What is Love

What is Love?

Book 2

Loves Champion

Chapter 11

"Cumo, set one day equals thirty days."

The demon fox barked once and the world flip flopped for a moment then went back to normal. Well, normal for them anyway.

Hinata looked at Naruto and frowned slightly before reaching out and resting a hand on his shoulder. He turned and smiled at her slightly. The smile reassured her…but she could see something in the shadow of his eyes and knew they had to talk.

Cumo dove towards the first hokage's head and this time Hinata kept her eyes open to watch. At the last instant before impact Cumo's outline seemed to change and they passed through the stone as if it were an illusion, and then touched down inside the cavern.

Cumo barked once, a little quieter than usual and they climbed down off of her back and stood quietly until she changed to her small fox form and ran up to Hinata yapping but as she reached for her she ran over to Fana and bounced against his side.

He looked down at her as she ran off then ran at him and butted her head against him again. This time he let her bowl him over. Naruto giggled as she grabbed a part of his neck in her mouth and pretended to shake him, growling and snarling at him. Fana growled lightly as he batted her aside with one of his paws.

The kit bounced back up and yapped rather loudly and two more kits came charging out of the living area and pounced on Fana!

As the three kits attempted to playfully over power their sire, the brown female and the dark blue male stood a little behind them and observed, tails wagging freely.

Naruto grinned as he watched and Hinata hugged him with a grin on her face as well.

After a few moments Fana yapped at them and they went over and sat next to their mother. Fana stood up and looked over at Naruto and Hinata.

"I believe things are going to come to a head very soon in your village, and while you and Hinata-chan are strong now…you must be stronger. The two of you are well above Chunin rank…now we must bring to Jonin, and beyond, and I have a month to do it."

Naruto blinked as he and Hinata looked at each other. "What is required? What will we have to do?"

Fana smiled as he stood and walked around both of them. Hinata felt uncomfortable, like she was being evaluated…she never did like that feeling.

Naruto just waited, a little puzzled as he watched Fana until he came around and sat in front of them.

"It is time we started doing our jobs as the companions of the Uzumaki's. The first thing on the agenda is to make sure you are more than capable of dealing with any enemy. Hinata, you have mastered the scorpion stance, but there are two more that you need to learn at least to make you fully capable of defending yourself. There is also an elemental style that you must learn. The style of "light" can only be taught to you by my mate Auri. She is the only one among the remaining Myobu that is expert in its uses. It will be time before you master it…but once you do, there will be less and less that can be done to you."

Hinata blinked but nodded as Auri walked over to her smiling. Cumo trotted over as well and whined up at her and Hinata bent down and picked her up, cuddling her. "I will do my best to learn all I am shown.

Auri looked at her and cocked her head slightly to the left.

"No…you must do better then that. If you do not learn it, there is a good chance you will be unable to protect yourself or your mate, and you will die."

Hinata didn't say anything, but she stiffened her jaw and nodded once.

Naruto looked at Fana and grinned. "What about me? I want to learn cool new stuff too!"

Fana laughed as he nodded.

"Indeed you will, there is much that we need to teach you. You are on a good path now. You are learning to use one of your father's favorite weapons, you have almost mastered the tortoise style, the frog style has already been mastered by you, and you have more Jutsus under your belt then most Jonin. When I say I am proud of your progress I am not lying to you. You are as fast of a learner as your father, and you are also as good as your mother when it comes to absorbing knowledge. It will be interesting if you can do what she could…but I digress. Today will be a welcome home/ rest day…I would suggest you take tonight to mate, because you will not have the energy to do it the rest of the month."

Naruto laughed and waved his hand at Fana. "Oh like that worries me. I can run rings around whatever training regimen you can think of."

Hinata frowned as she looked at him and shook her head. He might have tons of energy, but I don't. Hinata sighed but became resolute. That doesn't matter…I will become stronger!

Fana grinned at Naruto then turned and nuzzled Auri before going and lying down next to the hot tub. Auri in turn followed him and curled up against him.

"Go on pup…enjoy your night, for tomorrow we work."

Naruto chuckled again as he and Hinata picked up the bags and walked back to the living areas.

O

Later that evening they enjoyed an excellent dinner. The two of them worked almost hand in hand. Hinata giggled at the apron that Naruto found and was wearing. In fact…every couple of minutes he would turn and point to it and she would giggle and comply. Kiss the cook indeed.

She was more than happy to give him a kiss between cutting vegetables, mixing ingredients, and prepping the meat for cooking. He always made her smile and feel like she was the most important thing in his life.

She did scold him at one point. The kits had gotten into the habit of begging him for scraps and he would give it to them. She didn't mind giving it to them too, but she didn't want to spoil them too much.

Naruto and Hinata shared a bottle of wine while the kits played around them. "Naruto-kun…I was wondering what you thought about what style I should learn next."

Naruto thought for a minute as he swirled his wine around in his glass and drank it before he poured another half of a glass. "Well Hina-hime, You know a large amount of the crane style, gentle fist, and you've mastered the scorpion stance.

So you have defense from the gentle fist, and power from the scorpion stance. The crane stance is effective by itself but it's a medium style, designed to fit around any situation. I think you should focus on a fast stance now.

The centipede is very fast, but it'll take a long time and intensive training to learn. I think you should learn the Dance of the butterfly next. It's very fluid and graceful and when applied properly will give you more speed then the crane or the gentle fist.

To be honest Hina-chan, once you have mastered the dance of the butterfly you would effectively be a threat to anyone that thought you were weak because of your past."

Hinata nodded slowly as she thought about it then agreed. "The style reminds me of my mother. There were times I would see her in the garden and it looked like she was dancing.

When I asked her what she was doing she would just smile and tell me she would teach me to move that way someday. I am sure father forbade her to talk about the style she knew once the council decided they wouldn't let her teach it."

Hinata looked at her glass and Naruto filled it for her again and she sipped at it. Even if it isn't my mother's original style, I will learn it first…and dedicate myself to making sure it returns to the Hyuga family again."

Naruto raised his glass and they clinked them together in a silent toast to the future.

End of the month…

Naruto looked at Hinata on the back of Cumo. "Is that everything Hina-chan?"

Hinata looked around the cavern one last time then nodded back at Naruto. "I think that is everything Naruto-kun. Anything else we need we can always come back for."

Naruto nodded as he placed the staff in the carrier across his back with a grin. "The first thing we do when we get back is place the seal that I found on the floor in our bedroom. It's gonna be awesome to be able to come here whenever we want or need to." Fana chuckled quietly as he looked up at Naruto from in his mind.

"I agree…it was an excellent gift for your parents to give you…but let us not celebrate to much. You have many problems to clear up once we return…including Tsunade."

Naruto grumbled as he climbed up onto Cumo's back. "Thanks. I had forgotten all about that since the month began."

Hinata looked at Naruto with pity and held his hand when he sat next to her. "Maybe you should talk to her Naru-kun…I don't think she realized what would happen if she did this. I know probably think she betrayed your trust, and you are right, but she didn't go through with it…just thought about it."

Naruto nodded slowly as he considered Hinata's words. "I can't argue with you Hina-hime…I just wish she had at least talked to me before she even considered it…I mean it's my body so it should've been my choice."

Hinata nodded then caressed his cheek. No other words needed to be said.

Cumo leapt into the air and passed through the hokage's head. "Set for one day equals one day. Cumo, and from this point forward when I ask for it, one equals one will be called normal time, and one equals thirty will be training time, ok?"

Cumo barked once loudly then angled herself towards the hokage tower. After a few seconds and a brief stomach wrenching they touched down on the roof again.

As Naruto and Hinata dropped down to the roof, Cumo returned to her kit size and jumped up into Hinata's arms and settled against her.

Before they could open the door however, it swung open and Tsunade stepped out onto the roof. She cleared her throat as she looked at them, and it seemed like she wanted to say something.

"Hinata, Naruto, It's good to see you both back here." She almost said more then faltered and closed her mouth.

Naruto nodded before reaching up and scratching the back of his head. "Well it is good to be back. Anything happen while we were gone that we need to know about?"

Tsunade nodded as she held the door open for them then headed down the stairs as they followed.

"Well...to be honest with you, a scroll was fixed to your door and I have it down in my office. It was sealed so I do not know what the contents of the note is. And unfortunately the darkness still advances and the only way to do anything about it, is to find what is moving it and stop it."

Naruto nodded as he considered the hokage's words then took a seat in front of her desk next to Hinata. "Meaning?"

Tsunade sat behind the desk and frowned as she tipped a sake bottle over a bowl, but it was empty. "Meaning we will have to enter the darkness to find what causes the darkness and stop it, or destroy it."

Naruto and Hinata nodded at the same time and Hinata scratched Cumo on her ears. She purred happily and Hinata looked at Tsunade. "Do we still have a week before it gets here?"

Tsunade nodded as she tossed the sake bottle over her shoulder. "As far as we can tell, yes. I have talked to the trainers and had them step up their training regimen with the other shinobi so that they can be better prepared…but now I hate to admit that right now you and Hinata are the only ones I can send into the darkness with out to much worry. You are the only ones to return from the darkness."

Naruto grinned as he grabbed Hinata's hand and squeezed it. "Awesome, we get another crack at it first!"

Hinata agreed with Naruto's enthusiasm but still had a look of concern on her face. "We will do all we can." She said as she squeezed Naruto's hand back, and Cumo yapped also in agreement, bringing a smile to everyone's face. Naruto stood and headed towards the door, but was stopped by Tsunade. "Naruto…wait."

Naruto stopped and turned to look at her as she came over and handed him a scroll. "Oh right the scroll…thanks."

Tsunade put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him sadly. "I..I'm sorry gaki. I was tempted to implode the seal, but I wouldn't do it because the notes left behind by Minato did not explain what would happen to the host, and you have to believe me, I thought about it, but I wouldn't have done it if it would have hurt you."

Her eyes were moist and Naruto saw how hard she was fighting not to cry, and besides, he believed her. Naruto reached over and poked her in the side making her jump. "Aw I know that granny, Fana is still a little pissed, but I'm not. I just wish you had told me about it before I found out the hard way."

Tsunade smiled then pulled him into a hug, which he accepted for a few seconds before he grumbled and pushed her away.

Hinata smiled at the two of them but then blinked as she noticed the scroll in his hand.
"Naru-kun…that scroll…it has my father's personal seal upon it."

Naruto looked at it then frowned as he broke the seal and opened it. As he read down the page he looked up with surprise on his face.
Hinata came over, concern on her face. "What is it Naru-kun? What does it say?"

Naruto laughed as he held the scroll up to the two. "Your father…he's invited us to dinner!"

O

RavenZero: Sorry, every now and then I ramble through chapters, but there is a reason for it too. Ira Springs: Thanx I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. ForceoftheKatana: Hehehe...it was mostly a lemon chapter, call it an intermission from the main story because a bunch of people requested it. Syn'ri: Akamaru isn't evil, and neither was Kiba, just selfish and moronic in this story. JamesRKS: Yes it deed, it definitely made me laugh. HEE-HO KING: The lee/ sakura lemon was a request, I do not like the pairing myself...but we do not know what the future holds. Raven5148518: Neji/tenten upcoming in the future. And thanx for the vote of confidence. And yes Gaara is coming but isn't there yet. Jounintroublesome: Yeah...not a smart move on her part. NarutoHinata17:Not to worry, it wasn't a permenant coupling, just something I threw in there because someone requested it. Kyuubi123: I'm glad you like it, and Kiba will be back...sort of. Omegathunderstorm: Actually Akamaru was found by another lady who gave him a good home...more on that later. AztekLord: Thanx! I aim to please. Dragonchips: Welltossedsalad: I appreciate the vote of confidence and I will continue to do my best!

Next Episode: Welcome home!