Sigh.... I don't own Naruto...

Chapter 7: Knight in shining armor

Naruto rushed out of the room with an angry face and clenched fists. He kept whispering Hinata's name. He prayed and prayed that she has to be alright. He walked in the streets with a very fast pace. On his way, he bumped Sakura.

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"Oomph..." Sakura fell to the ground. Naruto helped her up.

"Oi Naruto..." Sakura said. Naruto walked away with a faster pace.

'Darn, why did he avoid me? And what's the rush for? I should have told him about that late birthday party we were all planning…' Sakura then pouted.

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Naruto rushed to the place where the memorial stone stood. He arrived there panting and still hoping that Hinata is alright. He scanned the environment and he saw Hinata tied in a tree with a ripped sleeve, unconscious. He rushed to her but a kunai stopped him from approaching her nearer. The Kunai almost hit him, lucky for him, he avoided it. If he wasn't able to avoid it he'll be pretty much not breathing because it would've hit his head. He calculated where it came from and he looked up a tree nearby. He saw a ninja sitting on a thick branch of tree.

"It's you!" Naruto retorted. "What did you do to her?" He asked and gritted his teeth.

"Nothing… yet…" The ninja then jumped down from the branch. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Takamura Ichiro, the assassin." He said.

"That kind of formality can't make me go easy on you…" Naruto then clenched his fists. "Don't underestimate the Hokage of the fire country!!!" He then charged at Ichiro with his fists. Ichiro avoided his fists and he did a couple of back flips. Naruto continued charging at him but he wasn't able to hit him again. 'Naruto, calm down, you'll never be able to defeat this guy if you would just attack him without thinking, relax Naruto relax…' He thought. He then inhaled and exhaled large amounts of air. He then stood straight and he closed his eyes.

'What's this guy doing?' Ichiro thought. He then pulled out his kunai because he felt something bad would happen. Naruto opened his eyes and it looked like there were vertical slits on them. 'I thought Kyuubi is out of him, how could he possibly do that?' Ichiro then grasped his kunai harder. Naruto charged at him but in a split second Ichiro got hit by his fist. He was thrown back and he hit a tree. He stood up quickly. 'Darn, he's so fast…' Ichiro then attacked Naruto. Naruto avoided every attack of his. After doing throwing unsuccessful attacks at Naruto, he backed away from him and he pulled out a small bottle from his pouch.

"That looks very familiar…" Naruto said.

"Because you have seen it before…" Ichiro said.

"Where?" Naruto asked.

"Mizuki always carried some of this with her…" Ichiro said. He then twisted the cap of the bottle.

"Mizuki… how is that traitor?' Naruto said.

"She's dead… because she failed on her mission…" Ichiro said.

"It was to kill me right? Did I kill her?" Naruto asked. Ichiro walked a few steps.

"No you didn't…" Ichiro then charged at Naruto. When he got closer he removed the cap of the bottle and he let the scent out from it. He threw it at Naruto. Naruto caught it and he threw it somewhere far from him.

"Then why are you trying to kill me?" Naruto said. Ichiro backed away from him.

"…Because I was ordered to kill you." Ichiro then did some seals. "Summoning no Jutsu!!!" He whispered. He was then engulfed by smoke. When the smoke cleared out, Ichiro was sitting on top of a white tiger with red eyes.

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"Summoning no Jutsu!!!" Ichiro whispered. He then summoned a white tiger.

"It's you…" the tiger said with a cold voice.

They were surrounded by smoke.

"Help me out Enryuu…" Ichiro said.

"Why should I?" The tiger then glared at him. "Kenji is my master, not you…"

"You promised Kenji…" Ichiro then patted the tiger at the head touching the metal plates covering a part of the tiger's forehead. The tiger glared at him again.

"Ok. But I'll help you just this time, ok?' The tiger asked.

"As long as you help me defeat…" Ichiro then jumped up at the tiger's back. The smoke was cleared out because of the wind. The tiger's eye widened. "Why, what's wrong?" Ichiro looked down on the tiger's head.

"The fox kid?" Enryuu asked.

"I'm not the fox kid! I'm the fire shadow!!!" Naruto shouted at the tiger and Ichiro.

"Well looks like you got in a wrong fight, Ichiro…" The tiger said.

"I didn't get to it…" Ichiro glared at the tiger. "It's an order to kill him…" he whispered.

"Heh, looks like your foolish father hasn't changed yet…" Enryuu said. Ichiro removed his bandana.

"Yes he is…"

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Naruto saw the seal on Ichiro's head.

'A seal just like the Hyuuga branch house?' he thought. Enryuu then charged at him.

"Wind claws!!!" Enryuu then growled. Naruto avoided it but he forgot what was behind him. He quickly turned around.

"Hinata-chan!!!" he shouted.

Hinata got hit by the wind technique. Luckily, it hit only her arm. She groaned a little but she didn't wake up. Naruto was caught off guard and the tiger attacked him at the back. He drove his huge claws in Naruto's back. Naruto fell to the ground after the attack. He turned his attention back at his enemies and he glared at them. His back hurt and it was bleeding a lot. His Hokage robe was ripped and it was stained with his blood. He glared at the two more. He gritted his teeth.

"Why you…" Naruto muttered "You don't have a right to hurt Hinata-chan!!!" He then charged at Enryuu and Ichiro with much greater speed than before. He hit the tiger once and he backed away from his enemies. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted. Four Naruto's then appeared beside him. He charged at the Tiger again.

U

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"…Naruto rendan!!!" The tiger was thrown back and Ichiro fell from his back. The tiger stood up again and he roared. Naruto charged at him, a blue ball was glowing in his hand.

"RASENGAN!!!" He shouted and he hit the tiger at its chest. The tiger was thrown back away knocking out some trees while he flew in the air. When he reached the ground he disappeared. He then approached Ichiro who was kneeling on the ground nursing his painful back.

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Ichiro got up from his fall. He then saw Enryuu flying in the air and he watched as it disappeared. He knelt on the ground. He was worn out. Summoning Enryuu was a hard task. He needed a lot of chakra to call him out. He then rubbed his back and he tried to ease the pain. He then saw Naruto approach him. He gritted his teeth when Naruto stopped in front of him. 'Darn…' He thought. Naruto then did all the seals and he placed his hand over the worn out Ichiro's forehead. Ichiro felt pain in his forehead.

'Is he trying to kill me?' He thought. He gritted his teeth harder. He then lost his consciousness.

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Naruto approached Hinata in the tree. He untied her and Hinata fell into his arms, still sleeping. He brushed his hand through her face. 'Thank God she is alright…' He then sighed with relief.

"Naruto-sama!!!" Someone called to him.

He turned around while carrying Hinata in his arms. He saw Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura running towards him.

"What happened here?" Sasuke asked. He then noticed the other body in the area.

"Who's that?' Sakura asked. Naruto then fell in his knees. They saw Naruto grit his teeth. Kakashi walked around him and he gasped when he saw Naruto's back.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto is bleeding; we have to get him to the hospital! Hinata is bleeding too!!!" Kakashi exclaimed." Kakashi then aided Naruto in standing up. "Let me carry Hinata…"

"No… I'll carry her." Naruto said. "You take him to Ibiki…" Naruto said to Kakashi. Kakashi approached the other ninja and he lifted him up in his shoulders.

"Come on… we have to get the both of you to the hospital now…" Sakura said.

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Hinata then woke up. A very white and clean ceiling greeted her. 'Hospital… again?' she thought. She then stood up. She felt pain in her arm. She looked at it and she saw bandages wrapped around it. She grabbed her jacket from a small table beside the bed and she put it on. She then noticed that she was resting at the clinic of the hospital.

"Naruto, why did he try to kill you anyway?' Hinata heard Sasuke's voice. She then heard footsteps.

'Naruto-kun…' Hinata thought. She then pushed away the curtain that was separating her from the other part of the clinic. When she walked out of the curtain, everyone looked at her. Naruto had a big smile on his face. A nurse was wrapping bandages around his torso.

"Hinata-chan, you're awake!!!" he tried to move but they stopped him from moving.

"Please calm down, Hokage-sama…" the nurse said.

Hinata then saw Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura and Tsunade in the room. She even saw a ripped and bloody Hokage robe atop a table in the clinic.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Hinata then approached Naruto.

Naruto threw a foxy grin on Hinata "I'm always alright, Hinata-chan!" He then raised his right arm and he did a thumb up. "Ouch…" he said. Hinata giggled. "But are you alright Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, but what happened?" Hinata asked.

"Naruto became your knight in shining armor…." Sakura then grinned at Hinata. Hinata blushed.

"You see, someone abducted you to get to Naruto alone. Naruto went to the place where he would meet the enemy alone. He fought them, in the process you got hit and he got hurt too. But still, he won. After all, he is the Hokage…" Sasuke said.

"Oh how's that assassin doing?'" Naruto asked Tsunade.

"He hasn't awoken yet. What do you want to do with him anyway?" Tsunade asked.

"I want to squeeze out a little information form him…" Naruto said.

"Oh yeah, Naruto we'll be throwing a little late birthday party for you later… "Sakura said. "Be sure you'll come…" she added.

"Where will it be?" Naruto asked.

"At my mansion…" Sasuke then sighed.

"Whoa… you can fix it that fast?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, since they all helped out…" Sasuke said.

A nurse then came in and whispered something at Naruto's ear. Naruto stood up, the other nurse was finished wrapping the bandages around Naruto's torso. Kakashi gave Naruto a shirt and Naruto wore it. He smiled at Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, I'll talk to you later…" Naruto then walked out of the room.

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Ichiro groaned. His head is aching heavily. It was like he drank a lot of alcohol last night and he has a very painful hangover now. He opened his eyes. He was surprised that he wasn't dead…yet. Someone then came in his room. He sat up and he looked at the man who entered his room.

"Does your head hurt?" the man asked.

"What are you doing here, Hokage?" Ichiro asked.

"I wanted to check on you…" Naruto then grinned at him.

"What did you do to me?" Ichiro asked.

"I just removed that seal from your head…" Naruto then handed him a small mirror.

Ichiro looked at the mirror and he saw that the seal was gone.

"Thanks for giving me my freedom…" Ichiro said. "I pledge my cooperation with Konoha…" Ichiro then bowed his head.

"You have to tell me first why you were ordered to kill me." Naruto said.

"I myself don't know why… I don't know why my father wants to destroy Konoha…" Ichiro said.

"Well that doesn't answer much… how about that seal?" Naruto asked.

"The seal was intended to keep me in bay. It would prevent me from going against my master…" Ichiro pointed his fingers at his forehead where the seal was once carved.

"What'll happen if you go against your master?" Naruto asked more.

"I will experience a slow and painful death. If you fail, you die too." Ichiro then frowned.

"I guess that is why Mizuki died…" Naruto whispered.

"Yeah…" Ichiro then stood up and he grabbed his clothes from a closet in the room. "I have to go and kill my master…" Ichiro said.

"Why do you have to?" Naruto asked.

"Because I hate him…" Ichiro said.

"Who is he?" Naruto asked

"Jiro the puppet master…" Ichiro answered.

'I think I heard him somewhere before…' Naruto thought. "Here take this with you…" Naruto then gave Ichiro a forehead protector with a symbol carved on it.

"What's this?" Ichiro asked.

"It's yours… keep it… wear it…" Naruto said and then he left.

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Naruto left Ichiro's room. He stopped for a while after walking.

'Hinata-chan…"