Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Word of Honor

Chapter 38: The Problem with Hospitals

Ino groaned as she checked her appearance in the mirror. Despite her doctor's attempts to inform her that her injury had been seen to with great care, she still had to wake up each morning with the discomforting knowledge that she had a thin scar across her throat that would forever mare her appearance. How was she going to get Sasuke's attention looking like this?

With a small whine of desperation, she finally tore her gaze from the glass. She was already dressed in her normal clothes, and was going to be discharged as soon as her team came to get her. Now all she had to do was wonder where her lousy (and lazy) teammates were so they could pick her up and get her out of here. It was bad enough to visit Choji when he'd gotten into the hospital for eating too much (again); staying there for two months though had started making her go stir crazy.

Flopping on her bed, she wondered what had been happening to the village while she'd been in the hospital. In her own words, she was a girl with her 'ear to the ground'. She loved to hear information and be in the know, no matter who it was about, or what it truly meant. Just knowing that tiny piece of information made it so much easier to talk to the person the next time the met.

"Except for Sasuke-kun." Ino muttered, covering her eyes in an attempt to shield herself from the light, and from shame.

Despite any and all attempts to get any sort of 'juicy scoop' on Sasuke, there just didn't seem to be anything which she could use to talk to him with. He was a perfect guy, who kept his nose out of trouble, and for all intents and purposes was as much of a ghost to the social community as Naruto was a flashing neon sign.

Pausing in her thoughts, she bolted upright with a grin across her face. There was the answer to her problem; she'd get Naruto to give her a couple of inside scoops so that she could start up a conversation with Sasuke. Why she hadn't thought to do that before was beyond her. It was a brilliant plan. Except…she had no idea where to look for Naruto.

She'd run into Naruto before, but actively looking for him had never been an issue. Silently mulling it over, she tried to thing of where she could find him. 'Training grounds? Maybe, but I don't know which one, and it would take too long to go to all of them. Hokage Tower? Nah, he'd probably get his mission and leave as soon as he could. Ramen stand? Hm, he is a devout ramen eater. That would probably be the quickest way to find him. I mean, it's not like he's gonna randomly pop up here at the hospital.'

"Excuse me, miss nurse person? How do I get to room two-eleven?"

"Oh it's just down the hall, to your right, second door on your left."

"Thanks!"

'…wait what? Was that Naruto?'

Ino scrambled out of her bed, ripping the door nearly off its hinges as she peaked out of her room. There, walking down the hall like a blond and orange beacon, was Naruto.

"Well I'll be." Ino whispered, watching Naruto disappear around the corner. Remembering the directions the nurse had given him, Ino scurried after him. From what she'd seen, Naruto had been carrying something or another in his hand, which meant it was likely something for whoever was in room two-eleven. Grinning impishly, she bolted down the hall, rounded the corner, and slid to a quick stop before the second door on her right a second after the door had closed.

Pressing her ear to the door, she began listening intently. After all, any dirt she could potentially get between Naruto and Sakura - Sakura being the only person she could see Naruto coming to the hospital to see - meant she could use it to get Sakura to back off from Sasuke, and then victory would be hers. Now all she had to do, was wait.

-xxxxx-

Hinata was bored. She wouldn't ever admit it to anyone, she was too kind a person to dismiss the hospital's hospitality like that. However, with all the pent up energy from not being allowed to move for two months, and having been comatose for over a month and a half of that two months, she was starting to go stir crazy.

Gently rubbing the area around where she'd had a needle keeping her alive weeks earlier, she couldn't help but frown. Having only awakened recently, no one had been told she'd awakened yet, which meant she hadn't had any visitors yet. As such, she was still very unaware of what had happened while she was asleep for all that time; though admittedly, the nurses had chattered about a few things while they'd thought she was asleep.

Rumors had flirted about; many things about the invasion, the Hokage's apparent death, destruction of the city, and a new Hokage. While she didn't know him well, she was saddened to hear about his death; he'd been a great leader, and a wise grandfatherly figure to many people. It had admittedly taken a while before another realization occurred to her; or rather, she realized there was someone who would likely be greatly affected by this change in leadership. Naruto.

It was his dream to become Hokage, and yet he wasn't yet strong enough to take up the position. Plus, Naruto had likely believed that he'd be taking the position from the elderly Hokage himself; another blow that would cripple anyone else.

Of course, Naruto wasn't just anyone else. While she knew that Naruto did have his moments of weakness like everyone else, he'd proven time and again that he could pick himself back up and move along. She herself was absolutely certain that if she'd been the one experiencing a loss of that magnitude, she'd lock herself away and hide from the world for as long as she could.

Before she began to sink further into her self-loathing, there was a gentle knock at her door. Startled, she stared at the door in confusion. The nurses never bothered to knock, and there was no one else who knew to come yet…which narrowed the list of people who'd be knocking at her hospital door.

Figuring it was likely a member of the Branch House sent by her father, she raised her voice slightly. "Come in."

When the door opened, she had the briefest of moments to wonder if she was dreaming before his voice – a voice she never heard in her dreams – spoke. "Hey Hinata-chan."

"N-N-N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata managed to stutter out. Surprisingly, while she thought she'd whispered it, the way Naruto perked up, she'd most likely yelled it and startled him. Not that surprising, seeing as she'd never raised her voice before.

Naruto shuffled in, chuckling nervously. "Uh, yeah. I was in the neighborhood…and decided to stop by." A perfectly lame excuse; he'd actually pestered Tsunade shortly after his promotion until she'd agreed to inform him of when Hinata was awake and able to see visitors.

Hinata blinked at Naruto's nervousness, not accustomed to nervousness from Naruto. While she'd seen him happy, despondent, and even angry, nervous just didn't fit with how she knew Naruto acted. Yet here he stood, scraping the toe of his sandal in a nervous fashion, completely unable to make eye contact, and shifting a bag he had from hand to hand.

Naruto caught her watching him shift the bag around curiously, chuckling at the sight. "Uh, I got you these on my way here."

Placing the bag next to Hinata, he slowly slid himself into the chair next to her bed. Hinata leaned forwards, gently taking the bag and placing it on her lap. Gently pulling either side, she found herself melting at the aroma that popped out of the bag. Reaching in tentatively – with almost reverent motions – she pulled out what she knew was in the bottom of the bag; a cinnamon bun.

"You got, how, when did, why?" Hinata asked, too many questions darting through her mind as she tried to figure out how Naruto knew about her love of cinnamon buns. As far she knew, only a handful of people knew how much she enjoyed the delectable sugary treats of excellence; most of which she knew Naruto wouldn't have thought to ask about what Hinata liked.

To make it worse for poor Hinata, she knew the store bag Naruto had brought the buns in. If he'd just 'picked them up' because he was 'in the neighborhood', he would have had to have run almost two miles without stopping to get there before they became cold. Taking a small bite out of the bun, she could feel the warmth seeping with the tantalizing taste that she knew and loved.

"I don't really like hospital food, and when I heard you were here, I figured that you wouldn't like it either." Naruto muttered, scratching his cheek. Despite all of his preparations and devious planning, he felt awkward now that he was here. He'd figured that knowing more about Hinata would equal an easier conversation starter. Now he was just trying to figure out how to talk to her without sounding like he'd been stalking her.

Hinata munched on her bun, trying to keep the look of utter joy from her face as she did so. Naruto appeared oblivious to her, so she took a bite that was just a bit bigger then normal while he looked away. Chewing and savoring the flavor, she relished in the almost long forgotten treat. Hearing a noise off to the side, she turned in confusion. Seeing Naruto waiting patiently, she realized that he'd actually asked a question. Before she could ask what he'd asked, she realized she still had her mouth full. Mortified by her lapse of etiquette, she turned away as her cheeks flushed.

Naruto, thinking he'd said something wrong, held up his hands somewhat defensively. "I-if you don't want to answer, that's okay. I shouldn't have asked."

Hinata held up a hand, chewing her food as quickly as she could to speak. "S-sorry Naruto-kun. What did you say?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, looking dazed as he tried to understand what he'd just heard. "Uh, I just wanted to know if your family's come to see you. You know, since you've been awake and all."

Hinata chewed on her lip, thinking over how to answer the question. Turning to look to her left, she gazed out the window as she tried to remember who all had come to see her. "I don't know." Hinata answered, hearing a groan come from Naruto. Surprised by the sound she gave Naruto an incredulous look. "What?"

Naruto rubbed his face gently, looking rather flustered. "That's the only thing I can think to ask you." Groaning again, he placed his face into his hands. "I really should've thought this through before coming."

Hinata tilted her head in a rather cute fashion, not that Naruto could see, as she gently prodded Naruto. "Ano, Naruto-kun?"

"Hm?" Naruto muttered from his hands.

"What's been going on in the village?"

There was a short pause. Then, Naruto smacked his forehead in exasperation. "Oh yeah, you don't know what's been going on in the village." Popping back up into a more cheerful expression, he grinned widely. "So, what do ya wanna know?"

Hinata felt herself sway lightly, thankful that she was already seated in the hospital bed. Taking a second to compose herself, she began to ask a few questions. She wanted to know as much as she could, but she also didn't want to tread on anything painful, like the topic of the Hokage's death and the newly instated Hokage. Instead, she asked questions about more lighter topics; like how things were going in the city. Amazingly, despite her attempt to keep from stumbling onto the painful topics, Naruto managed to tie in everything she'd been trying to avoid; not difficult, seeing as the village was mainly destroyed by the invasion, and Naruto had been out of the village for over a month.

Still, what amazed her most was that Naruto didn't react how she'd expected.

"Oh, and then we went off to Tanzaku-gai!" Naruto exuberantly exclaimed. "And you'll never guess who we met there. We got to meet Tsunade!"

Hinata's eyes widened in amazement as she was practically on the edge of her hospital bed after only five minutes of discussion. "T-Tsunade-sama? You mean one of the Sannin?" Her mouth opened and closed, her mind processing what he'd told her. "You've managed to meet two of the legendary Sannin?"

Naruto grinned. "I did more then that! I made a bet with her and brought her back to Konoha to be the Godaime!"

If Hinata had been drinking, she would have probably done a spit-take from the shock of what Naruto had said. "Y-y-you brought her back? To be Hokage?"

"Uh…sorta." Naruto said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Jiraiya actually brought her back to be Hokage. I…I had another reason for bringing her back."

"What sort of reason?" Hinata prodded, her curiosity overcoming her shyness for the moment. Hearing an amazing, almost fiction-like story like Naruto's, she couldn't help herself. "And what kind of bet did you make?"

Naruto winced, mentally jabbing Han'ishiki to try and help him work out what to say. To his surprise, he felt a foreign presence jabbing back. 'Eh? Who's this?"

:: Naruto-kun, just be honest. ::

He couldn't help but feel confusion when he recognized the voice. 'Hinata-chan?'

:: Answer her! :: Kushina shouted from some other part of Naruto's mind.

Shaking his head, he began his tale. "Uh, reason? Well, I did it…I did it for…" Naruto winced. "Wow, his is harder then I thought."

:: Wimp. ::

'Shut it Han'ishiki.'

"Is it a…a secret?" Hinata asked, knowing better then to ask for something that might get Naruto in trouble.

"No, it's not a secret. It's just…I feel weird saying it." Naruto said, the last part barely coming out as a whisper.

Slowly, and very hesitantly, Hinata placed herd hand on Naruto's. "Naruto-kun, you can trust me. I promise."

Naruto stared into her eyes, feeling like an electric current had been run across his chest with those simple words. Feeling his courage return, he finally spoke. "I went to get Tsunade so she could heal you."

Hinata's breath hitched, caught off guard by what Naruto had said. If she were to be honest with herself, she wasn't really sure that there was anything she'd actually expected to hear Naruto tell her. But to hear that Naruto had actually gone out of his way to get a renown healer for her seemed…surreal.

"You…you went to get Tsunade-sama f-for me?" Hinata asked, her voice just barely above a whisper.

Naruto nodded. "You were comatose, and when I heard about how Tsunade was the greatest medic in the world, I figured I'd give it a shot." Naruto glanced off to the side. "It was a close thing though. If I hadn't gotten lucky, I don't think I could've got her to come back."

"Why not Naruto-kun?"

Naruto chuckled humorously. "Well, let's just say, I didn't say a lot of nice things to her when she got on me for wanting her to help you.

Hinata found herself torn between wincing at what Naruto might've said, and swooning at the fact that Naruto had stood up to someone out of his league in an attempt to defend her. It was touching in a way.

"Then again, I'm just glad she didn't just pound my skull into the ground when I made the bet that I could beat her in a fight." Naruto shivered at the memory of the fight, knowing that when she'd lashed out for that one moment he'd seen the full impact of her strength. When he'd tried to piece that imagery into what it might've done to him, he generally saw his body sticking comically out of the ground with the top half of his body buried.

"You fought her?" Hinata said, staring at Naruto with an expression of awe. A little trick that the Byakugan had taught the Hyuuga was how to read muscle movements, which made them close to being living lie detectors. Since Hinata had spent plenty of time around Naruto, she could see he wasn't lying.

"Yeah, that was the bet." Naruto replied, not surprised by her reaction. "If I won, she'd come back and heal you. If she won, I'd quit being a shinobi."

One could hear a pin drop when he'd said that. For Naruto, it was reminiscing what had been the dumbest promise he could've made – one he found that, if the circumstances were the same, he'd make again without hesitation. For Hinata, there was much more going on in her head.

'He bet his shinobi career…to get Tsunade to come back and heal me?' Hinata thought, feeling nauseous. While it was a gallant thing to do, the thought of Naruto giving up everything he'd ever wanted, for her, didn't sit well with her. She just didn't feel she was worth that kind of risk.

Amazingly, she didn't blow up when she finally spoke. The etiquette lessons that had been drilled into her head since youth took charge, keeping her calm despite her inner turmoil. "I see." Thinking hard about the situation, she brightened as she thought of something. "Ano, if you'd lost, couldn't you have kept being a shinobi anyways? Since Tsunade-sama hasn't been in the village, and wouldn't have come back to the village without you, she would never have known you were still a shinobi."

Naruto shook his head. "It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"It's-it's just not." Naruto muttered. In the back of his mind, Han'ishiki, Kushina, Hinata, and Kamina – oddly enough – were all trying to tell him something, but were overpowering each other.

"But if you did that, you'd give up everything." Hinata said softly, gripping his hand in her own; having not let go of his hand since she'd gripped it earlier. "Why couldn't you have just been a shinobi if you lost?"

"Because I can't break my promises." Naruto snapped.

Hinata sighed, thinking she understood what Naruto was saying. "I know you don't go back on your word, but you bet your shinobi life. I…I'm not worth that kind of sacrifice."

Naruto shook his head agitatedly. "It's not just that I don't go back on my word Hinata. I literally can't break my promises." Turning his face into a concerned frown, he added, "And you are so worth that amount of sacrifice. I'd give my left arm if it meant that you were okay."

Hinata felt her cheeks flush a dark red, as she turned away from Naruto's intense gaze. As she did so, the extra blood in her head helped clear her mind as she began connecting the pieces Naruto had laid before her. Not having all the pieces, she slowly returned her gaze to Naruto. "I don't understand."

'Oh boy.' Naruto inwardly muttered. He shifted in his seat nervously, trying to think of how he was going to tell Hinata was he was thinking. 'Alright, how do I go about telling her that she and I are –'

:: N-Naruto-kun! ::

'Hinata-chan?' Naruto thought to his mindscape representation of Hinata. Looking at the real Hinata in front of him, he quickly bit on the inside of his cheek. 'Man that's weird.'

:: Naruto-kun, you can't just say something like that. You have to let the real me get to know you first, not just jump in and tell her that. ::

Naruto nodded, getting a confused look from Hinata. '…is this like, cheating at the dating game?'

:: Absolutely. And you're gonna use everything you've got. :: Han'ishiki interjected. :: Now, don't leave the pretty lady waiting, and tell her about your promises. ::

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Ah! Sorry Hinata-chan, just thinking." Naruto replied. "Uh, okay." Naruto paused, giving Hinata a shamed look. "I've never actually told anyone about this, so it's probably not gonna make much sense the first time around."

Hinata nodded, smiling encouragingly. "It's alright Naruto-kun. Remember, you can trust me."

Naruto smiled a small gentle smile, vastly different from his normal face-splitting smile. "Okay, here it goes. I have a sorta bloodline, one that makes me unable to break promises. When I make my promises though, I get stronger…sorta. It's kinda like channeling chakra to enhance your limbs, only you don't have to think about it." Scratching his head with his free hand, he waved it dismissively. "Wait, that's way off topic. You don't need to know about that now.

"Let's see. Okay! When I make a promise, I'm not allowed to break it. That's pretty important. As long as I don't give myself really specific rules to follow, I can do whatever my promise is, however I want to. Like, I promised Iruka-sensei I wouldn't pull a prank on Hokage-jiji's birthday, and I'd just forget how I wanted to do it before I could go out. Even though I really wanted to, I couldn't." Naruto paused, staring off into space as he thought of something. "Then again, I could've found a way around it, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have ended well for me. Mainly because I'm not sure what they do to genin who deface the Hokage Monument, but also because of the penalty."

"Penalty?" Hinata inquired curiously.

As Naruto was about to explain, there was a startled yelp followed by the small bump of someone falling outside Hinata's door, followed shortly thereafter by someone trying to open the door. Naruto, panicking at the thought that one of Hinata's family members had come to say hi, gripped Hinata's hand tightly as he stood. "I'll tell you later, I promise."

Not even giving the shiver that ran down his spine, and the warmth that filled his mind a second thought. He dove across her bed with an almost practiced ease and bounded out the window. Hinata stared after Naruto, dazedly looking after him. The hand that Naruto had squeezed came up to gently press against her forehead. Realizing what had just happened, she slowly slipped deeper into her hospital bed as she fainted; more then content with what had happened.

-xxxxx-

Ino cursed as she heard nothing coming from Hinata's room anymore. Just after Naruto had gotten to the real juicy information, she'd been bowled over by a male nurse who was apparently late to some place or another. When she'd gotten up, she'd accidentally jiggled the door handle when she'd used it to steady herself, which had probably spooked Naruto into leaving.

Taking a few steps back, she smirked at what she'd managed to overhear. While admittedly, she hadn't been able to hear nearly as much as she wanted since Hinata was naturally quiet and Naruto was suspiciously quiet, there had been plenty of other parts where their voices had been raised. One particular part of their conversation was what was currently on her mind as she thought over what Naruto had said.

"He can't break his promises." Ino muttered, thinking over Naruto's promise to her.

In a way, it made a lot of sense to her. Naruto wasn't a 'manly man', but he did have some guy pride as it were. Whenever she mentioned that what she wanted would help her get Sasuke, he became obedient, and had followed her into the no 'man's' land of make-up and clothes. Sure it might've thrown him for a loop, but it was a learning experience too. He'd live.

As she continued down that train of thought, she remembered what Naruto had said regarding him completing his promises. "He said he sets the rules, but when he made the promise to me it was really vague." Tapping her finger to her chin, she began theorizing from what she knew. "He can do it his way…but only if I don't tell him how I want him to do it." Her smile grew slightly as she began heading back to her room. "I think this will be the start of a beautiful friendship."

As she got to her room, she was surprised to find Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji headed there too. When they saw her coming their way, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Ino? What are you doing out here?"
Ino opened her mouth to speak, ready to tell them all about what she'd heard Naruto talking to Hinata over; or just to tell them that she saw Naruto enter Hinata's room. Before she did though, a thought occurred to her. 'He's only told Hinata and me about this. Hinata's too nice to really use that to help her get him, but I can use that to get Sasuke-kun. If I tell everyone though, it won't be much of a secret.'

"I was looking for you guys." Ino huffed, placing a hand on her hip. "You told me you'd be here over an hour ago. What happened?"

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru muttered. "Tsunade-sama needed me and some of the other recently promoted chunin to come to the Hokage Tower to get debriefed on a mission. Apparently there's some leftover Oto shinobi running around, and they're getting too close to Konoha's prison area."

Ino's eyes widened. "Really?" Remembering the Oto genin, Dosu, who's left the cut on her throat, she grimaced. "Do you think you'll be okay?"

"Mah, we're just going in for recon." Shikamaru replied dismissively. "If things go bad, we have a heavy hitter to help pull us out."

Ino sighed, glad to hear that they wouldn't be doing anything too dangerous. Then, what Shikamaru said sunk in. "You and the other chunin? You got promoted?"

Shikamaru gave her a flat stare, tugging on his vest almost absentmindedly. "Yeah, I got promoted."

"And you never thought to mention it whenever you visited?" Ino said with a glare, her eyebrow twitching rapidly.

"What can I say? It would've been pretty troublesome to tell you." Shikamaru replied with a shrug.

With a mischievous grin, Ino threw an arm over his shoulder. "Well then, I guess it's time for a late celebration! Let's go to that barbeque place Choji loves." Leading Shikamaru out of the hospital, she shouted over her shoulder. "Asuma-sensei's buying!"

"Yes! Barbeque her I come!" Choji shouted, barreling down the hall after them.

Asuma's eyebrows shot up into his hiate. "Hey now, see here. I didn't agree to that!" He shouted, walking after his team. When he rounded the corner though, they were already moving rapidly down the stairs. "You crazy kids are gonna make be broke and grey before I'm old." He muttered, slowly trailing along behind them.

-xxxxx-

"And we haven't [censored] left this [censored] hole because?"

"Because the Hokage doesn't know were here yet. If we go now, there will be evidence all over that we were here. If we play our cards right though, we'll be able to make everyone in Konoha believe that their guards were ambushed by fresh Oto shinobi, rather then a gaggle of prison inmates." Aoi replied.

Tayuya scoffed as she looked behind her at their other members. "What gaggle? We sent pretty much everyone home because they were [censored] and wanted to go crying back to Orochimaru to get some [censored] training. {censored] should've thought of that before we went out to fight the leading powerhouse in the Shinobi Nations."

Jirobo turned to Tayuya with a frown. "Tayuya, you shouldn't curse."

"[censored] you Jirobo."

"Tayuya, keep it down." Sakon muttered. Peaking around the tree, he spoke to Aoi again. "So, how long will it take?"

"One or two days now. No more then that, if the Hokage hasn't gone senile." Aoi said, a malicious smirk crossing his face as he recalled how old Sarutobi had been getting when he'd left Konoha.

Kidomaru chuckled. "The Sandaime Hokage's dead. If we're waiting for anyone, it'll be from a new Hokage."

Aoi raised an eyebrow. "Really now? So the old fool finally kicked the bucket."

"More like Orochimaru-sama kicked his [censored] bucket." Tayuya said, getting a few laughs from her teammates.

"I see." Aoi crossed his arms contemplatively. After a moment, he nodded. "Well then, I definitely joined the right team. If Orochimaru could take on the Shinobi no Kami and kill him, then he must have some powerful tricks up his sleeves."

"Or more snakes." Kidomaru replied humorously.

Aoi chuckled. "Maybe."

No one said much for a moment, silence dominating the area for a moment. The wind blew through the trees, making a high pitched whistling noise that made it seem as though the forest itself were anticipating what was coming. The silence was soon after broken though, as Aoi pulled out a small map.

Looking it over, he carefully studied out where it was. It was surprisingly close to where they were at now, only a couple of miles off. While this didn't really concern him, it made him wonder what idiot had thought to put it there. If the prisoners rioted, and one of them had been dumb enough to head in that direction, they could find it and potentially wreck havoc with the new power.

Tracking his finger around certain markings that lay around the shrine, he checked the map's legend to check what the marks meant. Traps, pitfalls, and a remarkably wide assortment of other things helped protect it from simply being invaded by a passer by. Within the shrine though, there was no one.

"What kind of idiot doesn't have people guarding something as precious as this?" Aoi asked himself, tapping the paper in thought.

Unsurprisingly, Tayuya decided to answer. "The kind of [censored] idiot that thinks that no [censored] or fool would be [censored] dumb enough to go there. Power has a price [censored]."

Aoi smirked, rolling up the map and slipping it back into his pocket. "True, but it's always worth whatever that cost may be."

Tayuya scoffed. "Whatever."

"Tayuya, you should really stop –"

"[censored] you Jirobo!"

"Hey guys?" Kidomaru said, looking off to the side. "Isn't that one of the prisoners we let go?"

Sakon peaked around his tree, looking to see what Kidomaru saw. "Heh, what do you know? The idiot came back."

Kidomaru narrowed his eyes. "He's got some stuff with him. Looks like…ingredients, or something like that."

"Who the [censored] is it?" Tayuya asked, unable to see who it was from her vantage point.

"That one guy who kept hitting on you." Kidomaru replied with a smirk.

Tayuya scowled. "They were all hitting on me [censored], be specific."

"White hair, muscular…answers to the name Mizuki."

"Oh, that {censored] [censored]." Tayuya scowled. "I was kinda hoping he'd fallen off a [censored] cliff or [censored] disemboweled himself. The idiot had no idea what he was doing."

"Not at all." Sakon said in agreement, smirking as he recognized some of the ingredients. "Lucky for us thought, Orochimaru-sama chose Mizuki to be one of his little pawns. He'll get his power, and then he'll leave us alone. He's just like any other idiot that's ever come crawling to Orochimaru."
Aoi glared at Sakon. "I hope you aren't talking about me as well."

Sakon smirked. "No, you're special. You actually got to help Orochimaru-sama before he gave you what you wanted. That means whatever he's giving you, it'll be worth it."

Aoi smirked. "Good." Looking to where he knew Konoha was situated, his smirk darkened considerably. "I'm looking forward to this."

AN: More plot! This will make for interesting writing.

Okay, this was an interesting chapter to write. Mainly because of the Naruto/Hinata conversation. Seriously, he talked to her in his head, but now he has to remember that 'real'Hinata doesn't know anything that's going on in his head. Plus, he'd probably come off as a stalker if he just started spouting information he really shouldn't know (ironic, as we all know how Hinata is Naruto's secret stalker).

Ino being an antagonist was planned. To be honest, I don't really see Ino as bad as this. People portray her as a gossip in their fics (something I never noted in the actual manga), so I ran with it...and it's somehow twisted her more then I thought. It's needed, but even I'm surprised by her sometimes. Plus, when Ino decideds to push the limits of her newfound knowledge, she'll be in for quite the surprise. Come to think of it, most of you might be a little surprised. We'll see...we'll see.

And the Prison & Power Arc has come (yes, I give my arcs names...you guys just don't normally hear whatever they are but I felt like telling this one). I normally don't like filler, but when I first saw Mizuki return in the anime, I figured I might as well check it out. And that gave me something to keep a certain someone away from Aoi when he get's his little gift from Orochimaru.

Next time on Word of Honor; B-Ranked Mission. Heading out on his first B-ranked mission, Naruto will quickly discover that when foreign shinobi are involved, nothing is ever as easy as you want it to be.