It's kind of funny. I say that the updates may take longer, but instead they're up faster. The irony. But who cares! Thank you for your kind reviews.

Darak: I only killed Orochimaru in this story. The Akatsuki have yet to do something, which will take place in this chapter.

TimeShifter: Sorry, but there will be no lime or lemon. But there will be more intimate things happening later in my other Naruto fic, Encyclopedia Ninja. So you may want to read that one.

IrukaPooka: No, you will not be seeing much of Gaara anymore. Originally, I did not intend to put him in. But, as you have read, I have put him in.

SephyNarutoCloud: Every time you give me a review, you continually say that I should update faster. Do you realize that I update more frequently than many other authors/authoresses on ? When you realize this, please do not continue to tell me to update faster; I try to update my fics every four days. I would prefer that you give me ways on how I can work on my writing skills. Thank you.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

Chapter Eighteen: Waiting For That Moment

He had it all planned out. He had the ring. He had the perfect place to go to. He knew what to do.

First, he would take her to dinner. Then, he would lead her to a nice, quiet place in the park. Then, he would do it. Today, Uzumaki Naruto would propose to Hyuuga Hinata.

But he had to deal with his other problem first. Today, he would have to deal with another set of possible genin students. He promised Hinata that he would take it easy on them. But that was not the main problem.

Uzumaki Naruto, for the first time in many years, was anxious. He was afraid that Hinata would recoil and say no. Or perhaps it was because he, never knowing his father or mother, would not know what to do in certain situations during their marriage. He was not so sure what to do when the doorbell rang. He quickly opened the door and immediately hugged Hinata.

"Hello, Hinata-chan," Naruto gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ready to get some new genins?" Hinata's old students have already become chuunin. So she needed a fresh set of young ninjas to train.

"Of course. Now remember your promise," Hinata said.

"I know, I know; I will take it easy on the genins this time," Naruto pledged.

"Good. Now let's get some lunch." They left the house and appeared at the Ichiraku. "So, Naruto-kun, how do you plan to test these students?" Hinata split her chopsticks and was going to start eating.

"I'm thinking that I'll do the bell test, except that there will only be one bell." Naruto answered. Hinata dropped her chopsticks.

"Naruto-kun!" she whined, "You promised me that you would go easy on them! Using only one bell will make things worse!"

"Hey, I'm not done yet! I'm going to put the bell on a hundred foot wall and they have to somehow reach and ring the bell."

"That's too easy!"

"Please, let me continue. They can't use any jutsus. Assuming that they're regular genin, they won't know how to use their chakra to walk up the wall. However, they are allowed to do so."

"That's still too easy, Naruto-kun."

"I'm still not done yet. They'll have their feet and hands linked. One will have both his hands and feet linked while the other two will only have one arm or foot linked. I'm going to assume that they're going to use kunais as objects to help them climb up."

Hinata could now see how difficult this test would be for the genins. Naruto was forcing them to work together instead of the three genins choosing to work together. "But Naruto, if you force them to work together, then they'll automatically pass. You can't do that!"

"I know, which is why that they have to ring the bell in three hours, or they will fail." Naruto answered.

"Oh," she realized that indeed this would be an interesting test. "Say, are you going to be using any traps?" Naruto didn't answer, but instead had a playful grin. "Okay, don't answer me, but don't go overboard! Remember what happened last time? He had so many injuries, he had to go to the hospital!"

Last time, one of the genins launched a water jutsu at Naruto. Naruto, deciding to go easy on them, stuck up his right hand and planned to let the water hit him. To his dismay, his glove absorbed the water. Now Naruto can manipulate the moisture in the air to form ice walls, water cushions, etc. Also, when Naruto transformed into a fox, the fur was white.

Naruto's glove was amazingly powerful. In fact it was so powerful that when it was Hinata's birthday, he made it snow in the whole village and he took her around as her birthday present. She often told him that she would love to see it snow. But it doesn't snow often in the Fire country. The last time it snowed was when the First was still Hokage.

Well, the genin got so pissed off that he walked through a tripwire, which launched many kunais at him. He dodged them all, but a stray kunai cut one of the strings attached to a log, which caused the log swing into another trip wire that set off the Kazara Clan exploding tags, which always gave off blue explosions. All this happened in a time period of ten seconds. By the end of the day, the said genin had a cut lip, no eyebrows, numerous burns, several cuts, a broken rib and a broken leg, which all came from those ten seconds.

"Eh..." Naruto paused, "I'll keep that in mind. We should get going. Don't want to keep those genin waiting, right?" Hinata nodded in agreement. Naruto paid their tab and they disappeared.

Apparently, they were the last jounins to pick up their students. It was either that they were late, or that the other jounins decided to come earlier. As soon as the remaining two groups saw Naruto, one boy said, "Aww man, it's the Jounin Instructor of Death." It was very tempting to give that boy the Flaming Finger. Come to think of it, Naruto still owed Neji one of those.

Either way, Naruto took his three students up to a building that offered a clear view of the Hokage Monument. They started to introduce themselves. "So," Naruto began after they had done so, "I'm going to give you a choice. You can either take the test now, or you may take it tomorrow." It was a unanimous decision; they would take the test today. "Alright then, follow me."

Naruto began to lead them and they met Hinata. "Hey, Hinata-chan," She looked over at him. "My students want to take their test today. Do you want to watch?" Hinata nodded and followed Naruto to where a wide pole was placed.

"Alright you three, you are to climb that pole and ring he bell on the top."

"Easy!" one of the males began to start, but Naruto stopped him.

"Wait," Naruto snapped his fingers. Rope snaked their way around their wrists and ankles. "You're going to climb it while being tied together. Also, you cannot use jutsus or bloodlines. Other than that, you may use your ninja tools and whatever means necessary to ring the bell."

"You have three hours to do so. In case you guys fall, I'll make a cushion of water," A small pool of water formed underneath the pole. Naruto brought out a clock. With much difficulty, the genins positioned themselves around the pole. He pushed a button, starting the test. "Begin!"

The genins took out a pair of kunais each with much difficulty. They each stuck the kunais into the pole with much difficulty. They climbed a foot up with much difficulty. They fell with relative ease. Both Naruto and Hinata watched in amusement.

The three genins started to climb again. They had managed to go up ten feet when the first of Naruto's traps went off. It sent an electric shock through the boy in the middle, which paralyzed him for five seconds. However, those five seconds were enough for the genins to fall off once more, who were caught by the cushion of water. It would be an amusing day for Naruto and Hinata.

Needless to say, the three genins failed.

In The Park

Dinner had gone as planned. Flawlessly executed, Naruto had engaged the second part of his plan, the walk in the park. So far, that went well, too. They were now sitting on the bench. Hinata was leaning on his shoulder once more.

Hinata enjoyed the warmth coming off of Naruto. It felt so... so... comforting and... protective. Just being able to feel the warmth coming from him was enough for her to be happy. Of course, she prayed everyday that their relationship would grow. And so far, her prayers have been answered.

"Naruto-kun," she said.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"Could you..." she paused for a moment. "Could you wrap your tails around me?" She blushed at her request. Naruto looked a bit puzzled as to why she would ask that, and then smiled.

"Of course," Naruto transformed himself and let his tails, which were white because the glove's influence, wrap around Hinata and bringing her closer to him. Oh, did she enjoy that warmth. Hinata appeared serene and calm.

On the other hand, Naruto was, even though he did not show it, anxious to the very core of his bones. His palms were sweaty. He had butterflies in his stomach. He would be heartbroken if she did not accept him. But he would always be anxious until he asked her. So, taking in a breath of air, he shakily began. He was fingering the box with the ring inside it.

It was now or never. Do or die. Making an audible gulp that he swore that even Tsunade, in her Hokage office, could have heard, Naruto began his proposal. He turned to face Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," He shakily said. His hand traveled to his forehead to wipe off his sweat.

"Yes?" she stared at his eyes. Naruto instantly froze under her scanning lavender eyes. He could feel her eyes, which nothing can escape from her sight, slowly reading him like a book.

"Y-You're a wonderful lady, Hinata-chan," She felt that he was stalling. For one, he was stuttering. And she had never heard Naruto stutter in her entire life of watching him.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"N-No! N-Nothing's wrong!" He drew in a deep breath. 'Come on! Ask her!'

"Then why are you stuttering?"

"W-Well, you see, um..." Naruto gulped again. "Whenever I'm around you, I-I feel... good. And," Naruto's right hand fumbled in his right pocket for the box. But he did not pull it out. "I want you to be happy. A-And in this current state of our relationship, I don't think I can offer it to you."

'Oh no! Is Naruto-kun breaking up with me?' A tear trickled her cheek. Naruto saw this and used his tail to brush the tear away.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?"

She gave out a snivel. "Y-You're breaking up with me."

"No! I'm not breaking up with you!"

"B-But you sound like you're going to! P-Please, don't lie to me."

'I guess I'll have to do it now.' Naruto took out the box, but Hinata could not see it yet. "Well, there's no point in hiding it from you. Hinata-chan, before I met you, there was a hole in here," he pointed to where his heart would be. "And that hole hurt. But when you came, that hole slowly disappeared."

Hinata had no idea what he was saying. First, it sounded like he was breaking up with her. Now, it sounded completely different. She looked on at him with confusion written all over her face.

Naruto saw this and sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, Hinata-chan, will you-," before he could pull out the box to show Hinata, a voice called out.

"Naruto-san!" Naruto turned around to see Lee. "Hokage-sama has a mission for you."

"Well, tell her I'm busy." 'Damn it, Lee!'

"No can do, Naruto-san. She requests for your presence immediately." A tree was blown up somewhere in the background.

"Fine! You just totally killed the moment." Naruto turned to Hinata, whose cheeks had a few trails of tears, but eyes that held confusion. "Hinata-chan, I think you should go back home. I'll continue this when I get back." She nodded. Naruto turned to Lee. "Let's go." 'Lee, if she thinks that I'm breaking up with her, you are a dead man.'

The duo raced up to the Hokage's office while Hinata slowly walked back to her home. Unknown to her, a pair of black eyes were watching her. 'So, this is his girlfriend... He's lucky to have the love of a Hyuuga,' Itachi put on a smile. 'Time to catch a bird,' the peeping Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and appeared in front of Hinata. And in less than a second, she fell.

Naruto walked into the room, not even bothering to knock. "What is it that you want from me, obachan? I'm busy."

"Well, Naruto, it's about your house."

"I stop in the middle of proposing to Hinata-chan to come here as fast as I can, only to be told that something going wrong with my house?" Tsunade's eyes widened.

"You're proposing to Hinata?" Naruto nodded. "Then go and propose to her! I can tell you about your house later!" Naruto gave a small bow and left the room in a hurry.

'What's wrong with them? They're telling me something about my house when I have more important things to deal with!' Naruto ran on the path to Hinata's house, hoping to catch her.

'Where is she?' It must have been the fifth time Naruto had gone through the entire streets of Konoha. He had yet to find Hinata. Slowly, Naruto approached the door to her apartment. 'Maybe she's in here,' he opened the door with a key that Hinata gave him. It was empty.

Naruto turned around to catch a kunai that would have embedded itself in the door. Attached to it was a letter. Naruto pulled off the kunai and took the letter. Slowly, with his hands trembling, he opened it. He had a feeling that what was inside the letter was something he didn't want to know.

And he was right.

Uzumaki,

We have Hyuuga Hinata. Come to the Valley of the End in three days time or we will kill her.

You are to come alone.

Naruto did not need to know who sent the letter. He quickly ran to the Hokage's office.