A/N: A MILESTONE! CHAPTER 40! When I started writing this I didn't think I'd get to this many chapters but here we are! As I've already mentioned, this site has been having some problems and my last chapter was M.I.A. for a few days so I hope that there will be no problems with this one and I hope you enjoy because it is thanks to all of you liking this story that I am still writing it.

Sukoshi took a few steps back without breaking eye contact with the growling blonde. He was frozen under his glare and he could not look away from those red eyes.

"What in the actual hell are you?" He trembled as a sudden wash of a dark chakra blew over him and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"I'm a ninja who won't let you get anywhere near any of us." Naruto replied while making his signature hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He roared as clouds of smoke appeared all around making a circle as a protective wall around them. All of the clones sported the same fiery red eyes so after they appeared on Tozoku's side once their eyes met the large bandit took a step back along with his men.

Amai looked at all of the clones. "Woah! There is so many of them."

Yuna looked around her as all of the clones pulled out a kunai each, serving as a barricade against the bandits. The clones where facing their opponents so the family could not see their red eyes. Their enemies pulled out weapons of their own which consisted of swords and daggers in different sizes. The sight of so many blades terrified the little Amai and tears started to well up in his eyes. "Mommy…"

Umi hugged her son protectively. "It's ok, sweetie."

The fear in the boy's eyes struck a chord in Hinata and she reactivated her byakugan and glared around at the bandits. Suddenly, the thugs roared and charged towards the clones. As the clones occupied the sidekicks, Sasuke and Sakura swiftly took the family away from the battle sight and hid them in the bushes nearby. Sakura stayed with them as Sasuke went back to the fight. Upon returning he saw that Hinata had already knocked out Tozoku's men by shutting off their chakra, while Naruto's clones, while a few of them dispersed, managed to restrain Sukoshi's men by holding onto their weapons thus making them defenseless. Tozoku swiped at Sasuke with his sword which the Uchiha dodged with ease giving him an unexpected uppercut. Tozoku took a few steps back and spat out a bit of blood before cursing at Sasuke and trying to cut him with his sword again using quicker motions this time. Sasuke's sharingan avoided all of his moves until Tozoku got so frustrated that he lost his focus on Sasuke which gave him an opening to aim his kunai at the large man's face. Tozoku, having only one free hand, grabbed the kunai before it made contact with his face. Sasuke quickly let go of the kunai and grabbed Tozoku's sword and disarmed him. Tozoku chuckled and pointed the kunai towards Sasuke who raised a brow before the kunai turned into a puff of smoke which left a twig in Tozoku's hand in place of the kunai. Tozoku looked at the twig in shock and Sasuke took that distraction to point the sword at his neck and call for his shy teammate who swiftly came over and shut off Tozoku's chakra knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes changed back to blue as he was still fighting Sukoshi who did not seem to be such a threat now because he was not even trying to fight back but kept his distance until he saw that his rival had been defeated. Grinning at Tozoku's unconscious body as Sasuke tightly tied him to a tree he looked around at his fallen men and chuckled at his opponent. "Excellent, now I get the loot all for myself."

"Not gonna happen." Naruto said as he charged at him and their kunai's clashed a few times before they backed off and repeated this a few times before Sasuke joined in. "We need to restrain him so Hinata can shut his chakra off." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded and backed away motioning for his teammate to do the same. Then he made a few hand sighs and planted his feet firmly into the ground. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He blew a giant wave of sharp wind towards Sukoshi who did not even have time to shield his face from the wind as he underestimated Naruto so much that he did not expect the jutsu to be of this intensity. The wind blew him away and made him crash into a tree and caused cuts and scrapes from the wind all over his face and arms. Sasuke starred at Naruto in shock. "When did he learn a new jutsu?" Hinata immediately run up to Sukoshi and was about to shut his chakra off but he grabbed her hand startling her and squeezed hard making her yelp. Naruto ran up to them and started yelling at him. "Let her go you bastard!" Sukoshi aimed his other hand towards the blonde but Naruto grabbed it and held onto it until Hinata knocked him out with her free hand. They tied the rest of them up too and made their way towards Sakura and the others.

"Are you just going to leave them there?" Korashi asked.

"Well, if they are as amazing as they say they are they will find a way to free themselves. Let's get as far away from here as we can before they wake up." Sasuke suggested and the rest nodded in agreement.

Naruto turned to Hinata. "Are you ok?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah. Are you?"

He nodded back before going up to Amai and kneeling down in front of him. "You ok, buddy?"

Amai wiped his tears away before nodding. "Yeah, that was awesome back there!"

Naruto chuckled. "Well, that's my job. Can you walk?" The boy nodded. "Ok then, let's get going guys."

After walking at a faster pace for a while, Yuna stopped and put her hands on her knees. "Can we slow down now?" She complained. "My feet hurt like hell."

"No." Sasuke replied flatly. "We aren't far enough yet."

Yuna snarled at Sasuke and sighed in exhaustion. "Why did we have to walk?! We almost got killed just now! What if we run into some more bad guys?"

"That's what we're here for, we'll kick their asses again." Naruto replied.

"But there's no way that you're stronger than everyone else in this forest! What if we-"

"Enough." Sasuke interrupted Yuna. "We need to go further up, you are wasting our time. We aren't even walking that fast."

"Speak for yourself! You're used to this and I'm not!" Yuna retorted slightly embarrassed at getting scolded by the Uchiha.

Naruto looked at Umi and Korashi with Amai on his back and they did not seem to be exhausted. "Can you two keep going?" He asked them and they nodded quickly. "Ok, then. You guys all keep going and we'll catch up." He said while turning his gaze towards Yuna who blushed. He then walked up to Hinata and handed her his backpack. "You mind?"

"Not at all." She said as she took his backpack in her arms. He turned towards the rest of them and motioned to them to go. Sasuke and Sakura nodded and the five of them continued walking. He then turned towards Hinata again. "Are we too far away for you to check if those goons woke up?"

She shook her head and activated her byakugan while still looking at him. "I see them, they appear to still be unconscious."

Yuna looked at her in disbelief. "How? You didn't even turn around." She crossed her arms annoyed.

"My byakugan allows me to see 360 degrees around me, I do not need to." Hinata calmly replied.

Yuna's eyes widened. "Oh."

Naruto smiled slightly and rubbed Hinata's arm. "You go too, we'll catch up."

She looked in his eyes for a moment and then nodded. "Ok." She then hurried to catch up with the others.

Naruto turned towards Yuna and he seemed oblivious of the blush that appeared on her face. "Look…" He started. "Your parents wanted this to be an adventure for your brother. I know that you are probably used to always getting whatever you want but sometimes that's not gonna happen. You can lay in your bed all you want when you get home, but right now we need to move, alright?"

She sighed and nodded. "Fine."

"Good. Now get on my back."

"W-what?"

"Come on." Naruto kneeled down. "The others are pretty far away now and I said that we'll catch up."

"B-b-but…" She stammered as her face got redder and redder.

"Come on already." Naruto hurried her.

She gulped and got on his back and almost screamed when he speedily stood up and gripped her legs with his hands. "Hold on tight."

"Uh, how are we going to..." She mumbled while she awkwardly hesitated to put her arms around his neck.

Suddenly, he jumped up onto a tree branch and she let out a startled scream. "I won't drop you but you still better hold on."

"Alrig- AAAHH!" She yelled as he jumped onto a branch, after branch, after branch as he picked up speed. "You're too fast!"

"That's the point!" He grinned.

In a matter of a few minutes they caught up with the others. "Hey, slowpokes!" Naruto called out to them with a laugh as he surpassed them.

Sakura and Sasuke sighed in annoyance as the parents chuckled in amusement. "I think she likes him." Umi said.

Hinata's neck snapped towards her in an instant. "What?"

"Yuna… I think she might have a little crush on Naruto there." Umi giggled. "How adorable!"

Hinata felt her heart stop for a second. She stared into space for a few moments without blinking and her throat dried out. She was pulled back from her thoughts by Sakura who put her hand on the girl's shoulder and whispered to her. "You know Naruto better than anyone. I think that you know you have nothing to worry about."

Hinata took a deep breath and gripped her boyfriend's backpack. "You're right."

"Attagirl." Sakura smiled and patted her shoulder.

Meanwhile, Yuna was gripping Naruto's shoulders as he bolted through the trees. "How far are we going to go?" She managed to say as the wind was whipping though her hair and making her unable to open her eyes completely.

"Riiiiiiggghhtt about… here!" Naruto announced as he landed in a field which was full of low grass with some flowers but it had a bunch of large rocks formed in a circle in a part of the clearing which did not have grass growing on it. He analyzed it for a moment before he walked up to the rocks.

"Looks like these rocks were moved here from the side of that mountain over there." He looked towards the said mountain to his left. "Someone moved them here to sit on them and it looks like they come here often enough that them stepping around this circle made the grass stop growing." He deduced.

Yuna walked up to him. "How did you figure out all that?"

Naruto pointed to the ground. "See the shoe prints? They go everywhere but they are all different which means that a lot of people were here. And see how some of them are smoother than others? That means that they were deeper but then it would rain and the soil would become smooth. That tells me that the prints that have texture on them are more recent." He looked at her and smiled.

She blushed. "Wow. That's cool."

He grinned. "Well, cool ninja know cool stuff, ya know."

She giggled. "I guess so."

"We can sit here and wait for the others." He suggested.

She smiled and sat next to him. "So… how did you become a ninja?" She asked ad started playing with a lock of her hair again.

After a short while the others caught up to them and as they approached Naruto finished up his story. "And then Iruka-sensei was so impressed that he let me graduate! And in fact, he gave me his own headband." He said while pointing to his forehead.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Yuna commented.

"Oh, what a nice spot you found!" Umi said as she approached them and sat on one of the rocks and sighed. "Ah, well that was some exercise, wasn't it?"

"It sure was." Korashi agreed as he lowered his son onto the ground.

Naruto got up and walked up to Hinata and took his backpack from her. "Thanks."

"No problem." She said and bit her lip before she spoke. "You… told Yuna about Mizuki?"

"Don't worry, I didn't give out anything important and I didn't say his name." He grinned. "I just made myself sound cooler."

She giggled. "Well, you were very cool back then too."

He blushed a bit. "Nah, you're only saying that cuz you love me."

"I do, but I mean it." She gave him an honest smile. "To me, you were always very cool."

Naruto looked at her lovingly. She looked like an angel in his eyes.

"Hey." The two snapped back to reality when Sasuke interrupted their moment. "Are we far enough?" He asked looking at Hinata.

She activated her byakugan for a moment. "I cannot see them anymore."

"Good." Sasuke nodded. "We'll rest here for a bit and then we'll keep going." He said as the three of them walked back towards the rocks.

"So what do we do about those bandits now?" Korashi asked.

"Nothing." Naruto answered. "If they come after us again they are dumber than they look."

"What if they bring more of their friends this time?" Amai asked quietly and hugged his knees. He was scared.

Naruto got up and kneeled in front of him. "We can handle many more goons than that, those guys were nothing." He smiled softly at the worried boy. "Besides, if they actually think that you guys have a lot of money, bringing more thieves with them would mean that they won't get as much for themselves, and that… would be really stupid, eh?"

Amai chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." The boy grinned. "And you guys will just beat them up again."

"Exactly. And you know why?" Naruto asked then puffed out his chest and flexed his arm. "Because we are awesome!"

The others laughed at him while Sasuke just got up and looked around.

Sakura looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Isn't it weird how easily we beat those guys?"

"What are you thinking? That they were holding back?"

"To the point that they got beaten? There's something there that doesn't sit right with me." He turned towards his teammates. "Naruto, I'll go check around for those guys, you get going now."

"Huh? Why?" Naruto raised a brow.

"Just go." Sasuke turned and started walking back.

"Why are you the one to go? What if they're awake? You can't handle all of them on your own." Naruto got up. "I'll go, I have my clones. You stay here and look after the others."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine, but don't be an idiot. As soon as you see them, get back here. Don't get closer to them and don't challenge them, you hear me?"

"Yeah, I know." Naruto waved him off and started walking but Hinata grabbed his hand. "Sasuke has a point." She said as he turned to face her.

"You are amazingly strong, you know that, but I know that you like to prove that to people."

Naruto snickered. "I won't get too close, I promise."

"Promise?" She asked with worry in her eyes.

"Promise." He smiled and placed a quick gentle kiss on her lips.

Korashi and Umi stared at the two in shock as Naruto ran back into the woods.

Yuna's jaw dropped as she glared at Hinata's back. "No way… she's… they are…"

Once Hinata turned around Amai swung his legs excitedly. "Are you his girlfriend?" He asked eagerly.

Hinata blushed and nodded fiddling with her fingers.

Amai laughed childishly. "So you two are like, a couple?"

Hinata nodded again getting shy about being put on the spot.

"Oh, how lovely!" Umi gushed. "Have you two been together for a while?"

Hinata nodded again.

"Awww, how cute!" Umi leaned her head on her husband's shoulder which made him chuckle. "I never would have guessed, you two are such opposites."

"Well, opposites attract, dear." Korashi said.

Umi smiled and then eyed Sakura and Sasuke. "Are you two a couple as well?"

The two flinched and blushed. "Uh, we, ah, no NO! We are not!" Sakura stammered waving her hands while Sasuke just shook his head and turned away.

Hinata turned her head to try to contain her laugh.

"Why not?" Umi asked.

The totally unexpected question took them off guard and they just froze not knowing how to answer. Suddenly a shout drew their attention. They turned to see Naruto running towards them.

"Why are you guys still here? I told you to go!"

Noticing the upset tone in his voice Sasuke frowned at him. "What happened?"

"Sukoshi and Tozoku are gone. They got loose, I just don't know what they cut the ropes with but there was blood on them."

"What did the cuts look like?" Sasuke asked.

"They were more like tears than cuts, the rope is kinda stretched. Whatever they used wasn't really sharp."

Sakura looked at him. "Their teeth?"

Amai gulped in shock. "Teeth?!"

"Maybe." Naruto replied. "But whenever I bit though a rope I never bled."

Amai just looked at him slack-jawed.

"What about the others?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto opened his mouth then closed it and swallowed.

"What is it?" Sakura frowned at him.

"The others are still tied up… but they're dead."

…

"What?" Hinata asked shocked.

"Did Sukoshi and Tozoku do it?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know." Naruto shook his head. "There's no blood, no injuries on them, no nothing. I just noticed that they weren't breathing so I checked their pulse and they had none."

"Were they suffocated?" Hinata suggested.

"Maybe." Sakura replied with a shrug.

"W-what if… I killed them with my gentle fist?" Hinata gripped her jacket with her hands.

Sakura shook her head. "Maybe they had prior internal injuries or something. I don't think that your gentle fist alone could have killed them."

"Yeah, but what if…" Hinata trembled.

"Hey, it doesn't matter." Naruto rubbed her shoulders. "They were bad guys and they were our enemies, you did nothing wrong."

"He's right." Sasuke agreed.

Hinata just nodded and let out a quiet deep breath.

"But if Sukoshi and Tozoku did do it… what are they planning?" Sakura added.

"I don't know and I don't want to stick around to find out. Let's go." Sasuke suggested and they all got up and started walking quickly. "I think that we shouldn't set camp anymore, let's try to walk through the night so we can get to our destination tomorrow during the day. We'll rest a few times to eat but not for long."

"Roger." Naruto agreed.

Yuna walked in front of everyone with her hands clutched into tight fists. Naruto noticed her strange behavior as she was always the one to drag her feet. "You ok, Yuna? There's nothing to worry about, ok?"

Yuna just turned to glare at him and whipped her head back around and crossed her arms. "Hmph!"

Naruto looked at her mother puzzled. "What's up with her?"

Umi just shrugged awkwardly and turned to look at her husband.

Hinata looked at Umi with sadness and recalled all the times at the academy when she watched Naruto fawn over Sakura. She knew exactly why Yuna was upset and she knew what that felt like. As bad as she felt for her, she would never let anything come between her and Naruto.

"Would those two really kill their men?" Sakura whispered to her comrades. "I mean, it's not like they are best friends but they're still a gang."

"What if… there was someone else?" Hinata suggested. "Maybe someone came and injured or possibly killed Tozoku and Sukoshi and took them away and killed the other men?"

"Maybe their boss or whoever?" Naruto added.

"If that's the case…" Sasuke spoke. "Then we might actually be in danger."