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"You never said anything about my performance," Hinata said in an attempt to chance the subject.

Naruto blinked a few times before chuckling and putting on his grin. "Your performance was the definition of perfection. I'm glad I had the honor of listening to it live and being a slave to your will as you controlled the audience like a puppeteer controls her marionettes."

Hinata wore a look of confusion at Naruto's choice of words but couldn't help but giggle after a bit. She was in the middle of her giggling fit when she looked at Naruto and noticed that his expression had hardened and he wasn't looking at her anyway.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata called to him and saw him look down at her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry Hinata, I have to go," Naruto said before quickly making his exit out of the ballroom.

Opposites Attract: Chapter 13 – "This Isn't Child's Play"

Naruto had made it into the vestibule when he heard chaos erupt in the dining room. He immediately stopped in his tracks and looked back to see the crowd just rushing towards a portion of the dining room he couldn't see from where he stood.

"I guess that took effect a little sooner than we had anticipated," Baji commented and Naruto turned to see Baji directly behind him while the group of teens that had been spotted in Zabuza's club just a little over a week ago stood behind him with proud smiles and confident smirks on their faces.

"It's pretty bold of you to follow us out here by yourself, Young Master," the youngest in the group, Tayuya, spoke up as she took some steps so she was face to face with Naruto. "What exactly did you think was going to happen when you caught up with us? We'd talk or something like that?"

"There you are!" Naruto looked over his shoulder and watched as Sasuke quickly made his way over to him with a look of relief on his face. "Minato and Kushina said you ran out of the dining room and got worried," he explained before he noticed Baji and the others. "What's this?"

"Oh, you were the young man hanging on my Sweet Little Princess earlier this evening," Baji commented. "Uchiha Sasuke, was it? I have to say, you play the piano beautifully. Tell me, are you also fucking the violinist? She's a little too developed for my taste but I wouldn't mind going a couple rounds with her. Something tells me she's a screamer. The quiet ones are usually the screamers."

Sasuke grabbed ahold of Naruto's arm and held him back. "The last thing you want to do is make a scene out here while there's one unfolding in there," Sasuke warned and noticed the amount of security guards that made their way into the ballroom. "Plus, you're already on thin ice as it is with Master Hiashi. If you so much as raise your voice a little too high, he's not going to have any trouble receding your invitation again."

"Oh?" Baji was amused. "The violinist is yours then? Tell me, is she like a completely different person when you fuck her or is she just as quiet and polite as she is when she's in a crowd? I'm curious."

"Shut your mouth," Naruto snarled and did his best to restrain himself and keep from pummeling Baji until his blood permanently stained the marble flooring beneath them. "How much longer do you think you're going to be able to run around like this?"

"For as long as I deem necessary," Baji answered. "You see, I have more power in this particular situation that you do right now, you know that, right? If it becomes public knowledge of who I am then Hyuuga Hiashi is virtually ruined. Not only that, the Konoha Police Department that so kindly provided the security for this event – which I shall remind you, is primarily members of the Uchiha Clan – will be scrutinized. And not only that, the security at the prison I walked out of, will be questioned and a majority of the guards there are Uchiha as well. I'd be ruining two families just by announcing myself and all I would need is ten seconds to do so. But don't even get me started on what I could do to that precious little family of yours if I really put in the effort."

"I doubt you're stupid enough to let yourself be seen and end up back in a maximum-security prison," Naruto countered and saw Baji withdraw himself a little. "I knew you were an idiot when you decided to show your face here of all places but you're not that much of an idiot to let the whole world that you're nothing more than a two-bit pedophilic gangster who let himself get caught because he wanted to prove a moot point."

Baji sucked his teeth. "You really are your mother's son. Kushina had a mouth like that on her too but she wasn't quite as sharp as you are. But at the end of the day, when people like them who are in the positions they're in have their images threatened, they lose all sense of reason and bend easily."

"Don't think that I'm going to let you keep running around like this," Naruto warned, a new look entering his eyes that caused even Sasuke to be a little uncomfortable. "My parents might've spared you but I guarantee I'm nowhere near as forgiving. You'll pay for everything you did to my sister."

Baji chuckled a bit before leaning down and meeting Naruto's eyes on even ground. "You really do talk big, Young Master. But I recommend you stop trying to play adult games before you get yourself killed. There's still plenty about this world you don't know so don't go around acting all high and mighty when you're still nothing more than a child."

Sasuke tightened his grip around Naruto's arm and watched as Baji left with a triumphant expression on his face. Following behind him, the group of teens, each of them walking with their heads held high with proud expressions on their faces. As soon as they were out of sight, Sasuke let go of Naruto who managed to contain himself but bite his lip so hard that he broke the skin and he started to bleed.

"I'll kill him," Naruto growled from the back of his throat.

Sasuke reached into his breast pocket and held out a handkerchief that Naruto snatched and held against his lip. He didn't say anything as guest seem to rush out of the dining room and flee from whatever was happening inside. Amongst the chaos, the two stood calmly through it all and were approached by Kakashi who wore a look of worry on his face.

"What happened?" Sasuke questioned as he looked around the room and saw looks of distraught and horror on most of the guests faces.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "It looks like that some Styx got into the party and some kids took it. A fight broke up between the two of them and it got pretty ugly pretty fast. Security was able to subdue the two of them."

"Was anyone seriously injured?" Sasuke questioned and let out a sigh of relief as Kakashi shook his head. He looked around the room one last time before he saw Sakura making her way towards him. He opened his arms and held her close as she hugged him and buried her face into his chest, her whole body shaking. "It's okay," he cooed as he rubbed her back and kissed her head. "You're okay. I'm here."

"I had only heard stories of Styx but I didn't know it was that bad," Sakura whined, her voice trembling.

"There you are," Minato said as he approached with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kushina. Along with them, Hinata was with them and a cowering Hanabi hung to Hinata's skirt. "Naruto-kun? What happened to your lip?"

"I bit it," Naruto admitted before removing the handkerchief and seeing just how much blood was on it. He rolled his eyes and held it back against his lip before looking at Hinata and noticing Hanabi. "Where are Master Hiashi and Lady Hiyori?"

"They're inside trying to calm down the parents of the two guys who got into the fight," Hinata admitted quietly. She looked down at Hanabi and placed a gentle hand atop her head while she wore a worried expression. "Hanabi-chan, it's okay. You're safe."

Naruto looked at Hanabi for a moment before making his way over to her and kneeling against the ground. He wore a smile despite the handkerchief on his face and he seemed to be back to normal as his eyes shined and radiated warmth. "Hanabi-chan, was it?"

Hanabi peaked out from behind Hinata's skirt and caught a glimpse of a shining Naruto. She blushed a little at the sight of him and nodded.

"I'm Naruto," he introduced himself and held out his hand respectfully. Hanabi held out a shy hand and shook it gently all while staying behind Hinata. He laughed a little at her shyness. "I guess what you saw was pretty scary, huh?"

Hanabi nodded.

"Well then," Naruto stood up and put his fist against his chest, "I swear to protect you for as long as I live. So long as I'm breathing, there is nothing in this world that will frighten you or hurt you again. Sound good?"

Hanabi seemed to light up at the sound of getting her own personal night. She stepped out from behind Hinata and smiled. "Sounds good!"

"Great," Naruto said with a grin before seeing the look on Hinata's face. He smiled at her and watched as a massive blush came across her cheeks before she tried to turn away and hide her face. He chuckled before looking back at Hanabi. "Let's get along, shall we?"

Hanabi nodded with a sweet smile of her own. It faded however when Toneri had managed to make his way over to the lot of them and take it upon himself to hug Hinata in a tight embrace. Hinata instinctively pushed Toneri away and Naruto celebrated proudly on the inside while everyone tried to pretend they didn't just witness their awkward encounter.

"Lady Hinata, I'm sorry, that was forward," Toneri quickly – and awkwardly – apologized for his forwardness with some short and stiff bowing. He stood upright and cleared his throat. "Are you, all right?"

"I'm fine," Hinata answered meekly. "Outsutsuki-san, I think it would be best if you went and checked on your family before you came and checked on me. My father entrusted me to Master Minato so I'm in very capable hands if anything were to happen again. Please, worry about your family first."

"Oh," Toneri looked at Minato and saw him smile, "I suppose you're right. I'm sorry, I was just concerned is all. But, I'm glad you're okay. If you'll excuse me." Toneri left as quickly as he entered.

The remainder of the night was filled with gossip and rumors as to how Styx got into the party in the first place. There was speculation that Naruto or Sakura might have brought the substance into the party but after a few glares from Minato and Kushina, the rumors died. Then it was said that both the boys who had taken it had brought it in from the outside. Either way, no definite answers were given and the party was ended before the auction or donations could be done properly. Instead, guest dropped checks into baskets on the way out but they still seemed to buzz about the fact that they were just inches away from someone who was on Styx. It was sickening.

"Thank you for watching after my daughters Minato, I greatly appreciate it," Hiashi said in a grateful tone as he put an arm around Hinata's shoulder and placed a hand on Hanabi's head. "I just can't wrap my mind around how Styx could've gotten into the party," Hiashi sighed and shook his head. "This whole thing is a mess."

"Don't stress about it too much, okay Hiashi?" Minato advised. "Styx has been a growing problem in Konoha for the past couple of weeks and it seems to be spreading further and further by the day. We should just be lucky that it was only two kids instead of a handful of them. You saw the amount of damage two kids high on Styx caused. I don't even want to begin to image what could've happened if there was a group of them."

"I suppose you're right," Hiashi said as he looked at Hinata. "And thank you, for handling things out here for my wife and me. I know that gossip spreads quickly amongst these socialites and the fact you were able to contain this is more than I could ever ask of you."

"It was no trouble at all," Minato responded. "And don't worry about the donations from tonight's party, all right? In the morning, you should give me a call and you and I can plan another Charitarian Ball. Maybe around New Year's? People are going to want to make a good impression on the New Year and there's no better way to do that than to make donations towards causes greater than themselves."

Hiashi chuckled. "You're right. All right, I'll give you a call in the morning and we can hash out the details of it all. In the meantime, I hope you all have a good night."

"You too," Minato said as he reached out and shook Hiashi's hand. "I'll talk to you in the morning," Minato reminded Hiashi before heading down the rest of the steps and meeting up with the others. "Kakashi-kun, Anko-chan, I need the two of you to start searching for Baji with some of the others, understood?" Minato ordered casually.

"We'll watch Kosuke-kun for you until you get home," Kushina assured them and saw both Kakashi and Anko nod. "We already called Obito-chan and he should be here soon," as Kushina mentioned this, a black SUV pulled up just on the other side of the street and they could see Obito sitting in the driver's seat. "Call us if you figure anything out."

"Of course," Kakashi answered before crossing the street with Anko and climbing into Obito's SUV.

"Naruto-kun," Kushina looked to her son, "Kosuke-kun should already be at the estate so your father and I are going to need you and Sakura-chan to watch him for a couple of hours."

"Where are you two going?" Naruto questioned.

"Elsewhere," Kushina answered vaguely.

"You'll take the limo home with Otou-san and Okaa-san," Minato said before he whistled and watched as the limo they arrived in pulled up. "We'll be home later tonight."

Before Naruto could protest, Minato and Kushina had made their way towards a separate car and climbed into the backseat. He sucked his teeth and climbed into the limo with Sakura, Tsunade, and Jiraiya before the limo pulled off and began to make its way back towards the Whirlwind Yakuza Estate.

"Naruto," Jiraiya spoke up and saw Naruto look towards him, "I think it would be best if you stayed out of this situation for the remainder of it, understood?"

"You can't be serious," Naruto argued.

"I'm very serious," Jiraiya responded. "Now that we know Baji is still in charge of Phoenix, we can only suspect that he'll whatever he can to get us to bow out and give him Konoha. You were too young to understand what happened the first time but all you need to know about back then was that Baji did things that were enough to make Minato want to drive off the deep end. Stay out of this for the remainder of this situation, do you understand me?"

Naruto opened his mouth to argue but the look Jiraiya shot him was enough to cause him to remain quiet. He sucked his teeth and leaned back in his seat and looked out the window at the passing city.

To Be Continued...