Saitou hit the ground hard for the third time. He was breathing heavily trying with all his might to get up but after two minutes he dropped back down to the ground. He rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. When Hinata-sama said she would be harder on them she wasn't kidding, Saitou thought. Every part of his body ached and he had little or no chakra left in him. After a few minutes he finally found the strength to get up again. He lifted his head looking at his fellow genin. It was strange today. She told us to come at her with everything we have. After a year of training under her, she had never done this except the first day. Saitou also noticed that she wasn't holding back, she was hitting hard and with precision. What exactly are we training for? Saitou wondered.

Hinata stood ten feet in front of the three remaining genin. She lowered her stance and extended her arms. "Again." She said with a stern voice. Iori and Batou looked at each other and nodded. Iori dashed left while Batou did a full sprint at her. Batou did several hand seals. "Multisize no jutsu!" He then leaped head first with his hands out in front. A blue aura encircled him. His body began to shrink to about half his original size. Hinata shifted her body and avoided the boy. At that moment Iori came from behind and blew a fireball toward her. She ducked and then did an open palm trust in the middle of his chest sending him flying into the nearest tree. Batou took this chance and attacked with a roundhouse kick to her side. At the same time he returned to his original form to gain more momentum into the kick. Hinata grabbed his leg and threw him right into Iori. Both boys stayed down. Hinata moved some of her hair out of her face and turned her attention to Hikari who had been standing there the whole time watching. Hinata looked closer at Hikari, her eyes were black. She had never seen this. She knew Hikari had an advanced bloodline but besides a few techniques Hikari had never really shown her full abilities. Not even training with her. "Byakugan" Hinata prepared herself.

Hikari closed her eyes and chakra began flowing out of most of her pores. She then ran at Hinata as fast as she could. Hinata jumped to the side dodging the attack. Hikari stopped in mid sprint just in front of Hinata. 'Where is all this coming from?' Hinata thought to herself as she looked at her student. With her white eyes she could see an enormous amount of chakra centered on her hands.

Hikari held a seal with her right hand and in her left held a crystal bead. The bead expelled from her hand and straight at Hinata. "Solar no jutsu!" The bead ignited in burst of light and flame. Hinata could feel the heat from the bead and quickly spun her body using her chakra to deflect the attack. She slowed down and glanced over at Hikari who was charging at her. Hinata bent lower and open-palmed her in the chest and sent her toward the other genins.

She stood up and watched her students slowly getting up. She looked at them with hope. She had one month to get them ready for whatever Neji had planned. She turned to her left and looked at the tree she through the crystal bead toward. It had burned a hole through it and the tree behind it. 'She's been holding back her abilities this whole time but why?' Hinata looked at Hikari who was exhausted. That last jutsu took a lot out of her. 'She never uses her advanced bloodline abilities unless she has too. I have to find out why if I intend to push her to her limits.' She moved her gaze to Sasuke's students. 'Sasuke did a good job with them, much better than me.' She walked to the middle of the area. "Today's exercises are done, I'll see you all tomorrow morning bright and early. Go get some rest."

Else where

Tapion and Naomi walked behind Vidina. "Hey were do you think we're going?" He turned to Naomi.

"I don't know and will you quit asking me that. The answer doesn't change every hour." She rolled her eyes. Vidina smiled hearing the two bicker. He looked up at the sky. This trek of sorts would take them two months but if I am to train them that doubles that length he thought to himself.

"Hey come on, I want to pass that ridge by nightfall." He said looking up in front of them.

Cloud Village

Naruto sat comfortably in his cell. The council thought it would be prudent to have him here until they figure out what was going on. He let out a sigh. 'At least they didn't try and kill me' he thought. He stood up and walked to the door of the room. "Things are a little side tracked but all things considered not that bad." He said to himself. He pulled out a deck of cards and put them on the bench. "Its up to you, Sasuke until they let me out."

Outside, Sasuke watched him pull out the deck of cards. He smirked and shook his head. He jumped to the nearest roof thinking of his next move. Security of the village would be heighten from this point on. It didn't matter if they believed Naruto or not. The village would be looking for anything suspicious. The fact that he was hiding from for the village in order to catch the assassin didn't help his situation. More likely they'll assume he was the assassin if he is caught.

Meanwhile in the main chambers of the Raikage, the cloud shinobi stayed in council. "Should be consult the elders?" one of them asked. A few nodded but the majority shook their heads.

"This is not their concern." The Raikage declared. "This is ours, if there is someone, I shall deal with it." This caused the other ninjas to whisper. "What of our messenger? What do we know of him?"

"But Eighth…" A tall shinobi began to speak but, she looked at him with a stern look and he quickly changed the topic. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto, most of us here have heard of his reputation. The story is that after he saved the hidden leaf village he disappeared over 5 years ago. Why he has reappeared now no one knows. Ichigo apparently knows him well. I have sent word to him to return from his mission as soon as possible."

The Raikage nodded. "Good but that still doesn't help the immediate situation. I want all security to be on full alert." After that all the ninja left the room but one and the Raikage, she got up out of her chair. "What is it Lee?"

"You aren't taking this situation seriously enough." He sternly said. He was a fairly tall man with short brown hair and eyes. He wore the standard jounin uniform. She looked at him and then closed her eyes.

"Its not that simple. You know better than anyone what people think of me. She's not strong enough to be Raikage, she's too young to be leader…I know I'm the youngest one ever to receive the title. I have to show a strong stance on this or else I'll never be able to prove myself to this village that I have what it takes." With that last statement she left the room. Lee just stood there staring at the Riakage's chair.

Else where

The following morning Vidina, Tapion and Naomi were cleaning up and packing the campsite. "That should be the last of it." Vidina said zipping up his bag. The two genin nodded.

"Hey I thought you said you would train us?" Tapion asked. "The only thing we've done has been walking." Naomi rolled her eyes. Vidina smiled seeing the fire in his eyes. He then closed his eyes for a moment.

"Okay you want training then training you'll have." Tapion smiled and awaited his next words. "This is for both of you." He looked over at Naomi and held out his hand and formed a seal. His hand began to glow with chakra. He stopped and lowered his hand. "Now you try." Vidina smiled. Both Tapion and Naomi just looked puzzled. "Humor me." Tapion shrugged and complied. Naomi did the same.

"Now what?" Tapion asked. Vidina picked up his bag and turned around with his back to the two gennin.

"We continue our journey. Both of you have to hold that seal for as long as you can while we walk from now on."

"What? How is this training?" Tapion voiced. Naomi nodded in agreement. She didn't see how doing something this simple would be considered training.

"Trust me," Vidina said. "This was my first lesson when I was your age. Well maybe not your age but yeah. Now come on we have a long road ahead of us and yours just got harder." He began walking and Tapion and Naomi reluctantly accepted his answer and followed him while holding the seal in place.

About half a mile into the hike Naomi began to feel it. She could feel the draining of the chakra through her hand. It was barely noticeable. She looked over at Tapion and could tell he still hadn't caught on to the whole seal thing yet. Vidina was right. The longer the hike the more tiring this will get.

Konoha

Hinata waited patiently for the genin. She had a few minutes before the showed up for their training. She let out a sigh. The four kids were tired, sore, and exhausted already. She wanted to give them a break but there wasn't anytime. "Neji" She said out loud. One on hand she was angry with him for making her do this but on the other hand she knew this had to be done. For the sake of the village if nothing else. She looked up and saw them approach. They were a hundred yards away but already she could see the fatigue in each of their eyes.

A/n: please don't hit me. ducks. I know its been a long time since the last update. Got a little writer's block and also life tends to get crazy. I'll try and get the next chapter up by the end of the month and make it longer.