Naruto, Hinata and Sakura headed towards the Hokage monument. There they saw eight people talking amongst themselves. The Rookie 9 as they had once been called had grown up. Inuzuka Kiba was chatting with Yamanaka Ino. Both had grown considerably since Naruto had last seen them, Kiba was taller, and leaner. His nin-dog Akamaru had grown as well. He was too large to fit into Kiba's coat now, and was running about chasing butterflies. Ino had re-grown her hair, it has shorter than before she cut it, and was pulled into a pig-tail, like before. Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Neji were currently engaged in their favorite pastime, not talking. Shino had grown taller, and now wore a coat with a hood over his hair and a pair of black pants. He still sported is trademark sunglasses, hiding his eyes. Hyuuga Neji was the only Jounin among the group. It was a newly acquired rank, and as such he was still doing missions with his former gennin team. He was taller, and his dark hair had grown even longer. He looked every bit like his father and unless one knew that Hyuuga Hizashi was dead, they easily would have mistaken his son for the father. Nara Shikamaru and his best friend Akimichi Choji were seated under a tree, Shikamaru was engrossed in cloud gazing, and Choji was inhaling his bag of chips with the same vigor that Naruto had remembered. Choji had grown taller, and had gained weight too, but that was to be expected in the Akimichi clan. Shikamaru looked the same as always, but he was starting to grow a goatee.
As the Trio of new comers arrived, Sakura went off to talk with Rock Lee. Lee hadn't changed one bit, at least on the outside. He still wore the green spandex suit and orange leg warmers. He still had the same bowl hair cut and same disturbingly thick eyebrows.
"Lee-san and Sakura-san started dating about a year ago." Hinata said when she saw the puzzled look Naruto had.
"Oh, well it's nice to see that she has gotten over Sasuke." He replied.
Ten Ten came over and started talking to Sakura as Hinata and Naruto made their way towards the others. When the remaining shinobi noticed Naruto, all conversation stopped immediately.
"N-naruto?" Asked Kiba.
"Hey Kiba, yeah I'm back. I thought it'd be nice to meet everyone again." Naruto replied.
As Naruto was bombarded with questions about his absence, Hyuuga Hiashi was about to snap. Upon learning that the council had lied to him for 15 years about his daughters seal, he couldn't help but wonder why? Why would the council lie to him about his daughter's strength? Then it hit him. The council had seen exactly what he had seen, enormous potential and strength. The council was afraid of what Hinata would be able to do, even without the Nibi's chakra. They were trying to turn him against his daughter. They new that they could never hope to control her if she had access to the chakra of the two tailed demon. As he headed back to the Hyuuga complex, he grew more and more incensed. He was going to fix the wrongs that had been committed against his daughter for the past 15 years of her life.
The moon began to creep higher in the sky as the Rookie 9 were telling Naruto of all the happenings that he had missed in his three years away. Around nine o'clock the group began to disband and drift towards their separate homes. It was then that Naruto pulled Sakura and Lee away to discuss his mission the next day.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, Lee, can I talk with you two for a second?" Naruto asked, almost under his breath.
They both nodded, noting the new seriousness in his voice.
"Tsunade-obaa-chan wants Ero-sennin, Hinata-chan and me to go get Sasuke tomorrow, before that snake bastard can take his body. She said I could choose any one I wanted from as long as they were chunnin or gennin. I want to take both of you, and I don't care what she says. Sakura, we're going to need your healing skills, and Lee your taijutsu will be very hard for him to fight against if we need to. I just wanted to know if you would come with me tomorrow. Oh, it's an A-class mission" Naruto asked.
The two teens just looked at each other, knowing that Naruto spoke the truth. Neither of them knew about the nibi in Hinata, but they had both seen the damage that Naruto had received last time he fought Sasuke, and agreed that a medic nin would be a good addition to the team.
"We'll go with you." Sakura said.
"All right, you'd better get some sleep; we meet at the north gate at seven sharp." Naruto instructed as he departed to walk Hinata back to the Hyuuga complex.
"You're right, Hinata-chan, Lee really has calmed down a bit under Sakura's influence." He said.
"Yes, Lee-san has been much quieter since he started dating Sakura-chan." Hinata replied. Sakura had insisted on Hinata caller her Sakura-chan instead of Sakura-san. She said it made her feel old.
"Naruto-kun, this is the complex." Hinata said as they reached her home.
Suddenly, the sounds of fighting broke the quiet of the night. Both teenagers rushed into the complex, to find Hiashi fighting the council head. Hiashi was worn out from the fight and couldn't move as the council head called out his attack:
"Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou!" (Eight Trigrams: 64 palms) yelled the council head.
"Two hands. Four Hands. Eight hands. Sixteen hands. Thirty-two hands. Sixty-four hands!" Hiashi slumped to the ground as 64 of his tenketsu's were forcibly closed.
Hinata ran towards her father. He had passed out from chakra depletion, and was very close to death. Behind her, Naruto created a shadow clone and sent it to find Tsunade.
"You'll pay for hurting my father." Hinata said in a cold voice.
"And what do you think you can do about it?" Asked the council head. "You can't even beat your sister, and she is younger than you by five years."
Hinata didn't say anything as she stood up and adopted a Jyuken stance. Her opponent did the same, and Hinata charged him. She aimed the index and middle fingers of her right hand at the man's heart. He simply dodged her attack and went to close a tenketsu on her outstretched hand. She quickly changed her attack and sent an elbow at the man's head. He was forced to block her attack and was forced back as Hinata kept attacking him. He simply dodged her attacks, although she was doing a good job of keeping him on the defensive so he couldn't seal any of her tenketsu points. She again sent her right hand at his heart, but this time instead of shifting to his left, he shifted right, and caught Hinata off guard. She sent her left arm toward the council head, but he simply grabbed her arm and sealed three tenketsu, rendering her arm useless. In Hinata's moment of shock, the council head took the offensive.
"Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou!" He said, as he attacked Hinata's inner coils. "Two hands. Four Hands. Eight hands. Sixteen hands. Thirty-two hands. Sixty-four hands!" Hinata flew backwards and was caught by Naruto. He laid her on the ground; she was clearly not in any condition to fight.
"You…I'LL KILL YOU!" He screamed. Naruto formed his favorite seal. He was about to create a large number of shadow clones, when a sudden chakra spike caught his attention. He looked around and saw Hinata standing. Even without the byakugan, Naruto knew what was happening to Hinata's chakra. The nibi was lending Hinata her chakra.
"No, Naruto, this fight is mine, and mine alone." Hinata said, calling off the blonde.
"H-how can you stand up after that attack?" asked the older man, clearly afraid of the new energy that had overtaken Hinata.
Hinata simply removed her overly large coat and stared the man down. No longer did she have thick black loops and lines around her arms. She stood before the council member in a white t-shirt and calmly adapted the jyuken stance again.
"Tsunade-sama was kind enough to alter the seal that imprisoned the nibi for 15 years. I can now use her chakra as if it were my own." Came Hinata's reply.
Suddenly large white wings sprouted from Hinata's back.
"That feels better." She said, with a hint of malice in her voice.
"Demon! I'll kill you!" Shouted the council head as he charged towards Hinata and Naruto.
Hinata simply flapped her large chakra wings and calmly said:
"Kamaitachi." (Cutting Whirlwind)
A large gust of chakra infused wind caught the attacking man and hurled him into thick support beam, which he passed through until he impacted a wall and slid down to the floor, unconscious
Just then, Tsunade entered along with Naruto's shadow clone, who upon completing its task, quickly poofed out of existence. Tsunade just stared in awe, at the sight of Hinata with large white wings and the damage caused by the fighting. She quickly made her way over towards Hiashi, while Naruto approached Hinata.
"Hinata-chan, are you ok?" Naruto asked.
Hinata heard Naruto's question, but didn't reply. She took long deep breaths, and clenched her fists. Her wings began to shrink and recede into her back, as the last bit of white disappeared she fell to her knees.
"Are you ok?" Naruto asked again.
"H-h-hai, i-its j-just that I-I've n-never f-f-felt s-so much p-power before." Replied Hinata.
Naruto placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and crouched down with her.
"I know how you feel. The thrill, it's exhilarating, it's like I feel invincible, and I could take on the world." He said in a comforting way.
Just then, Tsunade came over.
"Hinata, your father is going to be fine, but he'll be unconscious for a while. Do you have any idea what happened?" She asked.
Hinata simply shook her head as her eyes made their way over to way her father lay. Tsunade proceeded to check on every member of the council. They were either, dead or in the case of the council head, beaten and battered within inches of their life. Just then a squad of ANBU came in the room. They waited for the Hokage's orders silently.
"I want all of the wounded transported to the hospital, including Hiashi-sama. I also want the rooms of the council members guarded, and they are under no circumstances to leave. When Hiashi-sama regains consciousness, tell me." Tsunade ordered. The ANBU quickly went about their task and had soon cleared out the room.
"It was a miracle that nobody else heard the fighting." Said Tsunade. "You two should get some rest. You have a big mission tomorrow. Speaking of which, Naruto, did you pick the other member of your team?"
"Hai, I picked Sakura and Lee. Sakura has a right to do this, the same as I do, and Lee's taijutsu will be hard for Sasuke to fight." Replied Naruto.
"Naruto! I said you could pick one, one person." Tsunade sighed. "But I see your point. You can take them both, but under one condition, if you can't find Sasuke in three weeks, than you must send one of the two back, I can't afford to have too many people gone on this mission."
Naruto simply nodded. Tsunade left, to go check in at the hospital leaving Naruto and Hinata alone in the destroyed council room.
"Tsunade-obaa-chan is right, Hinata-chan, we should get some rest." He said, turning towards her. She was still kneeling where her father had been before, in a state of shock. She wasn't sure if it was because her father was almost killed in front of her, or if it was because she had used the nibi's chakra for the first time. She didn't hear anything Naruto or Tsunade had just said, and she didn't notice anything until Naruto came and pulled her onto her feet. Lifting her chin, he looked into her white eyes and saw tears beginning to well up.
"Hinata, your dad will be fine. If Tsunade-obaa-chan says he'll be fine, that there's nothing to worry about." He said calmly. "I'm more worried about you; you had all of your tenketsu's closed. When Neji closed mine, I was really tired for a while afterwards.
'Naruto-kun is worried about me?' She thought. "You're right, Naruto-kun, if Hokage-sama say's he'll be ok, than he will be. I was just felt that I was useless just then, I couldn't help him, I don't have the skill to do that, and I almost didn't beat the head of the council. I really should head to bed now, if I want to be of any help tomorrow."
"Don't say that Hinata-chan, of course you'll be helpful on the mission. Just get some sleep and I'll come pick you up around 7:30." Naruto replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."
With those parting words, Naruto left and headed home. Hinata followed suit and went into her room where she laid down and fell asleep instantaneously.
The next day, Hinata awoke at 6:00, and took a shower to relax her at least somewhat. It was a good thing that she woke up early, because in the aftermath of the previous night, she hadn't packed anything. She quickly packed enough medical supplies for the five people in the group, and a few changes of clothes. She checked her supply of shuriken and kunai before she headed towards the kitchen to grab some food. The cooks were just beginning to make breakfast when she entered and quickly grabbed some toast and a glass of water. While she was leaving, she heard the muttering of the kitchen staff.
"Did you see the council room?"
"Yeah, what do you think happened? I heard Hiashi-sama attacked all of them and that more than half are dead."
"I don't know, but something terrible must have happened in there."
With that Hinata left and headed towards the front gate to meet Naruto.
Naruto had just arrived at the front of the Hyuuga compound when Hinata exited.
"Hey Hinata-chan, are you ready to go?" He asked.
"Yes." She said simply. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."
"What for?" He asked
"Well, for everything, I never thanked you for helping me last night, or for rescuing me from the Akatsuki." She said, blushing.
"It's ok, Hinata-chan, I'd never let one of those lunatics hurt any of my friends."
The two arrived at the north gate to find Lee already there and Sakura came only a minute after Naruto and Hinata. Jiraiya showed up a few minutes later, and they left to find Sasuke.
After five hours of searching, the group took a break for lunch. As they were about half way through, Hinata's byakugan detected movement behind them. Before she could warn the others, a multitude of kunai and shuriken hummed through the air, at the group. Before anyone reacted, Hinata acted.
"Shugohakke Rokujyuu Yonshou!" (Eight Trigrams guard: 64 palms)
She began to emit chakra spikes from her fingertips, destroying, or diverting all of the oncoming projectiles.
Sasuke watched as all his shuriken and kunai were destroyed by the supposedly weakest member of the team. It became obvious to him, that even if he had his sharingan active, he doubted weather he could copy that attack. Quickly he reorganized his attack strategy and decided to focus on his pink haired ex-teammate. Breaking his cover, Sasuke dashed at Sakura, only to be greeted by Lee's right foot.
'Since when did Lee get that fast?' he thought
He quickly re-gained his posture, sliding a few feet. As he stood up, he was met by Naruto's fist.
'Damn it! When did Naruto learn to hit like that?'
Rising to his feet, he saw Lee and Naruto charging him. He was able to dodge Naruto's punch, but Lee made solid contact with his chest hurling him back and driving the wind from him.
"Damn it!" He cursed out loud. 'Am I really that weak?' he thought. Activating the first level of his cursed seal, Sasuke looked intimidating. As black flames snaked around his skin, he felt the now familiar boost in chakra the seal allowed him. With his new found speed he leapt over Lee and Naruto and charged Sakura, sharingan blazing. As readied his attack, he saw Sakura smirk, and pull her fist back. He didn't pay attention. Nothing she could do could faze him in the least. Of course, when you're trained by the legendary Tsunade, you pick up a few things. One of them being inhuman strength. The punch connected and sent him flying through five or six trees before he was greeted by a fire ball from Naruto. He dodged the attack, but found himself facing Lee. Lee went to strike his chest again, but Sasuke was able to dodge it, thanks to the cursed seal. He then landed his own punch to Lee's stomach. Lee jumped back a bit, but was mostly not fazed. This startled Sasuke. The punch he had just landed should have been enough to drive the air from Lee's lungs, but instead, the thick eye-browed teen just stood there waiting for the next move. Sasuke stared at Lee with such intensity that he almost failed to notice Naruto's attack. He saw the blonde aim a punch at his face and dodged it, but he failed to notice the clone that had snuck underneath him. Giving a kick, the clone launched Sasuke into the air, where he met the real Naruto's fist, sending him back towards the earth, where he met up with Lee's palm. An attack that should have broken his back ended up breaking a log, as Sasuke used kawarimi no jutsu to escape the brunt of the damage.
"Damn it!" Sasuke swore again. 'How did they become so strong?' He then activated the second level of the cursed seal. The black flames began to mold themselves into a black that covered his entire skin, and his black hair turned pale white. Two fleshy wings then sprouted from his back. Charging a chidori, he attacked Lee. With inhuman speed he landed in front of the green clad ninja and delivered his attack to the boy's heart. But Lee was fast enough to dodge a portion of the attack. Instead of his heart being ripped from his body, the chidori took a chunk out of his side under his left arm. Staggering backwards, Lee was caught by Naruto, who immediately rushed him to Sakura and Hinata who began to heal him. Naruto returned his attention to Sauske.
Given no other option, Naruto called on the Kyuubi for chakra. The demon fox obliged and Naruto felt the chakra engulf him and take the form of two tails behind him. Charging at Sasuke, Naruto delivered a strike that would have broken Sasuke's rib cage, had he not dodged it. With the sharingan active and in his second level form, Sasuke was very fast. The two boys exchanged blows at such a rapid pace that Lee was having trouble keeping up with them. The girls had given up a while ago, and were most startled by Sasuke's transformations.
"Do you think the outcome will be any different than last time?" Sasuke goaded Naruto.
"Yes" Said Naruto. He was beginning to worry, because currently Sasuke was beating him with only two tails.
Sasuke and Naruto kept up their attacks and continued to pummel each other into the ground. Eventually, Sasuke landed a sharp right hook to Naruto's jaw that sent him spinning backwards. Not wasting the opportunity, Sasuke performed a bunch of hand seals, and spat a fire ball towards Naruto. The attack hit home and due to the intensity of the blaze, the ball became a column of fire, reaching a good 15 feet high. Sakura, Hinata, and Lee were all worried about their friend. Until a body removed its self from the inferno. Naruto appeared to be unharmed but what puzzled people the most was the addiction of two new chakra tails at his back.
At this, Sasuke began to panic. He could feel the seal try to overcome his brain. He had to fight it. 'I haven't killed Itachi yet!' He screamed in his head.
"Naruto, it looks like I'll have to make this quick, I still have a certain person to kill after I dispatch of you." Sasuke growled as he formed chidori.
Naruto didn't respond, but formed Rasengan in his hand to counter chidori. The two charged each other, oblivious to their surroundings. When each was about a yard away from each other, they thrust both of their attacks forward. But Naruto once again find it in himself to kill his teammate. He was aiming to at least take off Sasuke's arm though. Just as both attacks were about to meet, a figure in a black cloak with red clouds appeared between the boys and took both attacks.
Sasuke was shocked to see his brother Itachi take a chidori and rasengan to the body. He froze up as Itachi, seemed to wrap is arms around his younger brother. Itachi knew he was dying. The rasengan to his side that he sustained earlier was fatal, and he had just managed to hide underground when he turned his remaining chakra into an explosion. Knowing it would be the last thing he did in this life, he wrapped his arms around Sasuke and began performing hand seals.
The only one who could see what was transpiring was Jiraiya. He watched as Itachi preformed seal after seal even as his heart began to fail. But Jiraiya wasn't a sannin for nothing. He recognized the seals and what would happen when Itachi was finished.
Itachi finished the seals and felt the last of his life escape from him. Sasuke felt a hot burning into his back as his cursed seal receded and he passed out from the pain.
Naruto was the first one to run towards the bodies. He knew that Itachi was dead, but he didn't know what he had done to Sasuke. Jiraiya quickly joined him, as the other three hurried over to check on Naruto.
"Well I'll be damned." Jiraiya said examining what Itachi had done. "It's a modification on the Fuuja Houin (Evil Sealing technique), but instead of relying on a person's will, Itachi changed it so that he could control it. Only problem was that it cost him his life."
"Jiraiya-sama how will we get these two back to Konoha? We will already have to slow down for Lee." Asked Sakura.
"I guess I'll call some ANBU and they'll take them back. We'll have to wait until they show up though." Replied the frog hermit.
After a couple of hours, a squadron of ANBU arrived and took the body of Uchiha Itachi and the comatose Uchiha Sasuke back to Konoha. The team assigned to return him arrived a little after sunset. Happy to have that mission over with, the team returned home and was happy to get some sleep for their troubles.