This chapter contains SPOILERS to the later chapters of the manga. You have been warned. I don't know what will happen later on in the manga, so ill brand this fic as a AU this early on.
Chapter 2
The most confusing day of Hinata's life began, ever since she became a ninja, by waking up. She was in a brightly lit hospital ward, with a still sleeping Shino, Sasuke, and Kiba still out cold on the other beds, she wondered how she got here. Was she dead?
A sharp pain that suddenly raced up her spine as she tried to get up, making her realize that she was still alive.
The memory of the last battle up to the point when she fell came back to her slowly as she re-oriented herself to her new surroundings. Try as she might, she didn't know how the battle ended out, things were looking really bad before she passed out, and judging from the state of her still unconscious comrades, things didn't go too well for them either.
Injuries were not a stranger to Hinata. In over 4 years of being a shinobi of the Hidden leaf, she had her fair share of Injuries. It was never anything that serious though, they had never encountered anyone who trounced on them that easily, even their team leader, considered to be a genius from the Uchiha clan, wasn't able to hold a candle to those two ninja's who were chasing them. They were considered one of the best on the village, a team while lacking in experience, had a great deal of potential. She wouldn't be surprised if some of them would be Jounin in a few more years.
Hinata sighed to herself, it was pointless musing on things this early, she would have to hear about what happened later when the rest of her companions woke up. What's done was done and the best thing they could do was learn from the experience and learn from it. For not it was time to rest and heal.
She eased back on the bed, preparing to go back to bed. Scanning the room once more before she closed her eyes, she saw a orange jacket hanging on the wall. It had markings common to those of leaf ninja's, but nothing on it to tell what clan the over came from. (See A/N) Resolving to ponder the mysterious jacket later, she relaxed and prepared to sleep. Her last thought before sleep claimed her was that the jacket seemed oddly familiar.
****************
The central watchtower located in the center of the village, was a building that a shinobi often goes to in the course of his career. Unlike its name, the central watchtower is not a structure from which sentries look outwards for any threat to the village, rather this building serves as a center where all business of the shinobi's of the hidden leaf pass through.
In one of the many rooms located in this building, a young woman was making her report. She sat in aLone chair located in the middle of the room, facing 5 ninja's who sat on a long table. Of these 5 ninja's one was her former instructor, but she nevertheless spoke to them using formal, respectful tones.
"... was taken out of action early on. I have not yet heard of the accounts of the others, as they were still unconscious when I left the hospital. I am regretful to report that the mission was a failure," she said as she completed her report. She risked a glance at Kakashi-- who was looking at his with a concern, which was hidden under a smile. She was tempted to smile, wave, or whatever, but she restrained herself. Now was not the time, especially not in front of these people.
'We will try again, this time we will not fail' she wanted to add, but didn't. 'Sasuke would be crushed when he wakes up' she thought glumly.
She sighed inwardly. Failure was something she was familiar with, after all she had been looking at Sasuke's back ever since he became a Genin. She had been leaning to cope for a long time. Sasuke would be another matter though. And she was worried about him. 'At least he's still unconscious for this one'.
Bracing herself, she looked up to the person who sat at the middle of the table, the 5th Hokage, mentally preparing herself to the consequences of failure. She was mildly surprised when the Hokage smiled at her and said, "Get some rest" before standing up and heading out the doors, followed by 3 of the other occupants of the table.
For a moment her mind went blank, not comprehending what just took place. While she didn't really believe that she would be given a hard time on their failure, she wasn't quite exactly expecting something like this either. She came to the room expecting a long arduous session detailing the smallest details of the mission, but instead got something else entirely. A smile and the impression that the failure didn't really matter.
"Kakashi-sensei... what happens now? Wasn't this supposed to be something important?" she asked her former sensei, hoping to make sense of the situation. "Are you here to lecture all of us or what? What's going on?"
Kakashi smiled. "It doesn't matter now, I'm just glad you guys are all right." he said before heading for the door. At the threshold he paused and said without turning around, "All of you." before closing the door leaving a confused Sakura behind.
****************
Sakura walked the corridor on her way to visit her friends. Having sustained the least injury from the last mission, she didn't have to stay in the hospital for treatment, her other companions were not as lucky though. They were still unconscious, but the nurse had told her that it wasn't anything to be worried about. The injuries they had sustained were not anything overly serious, just some broken bones and some minor wounds. She also mentioned that they would probably be waking up as soon as their body recovers.
She had expected it of course, and knew that the reason for their lack of consciousness was overexertion. She knew her teammates, they had after all been together for four years, more if you counted their time together at the academy. They would fight until the end and probably exhausted all the chakra in their body. Since she had been knocked unconscious be a blow very early on she was able to avoid their fate.
As she entered the door to the ward where the rest of her friends were being kept, she suddenly felt that she was forgetting something really important.
She was so busy trying to figure out just what she was forgetting, she didn't notice a new arrival enter the room.
Uzumaki Naruto, compared to the boy the he was 4 years ago, has changed quite a bit. While he was still the same person who dreamed of being Hokage and be recognized by the village, on the outside he had changed. The boy who was once dubbed the "#1 hyperactive ninja" of the Konoha village was now a man. He had mellowed out over the years, and the loud boy was now no more.
4 years of training and travel with Jeraiya, to lands without a familiar face had smoothed down the rough edges of Uzumaki Naruto's personality. Instead of the usual loud greeting that would have proceeded such a occurrence, he instead let out a soft but unmistakable cough to catch Sakura's attention, mindful of the other occupants of the room who were currently recuperating.
"It's been a while. Ne, Sakura-chan?" the smiling image of Naruto said, moving into the room, stopping at the side of Sasuke's bed.
For her part, Sakura just stared. Not really knowing what to say to her former teammate. Despite having spent several months working together with Naruto, she really didn't know much about him. She was just beginning to wonder about who this person really was, when he was taken under the wing of the ninja Jeraiya. She had asked Kakashi and Kurenai of course, but they sidestepped the question. The others didn't even bother asking, so she just dropped it and eventually, stopped thinking about him altogether.
Not that he was that important to her really.
The old Naruto she knew how to handle, things usually started with her admonishing for something he would have had done by now. It was either his lack of manners or his loudness. The old Naruto would have been yammering about something by now, pretty loudly. But this Naruto was doing nothing of that sort, he hadn't done anything, leaving her without a opening, and she quite frankly didn't know how to respond.
Naruto on his part, felt really awkward, and not getting a response of any sort from the woman still standing, directed his attention to the sleeping figures below him, forcing himself to look at the man he once and still probably did consider his rival.
Sakura was still silent and he probably understood what was going on in her mind right now. He really didn't know what he was doing here at the moment, he knew his purpose of coming here, but Sakura's presence made him unable to do anything. Her silence further compounded the entire situation. He didn't feel like he was intruding, he had helped in saving them after all. By all rights she should be thanking him, but she probably didn't know that little fact. They probably didn't know that.
Sighing resignedly, he cast once last look at the sleeping figures on the room before turning to face towards the door, to come face to face with two women he didn't know.
"Your still alive I see," once of them said frostily, looking at him with the cold eyes that most of the villagers always used when he came about. "Pity."
His features hardening he moved towards the door, not bothering to give them any sort of reaction. Before he crossed the doors threshold he paused and silently said, "I'm glad you're all ok. Good luck and Goodbye, Sakura-chan."
Sakura just watched Naruto's back as he turned to leave and for the umpteenth time that day wondered just what was going on, Naruto's parting comment had pierced through her for some reason, leaving her wondering again if she had forgotten something.
She suddenly gasped loudly when a image came suddenly to her. A image of Naruto under a tree, tending to a injured Hinata.
A/N:
Some of the leaf has marking identifying the clan where they come from. Sasuke has a fan on the back (Uchiha), Kiba's clan have the triangular markings on the face, The Hyuga's have the eyes, Shino has the glasses, Sakura has the round thingy on her back I'm just extending this little near inconsequential concept a bit.
A ward is a room in the hospital where several patients share a room, FYI.
Regarding Sasuke's skill level, I consider Sasuke a very good ninja, and he is in this fic. He isn't invincible though. As Zabusa said in chapter 13, "A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death." Kakashi was a Chunin much earlier than Sasuke, but Sasuke has more potential. Kakashi's library of Jutsu's was gained through several years of battle; Sasuke only has 4-5 years of experience so far. Kakashi can be ambushed as well, he never detected Zabusa until he was very near, and if someone like Itachi was stalking him, I doubt things would turn out in his favor as well. I can go on for a few more pages. If the issue bothers you, lets move this discussion on to email. But for this fic, I believe Sasuke needs a few more years experience to be in Kakashi's level, he wasn't really ambushed though, they were able to detect them as they were following them, it was just they weren't able to do anything about the threat. =)
Sorry for the late update, I had some trouble deciding how the rest of the story should go. I knew what I wanted to happen, wrote the first part, have the middle-end part thought up, but cant think of how to connect the rest of the story together.
To the reviewers. Thank you. Thank you. Your input was very much appreciated and really helped push me into writing this next chapter.
Regarding the style... this is my first fic and I am a bit confused on what POV to take. I'm basically trying things out to see what style I am comfortable with, hopefully when I find that, update will come more frequently. I'm using a third person POV but I have a tendency to suddenly go to the first person.
Chapter 2
The most confusing day of Hinata's life began, ever since she became a ninja, by waking up. She was in a brightly lit hospital ward, with a still sleeping Shino, Sasuke, and Kiba still out cold on the other beds, she wondered how she got here. Was she dead?
A sharp pain that suddenly raced up her spine as she tried to get up, making her realize that she was still alive.
The memory of the last battle up to the point when she fell came back to her slowly as she re-oriented herself to her new surroundings. Try as she might, she didn't know how the battle ended out, things were looking really bad before she passed out, and judging from the state of her still unconscious comrades, things didn't go too well for them either.
Injuries were not a stranger to Hinata. In over 4 years of being a shinobi of the Hidden leaf, she had her fair share of Injuries. It was never anything that serious though, they had never encountered anyone who trounced on them that easily, even their team leader, considered to be a genius from the Uchiha clan, wasn't able to hold a candle to those two ninja's who were chasing them. They were considered one of the best on the village, a team while lacking in experience, had a great deal of potential. She wouldn't be surprised if some of them would be Jounin in a few more years.
Hinata sighed to herself, it was pointless musing on things this early, she would have to hear about what happened later when the rest of her companions woke up. What's done was done and the best thing they could do was learn from the experience and learn from it. For not it was time to rest and heal.
She eased back on the bed, preparing to go back to bed. Scanning the room once more before she closed her eyes, she saw a orange jacket hanging on the wall. It had markings common to those of leaf ninja's, but nothing on it to tell what clan the over came from. (See A/N) Resolving to ponder the mysterious jacket later, she relaxed and prepared to sleep. Her last thought before sleep claimed her was that the jacket seemed oddly familiar.
****************
The central watchtower located in the center of the village, was a building that a shinobi often goes to in the course of his career. Unlike its name, the central watchtower is not a structure from which sentries look outwards for any threat to the village, rather this building serves as a center where all business of the shinobi's of the hidden leaf pass through.
In one of the many rooms located in this building, a young woman was making her report. She sat in aLone chair located in the middle of the room, facing 5 ninja's who sat on a long table. Of these 5 ninja's one was her former instructor, but she nevertheless spoke to them using formal, respectful tones.
"... was taken out of action early on. I have not yet heard of the accounts of the others, as they were still unconscious when I left the hospital. I am regretful to report that the mission was a failure," she said as she completed her report. She risked a glance at Kakashi-- who was looking at his with a concern, which was hidden under a smile. She was tempted to smile, wave, or whatever, but she restrained herself. Now was not the time, especially not in front of these people.
'We will try again, this time we will not fail' she wanted to add, but didn't. 'Sasuke would be crushed when he wakes up' she thought glumly.
She sighed inwardly. Failure was something she was familiar with, after all she had been looking at Sasuke's back ever since he became a Genin. She had been leaning to cope for a long time. Sasuke would be another matter though. And she was worried about him. 'At least he's still unconscious for this one'.
Bracing herself, she looked up to the person who sat at the middle of the table, the 5th Hokage, mentally preparing herself to the consequences of failure. She was mildly surprised when the Hokage smiled at her and said, "Get some rest" before standing up and heading out the doors, followed by 3 of the other occupants of the table.
For a moment her mind went blank, not comprehending what just took place. While she didn't really believe that she would be given a hard time on their failure, she wasn't quite exactly expecting something like this either. She came to the room expecting a long arduous session detailing the smallest details of the mission, but instead got something else entirely. A smile and the impression that the failure didn't really matter.
"Kakashi-sensei... what happens now? Wasn't this supposed to be something important?" she asked her former sensei, hoping to make sense of the situation. "Are you here to lecture all of us or what? What's going on?"
Kakashi smiled. "It doesn't matter now, I'm just glad you guys are all right." he said before heading for the door. At the threshold he paused and said without turning around, "All of you." before closing the door leaving a confused Sakura behind.
****************
Sakura walked the corridor on her way to visit her friends. Having sustained the least injury from the last mission, she didn't have to stay in the hospital for treatment, her other companions were not as lucky though. They were still unconscious, but the nurse had told her that it wasn't anything to be worried about. The injuries they had sustained were not anything overly serious, just some broken bones and some minor wounds. She also mentioned that they would probably be waking up as soon as their body recovers.
She had expected it of course, and knew that the reason for their lack of consciousness was overexertion. She knew her teammates, they had after all been together for four years, more if you counted their time together at the academy. They would fight until the end and probably exhausted all the chakra in their body. Since she had been knocked unconscious be a blow very early on she was able to avoid their fate.
As she entered the door to the ward where the rest of her friends were being kept, she suddenly felt that she was forgetting something really important.
She was so busy trying to figure out just what she was forgetting, she didn't notice a new arrival enter the room.
Uzumaki Naruto, compared to the boy the he was 4 years ago, has changed quite a bit. While he was still the same person who dreamed of being Hokage and be recognized by the village, on the outside he had changed. The boy who was once dubbed the "#1 hyperactive ninja" of the Konoha village was now a man. He had mellowed out over the years, and the loud boy was now no more.
4 years of training and travel with Jeraiya, to lands without a familiar face had smoothed down the rough edges of Uzumaki Naruto's personality. Instead of the usual loud greeting that would have proceeded such a occurrence, he instead let out a soft but unmistakable cough to catch Sakura's attention, mindful of the other occupants of the room who were currently recuperating.
"It's been a while. Ne, Sakura-chan?" the smiling image of Naruto said, moving into the room, stopping at the side of Sasuke's bed.
For her part, Sakura just stared. Not really knowing what to say to her former teammate. Despite having spent several months working together with Naruto, she really didn't know much about him. She was just beginning to wonder about who this person really was, when he was taken under the wing of the ninja Jeraiya. She had asked Kakashi and Kurenai of course, but they sidestepped the question. The others didn't even bother asking, so she just dropped it and eventually, stopped thinking about him altogether.
Not that he was that important to her really.
The old Naruto she knew how to handle, things usually started with her admonishing for something he would have had done by now. It was either his lack of manners or his loudness. The old Naruto would have been yammering about something by now, pretty loudly. But this Naruto was doing nothing of that sort, he hadn't done anything, leaving her without a opening, and she quite frankly didn't know how to respond.
Naruto on his part, felt really awkward, and not getting a response of any sort from the woman still standing, directed his attention to the sleeping figures below him, forcing himself to look at the man he once and still probably did consider his rival.
Sakura was still silent and he probably understood what was going on in her mind right now. He really didn't know what he was doing here at the moment, he knew his purpose of coming here, but Sakura's presence made him unable to do anything. Her silence further compounded the entire situation. He didn't feel like he was intruding, he had helped in saving them after all. By all rights she should be thanking him, but she probably didn't know that little fact. They probably didn't know that.
Sighing resignedly, he cast once last look at the sleeping figures on the room before turning to face towards the door, to come face to face with two women he didn't know.
"Your still alive I see," once of them said frostily, looking at him with the cold eyes that most of the villagers always used when he came about. "Pity."
His features hardening he moved towards the door, not bothering to give them any sort of reaction. Before he crossed the doors threshold he paused and silently said, "I'm glad you're all ok. Good luck and Goodbye, Sakura-chan."
Sakura just watched Naruto's back as he turned to leave and for the umpteenth time that day wondered just what was going on, Naruto's parting comment had pierced through her for some reason, leaving her wondering again if she had forgotten something.
She suddenly gasped loudly when a image came suddenly to her. A image of Naruto under a tree, tending to a injured Hinata.
A/N:
Some of the leaf has marking identifying the clan where they come from. Sasuke has a fan on the back (Uchiha), Kiba's clan have the triangular markings on the face, The Hyuga's have the eyes, Shino has the glasses, Sakura has the round thingy on her back I'm just extending this little near inconsequential concept a bit.
A ward is a room in the hospital where several patients share a room, FYI.
Regarding Sasuke's skill level, I consider Sasuke a very good ninja, and he is in this fic. He isn't invincible though. As Zabusa said in chapter 13, "A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death." Kakashi was a Chunin much earlier than Sasuke, but Sasuke has more potential. Kakashi's library of Jutsu's was gained through several years of battle; Sasuke only has 4-5 years of experience so far. Kakashi can be ambushed as well, he never detected Zabusa until he was very near, and if someone like Itachi was stalking him, I doubt things would turn out in his favor as well. I can go on for a few more pages. If the issue bothers you, lets move this discussion on to email. But for this fic, I believe Sasuke needs a few more years experience to be in Kakashi's level, he wasn't really ambushed though, they were able to detect them as they were following them, it was just they weren't able to do anything about the threat. =)
Sorry for the late update, I had some trouble deciding how the rest of the story should go. I knew what I wanted to happen, wrote the first part, have the middle-end part thought up, but cant think of how to connect the rest of the story together.
To the reviewers. Thank you. Thank you. Your input was very much appreciated and really helped push me into writing this next chapter.
Regarding the style... this is my first fic and I am a bit confused on what POV to take. I'm basically trying things out to see what style I am comfortable with, hopefully when I find that, update will come more frequently. I'm using a third person POV but I have a tendency to suddenly go to the first person.