"Please everyone, be safe." She said as she shook the last reservations she had from her mind and jumped into the pool of liquid after Toneri.


Three years had passed since she had been here. Three long years ago, she decided on her own that she would become stronger. She looked out over the horizon, the bright orb just starting to rise. She knew that it was a fake sun and yet, it's brightness and majesty were no less real. She had a feeling of excitement and at the same time, loss. After spending so much time here, it would be a shame to say goodbye. The wind started to move her now long hair, going to the center of her back. She moved a long strand of her hair from her face and placed it behind her ear, revealing her more womanly face. She continued to stare over the horizon, her lavender eyes gazing at nothing in particular. She had seen the ruins of this once bustling city many times. Hinata had grown in the time she was here. Her body had filled out more, becoming more womanly. She now wore a small lavender sleeveless camise, exposing her midriff, the Hyuuga flame embroidered on the back. She wore long cargo style pants, allowing for freedom of movement, her kunai pouch attached to her right leg. Standard shinobi sandals adorned her feet. She let the warm breeze engulf her for a moment before she heard someone walking up the steps behind her.

"So today is the day?" Toneri said as he approached her with a smile. He had been her trainer for these past years. He had originally intended to use her to destroy the earth but… he had come to his senses. She had shown him Hamura's true decree and his spirit had even shown him the light. He had since tried, on numerous occasions, to get her to marry him. She had politely declined each time, opting to return to training. They had trained very hard over the time she was there. He had instructed her in calling up the power of the Tenseigan at will as well as enhancing her standard ninjutsu. He had even noticed she had been working on something in secret. His puppets had seen her training in the middle of the night but he could not coax her into telling him what it was.

"Hai." She responded, turning to him with a smile. She would miss him dearly. He had been like a brother to her, helping to fill the void her family once held.

"Are you excited to see… him, again?" Toneri said, his smile never faded but he still felt a pang of jealousy. Hinata's smile grew wider. She anticipated the day she could see Naruto again. She had tried on several occasions to use the seal he had placed on her before but alas, she never received a response. She couldn't even be certain he had received her message.

Her smile remained but she had a look of longing on her face. "I am." Toneri's smile wavered slightly.

"He has captured your heart in a way I could not. In the way you have captured mine." He said, standing next to her.

"I'm sorry Toneri… but I love him. You will always have a special place in my heart though. You are the older brother I never had." She said, pulling him into a hug. He returned the embrace gladly. Her smile faded and she pulled away from him.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" She asked. He shook his head.

"I can't leave this place. The moon should not approach the earth." He replied. She looked sadly at him, she was going to miss his company. "Do not fret Hinata. This place will always be welcome to you."

She smiled at that, knowing she had a small semblance of a family once again. "Thank you Toneri." She kissed him on the cheek before climbing up on the broken railing, she looked back to him.

"Thank you for everything. I promise, someday, I will come back." She said. He nodded.

"I look forward to it." He replied with a smile, which soon turned serious. "Hinata… don't lose to Koga. He needs to pay for what he has done." Toneri said. Hinata's expression mirrored his.

"He will." She replied before turning back and jumping down the railing, into the ruins below, heading back towards the exit.


It had taken a few days travel before she was able to find the cave that had led her to this place. She entered it once more and looked upon the water like substance that had brought her here three years ago. She jumped into the pool of liquid and swam her way through to the other side, where the cavern was filled with rocky spheres, suspended in the air. She jumped from sphere to sphere, being able to see her memories reflected in those that were transparent. She could see her family in it, her father raising her as a child. She could see Hanabi and her, eating together at their apartment. She could see a young Naruto, smiling brightly at her. She smiled at the thought of seeing him again.

'Naruto-kun…' she thought as she continued through the tunnel. What would he think of her now? She had changed her look quite a bit, would he still be attracted to her? She couldn't wait to see him.

She finally made it to the other end of the cave, recognizing the kanji for "The beginning" etched into the ceiling above. She smiled as she gazed upon the marking. How apt of a word to be carved there, it truly was a new beginning for her. She started to exit the cave and came upon the entrance to the Hyuuga shrine.

"Tenseigan." She said, effortlessly activating the golden floral pattern in her eyes. She gazed upon the entrance and touched the small marking at the top of a staircase. The floor opened up, but instead of the lantern light that had been here before, there was nothing but darkness. She used her eyes to peer inside the darkness and could see very clearly. The bed lay undisturbed in the corner, the torches, long since burned out. Koga had since abandoned this place. She took one last look behind her as the opening began to close up before heading for the door to the exit and returning to the cave hidden behind the waterfall. She found it much easier to navigate the illusion riddled cavern with her Tenseigan. It allowed her to keep the light but also revealed the fake walls. It would seem like it was meant for one to gain access to the Tenseigan once arriving at the shrine. When she arrived at a dead end, she bit her thumb and placed it on the wall. The wall began to shake and an opening appeared. She was assaulted by the light of the cave and the sound of the waterfall. She walked through and heard the cavern close behind her. She was truly back, she had returned to earth. She let her Tenseigan recede and began pushing chakra into the seal on her neck.

"Naruto-kun?" she called out. "Are you there?"

She waited for a response, for any sign that he could hear her… but received nothing in response. She sighed, it was going to be difficult finding him. She left the waterfall and found herself back in the cold mountainous region of the Land of Iron. She let out a breath of steam and looked around. Not a single footstep could be seen in the white snow. She channelled her chakra again into the mark, but this time, looking for someone different.

"Sasuke-kun? Can you hear me?" She said. She waited for a few moments before sighing as she got no response, until she heard a familiar voice in her head.

"Hinata?" The voice asked. It was the one she remembered, albeit in a lower pitch.

"Sasuke-kun! It is you! It feels so good to hear your voice again!" She exclaimed.

"It's been a long while…" Sasuke responded.

"Where are you and Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"I don't know where he is. We separated three years ago when you left to train. My brother came to find me and Jiraiya took Naruto off somewhere." He replied. "I'm with Itachi right now, at an Uchiha Hideout. Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm in the land of Iron. At the waterfall cave…" she replied. There was silence for a few moments before she heard Sasuke's voice again.

"The hideout isn't far from the land of iron. Head south from the cave until you reach the land of fire. I'm sure with your Byakugan you can figure it out." Sasuke replied.

"Understood." Hinata said as she began to hop through the trees. It would take her some time to get there… it would be the perfect time to test out her new abilities.


Itachi stood in a small clearing with his one good eye closed. The other, wrapped behind a head band with the Uchiha fan upon it. He continued to wear the standard shinobi blue short sleeved shirt and pants. Various targets were hung from trees and behind rocks in a circle around him. In a flash, his eye flew open revealing the sharingan. He jumped into the air pulling ten kunai out of his pouch, five in each hand. He started throwing the kunai at the targets, spinning in the air. When he only had two left he threw them at previously thrown kunai, hitting them in the air and changing their direction. He landed on the ground and observed his handy work. All ten kunai, hit all ten targets without fail. He deactivated his Sharingan and nodded.

"You missed one." Itachi heard his younger brother's voice from behind him. He turned around to see Sasuke with a smirk on his face. The boy had grown greatly during the last three years. He wore a button up dress shirt with the Uchiha clan emblem on the back. Cargo pants with standard ninja shoes. His sword held onto the back of his waist through his belt. Itachi had approved of how strong his brother had become. He had taught him everything that he could. Genjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu… and even some kenjutsu. Itachi was a genius at all things. The only things he could not teach, were the abilities of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Itachi had since lost the ability to use Tsukuyomi due to his injury, as it originated in his left eye. Itachi looked and saw that one of the kunai had just slightly missed the dead center of the target. He closed his eye and took a deep breath. For three years he had been training to fight with only his one good eye, he had thought he had compensated his lack of depth perception with skill alone. It seemed he still had more work to do.

"You look as if you are happy about something. What happened?" Itachi asked. Sasuke raised an eyebrow to his brother, did he look that happy? He admitted he had an excitement about him. He was looking forward to meeting up with his teammates again. He wanted to see how strong they've become.

"Hinata just contacted me through our old communication seals. I honestly didn't think they would still work." Sasuke said shrugging. Itachi got a small smirk on his face, so that's why he was so happy. His friends were returning.

"Where is she going to meet us?" Itachi asked.

"I told her to meet us at the hideout but it will probably take a few days for her to get -" He was cut off when he felt a presence behind him. He drew his blade and spun around quickly aiming to strike the intruders neck when a hand covered in purple opaque flames stopped his blade.

"Nice to see you too, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said, smiling at him as she let go of his sword. Sasuke looked at her in surprise. She had grown up to be quite the woman and her outfit was showing everything it needed to but not too much. He had a light blush on his face, she certainly was pretty... he shook his head. How did she get here so quickly? He glared at her for a moment, sword still at the ready. Itachi walked over and placed a hand on Sasuke's sword, lowering it.

"She is not an illusion or a transformation. I watched her appear here. How did you do that?" Itachi asked. His sharingan had not been active, he had only seen her materialize. Hinata's smile never faded.

"My Tenseigan allows me to see great distance, far greater than the Byakugan. The further I see, the more chakra it consumes so there is a limit, it also does not grant me the 360 degree vision that the Byakugan offered. Hamura's chakra also allows me to teleport where I wish. It takes a moment to use in battle but when I'm not fighting I can travel far distances just by focusing on where I want to be. Once I could see Sasuke-kun with my eyes, I used my ability to teleport to him." She explained.

Itachi and Sasuke both looked impressed. That was a feet in and of itself. Hinata's smile slowly faded as she activated her Byakugan and slowly dropped down into a Jyuuken stance.

"Sasuke-kun…" she said, staring at him. "Please, spar with me. I would like to test my strength… as well as yours."

Sasuke smirked and activated his Sharingan. If she was going to go all out, then so would he.

"I'm not going to hold back." He said, sheathing his sword again and taking a relaxed stance, his smirk dropping.

Itachi wisely took a step back and sat down on the sidelines. This would surely be interesting. He was confident Sasuke had surpassed even him. The only thing he could help him further with would be to unlock his Mangekyou Sharingan, something he was still trying to figure out how he was going to do that without causing Sasuke extreme mental anguish. If they could find the artifact, it could unlock it for him but alas they were not able to find it.

Hinata and Sasuke stared each other down, neither moving an inch until both suddenly vanished only to reappear in the space that was once between them. Hinata's open palm strike meeting the side of Sasuke's blade before vanishing again. Itachi was shocked at their speed, he hadn't seen either one of them move. He activated his Sharingan, just to keep an eye on them.

They both disappeared again, Itachi could barely see them collide, but he could feel it. The sound it made was loud and impactful, like thunder; sending shockwaves through the area. Hinata and Sasuke collided a few more times before jumping apart, regaining their battle stances.

Sasuke smirked, "not bad." He said as his curse mark began to travel around his body. The familiar black flame like markings enveloping his body.

"You too, Sasuke-kun. Tenseigan." Hinata said as her eyes began to shift. The veins around her eyes retracted and the light pupil from the byakugan became more pronounced. Her eyes began to shimmer, a golden floral pattern emerging around the pupil. She could feel the power flowing through her body as her vision became clearer, more focused. She could expend chakra to expand her field of vision to be like the byakugan, or, she could focus on what was in front of her, giving her clarity and allowing her more focus. She could see the chakra flowing through Sasuke's body and could tell what he was going to do before he did it. She could see his extremely rapid sign weaving and see the fire chakra in his system.

"Katon: housenka no jutsu (fire style: phoenix flower jutsu)" Sasuke called out, letting a stream of small fireballs from his mouth.

"Hakke Kushou (air palm)" Hinata called out, pushing her fists forward, sending blasts of air from her palms. They each collided with a fireball extinguishing it. Hinata blocked a punch from Sasuke who appeared behind her. She took this opportunity to land a quick jyuuken strike to his arm, closing three tenketsu before he could blink. Sasuke leapt back and clutched his arm. She was fast, very fast. He went through some quick hand signs and lightning started to crackle in his hand.

"Chidori!" he said as he began charging forward. Hinata got into a defensive stance, ready to counter attack when Sasuke smirked and slammed his hand on the ground.

"Chidori Nagashi! (Chidori stream)" Sasuke called out as the chidori travelled along the ground. Hinata felt the current enter her body, causing her to cry out as she felt a numbness creep up her body after the pain. Sasuke rushed forward unsheathing his blade. Hinata mustered up some strength as a purple lion's head appeared around her palm. She grabbed his blade with her palm and threw it into a nearby tree. Sasuke started to unleash a flurry of blows upon Hinata, to which she retaliated. Each strike either blocked or parried by the other. Sasuke had attempted to weave in some genjutsu, making it seem like he had been hit by an attack only for him to appear behind Hinata. Her Tenseigan had allowed her to see through the illusions and she fought him back. Crossed his arms to block a palm strike to his chest. He back flipped out of the way to gain some distance. His arms felt numb as they twitched slightly. She was much stronger than before and… it felt like she was holding back. Sasuke went through some more hand seals, let's see how she could handle something a bit stronger. Hinata saw the large amount of chakra he was focusing. Was he really going to use such a large move against a comrade. She went through some hand seals of her own and gathered water chakra into her mouth.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu (Fire style: Great dragon fire)" Sasuke called out as a large ball of flame erupted from his mouth. It soon took the shape of a dragon's head as it hurled itself towards Hinata. She finished her hand seals and a torrent of water began to fall from her mouth. It soon took the shape of a dragon and crashed itself into the dragon flame ball. The attacks collided with a force that caused the trees to bend away from the impact. Steam rose in the area and as it settled both Hinata and Sasuke were ready in their battle stances, neither one of them breaking a sweat. Sasuke ran forward and jumped over Hinata's head, attempting to kick her in the process, she blocked both strikes and pushed an air bullet at him. He blocked the attack and flipped backwards. Upon landing he slammed his hand on the ground, causing the same ripple of electricity from before. Hinata jumped into the air to avoid the hit. Sasuke brought his hand up and the chidori in his hand extended in a straight line towards her. She gasped before grabbing the spear with the lion's mouth and held it in place as she landed on the ground. Sasuke looked shocked as she was holding the lightning. In an instant, the lion's head around her palm extended outward, following the spear. Before Sasuke could react it struck his arm with a fearsome bite. He cried out as the chidori spear fizzled out and he clutched his hand. There were no physical wounds but he could not feel his hand. He examined it with his sharingan and noticed there was no chakra flow there at all. He looked up just in time to see Hinata right in front of him, her palm mere inches from his chest. He shut his eyes and felt her lightly tap him.

"I win." She said happily. Sasuke opened his eyes and saw her eyes had returned to their usual lavender color, she was smiling at him. "Thanks for taking me seriously." She said to him before grabbing his injured hand and applying some chakra to a few points along his wrist. He immediately felt his hand return to normal. He flexed his fingers and then clenched his fist. What had he been doing all this time for her to be able to beat him this easily. He looked down angrily, it felt like nothing had changed. He felt a warmth around him as Hinata grabbed him in a hug.

"Don't be ashamed Sasuke-kun. If you were actually trying to kill me, you would have. I could feel you holding back." She said to him, still holding him tightly. He slowly raised his arms and placed them on her back gently, actually returning the hug. It did feel nice this contact, her arms around his neck, the warmth of her body, something soft but firm pressing against his chest… he quickly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back gently, but firmly enough so she would let go. He was blushing slightly and then he coughed, composing himself.

"Anyway. That was a good spar. I don't expect to win every time." He said. "My Fa-... Fugaku always said we had to win no matter what, even in a spar…"

"And what do you think, Sasuke-kun?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I'm not that arrogant. You have to lose sometimes, it's the only way to get stronger."

Hinata nodded, it was good to see him like this. He had broken away from his clan's teachings. They both started to head back towards Itachi who was still sitting there in bewilderment. Even though he had trained with Sasuke this whole time, he had never put out that large of a performance. Maybe having someone to prove himself against was going to do him some good. Itachi leaned back and looked up to the sky, not paying attention to Hinata and Sasuke as they discussed their time away. He was aimlessly looking around when something caught his attention. Very close in color to the white clouds in the sky, a large bird like creature was circling above.


Danzo was sitting in the Hokage's office. He was getting quite tired of the current problem at hand. Jiraiya had been avoiding his scrolls and his ROOT for the last three years. He would only seldomly hear back from him and any information he received was useless. After reading the last message from Jiraiya he was certain now: Jiraiya was no longer searching for the Kyuubi.

Danzo was angry that it had taken him this long to figure it out. He had warned Jiraiya what would happen if he did not retrieve the Kyuubi as well as the other children. He had had enough. He had worked far too hard over the last few years to allow any further annoyances. He had bid his time, he had much bigger plans for the village than just recovering the Kyuubi. He had severed all alliances with other nations as well as closed all the gates. Konoha had become an exclusively military village. The only civilians allowed to remain were shop owners that provided shinobi tools and services. He had conscripted the rest of the villagers or he had exiled them. He had changed the schooling regimen. All students were now required to spend a year training with the ROOT division, to make them stronger, to make them true Shinobi. The longevity of the village required it to have a strong shinobi force, civilians should not live within a ninja village.

Danzo barely moved and a ROOT anbu ninja appeared from seemingly nowhere, kneeling before Danzo.

"Bring me the tracking team." Danzo said. The ROOT anbu nodded and replied.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." before disappearing through the door in a blur. Not ten minutes later three figures stood in the Hokage's office. All three of them wearing stand dark blue long sleeved ninja shirts and pants. Each wore the standard chuunin flak jacket above that. The only major difference was one man had a long hooded jacket overtop of everything. He had goggles on his face, hiding his eyes. The next sat upon a large white dog. He had upside down triangles on his cheeks and sharp fang like teeth, brown messy hair upon his head. The last was a girl with short bright pink hair held up with a Konoha headband.

"The three of you are going on a hunting mission. Your objective is to retrieve three V.I.P.s and return with them alive and unharmed, is that clear?" Danzo said to the team.

"Hai." They replied in unison.

"I chose you three for this mission due to your specialties. Kiba Inuzuka, your nose should make it easy to track them down. Sakura Haruno, your medical prowess and strength will aid in the case of injury. Shino Aburame, your insects will make it easy to subdue them with their chakra absorption. Under no circumstances should any of them be killed. Understood?" Danzo asked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." They all answered, none of their expressions changed.

"Your targets are these three ninjas." He said, handing out papers to them all. They each looked at the papers. Sakura's eyes went wide as did Kiba's while Shino looked unfazed. In their hands were wanted images of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuuga.


A/N: Just to be clear: Sasuke still has some powering up to do where as Hinata and Naruto (who you will see next chapter) have gotten most of their stuff already. He also wasn't using his full power against Hinata.