Chapter 9: Mission Tension
Disclaimer: I am getting bored of this… I don't own Naruto or Warcraft 3. Not now, not ever… if I did now, I wouldn't be so poor now would I?
"…": Speech
'…': Thoughts or conversation in the mind, you'll know the difference
: Scene Change
AN: Thank you all so much for your honest reviews! Some were positive, some were negative… I could care less when calculus is haunting me like a ghost who received an improper death in the past. I'm not going to say too much right now… I am so tired from video games last night and I still am… I know many of you have questions, so what I decided to do is another short Question and Answer period so you people won't continue to ask more and more of the same questions, okay? Here goes!
1Q: When will there be more action?
1A: In this chapter, there will be scenes of action and a hell lot more in the chunnin exam. One very kind author reminded me that a shinobi's life isn't all romance. Well, I never intended to be all love and whatnot but sorry to disappoint some action fanatics out there. It's just I wasn't much of an action fan. I'll apologize. (It will be tough writing good action… hope you all will hang in tight with me!)
2Q: Will there be a chunnin exam?
2A: I SERIOUSLY didn't expect someone actually asked that! Hell, yes there will be a Chunnin exam! THE MORAL again, PLEASE READ MY SIDENOTES I ALWAYS WRITE!
3Q: Why did I end the love triangle so early?
3A: To be very honest, I was running low on ideas and knowing how much the girls liked him… he could avoid them at times, not forever. By the way I wrote this… the girls were very persistent that ending it before things got too rough was a better idea. I need them to work well together in the exam after all.
4Q: Is my fic too Warcraft-ish? Why aren't I searching for Japanese names for the attacks?
4A: To whoever asked me this question, I think the Japanese name part of your request is something that can never be done. I already am tight on schedule since fan fiction isn't my top priority, calculus is. I'm already using up all the freetime I could to write, I really have no time to search for Japanese names. IF I add no-jutsu on Warcraft techniques… being a person who played WC3 for so long… it sounds kinda weird… if you know what I mean.
5Q: Are my stuff on my profile apply to anyone on this site?
5A: Seriously, the answer is no. I don't know any of you, I haven't seen any of you in real person. The stuff I could apply to people I know in real life, the people I work with in school or in a workplace. To any of you who think I post something on my profile because you think I am pissed at you or making fun of you or anything like that, don't think that way. I have nothing against any of you unless you deliberately want to insult me for any reason. So once again, I have nothing against any of you people, I am just glad you like my story. Thank you all for your loyal support.
6Q: Are my characters too out of character?
6A: This is an alter-life story, I have the complete power to make them a bit out of character. I may be following the storyline of the manga but THIS ISN'T the manga. If I made the characters and story exactly like the manga, I got a better idea, why don't you just read the manga and save myself from a lot of trouble. Maybe I should start posting the official manga up here and call it something else and seriously get sued! The reason I am making this fic is so I want to experience the Naruto characters' other selves, I want to make their inner feelings truly out. If I seriously sticked them with their 100 usual selves, my story wouldn't get that far.
AN: I wasted enough time explaining, let's get this thing started! Man, I need a medic and fast… (Coughs and vomits blood due to a lot of health problems) NO, I don't do drugs or alcohol or anything like that!
Naruto woke up the next morning aching all over, it wasn't much of a surprise due to the position he had been sleeping the entire night. He tried getting up but it just didn't feel right. He was warm all over and couldn't seem to get himself up at all, something was weighing him down. He then tilted his head to make sure his concussion was truly gone, luckily it did. As he glanced a little lower, he found out what was weighing him down when he saw a sleeping blue hair beauty was resting on top of him.
She was pleasantly moaning his name from time to time. Hinata was like an angel who was blessed from the heavens, the Death Knight for once sensed a feeling of fulfillment in his spirit, andit was finally complete. Even though he felt that way, he needed to get himself out of this situation without waking her up. It would be cruel if she opened her eyes due to his awkward behaviour. He lifted her body gently with one hand to give himself a bit of room to slide out. As he made his way out beneath her, he rested her softly back on the futon and covered her with a blanket so she wouldn't catch a cold.
After Naruto did his daily routines, some thoughts struck his mind as he came out of the bathroom.
'Would anyone would be suspicious of what happened last night?' he asked himself with a lot of worries. 'Hinata-chan didn't go home last night, would her family be worried about her? Not to mention we slept together… I know we didn't make love and all but what if someone does ask? What am I going to say? I can't just say that we were simply hugging each other and…' He then felt his face turn a little warm at his next thought. 'Kissing each other like frenching the entire night… what if Hinata-chan got pregnant? I can never forgive myself if that happened…'
The dark warriorquickly banished those thoughts out of his system, he would talk to Hinata when she woke up. All he could do nowwas to pray thatnobody noticed what they did last night. The Death Knight swiftly entered his room with the sleeping Hyuga girl inside,and changed into another set of dark clothing. All he had were either indigo, black, blue, gray or white; he didn't have much of a choice. He wore the usual set of clothes but this time with an indigo jacket. As he tied both his blindfold and forehead protector on his head, he decided to order breakfast from Ichikaru's ramen since it was the only place the dark shinobi could think of that was opened at 8 in the morning.
Within 10 minutes, Naruto came back with two bowls of ramen in his hands. It was very quick since he knew Blink; no traveling time required luckily. He placed two bowls on the table, he knew that was a good time to wake his 'girlfriend' up. He made his way to his room once again, and kneeled next to the beautiful Hyuga heiress rubbing her back gently, and then felt her soft and warm cheek. Without knowing, he was staring at her with lustful eyes.
'What am I doing?' thought Naruto cursing himself shaking his head violently with frustration. 'I am here to wake her up, not to admire her body! I have to focus on the task ahead of me…'
"Hinata-chan," called Naruto shaking her softly not really wanting to disturb her from her sleep. Deep down himself, he wanted her very much. His eyes were filled with this unexplainable dissatisfaction, and undoubtedly he was irritated at himself.
"Naruto-kun…" she murmured as she held his hand not knowingly. She suddenly then took her hand away and hugged the pillow while whispering his name pleasantly. The Death Knight sighed slightly at the cute scene displayed in front of him.
'How can I wake up a cute girl like that…' thought Naruto with a bit of difficulty. He knew if he didn't wake her up, the food would get cold so he decided to stick with the alternate plan. He gave a gentle kiss on the cheek. She blushed as she opened her eyes just to see him a foot away from her.
"Yo," said Naruto giving her a small wave. "I was wondering when you would wake up." He then laughed at the dumbfounded look on his girlfriend's face. It was something hilarious.
"How long have you been awake for?" asked Hinata rubbing her eyes from the sleepiness she still had.
"Only half an hour at most," he answered with a smile. "I brought breakfast just now, you hungry?"
"Yeah, I am…" she replied with a grin.
"C'mon, we should eat now." As he prepared himself to leave the room, he was stopped when he felt the girl's hand holding his wrist telling him to stay. "Hinata-chan, if we stay here we can't eat…"
"I'm not hungry for that," she said leaning to him with a seductive look. His eyes shot wide open when he felt Hinata's lips already claiming his into a wild kiss. She didn't waste anytime to allow her tongue to demand entrance into his, she wanted him badly. The boy gasped and broke the kiss awkwardly since he wasn't prepared at all. He looked into her eyes, the expressions she gave were unsatisfied and mostly hunger. Not hunger for food, it was obviously hunger for him. Naruto knew he was the only thing in this world that could satisfy it, her demanding eyes told him all he needed. He wasn't one to disappoint her, and he didn't when she flashed him a lusty grin. He returned it with an evil one and kissed her passionately.
'Damn, she was a good kisser…' he thought trying hard not to moan when the girl was moaning freely. 'I wonder when she learned how to kiss like that…' He then decided to shut that away and enjoyed every bit of her. It was clear to anyone Hinata wasn't one to discard such a chance, she never will and she wouldn't start now. She took advantage of the situation again and pushed him onto the futon making herself on top of him again so she could deepen the kiss. In fact, she pushed herself so much, Naruto could feel all of her especially her chest area. He blushed slightly when he felt something very soft since she was only wearing a tank top. The thin layer of clothing wasn't the best thing to shield that specific area. He was going to lose it if he felt it any longer so he made a small maneuver and for the first time he was on top of her. He gave her a wolfish smile before he went back to what he was doing. Soon, breakfast was completely forgotten.
(Later that day)
The newly couple arrived at the waiting spot around 15 minutes after the expected time. They weren't surprised that Sakura was already there, she was always the one with very good punctuality unlike some other people -mainly Kakashi. Hinata smiled when she saw Sakura while Naruto was currently reading his novel while walking.
For once, Hinata wanted Naruto to pay more attention to her instead of a book.
"Good morning, Sakura-san!" greeted Hinata with her usual cheerfulness in her voice. Sakura hadn't heard that happy expression for a long time, the pink hair girl couldn't help but smile back delightedly.
"Hinata-san," called Sakura waving at her close friend, "I haven't seen you so happy for a long time! What happened last night? What did Naruto-ni-chan say to you?"
"We confessed…" replied Hinata while blushing and looking at the ground.
"I knew he loved you from the start!"
"Yeah… I knew that too…"
"Is that all? Did you two kiss or anything?" asked a persistent Sakura energetically.
"Well… we… we…" It was clear thatHinata was too embarrassed to tell her friend. "Naruto-kun, do you mind telling her what happened?"
"You were doing a good job at it," replied the Death Knight leaning on the railing whilecovering his face with his novel. "I think you should continue it." In truth, he was too embarrassed himself to bring up that topic. It wasn't everydaythat someonecould just shamelessly admittheir private life.
"Did you guys do it?" questioned Sakura teasingly. However, it didn't seem like a joke to Hinata while Naruto pretended he didn't hear her, the Death Knight knew his sister was just being mean.
"I would never do such a vulgar thing with Naruto-kun!" exclaimed Hinata with a very flushed face. Naruto just laughed behind his book while Sakura was taken aback at that sudden outburst.
"Don't tease Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan," said Naruto finally lowering his book to reveal his blindfolded eyes. "You know Hinata-chan can be very sensitive when it comes to these things."
"I was just teasing her as a joke, Naruto-ni-chan..." However, Sakura stopped what she was doing when she saw his serious face. He wasn't in a mood to joke anymore, he was worried about something else. "Is something wrong, Naruto-nichan?" Sakura asked in a concerned voice.
"Are you upset of what we did last night, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata timidly holding his hand.
"No, that's not it…" he answered trying to makehis best smile. "I sense something… elusive… I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"What's the something that you are worried about?"
"I sense a familiar chakra signature outside the village around 2 days worth of travel…"
"You can sense something that is that far away?" asked a surprised Sakura.
"Usually I can't… but the chakra signature is very high… higher than Kakashi's… I sensed this before but I can't tell who it is…"
"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," saidthe Hyuga heiressgiving him a peck on the cheek. "I'm sure you will remember soon enough."
"Let's hope so…" he said with a sigh while holding Hinata's hand softly. "Now, where the hell is that bastard Kakashi anyway? Don't tell me that he's at the women's bathhouse with Jiraiya-sensei…" As if on cue, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke on the railing in front of them. The three genins looked at him with an empty stare. Rather, they were quite stunned at his appearance.
"Good morning you three," said the masked jounin thinking of another poor excuse at the back of his mind. "I…"
"Who are you?" questionedthe pink haired girlinterrupting him without a second thought.
"Why… I am Kakashi…"
"No, you're not," cutted Hinata quickly. "Kakashi never arrives only 20 minutes late." Naruto chuckled while the jounin raised his eyebrow a little bit. The girls looked at another and gave a small nod, this didn't go unnoticed by the Death Knight.
"You must be an imposter!" shouted Sakura pointing at her instructor. "ATTACK!" Kakashi's visible eye widened in shock as his female students charged at him at incredibly high speed. The dark shinobi was already bursting into laugher at this point as a Mana Burn struck Kakashi in the gut zapping a chunk of his chakra. Sakura then made a powerful karate chop right at his neck sending him flying across the bridge. That must've hurt, as Naruto wouldjustify, but he was too amused to do anything to stop it.
The Death Knight was wondering why Kakashi didn't attack back, maybe he was thinking of something too perverted to focus. However, as much as Naruto wanted to see his current instructor suffer to a great depth, he couldn't allow his best friend and girlfriend destroy the information provider before the info was distributed. In other words, get rid of the trash after the gold was retrieved. He hesitantly grabbed both their wrists before any more critical damage was dealt. Sakura pouted cutelywhere asHinata gave her best puppy face with sparkling eyes. He knew what they were trying to do, he simply sighed and ignored it.
"Kakashi," called Naruto pretending to make a cough. "This is the first time you have been late this early…"
"There's a first time for everything… right?" said the gray hair man with a nervous laugh.
"Has it occurred to you that you could be exactly on time?"
"There were times that I was punctual."
"Like when?" questioned the girls in unison while Naruto gave him a unconvinced smirk.
"6 years ago." The three genins fell back anime style while Kakashi gave out a small chuckle.
"Kakashi…" muttered Naruto getting back up. "You're hopeless…"
(15 minutes later)
"Ah, Team 7," greeted the Third in his office preparing the mission information, "It's good to see you."
"Likewise, Hokage-sama…" replied Naruto feeling kind of edgy from the chakra signature he still sensed. "What kind of missions do you have for us today?"
"Direct and straight to the point, I like that." The team just grinned at the old man's bluntness as he searched for his files. "Let's see now… Team 7… your mission today will be to search for a lost…" Before he finished he was interrupted by someone no other than Haruno Sakura.
"Another lame mission? NO THANK YOU!" shouted the pink hair girl at the top of her lungs.
'Sakura-chan?' thought Naruto as a cold sweat came down his forehead. She had a lot of guts to challenge the Hokage with such behaviour, he would give her that much to the very least.
"Hokage-sama, it has been 6 weeks, nearly 7 weeks that we became genins. For this time, we have done nothing but mowing lawns, taking out garbage, cleaning trash, walking other people's dogs, babysitting babies and children, watching other people's shops so that they could play mahjong when we could be doing something that we want! Why are they playing damn mahjong when we could be gambling despite thatit's illegal for us? I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
"Sakura-san is right," added Hinata supporting her best friend. "This is utterly bogus. As female shinobis of the Leaf, we are just like the guys. We can take on new challenges. There's only so much we could tolerate." The heiress' voice was still soft but the Death Knight could sense the frustration and irritation in her words.
'I was wondering when they would complain.' thought the Death Knight smiling inwardly. At the same time, a large amount of fear was present in his heart.
"So far we have only done 4 C rank missions while other teams have completed at least 8."
"So, you want a harder mission?'offered the 3rd looking at them intently. The three nooded. "I would give one to you but the lady insisted that Team 7 should do this task for her. She believes that your team is the best for the job."
"So there will be no C missions today?" asked Hinata while the 3rd shook his head. However, something kind of troubled Naruto, it was something the Hokage just said.
"By the way you explained it, Hokage-sama," began Naruto being observant. "This lady seems to know us…"
"Take a look at the mission briefings." The old man then handed the folder to Naruto. As the three read their file, they couldn't stop themselves from lowering their eyes in exhaustion. The Hokage knew that he wouldn't like the response from the three.
"This is the same cat that ran away three days ago!" shouted Sakura in disbelief.
"It ran away again?" added Hinata with frustration.
"This is the 5th time that it has happened!" said Naruto flashing a death glare.
"Yes, yes, I know…" said the old man with a nervous chuckle, "Just finish this mission for the sake for Konoha." The trio groaned in annoyance and made their way to look for the missing cat for the sixth time. Kakashi knew his students were pissed off beyond all recognition. These days, all three of them would be very silent and have a cold expression on their faces when they were in a bad mood, the girls were very similar to Naruto. The jounin knew keeping his mouth shut was the best idea at the time being.
(Days go by)
It hads been another 3 days, and Team 7 was bored out of their mind. They had another 2 C missions that weren't all out interesting. They just had a case of robbers and gangs that disturbed the town's safety and privacy. It wasn't anything that the Death Knight couldn't deal with. To make sure any of these missions wouldn't happen again, Team 7 made sure none of them saw broad daylight again. Yes, they made them suffer, it had been a long time that they had some action. To make it more specific, they were brutally killed.
Hinata had been hanging with Naruto like a puppy ever since they were together, and the Death Knight didn't mind her company for he knew how much she loved his presence. Hinata had been a little seductive lately, he noticed her ambitions and teased her often. Clearly, her efforts weren't working that well. Unfortunately, that just made Hinata work even harder to catch his attention.
Sakura had been quite worried about her new friend Sasuke. Ever since her rivalry with Hinata ended, they became much closer friends, and her sudden change in maturity had caught the Uchiha's attention. They soon became friends, yethis mission worried the pink hair genin, but shechose not toadmit it in front of him. She wanted to have faith in her new friend, just like how she always had faith in Naruto.
The Death Knight on the other hand had been activating his bloodline admit for the past couple of days to sense the chakra level he picked up for the past couple of days. When he was free, he would go to the highest peaks in Konoha and meditate to practice his vision. The magnifying has improved to 50 meters due to these intense use of his eyes, it was also a good sign that his senses has sharpened. In these high areas, he would sense what he needed to sense in a much clearer way since there are no disruptions. His instincts proved him right very soon when the high level chakra was arriving towards Konoha, and the Death Knight opened his eyes and headed towards wherever that signature was coming from.
Hinata saw his sudden departure and quickly teleported after him while Sakura increased her movement using Wind Walk. Team 7 quickly went through the streets of Konoha in an amazing pace that the townspeople felt a breeze went by them. As the trio made it to the North Gate, there were two Anbu guards on the lookout. By their higher position, it seemed that they could see some people were approaching.
"Hey," called Naruto to one of the guards. The Anbus looked at the boy suspiciously at first, but when they lowered and saw his runeblade, they twitchedwith fear. Sakura couldn't understand why the guards were so tense all of a sudden but Hinataclearly knewthe reason; they were afraid of Naruto due to his demonic blood.
"We don't need to answer you, little boy," spatted the Anbu with a fox mask
"You should go back to where you belong," added the other with a wolf mask. It was clear that their eyes were as cold as ice at the moment. With Naruto's Unholy Sight activated, they couldn't hide anything with just a simple mask.
"I want you two to tell me who is coming to this gate," said Naruto as kind as he could. "I don't want to cause any trouble." Hinata narrowed her eyes at the two guards whilegathering chakra into her lavender eyes, and preparing for her Byakugan. Sakura noticed the coldness in the two Anbu's voices, she knew something wasdefinitelywrong.
"We won't tell you anything, go home."
"You guys should be doing your jobs by telling me who are coming to Konoha. Don't make me repeat myself, little human."
"We don't need you to tell us how to do our jobs," spat the wolf guard. Naruto smirked as the two jumped off their posts engaging a battle with the Death Knight. Sakura and Hinata both jumped away from the leader from their group and allowed him to handle the jounin level ninjas. The Fox Anbu then took out his katana while the other one approached him with a glaive. The dark shinobi gave a grin as their attacks came. He suddenly disappeared leaving a confused look on the older shinobis.
"Where did he go?" asked the wolf Anbu.
"I don't know…" replied his partner with the fox mask.
"I'm here fools." called a freezing voice from behind them. The two Anbus stood dumbfounded when they found the 'blind' shinobi standing pointing his vampuric runeblade at them charging with a deathly green chakra. The two jounins twitched in anger and dashed towards the Death Knight preparing more attacks. As the glaive came, Naruto held his weapon in a defensive position and blocked the attack completely. The fox Anbu seized this chance to attack the lower areas. With a small shift, the blade whizzed by Naruto's body without leaving a cut. Believing it was an opening, the wolf Anbu raised his glaive into another striking position and prepared himself to make a critical hit. The silver hair genin gave a evil grin as he slid backwards a little bit to evade the attack completely while the glaive struck the ground heavily causing a deep dent.
"He's fast!" shouted the wolf Anbu as he lifted his weapon as quick as he could. However, the Death Knight had enough games with these two, he came to figure out who was outside the village, not to bicker with these fools. Without much effort, he raised his leg and kicked the glaive out of the user's hands. The weapon snapped in half while spinning in mid air while the fox Anbu decided to strike the boy from behind. Naruto didn't forget the other one when he elbowed him right at the gut cracking his chest armor.
The wounded specialist shinobi vomited blood due to the heavy hit he received beneath his mask but the Death Knight's attacks didn't end there. With a small maneuver, Naruto went behind him and pinned him to the ground with a foot stepping on his spine heavily while the Anbu's left hand was held in a nearly breaking situation. The wolf masked jounin cold sweated when he realized they already lost in such a short amount of time.
"You know…" began Naruto casually still locking one of the Anbus in a death like situation. Then he flashed a furious glare. "You have EXACTLY 5 seconds to tell me who is coming towards Konoha before I break your friend's arm!" Knowing defeat, the wolf Anbu quickly jumped back to his post to see who was actually there. He hated to lose but he had no choice.
"There is a female jounin with her team of 3 male genins…" said the unpinned Anbu. "They seem to have another shinobi unconscious with them…" When he turned his head around to look at the Death Knight again, his eyes widened in fear when he saw what the dark shinobi was doing. The girls seemed to have a very satisfied grin on their faces when they observed Naruto, that freaked out the wolf Anbu even more. Suddenly, a forceful crack of bones was made and the fox Anbu couldn't do a single thing to make a difference but scream in torment. The other Anbu fell on his knees completely stunned at what he just witnessed. "Why…" was all he could muster.
"I'm sorry," said Naruto releasing the lifeless human who was still yelling in pain and revealed his cold teal eyes. "You took 6 seconds to tell me, how do you feel right now about your friend?" The specialist was still in emotional shock… words couldn't even come out of his mouth.
"Why… why did you do that for?" shouted the Anbu angrily.
"I said you have 5 seconds, you took 6, little human." replied Naruto with a smirk. "It was you who caused your friend to have a crippled arm." The Anbu twitched violently in fear. "I wonder if you're gonna regret it if your friend's arm would never heal. By the looks of it, it looks like it really wouldn't." The Death Knight gave a snicker.
"If you wanted me to give you an answer… why did you have to break my friend's arm!"
"When you two started to attack me, you should've expected I would do this, ne? You two think you are so great because you are Anbus, that's why I want you two to suffer the feeling of powerlessness."
"How dare you…"
"You know," continued Naruto coldly. "He suffered like this and it was all because of you. If you had listened to me a little earlier, this would've never happened. I wonder what the Hokage would do when he found out that you broke the law into fighting me. Not only that, you caused your teammate to experience a fate like this." Naruto then chuckled evilly. "You do know your actions just know could get you executed…"
"I caused my partner to turn out like this…" whispered the wolf anbu to himself. He then pictured his ally's expression when his arm was forcefully broken, he winced at the scene. "I'll be executed because I broke the law and fought the demon boy…" A sudden view of his painful death suddenly flashed in his head, a terror sweat then came down from his head and dripped to the ground.
"If you want to apologize, you should apologize to your friend and Konoha directly using your life…" Somehow, the Anbu then slowly reached for his kunai on his right leg and pointed it to his head with a fearful look. Naruto's cold voice continued his work. "Other than death, there's no other decision for you. That's unless you want to live a life of both fear and regret of a missing-nin. Can you do that? Really, can you? So your only path is death. If you decide to suicide, at least show a bit of guilt before you end it. C'mon, what more is there to think about?" The Anbu then raised his kunai high and aimed it to his head ready to end it.
"I love it when Naruto-nichan does this…" said Sakura admiringly. "He's so… in authority…"
"Naruto-kun is so amazing…" added Hinata gazing at her boyfriend. "Do you think that Anbu would kill himself?" Sakura's eyes then widened in realization. It was cool to see Naruto beat them very easily but she didn't even realize what her brother was really doing, she had to stop him.
"Naruto-nichan!" screamed Sakura in a panic. "Don't do it! Don't kill him!"
"It's his choice." Naruto responded in a dark tone without looking at her. "We have to respect his decision if he wants to die, right?" His dark voice gave Sakura the chills but Hinata knew better. The heiress Blinked to the Anbu and gave him a slap on the face waking him up from his hypnotism. Naruto frowned knowing his little fun was already over before it really got interesting. Hinata looked at the trembling Anbu member, he was sweating heavily with absolute terror. She glanced over to the Death Knight who covered his eyes back with his blindfold and grinned. She narrowed her eyes at him and took the kunai away from the Anbu before real deaths occurred. Naruto gave an irritated sigh as he used Rejuvenation to repair the bones from the fainred fox Anbu while Sakura watched him silently.
'What did Naruto-nichan just do to that guy… I know there are a lot more to his eyes than it seems…' thought Sakura determined to know more about her brother. 'I will know more about you… Naruto-ni-chan, I swear it.'
Team 8 entered Konoha a several minutes later, the incident that happened before was never mentioned for the Anbus were too terrified at what just happened. They decided to keep quiet about it to themselves, no one else needed to know about it. Kurenai's team was surprised to see Team 7 there waiting for them especially the jounin. They could stop their curiosity to take over, they had to ask them what was their purpose.
"Naruto, Hinata-san, Sakura!" called Sasuke giving his friends a wave before approaching them.
"Sasuke-kun!" exclaimed Sakura as she hugged him immediately. The Uchiha blushed as she approached him, Hinata and Naruto just smiled at the scene. "I missed you!"
"I missed you too, Sakura…" replied Sasuke giving her a slight embrace.
"Sasuke," called Shino in a monotone. "We can't have you slacking off hugging a girl while we have to carry this body you know." The word body caught Naruto's attention.
"Who's the body?" asked Naruto politely.
"Why do you care?" snapped Kiba. "It's not like you know him!" Kurenai gave the Death Knight a curious look which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.
"Kurenai-san, Kiba-san and Shino-kun, I think I might know him." The Death Knight then made his way to Kiba and Shino who carried the body while the beast boy seemed to defend himself as the dark shinobi approached them. Naruto looked at the body and gave a grin. He was glad to see who it was.
"Naruto-kun…" said Hinata timidly. "Do you know who it is?"
"I do," replied the silver hair genin giving a warm smile. "It's my sempai named Haku."
"Sempai?" they all exclaimed except Kurenai. Naruto simply nodded.
"How do you know him?" asked Kurenai suspiciously.
"How did you meet him then?" countered Naruto sharply.
"We met him when they aided us on our mission. Our mission wasn't supposed to be like this… but they intended to create a diversion for us so… you know then he was outnumbered and been killed due to the sheer numbers, I'm sorry to tell you this…"
"Zabuza is killed?" asked Naruto with surprise and shock. "I can't believe this… what will Haku-sempai do now? Zabuza took care of him when he was young… how am I going to break this to him?"
"Actually," said Shino. "The boy already saw Zabuza's death… he went berserk and overdid himself… that's why he's unconscious right now…"
"Naruto, how did you know him anyway?" asked Sasuke very eagered to get a response. "This guy was one of the toughest guys we had to fight… His Demonic Ice Mirrors were really something… I couldn't even copy it… Well, he sort of lost control of himself and attacked everyone he saw..."
"Of course you can't," answered Naruto giving a sigh. "It's an advanced bloodline ability… the Sharingan can't copy anything like that… it's understandable."
"Naruto-nichan, what's your relationship with this boy?" asked Sakura pursuing the important subject.
"You all want to know?" The entire group of people nodded. The Death Knight took in a breath and sighed trying to think of where it would be a good place to start. "It started a few years back before I returned to Konoha… at that time I was only 10 or so. At that time, me, Rin-chan and Jiraiya-sensei were in the village of Mist trying to train on the more important and skillful missions. The people told us that there was an organization there that mainly held high class missions that the most skillful ninjas would actually cut it. The person who organized this group was none other than Zabuza. His most loyal assistant was Haku-sempai.
"Jiraiya-sensei told Rin-chan and I that completing those missions would help us build up our skills. We agreed and joined that organization as a pair. Of course, that was the first time that we met Haku-sempai. At that exact same day, there was a high class dangerous mission that was sent there. I wasn't surprised when I heard Zabuza say that the mission had a very high chance of death. At the same time, Haku-sempai was guaranteed to participate in this. Knowing this, Rin-chan and I knew this was an opportunity that we couldn't afford to miss. It was clear that we volunteered ourselves to take on the task."
"What was your mission?" asked Hinata.
"To stop a terrorizing gang of renegade shinobis who were approaching the Mist."
(A blast from the past...)
"Why did we come over a hour earlier before the gang arrived?" asked Naruto to Haku with Rin next to him. Rin was a short beautiful girl with long violet hair that reached down to her back. She had violet eyes and dressed in a black ninja assassin uniform with sandals. Her weapons were a katana and a large bow that she always carried. She was curious herself why Haku insisted to come this early. She observed the area, it was a recent abandoned construction site and most of the equipment was still here.
"I have a habit to always come early," answered Haku somewhat coldly. "I always come earlier to watch the scenery because there is always a chance I might not be able to see it again."
"With Haku-sempai around watching the two of us, I'm not that worried."
"I don't watch out for people, only their weapons." Rin looked at him somewhat confused while the Death Knight had a smirk on his face. "People have eyes, the weapons don't."
"Are you saying that you don't trust people?" asked Rin understanding what he was saying.
"Can I trust you?" asked Haku returning her question giving her a slight stare.
"I don't know," said Rin casually. "I know that I could trust you."
"Don't get your hopes too high, little girl."
"I know, I won't. When things get rough, I know I could rely on Naruto-nissan any day." She then grabbed her brother by the arm tightly making him smile.
"Rin-chan, don't do that here…" said Naruto poking her sister's cheek making her blush.
"You two seem pretty close," said Haku with a grin. "But you two don't seem to look alike."
"We aren't biological siblings…" answered Rin. "But it doesn't mean we can't be close." Naruto simply nodded and broke the embrace with his sister. Rin seemed disappointed but she knew she needed to focus the task ahead. Seeing the slight frown on Rin's face, the knight gave her a slight smile to cheer her up. With his Unholy Sight, Naruto could sense a large group of people heading their way. They weren't strong, but they had numbers.
"They're here…" said Naruto taking out Nightshadow from his sheath. Haku and Rin both went into a close alert. Unpredictably, a legion of arrows came from afar aiming straight at the three. Haku did a fall back signal and the trio quickly slid back to evade as more arrows and other weapons came their way. They had no choice but to retreat. Haku tossed his needles like missiles, Rin used her chakra as arrows to fire back powerful Searing Arrows as suppressing fire while Naruto launched Death Coils while moving back. It wasn't long before the enemy ninjas became visible to the three, that was when both Rin and Naruto attacked the incoming troops with a Chain Lightning. As the beam struck the first target, it automatically went for others nearby as well damaging additional 8 people. The 16 enemies that were shot fell dead to the ground while Haku ordered them to retreat to the construction equipment to hide. Knowing they would be outnumbered if they continued to fight head on, the archer and the knight released a couple of more suppressing attacks before they made it to where Haku was. They hid at the end of the pathway at two different sides, left and right. The three prepared for the enemies' arrival, once Naruto sensed that they were close, he gave Rin an attack signal. Both of them charged chakra into their hand and released Mana Burns continuously down the pathway striking down more shinobis who were foolish enough to head straight for them directly.
"Which way do we go?" asked Haku knowing there were more ninjas coming. He then made an ice mirror to block the path to delay them. The best way was for them to split up.
"We have a habit to pick right!" shouted Naruto already leaving with Rin.
"Suit yourself." Haku then quickly made a break for it as well. Knowing the amount of numbers, the Mist-nin knew that mirror wouldn't last for too long. He quickly found himself at a choke point and prepared to attack. The footsteps became more audible as time passed, it was then he showed himself to the enemy by tossing his needles at the critical points. He continued to toss at them killing them one by one like flies. As one of them came from above trying to stab the hunter-nin, he simply used a water bomb projecting his foolish opponent away. However, due to his overconfidence, an arrow and a kunai struck his right arm successfully. Haku flinched at the pain trying to run but it was then when an enemy ninja appeared in front of him.
"Looks like you can't move," taunted the enemy shinobi carrying a kunai ready to attack. "Prepare to die!" Haku's eye twitched in anger as he prepared for the worst, he knew he was cornered and was going to pay the ultimate price for being that careless. At that instant, he saw a blade coming out of the enemy ninja. The Mist Hunter-nin watched in shock as blood continued to pour out from the guy's wounds and mouth. As the blade extracted, the lifeless ninja fell defenselessly to the ground. Haku watched in surprise as he saw who it was that saved his life, it was his allies that came with him. He quickly got himself back up and took out the weapons that were stuck in his flesh.
"Why did you two come back?" asked Haku very curiously brushing his clothes.
"Because if we were in that same situation," explained Rin. "I'm certain that you would've done the same, Haku-sempai." The Mist orphan was surprised at her words, no one has ever done that for him other than Zabuza. By the tone that Rin was speaking, he knew she trusted him deeply when they officially met moments ago.
"When three people came out, Zabuza can't expect only 2 to return," added Naruto as he slid his bloody blade back into his sheath with a grin. "Am I right?"
"Maybe I should start to pick right from now on, shouldn't I?" joked Haku breaking the cold act. Rin and Naruto both looked at another and laughed. It wasn't too long before the older Mist-nin joined in the fun.
(Back to reality)
"After that incident," continued Naruto. "Haku-sempai began to be more opened to people and trusted the two of us very much. Whenever there were missions, he would often ask us to tag along with him. We learned a lot from each other, we became very close friends and usually spent most our free time with one another. I looked up to him like an older brother like I never had and Rin-chan… well, you can say that she really liked him. She of course never admitted it to him since she was too shy and all, but that's not the point. Eventually, Haku-sempai and we went our own ways since we had our own journey ahead of us. After painful goodbyes… you can say we haven't seen each other since until today."
"That is some story, Naruto," said Sasuke quite impressed. "You have to tell us more."
"Maybe another time," said Naruto with a smile.
"What are we going to do with Haku?" asked Sakura worriedly.
"We have to bring him to the Hokage, that's for certain." Said Kurenai trying to take the Hunter-nin but she was stopped by Naruto. "Naruto, we have to take him to see Hokage-sama, it's a rule we must go by."
"What's the use of taking an unconscious person to the Hokage?" said the Death Knight questioning the jounin's logic. "At least do it when he's awake, Kurenai-san."
"Where can we keep him for the time being?"
"He can stay at my place until he gets better…" said the silver hair boy.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Naruto-nichan?" asked Sakura.
"It's not like anyone of you know him," The others sadly agreed to the Death Knight's words. "I promise that Haku-sempai will confront to the Hokage when his injuries have healed."
"Okay…" said Kurenai agreeing to the boy. "Make sure he's in good hands, okay?" Naruto nodded with a smile and lifted his sempai's body over his shoulders. With that cleared, Naruto made a set of seals with one hand and teleported away in a flash. Hinata did the same thing and vanished as well. The entire Team 8 watched in shock to see how quick the Hyuga heiress reacted when she saw the Death Knight leave. Sasuke wasn't all out surprised for a good reason.
"Where did Hinata just go?" asked Kiba shaking the feeling of dumbfound. "I was about to ask her to have lunch with me…"
"I don't think Hinata-san will go with you anytime soon, Kiba…" said Sasuke with a smirk.
"Why is that?"
"Hinata-san and Naruto are like together…" said the Uchiha trying to control his chuckle.
"What? I should've confessed to her when I had the chance!"
"I don't think Hinata-san would've picked you even if you did before," said Sakura attempting not to laugh at the beast boy's clueless behaviour. All Kiba could do now was sulk a little bit to himself while Shino remained neutral not making any comment to insult his teammate. The best the bug user could do was to give his friend a slight pat on the back at least attempting to lighten the mood. Of course, being the quiet person Shino was, it didn't go as well as planned.
"Sasuke-kun," cooed Sakura hugging the Uchiha's arm with a blush on her face.. "You want to have lunch with me? I am kind of hungry… you don't have to if you are busy…"
"I'm kinda hungry myself, Sakura," replied Sasuke with a smile. "I could use some company."
"Then let's go!" exclaimed the pink haired girl dragging her friend away to the closest restaurant available. Sasuke didn't retaliate, he just allowed his friend to do whatever she wanted.
"Where do want me to put Haku's body, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata while she held the older Mist-nin in an aiding position.
"Put him on the futon in my other room, Hinata-chan," said Naruto as he searched for a phone book somewhere in his cupboards. "I need to make a quick phone call."
"To who?" she asked her boyfriend sweetly.
"Rin-chan, I think she would like to hear that her sempai is here." The Death Knight luckily found the stuff he needed, it was good that he was an organized person. He then reached for his phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, someone picked up the phone.
"Hello?" asked the voice, it was a soft female voice. The Death Knight knew who it was immediately.
"Rin-chan," said Naruto. "It's me."
"Naruto-nissan?" asked Rin trying very hard to control her excitement. "Is it really you?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"I can't believe you are calling me!"
"I should be glad that you are at home at this time," said Naruto with a soft chuckle. "Anyway, how are you lately? Is being a chunnin hard?"
"Not really after the tough times we went through when we were kids," answered Rin happily. "You do know that the chunnin exam is gonna take place in Konoha in a week or so, right?"
"It is?" asked the Death Knight confused. "I've heard of nothing so far."
"Why? I thought Naruto-nissan would be a person to catch on almost anything ahead of time."
"How the hell am I suppose to know anything if my jounin sensei is a irresponsible jackass?" That statement alone made Rin laugh cutely. "It's not that funny, Rin-chan…"
"Is he even more irresponsible than ero-sennin?" she asked while giggling.
"Hey, Jiraiya-sensei at least taught us how to live life accordingly and techniques. This bastard called Kakashi does absolutely nothing, it's basically me who does everything."
"How so?"
"Like it's me leading the team instead of a jounin." Naruto explained with a bit of annoyance when he pictured the face of Kakashi in his mind. He somewhat hated the jounin.
"You were always amazing, Naruto-nissan. I'm sure your team is very strong with your guidance."
"You're giving me too much credit, Rin-chan. Right, Kakashi has become Jiraiya-sensei's official assistant for his novels. Nowadays, he spends more time with Jiraiya than with us…" explained Naruto in exhaustion.
"Ero-sennin still writes those books?" questioned Rin in disbelief, she could help but blush remembering what her former sensei did on his free time. The silver hair shinobi gave a nodding sound. "Naruto-nissan, what is the reason that you truly called me?" Naruto smiled at her sister's sharpness.
"Sempai is in Konoha, I got a feeling that you might want to see him."
"Which sempai? Itachi-sempai, Kisame-sempai or Haku-sempai?" she asked with delight.
"Haku-sempai… he seems to be in quite bad shape right now, physically and probably emotionally… Zabuza is dead… I'm sure it's really hard for Haku-sempai to deal with his loss…"
"Zabuza is dead?" asked the violet hair archer. "How did that happen? Naruto-nissan, who killed him?" At this point the girl was panicking. "Why didn't you do anything to help him!"
"I wasn't the one who was on the mission, Rin-chan!" shouted Naruto angrily. "It's not like I wanted Zabuza to die you know, if I was there, I would've killed myself if something like that happened if I was in command. I really don't know who killed him."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Naruto-nissan…" apologized Rin with guilt. "I know you wouldn't let anything like that happen… I'm just worried about sempai…"
"If you're worried about him, I think you should come to Konoha and watch over him for a while. I think Haku-sempai would be glad to see you as well." suggested Naruto sincerely. "You want to see him too, right?"
"I do. Besides, I need to come to Konoha as well."
"How come?"
"I am the chunnin that represents the village of Air in this chunnin exam, you can say I'm one of the judges that they need."
"When were you suppose to arrive?" asked the Death Knight.
"Around a month or two later, they need me to be a judge on the final exam," Rin explained. "Well… if Haku-sempai is here… I think I have a good reason to come too…" Rin tried very hard to sound to be too interested.
"If you are coming, how long would it take you to arrive?" Naruto knew she would want to come, he knew what she was trying to do.
"I'll say it will take me a week or a little bit more, it is a quite sudden trip."
"Okay, I hope to see you in a week, Rin-chan. I'll talk to you later."
"Later… I love you, Naruto-nissan!"
"I love you too, be careful on your way here, okay?" She gave him a nodding sound before hanging up. As Naruto turned off his phone, he couldn't help but smile. He was very glad to be able to see his sister again but most importantly, he wanted to know how his sempai was doing. He then went into the guestroom where Hinata was, he then became worried when he saw the expression on his girlfriend's face. "How is he, Hinata-chan?"
"He's quite low on chakra and his injuries are quite serious…"
"Nothing like a rejuvenation couldn't help." Said Naruto gathering chakra into his arms.
"He's in a coma, Naruto-kun. I don't think rejuvenation heals that…" The Death Knight shut his eyes with grimace, the Hyuga heiress then gave him a warm smile hoping things would get better. Hinata would do anything within her ability to see her beloved one to have a smile on his face always. She really didn't like to see him this worried and upset. "Naruto-kun, it'll be okay… it isn't anything that serious… I'm sure Haku-san would wake up."
"Don't try to flatter me, Hinata-chan…" stated Naruto with a sad sigh.
"I'm not trying to flatter you, I know Haku-san wouldn't take too long to wake up. Have faith in him like how I always had faith in you." She then gave him a sincere embrace, the boy didn't hesitate to give her one back. "His injuries aren't too fatal, he should be only be unconscious due to exhaustion, give him a week, okay?"
"You know, Hinata-chan," whispered the dark shinobi to her ear. "You seem to always know which words to make me feel better about everything." Hinata blushed immediately and held him tighter.
"I'm not your girlfriend for nothing, Naruto-kun," said the lavender eye girl a little timidly. Naruto just smiled at her without her knowing. He then leaned his head downward to hers and embraced her lips engaging in a passionate kiss. Hinata didn't refuse to give it back to him of course, it was something that she would never discard in almost any circumstance. While the Death Knight was enjoying the moment, deep down he really wished his sempai would be okay, it really hurt him to see the person he always looked up to lying in such a helpless state. He trusted Hinata's every word, he had faith in her as well. Naruto then banished that doubtful belief in his mind and continued what he at the task at hand.
'Haku-sempai,' thought the runeblade wielder. 'For Rin-chan's sake, please continue to live on.' With that thought, Naruto broke the kiss he was having and embraced Hinata tightly for security, she knew what he was going through and gave him all the passion he needed. She dug her head into his chest while his hands were around her waist. No words were needed, the presence of one another was more than enough to satisfy them both.
AN: (Coughs a little more) That treatment was bad… with another chapter done, the next one would be the real deal, the Chunnin Exam. It'll take me a short while to post it, I hope you all are looking forward to it! I had a lot of fun writing this fic, I also hope I somewhat satisfied some action fans out there. Another quick note… on the last chapter, why did I leave the scenario into a curtain close like thing. I am not a lemon writer or have the intention of even thinking of writing stuff like that for people at the age of 13. Sure they may love each other, do they need to go that far after a long time confession? I don't think so. If I wrote something like that, this fic would be Rated-R for certain. I don't want to risk it yet. Somehow, I got a strange feeling that it would be later on… the violence might start to kick in sooner or later. Looks like time will tell. Anyway, please be kind and review, your support and encouragement are always welcome!
Until next time, if I make out of this infiltration mission alive… (Loud Sniper Rifle gunfire) DAMN IT, I got shot! Don't worry… it's only a flesh wound… I think I'm losing too much blood, I don't think I could last much longer… (Collapses on the ground as more blood flows out of my now wasted body.)