Chapter 26

Author's Notes:

Deathtraps: gotta keep reading to find out :P

A3eedi: sorry, I stated the purpose of NaruHina and you'll get some here and there, I'm trying to keep the plot moving though. I should have made a more definite storyline before I started writing the story. Also, sorry for the cliffy, but you gotta admit it makes you want to keep up with the story more.

For those that didn't see it, 25 was rewritten.

On with the chapter!!

Amane stood next to Naruto's unconscious body. After the hermit had knocked Naruto out, Amane chased him away from his brother. 'NOBODY hurts brother…' He looked at each one of them, almost daring them to come close. Hinata was the only one (other than Jiraiya) that dared look Amane in the eyes.

Despite the amazing chakra that had just surged from the boy… despite the fact that this fox had definitely just spoken… and despite the warnings of Lee and their perverted teacher, she began approaching the boy. She didn't stop when Amane growled, nor when the fox acted like he would rush her and attack her. Instead she knelt next to Naruto and ran her hand through his spikey blonde hair. For the next minute, the world only existed around Naruto and herself.

Jiraiya looked at the still stunned Lee. "move out Lee. Wait up for us outside of camp, towards Konoha of course. I'll bring them with me." Lee finally closed his mouth and just nodded.

"I request an explanation of this when you return. I am… confused." Lee nodded to Jiraiya and then left as requested.

"Hinata… you too. I'll bring Naruto, ok?" Hinata didn't move an inch. She kept watching over her Naruto. 'She needs to snap out of this quick or this won't end well. These bandits are starting to stir a little and I can't interfere. Damn you Tsunade…' He approached again, this time when Amane growled, the older ninja met Amane's eyes, and Amane was the one that backed down… grudgingly. He grabbed Hinata's shoulder and she remembered that the world was a little bigger than just Naruto and herself. "Hinata, get moving… now. If they wake up I'm not allowed to interfere. I will bring Naruto with us, but we need to get out of here. Hinata nodded and picked up Amane (surprisingly Hinata wasn't even growled at when it happened). Jiraiya picked up his last student and they quickly met Lee at the camp entrance.

A few miles down the road, the team regrouped. Lee looked questioningly at Jiraiya but frowned when a shake of the head was all the answer he got. He grumbled at Jiraiya, but an unquestionable glare from the elder quieted him quickly and they began their journey back.

After several hours of hiking, night had begun to fall. Lee looked questioningly at Jiraiya again, but again only recieved a shake of his teacher's head. Nobody had said a word. Hinata had carried the uninjured fox to keep it from growling and her arms were aching from holding it for hours. But she wasn't going to complain. Her thoughts were elsewhere.

She looked sideways at Naruto with a concerned look. She thought she managed to avoid attention, but not much slips past the legendary ninja. He took them off the road and they shortly arrived to a small river. Jiraiya finally allowed them to break the silence.

"Alright you two, get a fire started. Lee get the wood. Hinata, your job is to keep that fox content and quiet. I'll be right back." He tossed the child that was on his shoulder half-hazardly against a tree. Somehow Naruto ended up as if he had just decided to lay against it. He saw Hinata start to move to his side. "NO! you should stay away from him until he wakes up. I suggest about 10 feet or so should do it." He left without even seeing her as she backed away, feeling her heated glare on his back.

Lee got the wood easily and twitched uncomfortably in the awkward silence as Hinata started the fire with a rather low level fire technique. Hinata just looked at her boyfriend, while Lee looked curiously at the fox, then Naruto, and back and forth again. Lee was determined to break the silence. He didn't understand what happened! 'We were doing fine. Hinata got swamped with people because Naruto and I didn't pay close enough attention. Naruto started to... the pure hatred... how can anyone have that much hate... especially during our joyful youth? He was going to do worse than kill that guy. That's not Naruto! And then Amane TALKED! All I wanted was a simple answer. Okay, more likely a complicated answer, and nobody will tell me anything. I will find out! I MUST find out! or I will... I will... I will spar with Gai until my arms are too heavy to even punch!' He looked at Hinata and started to open his mouth when sticks with fish skewered on them stuck into the dirt in front of him, holding the fish to cook near the fire.

Jiraiya grinned to himself. "There... now to see how much control he's regained..." Jiraiya frowned and looked at Hinata. "I said ten feet, Hinata." She glared angrily at him but relented the last two feet she had tried to save to be closer to her Naruto. The old pervert then did something that neither of his two pupils expected. He raised his hand that had some water cupped in it. "Water Stream Technique." The drops of water seemed to multiply in his hand and shoot forward, streaming straight into Naruto's face. Hinata and Lee just watched with their mouths gaping open.

"He's been hurt! You already knocked him out! Why are you--" Hinata became speechless as Naruto growled loudly and launched himself nine and a half feet with his hand outstretched in a piercing clutch where a man's heart would have been if he had still been in the bandit camp. "Na... Naruto..." She dropped her precious bundle (aka Amane) and stood there for a second. She went forward to hug him... to let him know that everything was going to be okay... that she was fine and nothing happened to her... until Jiraiya intervened.

The old hermit took one step forward and punched Naruto in the chest, sending him flying back against the tree again, and bouncing off to the ground below. The genins were confused. They were speechless. They couldn't believe what they saw happening in front of them. They were powerless to stop it.

Naruto clutched his chest and began breathing hard as he regained control of himself as Jiraiya approached him as reproachfully as he could. Amane scrambled across the ground and climbed onto Naruto's chest. He shook his head as Amane's furry face began getting more and more focused again. "Amane??" He looked around and saw a VERY unhappy Jiraiya looking down at him from behind Amane. "Uh-oh..." He looked beyond Jiraiya and saw Lee gaping at him, and Hinata looking at him worriedly. "awww crap." He closed his eyes and let his head fall back down against the forest floor.

"Oh no you don't. You can put them off until tomorrow, but you aren't getting away with this tonight." He picked Naruto up by the front of his Jacket, causing Amane to slide off his chest and tumble to the ground. He turned Naruto around and they headed out of eavesdropping distance, despite the blonde's noisy refusals and demands of being put down.

a couple dozen yards later

"What were you thinking? You see how much trouble you caused?" He saw naruto starting to boil. 'That's a good sign. That's when he listens the best.' "First of all, why do you think we were supposed to make this mission last well into tomorrow? I'll give you a hint. It doesn't involve you getting knocked unconscious and me having to wake your sorry ass up!"

Naruto growled at him. "You're the friggin 'expert' ya pervert! You tell me!" Naruto saw the pervert's eyes harden unusually.

"I'm here to babysit you in case something unusual happens that is outside of the mission's parameters! Don't you get it? I'm not allowed to interfere! You really thought that miserable excuse of a plan was going to work?" Jiraiya looked away for a second then turned to face Naruto again. "I'm not going to spoon feed you. The mission was a success, but as far as you showing that you're ready... you failed."'I know how much you hate that word Naruto... show me how strong you are. Remember this next mission. Please don't make me say this kind of speech to you again.'

Naruto's eye grew a little colder at the word 'failed'. 'Old pervert... I'll show you...' "I'll show you! YOU'LL see! I'll become the greatest! I'll force them all to recognize my existance. They'll all see how great I am.. just like Hinata." The further through his rant he went, the quieter he got. When he got to the part about Hinata, it was barely a whisper. He looked through the trees at Hinata. He looked back at Jiraiya and smiled. "We done here pervert?" Jiraiya winced a little but refrained from hitting him.

"Amane talked... Lee heard him clearly. You'll have to tell him eventually you know." He looked at Naruto out the corner of his eye as the child passed him.

"One day at a time. I'll... I'll take care of it." 'He can be afraid of me or whatever just like everyone else. It won't matter anymore... because' He stared at Hinata and smiled to himself. 'because i've found my light. And I'll never be alone again.' He sat down and helped himself to one of the cooked fish, sitting beside Hinata and making small talk as if nothing had happened. When Lee tried to bring it up, he would steer the conversation away with interrupting him by asking about Gai's training methods. The night passed, and the morning greeted them with Amane gnawing on Naruto's arm (his latest way of demanding to be petted). They packed up, made their camp nonexistant, and headed back home.