Hinata's Realization

by Broken Eagle Wing

This is an attempted sequal to Lonely Birthday. My last attempt at a sequal sucked and i deleted it. I hope this one is better. Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Shikamaru are given a mission that could be the start of a hidden war.

5. Missing Leaf Ninja

Chapter 5

The Missing Leaf Ninja

Shortly after sunset Shikamaru noticed the caravan slow down and start looking for a clearing by the road. It didn't take long for them to find a suitable field and stop. The team had been prepared for this; they quickly and easily shifted their positions to form a perimeter around the servants working to set up a small camp for the night. The servants proved that they were chosen for this trip for a reason. Each one seemed to know exactly what was required of them and their modest camp was set up rather quickly. The only tent that would fit more than a person or two was the tent for lord Nami's son, which was much larger than the young lord needed. The pompous jerk wasn't seen leaving the carriage until well after his dinner had already begun being cooked. He left the carriage and quickly entered the tent that had been prepared for him. After the camp had been set up, Hinata and Shikamaru made a circular search pattern around the campsite by checking the immediate area outside the clearing's perimeter. They came back with no problems or activity and a matching report from both Naruto and Sakura.

Their client, or at least their 'package' had obviously still been angry when he left the carriage. Shikamaru ordered Naruto to create a few shadow clones to guard the perimeter while they had a small meeting. Naruto quickly obliged and again Hinata was amazed by the fact that he didn't seem to need any hand seals at all to perform the jounin level technique. Naruto knew exactly what was coming next. The whole team looked expectantly at him. There wasn't much space between the four young ninja and Naruto could see the concern, confusion, and consentration on each of his teammate's faces. They were just outside the camp in a few of the trees, hidden from anyone that was not a ninja and looking for them.

"We need to know exactly what happened this afternoon." It was a calm statement from Shikamaru but Naruto could tell both of his teammates shared the same attitude. Naruto proceeded to tell his team, in as much detail as he could remember, including the part about how he had known the missing Cloud ninja that the Sound ninja had impersonated. Naruto had made the mistake of being shocked when the Sound chuunin had dropped the transformation. That was what lead to Naruto ending up on the loosing side of the fight. Naruto had escaped with an interesting use of his clones, which impressed his teammates.

After Naruto was done with his part of the story, Shikamaru filled him in on the last little bit that had occurred after he had passed out. His mind had been working on what the appearance of the Sound ninja ment. "It is most likely not Cloud that want to kill Shiro. The Sound probably posed as them to fool lord Nami. This means they are planning some kind of attack against us in the near future. They are either testing our strength or are looking to make us appear weak so they can gain allies. Needless to say the next attack will be executed with a greater number of more skilled chuunin or jounin." He then signed and gave his trademark line. "This is troublesome." There was nothing else that could be exactly deduced from the small information they had. Though because this was an important event for the Fire country it was likely that Orochimaru himself was there, but it was far more likely that Kabuto or Sasuke had formerly been entrusted to lead this mission. The problem was that both had been leaf ninja and knew each of the members of the team better than anyone else under Orochimaru's leadership.

Shikamaru then decided on the watch schedule for the night. Naruto, since he already had his clones in position would take first watch followed by Sakura, then Hinata. Shikamaru would take the early morning shift. The all agreed and then separated. Each of the three ninja chose a hidden place to sleep in the trees. Naruto noted that each of the ninja preparing for 'bed' had chosen locations close to those his clones had taken. They had spread out around the perimeter so they couldn't all be hit with one strike. Naruto paid close attention because he would be the first one taking watch. It was usually during the first or last watch that an enemy ninja would strike. Those were the times when one could easily get lazy, because the guarding had just started, or the shift would be just about over.

Sakura had been only slightly concerned, most likely about the increased threat;. Shikamaru had his normal lazy but thoughtful expression; Naruto still couldn't figure out how he pulled that look off. Shikamaru's look had probably been because of the implied threats to their home village. But Hinata had a concerned look that seemed to be directed specifically at him.

Naruto's mood had fallen almost immediately after they started moving. He had broken his promise that he would never run again. The promise he made to himself on his own blood after Zabuza's Demon Brothers had attacked. It was the second major promise he had broken. The first had been broken because 'The Bastard' had wanted power and ran away. Naruto was not able to return him to Sakura. That was the only promise he had ever broken in his life…until now.

Just then he heard the soft call of one of the servants. The servant walked to the edge of the clearing and softly called for the 'Polite Ninja Girl'. One of his clones dropped down right in front of the servant which evidently startled the man as the orange clad ninja seemingly appeared in front of him. "What do you need?" The clone's tone was soft and quiet, it held no malice in it but the servant was too startled to really notice. "L-l-lord Nami requests the presence of the dark haired female ninja that has been trained in the proper manner when addressing a lord; a Miss Hyuuga." Naruto could easily tell the servant was nervous around him, but he didn't know if it was because of the man's previous encounters with ninja or from fear from the 'noble' prick.

The clone told him that she would be there in a few minutes before disappearing again. The clone quickly moved to Hinata's location just as she was about to get comfortable in the spot she had chosen.

Hinata had witnessed Naruto's slow descent into a melancholy mood all afternoon. She knew something was bothering him. Something was bothering him and Naruto wasn't doing a good job of hiding it, which meant something was really wrong. She couldn't figure out what she should do about it though. Just as she was settling down on a branch to sleep Naruto jumped up next to her and told her that the "smug lord" had requested to speak with her in his tent. Then Naruto quickly moved back to the position he had been guarding, that meant it was a clone, the real one would have stayed a second longer. She had learned that the clones recognized and respected the difference between her relationship with the real Naruto and themselves. She tried not to dwell on that idea for long because it must get very confusing or at least complicated for Naruto's psyche.

Naruto watched as Hinata quickly got up and moved to the master tent's entrance. A slight smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth as her sudden 'appearance' surprised the guards. They were obviously not used to the common movements of ninja. She was let in to the asshole's sleeping area and the scowl he didn't know he had been wearing since he received the asshole's request returned to his face. He hadn't been happy that this boy was inviting Hinata into his tent late at night. Naruto knew Hinata had no immoral intentions. But from what Naruto had seen of the man inside, he had no qualms about assuming it wasn't good for them, the team of ninja or the couple.

Hinata entered the large tent that could easily house all of the caravan servants with some caution. She wasn't worried about physical attack, but it was improper for a lady to be in a man's sleeping area after hours unless they were married. The way the servant had stated the request implied Shiro viewed her as somewhat noble. Though, Hinata could tell that she wasn't going to be treated as a 'fully noble' lady, specifically because of the time frame and nature of the request.

"Miss Hyuuga…" Shiro greeted Hinata from the other side of the tent. He was sitting on a light but beautifully carved wooden chair. He had trailed off expecting Hinata to supply him with her personal name. He had paid little attention to it when she gave it the first time. This fact was not lost on Hinata. She had been more than a little angry with him for the chauvinistic and pompous treatment of the ninja guarding his life. Hinata steadily approached the future provincial lord. She appeared confident to spite her shy nature, but she felt no reason to fear this jerk.

Shiro quickly acknowledged that he would not get the kunoichi's personal name so casually and motioned for her to sit in front of him. There was no chair near where he had indicated; a demeaning statement. Shiro's plans had to be altered a little bit. He had wanted to be more informal and use the girl's personal name rather than her family name. Of course he wasn't planning on allowing her to use his personal name but that was beside the point. He wanted information, and the simple fact that she had come into his sleeping quarters at night suggested impropriety, she would be socially scared while he would remain blameless. He wanted to hurt these ninja as much as possible; he could use the fact that she was in his quarters at night to pry information out of her. This simple meeting at this time of night was enough to hurt the reputation of the somewhat naive but proper girl. To get at the others he would need information. Fortunately being a noble lord meant that he was skilled at getting information out of people without them realizing they had given anything away. The lack of a personal name was no real problem, after all, he had never failed to get the information he wanted.

Hinata wanted to end this as quickly as possible. She did not enjoy his company nor the trouble that this situation could create. It could only prove productive towards whatever goals the 'prince' had and cause more trouble for herself and her team.

"Your team seams to be mostly made up of street trash, except for you. You have been trained in how to properly respect a lord. Why is it you have this training?" Shiro wanted to slightly compliment the girl to put her a little at ease with him. He also wanted to make her team members seem insignificant or unimportant so she would have no need to protect them.

Hinata grimaced internally, he had just insulted her team and her love. He also did a poor job of hiding his intentions. Hinata quickly understood what was going on. The lord wanted to get information, probably more than just about her. She would now have to be on her guard fully.

"The head of my clan has deemed it necessary for us to be properly trained in such customs." She adopted a slightly humble posture and tone but did not show any sign of submission. She knew how to answer questions without giving away any of the information the questioner wanted. It was socially wrong to ask questions too specifically so it was often very easy to avoid giving away information and still look like you are giving a correct answer. Then again, she was a ninja, and there was no need to be honest with this client so if the need arose she would have no problem lying to him. That brought up a whole other issue however. She was a terrible liar, by ninja standards anyway; most normal people would be oblivious to the fact she was lying though. The problem was that politicians were often skilled in spotting a deceit; they needed to be good at it for negotiations. The fact that she didn't know how skilled Shiro was in recognizing a lie, combined with her less than stellar capabilities, meant it was dangerous to try and deceive the future lord.

Half an hour later Shiro finally gave in, he had asked almost every question he could think of about all of the ninja on the team and he had learned almost nothing that he had not already figured out or could safely assumed. The orange-clad one was a prankster, the pink haired one was a medic specialist, the leader had been chosen to lead this mission by the Hokage, and the one in front of him had was born into a 'noble' clan. He had just one more avenue to explore before he would give up. "You have a close relationship with your teammates right?"

Hinata got concerned, this was an odd question, one that could easily lead to a bad line of follow up questions. "Yes, I trust all of my teammates. A ninja needs to in order to survive." No information was given away there, but this was a setup question, not one designed to gather information.

"You seamed to be very concerned when the point man lost a lot of blood." It was more of a statement than a question. But it was obvious he was expecting a reply from the dark haired girl. Hinata was good at her training and had been able to keep the specific names of her teammates out of the conversation. So Shiro was forced to use descriptions, which visibly frustrated the manipulative son of Lord Nami.

"He had lost a lot of blood. As a medic I was not sure if I could save him." Hinata was worried, she saw where this line of questioning was going. The lord, or at least one of his servants may have figured out that Naruto and Hinata were in a relationship. This could be dangerous.

"He thanked you in a very…odd manner for a shinobi. It seamed like you and he are closer than you are to the others." Shiro was smiling at this point.

Hinata didn't like the look on her opponent's face. He looked like he thought he was now winning this 'battle of wits'. "He is often a very energetic person." Hinata wanted to say more but knew any more, would be saying too much and give away too much information. That was the main danger in situations like these. Too many people wanted to explain their answer in order to make sure that the answer was taken correctly so they didn't give any wrong ideas or information. The problem was that the explanation often told more information than the actual answer.

Shiro saw the slight blush in the face of the girl in front of him. Her pale lavender eyes contrasted with the pink of her cheeks. He smiled widely like he had just gotten more information, but in reality he had only confirmed what he had already concluded from his head servant's report. This was the way to get at the orange clad blonde and try and put them all in their place. This girl's clan considered themselves noble and noble clans always arranged their marriages in order to position themselves better politically. All he had to do was threaten to get her father to give him her hand in marriage, after all, what other real choice would her father have. The man his daughter was leaning towards was a street rat. It would be easy to convince her father to give his daughter to a much better suited family. Shiro's arrogance didn't allow him to consider the fact that ninja operated under different social rules than his 'higher society'.

"You and your…obnoxious teammate will not look at each other for the rest of this mission. I will be giving your father an offer he cannot refuse for your hand in marriage and I will not have my future wife tainted by a lowly peasant." Shiro said it with such smugness in his voice that he failed to notice the lack of shock or fear in Hinata's stance and face.

Hinata had not rid herself of her shyness fully, that was part of her personality, but she had been able to become more bold and confident in her time with Naruto. Her time in the tent with Shiro had only lessened her respect for the boy in front of her. Even though he was 3 years her senior and technically a man, he was as immature as a 5 year old. She did not show any of this to the sitting 'lord' however and simply stood in front of him. She had not been offered a seat as an equal when she entered and so remained standing as any self-respecting ninja would have done. She had adopted a slightly humble tone and stance at the beginning of their conversation without looking submissive as she had been taught, but now there was nothing humble about her posture and she had every intention of speaking in a tone fitting her stance.

"You are forgetting your place. You are not in position to give orders to us. Your father hired us, he is our client. He is the only one aside from a higher ranking ninja that can give us orders. He gave us no orders other than to protect you, thus we are under no obligation to follow your demands. Do not think that my father will give in to your demands. The Hyuuga have never given in to outside pressure. You are our target or our mission. We are allowed the freedom to do our job as we see fit. And if you don't want a 'tainted' wife then I suggest you look elsewhere. I am a ninja, I have been trained to assassinate nobles like you." Hinata was angry because of the arrogance of the self centered boy sitting in front of her. She had only gotten angrier as she continued her small speech but she had kept her tone and stance calm. She finished with a threat to the lord's son. Somehow that calmness had given the threat more substance than the words alone. She had been trained for assassinations since she was young after all, which made the threat all the more real. She simply turned and left without waiting for a dismissal from the asshole that had just tried to tell her she couldn't see her love for the rest of her life.

Shiro was shocked. He had just been scolded by one of the female ninja like he was some peasant's little child…again. No one was allowed to get away with talking to him like this. He was about to call his guards in on this 'self-righteous' girl when he realized that she was gone. He hadn't dismissed her but she just seemed to disappear. It hadn't occurred to him that ninja could disappear easily even when in plain sight and that the last girl had easily taken out two of his father's best guards. This one could probably do the same. He was too angry to even call for his servant to get the leader of the ninja team. He wanted to punish them by telling them that their pay would be reduced. He was in no state to do anything calmly so he simply made not of the incident as a servant came in to help him prepare for bed.

Naruto watched as Hinata came out of the tent about forty minutes after she entered. She looked angry and by the hurried way the servants entered and left the tent after her it looked like the arrogant asshole of a lord's son was just as angry. Hinata was just a lot better at hiding it because she was a ninja. He watched as the small girl quickly and nimbly moved back into the position she had been in before she was called away. Within seconds she was curled up in her hidden spot to sleep. Naruto liked watching the small girl sleep, but his position in the perimeter formation didn't permit him a good view. But he did take note when one of the clones he had on patrol saw her shiver a few minutes later.

He had positioned some clones as permanent stations to be concealed and guard while others would patrol. The stationary ones would be harder to see, but had limited visibility from their concealed positions. Conversely, the roaming guards were harder to hit, easier to spot, and could see more. Naruto took off his jacket and gave it to one on patrol to cover Hinata with. There was no explanation necessary. The real jacket would last longer than a clone one, especially if Naruto lost the ability to hold the technique when his shift was over and he went to sleep. If the clone disappeared, so did the jacket. A real one was better.

The night passed quietly after that. There were no complications, except for Shikamaru's critical eye of Naruto. Two of Naruto's clones had still been in existence when Shikamaru was woken up for his shift. He had thought this meant that Naruto was awake but was informed by Hinata that Naruto was in fact asleep. She knew because of the jacket he had placed on her. It looked like Naruto was so comfortable with creating and holding the shadow clones that he could keep his clones active while he was asleep. That was information Shikamaru was surprised to learn but like always he stored it away for future reference and he made note to question Naruto about it later. If he could hold them while unconscious why did the clones he made cease to exist when he lost consciousness in the fight? Naruto's ability to keep the clones for that long also meant that he had even more stamina than Shikamaru remembered. Naruto had always been good with that kind of thing, but all of this added up to something, Shikamaru couldn't quite get what it was though. There was something about Naruto that he was missing.

Ninja were trained to be ready to move the moment they woke up if necessary. With the way they slept last night there would be little the team needed to do in order to move out other than eat breakfast, but again if necessary that could be done on the move. Consequently Shikamaru didn't feel the need to wake the three ninja until the servants were almost all done packing up. Naruto, of course, was the heaviest sleeper and the loudest one upon waking up but the servants didn't seem to notice. Within minutes the four ninja had all had a small breakfast, drank some water and were ready to leave again.

The last leg of the journey took a long time,for Naruto anyway. It was really boring. There were no outlaws on the way and the caravan moved at a quick but steady pace the horses could maintain indefinitely. It was slow for a ninja. The defensive positions of the team had not been changed and Naruto performed his scout duty well. He scouted ahead and then fell back to his normal position. He left a shadow clone in his position when he went ahead so there was some defense. They arrived at the Fire capital early in the afternoon, which would allow the team to get acquainted with the city before nightfall. It was easier to assassinate someone in a city. People felt safe surrounded by people, but the noises and extra unnatural shadows only improved the effectiveness of a ninja's stealth. It was easy to hide in a crowd and thus, a body guard had that much more difficulty doing their job. The advantage was to the enemy, or the attacking assassin.

The caravan pulled up to an expensive looking hotel and the head servant entered to get the rooms ready. Needless to say, Nami Shiro received a luxurious room with expensive decorations. The servants were on lower floors with little more than a bed. There was no room reserved for the ninja team. Shikamaru didn't know if that was a fresh order from the package or if that had been the plan all along. That was fine though, the team didn't really need a designated place to sleep, it would be just one more place to guard. Besides, the servants were kind enough, he was sure they would be willing to sacrifice some floor space to their real body guards. The servants understood that the lord's guards were only concerned about the lord's son himself. Floor space at night was a small price to pay for some ninja protection on the side.

Shortly after their arrival a messenger was reported by Sakura. She said that the servant was not using a transformation, so it was likely the real thing. The messenger, oblivious to the scrutiny or the fact that there were even ninja around, presented himself to the guards outside Nami Shiro's room and announced his intentions. He was allowed to enter after a few minutes and then, after receiving a reply, left quickly after a small time inside the room. Hinata was assigned to be the one actually in the room with the pompous jerk because she, or so Shikamaru thought, would be the one least likely to cause any more problems. Hinata informed Shikamaru that Shiro was going to attend a banquette party that night at the palace when he checked in with her.

That suited Shikamaru just fine. He would take Hinata with him and leave Sakura and Naruto at the hotel to get some rest. They could take the late/early shifts of guard duty. Hinata would need to explain some of the customs of court activity to him and Shikamaru would need to at least make contact with the missing ninja guarding the Lord of Fire's estate.

At any given time there were about twenty missing Leaf ninja guarding the Lord of Fire, his palace, and anything the Lord decided he wanted protected. These were not ninja hunted by the Leaf. They were only technically classified as missing because they were permanently guarding the head of Fire country. Their village loyalties were still to the Leaf much more than any other ninja village, but their loyalties were much looser than a normal Leaf ninja. They were under the employ of the Fire lord and not on a mission from the Hokage. Their status was not as enemy ninja though; they were allowed to rejoin the village if they wanted, though most did not. They were friendly to actual Leaf ninja and would assist them when they could, in much the same way the Leaf ninja passing through would help them out. Mutual respect and common background was the primary basis for this relationship, but it was known that they couldn't be fully relied upon like a fellow Leaf ninja.

As such, it was possible that Shikamaru would be able to negotiate for some time off when Shiro was in the Fire Palace. If he negotiated right, both teams; his and the missing ninja; would benefit from some rest time. If Shiro was in the Fire palace, he would already be guarded by the ninja guarding the palace and there would be no such need for Shikamaru's team. In addition, Shikamaru's team could relieve one or two of the missing ninja while Shiro was there too. It wasn't that hard to see the benefit of the proposal to both sides.

Hinata informed Shikamaru when they would be leaving for the palace and in turn Shikamaru relayed his plan to Naruto and Sakura. It took only a few sentences before Sakura understood what he was going to attempt, but Naruto seemed lost at the idea of friendly missing Leaf ninja. Sakura verbally berated her idiot of a teammate for traveling for "two and a half years and not knowing any friendly missing ninja", he "had been classified as one" during the time he was traveling with Jiraiya. Sakura then proceeded to give a teacher like lecture about the missing ninja inhabiting the city. Shikamaru left the two old teammates shortly after Sakura began her explanation and proceeded to the palace on the rooftops.

Hinata was down on the streets, close to Shiro, and disguised as a simple servant. Shikamaru was on the rooftops guarding from that position. He was amazed at how many ninja were in the capital. It didn't take much effort to spot one here or there. Shikamaru knew he was missing a lot of the ninja activity, but he was surprised at the shear number. He hadn't expected to ever see this many ninja in one place outside of a ninja village. They were all moving with stealth to keep their actions and intentions secret, but there were a lot of unskilled ninja or at least a lot of slips that allowed Shikamaru to spot them.

They arrived at the party without incident. Hinata seemed to disappear from Shiro's point of view as soon as they got within sight of the palace. What had really happened was that she jumped up to move along the rooftops and walls of the buildings with Shikamaru. They held a silent conversation using slight nods and hand gestures to indicate the threats they spotted and how many. It was staggering; they had spotted enough to estimate at least fifty active ninja in the city. A few, not a real threat but still note worthy, wore Cloud insignia. That was to be expected though; the marriage of the Fire lord's daughter had a groom from the Cloud's native country.

Hinata and Shikamaru spotted five ninja guarding the entrance and courtyard to the Fire Palace. They all seemed to be of lower chuunin rank and skill. The two ninja body guards moved into the palace with their charge while fully aware their own movements were being watched very carefully. The whole time they all concealed themselves so that the nobles had no idea they were there, unless they had prior knowledge of their presence. Hinata entered the main hall where the dance and banquette was going to be held and proceeded to keep an eye on her charge. There were about 15 other ninja positioned randomly throughout the room. Some blended as guests or servants hiding their identity and intent, some just made their presence fully unknown to the nobles by staying hidden, but two were putting on entertainment by performing some basic fire breathing techniques. They were obviously some of the missing ninja employed by the wealthy Fire lord.

Shikamaru had parted with Hinata almost immediately after gaining entrance to the palace. He was well aware his movements were even more closely watched as he was now not directly guarding the noble he had been accompanying. Shikamaru made note of all of the missing ninja he came across. It looked like almost all of them were older, about twenty-five or thirty. They also all seemed to be lower chuunin in rank and strength, but he knew not to make full judgments based only on looks. After a few minutes he had accomplished what he wanted to. The leader of the group understood he was looking for him and made his position known. Shikamaru approached cautiously. The leader looked to be slightly older than thirty but he looked the rank of jounin and had obviously been a jounin for a while in order to have become this group's leader. It seamed that he was the strongest though and that all of the others were chuunin.

Shikamaru presented his proposal to the leader. The man, who wore a protective shirt under slightly modified flack jacket and dark blue pants, looked at him hard. "Who are the members of your team?"

Shikamaru didn't think anything wrong with the question. This man was obviously sizing up their strength to get a better judge on whether or not the trade in shifts and terms was worth it. "Nara Shikamaru, chuunin team leader; Haruno Sakura, chuunin medic specialist; Hyuuga Hinata, chuunin; Uzumaki Naruto, genin." Shikamaru didn't see a need to give the specialist designations of a Hyuuga to a former Leaf ninja, and Naruto didn't really have a specialty.

The missing ninja looked like he was pleased with the offer he was getting until the last name came up. His face changed from a slight smile to one of a frown of…anger. "Uzumaki Naruto? Is that law still in place about him?"

This confused Shikamaru. He had no idea there was a law specific to Naruto. Sure it seemed like most of the village hated him, but he didn't know he did anything to warrant a law against him. "I don't know about any law." He'd definitely need to talk with Naruto alone once he got back to the hotel.

"Then it is still in place. I will not accept him. No deal."

This frustrated the intelligent shadow user. His deal was going to be ruined because another one of the ex villagers had a grudge against the ex prankster. "Why?" His tone and stance was a little defiant.

The answer came without hesitation like the man was expecting the question. But Shikamaru knew it wasn't the real answer. It didn't matter, if Shikamaru was able to resolve the answer the man gave there would be no problem with the deal. "He's only a genin."

"Is that all? He is just as skilled as any of the other members of my team. He only failed his last exam because one of his teammates failed the first portion of the exam and thus so did he." Shikamaru never thought he would need to verbally defend Naruto for any reason, let alone his lack of rank.

"That means he still failed. A ninja must rely on his team, if one fails the whole team fails." The man hadn't so much as blinked at Shikamaru's explanation.

A sigh escaped Shikamaru before his soft "How troublesome" followed it. "I know Naruto would be up for a fight. Select anyone of your subordinates to fight him. If he can't prove his worth then you make the terms. The fight will be outside the main entrance to the city at zero-four-hundred." Shikamaru obviously hadn't seen all of this man's subordinates and he didn't know if Naruto could win the fight. But the object wasn't to win. Like the final test of the chuunin exam the point was to prove your worth, not necessarily to win. It would be easier to prove Naruto's worth if his opponent was strong. Naruto would give a stronger showing if his opponent was skilled.

Shikamaru's counter part apparently saw the value of the idea and agreed. It was easy for a ninja to die in a competition like this, but that was part of the life of a ninja. The leader could kill that murdering demon by choosing an opponent too strong for a genin to handle. One needed to be sure of their team's skills. After their business was concluded Shikamaru wasted no more time in front of the larger man. He quickly made his way back to the ball room as the dancing was just starting. It was going to be a long night, but right now, he would take the rest the palace ninja afforded him.

It was late, about thirty minutes after midnight before Shiro left the party. To no one's surprise there was a rather young girl on his arm as he left. She had obviously had less to drink than he did, but Shikamaru didn't feel she was completely incapable of making some decisions. Besides, Ninja were hired to be unseen body guards, they were not to impose on their target's lifestyle unless they absolutely had to.

Shikamaru didn't send Hinata in with Shiro and…his company. Instead he had Hinata activate her Byakugan and watch the outside wall to make sure there were no threats entering from outside. Hinata was left standing in front of the doors that lead to Shiro's hotel room. She had great control of her Byakugan and could watch the outside entrances without invading the privacy of the room's occupants. Shikamaru told her she would be relieved in a few minutes. Sakura would be given the next watch. Shikamaru would relieve Sakura. Naruto would be taking the first watch of the morning. Shikamaru neglected to tell Hinata that Naruto's turn in the rotation would only be if he didn't loose too badly.

Shikamaru quickly found the room Sakura was using. He entered the female quarters without a sound, the four servant girls occupying the room were sleeping soundly, oblivious to their male intruder. The kunoichi lying on the floor however was not as unaware. She noticed the entrance of the Y chromosome because she was trained to be alert for intruders even in her sleep. Shikamaru found her still lying down but he knew better than to think her closed eyes meant she was asleep. She was ready to move and strike at the slightest hint of aggression. Giving himself some space incase she decided to act before he was ready he softly told her it was her turn on watch.

Sakura had to hand it to Shikamaru. He was very good at stealth. The only indication she had received at all about his presence was the slight click of the door hitting a brush one of the servants had left on the floor. She had awoken because it was too soft of a sound to have been made by someone casually opening the door. Shikamaru had entered the rest of the way silently, which meant aggressive intruder to her. Then, like the smart man he was he announced his presence and intentions while still a small distance away. He had noticed she was not simply asleep. Shikamaru informed her that their 'troublesome package', she would have used more colorful descriptions, had company that night. She shouldn't barge in just because she hears multiple people in there. This brought a slight blush from the pink haired girl.

Shikamaru watched the team's medical specialist leave to give Hinata some much needed rest. Now he needed to find Naruto and inform him of his situation. He also needed to get some information from the blonde. Shikamaru knew every ninja kept secrets, most even wore a metaphorical mask if not a physical one to help them keep those secrets. But whatever this one was, Shikamaru, as the team leader needed to know. It affected the ability of the team to perform the mission. Shikamaru searched most of the male servant rooms but did not find the blonde. Then Shikamaru remembered that Naruto had casually said he preferred to sleep outside rather than in a small room with people. It was odd, but Shikamaru understood. His friend had grown up in an empty apartment without anyone else, he felt safer in the open rather than in a tight space with multiple people.

Shikamaru immediately moved to the roof of the building. There he found Naruto sleeping in a hidden spot with a shadow clone, fully awake, sitting on the far side of the roof dropping water balloons. It immediately made sense to Shikamaru. Naruto was only able to hold the technique while unconscious if he was prepared for it. He had probably practiced for insanely long hours and had many sleepless nights to be able to do this. He used a shadow clone as a guard. And it was best to be alone when one performed and used such a technique, he wouldn't want information like that to be casually passed around. That didn't tell Shikamaru everything though, Naruto had gained some stamina on his travels, as evident by the clone now looking curiously at him. But Naruto's stamina was apparently greater than anyone else he knew, to include Lee, who trained constantly even while asleep. Stamina was not gained easily. Shikamaru also needed to know what the law was and why that would affect the missing ninja's decision to accept or decline his offer. The law had to be almost as old as they were for the older man to know of it.

Naruto woke up immediately from the feel of the clone disappearing. He didn't move, he didn't want to give his position away to a possible attacker, but then he noticed it was Shikamaru. The clone had dismissed itself rather than getting hit. Naruto sat up and greeted his team leader. He put his jacket back on, it had been draped across his torso as a small blanket but now that he was getting up it would be more useful around his shoulders. Shikamaru's face told him that there were serious matters and Naruto didn't like the look. The first question that came out of Shikamaru's mouth made Naruto go into a fearful panic.

"Naruto, the villagers have always looked at you with a less than pleased look. I just learned there is a law concerning you and it affects the mission. What is the law?" Shikamaru was surprised to see the utter terror in his friend's face after asking that question. He had never seen Naruto display fear before. In fact the blonde seemed to thrive in life threatening situations. Now there was more fear in the former prankster than he had seen on a cornered puppy's face.

Naruto knew that Shikamaru had no idea what he was really asking. But Naruto also knew that if he told him a lie it wouldn't fit and Shikamaru would know it. Shikamaru also needed to know as the team leader if the information affected the mission. Naruto resigned to his fate. His head dropped and his voice became quiet soft. Shikamaru almost had to strain to hear the answer against the background noise of the city.

"The law is that no one is allowed to talk about the details of how the Fourth Hokage defeated the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked our village sixteen years ago." Naruto paused and Shikamaru thought he was done and was going to have to ask more specific questions. Naruto continued before Shikamaru could ask though. "The Fourth was not strong enough to actually defeat the demon. It was too strong. The villagers hate me because I was born on the exact day the Fourth died and the Kyuubi was defeated. The Fourth was forced to use a forbidden technique to seal the demon. The technique cost him his life but the demon was sealed away…inside me."

Naruto's line of thinking had become disjointed and hard to follow but Shikamaru was able to piece together the meaning what Naruto was saying. The ramifications of what he just said filled in everything Shikamaru needed to know. The villagers viewed Naruto as, or at least responsible for, the Kyuubi. The law was that no one was allowed to talk about the Kyuubi being sealed in Naruto. Obviously Naruto was scared about how his friends would react if they knew. He didn't want the rejection he had felt his whole life coming from those he considered his friends as well. He had been forced to grow up on his own because none of the adults wanted to be near him.

This definitely explained a lot about Naruto. It explained the pain Naruto had talked about during his first chuunin exam when he fought and defeated Neji. Come to think of it, it was probably the demon fox's chakra that helped Naruto win that fight as well. The stamina could be explained, at least partially by the fox, and why Sakura had told him that Hinata was the best one to heal Naruto's back wound. Hinata could see chakra much easier than Sakura could and could heal his wound more easily despite the experience Sakura had over her.

This information also helped explain why the leader of the palace ninja took note of Naruto and wouldn't accept him. That one answer pretty much answered every question Shikamaru ever had about Naruto. Shikamaru came to his conclusion in time to see Naruto's head drop in sorrow. It had obviously taken Shikamaru a few moments to consider all the implications of what Naruto had just told him so it must have seemed like hours for Naruto who was waiting for the reaction as to whether Shikamaru would hate him or not.

Shikamaru decided to change the subject in order to try and show that this new information didn't affect him the way Naruto obviously expected it to. "At zero-four-hundred you are scheduled to fight outside the main entrance in order to show our skill to the palace ninja. You will have no backup but the leader of the missing ninja will be watching. The mission will be much easier if you do well, and our success might be determined by the amount of rest we can get." Shikamaru was glad to see Naruto's expression went from sad to his normal happy self. He definitely was the Leaf's most hyperactive and surprising ninja. Shikamaru just didn't know how surprising and amazing his friend was until just now. "You can get some rest until then. I need to rest too, my watch is in a few hours. I'll have Sakura wake you if you are not already awake a half hour before your scheduled time." With that Shikamaru disappeared into his preferred weapon.

Shikamaru moved down the hall containing the entrance to Shiro's room. The two large guards outside the door would have been foreboding to a normal person, but no ninja he knew would have been scared by them. Sure a skilled samurai could easily beat a skilled ninja in a 'proper' open fight, but in the same token a genin could easily beat a skilled swordsman in a fight if there were no rules against trickery. Shikamaru wasn't searching for the ninja guard, he knew that Sakura knew he was there. She took all of her jobs seriously and often kept hidden even when it wasn't necessary. As a consequence the unnaturally strong girl only appeared next to Shikamaru when he had turned a corner and was out of sight of the door.

Shikamaru thought for the first time about trying to keep Naruto's secret. He was sure that Sakura would have known, especially since she had been on his team since they started their career, but the law came to mind. He had also concluded that Hinata likely knew because she was so close to Naruto, but if Naruto reacted like he did about just telling him, how scared would Naruto be about telling someone he was so close to? He now had to consider what he told Sakura and Hinata. "Naruto is sleeping on the roof. In your rounds will you wake him up at zero-three-thirty? He has a fight outside the city gates at zero-four-hundred. The leader of the palace ninja doesn't trust Naruto or his strength because he is a genin. They won't accept my offer unless he proves himself. They are concerned about him because of the law concerning him." Shikamaru wanted to find out what Sakura knew without giving away any information.

Sakura's reply was a thoughtful face as she lowered her head slightly to think. "Have you talked with Naruto about why they hold a grudge against him or about this law?" Sakura didn't know if she should be the one to tell Shikamaru but he would need to know if it concerned the mission.

That confirmed that Sakura knew. Her reply wasn't a question about the law itself like his had been, it was more about what he had done after finding out about its existence. She was concerned about how he went about gathering the information, or who told him, not confusion about what law he was referring to. "Naruto told me. He knows what is going on with the missing ninja guarding the palace. Does Hinata know as well?" Shikamaru's tone wasn't accusing or sad. He understood why the secret was kept. But for right now he needed information to make his decisions, not emotion.

"She has known since Naruto's last birthday. Neji is the only other one from our generation that knows. Every one who was old enough sixteen years ago knows as well. That is why Naruto has always been treated poorly by the villagers." Sakura was saddened at the thought of how the villagers had treated Naruto. He always looked like he took it in stride. With that happy-go-lucky smile and attitude he always had. He didn't even really care about the vandalism done to his apartment. That incident had only been a couple of days ago and he didn't even get a proper chance to clean and get his apartment back in order.

"I'll be relieving you. Wake me up when your watch is over and I'll take over. Naruto will be tired after his fight."

Sakura's only reply to that was a slight acknowledgement in the affirmative. Shikamaru left as Sakura was about to start her patrol again. Shikamaru found a suitable room occupied by three of Shiro's servants and lay on the ground for some sleep. His last thought was that the night's mood had dropped drastically from the contentment they had been enjoying before the party. Now they were all somewhat crestfallen and this mission just got even more complicated and troublesome.

Author's Note

Thanx again to Crystlshake for reading this chapter and helping me with the flow and wording of it. I have finals coming up so I don't know if I'll be able to get chapter 6 up before next year. Hope you have fun reading and have fun over the break in school.