Hey guys, here's chapter thirty seven, please read, enjoy and review.

The two got up close and personal with the female masked Shinobi, Kiba was first to attack though. He started it out with a right hook, which she dodged easily, then right after that came Shino with a left hook, which she managed to dodge as well. The two then jumped several feet away from her, "Shino, Leave this to me and Akamaru, we'll get done in a flash!"

Shino nodded after a second of silence, but Hinata knew Shino wouldn't just stay out of the fight. Before Kiba could do anything Akamaru, by his side gave a big bark. "Huh? Yeah I know boy, these two Shinobi smell familiar, but I can't place their scent."

Akamaru barked again, Kiba put one of his hands on Akamaru, "Man beast clone!"

A flash of smoke and there were two Kiba's instead of one, but the second one had slightly more feral features. The slightly less feral looking Kiba put his hands together and performed a hand sign, "Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu!"

Hinata remember this technique, she went over the description in her mind, "This technique grants animal-like accelerated fighting instinct and reflexes to the user. By enveloping their entire body in chakra and moving on all fours, they can obtain high speed movement and reflexes like that of a wild animal."

This was the description she was given of the move by Kiba's mother, and she added to it with her own deduction of the technique. She also remembered the hit run strategy Kiba had with this technique, he had used it on Naruto in the Chunin exams. Hinata though to herself, "It failed then Kiba, and it's going to fail now."

Kiba got down on all fours and chakra began to become visible around his body, his eyes became slitted like an animals, his finger nails grew and sharpened into wolf like claws and his chakra became slightly feral. The two Kiba's then spoke, "Ok let's go!"

The two Kiba's then charged forward toward the masked Shinobi, as they got closer she took a step back and put her arms up. The first Kiba, went around her and pounced at her from behind, while the second Kiba pounced towards her head on. At the last second, just as the two Kiba's were going to tackle her, she jumped to the side, her level of speed being shown to be greater than Kiba's. The two Kiba's were too close to each other to change direction, so they slammed into each other and fell onto the ground.

The female masked Shinobi landed on the ground gracefully, the way she landed, Shino recognized it a little. The two Kiba's quickly got back up, the first one quickly spoke, "Ok before it gets out of hand, let's finish this!"

The two Kiba's then began charging forward, after several seconds they twisted around, at began spinning at an extreme speed, turning into two tornado's. Hinata could hear Kiba shout as he and Akamaru, in tornado form, came hurtling towards her, "Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!"

As the two came at her, the masked Shinobi quickly jumped away from her location, and landed several feet away. Kiba and Akamaru were so close to her original location, that they couldn't change course, and even if they wanted too, while they used this technique, they couldn't see so if they changed course they probably would have missed anyway. The two stopped spinning and landed on their feet, kicking up some dust in the process. Akamaru still held the appearance of Kiba, and thanks to the mask Hinata was wearing, she couldn't use her Byakugan, so she couldn't tell them apart.

At least not with her eyes, the two weren't done yet, they began charging forward and spinning again, until they were both spinning cyclones once again. "Fang over Fang!"

Shino watched intently as the masked Shinobi stared at Kiba and Akamaru, because she was so focused on them, she didn't see his bugs creeping up behind her. They were right behind her feet, Shino then whispered, "Now, Hidden Jutsu: Beetle Sphere."

The bugs quickly surrounded the masked Shinobi, and quickly covered her. Kiba and Akamaru quickly changed trajectory, and landed on their feet, they looked on as the masked Shinobi was swarmed by the bugs. The chakra eating beetles smothered her for several seconds, until Shino heard a voice right behind him, "Nice try."

Shino quickly turned around, and the masked Shinobi delivered an open palm strike to his chest, knocking him several feet away, and rolling from the force of hitting the ground. The two Kiba's quickly rushed to Shino's side to check if he was ok, the second one disappeared in a puff of smoke and Akamaru was back to his original form. Shino then looked over at the masked Shinobi that was supposed to be covered in chakra eating bugs, it was just a clone, but he didn't understand when she had time to create one. Then he remembered, when Kiba and Akamaru missed with the Fang over Fang technique, they had kicked up some dust, which left the masked Shinobi hidden for a couple of seconds, that was when she had created the clone.

As Kiba and Akamaru checked if Shino was alright, the masked Shinobi approached them. She stopped several feet away from them and spoke, "You two can't land a sneak attack on me, you won't be able to hit me at all, so you can't win. Because I know each and every one of your moves and tricks."

Kiba and Shino were taken back by this statement, Kiba gritted his teeth and spoke, "If that's true, then how? How do you know everything we're going to do?"

"Hmph. By experience."

Before any of the three or four counting Akamaru, could speak they heard Choji's voice, "We did it!"

Hinata, Shino, Akamaru, and Kiba all turned their attention towards Choji, Ino and Shikamaru. Asuma and Kurenai had been watching both fights, and when they saw Shikamaru, Choji and Ino capture one of the two masked Shinobi, they watched as the three conversed afterward.

Shikamaru nodded his head, the masked Shinobi looked dead at Shikamaru and Choji, and Ino began to speak, using his voice, "Before we do that, let's see who this guy is."

Choji quickly gave his approval, "Yeah and then let's get back to the village for some barbeque!"

Shikamaru shrugged, and said, "Fine, but let's make it quick."

Ino made the masked Shinobi nod his head, she gave a slightly sinister laugh and then made his hand reach up for his mask, he grabbed it tight and was about to pull it off. Hinata wasn't worried, Naruto had it under control, she knew he did. Just as Ino was going to make the masked Shinobi pull off his mask, she froze. Inside Naruto's head, "Hey, what the hell?"

"Get the fuck out!"

The masked Shinobi's body went limp once again, and Ino's body quickly unstiffened. The masked Shinobi looked up at Shikamaru and Choji, Ino managed to get to her feet and quickly walked over to Choji and Shikamaru. All three of them were freaked out that Naruto had broken out of the mind transfer jutsu, Ino had just enough chakra to make it hold a Jonin. The masked Shinobi then spoke, "If you want to see my face that bad, then I'll show it to you."

The masked Shinobi grabbed his mask and pulled it off, revealing his face, everyone could easily recognize him, it was Naruto. Everyone had looks of shock plastered to their faces, all of them had separate thoughts on the fact, Shikamaru thought, "Naruto? He's one of the masked Shinobi? Where has he been all this time? And how'd he get so strong?"

Ino thought, "Impossible! Naruto was an idiot, he wasn't a cunning bad-ass like this guy is! And he wasn't as good looking either, he was bratty and immature! How the hell is this Naruto?"

Choji thought, "Naruto? Is it really Naruto?"

Kiba couldn't help but think, "What the hell is going on here? Naruto?"

Shino thought, "Naruto's one of the masked Shinobi? Then does that mean...?"

Asuma was so surprised by this and Naruto's apparent strength, his cigarette fell right out of his mouth and landed on the grass below him. Kurenai couldn't help but think, "Naruto? The masked Shinobi that was supposed to be of Jonin level skill is Naruto? Wait if Naruto's here then, does he know where Hinata is? Was she able to find him after all?"

Kurenai then glanced down, to see Asuma's cigarette on the ground, she thought, "Asuma you idiot, your going to start a forest fire!"

Kurenai quickly and unnoticeably stomped on the cigarette several times, effectively putting it out before the grass could catch fire. After several seconds of long silence, Shikamaru spoke, "Naruto, what happened to you? If the reports are accurate, you've been all over the place, what's going on, really?"

"What's going on is that I've been helping people that need me, collecting supply's and I've been training. But I'm pretty sure you could already tell I've been doing that."

Naruto gave a cocky smirk after he said this, Shikamaru spoke once again, "No, what's your long term goal? Naruto, what are you after?"

"What am I after? Shikamaru, to put it bluntly...I'm going to finish the mission that I failed two years ago. I'll bring Sasuke back, I swore that I would, and now that I can never become Hokage, that is my one and only dream. And unlike my previous one, I'm going to make this dream a reality."

Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji knew very well what Naruto was talking about, their team had failed to complete the mission. And the three knew that it had struck a big blow against Naruto, but they didn't expect this. Naruto then continued, "I will destroy Orochimaru and bring Sasuke back to the Leaf, but know that it's not for Sakura, it's not for anyone, I'm bringing Sasuke back to Konoha because he's my friend, and these days it's hard to find real ones, especially ones that understand your pain."

Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba knew what Naruto was talking about, they had actually seen the way Naruto was treated when he was younger. Though most of the time, especially Choji and Shikamaru, they were never apart of it. In fact, Shikamaru and Choji never messed with Naruto like the others did. And Kiba didn't do it as much as the others did. After several seconds of silence, Kurenai took a step forward to get Naruto's attention, and spoke, "Naruto, where is Hinata? After you left the village she came after you, did you ever see her?"

"Kurenai, yeah I've seen her. It was really heartwarming that someone came after me, after all no one else did. And when we did meet up, she had some interesting things to tell me, like that she loved me."

Kurenai was taken back by this statement, she had never expected Hinata to confess to Naruto. Naruto could easily see the shock on Kurenai's face, he looked over to Kiba and Shino, and they too, both had a look of shock on their faces. Although, thanks to Shino's high coat and glasses, his shocked expression was barely noticeable. Naruto spoke once again, "Yeah it really touched me, if it wasn't for Hinata I don't know where I would be today, I truly don't. And to tell the truth, I love her too, although she already know's this."

Kiba, Shino and Kurenai were taken back again by Naruto's statement, after several seconds of long silence, Kurenai spoke once again, "Naruto where is Hinata?"

Naruto's cocky grin, changed slightly, no one could notice it but Hinata, his grin had changed from a cocky one, to a mischievous one. "Oh, she's closer than you think."