Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Naruto and Hinata stood in the garden with scrolls in hand.
"I guess we should open them in case it's an emergency."
"Mhm," Hinata said a little down hearted that their date would be broken up, but she understood this was the life of a ninja. It meant romance took a backseat to the security and survival of the village.
The two cracked the seal and unrolled it. The two read the text inscribed with utter astonishment. Inside both scrolls was the following, written in Sakura's handwriting.
Dear Naruto and Hinata,
Sorry if I interrupted your date, but this mission will more than make up for it. This mission is an S-rank and so I needed a number of jounin to complete it. Lady Tsunade has given me most of the duty of picking teams for missions lately, but she still checks in on the higher ranked missions. Anyway, I managed to get you approved to go on this mission together, but I had to have another two, so I added Neji and Tenten. This way Hinata's dad can't really complain, and I can't imagine Neji getting in your way too much, considering he'll have Tenten to hold him back.
This mission is set to last at least a week to a week and a half. You will meet and head out today at 6:00PM sharp at the north gate. A very important scroll was recently stolen from Suna and it is suspected that the ninja are high level jounin from the Village Hidden in the Sound. It appears someone has revived the village and is taking hold there. We don't know their purpose with the scroll, but in order to return to the sound, they will have to go through the Land of Fire or else they will have to take the long route and risk capture and being sighted along the many borders they would have to cross in order to reach home. As a show of good faith to our allies in Suna, we are dispatching you to attempt to recover the scroll. Lethal force is allowed. Having two Hyuuga members should aid in the discovery of their locations, but as an added support, the network of guard posts will be informed and will contact you in case of encounter. It will still be a day or two before they cross the border considering the stealth with which they have to move and the large size of the scroll. Included bellow is a drawing if the scroll.
The scroll was dark red with green stripes along the top and bottom and approximately 1 meter tall (about 3 feet) and three quarters of a meter in diameter. After the drawing was a small post script.
P.S. Don't do anything too crazy. I don't want to be delivering babies nine months from now…: P
Hinata finished her scroll first and fidgeted a little, not knowing quite what to do about that last insinuation.
"Hehe, that Sakura worries a little too much." Naruto said laughing a little nervously.
"Mhm," Hinata laughed a little too, chasing away little thoughts with a shake of her head.
"Well, it's still a little early, so I think we can finish up here and still have plenty of time to get ready."
The two finished dessert and after a little relaxing and talking, Naruto got up to leave.
The two walked to the gate and Hinata waved to Naruto as he went toward his apartment.
"See ya, Hinata-chan."
"See you later Naruto-kun," Hinata smiled.
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While Naruto and Hinata each went to their respective residences, Tenten and Neji unrolled their scrolls.
"Interesting"
"Hmm. It seems like we'll be teamed with Naruto and Hinata for this one."
"Her vision should be a great help and Naruto can be useful in a brawl."
"I've heard those clones can be effective scouts as well."
"They would be if he wasn't the loudest ninja in the whole village."
"Oh, come on. He's not that bad."
"I'll admit he has gotten better since the chuunin exams in that respect, but not by enough."
"Well, I guess we better both prepare for the mission. I'll see you at the gate," Tenten stood and put her satchel over her shoulder.
"Mhm" Neji acknowledged. He turned to go, but Tenten snuck a peck on the cheek, which paralyzed Neji in his place with a slight pink shade to his cheeks.
"You'd better not let your guard down like that on the mission."
"Who said I let my guard down?" Neji smirked to himself.
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Naruto pulled out his rations, clothes and ninja tools for the upcoming mission. Naruto stood in his apartment looking over the set he had spread out on his bed for inspection.
"Hmm my kunai seem to be running low. I have the smallest amount I could need as it is and I'm kind of worried about that one on the end. I used it pretty roughly on the last mission. I guess I should test it."
Naruto picked up the suspicious kunai and smacked it hard against the side of the bedpost. The kunai edge cracked. He inspected the rest and found it all to be in good order.
"It's a good thing that I had a little time between the date and the mission. I hope the weapons shop isn't too crowded today," he said zipping his bag and then slinging it over his shoulder.
"Let's see, it's four now, so I guess I have about an hour to finish picking up some more kunai and maybe some shuriken while I'm at it before I need to eat something and meet everyone at the gate."
Naruto stepped out of his apartment and made his way down to the weapons shop after a quick stop to stock up on rations.
"Oi, oyaji!"
"I wish you'd stop that. You'll make me an old man before my time if you keep calling me by that," the middle aged shopkeeper said as he put his face in his palm "What brings you down to my humble little shop?"
"I need a few kunai and maybe some shuriken if you have 'em for a good deal."
"You hurt me Naruto. I always have the best deals in the village," the old man feigned a few tears.
"Stop it Dad. Don't try to guilt a regular into buying more products. Especially with such a pathetic performance," Nezumi said with a light tap to the man's head with a harisen. Nezumi was roughly the same age as Naruto with medium length brown hair and deep green eyes. She is a very attractive young woman with a smile to outshine the stars.
"Nezumi's so cruel to her poppa."
"Hu. Anyway, I overheard that you needed some kunai. How many would you like Naruto-kun?"
"Oh about five should do it. I'll go ahead and get that pack of shuriken."
"Sure thing." she said with a wink as she went to the back.
"She's a good girl, but she can be a real handful at times. You got a girlfriend yet Naruto?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Wow, I never heard about that, but I don't keep my ear in the gossip like Nezumi. Who's the lucky gal?"
"Hinata"
"From the Hyuuga clan? That's quite a catch young man… but if anything were to happen to split you up you ought to give my Nezumi a chance. She's just wild about you."
At the sound of "you", Nezumi slammed the harisen down on her father's head.
"Don't go spouting stuff like that! It's embarrassing!" she said becoming a little pink in the face.
"I'm sorry sweetums."
"Guh. Anyway, here's your order. It'll be 2000."
"Here you go." he said handing her the money.
"Thank you, come again soon Naruto-kun!" she said waving as he walked toward the door and put the new equipment in his hip pouch. As he left he heard some yelling in the distance.
Rushing to the scene, he found a group of female shinobi encircling someone. Through the encirclement he saw Hinata's face. Rushing in, he jumped into the middle of the swarm.
"Naruto-kun?"
"You okay Hinata?"
"I'm fine."
The group encircling had stopped their approach at the sudden emergence of their idol. They were too lost in their oohs and ahhs.
"Need some help?"
"No"
"Aww, come on I made such a cool entrance."
"No, I want to do this on my own, "Hinata said getting serious. "Just sit back and watch me for a change. I've grown stronger since you last saw me fight. Besides, we don't want to break the agreement. They won't attack you, so it can't be called self-defense." she said with a gentle smile.
"Alright, I'll be cheering you on!"
"Thanks," she said as Naruto leapt out of the circle.
"If you leave Naruto-sama to us, we'll leave you be. If you don't, there's no way you can deal with this many of us."
"No, I love him and I won't lose to the likes of you!"
The group closed in and got ready to launch their attack.
"You guys picked the wrong formation to attack me. Eight trigrams heavenly spin!"
The group was flung back in all directions, most knocked unconscious or injured so severely that they were incapacitated. A few remained standing who hadn't gone in the first wave. They stood there rethinking their plans, when a number of other kunoichi slipped in behind them and knocked them unconscious.
"Sorry about that, they don't represent the Uzumaki Naruto fan club."
"What?" Hinata said, but she was soon talking to the wind. Naruto ran up to her and hugged her.
"That was awesome Hinata-chan! I didn't know you could do that too."
"Naruto…"
"What?"
"Everyone's looking," Hinata said, followed by the sudden realization of the situation. They both became a little flustered. Naruto released her, but not without a few embarrassing noises from the shopkeepers and customers.
"Heh, I guess I got a little carried away." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
"Maybe just a little," Hinata giggled. "I still have some things to pick up, so I'll see you later Naruto-kun."
"Alright, see you later." Naruto waved.
The two went their separate ways until it was time to leave.
Even Naruto was on time as the four set out onto the road. The sun set lazily behind them as their mission began.