscious and her shadow dispersed.

"Hinata!!" Kurenai yelled as she rushed to Hinata.

"Akamaru watch Shino." Kiba ordered his companion.

"Arf!"

Kurenai cut the root in half and pulled the remaining part out of Hinata's body. She was still bleeding heavily and Kurenai didn't know any type of medical jutsu.

"Kiba we have to hurry back to the village so the Lady Tsunade can heal her!"

"Right!"

With that said, Kurenai carried Hinata to the village followed by Kiba and Shino on Akamaru's back.

'Hinata please...you have to make it.' was the thought's going through Kurenai and Kiba's minds.

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Naruto suddenly looked up from the card table with a distraught look on his face.

"What's the matter with you dobe?" Sasuke questioned.

Naruto didn't answer for a while but then quickly shook it off and said, "I-It's nothing," and continued playing the card game. All the while thinking, 'Hinata...Has something happened to you?'

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Well what do you think of the 9th chapter? Pretty good I hope. One more chapter left you guys!! Again, please, please, please review. I really want at least 100 reviews Thank You!!!!!! -AngelofLove3592