So, College rules, life is great, this is the latest in sucker-punch updates, yadda-yadda-yadda, cake, ice cream, and munchies.
And again with the storys!
Chapter 38 – Realization
Naruto awoke groggily at the crack of dawn, only vaguely aware of the current situation.
That is, until it came crashing down upon his consciousness like a 71-ton anvil. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. His team had been tacked on this caravan for the sole purpose of guarding it, and they had been attacked, resulting in numerous casualties.
The only plus is that no one from Konoha was seriously hurt; thank Kami-sama for Ino and Sakura-chan, he thought as he stretched himself out for the day. Emerging from his tent, he found himself facing a familiar back and a wondrous smell, which he recognized as fried bread.
"Hinata-chan, if that breakfast is for me, you really are an angel descended from…" Naruto began, but stopped as she turned around and met his gaze. Slowly and deliberately, with the most teasing look he had ever seen in her eyes, Hinata held the piece of fried dough that all ninja partook of on the job (as it was fortified with nutrients and vitamins that made even Shikamaru's brain ache to think of all of them) she had wrapped in a cloth up in front her as if presenting it to Naruto. He began to lick his lips hungrily when the bread began to float away.
"No…" he whispered in despair as Hinata, never breaking eye contact with him, brought it closer to her mouth, which began to widen.
She bit into it, now closing her eyes and humming sensually as she made sure that Naruto knew that her tongue was gently tasting every bit of the tasty staple.
To his credit, the Hokage-to-be lasted longer than Hinata had anticipated, but his ensuing reaction was a bit beyond her preparation.
Naruto yelled something that a cow might emit while having its rear wailed on with a rubber mallet and tackled Hinata. Not even considering her blush at the rather naughty mount he had placed on her, Naruto leapt to his feet and, with a disturbingly sincere moan of pleasure, stuffed the remainder of the bread in his mouth, closing his eyes with bliss.
"Ano… maybe I shouldn't have done that…" Hinata mumbled, still in shock from her "good-morning hug."
When Naruto finished, it was as if he had come out of a trance. "Ohayo, Hinata-chan! Why are you sitting on the floor?" Naruto asked, extending a hand to help his girlfriend up.
Hinata decided that if Naruto was going to ignore what had just happened, she would too, also deciding that for now they were even. She accepted his helping hand, only mildly (but pleasantly) surprised when he pulled her in for a quick kiss.
"Did you sleep alright?" he asked sincerely. Hinata checked his eyes, noticing that the silver pupil of his now-activated Shirugan had become slightly slitted, and wondered when that had happened. Filing it into the back of her head, she shrugged.
"Well enough, I suppose." She looked him squarely in the eye. "How are you feeling about all this?" she asked him bluntly.
Darting back and forth, the blonde's Shirugan finally settled back on Hinata's pearl eyes. "I feel like I've failed the mission even though the vast majority of the caravan survived," he said after a while. "We were hired to guard this caravan because we're supposedly the strongest team in Konoha, but I can't help but feel defeated…" he trailed off.
Hinata placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "And…why? We won, didn't we?" she asked.
Naruto sighed. "It's just… Ero-sennin… Jiraiya trained me to be a warrior-shinobi; if anything, I'm actually an assassin because of my stealth, but still. I just feel like I should be suited to handle situations like this, and yet so many died!" he exclaimed. "You know what I feel like, Hinata-chan? I feel like I'm not focusing enough on what makes me the shinobi I am. I think… I think I need to refocus my training. I've been trying to do it all, long-range, mid-range, and short-range, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and the Shirugan isn't helping. As the Hokage I'm gonna have to be able to defend the village swiftly and ruthlessly without hesitation, and I can't be sitting behind my desk wondering which jutsu I should use!"
He took a deep breath, but before he could continue Hinata had kissed him. He blinked, and Hinata closed in for the kill.
"Naruto-kun, you're right, but you don't need to beat yourself up over it, nor should you forget all the jutsu you learned from Jiraiya. Do you want my opinion?" she asked, and to her surprise he nodded mutely. Boldened, she continued. "Before you left with Jiraiya you were the worst genin in our class when it came to chakra control, but you do things with that demonic chakra that now naturally courses through your veins that even Neji, Sakura, and I find extremely difficult; yet, you do it at a moment's notice without even thinking. You've turned your weakness into your greatest strength, so run with it!" she finished.
Naruto stared at her, and then pulled her into a hug. "Thanks, Hinata-chan. You really… you're really something amazing, and I'm… thanks."
Hinata grinned. "It's not a problem. Now let's help Shikamaru-kun before he kills Haku."
Soon, they had arrived at the remnants of Grass, which to their shock were not that horrible.
"With your help, we should be finished with repairs in a few weeks," the jounin-oyabun from Grass said to Shikamaru optimistically. For once, Shikamaru did not reply with sarcasm, pleased that the village was overlooked by Akatsuki when Konoha loomed in the horizon.
Shikamaru turned to Naruto's group. Sasuke and Sakura were whispering quietly, Haku looked bored, Kira looked like she wanted to go home, and Hinata stood beside Naruto quietly with a strangely accepting smile on her pale visage.
"Take care of home, Naruto," Shikamaru said as they clasped forearms. Naruto nodded, then grinned and moved to whisper in Shikamaru's ear.
"Maybe you can Chouji to confess to Ino; he sure looks pretty good these days," Naruto said evilly. Shikamaru, despite himself, nodded.
Might be fun, he reasoned, eyeing his two teammates who were trying to get Shino to say more than two words in a row.
Goodbyes were exchanged, and supplies were given to Naruto's team so they wouldn't have to forage for food on the way back to Konoha.
"So I guess that's it then; don't you think that was a little anticlimactic?" Kira asked Naruto as they began to leap through the trees back to Konoha. Not being waylaid the caravan made the trip a lot quicker; Naruto estimated they would reach Konoha by tomorrow evening.
Naruto shrugged. "We were attacked by the leader of Akatsuki's old village. Frankly, the minute that happened I ceased to give a crap about the caravan, because if someone out there is trying to mess with the whole freakin' world again…." He left his sentence unfinished. "Anyways, for right now we should be focusing on how our team will operate in the future, because we have the potential to take a wide variety of A and S-class missions thanks to our wide variety of skills. But we need to keep our skills meshing and improve our teamwork," Naruto said as he led the team back to Konoha.
Kira's face became downcast as she heard Naruto's words. It'd be fun to stay with Naruto-kun, Haku-kun, and the others, but… I kind of miss Iwagakure… she thought sadly, torn between her friends and her beloved home. Tsuchikage-sama will need me once the alliance with Konoha is settled, I just know it!
Haku noticed that Kira looked far from happy. "Cheer up, Kira-chan!" he shouted, black ponytail flapping in the wake of his travel. "You'll improve, I just know it!" he added cheekily.
Kira giggled at Haku's misinterpretation of the source of her pain, but was relieved anyways. He's right, in a way. I should focus on the present and what I have right now.
However, it was as if Haku's remedy was only temporary, and Kira's concerns were back in force a few moments later; that is, until they decided to set up camp for the night and Hinata began to cook dinner with what supplies they had.
"Oh!" Haku exclaimed suddenly when the heavenly smell wafted into his nose and said, "Hello!" "That smell! Hinata, what is that!" he asked excitedly.
"This is food," Hinata said dryly, indicating the cast-iron bowl with mocking flair. Then she stood up. "And there's no sense in hiding it! I am a master chef!" she said commandingly, thrusting a cooking ladle-filled fist into the air.
Everyone stared. A laugh erupted from Sakura, who reacted by eating her fist, after which only muffled grunts and hiccups could be heard. Sasuke, true to form, cracked not even a grin, but Naruto, who knew the Sharingan user well, could almost hear the laughter that wracked the Uchiha's brain, and was not surprised when the corners of his mouth began to twitch.
Getting up, Naruto walked over to Hinata and placed a hand on her fist, which was still pumped into the air. "Hinata-chan, the food…" he said, as if reminding a child to use the bathroom next time, and the Hyuuga jumped, kneeling down to stir the pot, a faint red tinge gracing her cheeks, which Naruto thought was cute.
Finally, the stew was ready, and they all sat down. About halfway through the meal, Sasuke broke the silence.
"Hinata… this food," he said haltingly. Hinata smiled sweetly at him.
"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" she prompted. He gulped.
"It's… it's really, really good…" he said, as if choking on a tomato, then buried his nose in his stew, eating furiously.
"There, there, now that wasn't so hard, was it? I'll bet it felt kind of good!" Sakura said soothingly as she patted Sasuke's back. A muffled sob erupted from Sasuke's face, but as it was buried in the bowl it emerged as a bubble of broth, which popped, flinging a surprisingly large amount of tasty broth at Sakura.
Her teammates watched in horror as her left eye began to flutter. Naruto inched backward involuntarily, remembering what this signaled – a thrashing, and he thanked Kami-sama that it wasn't him this time, and would be for once Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said sweetly. Sasuke pulled his head away from his stew to look at Sakura.
But his vision was obscured, and with a sound SPLAT (pun intended), Sakura's bowl of stew had covered Sasuke's face and began to merrily drip all over his navy-blue garb.
Sasuke blinked slowly, and then extended a finger for them all to see. They all stared at it as Sasuke then brought it to the stew dripping from his nose and dipped it in. He stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked it. Nodding, he scooped some more broth from his head and extended the dripping hand to Naruto, who had finished his stew.
"Want some more stew, Naruto?" Sasuke said with the dignity of a British butler.
His friends lost it, and the campfire erupted with laughter….
Thanks to the restored camaraderie of the team, it didn't seem to take long at all until Konoha's massive new gate loomed in the horizon. It didn't seem tedious at all to Naruto when they delivered their mission report, and nor were they nervous when Tsunade steeped her hands and regarded them critically after they related the attack on their caravan. Finally:
"I can't say that I'm disappointed, but frankly I'm surprised you suffered so many casualties," Tsunade said. Naruto nodded.
"I was worried too. Frankly, Tsunade-sama, I was concerned as to whether my teammates and I were slacking off, but the attacking numbers were too great. Perhaps I could've summoned more kage bushin earlier… we'll never know, and frankly what is most important is learning from this hitch in an otherwise successful mission." Naruto inhaled after his little speech, unaware of the stares of awe that focused on the blonde and usually loud jounin.
Tsunade grinned. "Half of me wants to check and see if that's really you, Naruto," she said mockingly. Naruto grinned.
"Only half? That makes me want to check and see if you're really the baa-chan, but the Shirugan sees that it is your usual grumpy and slightly intoxicated self, so…" he ducked the hurled projectile and continued to grin cheekily. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief that Naruto was still Naruto.
"Baka… but that's beside the point. For right now I want you to forget about that mission," Tsunade began, but she was interrupted.
"Tsunade-sama, how can you say that?" Sakura blurted out. "Some shinobi come out of no-where, attack and kill regardless of ninja or civilian status, and you want us to forget about it?" she asked in disbelief.
Tsunade stared at her former apprentice until she looked away. "Yes, I do, Sakura. And they didn't, 'come out of no-where' as you put it. We know what village they're from… what I'm worried about is what they're after."
"Pain said that he had killed Hanzou, before I killed him… does that help at all" Naruto supplied hopefully. Yet after the words left his mouth, Tsunade went pale.
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she exclaimed. Naruto almost went as white as his Hokage, shuddering at the implication: something in this world gave the last Legendary Sannin fear, something that Naruto should probably also be fearing.
"What are trying to get at, baa-chan?" Naruto asked gently, trying to keep the situation from getting hysterical. Tsunade shook her head.
"You have no idea who Hanzou the Salamander is?" Tsunade asked Naruto in disbelief. Sakura would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire.
"Why would I know about some lizard? Besides, he's dead, right?" Naruto asked. Despite his heightened maturity, it seemed that one thing Jiraiya missed during those long three years was a filler for his lack of an Academy education, despite his graduation.
"Naruto, Hanzou was the most powerful ninja in the world. It was in a battle against him that the Three Sannin of Konoha were born. Orochimaru, Jiraiya and I were fighting against the forces of Amegakure, who had allied with Iwa in the last Great Shinobi War."
Kira bowed her head. Tsunade saw this in her peripheral and filed that away for later, otherwise ignoring it. "We had managed to kill of all of the enemy shinobi except their leader. He, like most of the Ame-nin, wore a breathing mask, but this one was huge and covered his entire face. We could never see his face, except for red eyes. We fought him, but he was strong… too strong. Stronger than any shinobi alive. To put this situation in perspective, Naruto, he could probably kill you if he really wanted to."
Naruto gulped. "What do you mean by, 'really wanted to?'" Hinata asked with no small amount of trepidation.
Tsunade sighed. "Jiraiya wanted to keep fighting, but Orochimaru and I knew we were beaten. But for some reason, Hanzou didn't finish us off. Instead, he complimented our strength and demanded that we live on as the Legendary Sannin of Konoha. Then he just… left," she finished somewhay anticlimactically. She groaned and rummaged aimlessly for a bottle of sake while massaging her skull with her free hand. "If Jiraiya were alive I'd send him to Amegakure to gather some intel, but he would have been the only one to get in there and out alive, if anyone was capable."
Thoughts began to whirl inside Naruto's head, too quickly for him to act on them at the moment. Sasuke unknowingly stalled for time that none of the ninja in the room thought they needed.
"So what are you orders, Hokage-sama?" he asked politely, albeit bluntly. Tsunade took a swig of the newfound rice wine and swirled it thoughtfully around in her mouth for a bit. Then:
"Go home. Then, for the next few weeks, train to the brink of death until I call for you otherwise. I'll write up a sanction for the use of the "Forest of Death" for your team; live there until you get bored or something," she said, turning around in her chair to face the skyline of Konoha. "You are dismissed."
The team of extraordinary shinobi and kunoichi bowed and turned to leave. Naruto remained.
"Naruto-kun?" Kira asked when she noticed that their loud leader wasn't with them.
He smiled brightly. "Don't worry about me, there was something I wanted to ask baa-chan real quick!"
Kira shook her head. "It's not that; you're the only one who can get into our house." Naruto's face fell, and he fished around in his weapon's pouch until he found and pulled forth five seals.
"Memorize this kanji, then destroy it. It's the unlocking seal for the doors and windows, you can only open them from the outside by writing it on the door," Naruto said as he handed the papers to Kira.
"When did you have time to do this?" Kira asked in wonder. Naruto grinned, and Kira almost knew what he was going to say before he did.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu."
After everyone had gone, and it was just Naruto and the Hokage, he cleared his throat.
But before he could begin, Tsunade cut him off.
"Absolutely not."
Naruto got mad. "Dammit Tsunade, you and I both know I can do this. You know what Jiraiya taught me, you know exactly what I am capable of, and you know that if I don't do this, Konoha could be threatened with total destruction. AGAIN! I'm sick and tired of assholes who think the only way to have fun in this world is to take control of as much of it as they can!" he yelled, building to an angry rant at the end.
Tsunade turned back to face Naruto, and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes, unshed, but there just the same.
"Baa-chan…" he said softly. She bowed her head.
"I can't bear the thought of losing you too," she said chokingly. She angrily attacked her eyes with the long green sleeve of her jacket. "You're just like him, too. Always running into the most dangerous situations because you're the only one who can!" she sniffed slightly, then her face was stern once again. "This is an order, Naruto! You had better come back here with something to report, or don't come back at all!" she shouted, pointing a menacing finger at him.
Naruto stared at her, then slowly extended his own finger and hooked it around Tsunade's.
"That's a promise," he replied smugly. Tsunade giggled despite herself.
"Have you thought about what you're going to tell your teammates?" she asked, knowing exactly how Hinata would react to the news.
Naruto's cheeks went red. "I'll think of something. I've got a few days, after all."
Turning away once more, Tsunade laughed. "Think hard, gaki. Think long and hard. Dismissed."
Naruto bowed, secure in that Tsunade would never see it, and left.
"Okay, he's leaving!" Hinata relayed to the others. "He'll be out in a little bit."
"I wonder what he was going on about in there," Sakura wondered aloud. Sasuke shrugged.
"Probably wondering when Hokage-sama will retire," he said, staring off into space.
"It's so weird to think of him as the Hokage," Kira said as she sat on the ground outside the Hokage's mansion. "Sure, he's strong and brave, courageous, smart, talented, really good-looking…" she trailed off. "Ah Hinata-chan, you sure got lucky!" she said playfully. Hinata blushed. Haku went red as well, but for a different reason.
"You're telling me. You have no idea how happy I was when I finally got his attention," Hinata replied.
"Finally? What d'you mean by that?" Haku asked, puzzled.
"She had liked me for years, and I just never caught on!" Naruto said, having heard the tail end of the conversation. Hinata blushed even redder.
"Shut up! You only figured it out about eight years after the fact! EIGHT! That's a really long time!" Hinata accused, not really sure why she was getting so worked up.
Naruto pecked her on the cheek. "But I finally caught on, didn't I?" he asked teasingly. Hinata just huffed, but the others could tell she was pleased.
"So! What's the big secret, Naruto?" Sakura asked, placing herself in front of their leader. Naruto looked her in the eye.
"You'll all find out at the end of the week. For know, we'd better get some rest and figure out how we're gonna do this training thing," he said, smoothly dodging the question and the pink-haired kunoichi and continuing down the street. After awhile, the group shrugged and followed in his wake.
When they arrived at the Uzumaki compound, Naruto immediately whipped up a pot of rice with some chicken he found in the fridge that was still good and served a Spartan dinner, complete with broccoli. A well-balanced meal.
"So; what now, fearless leader?" Haku asked teasingly as they finished their meal. Naruto say back in his chair thoughtfully, aware that eyes were on him.
"Ummm… how the hell should I know?" he tossed out apprehensively. Everyone sighed.
"Naruto, how can you not have thought of something by now?" Sasuke asked wonderingly. Naruto shook his head.
"That wasn't really the impression I was trying to give. What I really want to say is, 'why can't we keep doin' what we doin',' but apparently that doesn't but it anymore," Naruto asked. He leaned back in his seat, admiring his teammates' empty plates. "What I think Baa-chan wants us to do is become a more functional team. She knows we can handle ourselves, but what she really needs is a squad of shinobi that can handle any and all situations."
He leaned forward. "Let's be honest with ourselves: we are an anomaly. Why would the leader of a village concentrate her most powerful shinobi into a six-man unit? Wouldn't it make more sense to spread the power around? Also, why are we six, when we should really be two three's or at least distributed to other groups?" he asked plaintively.
Sakura nodded. "Like when we first became genin."
Sasuke nodded. "They acted like they were distributing the strength, but in reality they placed teams based on what missions they were meant to take. Like how Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun and I were a team."
"And how Kiba, Shino, and I were a team. That was a lot of tracking shinobi on one team, neh?" Hinata added. Naruto nodded approvingly.
"We need to work on our teamwork. We need to learn how to survive and depend on each other in the chaos of a shinobi fight. The more we work on eliminating enemies as a team, the more efficient we'll be as a team." Naruto confirmed.
"But what if we get into a situation like the caravan attack?" Haku asked. Naruto grinned.
"Partner training," was all he said through the fox-like grin.
And with that, Naruto stood and demanded they all get sleep.
"And no breakfast tomorrow!" he added cheerfully as he kissed Hinata goodnight and stalked off to the section of the house where he, Sasuke, and Haku slept.
Sasuke followed after an awkward good night with Sakura, who followed Hinata.
"No goodnight kiss from the Uchiha?" Hinata asked teasingly. Sakura lightly punched her arm.
"No fair, I'm still working on it!" she shot back. Hinata giggled.
"You should be more forceful; I'll bet Sasuke-kun likes being… 'taken'!" Hinata said with a sly grin. Sakura blushed and took off after Hinata, who ran to her room and slammed the door.
This left Haku and Kira, and one of them decided to bring up a problem.
"So you're worried about training with a team you might not be on for much longer, neh?" Haku asked, before Kira could say anything. Shocked at how on the mark his comment was, she nodded.
"I'm… I'm not sure about how I feel right now… I'm kinda homesick, but at the same time I've never felt more…," she trailed off, uncertain. She looked at Haku helplessly.
"At home?" he supplied. Kira sighed.
"I just don't know what it is I want."
Haku stood up and gripped Kira's shoulders. "Look at me," he requested softly. Kira looked him in the eye, green meeting soft brown.
"How do you feel about the Tsuchikage?" he asked, taking Kira by surprise once more.
"He's like a father to me," she answered instantly. Haku nodded, as if expecting the quick reply.
"And what about Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, and Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan?" he pressed. Kira smiled.
"They're like brothers and sisters; they're the first friends I've had, really," she said softly, knowing where Haku was going with this. "But don't you want to know how I feel about you?" she asked playfully.
Haku grinned. "I already know how you feel about me."
Kira smiled, and Haku was reminded of a cat stalking a mouse as she moved closer to him. "Oh? And just what does my heart tell you, Haku-kun?" she asked, her voice becoming lower.
Haku looked up at the ceiling. "You like me, because I surprise you and challenge you despite the fact that you could tear my face off before I could blink," he said confidently. Thus, when he looked back into Kira's eyes he was disturbed to see tears. "Ooops…" he muttered. But she shook her head and hugged him tightly, burying her head in his shoulder. His arms went instantly around her back. She held the embrace for a moment, then pulled away slightly.
"How do you do that?" she asked. Haku looked puzzled.
"Do what?"
She sighed. "How do you know exactly what I'm thinking?" she asked helplessly. For a moment nothing happened. Then Kira felt a hand pull her chin upward and Haku's lips gently brushed her own.
"Because you're the only one I've ever been able to understand," he answered simply. "I can't explain it, and I'm fine with that. I'm just content to run with things as they are. Maybe that's what you need to do. You're in Konoha now, and you will be until Tsunade-sama is done with the treaty. So until then, enjoy yourself. Work hard, and things will happen," he added with a wink.
Kira smacked his arm. "You're the only one who can get away with that, y'know," she said as she turned to leave.
Haku watched her go with a grin, waiting until she was gone. Then: "So that means I'm your only boyfriend?"
Satisfied with her muffled expletive, he made his way to his room for much-needed sleep. Tomorrow would prove to be quite a workout.
And that's that. One note: the wailing on a cow with a rubber mallet was inspired by Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame. Will try to get more chappie goodness out soon, review and wait with bated breath (but not too long, lest you suffocate 'cause I'm stoopid).