Disclaimer Time

I, in no way, shape, or form, own Naruto or any of its characters and am certainly not making any money off of them through this fanfic.

Disclaimer Time Over

w00t

Now, on to the fic and how to read it.

Generally, everything will be straightforward, but every so often I may insert a thought process in italics, kinda like they do in the show all of the time…also, more often than not I'll leave spaces in speech with a "…" in between them for sort of a pause for the character to think or just to break up what they're saying…well, I guess that that's about it for the rules on how to read it. So, on to the FIC!

Back to Training

Hinata quickly devoured her food, seeing how manners weren't as important when she was eating alone in her room and she hadn't eaten in a while, and changed to meet Neji out by the pond. By the time she got out there, he was already out on the water practicing his technique.

"That didn't take you very long…I figured you'd actually try to enjoy your food…maybe Naruto has already taught you a few things after all," Neji teased as his equally lavender-eyed and blushing cousin approached him out on the water.

"Stop it, Neji-kun…I was just hungry…that's all," she said in her defense, even though watching Naruto eat was something that just about anyone should take notes on.

"Alright, alright…I'll be good…for now," he smirked. "Well, I'm warmed up, so I'm ready when you are."

"Ok…let me stretch, and I'll be good," she answered.

After completing her stretching exercises, Hinata took her place out on the water next to Neji and they began to spar. They went at each other, back and forth, for nearly three hours until they were both exhausted.

"Well that should about do it, don't you think?" Neji puffed as he began to realize that his cousin had vastly improved her technique and had even added a little of her own flair to it.

"Yeah…I think we can stop here," she puffed back as she also realized how much Neji had improved, with the help of her fathers training he had nearly mastered the Gentle Fist technique.

The both of them, dead tired and dripping with sweat, headed back to their respective rooms for a nice hot shower and a well-earned night of sleep. Little did Hinata know she was probably going to need it, too.

Beep, beep, bee...

Hinata didn't let her alarm clock make it far this morning; she was too excited about Kurenai-sensei being back.

Her morning rituals didn't seem to take as long this morning since her usual routine of going to the flower shop was being interrupted. Of course, she knew that's where she'd end up if there was still time left after their meet, assuming that they would have practice as well.

It was 9:45 before Hinata found her way out the front gate, but luckily the training grounds were only a ten-minute walk, so she would be plenty early. It was yet another beautiful day in Konoha.

As Hinata approached her team's usual training field she could see three figures standing on the outskirts next to the woods. She could clearly see Kiba and Shino standing there talking to someone, but the person with whom they were speaking was leaning on the other side of a tree so that it blocked out Hinata's view. All she could really make out was a generic pair of ninja shoes and an elbow sticking out from behind of someone's head. Someone's blonde head…someone's orange elbow…

Oh, Kami…it can't be…it just can't be Naruto-kun.

"Hinata," Kiba called out as he looked up to see her begin to slow her pace. As he shouted, sure enough, out from behind the tree peered Naruto, who shot her one of those brilliant smiles and began to wave.

Hinata wasn't quite sure whether she should be happy about Naruto being there or terrified. Maybe Neji was right, though--maybe training with Naruto-kun would be a good thing and help her with her persistent problem of fainting in his presence.

"Good morning, everyone," she said sheepishly as she got near.

"Good morning, Hinata…umm…are you feeling better today?" Naruto asked with much concern in his voice.

"I-I'm much better this morning, Naruto-kun," she answered with a blush.

"What happened, Hinata?" Kiba interjected with curiosity.

"Nothing…I just…umm…got a little sick the other day, but I'm fine now," she said with a blush as she looked at Naruto, who was smiling nervously and scratching the back of his head.

"Ok…whatever," Kiba said with a huff when he didn't get the information that he wanted.

"Naruto, you never answered my question from before…why are you even here today?" Shino asked as he stepped into the conversation.

"Honestly, I don't know…all I do know is that I was told to meet with Kakashi-sensei here today, and that's all…if it's not for training, then I don't think that I really care what it's for," answered Naruto, who was still agitated that Ero-Sennin wasn't back yet to help with his training.

"Look, there's someone else coming over the hill," Shino pointed out when he noticed the presence of three other people topping the hill (generally they were the only team out this early in the area). If one thing was for sure, it was that Kurenai-sensei sure loved to get the physical part of the day out of the way early and end with it, too.

"Is that fuzzy-brows?" Naruto asked as he squinted to see who it was that was walking down the hill on their hands. "Yep…fuzzy-brows."

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Lee's enthusiasm for training; he even did it when he really didn't have to.

"Hey, fuzzy-brows," Naruto shouted, "where are you headed in such a hurry?"

"Right where you are standing," the upside-down Lee shouted back, "for the springtime of youth demands it."

"And Gai-sensei asked us to meet him here this morning," added Tenten who, with Neji, had finally caught up with Lee.

"Yeah…evidently we aren't all that's going to be here, too," Neji included, "because we were walking with Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji but had to hurry to catch up with Lee after he lost an 'I Spy' contest with Shikamaru."

Sure enough, as soon as Neji finished speaking, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji reached the top of the hill as well.

"Yo," came a voice from behind all the Genin.

After their startledness ceased, all of the Genin's jaws nearly dropped to the ground to see the famous copy-ninja standing behind them…two minutes early.

"Kakashi-sensei…you're…you're actually early," stammered Naruto in shock.

"Yeah…I have a meeting," he uttered as he turned another page in his ever present book.

"Well, shouldn't you be getting to it then?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"I'll get there when it starts, ok?" Kakashi muttered as he took a seat on the other side of the tree.

"Kakashi-sensei being troublesome again?" sighed Shikamaru as he, Chouji, and Ino approached the group of genins and the lone jounin.

Naruto began to grumble to himself as Shikamaru was left without an answer. Hinata couldn't help but stand back and watch Naruto sulk and ponder how he could be so cute when he did it and how it could possibly annoy anyone.

"Hey, Shikamaru," Neji said as he stepped forward, "do you have a clue why we're all here?"

"Smells like a mission," interjected Chouji, "you know…kinda like stir-fry."

"I swear, you can make an analogy with food about anything, Chouji…you need to get your head out of the oven," Ino scolded, even though she thought it was kind of cute in a Chouji sort of way.

"I think Chouji's got this one nailed," Shikamaru answered, acknowledging his husky friend's assumption. "It definitely looks like we've got a mission on our hands, and a big one, too, if we're all here. Possibly A-rank."

Gasps and the such came from the group of genin as Shikamaru revealed his theory.

"Well if you're so smart, then what's the mission going to be?" Ino said with a rather annoyed tone to her voice, probably because Shikamaru hadn't said anything about it on their way to the training area in advance.

"Maybe you should ask them," Kakashi answered as he moved himself from his position underneath the tree and pointed up into the tree itself.

"Granny Tsunade and…Gaara's sister…right?" Naruto said as he tried to hide the fact that he hadn't noticed that they were there until Kakashi had pointed them out.

"I have a name, you know, and it's…" the girl responded with a rude tone before she was interrupted. "And it's trouble…long time, no see, Temari…too long, even," smirked Shikamaru at the sight of the sand shinobi that he hadn't seen since his last visit to the hidden sand village.

"It's good to see you, too…Neckymaru," she added with a wink that made Shikamaru turn a shade of red only seen in Gaara's hair.

"Well…hmm…it's nice to see that we're all acquainted here," Tsunade interjected before the objective of the meeting was completely lost on Shikamaru's embarrassment. "But I believe that we should get to the matter at hand."

"Hai," the group acknowledged as they were eager to know the reason for their meeting.

"Okay…well, first off, you are right in your assumption that you are gathered here for a mission, and yes, it is an A-rank mission at that…as you all know, Konoha will be having a ball this year as part of the yearly festival."

"Yeah…so…we already know about that…what's this got to do with a mission?" interrupted Naruto, who swiftly took several whacks to the back of the head for doing so.

"I'm getting to that," Tsunade-sama continued. "Well, as part of this, I am going to take a trip to the Hidden Village of the Sand to extend an invitation to them to join us in the festivities…kind of like a mixer of sorts…and I'll be leaving a week before the festival is to begin, which is also a week before the ball…thanks to Temari here, and the efforts of some Sand spies in the Hidden Rock Village, it has been uncovered that an assassination attempt will be made on me on the way there…evidently they think that we uncovered something on them that they don't want the Sand to know about, and they think that I'm taking that information to them myself…well, considering the village's lack of ninja at the moment, it has been decided that all of you, along with Temari and Kakashi, will assist in trapping these assassins in our own trap."

"Do we already have a plan?" Shikamaru interjected.

"Yes, actually, and that is partly why I called you all together already…until it's time for the mission, you will be divided up into temporary teams, and each team will have a very specific task that they will have to perform if this is going to work…the teams will be as follows: Shikamaru, Naruto, Temari, Hinata and I will be the first team."

"Why do I have to be with that lazy pineapple headAND Gaara's sister…he's not going to be the team leader again, is he?" Naruto complained as Temari shot him a glare that would rival even Sakura for not using her name again. Shikamaru didn't seem to really care as he just ignored the loud-mouthed blonde. Hinata, on the other hand, couldn't have been happier about Naruto's complaint. Not that he was complaining about having to be on a team with Shikamaru and Temari, but the fact that he wasn't complaining about being on a team with her. It was almost as good as him saying that he wanted to be on the team with her, but just not quite as sweet, yet it still made her heart flutter a little.

"Baka…it's quite simple, Naruto…you will be there because of your ability to use Kage Bunshin so well, and if we are ambushed, the shear amount of numbers you can create will be a great help...Shikamaru and his Shadow Imitation will be useful in helping detain anyone that gets close enough in trying to assassinate me, and maybe we'll be able to get more information out of them later...Temari will be acting as both a diplomat of the Sand and added protection, seeing how her fan can deflect kunai and other projectiles as both an attack and defense...lastly, Hinata will be there because of her excellent control of the Byakugan, and she will allow us to detect the enemy before they strike…is that enough, or should I go on with the other teams?"

"It's okay," Naruto said shortly in a huff.

"Alright, then…well, the other two teams will consist of Neji, Ino, Shino, Chouji and Tenten, and the last team will be made up of Kakashi, Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, and Sakura…and yes, I do know that she isn't here, Naruto, but she will be here to train with you tomorrow," scowled Tsunade at Naruto before he had the chance to ask the question she knew was coming. "Are there any 'good' questions?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," began Lee as he broke the silence amongst them. "When will we begin our training?"

"Tomorrow…right now, I'm detained, and Sakura won't be able to join you until tomorrow anyway, so I suggest that you use this time to get to know your teammates better…get to know one another better because you're going to be spending a LOT of quality time together…this will especially help those of you that haven't teamed up before, so I would use the rest of the day for this…we'll meet back here tomorrow at 10…if there aren't any more questions, you're all dismissed." And with that, all of the respective "teams" went on their way to learn of their teammates. Hinata wasn't sure if she was hearing right though. Could Tsunade-sama have just said what she thought she had?

Did Tsunade-sama just order me to spend more time with…Naruto-kun?…well, Shikamaru and Temari are going to be here, too…maybe it won't be so bad.

While watching her newly-formed teams walk away, Tsunade noticed a familiar presence arrive behind her as she took her seat.

"Tsunade-sama…" said the voice from behind her.

"Yes, Shizune?"

"Why do you have to be so meddlesome, especially in affairs such as this?"

"Well, sometimes they just need a nudge...this couldn't hurt…besides, they're all capable of the mission, and this will be a good evaluation."

"I still think you're trying to play matchmaker."

"Maybe."

Rasengan2theface: Well, that took long enough to write…I swear that sleep does horrible things to my writing abilities…I was on such a roll with this, and then the clock struck two...I had class the next day, and it just got put on hold until now…well, I'll see if I can't be better about getting chapters out sooner because I've finally gotten my schedule worked out to where I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off, and you know what that means…more time for me to write…that's partly why I finally got this one done…well, it's about that magical time of sleepytown, so I'm off…R&R because those reviews in my inbox are what inspire me to write, and the more of them I have, the more inclined I am to put another chapter out…well, I'm out…later daze.