Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto, anything related to Kishimoto Masashi's works and ideas, except for characters, plotlines, or ideas invented by the author.

Rating: T (mild to severe language and some mildly graphic imagery, including in this chapter, no overt sexual references or imagery or graphic death as of the writing of this chapter)

Last time: Minato traveled to the Land of Forests and the outskirts of the Hidden Grass Village, where the maximum-security prison known as Hōzuki Castle was located. Mui, the leader of Hidden Grass and warden of the prison, met him soon after, and together they made their way to the building, with Minato expressing his desire to arrange for prisoner transport due to a lack of worthwhile intelligence being received by Hidden Grass's interrogation experts. Mui agreed and asked his veiled secretary Naeko to take care of it, which coincided with a massive spell connected to her terminal chakra illness. She was fine, however, and the two village leaders made their way into the depths of the prison, where the mysterious prisoner was revealed as none other than a captured Uchiha Obito. Meanwhile, after bidding Team 7 farewell on their mission, Jiraiya's attention was captured by the children of the Kazekage. His suspicions were confirmed as Gaara's anger was riled with insinuations about the relationship he had with his father, and the Toad Sage was forced to take the conversation to a mental level. Shukaku aided in restraining his host long enough for Jiraiya to explain the full story, and by the time he was done and gone, the effect on Gaara was obvious.

(Exam Interlude) Chapter 24 – The Tough Road to Forgiveness! Dual Fronts, Divided by the Past!

Rasa reclined in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment, taking a break to collect his thoughts. Given that the needs of the village did not take a break just because he was out of town for the Chūnin Exams meant that he was in need of an office, and Minato was kind enough to provide him with some temporary private space on the first floor of the main building, just beyond the front desk and security. Granted, it wasn't much, with only a sparse desk at which to work and some boxes likely meant for storage down the road, but he had access to a phone and hookups for his computer, and that was all he really needed. Being from Hidden Sand meant that he had grown used to living without all of the comforts that other villages were accustomed to.

Though he certainly wasn't opposed to the cuisine and air conditioning that Hidden Leaf had to offer.

A knock on the door roused him from his musings, and he stood up to go see who it was. He had just sent one of the various chūnin around the building to obtain some documents from the roost, where one of his hawks was stationed, but he didn't think that he would be back so soon.

When the Kazekage opened the door, he was correct in thinking that it wasn't the messenger he had dispatched, but he certainly wasn't expecting to see all three of his children standing there. "What are you three doing here?" he asked in confusion. "I wasn't expecting you until later this afternoon for training."

He couldn't help but note the look of pure befuddlement on his youngest son's face, which was an emotion he honestly couldn't remember seeing on his face before, and Kankurō gave him absolutely no indication of what he was feeling despite the obvious lack of makeup on his face. Temari, as he was long used to at this point, was the only one who showed any ounce of emotion, and even she was normally guarded, but today she looked almost…was it relieved? Despite the obvious tension among the three, the cause of which he could only hazard a guess, she looked at peace in a way that he hadn't observed in a long time. In fact, she was the one that spoke up to explain the unexpected encounter. "We're really sorry to disturb you, Father, but are you free to talk?" she asked, and her tone left no question as to the severity of the impending conversation.

Rasa, despite his confusion at the whole situation, calmly extracted his phone from his pocket and scanned his calendar. Outside of waiting for the chūnin to return with his documents, his day was mostly free since he had gotten ahead on work earlier, so as he stashed his cell he shrugged noncommittally. "We might be interrupted briefly, but I don't have anything going on the rest of the day outside of our training session, which I thought was supposed to be around 5 or so…?" He left the question hanging as he awaited a response.

"That's the thing Father…" Temari paused as she searched for the correct words. "…before we start training, we need to clear some things up."

That didn't help much, and it almost seemed like they were being intentionally vague. "Such as…?"

"Well…we've just come from having a spot of tea and coffee with Lord Jiraiya…" she said slowly, and that certainly caught his attention.

"Oh really?" The Kazekage attempted to play it off cool, but his interest was most certainly piqued. "What did you discuss with him?" He eyed his youngest, whose face was beginning to morph into a mix of uncomfortable and…was that hope?

The blonde kunoichi stalled at that moment, and it was obvious that she hadn't thought that far ahead into the conversation, so it became Kankurō's job to take over. As per usual, he didn't mince words as he said bluntly, "We forced him to tell Gaara about what happened the day he was born."

Having suspected as much from the moment they had mentioned the Toad Sage's name, it was nevertheless still quite the shock. However, that wording caused him to chuckle despite the seriousness of the situation. "Forced?" he asked lightly, "Even as the proud father that I am, I'm not sure three genin could ever force a legendary jōnin such as Lord Jiraiya into anything he didn't want to do."

The puppet master colored slightly. "Well…okay, we didn't force him…per se…but he kinda figured out why we were there before we could ask, and he didn't object to helping…"

The Magnet Style user conceded his son's point and looked towards his youngest, the pensive redhead standing between his older two siblings. While attempting to lock gazes with him, he directed another question at Kankurō and Temari. "I assume Lord Jiraiya told you everything? Even my little cover up tale?" They both nodded, and he sighed. "You had best come inside. I'd rather the entirety of the Hidden Leaf Village didn't hear this. Jiraiya and Minato knowing is more than enough." He stood aside and allowed the three teens to shuffle into his temporary office before shutting the door behind him and activating the wards that the Fourth Hokage had established just for him. Silently, he walked over to his desk and sat down slowly, taking a deep breath as he steeled himself for the difficult conversation ahead. His children had scattered across the admittedly scarce furniture, with Temari and Kankurō taking up shop on the threadbare couch and Gaara opting to sit in the other chair, not having to do anything with his gourd because he wasn't carrying it around on this particular day.

Rasa took a deep breath and began what might be the most complicate and difficult conversation of his life. "I can't ever attempt to make up for the loss of your mother," he started to say with only the slightest hitch in his voice, "Not a single day goes by that I don't think about what I could have done differently, but I have slowly come to realize that psychoanalyzing my actions in the past isn't something that that does me or you three any good. Lord Jiraiya managed to knock some sense into me, as it seems he did with you three as well, when he came to permanently fix Gaara's seal a few years after the initial sealing, and I have tried to take that to heart. Still, I also realize the events surrounding your mother's death makes that hard to forgive me. Despite what Lord Jiraiya may have told you, all of which is one hundred percent true, it will do you a world of good to hear the words from my mouth, and there will be some information that he didn't tell you because he didn't have a reason to know about it." The Sand leader, pausing to take another heavy breath, saw Temari giving Gaara nervous looks, and sought to resolve that. Looking right at his youngest, he asked solemnly, "Son, are you okay with being here? I know our relationship hasn't been the best but…"

The redhead shocked everyone by interrupting the Kazekage midsentence. "I want to be here Father," he said quietly, with a quiver in his tone that no one had heard in a long time. "I want to hear your side of the story, and I want to make a change, but I cannot unless I hear the events surrounding my birth from you." Kankurō's face cracked into a very small grin, and Temari actually looked like her eyes were beginning to tear up.

Rasa nodded, a sad smile adorning his own features. "Alright then, let's get started…"

Later in the evening, somewhere in the northern part of the Land of Fire, in the vicinity of the Fire Temple

"Remind me again whose smart idea it was to take the off-road path to the Fire Temple?" Ino grumbled irritably, pausing her trek through the woods to swat at a branch that refused to get out of her way. "Last time I checked, our half of the mission wasn't the troublesome part."

Chōji snorted. "Alright, 'Shikamaru,' calm down. Sensei just wants to be careful, in case whoever is threatening Lady Haruna and Lady Toki anticipated what we were doing." The real Nara didn't say a thing but forged on ahead, ignoring the inevitable outburst from Ino and keeping close to Keisei, who seemed to be on a mission to arrive in record time. The cold autumn wind whipped at their faces, barely deadened by the thick forest cover, and each of the members of the squad were glad that they remembered to bring scarves and light gloves in addition to their somewhat thicker mission gear.

Shikamaru was concerned, which is why he chose not to engage Chōji and Ino in conversation. Normally, he'd focus on thinking through mission parameters and possible deviations to their assignment, but it was rather difficult given the odd behavior of the squad leader, so he decided to pursue a more affirmative approach. "Is there something bothering you, sensei?" the intelligent genin asked bluntly, causing the team leader to hitch his step and turn around with an unreadable look on his face. Behind him, he could sense the cessation of movement and conversation from Chōji and Ino as well. "We've been beating through the brush like we're in the middle of some swamp war, but I can't tell that there should be anything to worry about," he continued persistently, forcing Keisei to fully halt. "Our intelligence doesn't point to guerrillas attempting to intercept us; Team 8 should be on the receiving end of most of those types of individuals." Shikamaru paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and then continued the near-interrogation. "Also, speaking of Team 8, why were the teams assigned the way they were? No offense to Ino as a sensor-type ninja, but Team 8 is much better equipped to this type of mission, and we are by far the better team when it comes to combat. Wouldn't it have made more sense to switch the two teams around?"

The younger Sarutobi brother remained silent for a few moments, and Shikamaru wondered if he had overstepped his boundaries. Ino certainly looked somewhat freaked out by the sudden insubordination, but Chōji remained pensive, choosing to extract a bag of mini carrots from within his armor to munch on. The Nara, feeling the rare need explain himself, added on to his original query, "I'm also curious about why you looked so freaked out by the Hokage assigning us this mission. When he said that we would be the team to aid Lady Haruna and the Fire Temple, you looked like you had seen a ghost. What's at the Fire Temple that's got you so disturbed?"

Keisei remained silent, but he slowly turned around to look at his squad. All three were shocked at the look of annoyance on his face, but they also could somehow tell that it really wasn't aimed at them due to the way he quickly shook his head and cleared his expression. "I'd like to tell you that it's nothing, and to not worry about it, but you'll find out once we get to the Fire Temple, so I can't really use that excuse."

The team waited for him to provide more of an explanation, but he didn't offer any and proceeded on his way, turning his back once more and picking up his pace. "That's it?" the Nara youth asked dubiously, not buying that one bit. "You're not going to give us any sort of clue whatsoever?"

"Like I said, you're going to find out once we get to the Fire Temple, so I'd rather just show you in person," the younger Sarutobi brother's voice called out as he disappeared into the foliage. Knowing that their destination wasn't too far away, the other three genin also quickened their step.

Shikamaru remained silent and pensive, fixing his gaze on the back of his sensei's head as they darted through the brush, but Ino and Chōji were not so quiet. "What was that all about?" the blonde sensor hissed to her friend and teammate. "What's with those two? I didn't notice anything weird back in the Hokage's office? Why's Shikamaru jumping down his throat like that?"

The bulky Akimichi shrugged, just in the dark but not nearly as interested. "I'm sure it's nothing. I noticed that sensei seemed a little on edge back in the village, but I didn't think much of it past possibly Konohamaru acting up. Maybe he had a bad experience there in the past?"

Ino shot him a look of incredulity. "A bad experience?" she repeated slowly, "What kind of bad experience can you have with a bunch of ninja monks that are allied with our village? They're monks, for heaven's sake!"

"I don't know," Chōji replied calmly, used to his friend's overreactions by now, "Maybe it wasn't the monks, but I do know it likely isn't any of our business." The Yamanaka youth looked like she wanted to vehemently protest, but he shut that down rather quickly. "Don't go there, you know I'm right. Just let him have his secrets, just like you have yours and I have mine." He chuckled. "You never know, maybe you'll find out what the secret is while we're here."

"Fine, fine…" she muttered, looking like a pouty baby but really just sour at Chōji being correct. "Whatever, it's probably not that great of a secret anyways, if it involves our goofy teacher and a bunch of bald, chaste dudes wearing robes." The large, armored genin laughed louder at that and clapped a large paw on her shoulder for a moment before speeding up to catch the rapidly disappearing Shikamaru and Keisei. "Hey, wait up!" she whined, not wanting to be left behind. "And what's that about you noticing something that even I didn't notice? Since when did you turn into some sort of super sleuth…?"

…xXx…

"…and fuck everything you stand for, you lying, murdering sack of shit!" Obito spat, straining against his restrains even as the angry red tattoos splayed across his chest sapped him of the little energy he still had. The guards hidden in the darkness weren't moving, so there obviously wasn't any fear of him escaping, but the display was startling nevertheless. "I never want to see you again! I'm never going to forgive you for assigning that mission to Kakashi and leaving me behind on that battlefield to die like a old dog, do you hear me? You're a contradiction of everything you supposedly stand for, you bastard! I want you to leave this place and leave me to rot here like you've wanted ever since that battle in Hidden Grass! FUCK YOU!"

Minato had stood back up at that point and had his back facing the former Leaf ninja, but those most recent accusations were new, at least for the current tirade that Obito was on, and that caused him to turn back around and look at his former student with a look of pity. "Is that what you think?" he asked blandly. "Is that what you really think?" His voice lowered to a chilling whisper, and he slowly began to stalk back towards the captive. "That I cared so little about someone that I viewed as a younger brother and valued teammate that I would leave the battlefield without doing everything possible to prove that there was nothing further that I could do to save you? That I sent Kakashi on that mission to the Hidden Mist, knowing that Rin would be forced to be a human weapon and knowing that he had to kill her in order to get back in one piece? That I believed that she was so far gone that I forced Kakashi to kill her in cold blood, that I believed there was no other way to save her? Is that what you think?" He was only inches from the window, nearly nose to nose with his former student, and his eyes were wracked with guilt and pain. "I cannot understand what you've been forced to endure, but that doesn't give you the right to assume things that you have no basis to believe. You know nothing of what it takes to assume a position of leadership, to make the decisions that no one should ever be forced to make."

"Oh really?" That was enough to get the rogue Uchiha started up again. "Is that what you've fooled yourself into believing? You really don't know a single thing about me, sensei. Just where do you think I was before you got lucky on the day your spawn was born? Stuck under that rock in the middle of Hidden Grass?" He took a breath and appeared to want to bait the blonde into retorting, but he wasn't falling for it. "I stand for something so much more than any of the lowly hidden villages, and once I get out of this hellhole, I'll show the world the true meaning of pain."

Minato also took a breath, and his face visibly relaxed, back into the calm collected visage of an all powerful village leader. "Well that's a start. Why don't we talk about where you were all those years that caused you to not want to be found by anyone, including those who cared about you? I'm all yours, just talk."

Obito wasn't about to let that barb get to him, and he simply snorted in disgust. "Nice try, oh sainted leader of the sacred Hidden Leaf Village, but that's not going to work. There's not an interrogation technique out there, not a torture method nor poison created that will even begin to scratch the surface of my subconscious."

"That sounds like a dare, Lord Hokage," Mui added dryly, speaking up for the first time throughout the entire ordeal, "Why don't you take him up on it?"

The blonde nodded grimly and shot his former student a look of regret. "If that's the way you're going to be, Obito, I have no choice." Minato turned back to the Hidden Grass leader and murmured, "Tell your secretary everything is a full go, and that we'll begin the transfer procedures within the next day or so." The shadowed eyes of Mui narrowed in delight, and he slipped back into the shadows of the hallway.

The leader of the Hidden Leaf Village turned to his student one last time to address the confusion plastered over the prisoner's face. "Since the best interrogation experts of Hidden Grass don't seem to be having much of an effect, I've made the decision to transfer you to the care of Morino Ibiki for the next few months. Maybe he and Yamanaka Inoichi will have better luck prying the secrets from within your mind and soul." He paused momentarily before walking away from the dim light of the visitor's desk. "Goodbye, Obito…I'll be back soon" he murmured before disappearing into the darkness, trying his best to ignore the explosion of death threats that emanated from the cell.

…xXx…

Being the fastest team (and admittedly most focused and therefore less prone to pit stops) of the current batch of rookie genin, Shisui's Team 8 was making excellent time, and their current position put them on the border of the Land of Fire, with an expected arrival time in the Land of Birds a little after nightfall.

The Uchiha cousin was quietly surprised by the efficiency of his team's travel, even more on this occasion than he usually was. He was well aware of the…tension…clouding the mind of Hyūga Hinata, but the other two were rather quiet as well, and he couldn't help but wonder if her anxieties were beginning to wear on the emotions of Kiba and Shino as well.

He checked his watch and saw that it was almost 5 o'clock, and he knew that no one on his squad was opposed to stopping for an early dinner, so he held up his hand to indicate that he was stopping and halted on a thick tree branch overlooking a small clearing with a stream nearby. A moment later, he heard the rustle of fall leaves as his three genin handed nearby. "What's wrong, sensei?" Kiba asked curiously.

"We're a little ahead of schedule, so I thought it might be nice to stop for a few minutes and eat dinner," he explained before gesturing to the spot below. "It might be nice to have a fresh cooked meal instead of burning through our rations right away."

Both of the male genin in Team 8 looked enthused about this, having plenty of experience with wild foraging due to the influences of their clan, but Shisui could see the objection forming on Hinata's face; he had run this drill with her on missions before. This time, though, he was counting on the expected reaction. "That sounds great!" the dog trainer said gleefully, "I can't remember the last time I had fish! Hey, Shino, you feel up for some fishing?"

The bug breeder gave a mostly noncommittal shrug. "That might be interesting. Shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, he dropped down to the ground and proceeded to take off his backpack and gear.

"Wait for me!" the excitable Inuzuka exclaimed, quickly leaping down and doing the same, actually out speeding his friend to taking his shoes off and securing his pant legs up higher.

Shisui smiled at the enthusiasm of the two before he turned to look at the female Hyūga. "Shall we join them?" he asked. She looked slightly startled but eventually gave him a small nod and followed his descent to the ground.

Kiba was already in full fisherman mode, barking orders to his friend and companion. "Akamaru, start sniffing around that river and find some good fish," he said smartly, "Shino, if you could find some nice worms, I'll find some branches and whittle them down." The wild teen began to look around at the trees surrounding him, nodding at a couple of potential options and ignoring the glares sent his way by Shino for being relegated to bug duty. "Hinata, I know you aren't the biggest fan of the great outdoors, so why don't you…"

"She and I can go hunt up some firewood to cook the fish over," Shisui interrupted, placing his hand on his young charge's shoulder. She was slightly startled by the abrupt change of plans, but she also wasn't opposed to avoiding fish duty. "We'll go back into the woods and find some drier wood; this stuff around here is still wet from the rain we've had the past couple of days. If you find some good fish while we're gone, go ahead and start cleaning them, okay?" With that, he quickly steered the young Hyūga towards the forest, and it wasn't long until both of them were no longer visible.

Both Shino and Kiba looked nonplussed at the odd request, and the brash Inuzuka voiced his concerns. "What the heck was that all about?" he spluttered.

"I think Shisui-sensei wanted to talk with Hinata alone, Kiba," the quiet Aburame replied, "Why do I think that? She's been in somewhat of a funk with this whole Naruto thing hanging over her head."

His teammate slapped his head in disgust. "They're a bunch of lovesick puppies, but neither of them is willing to do a single thing about it. It's almost comical how oblivious both of them are." He began to snap a few of the thinner, long branches from a nearby tree to inspect them for use, and his face turned contemplative as he did just that. "I'm tempted to force their hand after the exams are over, but I'm almost more afraid of her reaction to us interfering than what Naruto would do to us."

Shino was already done with his task, holding a small glass jar in his hand filled with a number of worms, and he walked over to his friend so he could load them up onto the sticks. "I can understand her stress, though. Have you forgotten about the Hyūga clan's coming of age ceremony?"

Kiba snorted. "It's hard to forget when the whole village practically shuts down for it." His face turned contemplative as he considered his friend's statement. "You don't really think that's what the real problem is, do you? That's still a few months away, isn't it? Even for her, that's pretty far out." His voice indicated that he was somewhat skeptical of that train of thought.

"It's hard to imagine that her fear of approaching Naruto and the ceremony aren't somewhat related," he replied, handing the impromptu fishing poles back to the dog handler. "And you know Hinata. She's going to worry about things that are important to her clan extremely far in advance, whether she really needs to or not."

"Still, it's not like she needs to be betrothed to the guy she takes to the ceremony. I just don't get what the fuss is about," he groused. "Take my clan's traditions. Our coming of age party is basically a glorified family reunion and dinner." He then grinned ruefully as he remembered what happened at his sister's ceremony. "Of course, the only one I remember is when my sister's boyfriend insulted my mother and started a massive food fight…man that was fun. I miss that guy."

Shino appeared to not react at all to that story of times past and instead chose to continue his search for viable dinner targets. Meanwhile, Kiba was content to stab blindly into the water and recall more memories of failed Inuzuka clan parties. "Hey, Akamaru, remember the time that Kuromaru was trying to eat his steak, and Mom wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and tripped over him, spilling all of our steaks on the ground? Man, that might have been the best day of that dog's life…"

…xXx…

"Hey, Hinata, grab some of those berries off that bush over there. They look pretty tasty," Shisui said, pointing to a large shrub by the stream. The Hyūga princess silently complied with the request and ran over to pick the fruit from the branches, collecting the small morsels in a bag that she extracted from her hip pouch.

The Uchiha cousin chose to sit down on the remnants of a large stump, dropping his armful of fresh firewood on the ground beside him. As his student continued to comb the underbrush for other potential snack items, he watched her, trying to spot any sort of nervousness or tentativeness in her movements. Away from her teasing and silent teammates, she definitely seemed more relaxed, but his eyes, both real and borrowed, could tell that she was still on edge about something, and he was hoping to clear some of that pain and anxiety from her with a quick conversation.

At that moment, she came over and sat down next to him, holding a pouch full of various fruits and herbs. "Do you think this will do fine?" she asked, setting the container on the ground. "I found a few rare herbs and spices over by those bushes that might be good for the fish once Kiba and Shino get them cleaned and on the fire."

"They'll be fine," he assured her, rustling her hair and inciting the expected fussy reaction that was a rare occurrence from her. "In the meantime, let's give the boys some time to find our meal and talk about something."

He could feel her tense up next to him, but to her credit, she didn't retreat into herself like he thought she might. "What would you like to talk about, sensei?" she asked guardedly.

The older Uchiha smirked to himself. "Actually, I'd like to tell you a story, if you don't mind. It's one that I know none of you have heard because I haven't told this one to anyone, even to my cousin, and I hold it dear to my heart because of who it involves, but I think that there are some lessons that can be gleamed from it, and I want you to know a little more about some of your relatives."

That shocked her. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I'm sure I at least am on speaking terms with everyone in my family…right?" The young heiress began to run through a mental checklist of her family, but the messy-haired jōnin quickly stopped her, chuckling at her behavior.

"You actually act a lot like her, now that I think about it," he said softly, beginning to reminisce about times past.

Hinata quickly stopped her inner scan, looking confused. "Act a lot like who, sensei?" she asked curiously.

"Why, my old fiancée…Hyūga Misao." He had to refrain from snorting at the unfamiliar look of disbelief that blossomed on his student's face. "Now, now, don't give me that look. I was once quite the ladies' man…and still am, mind you. It's just been hard these past couple of years."

The long haired beauty shook her head to clear her surprise, sending her violet locks flying all over the place. "No, no, that's not it. It's just that I've never heard of a Hyūga named Misao. Who was she?"

"Part of the confusion might be that she was a branch family member, though that didn't diminish my feelings for her one bit," he began to explain. "Let's see if I can remember this right…it's been awhile since I was quizzed on Hyūga family hierarchy and geneology, but I think she was a distant niece of your father's father." He thought for a moment before something obvious hit him. "You might remember a Hyūga with blond hair who was somewhat of an outcast for preferring weapons to the classical Gentle Fist that most are taught?"

At that moment, a memory floated to the forefront of the genin's mind of a older ninja consoling her many years prior and offering her younger self a freshly baked cinnamon roll, and her eyes widened in recognition. "I do remember her!" she blurted out, "She used to give me sweets whenever my training sessions with Father went badly!"

"Ah, yes," Shisui said, remembering a similar situation, "She was quite the cook too. Always could whip up just the right thing without asking what anyone wanted."

Hinata still looked somewhat confused. "Wait, so you were engaged to her? Grandfather allowed that? He never turns down an opportunity to tell us how inferior the Uchiha were to the Hyūga…" She then flushed fully as she realized her impropriety and quickly stammered. "Oh, I'm sorry, sensei, I didn't mean it like that…"

Instead of being upset, he burst out laughing. "No, no, you're fine," he said in between guffaws. "I swear, I heard his spiel about the royalty of the Hyūga trumping the barbaric nature of the Uchiha at least twenty times before I managed to convince him that I wasn't about to start some sort of Hidden Leaf civil war. He made me jump through all kinds of hoops to prove that I wasn't some hoodlum trying to steal away one of his granddaughters…but I managed to do it."

Hinata was fully entranced with the tale at this point. "That's amazing…" she murmured, "I've never heard of anyone who could get Grandfather to back down from his views."

"You probably also haven't encountered someone stubborn enough to fight for what he wants and believes is right," the Uchiha leader chided her gently. "Though I feel that you may have someone in mind that could do just that if the situation was right…which is the real reason why I wanted to talk with you." Almost immediately, and just as he had guessed before the start of this little conversation, he could see her expression freeze up, her body stiffen, and her eyes divert down to the ground.

"What would that be, sensei?" she asked emotionlessly, trying (and failing) to act like there was nothing wrong.

The jōnin slung an arm around his student. "You and Naruto, obviously. I'm pretty sure the two of you are about to drive Ino, Kiba, and Neji to drink with the way you're dancing around each other." The look on the young Hyūga's face immediately shifted to object, but Shisui shut that down by lightly tapping her mouth with his slung arm. "No, no, hold on, I'm on a roll here. Just listen; I think you have a perfect opportunity in front of you to prove something to him, yourself, and possibly the most important, to your clan through your father. You just need to buck up and have some confidence in yourself." He removed his finger from her lips, and predictably the excuses spewed forth.

"What does my father have to do with this?" she insisted. "He doesn't care who I date unless it goes against the sanctity of the clan and what it stands for! And if Naruto wants to date other people, that's his own business! I don't want to get in his way-"

"My point exactly," Shisui said, cutting her off smoothly, "You're not being assertive enough. You have to grab the bull by the horns, take the initiative, and don't be afraid of rejection. What's the worst he can say? You know how he is, he isn't going to say something off the cusp unless he feels it necessary."

Her response was immediate, and her expression conveyed that worse was not quite a severe enough term for what her emotions would be. "I guess…no…"

"Exactly. And while I can assure you he wouldn't outright deny you…" noting that she perked up, having heard that same thing from two people now, "…you have to be confident enough to be able to take that type of rejection if it comes your way. You are still planning on succeeding your father as clan leader, are you not?"

"Of course!" she blurted almost instantly, showing a little pride, "I made a vow to both my cousin and my uncle that I would find a way to get past the stigma and the shortsightedness of my grandfather and some of the more traditional elders. I cannot free the branch family and reunite the Hyūga under one home unless I rise to the position of clan leader."

The Uchiha cousin nodded supportively, providing her with more ammunition. "And I want nothing more than to stand by you as the head of the Uchiha clan upon its revival as a fellow clan leader. But I know you feel the same as I do, that your confidence could use some work. You're going to need that sort of bravado if you wish to make an impact on your clan, and the only way you'll get it is through some experience." He took a moment to poke at the various fruits to see what they had to eat while his student pondered. "I've made many strides with you since you became my student, but there's always room for improvement, and you know these things don't come overnight."

"What are you trying to say, sensei?" Hinata said flatly, growing somewhat annoyed with his roundabout way of speaking.

"Get Naruto alone and talk. You don't have to go heart to heart, but at least push your limits." A rustling in the bushes alerted him to the return of Kiba and Shino, and he clapped the indigo haired girl on the shoulder once more as he stood up. "Just think about what I said, and what I was able to have because I wasn't afraid to fight for what I wanted." He walked away, and Hinata faintly heard him begin to chat with the boys about where to set up their impromptu stove. Her thoughts began to race with all the possibilities, and more importantly, she began to seriously consider what she might be missing out on.

…xXx…

AN: Please review and stay tuned!

Ravenstorm of Thunderclan: No problem! Glad you are enjoying it!

jcampbellohten: As you can tell, my form of editing is somewhat on a rolling basis haha. I will get that fixed up as soon as possible, and it should be good by the time you see this.

Thanks for the review! I am going to refrain from answering your questions for the time being. For the Rasengan question, I'm going to answer it by turning the question back on you – even if time wasn't the issue, he still has more than 17 years that he didn't have originally, with Jiraiya around to help and his son to…ah, inspire his creative juices. How do you think that would affect things? I never specifically said how long he knew how to elementize his Rasengan either; it could have been the day before the story began. ;)

The point of divergence…hmm, when is it indeed? That's a good question, and I believe the most recent chapter (not this one, the previous one) might begin to unlock that mystery a little bit.

Chapter 1 Updated

Chapter 5 Updated (I disagree with Ryūka, it's only ever shown in canon with a line as an anchor to focus the power, but Anko uses it as a widespread wave in a filler episode, which is the version I'm opting for here. It's weaker but covers more area) (Haku can deal damage from the ice gloves. I'm interpreting the chakra cloak as more of an armor; impervious to normal damage but enhanced weaponry can damage it, as well as the user underneath)

Chapter 6-8 (I'm using that canon tidbit of information as the basis for this, good catch) (I know about the descriptions, but I'm very sensitive to being called out on repeating words in close proximity due to countless assignments in elementary school haha) (I like the tech, but I'm trying not to overdo it too much. I'm trying to limit things to communication, and even then, minor communication at that. In fact, most of the references have been checking time haha)

Chapter 8-10 Updated (Completely agree with you, so I rewrote parts of 8 and 9 to adapt that into the story. Like I said, a constant work in progress! I noticed that I decided right at the end of the fight to write it the way I had intended but never went back and changed things. Oops) (I think you probably figured out what happened with reference to the stalking part, but Naruto's team was the first to the tower, and the Grass squad his clones attacked was actually Orochimaru)

Chapter 11 Updated (I fixed the multiple large chakra issue, it should be clearer now, but the one stalking Gaara's team is Orochimaru, the one following Team 10 is still just Fū)

Chapter 12-13 Updated (Not quite with the Hinata as bait thing. Naruto showing up was pure dumb luck/deux ex machina)

Chapter 14-18 (Thanks for the comments on originality, I told you it would come. Just have to get through the initial BS first haha. And ding ding, you're the first to note the similarities in Fū and Gaara haha. Also, yes, 'apparently')

Chapter 19 Updated (You've got some correct stuff in there and some incorrect stuff as well. We'll just have to see which is which!)

Chapter 20 (I think the thought process there is that Naruto now knows everything that's necessary. He's much sharper (relatively) in this story, so he might be able to use other parts to help him with the part he is currently working on)

Chapter 21 Updated

Flashback 2 Updated (Look at you! Finally someone sees through the ruse, though what will you do with that information? Hmm? It was all original from me. Had to do a lot of birth date checking to make sure it worked all right)

Chapter 23 Updated (I may just be screwing with everyone with Itachi. Who knows what his status is? All I gotta say about that is wait until the missions after the exams…)

Appletank: Thank you so much! Words like that make my day, though it seems like you cut off your review before you had completed it!

dai sennin kurosaki d naruto: Fixed, thx. I disagree with your opinions on the Haku battle, and I've already stated my reasons why. It is the Yuki clan, I knew that going in, but it sounds dumb, so I opted for something better. And Kushina had Kurama before having access, so it leaving and coming back would not give her jinchūriki characteristics in my mind.