I don't own Naruto

A/N: First off, I'm looking for a Beta tester to help me with my ideas and editing. I've asked a few people already but haven't received any positive responses. Anyone who would like to act as a sounding board PM me or my MSN Screename is Hyuugamaki. You can IM me if you want. I'm going to go so far to say this chapter and the next are going to be my favorite ones so far. It's probably my best one so far, as far as character interaction goes. I meant for this to be a longer chapter, but due to certain circumstances I'm going to have to break it up into two chapters. Review please. Pretty please. Pretty please with Narutoblivion on top?

Orochimaru stood in heavily decorated room made entirely of thick cobblestone. Most rooms were decorated with rugs, wall scrolls, or furniture, but Orochimaru's tastes were decidedly of a much more morbid variety. The almost pitch dark room was lit by an array of differently shaped and positioned monitors set against the wall farthest from the large door. They either showed views of his complex, or a view of some horribly tortured soul in one of the many rooms that honeycombed throughout the complex. The remaining two walls were covered over every inch with racks and shelves. All kinds of jars, archaic devices, body parts, disused tomes, and worst of all, mangled and severed body parts packed the shelves almost to bursting. It was Orochimaru's private office.

Before him a ninja of unidentified origin knelt in a very subservient position at his feet Whether it was a man or a boy was hard to discern in the darkness. This man by the name of Byakko had come to him a few days ago, going on about how he wanted to fight for 'Orochimaru-Dono's' glory. Orochimaru would have regulated the matter to one of the lower-ranked Jounin in his 'village' if it hadn't been for the unique ability this man claimed to possess.

"You can rise anytime you wish Byakko-kun" Orochimaru's voice rasped out. He always found obedience useful, but sometimes he found himself mired with the true fanatics. Those individuals had always proved difficult. "I have a task that I need you to perform for me. It involves a little trip to the land of wind, where I will need you to 'meet' someone. Is that acceptable?" It was really a choice-less matter for the prone ninja before him, he would comply or he would die.

A hollow voice that gave nothing away met his question "I will do anything you ask Orochimaru-Dono. Just let me loose and it will be done."

With that Byakko put his right hand to his heart in a solemn salute. The arm writhed and bulged with a mind of its own in the silence that stretched out between them. Just how special this ninja must be was becoming readily apparent to the snake Sannin. He started laughing uncontrollably. Perfect, just perfect. "Ku-ku-ku… Very well, I will tell you my plan then". He did so love a perfect plan.

In the main room of Sunagakure's garden complex an unusual scene was unfolding. Just a few moments ago Hinata had been struggling vainly against some kind of invisible wall when it came to her Suiton chakra molding. Sosha had been ready to suggest that they leave when an entire weeks worth of frustration was suddenly washed away as Hinata's manipulation Jutsu produced the intended result for the first time. At the same time this was going on both Naruto and Jiraiya had walked into the room, Naruto himself declaring his presence as loudly as he always did.

Sosha had been monitoring Hinata's internal chakra when these two events played out. In the light of Hinata finally achieving her first major step in her Suiton training, Sosha was sickened that there was only a growing sense of disquiet form in her gut. In the few seconds it took Hinata to form the chakra Sosha was able to learn a lot. There was almost no flaw with the way the girl formed the chakra. However, once it was fully molded this thing, this… it was practically indescribable. It felt like this knot of foreign chakra inside her was distorting the flow by, in a sense, not being there. It made Sosha think back to the time when she had first decided to train her little sister. Chiyo had told her that there was something off about Hinata's chakra flow. The old lady had remarked that it was a minute disturbance, but that it shouldn't cause any problems. Whatever this is it's much more than some small disturbance. I need to see that old windbag right now. Unfortunately for her she couldn't think of a plausible reason why she would need to leave so soon after her pupil's first success. She let her hand drop from Hinata's neck as she stood up "I'm so proud of you Hinata-Chan. I knew you'd be able to do it eventually right?" The compliment sounded hollow to her, but this new problem was distracting her greatly. She looked down at Hinata, gaining a slight taste of amusement from the girl's obvious distress over what she should be paying attention to, Naruto or her first Suiton Jutsu. Naruto… wait a minute. Like a piece of a puzzle something slid into place in her mind. Her gaze snapped to the blond boy. The second that boy had entered the room Hinata's chakra had shifted too fast for her to fully analyze and then for the first time the out of reach Jutsu activated. What in hell is going on? Someone isn't telling me something, and I think I have an idea who. A hand drifted up to her long ponytail and proceeded to comb through it obsessively, something she always did when she was nervous or anxious. Her gaze drifted from student to teacher as Jiraiya finally waltzed into the room after Naruto. She needed to find some way to talk to Jiraiya and Chiyo right now.

Naruto himself was mesmerized by the miniature water tornado. It continued to hold his gaze until the Jutsu started to sputter, then finally died, the water splashing messily back into the basin. He was very impressed with Hinata. He considered himself to have a pretty decent repertoire of Jutsus, and whether this was actually true or not he didn't know a single elemental Jutsu. Other than Sasuke she was the first one of his friends he knew of to have learned that kind of Jutsu.

Seeing the obvious fruits of Hinata's labors Naruto thought back to the last week of training he had been through with the open pervert. Jiraiya had declared his Super Clone Jutsu to be at a pretty decent level that there would have been no reason to focus solely on that anymore. Naruto had suggested Kichiyose training, as he remembered from awhile back having wanted to ask the Ero-Sennin about how he could improve his skill with that Jutsu. He still remembered that conversation.

"Oi Ero-Sennin, I really want to learn how to summon other toads besides Gamabunta and his kids. I've seen you summon some pretty cool toads already, so teach me…please? Please, please, please".

"That wouldn't be a good idea there Naruto. The last time I tried to summon one of my toads in a desert just ended up being a bad experience for everyone. You know how finicky they are. No matter who you summon they will just yell your ear off about how the sand gets between their toes or some such nonsense".

"Awww jeez, come on".

"Just wait until we get to the Rain Country and then you can summon as many toads as you want".

"Awww jeez".

Thinking back it seemed to Naruto that his Sensei might have tried a few too many times to summon a toad in a desert if he spoke so nervously of the subject. Not much else had happened in the intervening week other than the constant mental strength training exercises. He had spent so much time in concentration drills and the like that he could swear his brain had bulked up to some kind of bodybuilder brain by now. As much as he had practiced, the effort put into controlling the Kyuubi hadn't produced the results Naruto had led Jiraiya to believe. There was no doubt that on a day to day basis he would have no problem keeping the demonic chakra under control, but in practice he had learned that the second he started to access too much of the chakra in combat his instincts seemed to be ripped away from him. He could now stop the process in it's infant stages but it also meant he couldn't risk releasing the Kyuubi for now.

Even after all that, he pushed it aside for the moment as he congratulated Hinata on her accomplishment. He ran up to her, almost knocking her over as he threw a congratulatory slap against her back. "Hey Hinata, let's go find a ramen shop to celebrate. Hopefully they have one around here that'll taste at least half as good as Ichiraku Ramen".

Not even giving the poor girl time to respond Naruto grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. He had already led her halfway to the door before Sosha could get over her shock and offer a farewell. "Bye bye Hinata-chan, have fun now!" She didn't even bother reminding her of the dinner they were supposed to have. You couldn't eat ramen that didn't exist. Was it Sunagakure that was the only village without ramen shops or was there another one? The thought amused her. Well, this saves me the trouble of coming up with a reason for needing to leave.

The second the door shut behind the furiously blushing and stunned silent Hinata Sosha purposefully made her way towards the last remaining person in the room. Jiraiya didn't miss the angry look on the younger woman's face, but he couldn't help himself. "What? I swear I didn't touch any girls… this time".

Sosha ignored the poor attempt at comedy. "Jiraiya, you have some explaining to do, and I'd prefer it if you did it right now!" she grabbed the man's arm, making a fair imitation of Naruto as she led Jiraiya to a door on the other side of the room. "Something is very wrong with Hinata-Chan, and if you or Chiyo-Obaa-Chan can't explain it so help me they'll never find either one of you".

Jiraiya was honestly baffled at whatever Sosha could be referring to. Considering the look on her face though, he didn't exactly see the need to offer up that bit of information right now.

The sun had been setting when Naruto and Jiraiya had finally arrived back in Sunagakure. After Jiraiya had checked in with Narima about their arrival they had made their way to the garden. Now, upon leaving the garden and adjoining hospital the sun had already set. Night was well upon Sunagakure. The sand-strewn streets were brightly lit no matter where you looked by conservative-looking lanterns hanging from every building. The buildings were more densely packed than they were in Konohagakure, the streets were narrower as a result. Another difference Naruto noticed between here and his home was the amount of foot traffic at night. People rarely went out after dark where he was from, excepting a few of the more important buildings in the village. Here in Sunagakure however one couldn't look anywhere in the village without least seeing a dozen people coming in going in all manner of dress.

Once he realized she wasn't going to run away, Naruto released his grip on Hinata's hand. He admitted to himself that he had acted without thinking, which was a luxury he hadn't been allowed the past two weeks, but no one had complained so he simply went with it. "Do you know of any ramen shops Hinata? I haven't spent as much time here as you I guess. If not we'll find one eventually right?"

As much as Hinata wished she could pay attention to what Naruto was saying her mind was practically screaming at her. Oh my god he was holding my hand, it was so warm! He was really holding my hand! Wait, we're going to eat ramen? That means we're going to eat right? Is that a date? OH MY GOD! Seeing that her brain was being of no help her feet managed to do what they did best and kept pace with Naruto.

Naruto was seeing that it might have been a mistake to have suddenly pulled Hinata out of the garden like that. She was being very quite, even for her. It only occurred to him now that Hinata might have wanted to stay and bask in the glow of her accomplishment. Now that he thought about it, how did he know that this was her first time doing that Jutsu? For all he knew that was her hundredth time doing it. However he knew it was beside the point right now, he looked back to see if Hinata was upset. She wasn't even looking at him, and her face was red. Ah man, don't tell me that I made her mad. "H-Hinata… did I… upset you?

Something finally broke through Hinata's rollercoaster thought process. She couldn't believe what she had heard. "Why would you say that Naruto-Kun?" she forced herself to look at him finally, only barely hoping that the relative darkness would hide her blush. How she wished sometimes she could just stop the blood flow to her cheeks. There was no denying that this was a dream come true to her, there was no way she'd let the moment be ruined. She increased her pace to match his so he wouldn't have to keep craning his neck back just to see her.

Hinata managed to avoid notice once again, Narutoblivion having once again saved her. "Oh, well it's just that you were pretty quite back there and I was worried I'd done something wrong by pulling you out of there like that. I admit it wasn't the most considerate thing I've ever done" He rubbed his hair sheepishly, as if it translated into an appropriate apology on its own.

"Oh no not at all. I was in there for awhile so I'm glad to get fresh air". It had been a tad bit inconsiderate of him, but she wouldn't let that little truth get out.

"That's good than" with that Naruto's gaze began to scan the plethora of buildings and stands, looking for something that looked like a ramen shop.

Hinata instantly realized what had stolen Naruto's gaze from her. She felt bad about it, but she didn't want to tell him just yet that there actually weren't any ramen shops in all of Sunagakure. Everyone in the village knew of his love for Ramen, it didn't take her special Narutobservational skills for her to know that. Before the boy found out she wanted to spend as much time like this as she could.

As Naruto continued to scan for Ramen and Hinata continued to bask a silence started stretching out. First moments were consumed like this, but eventually whole minutes fell prey to the silence. Before long Naruto took notice of, what was for him, the unnaturally long silence. To his surprise it wasn't all that hard for him to put ramen to one side as he tried to come up with something new to talk about. He racked his brain for some kind of topic that would be relevant. Another minute of silence passed before it came to him. "Oh yeah Hinata, did I tell you that outfit looked better on you than your last one did? Uhhh…" he trailed off as embarrassment took him over. Every time he looked at her it was like a new string on his heart was being plucked. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling, but it wasn't a normal feeling he was used to either. He desperately tried to find something else to talk about. His traitorous eyes kept glancing at her so his next question really didn't help alleviate his embarrassment. "Oh, you cut your hair Hinata. What made you do that?" He felt like slapping himself on the forehead.

Having heard him compliment how she looked weeks ago didn't put a damper on the experience today. She desperately searched for something meaningful to say back. The first thing that came to mind was unfortunately "You look good too Naruto-kun. I mean that you… you…" She wanted to slap her forehead right now, hard.

Narutoblivion was in full swing as Naruto took the compliment at face value, not reading too much into it. "You really think so? I'm not sure it's really me but there seems to be a shortage of orange colored clothes around here".

The joke normally would have made her laugh. Sadly, she had to force it out just to cover up her embarrassment. Unless I fell into a bottomless pit I don't think this could get any worse. Why can't I form full sentences when I'm around him. I'm sure normal girls don't have this kind of problem. She had to admit to herself that Naruto actually did look pretty good in that outfit. She didn't know if it was the tan flak vest or the tight fitting black turtleneck shirt, or maybe a combination of the two, but it managed to make the normally goofy boy look… dashing. Thankfully for her she seemed to be in a permanent state of blush tonight so the blush that thought would have elicited was simply absorbed into the whole.

They were both saved from further embarrassment as a wave of people forced them apart. The rather large party, consisting of at least a hundred people kept pushing Naruto and Hinata apart. After trying in vain to stay next to him Hinata saw a spot near one of the buildings that didn't have any traffic going through it. Stepping out of character for only a moment she pushed forcefully through the throng of people, grabbed the sleeve of Naruto's shirt, and pulled him to that spot against the building. They both stood there watching the people go by for awhile, calming themselves from the sudden moment of excitement.

Naruto let out "thanks Hinata" even as his stomach grumbled at him. The choice of whether he wanted to talk to Hinata or eat food was about to be taken away from him.

Hinata simply nodded. She simmered for a few moments in the thrill of being so forceful for once.

Standing there close to Hinata, Naruto once again found himself trying to find a topic for conversation. It was fine being quite when Hinata had been asleep, but he couldn't help himself from trying to fill in awkward silences now. He remembered a conversation he had with Neji before leaving Konoha. Let's see, what was it Neji said… oh yeah, I remember. "Hey Hinata?" it came out more a question than a statement.

Hinata looked over at Naruto uttering a simple "yes?" Maybe if she started small her sentences would come out normal.

Naruto started walking after the crowd had passed forcing Hinata to follow suit. This time he went down a separate road from what they had been previously walking on. "What's your family like Hinata? I know Neji a little bit, but I don't know anything about the Hyuuga".

It was an innocent enough question but it was readily apparent that it wasn't the right question to ask. Even he could tell that, and he had never been to good at reading people. Hinata looked down at her feet, and her hands started to fidget with each other. He hadn't seen her do that in awhile. Bad move, terrific. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to pry" a sheepish grin was all he could offer her. He had to think of something else, anything else to say. This was yet another instance when his mouth got him into trouble before his head could save him.

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Naruto about her family. It was just that being so far from them for the first time in her life invigorated her with a true sense of freedom. Being reminded of that, of how horribly they had treated her, wasn't something she thought she was ready for. Despite her misgivings she knew that the longer she kept it bottled up the more she would end up regretting keeping something from Naruto. She was about to try and give him something when Naruto interjected.

"Have you been looking through that scroll I gave you? I know I learned one of my favorite Jutsus from reading a scroll once". He hoped that the lighter subject would calm her down a little at least. He was relieved when he saw her look back up at him, he couldn't read the puzzling expression on her face.

"Oh… that?" Hinata was ashamed with herself. She never imagined being able to talk to Naruto like this, and now that she had the chance she could only stand around barely answering his questions. "Well, I haven't really had a chance to look through it yet. I've been busy with both my Medical Ninjutsu and Suiton training-"

She was interrupted by a sudden outburst from Naruto. "Really? That's really cool Hinata. I knew you'd lick that medic stuff no problem".

His beaming smile was just shy of making her week in the knees. "Thank you Naruto-Kun". Hinata decided to take her chance "how has your training been going? You were out in the desert for two weeks. It must have been hard" Her heart lifted as she finally mustered the courage to ask the question.

Naruto smiled "Yeah it was pretty hard. I'm not sure where Jiraiya got our food-"

The old adage was to call evil's name was to draw attention to yourself. Though Jiraiya wasn't evil the phrase certainly seemed to fit as the man popped into existence in a cloud of smoke in front of them both.

"Aaaaaah, Ero-Sennin, what the hell-"

"Not now Naruto. I need to talk to Hinata". Jiraiya had no trace of his normal mirth on his face, a very serious expression was set in it's place.

"Hey what are you talking about?" Naruto was not used to Jiraiya make demands like this. Something was up.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Hinata was not as used to the large man as Naruto was, his sudden appearance and his imposing demeanor were not helping her.

As if he sensed their combined disquiet Jiraiya let a smile slip through "actually Chiyo would like to see you, she says that it's pretty urgent". To Naruto he simply said "You know where our apartment is right Naruto? Go there for now and I'll bring Hinata back with me. Sosha says she'll be making dinner so try and clean up the place for us alright?" The promise of dinner was usually enough to get Naruto to do whatever he wanted. He was amazed when the kid's face didn't light up as it always had. Just great, he chooses now to find some maturity. "Alright?" he asked a little more forcefully.

Naruto didn't like suddenly being interrupted, but he also knew that whatever it was the old woman wanted to see her about it wasn't going to be something harmful to Hinata. After a good period of time keeping quite he finally spoke up "Alright, whatever-" he spared a glance for Hinata "I guess I'll see you later than".

Hinata nodded in agreement "I guess I have to go". She was irritated that her time she was spending with Naruto was being interrupted, but if Chiyo needed her for something she wasn't about to refuse.

Jiraiya nodded to Naruto, then looked to Hinata. He waited until she looked ready before placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't look so worried. We'll be back before you know it". With that he raised a hand and formed the seal for a Shunshin Jutsu. The two disappeared in a cloud of smoke just as Jiraiya had arrived, leaving Naruto alone in the streets.

Why can't I ever just catch even one break around here. He attempted to shove his hands into the pockets of his jacket only to find out that he no longer had one. There are just too many things I'm being forced to get used to all of a sudden. How much longer before I go crazy. Settling for second best he slid his hands into his pants pockets before turning around and going back the way he came. He hoped that this was the right way to his new apartment.

A/N: When Jiraiya says 'girls' he means women, not little girls, just in case there might have been some confusion. I deliberately left out the part about Hinata's hair from last chapter so there would be more of an... impact I guess.