Here's another chapter to my story. Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, the next few are going to be original before I focus on the Chunin Exam arc. I hope that what I do with them are not going to be a bother for you readers. For the disclaimer, I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 20:
Liberated

"Come on, give everything that you got." Rushing forward, Kiba went at his opponent. When he got close his attempted attack was avoided as his adversary stepped to the side and allowed him to pass by. The evasion came so unexpectedly that Kiba stumbled to the ground before he regained his footing. "Quit doing that. Why don't you actually block my attacks instead of moving out of the way?"

"Why waste energy to block your attacks when I can simply step aside?" questioned the opponent in a casual tone. "Especially since your moves are so predictable and are ease to dodge." That verbal jab only helped to further infuriate the Inuzuka boy as his face became red in anger.

"I'm sick of that nonchalant attitude of yours Shino. Take me serious or I swear that I'll make you regret it." All he got from the bug user was him readjusting his sunglasses which only further irritated his teammate. A fight would certainly have taken place if it wasn't for someone stepping in.

"Please, no fighting you two." pleaded the third member of the team, Hinata Hyuga. "This is only a training session. There's no need to get angry with one another." Thankfully her appeal did the trick as it stopped her two teammates from going at it. To be more precise, it stopped Kiba from going after Shino, who didn't change his demeanor in the slightest.

"Let's call it a day." Stretching his arms out, Shino's insects started to gather around him. Slowly they returned their host as they went up his sleeves. Obviously they had been used during the sparring match and those there had to move around from the bugs crawling on them. That even included Akamaru who avoided a small swarm of bugs going over him.

"Damn it Shino. Keep your bugs from me and my dog." insisted Kiba who was repeatedly trying to swat at a few bugs that were flying around him. Even Hinata was trying to keep the constant insects that were around but wasn't trying to kill them as not to offend Shino in anyway.

Gratefully, all of the insects finally hid themselves within Shino without much incident. "Maybe if the both of you were to take more baths you wouldn't smell of something that would attract them." the Aburame boy retorted. Unlike last time though, Kiba managed to keep himself calm before anymore bickering could continue.

"Let's just go back to the village. It's late and I for one am tired." That was the similar thought that went for the others as all of them headed home but as they were going, the dog user decided to do a bit of teasing. "Besides, Hinata needs to get home to get her stuff ready for her temporary change of residence." In response, Hinata only blush hotly and being unable to speak.

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"Are you sure that you're okay with this?" inquired Hinata.

"Absolutely." acknowledge Naruto. "I told you that it was completely all right when I suggested it in the first place. So don't worry about it."

While Naruto tried to do away with Hinata's concerns it wouldn't be successful as she still seemed to be uncertain. "You may say that I can't help but feel as though I'm intruding by-"

"Staying at my home?" Naruto finished for his friend. "You don't need to worry about feeling like you're intruding. Your father and most of the Hyuga family have gone to Kumo to talk about the possible connection that they may have had with the whole Mizuki incident."

The recalling of that unpleasant incident brought a shudder from Hinata. Even though it had been a while since it happen she could still remember how it felt being held captive and not able to do anything about it. To this day she was thankful of both her and her sister, Hanabi getting out of that whole situation safely. Another thing that she was grateful for was the unexpected arrival of Fox. Why he was there and why he would save her was a mystery to her but she wasn't complaining.

"Besides, I can somewhat understand wanting to get away from such a lonely place while your cousin was there as well." Naruto had originally wanted to use more colorful language while referring to Neji but compose himself as Hinata wouldn't take kindly of him saying such things. "So while you're here I want you to consider this as your home."

That gesture, though simple, deeply touch Hinata. Acting without thinking, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her friend to give him a hug. Caught off guard from such a move, Naruto stood there in complete shock. What happened next though was what really turned him for a loop.

"You feel good Naruto." Hinata almost purred. She even rubbed the side of her face against his chest. Finally regaining his composure he pulled her friend away. It was around that time that Hinata came to her senses as well. "I-I'm s-sorry, Naruto." she quickly apologize. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's all r-right." reassured Naruto. Try as he might, the spiky haired demon host couldn't keep the blush from coming over his face. "But I should warn you. If you have to, at anytime, have to change or something along those lines, make sure that the door is locked and the windows are covered. Wouldn't want that perverted godfather of mine trying to peek at you."

"Jiraiya wouldn't do that." Hinata disputed. "Especially with you're here as well, Naruto." Suddenly a small devious smile that wasn't accustomed of Hinata came over her face. "But if it was you who…" She allowed the rest of the comment to be unsaid but it was clear what she was referring to.

Once again Naruto blushed but managed to suppress most of it. "Well, maybe you're right. But I have a good idea on what that old pervert is doing right at this moment."

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At another part of Konoha a sneeze could be heard. The sneeze was from none other than Jiraiya. "Apparently someone is talking about me. Probably it's some beautiful young lady that I met." Returning to why he was there he looked through a hole in a fence to see the women's hot springs. "My, what magnificent young ladies we have here." This went on for a while longer until the white haired man spoke up. "Are you going to show yourself or are you going to stay hidden?"

For a moment it seemed like Jiraiya was mistaken. That was proven wrong as emerging from a mass of swirling leafs was Kakashi Hatake. "You do know that such a thing is considered as immoral?"

"It's all in the name of research." the author argued his case. "This helps me to get the material I need for my stories. Now are you going to tell me why you're here or are we going to play a game of twenty questions?"

"I wanted to discuss with you about someone." It was no doubting that by Kakashi's tone that he was serious. "Someone who has wild blond hair, blue eyes and known to be very energetic." Turning around, Jiraiya prepared himself for what's to come. "Mind telling me what's going on with Naruto?"

"What's with the sudden questioning? Does it have something to do with what happen at the Land of Waves?" Jiraiya asked offhandedly. "From what I heard the mission went well." Obvously there's was more that the jonin wanted to talk about and the older man hoped that he would be able to give him the answers.

"Mind explaining on how a powerful poison that was strong enough to incapacitate Kurenai Yuhi for a while when it had no affect on him? Also him being able to create shadow clones. A jutsu that jonin are unable to do."

"The kid's just peculiar like that." Jiraiya casually remarked. "He also has larger chakra reserves than some adults could ever have." "We could thank the nine-tailed fox for that." That last part was of course said to himself. "There have been cases of people even younger than Naruto being even stronger."

"That's true." Kakashi agreed. "But that doesn't explain how someone like Naruto, who was at the bottom of his class, was able to beat Sasuke Uchiha in a match, even when he went against the Sharingan."

I thought that you weren't one of those people who judges the skill of a person by what they're born with or who they're family are." Jiraiya wasn't trying to change the subject as this topic was something that he felt strongly about. "It's the person themselves that makes the difference."

"That doesn't answer my question." Once again, Kakashi showed that he wasn't going to let the topic go.

"Probably the win was nothing more than luck. Naruto may not want to admit it but someof his successes comes from luck." Letting out a sigh the white hair man was reaching his end when it came to this conversation. "Besides, I don't pry into the boy's life and he feels the same when it comes to what I do."

"So he wouldn't know about you keeping taps on your old teammates?" Unableto stop himself, Jiraiya's right eye twitched. It was small but not missed.

Knowing that any chance of him truly enjoying further research was shot, the perverted author prepared to leave. "Listen here Kakashi. You may have a history with the boy's family that doesn't mean that you need to know everything about Naruto. What you see is what you get when it comes to him." There was mostly truth behind what Jiraiya said as he felt that Kyuubi was just somethingthat Naruto was force to bare.

"He's just some teenager who's trying to find his own place in the world. So in other words let it go." Having enough, Jiraiya took his leave. Had he looked back he may have noticed that Kakashi apparently wasn't going to let the issue drop.

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A Day Later…

"I'm telling you something is up with her." said Naruto.

"Now when you say that, what do you mean, exactly?" questioned Shikamaru.

"It's kind of hard to explain. To be honest, the best way to explain it is that she's different. It's almost as though she's a different person."

"Come on you guys. Let's be realistic here." advice the third member of the group, Choji. Not like the last meeting that Naruto had with Shikamaru, having the Akimichi boy there was all right. The three of them were currently at one of Choji's favorite restaurants. "This is Hinata we're talking about. How much of a change could there be?"

"Oh, there you are." Appearing from behind the seats that the three of them were sitting in was the person that the discussion was about. Moving around Hinata sat herself down pretty close to Naruto. "You don't know how glad I am to have found you. I've been looking for you everywhere." Hinata would blush, which wasn't all that uncommon for her. However, what took the three boys by surprise was the somewhat seductive look that she was trying to give the blond.

"My, its sure is hot here." With only the slightest bit of hesitation, Hinata unzipped her bulky jacket and took it off. This was a surprise as Hinata hardly ever removed her jacket, no matter the situation. As a matter of fact, none of them could remember the last time that their friend had even left her jacket unzipped. "Ah, now that feels better." Hinata would go ahead and smoothed out her shirt and as she did so, Naruto couldn't help but notice something.

"I haven't notice before but Hinata has really…grown." Immediately realizing what he just thought, Naruto scolded himself. "What am I thinking? Something must've happen to her and I better find out what it is." "Uh, Hinata, do you mind getting some drinks?"

"Sure I'd do whatever you ask Naruto." Before leaving though, Hinata gave his arm a light squeeze before leaving.

"Do you see what I mean?" Naruto asked when the Hyuga girl was out of hearing distance. "Try to tell me that such a change is normal. Especially, when it's someone like Hinata?"

Much like how he had been reacting from what had been going on, his two friends were caught completely off guard what they've just witness. It was such a shock that Choji actually allowed a piece of his food to fall from his chopsticks.

"Um, I'll see what I can find out." informed Shikamaru regained his composure. "It'll be troublesome but I'll do it anyways. However, if there is something that has cause Hinata to act like she is, how do we actually reverse it?" Not knowing what to say, Naruto sat there in thought.

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Currently asleep, Naruto was unaware of the world around him. Lying in his temporary bed, that being the living room couch, he would occasionally mumbled a few incoherent words and a bit of drool came from the corner of his mouth. Naruto was so out of it that he wasn't aware of someone making their way toward him.

"Naruto, wake up." whispered someone in a quiet tone. After a few more attempts the boy finally started to come out of dreamland. Once he regained enough of his senses and vision cleared up, Naruto discovered who it was that woke him up and to say that he was shock would be an understatement.

Straddled on his lap was his guest, Hinata. "H-Hinata? Wh-What are you d-doing?" Thankfully, Naruto managed to keep his voice down. If Jiraiya was to see the two of them in such a predicament he wouldn't hear the end of it. Looking at his friend he saw that Hinata was wearing a thin lavender shirt that went down to mid thigh and it was impossible to tell what else she had on and despite himself, Naruto was a bit interested at what it could be.

Getting rid of such thoughts he tried to get her off of him but to his chagrin she wasn't cooperating. "Hinata, get off. What's with you?"

"I can't hide it anymore." muttered Hinata. "I need you Naruto." Hearing that stopped the blond from trying to create more space between him and his friend as the shocked at what he said. "I don't know why I'm like this all of sudden. Before I would be too nervous and shy to say such things but for some reason I feel somewhat liberated. So, I'm not going to let this opportunity pass me by."

Though she said she wasn't shy, Hinata couldn't keep the blush from coming over her face as she press herself closer to him. "I care deeply about you, Naruto All I want is to be closer to you. Please allow me to have that."

For his part, Naruto didn't do anything as he just lay their on the couch as Hinata snuggled up against him. In the process it caused the Hyuga girl's body became more identifiable to him. That combined with the words that she said continuing repeating in his head, Naruto couldn't deny that it was having an affect on him. His first instinct was to give the girl what she asked and wrap his arms around her. But in the end he thought twice about it.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Naruto pushed Hinata back to a sitting position. "Sorry. We can't do this. Something has happen to you and it's making you think differently than you usually would."

"So what if there is?" asked Hinata. "What does it matter if there was something that's making me think and act this way?" With each passing word she became more emotional. "As long as it allows me to be this open I don't care. Tell me, Naruto. Do you care about me? More than a friend I mean. If not, then could you?"

Such words were flooring Naruto as he had no idea how to respond. "What are you waiting for?" questioned a voice that only Naruto could hear and knew quite well. "Take her now and give her the feeling that she craves." Kyuubi 'suggested'.

"Shut up you overgrown fur ball." Naruto mentally retorted. "This has nothing to do with you. So stay out of this." To his surprise but also relief, the nine-tailed fox conceded to his request. He would soon forget about that as he saw Hinata start to sway a bit and her eyes started to glaze over.

Before could ask what was wrong, she collapsed back on top of him. "Come on Hinata. Get off me." No reply came from the girl in question. "Okay, this isn't funny. You can quit it now." Again there wasn't any response. "Hinata? Come on, wake up. Wake up!"

I bet you readers didn't expect some of the things that happened here. Having Hinata reacting react like she did was something that I had fun doing. It was almost like I was doing a different character. Don't worry about waiting to find out why for her sudden change of attitude as the next chapter explains thing.

In the end I hope that you liked how the chapter turned up and continue to check it out. I hope to have the next chapter out by the early part of November, definitely before Thanksgiving. So, until then, see ya.