A/N
There is no Author's Note, thank you, that will be all.
Chapter 36: Recon Mission Recon
Hinata
Sleep was warm and welcomed, dreams of a certain individual waiting to consume me, surrounding me with their comforting depictions. I was tired, and very ready for the sleep to take me, dressed in nothing but a nightgown, the comforter on my bed pulled up to my waist. Sleep, however, was something that I didn't get to enjoy, as a knock my door indicated. I opened my eyes, blearily wiping them with the back of my hand. I moved to the closed door, turning the handle. My eyes, still hazy and fogged over, registered Naruto silhouetted against the yellow light of the hallway. He was smiling, and he held something in his hand.
Normally, I would have fainted had Naruto come to my room alone, at... half an hour past midnight. But, however, he wasn't alone. I had to suppress a chuckle, as my eyes drifted up to my father, who's hand was clamped securely on Naruto's shoulder, a stern expression on his face. Naruto was... coming to see me, in the middle of the night.... The thought finally sunk in, and it's many meanings scrolled through my head, several of which causing my the pinkness in my cheeks to swell to a furious crimson. Still, why was he awake? Was it really just to see me? And, and, I started to come up with more details, but Naruto's not-at-all-sleepy voice sliced through my thoughts.
"Hinata-chan, Tsunade has a mission for us," He said, his eyes a little concerned.
"At this hour?" I asked, flopping back onto my bed.
"Yeah, it's top secret, says her and Danzo," He explained, and I sat up.
My father stiffened, looking at Naruto with a look of disbelief and shock.
"What does Danzo have to do with all of this? And you didn't tell me it was top secret," He asked, releasing his grip on the boy's shoulder.
Naruto shrugged, waving the object he held, which I could now distinguish as an envelope, stamped with the words "Top Secret,".
"Well," My father frowned, turning, "I had better leave you two to discuss this, but I'll be back in five minutes,"
My blush redoubled it's efforts to consume my face, much to my dismay, succeeding. Naruto sat down on the edge of my bed, putting his hand on mine. My father shook his head, and closed the door as he left. Naruto smiled at me, kissing me lightly on the nose. I giggled, lying back on my bed. Naruto heaved a fake sigh, and duplicated the gesture, and I turned my head to look at him. He grinned wider, and then cringed.
"Hinata," He began, "There's been an assassination attempt on Tsunade,"
My eyes widened, and I looked at the envelope in his hands. He shook his head, obviously sensing what I feared.
"No," He replied, "Attempted, not succeeded,"
At this, my heart weighed a little less heavily in my chest. I breathed out, looking up at my ceiling.
"But, Hinata, remember the ninja, that kidnapped you?" He asked, looking at the side of my head.
"Yeah, I remember," I muttered, the smile slowly slipping from my lips.
"It was by similar, or the same ninja," He revealed, and I pushed myself off the bed, looking him in the eyes.
"Really? They tried to kill her?" I asked, astounded.
The blond nodded, sitting up. He explained as much as he knew, then explained the mission. Well, I thought, at least it wasn't too dangerous. Only delivering a message, how hard could it be?
"Yeah, and now we've got to catch up with them," He groaned, standing up.
I stood up as well, and he reached for the door. When he reached it, he turned and looked at me, cocking his head slightly.
"You need to get ready, so meet Sakura and I at the gates of Konoha in less that fifteen minutes," He said, and I nodded.
"I'll see you there, Hinata-chan," Naruto said, leaving my room.
Quickly, as if to distract myself from the midnight visit of the boy, dressed and geared up, filling my pockets with shuriken. My father, even ten minutes later, did not show up at my room. I left the house, aware that I probably should have informed my dad, but wiping the thought from my mind. More important things, such as the almost death of the Hokage, were foremost in my thoughts. The night was now cold, not cool as it had been when Naruto and I had taken our little walk along the river, but bitingly cold. I pulled my beige hoodie around me. My breath fogged out before my face, a billowing cloud of condensing vapor, and shivering ensued. I was glad that the gates weren't too far off, or I would have been in a fix.
I was wearing my hoodie, the one I had when I was small, and the black sweatpants, comfortable, warm, and nonrestrictive while fighting. I ran to the large gaits, where I saw two figures already waiting for me. I approached them at a speed, panting, gasping in the frigid air. Naruto smiled, putting a warm hand on my back, helping me to catch my breath. Sakura, now holding the envelope, and warmly dressed in pink and black, rolled her eyes. She slipped the information packet into her pocket, turning, and our small group ran into the mid-November forest.
The trees and terrain flew past, the night drawing close around the three of us like a frozen blanket. The weather turned gray, the black, deep sky, it's shining stars and the silver moon, was slowly, itself blanketed, covered with dark clouds. Instead of rain, rain and thunder, white flakes of freezing snow drifted down from the heavens. I looked over at Naruto, bravely dressed in a black tee shirt, and his now trademark orange pants. His black and orange jacket was wrapped carelessly around his waist. He seemed to be cold, but never showed any discomfort. We traveled speedily through the tree's middle branches, covering as much ground as we could, trying to find the recon group.
After maybe two hours, we reached the, now snow covered, expanse of burnt, knocked over trees. Footsteps were visible in the thin layer of white, and our progression was directed to their path. Naruto and Sakura called out, yelling the names of the members included in the reconnaissance mission.
"Kakashi? Lee? Neji?" Naruto called out, Sakura's voice joining the chorus.
"Temari? Shikamaru?"
I shivered, yelling out the other names.
"Gai? Asuma?" I asked, and stopped, as a crack, and a smattering of noise sounded from far off, across the 'clearing'.
We ran, jumping over the fallen, charred trees. We dashed through the half mile clearing, the edge of which was briefly lit with periodic flashes of light. Our small group drew near to what we now saw to be a fight. Another flash of light rent the darkness for a few seconds, and I saw several figures, locked in combat.
"Kakashi!?" Naruto yelled, charging into the fight.
Sakura turned to look at him, yelling as she went.
"Naruto, don't!" She called, but to her, and my own, dismay, he payed no heed.
Naruto pulled to kunai from his pocket, and leapt into the fray. Sakura sighed in exasperation, and followed. I was right behind her, and now I could see the faces of some of the combatants. Kakashi, grim and masked, was dueling three ninja, black clad, same as the ones that had attacked us previously. Rock Lee and Gai were back to back, fending off another five. Naruto jumped onto the back of one of Kakashi's enemies. I activated my Byakugan, and ran over to Neji. He looked up, dodging a blow from one of two ninja.
"Hinata? What are-" He started, cutting himself off with a grunt as he flipped over a shuriken.
"Here to bring information, but I guess that can wait," I replied, striking one ninja in at least seventeen chakra points.
We circled, slowly backing up, so that we were facing away from each other. Two more assaulted us, but we fended them off with several jabs and palm strikes. Neji struck one, slamming him into the trees across the way. I turned, in the heat of the moment, not even seeing the four ninja grab Naruto, before bounding away. I closed my eyes briefly, feeling the attack coming. Three shuriken sliced past my head, each one I caught, all without looking. I threw the weapons back, and snapped my eyes open. Several Gentle Fist strikes sent the ninja reeling.
Suddenly, almost no ninja remained. There had been at least forty, but now there were no more than seven. Kakashi looked around, as the last ninjas groaned and twitched on the ground. I moved away from Neji, over to the others.
"Where'd they- NARUTO!!" Kakashi yelled, looking frantically for the blond haired boy.
With no success, his eyes, his Sharingan was active, scanning the trees in a desperate attempt to locate him. His gaze lighted on a black figure, moving quickly away from the battlefield. He leaped away, followed hastily by the others. I realized what exactly had happened, and screamed his name.
"NARUTO!" I yelled, tears slipping from my eyes.
There was no way on earth he could take on those thirty or so ninja, so he was either a prisoner, or, or worse. I ignored the concerned looks that the others were giving me, refusing to acknowledge the later possibility. Naruto wasn't dead, he couldn't be. I repeated those words in my head, clenching my eyes shut.
"Hinata, don't worry, we'll find him," Sakura comforted, pulling up beside me.
I blinked the tears from my eyes, looking ahead. I nodded, focusing my eyes on the fast receding figure of what we took to be a ninja. My legs groaned with pain, throbbing from overuse as I pushed them into a faster run. The others, Temari, Shikamaru, Kakashi looked at me, grief and apology dancing in their eyes.
"Naruto, don't you die, don't die," I whispered to myself, hitting top speed.
The night flew past in a blur of tears, pain, and trees. I paid no heed when I stumbled, continuing on at a breakneck pace. The others, even though I didn't notice, were hard pressed to keep up with me. I had no idea what I would do when I caught up with Naruto's captures, but I knew that I would do something. It had all happened so fast, so very fast.
"This time, this time, I'll save you,"
A/N
The reviewy thingy's fixed, and now I know what Dono means. Dono is a somewhat formal title, between San and Sama in formality, it's meaning being derived as Lord, Master, Leader, or other synonyms of that sort. Anywho, yay 13k views, yay. Cookies for everyone, and no, Naruto isn't dead.
~Matthew~