A sincere thank you to all who showed interest and/or reviewed my story.

I hope you enjoy the read.

"You're never more alive
than the first time
someone puts a gun
to your favorite head
and asks you to dance."

The sun was already high in the sky by the time Itsuki woke up for the second time that day. He heard the voices of Koya and Gou in the early morning, when they moored the ship to its assigned pier, but decided to stay in his bunk in an attempt to catch some more sleep. The next part of their journey would be the most dangerous and he would need the rest. The Land of Water had been one of the first to recover after the war, though its rise in crime had also seen an increase in the last couple of years. With the great nations having become allies, the rogue shinobi and various criminal elements that would try to escape one nation no longer could find refuge in another. Consequently, a lot of them figured out that the Land of Water would be the one where, even if discovered, they had the highest chance to evade authorities by hoping from one island to the other. This situation led to the Water Nation becoming a picture which contrasted economic growth and advancements in technology with underground criminal organizations and fugitives.

"Here you go, miss Hinata. A few strips of beef, for the road. I washed them of the brine, just like before, so I suggest you eat them as fast as the next meal."

Hinata lowered herself to one knee, accepting the neatly wrapped package with a thank you and placing it in the brown leather bag that dangled beneath her travel cloak, on her side. She wasn't keen on eating more of the same food they had consumed for the last week and a half, but couldn't outright refuse the boy's gesture.

"I know there is more tasty food on shore. I'm not stupid. But this one will keep you strong, like a seaman!"

"I know, Junichiro. I could see how strong you were all throughout our voyage." She couldn't hide a smile at the boy's blush.

"I'm sorry to see you go, you know. I'd gotten used to seeing a pretty girl around the ship. Now all I'm left with is Gou's and the old man's ugly mugs."

"I'm sure captain Koya will find new people to ferry and you'll get the chance to spend time with them."

"Maybe, but even if he does, it's not like they will be royalty."

"Junichiro… actually… me and Sasuke are not really-"

"I know, I know. It's supposed to be a secret." He winked at her. "I just get too excited sometimes and it slips out." The boy bowed his head apologetically. "But listen… if your prince over there ever mistreats you, come and let me know. I'll show him a thing or two about how to treat a princess."

Hinata glanced over her shoulder at her team leader talking with Koya on the bow of the ship, then back to Junichiro. "I'm sure I'll be fine." She extended her arm, patting the boy's head gently. "Thank you. And you better make sure to listen to captain Koya and Gou."

"Yes, your highness!" The boy tried his best to perform a formal bow, then made an about face and left, letting Hinata notice Itsuki's presence behind her.

"Why does he keep calling you that? It's not the first time I've heard him address you as such."

"It's just… a game we play." She lied, straightening her posture. Hinata felt uncomfortable not only with the inquiry but, for some reason, with the overall presence of the young lord. He had done nothing to her, and despite the ship confining them to a limited area for several days, they had barely spoke since their journey began. Still, sometimes she would catch him staring at her with a gleam in his eyes that was unsettling. Whenever he spoke to her team mates in casual conversation, he would smile and be polite – as polite as the son of a daimyo could be when speaking to lowborn people – but when the conversation was over and he thought nobody was focusing on him, that darker disposition would settle in again. It was something that had not been there the first time they met, back during her visit to the Land of Fire's capital. Still, she was a shinobi with a mission and was not about to let petty things like an uncomfortable feeling get in the way of fulfilling her duty. "Sasuke and the captain are discussing our route to the capital. Kiba and Shino have left to purchase horses for us. On this leg of the journey, we will join you on horseback, in order to maintain the cover of traveling merchants."

"It will be good to finally be off this ship." Itsuki stroked his chin. "How long will the ride to the capital take?"

"Three days, if we spare the horses."

"And if we don't?"

Hinata frowned, remembering the state of the poor creature that Itsuki rode from the safe house to the harbor town. "Perhaps two…"

"Good. I would like to reach our destination as soon as possible."

"I believe Sasuke will ultimately decide our pace." She knew the lord would dislike being reminded of that, but they were no longer going through the relative safe borders of the Land of Fire, and maintaining their cover was paramount.

"We'll see about that…"

[…]

The cobbles that carved a serpentine path through the grassy plain before them had no end in sight, to Itsuki's dismay. The traffic of passerby's had been reduced significantly once they cleared the main road connecting the harbor to the capital, and took a side route which offered more cover from prying guards posted at various checkpoints. The field to his right had been plowed recently, leaving the dark soil exposed in great clods, giving a musty dampness to the air. The rows created a pattern that drew his eyes to the horizon where he could see a few farms dotting the landscape. As if in opposition, on the left side of the road the earth had been left fallow and wild with untamed growth where flowers competed with weeds for the sunlight. As his horse trekked on at a steady pace, he would occasionally hear the sound of a small creature scurrying away deeper into the vegetation. The view painted a picture of serene beauty – one which Itsuki couldn't help but despise. In the past, he would have enjoyed nothing more than to get lost in such a peaceful place, especially since it contrasted the overpopulated, industrialized capital of the Fire Nation, which he grew up in. Now, though, every hour spent on the road was a sobering reminder of what awaited him at their destination. Ahead and behind of him rode his escorts in pairs of two – tools of his father, only here to ensure that he did not stray from the path that was chosen for him.

"How much longer until we reach our first stop?" Itsuki nudged his heels into his horse's sides, catching up to Sasuke and Hinata.

"Over that hill, the route will take us through a forest. Koya mentioned we should be able to find shelter with one of his acquaintances, who runs a lodge. It's a gathering spot for hunters in the area who prefer a roof over their head at night."

"And you are sure the word of that… delinquent can be trusted?"

Sasuke looked at the young lord with uncaring eyes before moving his gaze back to the road in front of them, not deeming the question worth answering. Behind them, Kiba and Shino watched the scene unfold.

"Hey, Shino… you ever notice that Hinata is spending more and more time with the Uchiha?" Kiba leaned in the saddle towards his team mate, confident that the distance between the two groups of riders was enough to keep the conversation private.

"Yes."

"…"

"…"

"Don't just say yes and stop there, dammit! Don't you think that is weird?" Kiba burst out but caught himself when the three people ahead turned to check what the ruckus was about.

"No."

"…"

"…"

"You need to work on your communication skills." Kiba drooped his head in defeat.

"Maybe that is what she is doing with Sasuke."

The Inuzuka was caught off guard for a moment, unsure of whether the response had been a joke or a serious proposition. "It cannot be only that. I've seen them smile at each other and snicker about who knows what. Whenever I ask them about them, they either pretend it wasn't happening or give me some nonsense reason. My nose tells me something else is happening."

"And what would that be?"

"Well… you know what I mean. S.o.m.e.t.h.i.n.g." Kiba narrowed his eyes.

"Even if Hinata were to develop feelings for Sasuke, what would be wrong with that?" Shino's flat tone on the topic completely contrasted Kiba's agitation.

"Eh? Feelings?! I was just thinking of them becoming friends, but what you're suggesting is much worse."

"I am fairly certain that you were suggesting it, just now."

"I mean, with Uchiha Sasuke of all people?" Kiba droned on, ignoring the interjection from his team mate. "The guy is serious bad news. We all know that. You were there when Koya told us how they met. He acts on his own and nobody really knows what he's been doing these last four years, since the war."

"Seems to me that he has been traveling and solving problems for the Land of Fire, if captain Koya's story is anything to go by."

"Or maybe that was just an exception. We could never know, because he never answers to anybody but himself. And what about Hinata's feelings for Naruto? That's not the kind of thing that goes away, just like that."

"Hinata has changed since the war – more so than any of us." Shino paused to make sure he had Kiba's attention this time. "I know you have been trying to fill in the role of a big brother to her since Neji's passing… And I cannot speak on the matter of her feelings towards either the Uchiha or Naruto, but what I can tell you is that if you do not pay attention to who she has become, you might end up doing more harm than good with your efforts."

"You know… I think I preferred when your answers were short." He flashed his teeth in a grin and nudged the horse to catch up with the three.

[…]

"Sasuke, a word if I may." Shino gestured for the attention of his team leader, who separated from the leading group and fell back in pace with his caller. "For the last couple of hours, I have been keeping an active net of kikaichu, several kilometers wide, around us. They have been given instructions to track down any significant source of chakra entering the perimeter and transmit the position back to me. Nothing of the sort was reported yet, but there is an anomaly. A large group that traveled ahead of us – what I assumed at first to be a merchant caravan – has stopped at the forest's edge. Its members have since split up into three-man cells and took refuge in the trees. They have yet to move in over fifteen minutes.

"An ambush?"

"That is what I believe. Furthermore, because the individuals did not leak much chakra for my kikaichu to detect, I had passed the fact that they were maintaining our exact pace as mere coincidence. Now, given their recent behavior I am suspecting that they have been tracking us with the use of a sensory-type shinobi."

"Is it possible for them to hide their chakra reserves from your insects?"

"Yes. While nobody can completely nullify their presence from the detection of my kikaichu, a shinobi skilled in chakra control can do so well enough to be indistinguishable from a normal person."

"If that is the case, we should proceed on the assumption that all of them are shinobi."

"Agreed. I apologize for not having reported this sooner, when I first detected the group."

"You did well." He gave Shino an approving nod, then turned to the rest of the group, speaking in a loud tone. "We stop here for a moment."

"Oh, what is it now?!" Itsuki was already fuming at the decision. With the edge of the forest in sight, his sunburnt skin was craving for the simple comfort of a tree's shade. "Ignore his order." He all but barked at the rest of the group. "We press on!"

"There is a group of fifteen individuals that entered the forest before us, and we have reason to believe they have now set up an ambush for us." Sasuke chose to ignore the lord's childish outburst and explained the situation in a flat tone, more so for the sake of informing Kiba and Hinata, rather than Itsuki.

"How could you possibly know any of that? I didn't see any people ahead of us and I certainly don't see anything in the forest." He strained his eyes in a futile attempt at spotting what the Uchiha had mentioned.

"I will proceed alone, from here. You three will wait with lord Fuku until I return." There was no way of knowing for sure if the enemies were plain robbers or if, somehow, information about Itsuki's mission had been leaked to a rogue group of shinobi. If it turned out to be the latter case, he could not afford to fight such a number of foes with the escort target in close proximity. Sasuke only waited long enough to see his team acknowledge their orders – the moment they did so, he started moving and the afterimage of his body flickered out of existence before their eyes.

The complete silence of Itsuki's escorts started to weigh on him. Their usual, relaxed expressions had been replaced with absolute focus – eyes scanning the horizon in every direction for a sign of danger. As the minutes continued to drag on, his own patience with the situation waned. The wind carried no sounds of battle in the distance, nor did the edge of the forest show any activity. Thus, he decided to finally jump out of his saddle, if only for the small comfort of stretching his legs. He only had a second to contemplate the small dust cloud his landing stirred up before the ground beneath his feet turned soft and clay-like, his own weight sinking him into the soil, up to his knees. Reflexively, he tried to land a grip on his horse, but the scared animal bolted out of reach.

"Below us!"

Hinata's high pitched scream was the last thing Itsuki heard before he finally lost his balance and fell face-first into the mud. Desperate for air, he searched for a solid patch of soil and pushed against it, lifting himself back on his feet, only to see the figure of a man emerge from the ground in front of him. Instinct once again took over his body and he reached for the weapon at his waist, but his chance to strike vanished when Akamaru jumped on the opponent, toppling him and sinking his teeth into his neck.

"Protect lord Fuku!"

Seven more enemies erupted from the ground, filling the air with rocky debris and dust. Hinata was the first to react. Rushing to the one nearest her, she dropped her weight into a slide to avoid the man's initial swing of the sword and swept his legs from under him, bringing him to the ground. Without losing momentum, she focused her attention on the next opponent, threading the empty space between his punches and landing a firm blow to the right side of his chest. By the time Kiba followed through on the opening she had created on the first one, her second victim was on the ground, convulsing in pain and clutching the cloth below his collar bone. In the span of a few seconds two enemies had been incapacitated and she was now between Itsuki and any potential threat - her posture signaling the use of the Hyuga clan's gentle fist technique. When the next attack came, she leaned back, balancing her weight on her right foot, then immediately threw her left palm forward aiming for the center mass of her target. The attack never connected, but in his attempt to dodge, her attacker pivoted right in front of Kiba's lunge. Four enemies left.

"Focus on his guards." The sole woman of the group finally spoke out. "He'll be an easy target once they're dead."

At the command, two of the shinobi started weaving signs. After taking in a deep breath of air, they expelled in unison, covering the area in a heavy smoke. Straining to make sense of his surroundings under the new conditions, Shino took a few steps forward, trying to make his way to Itsuki and Hinata's position, only to hear the hum of a blade cutting through the air, a split second before it passed where his head had been. His evasive roll forced him further away from his intended destination. As a predominantly ranged fighter, this situation placed him at a severe disadvantage for he could not direct his insects at what he could not see. Another swing at his vitals and another near miss. This time around, though, after his dodge, the enemy's hand sprouted from the ground and grabbed Shino's ankle, dragging his body, waist-deep into the soil. The Aburame had only a second to process what happened to him, before the same enemy who dragged him down burst out of the dirt and shoved a short sword through the space between his shoulder and neck, all the way to the hilt.

"One down." The attacker voiced through ragged breaths.

"One down." Shino's voice came from behind him, as the body double he had created from insects quickly regained its amorphous form and started creeping up the man's arm, encasing him fully in a coffin of chakra devouring kikaichu.

The smoke held an ashy scent to it, rendering Kiba's sense of smell as useless as his sight. When he heard the screams of Shino's victim, he pulled out a kunai from his pouch and decided to move. A blast of air hit his center mass, knocking him off balance. Before he could react, a second wave send him flying out of the smoke - the sheer force of it leaving him breathless and dazed. When his vision adjusted to the now unobstructed sunlight, he could make out the silhouette of the woman who spoke previously, emerging from the smoke. The curved blades of the swords she held in each hand were glowing with chakra and kicked off a small whirlwind of dust whenever they came close to the ground, as she tried again and again to connect a hit. Kiba saw his opening amidst the constant barrage of swings when Akamaru lunged from the smoke and forced her to vault upwards. Immediately determining where she would land, he launched himself at the location and his extended claws found their mark, tearing out a chunk of flesh from her left thigh. Unable to support the stress of the landing, her leg collapsed, forcing her to release the grip on the blades. When the Inuzuka pivoted and leaped to deliver the finishing blow, she extended her arm, gathering a swirling mass of chakra for another blast of wind but Akamaru appeared on her flank, snapping his jaws around her wrist and pulling her arm out of alignment. There was not enough time to attempt another counter. The woman closed her eyes, surrendering to her fate, and a split second later Kiba's claws ripped through her throat, splashing her blood on the thirsty soil.

Hinata observed the fights of her team mates from her position near Itsuki, veins fueling her Byakugan with chakra, bulging around her eyes. The pained gurgles of her last opponent filled the air, but did nothing to distract her. The attacker had tried to surprise her from the cover of the smoke, unaware that her dojutsu allowed unobstructed vision and, consequently, placed her a step ahead of any ambush attempt. Her body flowed with the grace and precision of a dancer, never wasting more energy than needed to evade or deflect the incoming blows. A misstep on his part had been all Hinata needed to close the distance and force chakra through her palm right into his upper torso, collapsing his lung. Eventually she took pity on the shinobi, lowering herself to one knee and gently placing her hand on his chest. Amidst desperately gasping for air, the man reflexively grabbed her forearm in a last-ditch attempt to avoid what was coming, but with another chakra pulse on Hinata's part, the grasp loosened and his whole body went limp.

The last enemy took a step backwards, dispersing the remaining smoke by releasing his technique. Between deep breaths he eyed, in turn, each of the three Konoha shinobi who were carefully making their way towards him. Lastly, his gaze moved to Itsuki, and with final determination in his eyes, he brought his hands together, forming a seal. Shino's swarm immediately reacted, coming together behind him in wall that cut off any chance of escape. To the three's surprise the enemy leaped forward, instead of retreating.

"I'll take you all with me!" He ripped the clothes on his abdomen, revealing intricate markings that could only be the components of a seal.

"Get away from him!"

The man landed mere feet away from Hinata and Itsuki, intentionally taking the jab she threw to his left shoulder and using her own momentum to counter with a knee to her stomach. His left arm went numb, but before she could regain her balance, he moved his right hand to his mouth, biting of tip of his thumb and smearing blood on the markings of the seal.

"Too slow!"

Hinata watched for a moment as all the chakra in his system coalesced into a single point, then a shockwave erupted from his body, knocking the breath out of her lungs. A scream tore through the air as the markings started glowing and an omnidirectional vortex started drawing in everything within the radius of the technique. The kunoichi's first instinct was to vault out of reach, but she saw Itsuki lose his footing and moved to grab his hand, immediately infusing her feet with chakra in an attempt to anchor both of them in place. The vortex increased in strength with each second, its pull slowly overpowering the hold she could maintain. With Kiba and Shino outside of range, but unable to assist without getting caught in the radius themselves, and her strength rapidly reaching its limit, she focused her Byakugan on the seal once more. The chakra powering the technique was diminishing, but it would not exhaust in time for her and Itsuki to survive. The only chance she had was to release her grip and ride the current of air to its origin, using the gentle fist to shut down the source's tenketsu with a precise attack. There was no way of knowing if her own reserves of chakra would be sufficient for a strong enough blow to nullify the seal, or even if her arm would withstand the pressure at that range, without being torn apart. Every muscle of her body screamed at her for respite.

Hinata took a deep breath and summoned her last vestiges of strength, tugging Itsuki further away - then she lunged.

I believe anybody who has watched anime is familiar with the titular 'cut and roll the ending song' at the climax of an action scene... I think that, because I envision the scenes I write as animated in my head, it felt like a good point to end the chapter at.

Writing a fight scene between two groups that have multiple individuals was a new challenge for me. I hope the actioned 'flowed' appropriately and was not cumbersome to read or imagine.

Criticism and opinions are welcome.

Take care.