Chapter 3: Give Yourself Time to Heal

A/N: OMG! This chapter, not too much fighting, actually no fighting at all! Get ready for tiny bits of hinting romance for the future, w00t w00t! Oh and sorry for the late update, was thinking about the future pairings again, and I've been reading some stories I'd usually not read. I think a change in pairings is needed. SO I might change again, but now it's Hina/Kiba, Neji/Ten, Lee/Saku, Shika/Tema, and last is, my really new thing, I'm taking a shot at it, Ino/Naru. Sorry if you don't like it, it's just how it's going To be from now on. Oh, and this isn't based on Neji and Tenten anymore, it's more just the pairing thing.

Outside of the room, all the ninjas looked at each other. Each with different emotions, sad, angry, emotionless even, and one very filled with angst.

"Careful out there," Neji said, breaking the very cold ice.

"Of course Neji, " Naruto muttered, he looked at his comrades, "I'm…I'm going now, see you guys later."

They all stared at Naruto as he walked away. Hinata hesitated a bit, then she walked after him. Kiba winced a bit, but then allowed her to go by herself. Kiba looked down at Akamaru and Akamaru barked. Kiba nodded and told the others to be careful, looking at the exit, he sighed and walked out.

"Hmm…" Lee muttered crossing his arms.

"I'll go now, be careful everyone," Sakura said, "You be careful too Lee, although I don't think you need to."

He smiled slightly, and then as she began to walk out he followed her. He waved goodbye to the others and chased after her.

Chouji and Shino walked out too, they decided to go and do their hobbies of eating and taking care of bugs.

Ino told them that she had to check her house, and Shikamaru said that he needed to go home. The sand siblings all went home and Sasuke just left.

Neji looked at Tenten with intense eyes, "Hope you feel better," he turned, "Please, be careful."

Tenten blushed again, he began to walk away, and she decided to walk with him, putting on a sweet smile she grabbed his hand, "Maybe I'll be more careful if you were near me."

He looked at her, and his stare softened, "Ok then," he gripped her hand, "I'll protect you."

"And I'll protect you Neji-kun!" she winked and winced.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," her smile came back, "I'll feel better since you're here!"

Neji nodded and she smiled even wider. They decided to take a walk through Konoha, even though that incident happened, everything still seemed peaceful.

Although in Tsunade's office, things weren't too peaceful. As you would walk through the hallways, you would see bandages on the floor. They were left by Naruto, his cuts were healed, and he came to see Tsunade.

"What do you want?" she asked looking at him. She froze, there was a strange feeling coming from Naruto, the gleam in his eyes was gone, and his face was emotionless.

"I want…" he smirked, "I want permission to head out to find a woman."

"And why?" she raised her eyebrows, and stood up. Naruto kept his eyes on her, but then he looked down.

"I need to find her…"

"And why?" Tsunade asked again. She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye.

"I have to destroy her…" he clutched his fist and raised it, "I have to destroy her for underestimating me, and for hurting my friends…" he looked at her again with intense eyes.

"Ok then…"

His eyes softened and he smiled, "Thanks a lot Granny Tsunade," his goofy grin reapplied itself.

"Be careful though…And maybe takes some of them with you, let's see, Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino are going out on a mission with Asuma, and well, that's it. Take any of Gai's students, Kurenai's students, and for sure take Ino, and your own teammates."

"But I want to do this on my own!" he glared at her.

"No Naruto, I don't even know this woman you're looking for, you're lucky enough I'm even letting you search for her. Besides, don't you think they want a chance to get back at her?" she looked at him straight in the eye and Naruto sighed,

"Fine Granny Tsunade…" he turned to the door and waved, "I'll be back in, um, I don't know a week or two?"

Tsunade sighed and placed her head on her desk, "Naruto…You idiot…Be careful out there, and don't die…You could be the next hokage…"

Naruto walked along the streets of Konoha, he spotted Neji and Tenten walking together hand in hand. They were still injured, but they didn't look as if they were in extreme pain. Naruto put on his classic grin, winced (I'm using that word a lot eh?) and walked up to them.

"Hey Neji!" he faced them with confidence, "You two on a date!" the other two blushed, and Tenten whammed him in the head.

"Owie!" Naruto screamed out, "What was that fo-"

"AHHHHHH!" and he was sent flying.

"Nice one Neji-kun," Tenten said.

"It was…Nothing," he looked at her still blushing, "I wonder if that's all he wanted to say?"

"'Oh crap. Maybe we have a mission…" she looked into the sky, "He didn't go flying upwards…So let's visit Hokage-sama to confirm if we have a mission."

"Okay," he looked towards the direction he punched Naruto, "Oh, I forgot he was injured too, whatever, it's just Naruto anyways…"

Tenten smiled and nodded. She looked down at her foot and tried to move it on her own, "ah," it moved a bit, but it wasn't fully healed yet. She turned to Neji, "ok, let's go."

Naruto finally came crashing down, and the first to greet him was Hinata, "Hey," he said getting up.

She blushed, but only slightly, "Hello Naruto-kun," she looked at him and smiled, "Are you okay?"

He placed his hands behind his back, "I'm fine," he then looked at her," Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she looked at him, and thought that she should ask him, or else her mind wouldn't settle, "Naruto-kun…"

"Yes Hinata-chan?"

"Do, um…Do you love me?"

An unexpected question from the quiet Hyuuga child. She looked at him with sincere eyes and he sighed. Putting down his arms and putting one hand on her shoulder her said, "I don't know anymore, you're with Kiba now and you're happy right?"

"Yes," she nodded, it was true, after trying her best to get over Naruto, Kiba asked her out once, and it turned into something. She still liked Naruto, but she didn't think he would notice her anymore.

"Well, I was thinking it over at Ino's birthday party, I liked you, for a while, but maybe it was jealousy. I still like you and all, but now I know it wasn't meant to be. You love Kiba, Kiba loves you, I used to like you. Love and like are very far apart you know. I'll get over it, and find someone new you'll see. Don't worry for me, and I hope you feel better," he smiled sweetly and she cried a bit.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," she hugged him and then let go."

"So," he remembered his request, "Where's Kiba anyways?"

"He's coming soon," she looked behind him, "Oh there he is."

"Well, I have permission to find that woman that fought us. But I have to bring you guys with me. Tell Kiba okay? We're meeting at the gate tonight, bring your stuff, we'll be there for about two weeks."

Hinata nodded and smiled softly, blushing a bit she turned to see Kiba.

"So what did he say?"

Hinata hugged Kiba, "He, isn't in love with me, and he said that he's going to move on, and that he's happy for us."

"Hmm," he looked at Naruto waling away, "What a nice guy, although, I wonder who he'll like next?" he raised his eyebrow and smirked. Hinata hit him.

"Idiot, why are you so interested in who he likes anyways?"

Kiba smiled, "'Cause, It's a lot of fun! Naruto's a strange guy you know."

"Yeah, he's very strange," she smiled as he walked away.

Going back to Naruto, he walked by Ino's house. Looking at it with a raised eyebrow, he went to investigate. Inside he saw some damage, and some people repairing things. He saw Ino with Sakura in the living room.

"Hey Naruto no baka," Sakura said greeting him, Ino said the same.

"Hey you two," he smiled widely, but frowned when he saw Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke-teme," he turned to him and he muttered, "Hn."

"Oh hello Naruto-kun!" Lee said greeting.

What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked.

"We're helping the repairs," Sasuke said with a harsh tone, "You should too."

"You guys, it's a good thing you're all here! We have a mission!" he said ignoring his rival.

The four looked at him and Lee spoke up, "What is it?" he asked with excitement.

"We're going to find that woman we fought…" his eyes grew narrow as he scanned the damages, "We'll find who did this, to us, and to your house Ino-chan."

"Ino…chan…" she raised her eyebrow, "Oh, don't you dare start with that, Naruto!" she thought, 'At least not until I get to know you better,' she smirked, for the past two years, Naruto's been becoming quite the guy, look wise, intelligence wise, and skill wise. Although she always had her eye out for Sasuke-kun and Shika-kun, Naruto can always be an option.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned, "Okay Ino-san," he looked at her with curiosity, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's okay!" she smiled and then Sakura broke out laughing.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Lee asked.

"There…" she wiped her eyes, "There was just a little moment between the two," she continued laughing.

"But Sakura-chan," he went by her side, "Their little moment isn't something to laugh about!"

Sakura got up, "Ugh, fine Lee-kun, you didn't have to kill my fun," she smiled, "But that was priceless."

WACK

"Ow!" Sakura turned to an infuriated Ino.

"Big-forehead…That, was nothing…" she turned to Naruto who was confused, then she turned back to Sakura and gasped, "Did you just call fuzzy brows Lee-kun!" she began to laugh.

Sasuke walked up to Naruto and whispered into his ear, "They're both the same, it's a bit creepy."

"Yeah," he looked at Ino who just got hit by Sakura. He began to laugh, the Lee, then Sasuke bared a little chuckle.

The two looked at them, "What's so funny?" they said in unison.

"Like Sasuke-teme said, you two are both the same, your like twins!" he held his stomach and laughed.

Lee winked, "It's very cute you know!"

Sakura blushed and Ino shuddered. Naruto said, "Your right fuzzy brows!"

Sakura and Ino eyed Naruto weirdly, "What?"

"Lee's right, it is kind of cute," he placed his hands behind his back. The two blushed slightly, then Sakura spoke up, "I thought you didn't have our little crush on me anymore?"

"I don't," he said with his classic grin, "I'm just saying it's cute, especially you Ino!"

Ino smacked him in the head, "Idiot," she turned to Sakura who was laughing.

"Okay," Naruto rubbed his sore, "SO the point is, we have to hunt down that lady, we're going tonight, final? I'm going now, got to get rid of these wounds eh?" he began to stroll down the street and everyone looked at Ino.

"Hehehe, you're going to be his new crush," Sakura said with a smirk.

"He just said I'm cute, you heard it, Lee said it too," she turned to him for reassurance and he smiled.

"See?"

"Ino, Ino, Ino, you baka, we already know Lee-kun has a crush on me, now, what do we know about Naruto? Nothing, so there's a chance!" she winked.

"Hmm…Maybe," she shook her head, she couldn't fall for Naruto, and she doesn't mind if he liked her. But the thought is haunting her.

"Guys, I'm going to get ready," Sasuke spoke out in an emotionless tone, "See you tonight."

"Same here, bye Sakura-chan!" he waved and left with Sasuke.

"Bye Lee-kun!"

"Hmm," Ino smirked, "It seems you like fuzzy brows too…"

"Yeah…Wait? What?" Ino walked away and Sakura looked at her suspiciously.

"So you do like him?" she looked at Sakura, "It seems we both got over our Sasuke crushes!" she smiled.

Sakura's eyes went wide, "Whoa…What was that just now?"

Ino sat in her trashed bedroom and began packing, and pondering about this woman. She remembered fighting just her pet. Man was that thing ferocious. Although in some way if was adorable. She shook her head and thought that she was becoming like Anko-sama.

"Now what else to bring?" she scanned her clothing, all the same outfits, "Hmm, maybe I should bring an extra week's worth of clothes, two weeks eh? Oh my gosh, two weeks with those guys, this'll kind of be fun. Or maybe that woman will make it all angst like…"

After packing some food from her mom and extra kunais in her pouch, she lay down in her bed and closed her eyes. Relaxing for a while, she looked at the clock, 6:30; she had an hour and a half left.

After getting up, she lifted up her bag, it was kind of heavy. Bearing the weight, she sighed and picked up her other bag. She struggled and then collapsed.

KNOCK

Someone was at her door, no actually, at her window. Leaving the heavy bags on the floor, she looked to see Naruto there.

"Hey," she said opening her window.

"Hey Ino-san," he hopped in and sweat dropped at the load of clothes in her bags, "Um, ano, Ino-san, you don't need so many bags."

"I only have two!" she exclaimed to Naruto.

"Okay then, you have too many clothes, we're only gone for two weeks," he pointed to the bag on his back, "You'd only need like four days worth of clothing, it's not like we can change, and take a shower each and everyday."

Ino sweat dropped also, she now remembered her week long missions, she hadn't taken a shower once. Looking at her stuff she sighed, "Okay you win Naruto, I'll unpack some stuff," she looked at her massive clothed pile.

"How many sets of clothes did you set?" he looked at all the clothes and tilted his head,

"Well first I packed months worth incase they keep on getting dirty, then I thought one more week was okay, then I kept on think, and well, here we go."

Naruto looked at them carefully, they were all the same thing, and he then picked up some other one. It was purple silk, it was long sleeved and it came with pants. "Wow, that looks pretty," he smiled, "I bet it would look nice on you!"

"You're just saying that," she said taking it from him.

"No Ino-chan, I say what I say and I mean it, some people think I'm a little too straightforward, and mostly stupid," he scratched his head and headed towards her window, "Well, I have to check on the others too, bye Ino-chan," after realizing what he said he flinched and waited for her to slap him or something.

"Ok, bye Naruto," she smiled at him and he smiled too getting out of his hiding position.

"So is it official?" he asked before going.

"What?"

"Can I call you Ino-chan?" he tilted his head.

"Fine, but I want to get to know you better…"

"Sure, you can be my camping buddy!"

"What the hell is that?" she raised her eyebrow.

"You can be my buddy, or shall I say partner when we train while looking for that woman."

"Oh sure, but I won't go easy on you," she raised a fist, "Now go, I have stuff to do."

"Ok, I need to visit Sasuke-teme," he said that, waved, then jumped away.

"Hmm," she looked at the clock, "7:00," she sighed, "I should hurry or else I'd be late for the meeting."

Outside, it was dark, Naruto jumped from house p house confirming that everyone was ready.

"Tenten?" he opened the window to see her resting on the bed, "Are you done?"

"Yeah Naruto," she said. Naruto saw Neji next to her with a bag.

"Hey Neji," Naruto greeted waving.

"Yo," he helped Tenten up and she picked up her bag.

"Hope you two feel better, we may need to fight her," he turned to get out, "Oh," he said quickly looking at them, "Sorry if my early remark did anything bad, you know it was just a joke…unless…Hehehe," he eyes them suspiciously, but they were gone from the bed, "Nani?"

WHAM

"Good one again Neji," Tenten said giggling.

"Yeah, I can only put my energy into this arm anyways."

"Oh yeah," she looked at his cast, "Can I sign it?"

"But it's probably coming off tomorrow," he was too late, she pulled out her marker and put on a puppy dog face, 'Oh kami, she's too cute, can't resist…' he sighed and she smirked.

"Success!"

"Sometimes you're too evil," he shook his head as she signs his cast.

"No, you're just easy to manipulate."

He sighed again and looked out the open window to see Naruto hopping on people's homes.

"It's 7:45," Tenten said turning to the clock.

"Let's go," he looked at his bag and clutched his fist, "We're going to find that woman and kick her ass."

"Too bad Shikamaru and the others can't come, also the Sand ninjas too."

"Yeah, I wonder where they are."

Somewhere is sand country…

"Oh god it's hideous!" Chouji screamed out.

"It's just a bug you idiot," Shino told his team mate.

Asuma shook his head, "Okay you guys the mission is to get rid of them with the help of the sand ninjas, now hurry up."

Shikamaru sighed, "This is troublesome," he turned to see Gaara and the others coming.

"Yo," Kankorou greeted.

"Hello," Asuma greeted them, "Now you're here to help us exterminate these bugs?"

"Yes," Gaara said emotionlessly.

"Why is bug boy here?" Temari said pointing to Shino.

"He's an expert," Asuma said.

"I really hate doing this," Shino said in his head, but nodded along. A small tear went down his face after killing another swarm with his own bugs.

At the Konoha gates…

Everyone was there, and they looked at Naruto.

"What now Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"We pick a leader," he said.

"Wow, you don't want to be the leader?" Kiba said laughing, "That's a first!"

"Shut up," he said pouting, "I don't want to mess up and put you guys in danger."

"How considerate," Tenten said.

"For once," Sasuke said in a cold voice.

"Sasuke-teme!" he yelled out. Sasuke simply shrugged.

"Okay, let's vote," Naruto said trying to shake off Sasuke.

"I vote Neji," Tenten said with a smile.

"All for Neji say I," Naruto explained seriously, "I," he said.

"I," from the rest.

"Okay guys," Neji said, let's go. He pulled out something from underneath his cast and winced.

"What is that?" Naruto asked curiously. "Is that a mini kunai?"

"Yes," Neji said holding it out to Kiba.

"It has your blood on it!" Kiba said in disgust. Then he saw the handle had nothing on it, "Oh", he sniffed it, then he remembered the smell of the woman and started walking towards the west.

"Good job Kiba-kun," Hinata remarked.

"Great!" the others yelled out.

Naruto clutched his fist, "Now I can have my revenge," he licked his lips, and no one but Ino saw.

"You hungry?" she asked, and noticed his eyes were red, "You tired? Your eye color completely changed!"

He calmed down and it faded, "No, it's just nothing," he smiled and began to walk.

Ino shrugged it off and caught up to talk to Hinata and Tenten. Naruto clutched his fist again, "I wonder if they all know about kyuubi and my transformations yet. I've been on mission with all of them numerous times, and I've transformed, although I don't think they were conscious or looking when I fought it my horrible form…"

'Suddenly Sakura halted, "Wait, isn't someone accompanying us?"

"No," Naruto said, "It's just us."

"Oh yeah!" Ino yelled out loud.

"Shush," Neji told her.

"Oh sorry," she blushed, and then sighed, "We actually have a jounin here accompanying us…Meh, no fun for me."

The others just continued to walk as it became silent and the moon showed its lonesome self. It was going to be a long trip.

A/N: Okay people, hope you have fun reading the rest. And please, you can give me tips on how to improve, even criticize a bit, but no harsh burns please? Okay plus I'm looking for a pre-reader! Email me or simply PM me. Also tell me, through review or PM, when should she appear?

One Day Later

Three Days Later

Also, should the others join them later?

Yes

No

Oh and what do you want more of?

Romance

Action

And who should suffer? (Hard to choose I know)

Kiba

Neji

Sakura

Ino

Hinata

Naruto

Sasuke