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!

The Moment of True Realization

Beep beep SMACK

Hinata wasn't about to waste any time this morning with her usual routine. Today was the day of possibly the most dangerous and important mission she has ever been on, yet she can't find it in herself to dread it. Not when she knows that Naruto will be there, and everything seems to always go just fine when they're together, unless she faints, of course. But that had even proven to be less and less likely of an occurrence as of late. Hinata didn't understand it, but today also just felt different, a lot like the day of the Chunnin exams, in fact. She knew it was a big day just like that day, but something still felt different, something was off in some way. Maybe it was just pre-mission jitters, or maybe it was the night before. That had to be it; nothing else made any real sense.

Neji was already up when Hinata made it to the kitchen; he had even already made some breakfast for the two of them.

"You ready for today?" Neji forced though a mouthful of eggs.

"Hai," she replied, bewildered at the fact that she wouldn't have to fix breakfast this morning, making the day seem even stranger than before. "And arigato, Neji-kun. You didn't have to fix anything for me as well."

"Don't worry about it. I figured that you make breakfast for us just about every day and that for once you shouldn't have to worry about, especially today," Neji seemed to drag out the last words that exited his mouth, like there was something on his mind. "I just hope that it's not so bad that it kills you. I'm afraid I'm not the greatest cook in the world. I think I about burned the water I was boiling for the oatmeal this morning."

Although he didn't show it often, Neji always knew how to lighten the mood, whether it was on purpose or not, his serous demeanor couldn't hold out forever, and it was moments like this that Hinata really saw Neji as more of a brother than a cousin.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine, Neji-kun." As a matter of fact, Hinata couldn't have been more right. If there ever was a thing that Neji was going to be modest about it was his cooking; it didn't hurt that he knew most of Hinata's favorite breakfast dishes, but they seemed especially good when Neji fixed them: egg, ham, cheese and onion omelet; peach and banana oatmeal; hash browns with ketchup that made a smiley face that slightly resembled a certain blonde-haired boy; and a glass of strawberry milk. Hinata made short work of her breakfast, except for the hash browns that she found a little hard to eat, but they soon met their demise as well.

"That was excellent, Neji-kun. Arigato."

"It was just breakfast--don't worry about it. Oh yeah, do you have everything ready for today?"

Hinata answered him with a nod as she headed back in the direction of her room. "I'm going to go grab everything and double check just to make sure I've got it all packed."

"Alright, I'm ready when you are."

As Hinata headed back towards her room, she went though her mental checklist of everything she might need: shuriken, kunai, explosive tags, sutra seals, food, water, medical supplies and the like. She had left them all out on her desk the night before just so she could make sure that she had it all and sure enough it was all there, maybe a little more than she needed, but it never hurt to be over prepared. As soon as she finished her final check off, she put everything into its proper place and left to tell Neji that she was ready to leave. Neji was already at the front gate waiting on her.

"Come on, you've checked your pack about fifty times already. I doubt any of it is missing." Neji always seemed to get very serious on the days of missions, and today didn't seem to be any different. At least that was one thing that didn't feel strange about today.

"Gomen, Neji-kun, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

"I was just kidding, Hinata. Can't a man tell a joke around here?"

Today was going to be a strange day.

It wasn't long before Neji and Hinata found their way down to the main gate into Konoha and the beginnings of their teams. Shikamaru and Temari were already there, as were Shino, Ino, Sakura, and Kiba and Akamaru.

"I figured more people would be here with fifteen minutes left till our meeting time. I guess they'll get here when they get here," Neji grumbled, not seeing Tenten there bringing a little disappointment to his voice.

"Don't worry, Neji-kun. She'll get here soon enough," Hinata managed to force though a giggle as Neji took a page from her book and turned a light shade of red.

"Am I that transparent?" Neji's blush was beginning to take even more control over his face now.

"Just a little. I'm sure she'll be here before you know it, though."

"Who'll be here before you know it?" came a voice from behind them, a voice that was unmistakably Tenten's.

"N-Nobody, just Tsunade-sama. I was surprised that she wasn't here yet is all."

"Riiiight. Well I see that almost all of our team is here already. Chouji should be here in a minute or two. I saw him grabbing some last minute rations as I came though town… a lot of last minute rations."

"Well I guess you two should get with your team. I'm going to go and wait on Naruto-kun and Tsunade-sama with Shikamaru-kun and Temari-chan."

"Oh yeah, speaking of seeing people, I saw Naruto, too. He was buying up ramen like it was going out of style or something," Tenten added before she and Neji started to head for her team.

"I think I can answer why that's happening," came a response from the now familiar voice of Temari. "One day while we were having one of our little bonding sessions, if you can even call it that, Naruto asked me if I liked ramen, since we were looking for stuff that we shared in common. Well, with as straight of a face as I could manage I said, "Ramen? What's ramen?" I swear I thought he was going to have an aneurism right then and there. He just couldn't handle the thought that there was somebody that hadn't heard of ramen before and insisted that Shingi-sensei take us to eat ramen at least once a day so that I might be able to enjoy the glorious delicacy to its fullest before I had to return to the poor, deprived Hidden Village of the Sand that had yet to receive the divine meal of noodles and broth. I never thought that he would take it to heart like this, though. I guess I'll just have to tell him when we get there that it is all thanks to him that I sent a message home asking that they build several ramen stands and shops dedicated to ramen, thus saving the Sand from the travesty of never enjoying a bowl of ramen."

"And this is why I keep you around," smirked Shikamaru. "Where one brilliant mind is good, a brilliant one and a sharp and twisted one put together are even better."

"What do you mean by keep me around? Who's the one that's always doing all the visiting to who's village? This is the first time I've been in a good long while, thank you." Temari in fact does have a sharp wit with a little bit of a twisted side. That's probably why she and Shikamaru click so well. They keep each other on their toes, always playing their mind games with one another. It's truly amazing that they haven't killed each other yet.

After the group shared their laugh and Shikamaru and Temari bickered a bit, Hinata looked back and noticed two forms breaking the top of the hill: Naruto and Chouji, both bearing armfuls of ramen bowls.

"Hiiii, Hinata-chaaaan," Naruto yelled when he saw Hinata looking back in his direction, nearly dropping all the ramen in his arms as he tried to wave.

"Not you, too, Chouji," Shikamaru forced though a laugh.

"I couldn't help myself. Naruto told me that Temari said that there weren't any ramen shops in the Hidden Village of the Sand, and I couldn't stand the thought of not having any while I was away," Chouji mumbled, imagining not having access to one of his favorite foods for such a long period of time.

"I've got something to tell you, but it'll have to wait until later. Don't let me forget, Chouji; it'll make you laugh," Shikamaru promised, sorry that his best friend had gotten caught up in this prank on Naruto.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun. Do you want me to take some of that for you so you can put it in your pack?" Hinata asked as the orange-clad ninja found his way to where she was standing, arms overflowing with ramen.

"Sanku, Hinata-chan. Some of it's for you, actually; I remembered that you like miso, so I grabbed a few extra. After I remembered that Gaara's sister said that there wasn't any ramen in the Sand's village, I didn't want you to go without it either."

"A-Arigato, Naruto-kun. You shouldn't have. Really." Hinata's face began to flow crimson once again. She had never expected Naruto to go out of his way to bring her something that they both enjoyed so much.

"That's so sweet. Why don't you ever do that for me, Shikamaru-kun?" Temari sneered.

"Because the results would be the same either way, regardless of whether I did or not. Even if I attempted such a feat, I would be struck either way: one because I shouldn't have and the other because I didn't, as we just came near to witnessing. It's just easier to do the latter."

"You're just lazy."

"You just expect a lot."

"Do those two ever stop?" Naruto asked, nudging Hinata as she continued to push ramen bowls into what little room her pack had left.

"Let's hope so, Naruto-kun."

Shikamaru and Temari eventually ended their bickering with a lump in the shape of a folded up fan forming on the back of Shikamaru's head. Eventually everyone arrived without trouble--everyone but Tsunade. It was already two minutes till, and the Hokage had yet to make an appearance.

"Well it's nice to see that everyone is on time."

"Tree," they all said in unison. One of these days one of them was going to cut that blasted tree down so no one could hide in it ever again. There always seemed to be a tree everywhere that was just perfect for hiding in, and Tsunade or someone always seemed to find it funny to hide in it until it was just about time to finally meet. One day these trees would meet their doom.

"I take it that everyone has been working hard and knows their roles. Alright then, Neji, your team will head out first. There will be about a two-minute distance between us, and remember, your job is to find where their ambush point is first and report it back to us. Don't engage unless they attack you first, and if they outnumber you, then retreat back to our position. Don't let your pride get you killed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Neji answered, serious as ever.

"Okay. Now go, and stay out of sight." And with that Neji's team was out of sight.

"Now, Kakashi. You understand that your team is here for back-up and to pick up any strays that evade detection before they can flank us without notice."

"We've got it covered, Tsunade-sama. Lee has even volunteered to be our runner just in case, seeing how without his leg weights he's the fastest of us all." Kakashi was just as serious as Neji was. It was almost unnerving seeing Kakashi so straight-faced over a mission.

"Very good then. Well, I guess we should be off. Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Temari… let's go. Remember, Kakashi, two minutes."

With those final words, the Hokage and her team headed towards the Sand Village and their impending ambush that they knew absolutely nothing about, except that it was going to happen today, somewhere between Konoha and the Sand Village, by the Hidden Village of the Stone. Okay, maybe they knew more than they should.

It wasn't but about five minutes before Naruto began nagging Tsunade with questions, a necessary evil that she would have to deal with in order to keep their cover from being a liability.

"Granny Tsunade, how far off is the Sand Village anyway?" Naruto's questions were sure to continue, but Tsunade figured it would be best to humor her sometimes favorite Genin for a while.

"It's actually quite close. Once we get to the border, it's about two miles away, just far enough off that you can't see it from the border," Tsunade answered, hoping that her answer would quell any further desire for a more precise answer.

"Oh…okay," was all that Naruto came up with for a retort. Tsunade was more than shocked when a barrage of questions didn't follow the first and that her answer had sufficed. Then again, she wasn't about to ask him if he was feeling alright because she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Naruto soon found himself walking alongside Hinata once again, struggling with finding words to break the silence between them. Hinata, on the other hand, was merely content with his presence.

"Hinata, this morning when I woke up, I was on the couch and it was completely empty of ramen cups, and I was covered up with a blanket and had a pillow. My alarm clock was even set and across the room so I'd have to get up to turn it off. Was all that you? Did you do all that for me?"

Hinata had never heard that kind of tone come out of Naruto. There was such warmth and something else she couldn't put her finger on. Something she had never heard in someone's voice before.

"Yes, you seemed tired, and I didn't want to wake you, so I made sure you were comfortable and that you were going to wake up in time to get ready this morning…" Hinata paused, thinking about what else she had done before she left, crimson filling her cheeks, "and then I left. Why do you bring it up, Naruto-kun?"

"I guess I just wanted to say thank you. Most people would have left me to sleep on the roof and just hoped that I didn't fall off during the night. So, yeah, thank you, Hinata-chan. You really are going to make a good wife and mother some day." Naruto took a moment to let the last part sink in. He himself wasn't sure he had said what he said until it was already out of his mouth. There was no escaping it now; thankfully it had caught Hinata as off guard as it had Naruto, and she was enveloped in a deep scarlet that seemed to cover every inch of her body.

"Arigato, Naruto-kun. I'm not quite sure what to say. No one has ever complimented me like that before." Hinata's entire body was burning now with a shade of red so dark that it almost appeared to be painful; to the untrained eye, it would appear that she had received a sunburn over her entire body and shouldn't be able to move without crying out in pain.

"Say that you'll make me a promise," Naruto asked almost as soon as the words had left her mouth.

"A promise? W-what kind of promise?" Hinata could only imagine what Naruto wanted her to promise. Surely it couldn't be anything that she truly wanted it to be. Then again, today had been quite a strange day already. Who's to say that it couldn't happen?

"I know it's kinda stupid since we're already going to the ball together and all, but…" Naruto paused, almost as if he was unsure of the words he was looking for.

But…but what? Could he be asking me what I've always dreamed of hearing? Could it finally be that?

"…but I was wondering. Hinata, will you promise me the first dance of the night? I want to make sure that everyone knows who is there with the most beautiful girl at the ball, and I know everyone will see the first dance. I was just hoping that, even though we're already going together, you'd promise that first dance to me, no matter what."

"O-Of course I will, Naruto-kun. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather share it with than you." Hinata had almost forgotten how unsure of himself Naruto could be. He was always "dead last" in everything and was always reminded of it. It had always stuck with him, even to this very day it seemed. Although he didn't know it, Naruto was very wrong in his assumption of always being "dead last." Hinata had never had the courage to tell him, but when it came to her, he was never dead last.

They both spent quite some time quiet after that, almost in a blanket of comfort just from the other's words. It wasn't until Temari pulled Hinata off to the side and Shikamaru, with a bit less fervor, did the same with Naruto did they speak again and only then to talk about things other than each other.

Tsunade didn't seem to talk too much. She seemed rather content, walking alone and being allowed to drift off into her own thoughts, mostly about the ambush that was to come, but ever so often, her mind drifted to the events that she had helped set into motion regarding the two Genin that were walking slightly behind her. Maybe she should have been a professional matchmaker instead of Hokage.

Several hours passed by as this continued, everything seemed peaceful and quiet, just like a normal day, but the farther the five of them traveled, the quieter and more serious they became.

"Granny Tsunade, how much farther until we get there?" Naruto was becoming impatient and was starting to try Tsunade's nerves by asking this same question time and time again, now that they were actually close.

"For the last time, Naruto, we're close. If you want me to be more exact, then we're about ten minutes from the border of our two countries."

"Geez, that's all I wanted to know; you don't have to get so bent out of shape," Naruto said mockingly, knowing he was pushing all the wrong buttons in just the right ways.

Suddenly, before Tsunade had a chance to bash the blonde in the head, Shino appeared before them.

"Tsunade-sama, we've spotted them." Shino seemed especially cold and slightly out of breath.

"Have you made any contact with them, or is your position still secret?" the once enraged Tsunade asked, mimicking Shino's serious demeanor.

"As far as we can tell, they don't know we're there yet. How do you want us to proceed?"

"Hold your position, but keep your distance; they may chicken out, and we don't want to attack them unprovoked. That would give them a lot of ammunition against us if we just up and attacked one of their 'recon parties.' Where exactly are they, Shino?"

"Right now, they're camping out in the trees right at the border, probably because seeing the Sand Country would bring a sense of ease, and that would probably be the best place for you to let your guard down. Oh, there are also only eight of them; I guess they figured that they could surprise and eliminate the guards quickly and leave it to be just the eight of them against you."

"Very good, Shino. Go now. We don't want to keep them waiting much longer." Shino was gone before Tsunade could finish her sentence. "Is everyone ready? Good. Now, Naruto, you know what to do."

"It's already done, Tsunade-sama."

"We're to watch and observe. We're only to engage them if they engage any of us first."

"Ino, Chouji, Tenten… did you guys hear that?" Neji whispered, never taking his eyes off of the eight Rock ninja before him.

"Hai," came three whispered voices from behind him.

"Now we wait."

"Genzento, Genzento. They're here, brother."

"So they are, little brother; let's make the work on the guards quick, Tamaishi. I want to enjoy the Hokage. The rest of you stay here; we'll handle the guards quickly."

Without a moment's hesitation, the two brothers tore out of the trees to assail their prey, kunai and shuriken drawn. They released them at their targets once they reached the peak in their jump. Evidently, they had completely caught the party off guard because the first one struck with a kunai never even looked up--she just fell into a lump on the ground, her dark hair stained with blood. The next was lucky enough to catch a shuriken with his forehead protector before the blow became fatal; he even blocked a couple of kunai before others caught him in the heart, causing him to collapse next to the ebony-haired kunoichi that had already fallen before him. The other two guards met similar fates--the other male among them sacrificed himself to save the other, taking several kunai and shuriken in the back, but the lone Chunnin's death was in vain as a second barrage of cold metal dispatched the Sand ninja before she could draw her weapon. All that was left was the Hokage now, stunned by the quick deaths of her guards.

"What's wrong, Hokage, surprised that your pupils were killed so easily? I've always thought that Leaf ninja were overrated, haven't I, Tamaishi?" Genzento pronounced.

There was no answer from Tamaishi, though, only a cold silence.

"Tamaishi, didn't anybody teach you to speak when spoken t…" Genzento's words couldn't make it any further when he turned around to see his brother standing there, standing on one foot with his arms up in the air and his fingers touching the top of his head. "Tamaishi, have you gone mad, little brother?"

The Hokage behind him soon began laughing, almost as if she couldn't contain herself.

"What's so funny? What could you have to laugh about? All your pupils are dead, aren't they?"

"What's so funny is that," she paused for a moment, almost as if she was savoring the moment, "you haven't killed anyone; as a matter of fact, you can't even kill me."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, the shinobi that lay around her disappeared out of existence into puffs of smoke.

"Better luck next time." Those were the last words he heard out of her mouth before she too disappeared. Through the puff of smoke that the Hokage once inhabited flew a kunai that Genzento deflected at the very last second

"You're going to be a fun one to fight; I'll remember the dumb Rock ninja that killed four of my pupils Kage Bunshin and Henge no Jutsu clones."

"It's a shame I won't be the one to fight you then. Kanpai, get over here!" Genzento called out, looking over his shoulder and into the trees.

Tearing though the trees and crashing into the ground came a mountain of a man. His head shaven bald, he resembled something very similar to an overgrown child.

"Meet Zanpai sono Kyojin, or Zanpai the Giant. He will be your doom."

"Not if I give him his bottle," Tsunade smirked, assured that the behemoth wasn't a match for her.

"Zanpai, she's making fun of you. Kill her."

The towering giant soon found life spring into him at Genzento's words, as he flung himself into the air and, with both fists, came crashing down upon where Tsunade was standing. Tsunade had plans other than being crushed by an ogre. She quickly side-stepped to the right and swung to hit Zanpai. But when Tsunade came in contact with him, he did not move; her hand merely pushed into his humongous body.

"Haha, you tickle Zanpai. Now you go squish." He laughed as he took another double-fisted swing at the Hokage. Swiftly, she swung her leg into the back of his knee, buckling it for a moment and allowing her to use the momentum to swing out of the way.

"Naruto," Tsunade shouted, "you and Hinata take care of Genzento here. I think Temari and Shikamaru already have the other one under control. I'll see what I can do against this big one here." Naruto and Hinata quickly appeared next to her, ready to engage their foe.

"He looks troublesome," shouted a voice from over their shoulder. Suddenly, Tamaishi left his strange position and began strolling towards his brother with a grin on his face, and Tsunade placed an arm in front of Naruto, who was about to charge in.

"He sure does; maybe his little brother could help and get rid of Genzento so you all could help with the big one sooner." Tsunade smirked, realizing that the younger brother was merely a pebble that was waiting to be thrown at a second's notice.

"Little brother, what are they talking about?" Genzento's question was barely answered before Tamaishi began swinging at him with a kunai. The intent to kill him was obviously there, and all Genzento could do was dodge his brother's attacks. "I'm sorry, little brother, but I have to do this." With those words, Genzento swung a leg at his brother and connected, sending him flying into a tree.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I held him until the last second; if I hadn't let go, it might have killed me," called out the voice of Shikamaru from the woods behind her, Naruto and Hinata.

"That's alright; you and Temari can take care of him another way."

In the meantime, Zanpai had found his feet once again and recovered from Tsunade's strike to the back of his knee.

"You hurt Zanpai. Zanpai crush!" he roared, not sounding human at all as he swung another earth-shattering blow at Tsunade.

"You have your assignments. Now, go!" Tsunade shouted as she leapt out of the way of the giant's huge hands.

Naruto and Hinata both did the same as well, leaping to the left towards their opponent.

Seizing the opportunity, Genzento and Tamaishi reconciled and were back on their feet.

"Which of you is the Nara?" Tamaishi demanded, knowing that it was a Nara that had made a fool of him and forced his brother to strike him.

"I am. What of it?" Shikamaru announced, knowing that his soon to be opponent was less than bright.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Tamaishi charged at Shikamaru, kunai still in hand. Shikamaru stood there, calmly smirking, making Tamaishi even angrier. Shikamaru still just stood there, now lifting his head up to gaze at the clouds. "How troublesome."

Tamaishi got within an arm's length of killing Shikamaru before he found himself flying though the air from a blow to the face, a blow to the face cause by something long, flat and metal.

"I thought you were going to let me die for a second," Shikamaru jeered. "You had me reconsidering our relationship together."

"Now why would I do that? I wouldn't have anybody to torment after I let that happen," Temari shot back.

"You think if we fight him seriously he'll fight back properly?" quipped Shikamaru.

"Let's find out," returned Temari.

Naruto and Hinata, on the other hand, weren't having as easy of a time with their quarry. As they both attacked simultaneously, he proved to be much more calm and resourceful than his younger brother. After several exchanges, in which none of the parties had landed a blow, Genzento finally found an opening in one of Naruto's attacks.

"Got ya!" Genzento landed an elbow right into Naruto's stomach, sending him flying into Hinata, who was getting into position for another attack.

"Kuso, I can't hit him at all," Naruto cursed, angry that all his efforts hadn't even allowed him to land a single punch the entire fight. "I guess when in doubt, out number em. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Suddenly, five more Narutos appeared out of nowhere.

"Two can play at that game, brat. Yurasu Fukuhon no Jutsu." As soon as the words finished exiting Genzento's mouth, he plunged both of his fists into the ground, and as he pulled them out, five stone copies of him appeared as well.

"Nice trick, but I can still tell which one is the real one. He'll crumble just like these fakes."

All the copies of Naruto rushed in to attack the stone Genzentos, all striking their targets but all disappearing in a puff of smoke as they struck.

"I guess I was the smarter one for going with the hard copy, now wasn't I?" Genzento bragged, hoping to egg on the blonde into making another foolish attack.

"Naruto-kun, let me take the clones. I think I can break them with my Shugo Hakke. You attack the real one; I can handle the rest." Naruto had never heard Hinata speak with such certainty, but if she was sure, then he wasn't about to stop her.

"Okay, but be careful," Naruto said, hoping that Hinata would be able to handle a five-on-one fight, even if they were just blockheads.

Naruto then charged though the stone replicates of Genzento and headed for the real deal. Try as they did, none of them were fast enough to catch Naruto before he found a way past them. The copies then, looking for a more stationary target, turned their attention to Hinata.

"Now it's just you and me, bastard," Naruto shouted as he used Kage Bunshin once again and struck Genzento with each copy.

"You two are really starting to piss me off. I think I'll kill one of you now and enjoy myself with the other." Genzento then sprang forward and, with a bit of luck, found the real Naruto among the copies and drove his knee into his chest, sending him flying back in the direction he had come from. Hinata was already in her newly-learned stance, cutting the stone reproductions into pieces as they came closer and closer. Genzento used this moment to move into a tree behind the ebony-haired kunoichi, a place that he had learned from previous experiences fighting Hyuugas, were their blind spot. Genzento then activated a new technique, shouting "Hisan Tamajari Tanken no Jutsu (Flying Daggers of Gravel)!"

And as if they had manifested out of nothing, stone kunai began flying at the Hyuuga heiress in the one place she could not see.

Naruto had just found his feet again when Genzento had found his way into the tree. When Naruto heard him shout the name of his jutsu, he realized that he was no longer the target; Hinata was, and she didn't know it. As quickly as he could, Naruto reacted. He didn't have time for anything else and he ran to get in between Hinata and Genzento's jutsu as quickly as possible. Time seemed to slow down as Naruto ran, something he wasn't ungrateful for at the moment. He counted nine stone kunai; if he could just get there, he could probably deflect all of them. He threw two shuriken and hit two of the kunai. Seven left. Naruto drew three of his own kunai out of his pouch and threw one. He hit one, and it bounced into another. Two more down and five to go. With the remaining kunai in hand, Naruto slid in between them and Hinata; he swung and hit one, and it crumbled into a cloud of dust. He swung at another, and it did the same. He swung again, another cloud of dust. It was beginning to get thick, and his vision was blurred. He struck for where he thought the next one was going to be as the cloud of dust grew bigger. Hinata had finally finished off all of the stone copies and turned to go help Naruto. Still having chakra formed in her hand, she found Naruto behind her. As she turned, she shrunk the chakra in her hand as quickly as possible and managed to only cut the sleeve of Naruto's jacket. This was enough to distract Naruto, though, and he lost sight of where he thought the last kunai was coming. Blindly, he swung and struck nothing but air as he felt the kunai fly beneath his arm. Hinata noticed the kunai that flew beneath Naruto's arm and struck at it with some quickly formed chakra, striking it at the hilt. The kunai didn't stop; Hinata had only cut the brittle handle off and not stopped the kunai itself. By now it was too late and all either of them could do was watch as the handleless kunai drove itself into Hinata's abdomen. Hinata wretched over in pain as the kunai dug into her. Suddenly then, time restored itself.

"Hinata," Naruto shouted, in shock that the kunai's handle hadn't taken the rest with it.

"I-It's okay, Naru…Naruto-kun. I'm fine," she lied. It was obvious that she was in pain; anyone would be.

Naruto reached down to pull the kunai head out, but as soon as he touched it, it dissolved.

"Lay still. I'll get help, and you'll be just fine, okay…okay," he begged her, almost as if he was trying to will her into being okay.

"Okay, Na…" She grabbed her side in pain. "Naruto-kun."

Naruto's attention then turned to the ninja crouched in the tree, laughing to himself.

"What's wrong Na-Na-Naruto-kun? Did I just kill your girlfriend?"

Naruto didn't hear anything else Genzento said after that. At the sound of the word "kill," Naruto's eyes lit red with rage. The Kyuubi was taking over. It was over for Genzento. With a beastly snarl, Naruto leapt from Hinata's side to the tree that Genzento was residing in. In one swing, he ripped off the branch the Rock ninja was perched on, thus starting his descent. Naruto found the ground before Genzento did and pushed off of it as soon as he did. At full force, Naruto thrust his fist into Genzento's stomach, forcing him to cough up blood. Keeping his momentum, Naruto thrust a foot and then another fist and then the other foot into Genzento, never relenting until he could barely push himself any farther. At his peak, Naruto pushed himself above Genzento and flipped himself in midair, driving his foot into his face. Naruto wasn't done with him yet. Naruto lastly formed a clone and then his Rasengan and caught Genzento in the chest with it, sending him spiraling into the ground with a hole where his heart would be. When Naruto hit the ground, he shouted "Kyuubi Renden" and looked to his fallen foe. Satisfied, he began looking for more prey, but his eyes didn't land on the enemy. Instead, he found Hinata, laying on the ground. Suddenly, Naruto returned to himself.

"Hinata!" he cried out when he noticed she wasn't moving.

"I'm still here, Naruto-kun. I promise." She looked up as Naruto took her head into his arms and propped her up. "But you're bleeding, Naruto-kun; you should go see Tsunade-sama or Sakura-chan."

Tears began streaming from Naruto's cerulean eyes and down his cheeks. "For once," he snuffed, "I wish you'd think about yourself and not me, Hinata-chan."

Naruto was bleeding; he had a cut behind his forehead protector from some stone shards that had found their way behind it. He also was bleeding at the shoulder from where Hinata had nicked him with her chakra. At first, he didn't think it was anything, but the cut was so clean, he didn't even notice it until now. And his knee was bleeding from when he hit the ground after his Kyuubi Renden; he had even torn off the bottom half of his pants leg when he hit the ground. But no amount of pain was going to keep Naruto from finding Tsunade or Sakura right now. He knew if he didn't something soon, something worse than his bodily injuries would occur. Naruto carefully pulled Hinata into his arms and lifted her off of the ground. He didn't want to cause her any more pain than she already was in.

"Tsunade-sama! Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out, tears still flowing down his face. "Tsunade-sama! Sakura-chan! Please!"

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun," she assured him, running a blood stained finger across his cheek to brush away a tear.

Through the dust that had been stirred from his final attack on Genzento, Naruto could finally see Tsunade, alive and well, standing before the Goliath she had slain. Brushing some blood from her lip, she looked back and noticed Naruto emerging though the dust; relieved that he had emerged victorious, she smiled until she saw that he was carrying Hinata in his arms. Immediately, she rushed over to see what she could do.

"Put her down, Naruto, and let me see her wound." He did as he was told, still fighting back the tears. The wound was deep, and she was bleeding profusely. "What happened? Was it a kunai or a shuriken that caused this?"

"He…he used a jutsu to make kunai out of stone. I-I stopped eight of them, but the ninth got by. She tried to stop it with her Shugo Hakke thingy, but it only cut the handle off. Then it hit her, and she collapsed. I t-tried to take it out, but it disintegrated before I could lay more than a finger on it. I-I messed up, G-Granny Tsunade." Naruto couldn't hold back his tears anymore; Tsunade had never seen him look so ragged and broken up before.

"She'll be fine, Naruto. It's not your fault; these things happen. Shhh, shhh, shhh. It'll be alright." No matter what she did, however, she couldn't find the words that would comfort Naruto now. At least I hope she'll be fine.Iif there was lead mixed into that kunai, we could have a problem. "Temari!" Tsunade shouted when she noticed that she and Shikamaru had just ended their fight with their opponent. "Use the emergency signal flare for medical ninja and some back up, and make it quick."

Temari's gaze was now fixed on the young Hyuuga that was lying on the ground before her. She did not move.

"TEMARI! Now would be a good time!"

"H-Hai." Temari rushed off to find the highest tree nearest the border she could find; she could see that the young kunoichi that she had bonded with over their training needed as much time as she could give her. Even from a distance, she could tell that her wound was deep and would require some attention soon.

"Shikamaru, find Lee and have him meet up with us and bring the emergency unit here as quickly as possible. And tell him that we need countermeasures for lead poisoning and no leg weights."

Shikamaru could sense the urgency in her voice with the final part of her order; if Lee needed to be that fast, then there was a reason and a damn good one at that.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru wasn't about to be lazy about this; he had never lost a teammate on a mission before, and today wasn't going to be any different.

Less than a minute passed before Tsunade saw both the flare and a flash of green sprint by, stirring up dust as it passed.

"You'd better be as fast as advertised, Lee, or she might not make it," Tsunade quietly said to the blur passing by.

Naruto's tears had lessened by now, not because there was no long a reason to cry. He simply didn't have anymore tears left to cry. All of the tears he had had already left their stains, streaming down his cheeks and many finding their way to Hinata's bloodstained hands that were still clutching her wound.

In the meantime, Tsunade had been going through all of her options. She knew she didn't have near the proper equipment, but she had to try something. She had to try and neutralize the lead without the aid of any scrolls, and she was going to need a lot of extra chakra.

"Naruto, I know you're upset, but I need your help." Naruto continued to sob, even though his tears had dried up. "And if you want to even have a chance at saving her, I need you to concentrate, okay?"

Naruto nodded his head that he understood and took a little more control over his emotions.

"Alright, now what I'm going to do is try to neutralize as much of the lead as I possibly can and stop the bleeding. I need you to gather as much chakra as you can into your hands, place them over mine, and push that chakra into my hands. Do you understand?" Naruto's head nodded again. "Okay, you have to concentrate and make sure it's a steady stream; if it's not, then it could do more damage than there's already been done."

With that said, Tsunade placed both of her hands over Hinata's wound, and Naruto placed both of his hands over Tsunade's.

"Hinata, this is going to hurt a little. It shouldn't be much more than a little discomfort, but it will put some strain on you," Tsunade reassured the girl as she removed her hands from the wound. "Okay, now when you see my hands begin to glow green, start pushing your chakra into mine, Naruto."

Tsunade then began pushing as much chakra as she could into her hands and began trying to find the poisonous mineral in the young girl's bloodstream. As Naruto noticed that Tsunade's hands had begun to glow green, he began forming chakra into his hands, swirling blue and red chakra that slowly pushed into Tsunade's. As Naruto's chakra began to mix and meld with Tsunade's, she noticed that the power increase was tremendous--maybe risking using the Kyuubi's chakra that Naruto had channeled was a mistake. This much strength might kill the lilac-eyed kunoichi. Hinata began to moan and writhe as the amount of chakra entering her body increased; clearly, discomfort was turning into agony. Tsunade's concentration strengthened. The lead was proving hard to find and just as hard to neutralize without the proper equipment. The strain it was putting on her body was intense, and she could only imagine what Hinata must be going though.

Hinata's world was growing darker. The pain she was in was immense, and she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything. The world was a blur at this point, sounds were like echoes, and people and objects were just blurs of color. Suddenly, she could hear loud beatings on the ground--probably footsteps--but it was hard to tell. The voice she heard didn't sound like anyone she had ever heard before. All she could see now was two blue orbs; everything else was a blur and nothing more. Two blue orbs and golden locks as bright as the sun that she knew belonged to Naruto, but they were fading…

…into darkness.

Rasengan2theface: I bled, I wept, I burned, I lived for this chapter. By far, this is the longest and hardest chapter I have had to write yet. I hope it was worth the wait, considering it's been a while since I've updated. That's what demanding professors and Spring Break without an internet connection do to a man. But that very Spring Break brought about this, so I suppose it wasn't all that bad. I hope it wasn't confusing; it may jump around a bit, but it fits how fast things are happening. Well, it's late, and this is my last night in a comfortable bed, so I'm off to Neverland to dream of what's to come, even though I've already thought it up and declared it brilliant.