Chapter Eighteen
Hinata checked her watch, twenty minutes past midnight. A quick check of her Byakugan confirmed everyone in the camp was asleep, including Sasuke, who was supposed to be standing guard. She knew she could get into trouble for what she was about to do, but right now she didn't care. She needed to blow off steam, and this was probably the last place to do it for a few days. Why did I have to forget my knitting bag!
She gingerly unzipped her sleeping bag and stalked her way out of the tent. The October night air was crisp, but thankfully there was no wind. The campfire at the center of the large camp cast shadows throughout the clearing, sending a chill down her spine. She checked her Byakugan again, nothing, absolutely no one stirring for at least fifty meters in all directions. She raced past a snoozing Sasuke with padded footfalls. So much for security!
The first two days of this mission were pleasant enough. Day one, had been a rigorous hike in hilly terrain with several stops for training: mock prisoner rescue, plant recognition and foraging, ambushing, and other drills. Day one culminated with making camp and everyone having to demonstrate fire-making without the benefit of chakra or matches. Naruto had to help her a lot, but they both did eventually get an ember started. After the frustration of making it, it was a huge accomplishment.
Hinata walked through the dark woods with the same pace she would have if it were light out – her eyes could scarcely tell the difference. Finally, she reached her objective. The waterfall in the nearby river glowed silvery in the moonlight. She again checked, no one present. Hinata removed her shoes, and she focused her chakra to cross the river over the water's surface.
She found a decent set of bushes and rocks to hide behind, and she disrobed. Hinata cursed herself for not bringing swimwear, but she hadn't expected to find such a perfect spot to practice mixing dance with water release techniques. In fact, she'd found the spot by accident when she was sent to gather water for the camp. After keeping a low profile since her incident with Hanabi a few days earlier, the temptation was too great – her body and soul needed to bend and move.
The night air and the spray of the waterfall were cold, making her skin tingle throughout as she leapt onto the water's surface. Hinata did a few pirouettes to make sure she could concentrate her water release and dance at the same time. Staying on top of the surface proved surprisingly easy. With just a bit more concentration, she could command the water around her to dance.
She leapt across the surface, rotating slowly as she summoned twin helixes of water around her like a waterspout. Here she was in control, and the world could spin past her for all she cared. She balanced on one thin, muscular dancer's leg as she prepared to leap into the rest of her routine. "Excuse me!" a familiar voice called from the riverbank. NARUTO!
Hinata's hands instinctively covered her chest, not that it mattered, he could see everything else! Hinata didn't waste time half-leaping, half-sprinting for the bushes where she kept her clothes. As she took cover, she stopped to breathe. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you whoever you are!" Naruto called out, having fallen into the river. He doesn't know it's me!
Hinata took the very slim window of opportunity his confusion afforded her. Quietly, she slipped back into her underlayers and drew closer to the side of the waterfall, careful to stay behind cover. She then used the sound of the falling water to mask the noisier process of getting the rest of her outfit on. If she could be convincing, there might be a way out of this without dealing with any level of embarrassment. She straightened her hair and stepped out from behind cover. "Na-Naurto-kun?" she feigned surprise, "What are you doing in the river?"
"Hinata?" Naruto called back confused, "What are you doing out here?"
Without hesitating, she gave the one answer no one would question: "I-I had to use the ladies' room." Hinata fidgeted with her fingers. If he asks questions, I'm in for it!
"Oh, gotcha!" he laughed as he stepped up from the water. "I had to go, too! I had just finished when I noticed this waterfall.
"It is quite pretty, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, especially at night like this!" he exclaimed. "By the way, you didn't happen to see a really pretty girl dancing in the water when you came this way, did you?"
Hinata flushed at Naruto's words. "N-no! I can say that I did," she said nervously. Going for double jeopardy, she asked, "What did she look like?"
"I only caught her outline, really," he said, "but she was thin and tightly built like she danced a lot, kind of like you!"
Is he baiting me, or has he been noticing me?! Naruto hadn't even remotely expressed attraction or appreciation of anyone's form, except for the use of perverted jutsus. Curiosity overrode caution, "So," she nervously twisted her foot back and forth, "you liked what you saw?"
"Oh, heck yeah!" Naruto said, "She had this amazing dance routine, and when she moved herself the water danced around her, too!"
A very naughty part of Hinata wanted to jump back in the water to demonstrate, but the sane, behaved part of her decided it would have to wait until they were both considerably older. "And where is this pretty girl?" she asked.
"I don't know, she just vanished when I slipped and fell in," Naruto said, "You didn't see her, did you?"
I am her! Hinata blushed, grateful for the darkness, "Nope," she fidgeted nervously, "didn't see her at all! M-maybe you saw a water spirit or something like that!"
"Nah," Naruto said, "those are just fairytales!" Naruto laughed for a moment but sounded nervous, "Right?"
"Who knows," Hinata teased, "if you like what you saw, maybe it was a vision of your future girlfriend," Hinata giggled as they started walking back to camp. Flirting with Naruto was flirting with disaster if he put two and two together. But it is so damn fun! On the other hand, flirting with him like this made her heart feel light in a way she hadn't felt in a while.
"That would be something," he pondered aloud, deep in thought by his tone.
Time to change subjects. "Yeah well," she laughed, "let's get you back to camp and dried off. You'll catch a cold like that out in this weather!" On the short walk back to camp, Hinata pondered what she was feeling about Naruto lately. She had always admired him and his unbreakable spirit. Hinata had been grateful for him lending her that spirit when she needed it – lately, she needed it almost constantly. On one hand, she worried about being a burden to him, becoming dependent. On the other hand, Naruto never seemed to mind; he almost seemed to enjoy having a chance to share his support. He was only twelve, and she wasn't going to be twelve for almost a month and a half. She was too young to be having these thoughts and feelings, wasn't she?
"Earth to Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed. As she snapped out of her focus, an unseen rock tripped up Hinata, and she stumbled forward. She would have faceplanted into the dirt had Naruto's strong arm not caught her. "Easy, there," Naruto said with a nervous laugh, "I don't want Neji or your parents complaining about you getting injured on my watch!" He steadied her upright with his arms, and her heart began pulsating in her throat.
"Thank you," she wheezed. As they re-entered camp, Sasuke was still out. I can't sleep anyhow! "Sasuke," she poked him in the side with her foot.
Sasuke snorted loudly as his eyes shot wide open, "I'm awake!"
"Good one, sleeping beauty!" Naruto hollered, "Had we not been friendly, we could have cut your throat and killed everyone in camp!"
"I was just resting my eyes, I swear!" Sasuke replied breathlessly.
"Sasuke," Hinata sighed, "why don't you call off watch early? I can't sleep anyhow." Hinata checked her watch, 1237, she'd be on watch until 0200.
"Hinata, are you sure?" Naruto asked.
"You've already been up for your watch, Naruto. Besides," she shrugged, "I'm a bit of a night owl, too."
Naruto sounded too bone-weary to protest, "Whatever, Hinata," he yawned, "just make sure someone from Team Ten takes over at 0200. And get some sleep after that; we have a long day tomorrow." Naruto shed his wet jacket, leaving it to dry on a log near the fire, and he crawled back to his pup tent. Hinata heard further rustling of him changing out of his wet shoes and uniform parts before being followed up by the still silence of Naruto having gone back to sleep. Sasuke did the same.
The still, cool night air gripped Hinata. Despite being surrounded by friends, the sense of loneliness made her heart tremble. The forest around her seemed to have eyes, all of which were staring at her. Stop it! Hinata began stretching to burn off some of her excess energy as well as to focus her mind. She did a few pirouettes in placed and a couple quick dance steps softly so as to not wake everyone in camp – instantly feeling better for having done so.
Hinata activated her Byakugan, testing its limits. Cousin Neji was able to push it to almost five hundred meters now, Father could make out detail as far as ten kilometers, and she currently was around seventy meters. Past that, focusing her vision began giving her a headache. Nevertheless, she pushed this time: one hundred meters, two hundred, and finally around three hundred. I'm getting stronger! Hinata smiled at her achievement.
As she scanned, she took note of several things in camp: Asuma Sensei was not in his tent, nor was he at the perimeter having a smoke break. He was curled up with Kurenai in her tent. Those two a couple? I would never have guessed! It was none of Hinata's business, and she was happy if Kurenai sensei was happy; she just thought gruff Asuma-Sensei was a bit mismatched with her. Aunt Kushina had invited Kurenai over to train with Hinata for most of the last year due to Kushina's inability to mold chakra properly. Kushina had insisted Hinata needed someone to train with who could properly teach her chakra techniques. Kurenai was a kind woman, much like Kushina, and Hinata wouldn't have minded had she ended up on Team Eight as a result.
Hinata's mind wandered to Naruto, laying in his boxers as his field uniform hung from the front of his tent. She had to stifle a laugh. Naruto looked cute. I wonder what he's dreaming about. I wonder what it would be like lying next to him the way Kurenai is lying next to Asuma? Hinata knew she was too young to even think about it – shinobi weren't considered adults until they were sixteen. Nevertheless, the thought was there.
A flash of movement at the edge of her narrow blind spot broke Hinata's train of thought. Something was moving there in the forest. Relax, it could just be a wild animal… an animal that happens to know where your Byakugan's blind spot would be! Anxiety gripped Hinata. If it was someone who knew she was a Byakugan user, it wasn't a casual bandit or a transient thief looking to raid the camp for something valuable. Discretely, Hinata reached into her pocket, extracting her security whistle. She then knelt down to mimic tying her shoe. Hinata used the motion to clench the whistle between her teeth. With extreme subtly, she tilted herself forward, gently moving her blind spot up in her field of view.
What she saw was horrific. The man, or whatever it was, stood tall, at least Kakashi's height. While he wore a mask, the right side of his face was creased like it had been crushed under an earthmover. There was something else, his chakra network looked all screwed up, like it wasn't in the proper place. Hinata sucked in a deep gasp of air through her nose and unleashed a piercing screech from her whistle.
The angry scream of a whistle jolted Naruto awake from a horrific nightmare – happy to find his sleeping bag wasn't soaked in piss. As the flailed about, he managed to kick out the pole supporting his pup tent, causing it to collapse on top of him. Dammit, really! A short struggle later, and he was outside the disheveled tent and at Hinata's side, wearing nothing but his green boxers with red hearts on them. Everyone else had already gathered, and Hinata was speaking frantically. Dammit, had that been a real emergency, someone might be dead right now! Hinata might be dead right now! The thought chilled Naruto to the core.
"What a pain!" Shikamaru complained, "There ain't nothing there, Hinata!"
"I'm telling you, someone or something was there!" she protested vigorously.
"Perhaps you should put some clothes on, Naruto," Sasuke mocked him, "especially if you're planning on going into battle. Sasuke grinned, "Then again, you running around in your underwear would probably scare off most assailants!"
No one laughed. For the moment, Naruto ignored Sasuke's commentary. Hinata looked terrified and sounded genuinely agitated. Naruto momentarily considered the amount of stress Hinata had been under recently, and she was easily fatigued from staying up so late. Not to mention, you probably scared her when you interrupted whatever she was doing by the waterfall. Naruto was dense at times, but even he was pretty sure he could match the physical outline he saw to Hinata. Just the thought of her dancing in the water made his heart race and his mind wander to strange places he dared not go.
Regardless, Naruto put his mind back on subject. Hinata, even under undue stress, was not prone to flights of hysterics. If she saw something, then there was something. "Hinata, where was it?" he asked in his most soothing voice. She pointed in the direction of his tent.
Naruto calmly walked back to his tent, fetching a kunai and a flashlight from his bag. Despite his calm appearance, he felt himself shaking as he walked beyond the camp boundary, and it wasn't just the cold chilling him. "Naruto," Kakashi called after him, "you're going to catch your death like that? And why aren't you dressed, anyhow?"
"It's a long story chief," Naruto paused to sniff the air, "I'll tell you later." The grass under his bare feet felt like creepy-crawlies, almost causing him to yell out. He was maybe five meters into the woods when the smell hit him. "Kiba!" he hollered, "Get over here now!"
Kiba and his dog Akamaru came up quickly. A several quick sniffs, and Kiba nodded. "See if you can track it, boy!" Akamaru began sniffing vigorously, following a trail a short distance before turning in circles, growling at the woods.
"What is it?" Naruto gripped the cold metal of his Kunai like a sailor clinging to a life ring.
A series of barks and growls between Kiba and Akamaru ended with Kiba nodding solemnly; by now, everyone else joined them. "Someone was here, very recently, too!"
"Then where are they?" Kurenai asked, scanning the dark woods around them.
"That's just it, the trail disappears only a few feet from where they were standing," Kiba grunted, "And there were two of them."
"Two?" Hinata's voice squeaked, "But I only saw one?"
"What did you see exactly?" Kakashi inquired.
"He was your height and build, Kakashi," she explained, all the while scanning the woods with her Byakugan, "but he looked all screwed up, like his chakra network was all over the place like some piece of abstract art!"
Naruto caught Kakashi's unhidden right eye widening. "What did he look like?" Kakashi sounded concerned.
"The right side of his face was all screwed up," she shivered, "like it had ridges like it had been crushed or smashed in a machine.
All color drained from Kakashi, "Let me guess," he was wearing a swirl pattern mask, one eye socket?" Naruto felt a chill down his spine, too.
"How did you know that?" Hinata asked?
"Can you see him, Hinata?" Naruto crouched low, expecting an attack from any direction. Kakashi more subtly adopted a defensive stance.
Hinata quickly spun side to side, "No sign of him, at least not for a hundred meters! What's going on?"
"Everyone back into camp right now!" Kakashi ordered, and everyone obeyed. Despite being near the campfire, Naruto felt cold all over. He knew it was Obito stalking them. Dad had clearly described the man to him as someone to avoid at all costs.
"Okay everyone, we have a serious situation," Kakashi tried to keep his voice level, but Naruto could hear cracks, "from now until sunrise at least one jonin and one genin is to remain on watch. No one is to leave the camp, is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Naruto joined the others in unison.
"Kakashi," Sasuke asked, "What are we up against?" The boy crossed his arms in front of him.
"An S-ranked criminal, Sasuke," Kakashi shook his head grimly, "and no, this is not part of the training exercise, we are in real danger here."
Muttering came throughout the group. "Kakashi," Naruto asked, "if he's so powerful why didn't he attack?"
Kakashi glared back at Naruto, considering him, "I honestly don't know, but that doesn't matter. We need to get back to the village as soon as we can."
"What about the mission?" Naruto asked, concerned.
"What about it, Naruto?" Choji said, "You heard him, we're in danger if we don't turn back!"
"But we're only an hour or two hike from our destination!" Ino protested, "How would it look if we turned away from a D-ranked mission, our first mission, because of a bogeyman!"
"I don't know about you, Ino-pig, but I value my life a lot more than a glorified groundskeeping job!" Sakura chided.
"Hold it!" Kakashi boomed. Everyone stopped for a moment. "It seems we have a disagreement, and some legitimate points have been made. Being that this is your mission and not ours," he paused to scan the group, "I'll leave between you all who wants to head straight home, and who wants to carry on. Majority rules, and we all follow that ruling! All in favor of returning to Konoha at sunrise, raise your hands!"
Sakura, Choji, Shino, and Shikamaru raised their hands. Naruto felt himself torn to the point where his hand shook. I want to go home! You'd be a disgrace to your father if you ran home now! We're in real danger here! If he was going to attack, he would have done it by now!
"All in favor of carrying on the mission, raise your hand," Kakashi ordered. Ino, Kiba, Sasuke, and Hinata all raised their hands. Again, Naruto's arm shook, but he didn't raise it. "Naruto, we seem to have a tie, how do you vote?" Kakashi put him on the spot.
Naruto's feet grew impossibly colder than he thought possible walking around barefoot and in his underwear. Everyone was staring, and his heart was in his throat. Are you really going to be a coward in front of Hinata? Will Sasuke ever let you live this down if you chicken out while wearing nothing but your boxers? Will you ever forgive yourself for turning your back on the midwife who died bring you into the world! "I say we carry on!" Naruto said, regaining his confidence "We're already most of the way there. If we move diligently, it's only an hour or two job," he turned to Kakashi, "and what's to say turning back immediately is any safer than completing the mission first?"
Kakashi nodded. "Very well, we'll do it your way, Naruto." Kakashi turned to the rest of the group, "Everyone, for the remainder of this mission, Naruto is the field commander. The jonin and I will only step in your lives are in danger or we feel it necessary." Kakashi turned back to Naruto, "What are your orders?"
Naruto swallowed a hard lump in his throat. Like Konohamaru, he longed for a chance to prove himself more than just the family he came from. Now that he had a chance, the butterflies in his stomach threatened to overwhelm him. "I say," Naruto paused, finding his voice, "We stick to the original plan, one jonin and one genin on watch at all times. Everyone else try to get some shut eye until 0600, and we move out at first light. We'll attack whatever problems wait at the shrine when we get there. Everyone understand?"
No one answered. "I said, it that understood?" Naruto raised his voice as authoritative as he could sound.
"Yes, sir!" the camp replied.
"And whomever is getting off watch at 0500 wake me," he said, "I'll take last watch and be responsible for waking the camp."
A series of nods, and everyone began heading back to their tents. Naruto stared at Jiraiya, who had said nothing the whole time. "Grandpa, is something the matter?"
"Well, commander," Jiraiya carefully accented Naruto's new title, "I have some advice, if you'll hear it; after all, you're now leading this bunch, you make the ultimate decision." And you're ultimately responsible if this fails, Jiraiya left unsaid.
"Please, I'm open to any advice," Naruto said, taking note that Kakashi was walking nearby.
"Naruto, we haven't long to chat about this, but I can summon one of the Toads of Mount Myoboku, and so can your father. We can send a message back to Konoha discretely this way – without giving away that we've done so."
"You want my father to know we're in danger."
"Naruto, we don't want to steal this mission out from under you," Kakashi chimed in, "But Obito is actually double-S-ranked. He killed six ANBU the night you were born like it was nothing…" Kakashi's voice began straining against what Naruto expected to be tears. Kakashi, like Dad, knew everyone who died that night.
"It's all right, and yes, we're in over our heads," he turned to Jiraiya, "Please tell dad to send help."
Jiraiya nodded, "Naruto, you do realize we are two, two and a half, days from help if they left right now. Your dad of course could get here faster, but we'll still be on our own tomorrow at least."
Naruto felt the weight of the situation on his shoulders, "We do what we came here for," he said, "If we jackrabbit now, he'll just chase us, might be expecting us to run for safety."
Kakashi and Jiraiya nodded. "Get some sleep, kiddo, you have a long few days ahead," Jiraiya said. "I'll send the message in a few minutes."
Naruto walked back to his tent, eying the tree line suspiciously. He turned to Hinata, standing by the campfire with Kurenai. "Hinata, are you sure you don't want to change watch?" Naruto asked.
She shook her head, "I can't sleep anyhow, I'll stay up through this watch."
Naruto nodded an understanding. He didn't know if he could sleep, either. He stalked back to his tent, felling the eyes of the forest on him as he stood his tent back up. He put back on his mission gear, by now mostly dried out – best not to get caught undressed again. As he crawled in, he kept a kunai in his right hand and two shuriken by his left.
A quick glance at his watch told him it was five minutes to two. He closed his eyes, but sleep remained elusive. He woke several times, noticing that while the guards had changed, Hinata was still next to the campfire, scanning the woods. That can't be good for her to be using her Byakugan so much! Indeed, Hinata had told him it could cause her severe headaches and exhaustion to use her Byakugan for prolonged periods.
Naruto closed his eyes, thinking about Hinata, but soon she was pushed aside by the nightmare. It was the same that it had been since the night they left for the mission: Naruto's parents had died the night he was born. His parents had sealed Kurama inside him, but the village knew he was a jinchuriki. He grew up an outcast with no family, no friends. Naruto sat on the tree swing outside the academy, tears running down his face as parents came for his classmates, but no one came for him. "Naruto," a soft voice came from behind him.
When Naruto awoke, he found himself in an unfamiliar bedroom. He looked around; it looked like a room in his parents' house, but he could distinctly tell it was a different house. When Naruto looked down, he noticed he wasn't a kid anymore – he was a fully-grown man! "Naruto," a strained, feminine voice called next to him. He turned to see Hinata, also fully-grown, reclined on her side next to him. Her face looked uncertain, almost a bit scared. "Naruto," she rubbed at the swollen mass of her stomach, "Naruto, the baby is coming…" she moaned. BABY! "Naruto… Naruto!"
"Naruto! Wake up!" Hinata's voice shook him back into his pup tent. Naruto flailed about. He was a kid again. He gulped several deep breathes as he looked out the entrance to his tent, Hinata knelt over him, also still a kid. "It's 0500 you said, you wanted to be woken then."
Naruto confirmed the time by his watch. He looked back at Hinata. Dark circles pooled under her eyes, and her voice had sounded congested. "Hinata, did you sleep at all?"
"I couldn't," she pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed her bloodshot eyes, "not after the scare we had." Her voice sounded scratchy.
Naruto slid out of his tent and put his boots back on, "We still have an hour, Hinata," he said. "Why don't you lay down next to the campfire, I'll keep watch while you rest."
"A-are you sure?"
"Hinata, I'm last watch, and I'm waking the camp. You need whatever sleep you can; we're all already going to be tired as is."
"O-okay, Naruto-kun," she stammered. Hinata nervously laid down a short distance from the campfire. Naruto found himself a nearby log and sat near her, continuing to scan the woods. Every animal noise, every rustle of bushes was a potential threat, but nothing came for them. For a moment, he took his eyes off the woods and looked at Hinata, shivering slightly despite her proximity to the fire.
Naruto took off his jacket and draped in over her. Her shivering stopped. She looked so peaceful. Naruto wasn't sure why he suddenly felt so protective of her. Maybe it was the weird dream. As he watched the clock tick down, he kept thinking of her even as his eyes scanned the tree line for danger. Hinata had jokingly suggested he had some vision of the future when he saw the girl in the waterfall – the girl he was pretty sure was her. Is the dream a vision, too? He couldn't tell. He certainly liked Hinata, but here and now was neither the time nor place to explore the issue. They were in danger, and there wouldn't be time to figure things out if they both died today.
Before he knew it, his watch read 0600. Naruto began waking up the camp. They had a long day ahead. Everyone had been woken except Hinata. "Hinata," he gently brushed her hair from her face, "time to wake up."
Her eyes opened, and she leaned up, seeing his jacket over her. "N-Naurto-kun?"
"You were shivering," he explained, hoping he wasn't blushing too badly. He offered her a hand, "it's time to get moving, Hinata." He helped her to her feet, and she handed him back his jacket. He could faintly detect the scent of rose water and jasmine around his collar. The scent invigorated him through his exhaustion. Despite all the possible danger ahead, the familiar scent that had guided him to her rescue years ago reassured him. Everything will be okay, just keep the team safe… and keep her safe!