Disclaimer: I do not own any wrights to Naruto or Shadow Skill. I merely use their characters and themes for entertainment purposes.

When the two came back, his cousin informed the tribe leader of the battle and the style Naruto fought with. For several minutes she just stared at Naruto with a look of disbelief. It was almost beyond her comprehension that some one could know Shadow Skill. It was a style that was only spoken of in ledged. Finally after several minutes of silence she asked if it was true, with a simple nod from his head began several hours of him retelling his story on how he was taught Shadow Skill. From the fight on the bridge in Wave Country to meeting Deis to his training to his return to Konoha and finally the execution of Kanon in the fight war.

After Naruto finished Isalia spoke up, "Darkness must have been watching us for a long time and actually planned this."

"But why would he do that?" Lita asked.

"Well don't ask me," Naruto said, "Even though I spent two years with him I still can't figure out his motives."

"That goes along with legends," Isalia said, "Even the Savars of Karuda only knew a little about Darkness. The stories that mention him only say that his motives were his own, but would often be of benefit to those he showed an interest in."

"Now the question is," Naruto said, "How was it the tribe was able to retain the Open Skill of Karuda but not the Shadow Skill."

"We are not sure," Isalia said, "All that the stories say is limited descriptions on three of the techniques and that it was lost about the time Karuda was destroyed."

"Perhaps the Master of Shadow Skill at that time did not have an apprentice and died in the disaster," Hinata suggested.

"That could be possible," Kita said.

"But unfortunately the only one that could truly answer that question in Darkness," Isalia said. "You wouldn't happen to know how to contact him, Gau?"

"No," Naruto answered, "One night while I was recovering after I successfully performed Kanon he left. I awoke the next morning and he was gone, all that I found was a message saying how to get back to Konoha."

"I wonder why he did not give you directions to us," Kita wondered.

"Again the only one who could answer that is him," Isalia responded. She then turned to Naruto and asked, "Now the next question is, what will you do now? Not only are you a member of our tribe, but you also have knowledge of our heritage that has been lost do to the passage of time."

"Plus you are also a Konoha shinobi as well," Hinata said.

"I'm not too sure, I've still got my dreams and a family of close friends back in Konoha," Naruto said, "But I also have a family here. I guess for now I would like to stay and get to know my blood relatives a little bit more, but we have to get the trade treaty back to Konoha soon."

"There are still details that need to be worked out but can only be done in person," Isalia said. "We were planning on visiting Konoha in a couple of month after we met you. I would like to visit the graves of my deceased family."

Months had passed since Naruto and Hinata left Konoha. Finally after about two months past when a messenger toad came from Naruto saying that he had met them and would return soon. He explained that the leader of the tribe and a couple of members of her family were also coming in order to finalize the trade agreement and visit the grave of the Forth. Those that were close too them were anticipating the return of the Shadow Skill Master and the Hyuuga heir. But when four months past and there was still no word on their location people began to become worried. Some were afraid that Naruto ran into members of the Akatsuki again or that Orochimaru's forces got a hold of him. Many more were worried that the Hyuuga Heir had been captured or killed and the secrets of the Bykugan had fallen into enemy hands.

The only one that seemed for sure that nothing happened to the two teens was Jiraiya. He would say that if anything happened to the two he would hear about it. He had connections all over the content and he had not received any word from them. Of coarse those that would criticize the pervert would day if your network was so good then why can you not find them. And his reply would be he had not instructed his contacts to be on the active look out for them, so they would not be actively looking for them. This did not alleviate many people's fears, especially the Hyuuga Elders.

The Hyuuga Elders were not too keen on sending the Heir so far away from the village with only one bodyguard, and not of the Hyuuga Clan. Regardless of the fact that said bodyguard was probably better than several Hyuuga combined. Hiashi was confident that Naruto could handle himself and protect Hinata, he did see his skills first hand during the war, but even he was questioning his judgment when he agreed with Sundae to allow the two to go on their own. As a result word was spread among the Hyuugas that were on active shinobi status that they should keep their eyes, ears, noses, and any other body parts that could detect sensation for any sign of Hinata.

Neji was returning to Konoha after a solo low level B-Class Mission. He took as many out of village missions as he could in hopes of hearing any information about Hinata. He had grown very close to his eldest cousin over the last couple of years and was one of the most worried about her. He was about five days travel away from Konoha when he felt several bursts of chakra several hundred meters away. Stopping on a tree he activated his Bloodline Limit and focused in on the chakra bursts. He wanted to see the source because, since he was in Fire Country's borders, there was a good chance a Konoha-nin was involved. And if there was he would help, if not then he would spy on them and report back to the Hokage when he returned. When his gaze settled in on the source he saw a group of five people engaging in combat. He saw that it appeared to be somewhat of a free for all as no one person seemed to be helping another. The fight seemed to be consisted mostly of Taijutsu styles that he was not familiar with. Then again he was not like his former teacher or teammate that memorized every Taijutsu style there was. He watched for several minutes and noted that the bursts of chakra came from Ninjutsu that would occasionally be thrown out. He was about to move on when he saw the other four circled the fifth one. He noted that this person was female and had hair similar to him, he could not see her face because her back was to him and he had not paid enough attention earlier to focus on individuals faces. The four people waited a few seconds before charging in, that was when the female performed a jutsu that only Hyuugas could perform, the Kaiten. Not giving it a second though Neji ran as fast as he could to the battle with one thought in his mind, "Hinata!"

It only took Neji a minute to reach the battle site, during that time Neji observed as the attackers continued to come at Hinata and saw that she would fend then off with her own derived style. When he finally arrived he called out, "Hinata-sama!"

Hinata who had been focused on her four opponents got distracted when she heard her name called. He lapse in focus caused one of the people to attack her. Neji seeing this acted on instinct and charged the attacker. He was about to land a fatal blow when he suddenly felt his hand stop. He noticed a clawed hand was grabbing his wrist stopping his hand only a centimeter from his target. Following the arm attached to the hand he came face to face with a blond haired Hunter-nin, "That is not a way to say hello to official representatives to Konoha, Neji."

"Naruto?" Neji said recognizing the mask and voice. The Hunter-nin removed the mask revealing Naruto's face. Naruto released Neji's wrist as he did, "What is happening here?"

"We were having a sparring session Neji-nisan," Hinata answered.

"We weren't expecting any welcome this far out Neji," Naruto said, "Are you part of the welcoming party or just passing through?"

"Just passing through," Neji answered still very confused. "Who are these people?"

"These are some of the representatives of the Savile Tribe," Naruto answered. Pointing to the four, "Zala, Lin, Lita and her husband Dag. Lita is my cousin from my mother's side."

"Cousin?" Neji asked.

"Yeah," Naruto answered, "Look our camp is not far come with us and I'll explain a few things."

Neji could only nod as the four strangers left soon followed by Naruto and Hinata arm in arm. As he watched he thought, "They have clearly become much closer."

As they neared the camp Naruto began to explain, "Well we decided to come to Konoha a few months ago and that is what brings us here. We decided to stop for the day because we had been traveling for a while. I got to tell you we ninja's have nothing on nomads when it comes to traveling long distances, they just keep going. At the pace they travel at it only took us about a week to get this far."

"If they travel so quickly then why has it been so long since your last message?" Neji asked.

"Well we kind of got distracted for a couple of months," Naruto said scratching the back of his head. Neji gave him a questioning look to which Naruto replied, "Some things came up that kind of took priority for a while."

"Was there any kind of attack?" Neji asked.

"No," Naruto answered simply.

"Then what happened?" Neji asked once again.

"Well actually…" Naruto started to get a little nervous; this did not go unnoticed by Neji. He saw Naruto glance at Hinata, Neji glanced as well and saw his cousin had a most peculiar face. It seemed like mix between pride, nervousness, uncertainty and anxiousness. "We, well, we…"

Naruto's explanation was cut off by a call from the camp, "Gau! Hinata! The rabbits are almost done!"

"We're coming Aunt!" Naruto called back.

Forgetting the looks on his two fellow shinobi's faces insight of Naruto responding to the strange name Neji asked, "Why did she call you Gau?"

"Well that's the name my mother was going to name me," Naruto answered, "I gave the tribe permission to call he that."

"So how many names do you go by now?" Neji asked.

"Just the three," Naruto answered, "My Konoha name, my Savile name, and my fighting name."

"We should go," Hinata said wanting to keep Neji from asking any further questions. She had caught Neji giving them a strange look when just before Isalia called. And to be honest she did not want to answer any questions at the moment.

When they finally arrived Neji was introduced to the rest of the group that came with Hinata and Naruto, they included Isalia and Jade that had come along with her parents. There were only a total of ten people, not counting the two from Konoha in the camp so it was not very big. As Neji observed the actions of the people around him he could not help but noticed the kindness and respect each showed each other and how every treated Jade with a gentleness he had only seen a few times in his life. Too him it seemed that everyone treated the child as their own, this included Hinata and Naruto. Finally after several hours everyone began to turn in for the night. "Sorry about this but we don't have any spare tents for you Neji-nisan," Hinata apologized.

"Do not let it worry you Hinata-sama," Neji said, "I was returning from a mission so I have my gear with me. I am not inconvenienced." Hinata nodded in response and when off to get some sleep.

The next day Neji awoke with the sunrise and exited his tent. When he got out he noticed three of the nomads were already up standing around the small camp. He figured they were assigned guard duty because he saw the alertness each possessed. Neji had to admit, after seeing the sparring match yesterday and the alertness of the guards these nomads would make worthy opponents for even some of the best in Konoha. After making a small greeting to the guards Neji went to begin his morning exercises when the young girl Jade stopped him. "Good morning Uncle," Jade greeted. "Do you fight like Aunt Hinata?"

"Yes I do fight like her," Neji answered with a bewildered voice, "But why did you call Hinata-sama your aunt and me you uncle?"

"Because you are," Jade answered.

"And why is that?" Neji asked.

"Because you're Aunt Hinata's cousin and she married Uncle Gau," Jade answered. "So that make you my uncle."

Neji was stunned, not something that happened much. After several seconds of silence he yelled, "MARRIED?"

In their tent Naruto and Hinata were woken up, "Looks like someone told him," Naruto said with a sigh.

"We were going to have to tell everyone when we got back anyway," Hinata replied. "Still even I had wished to put it off."

Author's note: This was a short Chapter but it will lead into the next section of the story.