*Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Get to the Embassy**

*Republic Commando RV Alpha**

Chapter 24: Preserving the Sunny Place

*The cloud nin glanced over his shoulder to estimate how far behind the brat was. To his surprise, he was no longer behind him. This slightly worried the nin.

'Did he give up and decided to fetch help? No matter, I will be out of the village soon and by day break in two days I will be out of Fire Country. Last year's constant conditioning in fast traveling with heavy backpacks to prepare my body for the strain are about to pay off.' He mused as he concentrated on his trek back to the Hidden Cloud village.

He also noticed that his captive was coming to. But it concerned him none as she was bound and gagged, so she was unable to help herself out of her predicament. A small while later, the Cloud shinobi was outside the walls of Konoha and started running and jumping on the treetops for all he was worth. 'Home free!' he thought with a smug smirk in victory. Hinata was silently shedding tears of despair and defeat. She mentally said her farewell to her loved ones.

'I'm sorry, mother, father. I'm sorry I couldn't be the strong daughter and heir you wanted me to be. I'm sorry Hanabi, my little sister for not being the elder sister you could have looked up to. But most of all; I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. I'll never be able to tell you how much I admire you and how much you inspire me. I will never be able to tell you... that I...'

Suddenly the kidnapper was tackled in mid air and plummeted towards the ground which was approaching rapidly. If Hinata could scream, she would have. Instead a muffled one was heard as she descended parallel to her abductor.

Then, before she could touch the ground, she was caught by someone who in the next instant hid her in some bushes.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" Came the hushed voice of Naruto, much to Hinata's surprise and relief.

She gave a nod in the affirmative, her relief and gratefulness shining brightly in her eyes. Smiling in relief, Naruto whispered to her to stay put and to not make any sound and mask her chakra signature if she could. Hinata nodded again as he silently made his way to the small clearing the intruder had landed, safely on his own two feet.

"Who the hell just tackled me? Show yourself!" The irate nin demanded.

No reply came. The semi-masked man then tried to find his captive, but couldn't find her anywhere in the area. Cursing his bad luck, he tried to locate her chakra signature while still keeping vigilant for the soon-to-be-dead idiot who dared interfere.**

'Nothing? Dammit! She was conscious when I was tackled, she must be masking her signature if she is somewhere I can't find her right away. She wouldn't be able to mask it if she was unconscious from the fall.' He thought as he produced a kunai from his weapon pouch and began scanning his surroundings for the offending individual.

'No hostiles approaching yet, good. That gives me a little room to recover from this mishap.' He concluded. 'Still, I don't sense the attacker's signature. That means trouble.'

"I wont ask again! Show yourself before I come after you." He challenged.

*"That's rich considering you can't find me in the first place." Came a warped voice from everywhere around the nin. He tensed up and frantically looked around him. There was nothing.

A kunai suddenly swished through the air and embedded itself in the ground a few inches in front of the nin, startling him. He couldn't tell where it came from. It was as if it appeared out of thin air. Another kunai did the same thing, only it came from the right, making him face that direction out of reflex.

"So you're doing intimidation tactics, huh? You must be a mere genin if you seriously think this would give me pause." He said confidently. In truth he wasn't afraid, but he was nervous as he was pressed for time and an unseen enemy is always dangerous.

Silence was the loud reply. More kunai coupled with a pair of shuriken came from his behind now, he noticed they were getting closer and closer to hitting his feet each time. After he turned to face the direction of the new set of kunai, a noise was heard from his left. It sounded like someone exhaling loudly and slowly. Then a swooshing sound to his right. And to top it all off, an owl was hooting above him somewhere.

The nin had to admit, he was starting to sweat a bit. He had yet to actually see or even sense the attacker. There wasn't even any killing intent leaking out, which unnerved him more than any amount he expected to be feeling. But he then remembered a lesson he learned about detecting an unseen opponent. Lucky for him, they happened to stand on grass, and grass always bends under footsteps.

Peering into the darkened forest floor, in the direction kunais had yet to come from, he readied himself for a fight as soon as he saw the tell tale signs of footsteps.

And then he saw what he was looking for and promptly threw a kunai where he estimated his foe would be. The kunai, however, simply vanished when it came to where he thought the enemy was. The impressions on the ground remained though and he threw two more kunai in an attempt to harm his target.

The impressions vanished and the kunai sailed through the air normally and hit a tree far behind where his target was suspected to be.

"Give up now, or the next set will not miss." Said that eerily warped voice.

"Sorry, I can't do that, little ghost." The Cloud ninja replied with a confident smirk, though he was sweating a bit.

"A ghost, am I?" Asked the voice. "I am no ghost." He said further.

"Yeah, I figured as much." The nin sarcastically said. His smug looks were abruptly changed to that of pain as a kunai and a shuriken had embedded themselves into his back.

"I...stalk ghosts." He finished, even more eerily than before.

The pain along with the stress of his mission and the risk of getting caught by pursuing shinobi further mixed with the now certain threat to his well-being caused the nin to falter and look all around him rapidly as his breathing picked up a bit. And the fact the previously scorned intimidation tactics were starting to get to him wasn't helping either.

Another shuriken went into his right arm, above the elbow. Then a shuriken landed in his left leg. The pressure steadily was becoming too much for the assaulted Cloud shinobi. Finally, he backed up towards a tree as he tried to eliminate the risk of attacks from the rear.

Nothing was in front of him, save the already thrown weapons stuck into the ground where he once was at. He started hyperventilating and gave in to his stress and yelled out.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

A few seconds passed without a sound.

"Here." Came a whispering voice from behind the frightened man.

Turning around in fright to face his opponent, the nin suffered a blow to the head before laying eyes on him. Stunned, he recovered quickly to start fighting his enemy, when he found no one there.

The nin started to consider to retreat and abandon the mission, as he ran the risk of losing the fight, not to mention he started to feel the approaching signatures of pursuit only a mile or so from them.

As he considered this, he was taking a few shaky steps backwards. The next instant he found his foot ensnared by something and being dragged along the forest floor into the darkness of the forest, screaming and clawing the grass in fear.**

Hinata was still bound and gagged so she could not see anything of what was happening from her spot in the bush. The drug the shinobi used seemed to hamper her ability to use her bloodline limit, but she could feel it returning to her, soon she would be completely back to normal. For now, she heard just fine what was being said and could deduce a fairly accurate picture of what was going on as the various sounds reached her ears. In truth, she began to feel intimidated herself when Naruto was making those eery sounds and using that everywhere voice. It sounded very different from the happy version he did on their class' first day of the academy.

She reminded herself that the threat was directed entirely at the kidnapper, not her. But it certainly made its impression in any case.

'Naruto-kun, you are already stronger than I thought, but you are scary too.' She thought with a shudder. Whether it was from a slight fright or something else, she could not tell.

Then she heard her kidnapper scream in terror as his voice drew away from her. Then his screaming ended abruptly, without any sound to indicate the cause, and once more there was silence in the dark forest.

After a minute or so, she heard footsteps approaching her location. Expecting it to be Naruto, she looked in the direction it came from and tried to say something despite the gag in her mouth. To her surprise, the face that came after the hands that pushed aside the bush's leaves belonged to none other than her father, Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Hinata. My daughter, are you alright?" He asked, his voice controlled as ever, but his face was showing mild concern, which in Hyuuga terms was quite a bit of it.

"Mmhmm." Hinata mumbled and nodded as her face showed great happiness at seeing her father again.

"I'm glad." He simply said and showed a genuine smile at that, one Hinata would cherish the rest of her life.

Hiashi had soon freed Hinata from her bonds and gag.

"Where's Naruto-k..." She started to feign a cough to mask her mistake when she caught herself almost calling Naruto with the familiar suffix.

"I am not certain, I came right here as soon as I heard what happened and where you were headed."

"Father, he saved my life." Hinata began and was about to continue to ask they look for him when Hiashi beat her to it.

"How did you know? He alerted me to your kidnapping." Hiashi asked, both his eyebrows raised.

"What? But he was the one who intercepted that man and fought him." Hinata told in confusion.

"How can that be?" Hiashi asked, now truly bewildered. "That would mean he was in two places at once. Are you certain it was him?"

"Yes, father. Please, we must look for him." Hinata pleaded.

'Well, someone fought that man I saw hanging in that tree on my way here with the Byakugan.' Hiashi mused as he nodded and activated his bloodline skill. "Byakugan." He spoke the name of the jutsu and his eyes changed. There were some protrusions around his eyes that looked like blood vessels but were in fact chakra pathways that were swelled up to accommodate the eyes' special ability. His vision became all white and dark, dark grey and any shade in between and could see for miles.

Scanning the area between themselves and the area where the infiltrator was hanging by a rope from a tree, he could find no trace of Naruto.

"I cannot seem to locate him, daughter. It is as if... wait." He paused when his vision caught sight of an anomaly by the tree's roots. A slight, strange and very brief shimmer appeared and suddenly, there was Naruto, unconscious by the tree, a light-greyish spot was located on his torso, indicating that it was blood.

"Oh no, father he's hurt!" Hinata exclaimed in worry as she had seen the same thing with her byakugan, which had now been restored.

Wasting no time, Hinata darted to where Naruto was, Hiashi following close behind.

'Naruto-kun, hang on!' Hinata thought, besides herself with worry.

'Hinata seems rather concerned for the boy.' Hiashi noted as he ran beside his daughter. He then mentally shrugged and chalked it up to him rescuing her. Which reminded him he had to thank the boy himself for this, however he did it.

It didn't take more than ten seconds to find him. Naruto was unconscious, sitting besides the tree that also carried the Kumo nin by his feet with the rope that also dragged him to this place. Naruto's chest was dark red, meaning he was seriously injured.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in alarm as she and Hiashi rushed to him. Hiashi, being more experienced, activated his Byakugan once again and examined his wound closely.

'Hmm. His wound is serious, it didn't puncture a lung but the weapon did nick his heart at the front. He possibly caught the Kunai in time to prevent it from completely penetrating it. Quite impressive for your age, Naruto-san. But how did you manage to still beat this man with a wound such as this? But none of it will matter if he isn't treated correctly soon or his heart may suffer an attack from the injury, not to mention the fact he's lost enough blood to lose consciousness makes the odds stack against him.' Hiashi mused.

"F-f-father, how... b-b-bad is it?" Hinata said with a shaky voice, her stuttering worse than normal.

"I am no medical ninja, my daughter." Hiashi stated neutrally. "But I assume he has a fair chance of making it through this if we get him back to the hospital soon. But first, I will execute this fool." He said as he rose and strode towards the enemy nin.

Before Hiashi could strike in a vital spot, a shuriken came flying and cut the rope, making the shinobi collapse to the ground rather painfully, if he wasn't unconscious already he would have been from that.

Hiashi looked towards the source and found, to his amazement, Naruto with his arm still extended in the throwing pose and Hinata with a shocked look on her face.

"Don't... Hyuuga-san." Naruto half-whispered between strained breaths.

Hiashi regained his composure and fixed Naruto with a neutral look once again. "And why not, Uzumaki-san? He had the audacity to try and kidnap my daughter right under our noses and you expect me to show mercy?" He asked with an even tone, though Hinata could tell the angry vibe to it.

"Because... his fate... isn't up to... you. The Hokage... is the one... to make that... decision for himself." Naruto said.

"The Hokage will surely execute him in due time anyway for espionage."

"Maybe... but you should... know that he... might have other... things to think about."

"N-Naruto-kun, you mustn't t-talk or move, you will m-make your injury w-worse." Hinata said, surprisingly fluent for this situation.

"No... I have to... say this..." Naruto said taking a moment to collect himself. "He is some... big-shot ninja diplomat... from Kumo. Killing him... might be a... bad idea."

Hiashi then considered Naruto's words. If the ninja was just some infiltrator it wouldn't have been much of an issue, but diplomats have the added complication of having some immunity. Hiashi wasn't aware of the Hokage meeting a diplomat so he didn't know of the man's status. Hiashi felt like shuddering at the thought of the ramifications had he gone through with the kill.

"It is good that you informed me, Uzumaki-san. You just averted an incident of international proportions."

"I wasn't... gonna let him... abduct Hinata... not when I... am around... to stop it." Naruto said with dimmed determination. Hinata blushed and smiled.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know my daughter."

Hinata felt worried that her father would disapprove of Naruto as her friend. Naruto didn't know of the Hyuuga clan's caution with outsiders of their clan.

Naruto simply replied with a grin; "Yeah, being in... the same academy class... I kinda have to... know her or... I wouldn't be... a very good classmate."

Hiashi narrowed his eyes a bit while in his mind he was smirking at the boy's candid response.

"I see, but I wasn't referring to you saving my daughter, though I am immensely grateful for that as well. If I had killed this man, Kumo might have taken action or, outrageous as it may have been, demanded compensation for their loss. Most likely, they would've demanded my head."

Both Naruto's and Hinata's eyes widened at the explanation. "Wow, good thing we avoided that." Naruto said.

"Indeed. But let's not dally, you must be taken to a hospital."

"No need. I'm a fast healer." Naruto said dismissively.

"What?" Said both the Hyuugas.

"Yeah, I've had this far-out healing... ability as long as I can remember. I'm already feeling better... as a matter of fact."

Hiashi activated his Byakugan to confirm. And sure enough, Naruto's injury in his heart was healed as if it was never there, though the chest wound was still gaping, albeit it too was considerably smaller and bleeding only a little.

Hiashi had a musing look as the considered this news. 'Now I remember, he is the Kyuubi child. The same one that also apparently was part of the Uchiha massacre if the rumors are true. I've had trouble ascertaining which rumor to believe, if he was on Itachi's side or the village's. I think I have my answer with tonight's events. I have to speak with the Hokage about this.'

Hinata was astounded by Naruto's new ability, at least it was new to her. But mostly, she was relieved to learn that Naruo would be ok. Throwing caution to the wind, Hinata embraced Naruto in a gentle hug, much to both Naruto's and Hiashi's surprise.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You've saved my life and my father's, all in one night." She said happily and without stuttering for once.

"Heh, don't mention it. I would've done the same thing for anyone of my friends or anyone from the village, believe it." Naruto responded happily.

If it was anyone but Hinata, his words would've seemed like he didn't care about her in particular. And while it was in a sense true, Hinata knew better. She knew anyone he had gotten to know was special in his eyes through her... observations of him. In fact, she was more proud of her classmate than she ever had been and her admiration grew with her pride.

Hiashi, however, was torn. He didn't particularly care or gotten involved with Naruto before he went on his training trip with Yokai. He was still aware of the Kyuubi being sealed in him but had a more stand-offish attitude towards him, which was more or less the same with anyone not in familiar terms with the Hyuuga clan. Now faced with the fact Hinata, his precious daughter, was becoming friendly with the supposed village pariah, and if her hug was any indication, she was also developing an crush on him. Little did he know she already had long ago.

Being familiar with seals, though not a practitioner of them, he knew that the boy wasn't the beast, but it's living container, the walking prison. Still, it was unnerving knowing just what was housed inside the boy and that it could break free given the right circumstances. Anyone found close to him at that point would be in mortal danger. On the other hand, if it ever breaks out, no one on the planet was safe so it was a moot point.

Hiashi, being quite a logical man, figured that keeping the boy safe and happy was key was really in everyone's best interest. He briefly scolded himself for not considering this before, as Naruto's well being concerns his clan, not to mention their village.

And yet, he wouldn't simply allow Naruto and Hinata to fraternize freely. At least not until Hiashi had the chance to ascertain just what kind of person Naruto was, but he had to admit Naruto had made quite the initial impression.

"Hinata." Hiashi addressed his daughter. "Remove yourself from Naruto-san."

Hinata, who had realized what she had just done, did just that and looked down on the ground. 'Oh no, what have I done...'

"Naruto-san's wounds might reopen with too much movement." Hiashi finished. He missed Hinata's look of surprise and relief as he focused on Naruto.

"Naruto-san. How did you both alert myself and fight this scoundrel simultaneously?"

Flashback no Jutsu

Hiashi was reading a book in his bedroom. One called "Jiman sorede Higami". His wife was sleeping beside him peacefully. He was just about to put a marker and go to sleep when a young boy slammed the door open to his bedroom.

"Hyuuga-san! Hinata's being kidnapped!" Heshoutedhisalarm.

This made both parents become wide alert, though Hiashi's wife had the presence of mind to keep herself covered.

"What? Who are you? And how do you know of this?"

"No time for that! He's headed for the North gate, you have to help!"

Activating his Byakugan, Hiashi saw that Hinata's bedroom was indeed empty and looked as if there had been a small struggle. Needing no further incentive, he quickly donned his robe.

"Hiashi?" Hinata's mother asked worriedly.

"Stay here, Heisei." Hiashi told her.

"Is Hinata gone?" Heisei asked, covering her mouth in shock.

"Not if I have any say about this." Hiashi said with barely contained fury and then gave chase, giving the boy who alerted him no further thought. Before Heisei could say or do any thing further, the boy vanished in a small explosion of smoke, though she noticed a relieved smile on his face before he disappeared.

Flashback no Jutsu, release!

"Sai-mul-teinously?" Naruto asked with half a frown and one eyebrow raised.

Hiashi had to chuckle, he forgot he was addressing a child with limited education and upbringing.

"Yes, meaning at the same time."

"Oh. I've learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto explained.

"The Kage Bunshin? That's preposterous, the rank and requirements for that jutsu is far too high for a child such as yourself to learn, much less perform."

"Pre-post-R-us?"

Hiashi sighed while Hinata quietly giggled behind her father, which only he heard. "It means 'absurd' or 'nonsensical'"

"Ah. Why don't you use more common words, Hyuuga-san? It's way easier to understand you if you do." Naruto said honestly.

Hiashi had to control himself or he would've scolded Naruto and that would not do for his reputation as a man in control of his emotions. Also, he had to remind himself of just who he was talking to. Had it been any other person he would have been offended. As it were, Hiashi was actually somewhat amused by Naruto's non-existent fear of him, but he still spoke with respect, or a certain amount of it at least which was commendable for a boy of his background.

On top of it all, Hinata's giggling behind him was both putting a strain on his patience and music to his ears.

"While I am more accustomed to how we speak in our clan, I shall try to speak so you can understand me easier."

"Thanks." Naruto said with a grin. He had to wonder why Hinata's father had to talk to stiffly, but he mentally shrugged as it wasn't something worth worrying about.

"At any rate, Naruto-san. How can you claim to perform the jutsu?"

"Because I learned it." Was his simple reply which frustrated Hiashi even more at the same time as amusing him. Hinata's giggling kept going. She couldn't stop because as soon as she started to get control of it Naruto's said something to make things even more funny even though he wasn't aware he did.

"No, I mean how can you actually do it, it takes a lot of charka, even for a Jounin rank shinobi."

"Eh, I dunno. I just have a lot of chakra reserves naturally. It's one of those perks I seem to be born with I guess."

Hiashi almost slapped himself. Of course the kid would have enormous surplus of chakra with the beast residing in the seal. It doesn't answer how he managed to learn this high-level jutsu. Hinata actually stopped giggling now that she learned another incredible fact about her crush.

"How did you learn the jutsu then?"

"I... am not allowed to tell unless I am with my sensei or the Hokage. If you want to know, we have to see Hokage-jiji." Naruto said, scratching his head and had an apologetic look on him. Yokai and the Hokage wanted Naruto's involvement in the Uchiha massacre to be kept to himself for now or until confronted about it directly. Naruto figured that this wasn't the time to tell about it so he semi-truthfully told gave his reason to Hiashi to keep the way he learned it and the circumstances around it a secret.

Hiashi, like many before him, was taken aback by Naruto's disrespectful suffix for the Hokage. Hinata couldn't stand it any longer, she laughed, clutching her stomach. She knew already about Naruto's relationship with the Hokage and affectionate term for their village leader, but her father's reaction to the suffix was priceless and came so suddenly Hinata had no way to prepare for it.

Hiashi, again, was shocked when Hinata started laughing. She hadn't laughed for a long time and he didn't know how much he missed it until now. Seeing his daughter in her mirthful state brought a small smile on his face. He then schooled his features and faced Naruto again, who was confused as to why Hinata was laughing. Hiashi had to admit the situation was rather humorous.

"You called our Hokage... jiji?"

"Yup, he's my surrogate grandfather." Naruto responded with a happy grin.

"I see." Hiashi said, shaking his head in amused disbelief. He should have at least suspected as much as he knew Sarutobi openly was fond of the boy.

"Unnn..." The unconscious man groaned as he started to come to.

"If you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to." Hiashi dryly said and then approached the Kumo ninja.

When he came around and faced him, he woke up fully. All he could see was the Hyuuga clan leader.

"Blast. I've been caught." He groaned in realization.

"That you have, now talk. What did you want with my daughter?"

"I wont talk, Hyuuga scum." The Kumo nin foolishly insulted.

"You are unwise to say so so soon into your captivity." Hiashi said darkly.

"You don't scare me, Hyuuga. I've been trained to ignore pain should I have been captured."

Hiashi closed the distance some between their faces. "Good for you." He said, as if he was complimenting him. "Even better for me." He finished with narrowed eyes, Byakugan activated.

"So, you thought to attempt another kidnapping of a Konoha ninja." Hiashi suddenly switched topic. Naruto was surprised by the statement. Someone else was kidnapped before by Kumo?

"Yeah, and I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling ghost ninja." The Kumo nin snarled.

"Ghost Stalker." Naruto mouthed in annoyance, unseen by anyone.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow in curiosity over the statement, he now was even more curious about Naruto's skills. Not only had he taken down this ninja, and if some of the rumors were true, Itachi too, but he did so in a manner that prompted his foe to call him such.

Still with his eyebrow raised in question, Hiashi asked. "Didn't you know?"

"What?" The Kumo nin made a face of contempt.

"Lightning never strikes the same place twice." Hiashi said before touching the nin's forehead and using his Juuken (Gentle Fist) skill, sent the man into unconsciousness once again.

"Hey, pretty cool jab you did there, Hyuuga-san." Naruto grinned in appreciation.

Hiashi didn't show any sign of acknowledging Naruto's compliment as he picked up the semi-masked shinobi.

"Hinata. Assist Naruto-san, we're going home."

"Yes, father." Hinata nodded in the affirmative and blushed as she took Naruto's arm and started to help him walk.

"Hey, it's ok. I can walk just fine." Naruto mildly protested.

"I... insist you t-take it as easy as possible, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata replied, smiling and blushing.

"No, really. You don't have to bother... I am almost all healed up anyway." Naruto continued his protest as they walked.

"B-but you might m-make it worse otherwise. I... I wont take th-that risk." Hinata proclaimed.

"But I..." Naruto started. But he decided to give up, it was because she cared after all. 'Man I can't seem to even resist the gentle types of girls.' He joked to himself, remembering his little drag-along from the hospital the other day. "Thanks, Hinata." He then said with a smile.

Hinata blushed prettily. She had no doubt she would have fainted in any other situation, but she was not about to allow Naruto to go without her help until he was ok again. "Y-you're welcome, N-Naruto-kun."

Hiashi watched the little exchange as he followed behind them, a hint of a smirk on his face.