A.N.: Well, I've been having a bad day, got a bad grade on a Quiz in Japanese, was late to Math class where I had forgotten my homework. Missed my English class while trying to get my essay to print. Then I got home and found my inbox with a review alert of someone who was eagerly awaiting my next chapter and that just turned my day around... So in exchange for cheering me up, here's the next chapter.
Malicious Alteration Chapter 2: Trial of Separation
Naruto awoke slowly as always, dragging himself out of bed and pouring himself a glass of milk and fix himself a cup of Ramen. A normal day for Naruto. About fourty five minutes later he was showered, fully dressed and ready for another full day. He energetically ran down the street, hoping for an exciting mission. The entire town was quiet, so many ninja being out on missions or dead. The village's weakening had directly coincided with an overflow of dangerous missions. The shinobi of the Leaf couldn't catch a break. Naruto always did his best and felt proud when he completed a mission, because he knew it meant the village was that much stronger because of it.
He raced up the stairs of the Ninja Administration Center. Coming to the door that led to the room where the Hokage distributed missions. He slid the door open without hesitation, or waiting to hear who was on the other side.
"...I tell you, she must have been kidnapped. Our enemies could even now be discovering the secrets of the Byakugan." That crazy Hyuuga guy was there for some reason.
"There is too little evidence, the broken mirror is the only sign of violence, her clothing was packed up and taken with, she left through the back gate and locked it behind her, all of these signs point to her running away." Tsunade
"Even so, if she's wandering the wilderness alone she'll be kidnapped immediately, we need to retrieve her before that happens." Hiashi demanded. Tsunade rubbed her temples, sighing.
"I would, I would in an instant if only there were ninja to spare. Honestly, there is no one available to get Hinata back at this time." At this point Naruto, who had been listening to the two argue decided to speak up.
"Hinata ran away? What happened?" The two adults looked at the young ninja in surprise, neither had noticed him come in.
"Hinata was kidnapped last night after Hanabi was chosen as heir." Hiashi said in a superior manner, "Now is a perfect time to kidnap her as she's no longer a member of the main family and not yet a member of the branch family, so we cannot prevent them from finding the secrets of the Byakugan by activating her curse seal as she doesn't have one yet." Tsunade rolled her eyes.
"The evidence says she ran away."
"Curse Seal? Branch Family? What are you talking about?" Naruto has a short memory.
"We were going to mark Hinata with the curse seal this morning, to ensure she serves the main family to her dying day." Something clicked in Naruto's memory, reminding him of Neji and his story. He began to get angry.
"You were going to mark Hinata like you marked Neji? Don't you understand how worthless that is?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"If we had marked her sooner it would be a simple matter of forming a single seal and she'd be dead, wherever she was, eliminating our current problem. Yes, it's very worthwhile." Naruto was shocked
"You'd kill your own daughter just to protect your worthless secrets?" Hiashi was taken aback by Naruto's outburst.
"It's not as if I'd enjoy doing it, but in order to protect the safety of this village and our clan sometimes I have to make a sacrifice." Hiashi growled.
"What you're saying is murder!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Hiashi with a hand shaking with rage.
"I'm going to follow Hinata, make sure she's okay, and tell her to run as far away from her crazy family as possible." Naruto was halfway around when Tsunade finally spoke.
"Wait you dolt. Aren't you forgetting you have a duty to this village as one of it's ninja?" She looked at him severely, "Your mission is right here." She held up a scroll, "I expect it done promptly." Naruto snatched the scroll and turned to go, scowling at Hiashi as he left.
Naruto wandered aimlessly through the town, he knew he would have to do his mission eventually, but the fact that everyone seemed to be abandoning Hinata was making him too angry to open the scroll and read it's contents. It seemed like if Hinata was brought back she would be subjected to the curse seal, but if she wasn't rescued she'd end up captured by enemy ninja. It wasn't a clear choice what should be done, but it didn't feel right to abandon her like it seemed like was happening.
"ARGH, What do I do?" Naruto loudly asked to nobody in particular.
"Keep it down, geez, who would think that you are a Ninja?" Asked a familiar voice, Jiyara, the toad sennin crouched on a fence top.
"Ah, the legendary pervert. What are you doing here?"
"Stop calling me that. I'm here to teach you a critical lesson."
"Oh, you're going to teach me a new technique?"
"No you idiot, I'm here to tell you a secret about being Hokage."
"Oh, a secret about being Hokage, that'll be very useful for when I am Hokage! So tell me, tell me!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
"It's that just being Hokage doesn't mean you're always right. This case is one of them. Hinata needs saving, and you're just the person for the job."
"Eh? Me? Why me?" Naruto asked, sounding confused. Jiyara's eye twitched.
'Is this kid really that dense? Oh well, nothing I can do about it.'
"Yes you, the reason doesn't matter."
"Alright, I guess I can find Hinata, but what about my mission?" Naruto said, holding up the scroll.
"Give me that, I'll have Tsunade reassign it." Jiyara said, taking the scroll. Naruto began to walk swiftly towards the front gates, chanting.
"Rescue Mission Rescue Mission..." over and over. Jiyara sighed, that boy was a lot of trouble, but his heart was good.
When Naruto came to the gates he found them already open, Neji just leaving. Naruto ran to his side, shouting at the Gate guards not to close it yet. Neji looked back at him.
"What are you doing here?" Neji asked the blonde ninja.
"I'm off to save Hinata." Naruto exclaimed boldly.
"Hmph, that's my mission." Neji responded.
"Really? Obaa-chan didn't seem like she was willing to send anybody."
"Hokage-sama didn't send me, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama did." Neji paused, "I suppose you think you're going to be thanked for bringing her back huh? With what faces her here I'm not surprised she ran away. If I could do so, I would." Neji said, obviously not wanting to 'rescue' Hinata
"I never said I was bringing her back Neji." Naruto responded, a small fox-grin on his face.
"I said I was going to save her... and if that means hiding her from the Leaf and your crazy family, then I will." Neji looked at Naruto with a blank face, then cracked a smile.
"That was my goal from the beginning... even if Hiashi discovers my plans and kills me for it, it'll be my choice to help another bird escape the cage of the branch family." Neji said. "As my father chose his death to save his brother, I chose my death to save my cousin."
"Well then, we'd better get moving then."
AN: I don't know what's with me having all these short chapters... I guess I'm just trying to set up the situation. That also explains why there's so much dialogue and so little action to this chapter. I wanted to explain what was going on with Naruto, but I didn't want to spend too much time on it, as a result it seems kinda rushed and sucky, but next time you can look forward to more drawn out scenes involving Hinata and the mysterious Nogu Asaka (that's his name by the way)