Time Apart Chapter 3

"Those aren't our orders. We report to the council now!" the other Anbu protested. Turning around quickly, Neiji dropped the man in a few precisely placed blows. Shikamaru, Temari, and Naruto all assumed fighting stances immediately.

"No, it's ok!" Neiji said. "Let me explain. Things in Konoha aren't what they seem..."

Neiji walked over to the fallen Anbu, checking his pulse. Satisfied that he hadn't killed the other ninja, he turned back to Naruto and the others. "The Council has taken control of the city. After they heard that Naruto had survived and was returning, there was a riot. A few of the older ninjas and most all of the council made a play for power. Somehow, they managed to drug Tsunade, and they are holding her inside the city."

"How is that possible?" Naruto asked. "What about Kakashi and the others? Surely they wouldn't let something like that happen!" He was obviously furious.

"Unfortunately, all of the powerful ninjas who might have sided with the Hokage are away on missions. I asked the council if I could be one of the Anbu to greet you all at the gate. Since they assumed I had hard feelings after our fight in the Chuunin exam they agreed." Neiji said.

"Why would Naruto being alive cause something like this to happen? I know he was a prankster when he was a kid, but isn't this a little extreme?" Shikamaru asked. For the first time Neiji himself looked a little confused.

"Well they claim that Naruto is the one who corrupted Sasuke into defecting. They also claim he is a spy and dangerous to the village. They have promised to release the Hokage after the 'crisis' has passed. Nobody that really knew Naruto believed their lies of course, but those of us that did are outnumbered by far," he shook his head sadly. "Naruto it may be better if you stay away from the village until we can free the Hokage."

Naruto response was loud and immediate, "Like hell!"

Neiji laughed silently, "I had a feeling you might say that, so we had a plan." He reached back into his pouch and pulled out a small ball with a fuse on it. Lighting the fuse, Neiji hurled it into the air.

"What was that?" Naruto asked. He was slightly annoyed when he noticed that Kit and Temari were too busy playfully fighting over a stick to be paying attention. The ball Neiji had thrown silently exploded in a flash of light, getting their attention.

"The signal." Neiji gestured for them to follow, and the group sped into the city silently.

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Hinata scanned the sky of the distant west gate with her Byakagun eyes. Waiting for the signal was gut wrenching. She had never really done anything like this before. Neiji should have chosen someone else for this, I can't do it! She thought desperately. I'm just going to mess it up and then we will really be in for it.

Her stomach churned when she saw the faint flash in the distance. It's time. Naruto-kun needs you. You can do this Hinata, she steeled herself. She reached up to her face and covered her mouth and hair with her mask. She was wearing a form fitting black body suit made of a mostly noiseless cloth, and nothing showed now but her eyes. She didn't really think it would do any good since only so many people in the village had the Byakagun eyes, but Neiji insisted that if she was seen they couldn't prove her identity unless they caught her. The only choice the council would have then would be to take on the entire Hyuuga clan, which they wouldn't be foolhardy enough to try.

This whole thing was crazy. Why does most of the village hate Naruto-kun so much. She still couldn't believe the council planned on executing him for treason without a trial. This couldn't have come at a worse time. The only people that were still in Konoha that had the ability to do anything to help the Hokage and Naruto were Rock Lee, Neiji, and herself. How could we all have been so stupid, she chided herself.

As she walked across the roof of the building she had been standing on top of, the butterflies only increased. She attached a rope to her torso and the other end to the air vent on the other side of the building. Standing at the ledge, she took a final deep breath, and jumped. She had carefully calculated the length of the rope beforehand, and it snagged her at the right moment. Going taut, the rope pulled her back in towards the building. Expelling some chakra from her feet she landed near silently against the side of it, directly above a window. Twisting upside down she peered in.

Just as they thought, the council hadn't trusted any of the high level shinobi to guard the Hokage. To many of them would probably support her if they knew what was going on. Instead, some of the council's flunkies sat nearby playing cards. Since the Hokage being kept here was a secret that only the council and the Anbu who were playing as their lapdogs knew about, the two men didn't seem to think anyone was going to come for them. Ignorance is bliss.

Hinata took a final deep breath and began her attack. Kunai at the ready she pushed away from the wall hard, and as she swung back towards the window, cut the rope. The two men were slow to react as she crashed through the window, dropping into a roll. She used the momentum she had to carry her body up into the first attack. In such a cramped hallway the other two men were going to be forced to use their taijutsu against hers. Too bad for them that she was a taijutsu specialist.

She blocked the first clumsy counter strike with ease, returning with three soft hits of her own. The man obviously hadn't been in a real fight in years. Thats what they get for posturing around the village and claiming they had fought during the Kyuubi attack, but not keeping current on their skills.

Whirling her feet around, she sidestepped the man, leaving him standing there stunned. The second opponent was a little better than the first, who at this point was clutching his chest and writhing around on the floor. Blocking several blows that had been aimed for her vital points, she prepared her counterattack. Even if she was the supposed weakest of the Hyuuga clan, she was still a far sight better at taijutsu than most other ninja. When she saw the man outstretch his arm too far in a punch aimed for her face she sidestepped quickly and tapped the chakra points in his arm. Seconds later in hung uselessly from his side.

"How did you find out?" he asked, panting from first real physical exercise he had experienced in some time. Hinata briefly considered answering him, but then decided not to risk him remembering her voice when he woke up. If their counter-coup failed then she didn't want to be identified by this guy. Konoha had a war to win, and if they were going to do it, they needed their Hokage back. She pushed herself into the attack once more, and with only one functioning arm, the man didn't last long.

After her opponents were both down, she searched them for the key to the room. Finding what she sought on the second man, she steeled herself for what she would find inside and opened the door. And old woman who vaguely resembled the Tsunade that Hinata was used to seeing was sitting in the corner, crying softly to herself. She was obviously delirious.

I hope this works, she thought, getting out a small flask. She had insisted to Neiji that while she had thought this would act as an antidote to the drug they were using on Tsunade, she wasn't sure. However, he had told her he trusted her judgment. After all these years other people still had more confidence in her than she had in herself.

After a few moments Tsunade seemed to come around. "What ... what is going on? Where am I?"

Hinata let a happy squeak pass her lips. It worked, I didn't think it was going to but it did!

"Hinata, look at me," the Hokage growled, snapping her attention back to her mission. "What is going on here?" she spoke each word emphatically.

"S-sorry," she said. She had a lot to tell and not much time to tell it.

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Rock Lee sat across the street from the building where the council members were waiting for Naruto. Silently he reached down and undid the straps that kept the weights he usually walked around in attached to his body. His eyes never left the building, or the two Anbu guards standing in front of it. Inside, he knew there would be several of the older members of the village waiting with anticipation for Naruto to finally show up.

What have you been doing these last four years? He thought to himself as he laid the weights off to the side. He was in an unusual mood. Normally he happily spent his days away practicing and gaining strength. He only ever took these weights off to protect his way of the ninja. Today, he took them off to protect his village from itself.

Neiji had formulated a fairly simple plan. The only one other than Shikamaru to make Jounin, he was going to be meeting Naruto at the gates. Neiji was going to meet Naruto at the gates, and take him to the monument where they were all going to meet. Then they would disable whatever resistance they encountered while making their way back to the council meeting.

Hinata was going to be rescuing the Hokage. It was likely that Tsunade wasn't heavily guarded since her location was supposed to be a secret. Lee had managed to get the most dangerous mission and the part that only he could accomplish. He was going to get the attention of as many of the councils guards as he could and string them along in a fight away from the council building.

That part of the plan was fine, it was the next part that bothered him. He was supposed to meet up with everyone roughly five minutes after the signal. Then the Hokage, accompanied by the rest of his friends, was supposed to save him from the large numbers of Anbu and jounin level ninja that would probably be chasing him. He may be able to take one or two, but more than that and he wouldn't last long. If he had to open the gates then he really would be on a timer. Too bad it was illegal for anyone in Konoha to sell him any alcohol. With drunken boxing he could probably kick all their asses, and level the building while he was at it.

The only part of the plan he had refused was the part where Neiji wanted him to wear some ridiculous black outfit. If he was going to do this he wanted to do it in his green jumpsuit. He just wouldn't feel right in anything else. Besides, he had promised success with his nice guy pose, so failing wasn't really an option. If they wanted to ID him that was fine, he was in the springtime of his youth. They couldn't keep him down for long, and when Gai-sensei returned they would have hell to pay.

He stood up and started to stretch. Scanning the skyline for the signal he started to do one handed push ups to keep himself occupied. Finally one of the two Anbu guards got interested in what was going on across the street and came over.

"I am going to have to ask you to leave here kid, an important prisoner is due to arrive any moment," the man said, voice slightly muffled behind his mask. Lee faked innocence.

"I can't do that! I promised Gai-sensei that I would do 1000 one handed push ups, and if I couldn't do that then I would do 5000 squats!" He was going to go on with a long list of promises that, coincidentally, he had made to Gai before he left on his mission but he was interrupted by the distant flash. Go time, he thought. As far as the Anbu was concerned one instant Lee was doing push ups in front of him, and the next instant the teenager's foot was slamming into his face. None of the movements in between had registered with the man.

In a flash Lee had crossed the street. The other Anbu guard was just lifting his guard to block the punch that Lee was going to throw at him when abruptly the 'Green Beast of Konoha' shifted into another attack. Within the span of three seconds Lee had managed to put two Anbu down on the floor. Their surprise at his speed wasn't going to last long though. They were Anbu after all, and even though he was unparalleled at taijutsu and speed, he was still only a chuunin. The Kages had not yet passed him due to his one glaring weakness. Lee still couldn't even manage the lowest level jutsu.

While the two Anbu were still picking themselves up off the ground, Lee continued the rest of his mission with a groan. Two Anbu was going to be enough trouble as it was, but he was going to heap even more trouble on his head. He kicked open the door, revealing the shocked faces of the council and a crowd of older ninjas. He zipped in the room, and with intense satisfaction, kicked the chairman of the council right in the face. He is going to feel that in the morning, Lee thought. When he flew back out the door, at least half of the ninjas in the room ran to follow him. That should make things easier when we come back here.

His thoughts were interrupted by the jutsu the Anbu was completing at the door. Lee never heard the man shout out the name of the technique, but then Anbu rarely did. They specialized in silent killing. He figured out what it was an instant later when the ground beneath him became slick. He cursed silently to himself as he slipped, and his momentum carried his body tumbling all the way across the street again to where he had started this whole thing. When he regained his senses and looked up, there were around twelve or so ninjas waiting to beet him to a pulp. He had almost decided he was in deep trouble when he had an idea.

Reaching to his side, Lee picked up one of the weights he had removed from his legs. None of these guys saw the preliminary rounds of the first Chuunin exam, and I never had to take them off the next time I tested. They are going to love this. Leaping to his feet, Lee used all the muscles he had built up over the years to swing the weights like a weapon. One man was unfortunate enough to be hit square in the chest by it, and flew all the way down the street before crashing into a nearby building. That will be some broken ribs, if he survived. Lee had a moment of worry, he didn't want to kill any of Konoha's own, just rough them up a bit. The next time he swung the weights, the mob of hostile ninjas were more studious in their attempts to avoid it.

Starting to get tired, Lee threw the weights into the crowd hitting another man, and decided it was time to head towards the rendezvous. I hope Hinata's antidote works. It's too bad Sakura isn't here.

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Hinata and the Hokage were the first team to reach the rendezvous. Tsunade still seemed to be shaking off the effects of the drugs she had been under, but Hinata thought that her attitude more than compensated for that handicap. She was really, really pissed off. If Hinata's ears were in possession of the same acuity as her eyes, she would have heard the rather brusque details of the revenge Tsunade was planning on exacting from the council members who had betrayed her.

When Hinata's Byakagun sensed a group of eleven people rushing this way from one direction, while another group of four was racing just behind them, she timidly interrupted the Hokage's rambling.

"Um, Tsunade-sama?" she started. "I think, um, well, the other groups are almost here." Tsunade stopped in mid rant. Scanning the distance her face narrowed itself into a look of determination. Moments later Rock Lee came screaming out of the trees and hid behind the monument.

"Thank god you are here!" he said, "Even though I am fighting with the fists of justice on my side, they are really out to get me!" Seconds later his pursuers came out of the trees behind him, intent on causing injury. They stopped cold in their tracks when they saw who was standing next to him.

"Take a break Lee," Tsunade said to him, stepping forward towards the crowd. They took a step back.

"Tsunade-sama!" one of them tried. "I thought you were... um .. well," the man stumbled on his words when he realized he was about to admit that he knew the Hokage had been drugged.

"Captured? Drugged? Tricked by the council so you could murder a child because you were afraid of him?" she invited the man to finish his sentence. The group took another step back.

"Come on!" one of the men shouted. "It's ten to one! That demon took our families! You all just going to let him waltz back in here?" The rest of the group was having trouble with that logic.

"Are you kidding? That's the Hokage!" another man shouted. He started to turn to run but Neiji's team had just arrived behind the group of people.

"Glad to see you are well Hokage-sama," was all Neiji said in greeting. The group of Konoha usurpers stood back to back now, Hokage on one side and the Hyuuga clan prodigy on the other, backed up by Shikamaru and the fan girl from Sand. The man that stepped out from behind Neiji only made their situation seem that much worse.

Uzumaki Naruto nonchalantly walked towards the group with his hands in his pocket, trailed by Kit. They could have sworn the little fox had smiled at them. "You know that speaking of that is punishable by death right?" They would have ran then if they could. Unfortunately while they were all distracted by Naruto's threatening words Shikamaru had snared them in his Shadow Bind.

Tsunade didn't waste any time. "Tie them up and knock them out. We can collect them when this whole thing is over. Then they will receive their punishment." While the rest of the group complied, and Shikamaru held the Shadow Bind, Tsunade walked up to Naruto.

She examined him critically for a moment, letting herself feel out his chakra. Satisfied that it was really him, she allowed herself to shed a tear of relief. "I thought you were dead." She reached out and gave the man that stood before her a tight hug. Naruto's breath was squeezed out of him at the inhuman strength the woman brought to bear.

"You should know better than anyone, I'm a little harder to get rid of than that." Naruto answered, or tried to anyway. It came out as more of a choked gasp for air. More quietly he added, "I missed you guys. You don't know how long its been for me." Tsunade looked at him then a little closer and noticed the stubble on his chin. Only a day old, and already prickly. This wasn't the face of a 16 year old.

Tsunade loosened her hold on Naruto. "Who is your new friend?" she asked, referring to the fox that was busy scratching his ears at Naruto's feet. When she asked it stopped and looked directly at her.

"I will explain later." Naruto said cryptically. Tsunade had a feeling she wasn't going to like this one. Glancing around Naruto noted that everyone was finishing up with binding their adversaries. The group of friends came to join them. Naruto recognized Rock Lee, but the girl that had accompanied the Hokage had her face covered.

Being older now, Naruto noted some features on the girl that he probably wouldn't have cared about when he left on his mission eight, well four depending on how you looked at it, years ago. Its probably Sakura-chan! She had been working with Tsunade some before I left, I bet she is really strong now. Just about the time he had decided that, yes, it had to be Sakura, the girl took her mask off.

Naruto was dumbfounded. Hinata's face had lost baby fat that persisted in hanging on to her cheeks when she was younger. Even without irises, she was downright hot!

"Na-Naruto-Kun!" the girl started.

Still strange though, Naruto thought. It was going to be interesting to see how everyone had grown and yet stayed the same while he had been away.

"Welcome back!" Hinata finished. She paused for a minute and fought down a blush. "Um, well, why are you so old?"

Perceptive though, he admitted. Then again, what else could he expect from the Byakagun. "I will explain later. We still have a mission to finish and a coup to put down, right?"

Tsunade nodded in affirmation. "Yes we do."

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Authors Note: There you go, chapter three. I really appreciate all the positive comments I have gotten on this story, they keep me going. Review, review, review!

Please, tell me what you think. This chapter was harder to write than my first two, but I feel like I know where I want to lead this whole thing now. Hope you all enjoyed.