Foreword: Soundtrack is as follows:
Scene One: Tales of Symphonia - Prologue
Scene Two: Tales of Symphonia - Shinobi Life
Scene Three: Ghost in the Shell - Surf
Scene Four: Ghost in the Shell - Stamina Rose
Scene Five: Hack Sign - Fake Wings
Part Two: Rampant Reasoning
Whirlpools and Sunny Places
A simple analysis from an infinitely complex woman.
"I-it's... It's nothing, ma'am."
She made it a point to try and hunch over the railing. As if she could hide without jumping into the sea.
"Do you still want to wear your protector over your eyes?"
She blushed.
"Don't. You're to wear your protector around your neck as you always do. That's an order."
"Yes ma'am."
Apparently satisfied, the Hokage turned away and made her way off to some other task that needed doing. When she was gone, Hinata finally looked up again, feeling sick to her stomach. The ocean had nothing to do with it.
The journey had taken weeks so far. It had started on foot -- a small army of Hidden Leaf ninja had set out from Konoha early one morning and trekked for days through the woodlands of the Fire Country. Then they had all converged at the port of Nishikougai. The wait had lasted two days, mostly for stragglers, head-checks and sortings, and then everyone had piled onto any one of three ships before setting off. From there, they swung around the islands of Tenbou and Idohori and made a byline for the city of Ikazuchikougai, one of the only ports in the whole of the Thunder Country.
She could see it easily now. They were only a few miles away from it after all.
It was a bustling, sprawling conglomoration of spires and pagodas, mixing old with new and the ramshackle with the flawless. Beyond the actual port, she could see that the city was alive, even in the early morning. Further, she could see a cliff rising up from the city's back, stretching hundreds of feet into the sky like a great, roughly surfaced wall. Further still, beyond the cliff, she knew that the path to Kumogakure waited...
As much as she wanted to acknowledge that the place was breathtaking, she loathed it. Hated it, in fact, though she had only ever admitted that hatred to three people.
"Nervous?" An unusually calm voice asked from behind her. A few seconds later, Hinata took note of a pair of hands resting on the railing next to her elbows.
"Yes," she admitted. It was a moot point in hiding it from him.
Hyuuga Neji -- her cousin and, genetically at least, half-brother -- was not someone you could keep secrets from. His ability to read body language had only improved in the past two years. So had hers, for that matter.
"You're t-tense," she noted, only barely able to supress the need to stutter.
"Only because I'm on duty," he replied. He wasn't looking at her with his eyes, but she knew his focus was on her anyway.
He was a Jounin already. A freshly minted Jounin, of course, having just passed above the rank of Special Jounin a few days before this journey began. He was also one of the only familiar faces she had been able to keep around since they'd left Konoha. He was everything a Hyuuga was supposed to be, and he wore the clothing of nobility more like a samurai than a ninja. He looked more noble than any other person Hinata had dealt with in the past few weeks, excepting only the Hokage herself.
How ironic it was, then, that he was only a noble in name.
"You're nervous because of what happened on your birthday," he said. It was a statement, not a question.
"Tsun-... T-The Ho-kage said that Kumogak-kure still w-wants the Byaku-ugan," she said, unable or unwilling to bother keeping the stutter under control this time.
"If anyone tries to take it, I'll kill them," Neji replied in a matter of fact tone.
It made her wince.
When she had been three years old, a Cloud ninja had sought to kidnap her. Her father dispatched him with little trouble, but the incident still lingered in her mind. Kurenai had helped her to trace almost every single one of her problems back to that one incident, and it made her hate the ninja of the Hidden Cloud far more than she would ever want to reveal to anyone. If not for her father's intervention, they could have -- and would have -- ripped the Byakugan right out of her eye sockets, and if she survived...
She shuddered at the prospect of what they might have done to her to keep her useful if she survived an extraction. It was something that gave her nightmares.
"Th-Thank you, Brother Neji," she said, and meant it.
"You're welcome," he replied, and also meant it.
In the lull between words, Hinata made a mental note to kiss Naruto on the cheek in thanks for beating some sense into Neji -- and beating some sense into the entire Hyuuga Clan in the process. She didn't know what exactly had happened to put her cousin at ease like he was now, but it definately stemmed from Naruto and--
And she was blushing again.
Neji didn't speak of it. She knew he had noticed, but quietly thanked him for not pointing it out.
"We'll be at Ikazuchikougai soon," he stated, removing his hands from the rail and taking a few steps back. Hinata could hear his long hair rustling as he turned around. "I suggest you don something more formal. The Hyuuga are noble."
"I'm not noble," she replied, voice lowered.
"You're more noble than you give yourself credit for. I'd like it if you held your head up when we walk through the streets."
And then he was gone.
Hinata sighed and looked down at the water. Dawn would be a little while longer, but it was already the twilight before sunrise and the day would probably be a long one.
In a few weeks time, she, Sakura and Kiba would be entering the second Chuunin Exam of the year. They were the last members of the Rookie Nine who weren't Chuunin or above by now, and while she had unlimited faith in her teammates...
Well, Hinata wasn't too hopeful about her own prospects.
"Wake up you dirty old bastard!"
Punt!
Jiraiya's immense bulk hit the floor with a loud crash, followed belatedly by the bedsheet and a pillow.
Only barely satisfied, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. When the old lech finally scraped himself up and rose again, looking like a mix of death warmed over and a half-asleep ogre of Hell, he didn't even blink.
"We need to get you new clothes," the man said, only barely even looking like he had felt the many kicks that Naruto had delivered to his spine. And head. And groin.
Then again, he had been mumbling something about Tsunade...
Naruto abruptly tabled any thoughts of whatever the man had been dreaming about, homing in on what he had said instead.
"Why's that?" He asked, incredulous. He liked his blinding orange pants and jacket, thankyouverymuch.
"Cuz your clothes're fallin' apart an' I only jus' noticed it," Jiraiya slurred back through a yawn.
When Naruto actually stopped to look at himself -- really look at himself -- he unwillingly had to agree. Not only was he genuinely outgrowing everything he owned, but his main outfit had been chewed up over the past year and a half or so of training. There was an orange patchwork of repairs to it, the zipper had been replaced four times and the most recent bit of damage, where Jiraiya had blown his hand off, had left the entire right sleeve mangled and slightly burnt at the elbow. Not to mention that subtle wreak of blood he had never quite managed to wash out.
Almost on cue, a few seconds later, the plate on his forehead protector fell off.
If not for Rule 25, he honestly thought he would've cried. That was the protector that Iruka had given him. The one that had been his pride and joy, regardless of the dozens of minor scratches and dents on it.
"See what I mean?" Jiraiya asked, throwing the sheets back on the bed and making a quick look at his left hand. Naruto, in-between sulking and wanting to bite someone's face off over the loss of his protector, felt a light breeze. Then he heard an uttered 'damnit' and proceeded to tune out whatever else Jiraiya had to complain about.
"Alright then... I'll buy you some new clothes. And some other stuff. It'll be my payment for your services as a bodyguard," he said at last, throwing on the oversized scroll that his entire life seemed to revolve around. "Along with being the best teacher on Earth, that is..."
Naruto cursed under his breath and grabbed the plate off the floor. Then he yanked the worn out headband from his forehead and reluctantly threw it away.
"This sucks," he said.
"The protector looked suspicious this close to Cloud territory anyway," Jiraiya waved aside his complaints.
"I'm keeping the plate."
"Just keep it hidden then," Jiraiya replied, sitting down again to put his geta on. "You did pay for us, right?"
"... Outta my damn wallet," Naruto snorted. Gama-chan was looking so thin and unhealthy these days...
"Good boy," Jiraiya said, then paused to crack his neck, knuckles and several other joints in ways that Naruto found quite painful to look at. "After we're done shopping, we'll start training."
And that was that. Jiraiya stood up and left through the window, and Naruto followed suit with a grunt a few seconds later. They didn't bother checking out, and Naruto had been smart enough to avoid using his actual name when getting them rooms the previous night. In his haste to leave though, he never paid any attention to the calendar's date.
It was October 10th.
Departure from the boats was the easy part. The hard part hadn't come until the Konoha ninjas, Hokage and all, had been detained by official samurai at the request of the local Ontai in charge of this city. If Tsunade had wanted, they could've razed the entire city to the ground for such an offense -- and they might have even been able to get away with it. For whatever reason though, she had waved a hand dismissively to her subordinates and politely replied to the desire for the Ontai to have a meeting.
Somewhere along the way, she had picked an 'honor guard.' Somehow, by the good or ill graces of her ancestors, Hinata had ended up in that guard. Along with her were Neji, Asuma and a heavy set man that bore a striking enough resemblance to Chouji that Hinata guessed him to be the portly Chuunin's father. While all five of them had about as much in common with each other personally as sand and dirt, all of them came from nobility. Tsunade was the grand-daughter of the First Hokage and great niece to the Second, and Asuma was the second son of the Third. Chouza looked as if he came from samurai blood, and chances were that he did, and the Hyuuga cousins were both, well... Hyuuga.
The end result though, was that Hinata was the only Konoha ninja present at the meeting who wasn't a Jounin or above.
The room they were gathered in was large and spacious, with white walls and golden pillars, doors and windows. The floors were tiled with smooth marble and the mats for seating were arranged in such a way that the visitor was beneath the local Ontai.
The man himself sat crosslegged in a low chair like a throne, the only thing visible of him being his head and neck. He seemed scrawny but rigid looking, and Hinata thought he looked something like a weasel. Flanking him were a pair of samurai, both in gold kimono and hakama, swords at their left sides. The one on the left reminded her, vaguely, of Naruto due to his spiky orange hair and blue eyes. The one on the right reminded her more of an older Kiba with an eyepatch and a crewcut. Two more samurai, both dressed similarly to the first but armed with naginata-styled spears, flanked each of the doors.
The Konoha delegation, as Asuma had very jokingly called the lot of them, was gathered before the man. Hinata and Neji were in the back, Chouza and Asuma flanked Tsunade and the Hokage had one of her best white robe and red-rimmed hat for the occasion.
"Ontai Asshuku," Tsunade said with an unusually cordial voice.
"Godaime Hokage," Asshuku replied with a stiff tone.
"What did you summon me for?" She asked. Hinata admired her confidence and forcefulness.
"It seems as if there was a matter concerning one or more of your ninjas last night," Asshuku answered.
"We only arrived this morning," she replied. Hinata couldn't quite see it from this angle, but she knew Tsunade's brow was raised.
"Oh? Well, perhaps you could enlighten me as to what one of your ninjas was doing in the red light district."
Silence.
"Excuse me?"
"In the red light district. There was an incident involving one of your ninjas. His name was... I believe it was something like Usunaka Mari... Do. No, that wasn't it," the man trailed off, looking uncertain. Hinata spared a glance at Asuma's hands, but they were resting on his knees, not drawn into the seals for a genjutsu.
"Uzumaki Naruto," the eye-patch samurai stated with an almost Kakashi-esque sideways glance at nothing.
The name made her heart skip a beat. She could sense the tension level rising from Neji, and Tsunade as well. If it showed on the woman's face though, she couldn't quite see it, and her voice didn't betray anything either.
"There aren't any Leaf ninjas by that name, Asshuku," the Hokage said, utterly whimsical and amused sounding.
"Are you certain of this?" The Ontai asked. He wasn't buying it.
"Of course. We wouldn't dare risk hostilities in a foriegn nation this close to the Chuunin Exams. Konoha is a peaceful village, Asshuku. You don't have to worry about anything from us."
This did little to set the man at ease.
"You will have to understand if I'm... Distrustful of you for the time being," he said.
Tsunade didn't reply.
"If we find any connection between this... Uzumaki Naruto, and Konoha--"
"You won't. No such ninja exists in my village," Tsunade cut him off. He continued as if he hadn't even heard her.
"Rest assured that the Raikage will hear of it."
"I'll be more than happy to relay news of this to him myself," she replied, standing abruptly. Hinata was the last of the four Leaf-nin to rise after her, having waited for the others.
Asshuku squirmed.
"Cloud-nin are patrolling this city. Don't do anything stupid," he ordered.
"And unless you want to visit the Thunder Country Shogunate with your limbs chopped off and the wounds sealed shut, don't threaten me," Tsunade said with an utterly cheerful tone of voice. With that, she turned and made for the door.
Both spearmen practically jumped aside to let her through, and Hinata and the Jounin trio weren't far behind at all. Once out into the hallway, Tsunade lead the four of them around a corner, with Asuma lagging behind a bit to check for anyone tailing them. Then she stopped and he gave a nod as if to signal something. Hinata had been about to ask, but--
"None of you are to speak a word of this to anyone," she stated simply. "Not even to Sakura."
"What do you think Naruto was doing in the red light district?" Asuma asked, his voice simply dripping with amusement.
"Probably trying to drag Jiraiya out of it," Tsunade replied with an equally unamused tone. "If he's perverted Naruto into another mini-lecher, I'm going to disembowel him with his own paintbrush."
"What about the incident itself?" Neji asked.
"Chances are that someone put a hit out on Jiraiya. If not that, Akatsuki or Orochimaru had something to do with it," Tsunade answered, still not missing a beat. Her legendary beauty hadn't stunted her brains at all.
"Akatsuki?" Neji replied, one brow raised. Hinata echoed the sentiment, though she didn't speak a word.
Tsunade, Chouza and Asuma all paused and exchanged glances with each other. Hinata didn't know what to make of it at all, and Neji seemed equally perplexed.
"W-what are we going to do about it?" Hinata finally sputtered. The silence had been too much to bear, and she didn't like thinking what a group with a name like that might want with Naruto or anyone close to him.
"Nothing," Tsunade replied. Neji looked crestfallen, but Hinata was about to open her mouth in protest when the Hokage cut her off with a finger to the lips and a small, entirely too knowing smile.
"Jiraiya might be a lecherous prick, and Naruto might be an idiot, but that boy's going to be Hokage someday. He'll be fine," she said, taking her finger away and then walking back into the hallway.
Asuma shrugged and followed; Chouza glanced almost shamefully to the side and did the same. Neji stood back with his mouth hanging open and Hinata...
Hinata was blushing furiously.
Tsunade had practically looked right through her. She had said all the right things in the right way and ultimately filled the girl's heart with a kind of confidence she had only experienced once before when fighting the very Jounin standing next to her. In a way, Hinata no longer just admired the woman, she downright envied her.
A few seconds later, she had grabbed Neji's sleeve and yanked him along after the other three, falling in step behind them.
The hermit's eyebrows were raised in shock. Nearby, one of the girls hanging up clothes had spared him an amazed look, and the girl across from her had actually dropped the hangar she was holding the shirt she was trying to stick it into.
"... That bad?" Naruto asked, his entire face contorting into one big twitch.
Jiraiya was silent. His brows slowly lowered back down and his mouth seemed to be working for words but his lips were closed. Annoyedly, Naruto started to turn back towards the dressing room but--
"Hell no," Jiraiya half-shouted. "I didn't think you had taste that good."
"Eh?" He paused, looking himself over in the mirror.
Without his forehead protector, he still felt virtually naked, but the clothes did fit. It had been the very first outfit he'd picked out upon entering the store, though he had tried several others before throwing this one on. To replace the orange getup meant getting a new signature look -- even Naruto knew to take it seriously -- but it had been more difficult than he'd anticipated.
The first outfit he tried on was a black pair of hakama and a kimono shirt with some traditional geta and white socks. Jiraiya had stared at him with an unimpressed look before punting him back into the changing room. After that, he popped back out in a blue t-shirt, a sleeveless reddish-orange overshirt and matching pants with blue wristbands and boot-sandals. Jiraiya had again punted him back in. A little later, Naruto stepped back out in a blue tracksuit with a black stripe down the shoulders, sleeves, sides of the body and legs.
That time, Jiraiya had stared at him like he was a ghost and then really punted him back into the changing room.
The fourth time Naruto stepped out of the room, he was dressed more comfortably in a pair of orange pants that stopped just about halfway down the shin. Above that was an orange-and-black jacket with a turtleneck collar. Beneath the jacket, he had kept the blue t-shirt from earlier. He had wanted something blue with the jacket itself, but...
Black was starting to grow on him.
"Really?" He asked, pulling on the sleeves and stretching around for a few seconds.
"Really," Jiraiya answered, just before turning over his shoulder and leering at one of the shop girls. Without Naruto's want or consent, the man called out to them. "Doesn't he look good?"
When both of them practically whistled at him, Naruto felt that he had hit paydirt.
"I'll go with this then," he said, grinning impishly.
After putting the other sets of clothing up, Jiraiya had actually bought Naruto's new clothes while he was wearing them and then proceeded to buy him a product being sold as a 'ninja headband,' ostensibly as a goodhearted jab.
Really though, it was just a black bandana with a blank plastic plate on it.
Once they were outside, Jiraiya ripped the plate off the bandana and exposed it as a strip of cloth with four metal rings in it -- perfect for attaching a real protector plate. Wordlessly, he handed it over to Naruto and then made to throw the boy's old clothes away.
Naruto stopped him. Just long enough to rip the shoulder patch off of his old jacket before consigning the battered thing to a public trash can.
After that, Naruto had tucked the patch and the bandana into his jacket, where he had also managed to hide the forehead protector plate as well. One of the good things about it was that it had a relatively large pair of inside pockets. He could customize the rest of it later, when they were out of this city and back on the road to nowhere.
"What now?" Naruto asked.
"More shopping," Jiraiya answered matter-of-factly.
It was still relatively early in the morning. Stands and shops were opening up all over, people were hustling through the streets around carts, some pulled by hand, others by horse. There was a feeling of life all around, and while it wasn't anything like Konoha, Naruto found that he was actually starting to like it. At least here, the people might not have noticed him, but that wasn't intentional apathy or hatred. It was because they sincerely didn't know him, and when he talked to people, they were actually friendly.
It was something he could get used to far too easily. Perhaps that was why he didn't object to Jiraiya's statement that they would be leaving the moment this Chimi business had been resolved.
A little later, they had arrived in another shop. This one looked more like a weapons shop than anything else, and it had the merchandise on the walls to prove it.
Swords(Naruto briefly considered asking for one), spears, axes, knives of all kinds and even a few odd looking whip-like weapons he didn't know the name of. Jiraiya ignored all of that though, bylining for the back of the store and dragging Naruto right along with him until they arrived at a small cub of shelves lined with scrolls of varying sizes.
At that, Jiraiya let go. When he spoke this time, his voice was low and rougher than usual.
"Pick one. This'll be important."
Disappointed and not even looking, Naruto reached out and grabbed one. When he presented it to Jiraiya, the man regarded him with a curious look and a smile.
"Good choice," he said, then lead Naruto away from the cub.
After purchasing the scroll, the two made their way back out into the street, where Jiraiya lead him around to an alley. When the two went in and were out of view, the older man pulled out Naruto's shuriken holster and the pouches usually hanging from his belt and presented them to him.
"Put 'em on."
"Won't they make me stick out like a sore thumb?" Naruto asked, taking the pouches first and buttoning them onto the back of his old belt. At least that didn't need replacing.
"I stick out enough for the both of us. Long as we're not wearing forehead protectors though, no-one can trace us to Konoha just by looking at us," Jiraiya explained, handing Naruto the holster.
Without the usual tape, he strapped it to his leg and let out a half-sigh of relief. Even if he didn't have his forehead protector, at least now he had his teeth back.
"And now what?" He asked, straightening up and looking back to the street.
"Now we get lunch."
"Then?"
"Then I work you like a dog."
Naruto could hardly supress his enthusiasm.
"Just don't blow my hand off again..."
"Wasn't plannin' on it. I'll try for the rest o' your arm instead."
Really.
When Hyuuga Hinata arrived at Ikazuchikougai, she had expected the stay to be mercilessly short and formal, preceeded by a reunion sorting and report, changing into a formal yukata and then having to pass through the city as if she were a diplomat. All of this would undoubtedly be followed by an uncomfortable change in the mountains, in the presence of God only knew how many male ninjas -- along with Sakura and the other girls as well -- which would in turn be followed by a few weeks as they made their way towards Kumogakure.
She hadn't been counting on the meeting with Asshuku, nor had she been counting on this...
"Alright everyone! Listen up!" Tsunade's voice dripped with authority.
The woman had gathered them all into a meeting room in one of the five inns they were being spread through. They were packed like sardines, and she had resorted to standing on the shoulders of Chouza just to be sure everyone could see and hear her.
Hinata and Neji had both elected to stick to the doors. Byakugan activated, they were watching through the walls for potential spies, even though Shikaku and Asuma were stationed outside.
"I know you're all tired from the first and second legs of our journey, and there's no telling how rough the last part of the trip will be. Because of that, I'm going to let us all take a day or two to rest in Ikazuchikougai. After that, I expect you to double-time it to Kumogakure like the fires of Hell are nipping at your feet!"
The Godaime paused for a moment, surveying the crowd before her. After letting it soak in, she spoke up once more.
"I expect you all to be on your best behavior! Do not attract the attentions of anyone, and do not go anywhere alone! I want every last Genin to be in the presence of at least two other ninja -- your teammates, if at all possible -- at all times! If anyone of you breaks that rule, I will know about it and the consequences will not be pleasant!"
Tsunade was quite terrifying sometimes...
When it was all said and done though, she dismissed the myriad collection of Genin and Jounin with all the authority of a general at war. Hinata and Neji were the first ones out. Almost as one, they pushed the doors open and swept aside for the onrush of ninjas. It was literally like watching a flood of movement, and for once, every single one of them was as talkative as normal people.
Hinata didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, she waited.
Kiba was out first, laughing his head off at either a joke from another Genin, or, more likely, at an insult he made to another Genin. Regardless, Neji yanked him from the crowd with such speed that Akamaru didn't even yelp, instead retreating into the hood of Kiba's jacket. The younger Genin briefly glared iced death at Neji, then seemed to melt back to normal and started rambling about someone having ticks in some very uncomfortable places.
Sakura was the last out, following Tsunade and--
"Will you at least give me a hint?"
Feeling quite inquisitive, apparently.
The pink-haired Genin, complete with the new hairstyle and what Kiba liked to mockingly refer to as 'Fuck Me Boots' -- a comment that usually caused him to end up face down in the nearest puddle of mud(assuming a more putrid substance wasn't available) -- was practically dangling from one of Tsunade's ponytails, looking passively annoyed.
The Hokage wasn't even acknowledging her presence. Or her questions.
Normally, Hinata wasn't one to defy an order, but this time...
Well, Sakura was one of Naruto's closest friends, and she did have a right to know and--
And before she could stop herself, Hinata spoke up.
"I th-thought we w-w-weren't going t-to do anything, L-Lady Tsunade?" She asked, having to keep her hands clenched into fists and hidden in the sleeves of her yukata to keep from poking her fingertips together. She was fighting off the urge to chew through her lower lip as well.
Tsunade halted in her tracks. Neji shot her a sidelong glance that Hinata knew was probably filled with a kind of mortal terror. 'What have you done?' He probably wanted to shout at her. Sakura seemed to stop as well, suddenly quite aware that she had been left out of the loop on something important.
She didn't look happy. Neither did Kiba.
"Sarutobi once told me," the woman began, deliberately turning towards Hinata with a smile. "You can do a lot when you do nothing at all."
For a short time, the two looked at each other. Sakura and Neji both looked half-mystified -- for different reasons, no doubt -- and Kiba looked half-ready to stomp off.
"I understand," Hinata said after a few seconds, suddenly feeling a little more at ease with herself.
"I thought you would," Tsunade replied, looking down the hall and obviously setting her sights on a Jounin who was walking around with a pig on a leash. "And as it's a woman's perogative to change her mind, feel free to tell these two. They look half-ready to start torturing you for information anyway," she added as an afterthought.
With a wave of her hand, the Godaime waltzed off, leaving Hinata alone with a feeling of intense relief, two team-mates who were glaring holes in the back of her head and an unwitting Jounin who looked ready to kill both of them at a pindrop.
Author's Note: A few things this time...
October 10th is Naruto's birthday.
Naruto's outfits were all hidden gags. They consisted of: Son Goku(Dragonball Z), Kurosaki Ichigo(Bleach) and Yondaime's childhood outfit, which(from what I've seen of it) was a blue track suit with black stripes.
Chouza looked ashame for a simple reason. Go back and read the first chapter of the Naruto manga, because he was in the crowd plotting to kill Naruto instead of just dragging him back with the scroll he took. When Naruto ended up becoming one of his son's few good friends, I decided to give Chouza a change of heart and the shame to go along with it.
The two samurai flanking Asshuku were visually based on combinations of Naruto and Ichigo, and Kiba and Vice Captain Hisagi Shuuhei from Bleach.
I also get the feeling I might've overwritten Hinata's stutter, but that can probably be attributed to the fact that she's so close to Thunder territory, yanno?