At this point, the young Hyuuga Heiress wasn't quite sure what to do. If she slipped away to find Kurenai or the others, the boy might wander off, and she'd be hard pressed to find him again. But if she just stayed here, they wouldn't know what had become of her. She wished the team had been issued the standard radio units for such missions, but they'd been glossed over and forgotten when the trip had begun.

So she had a neat little dilemma on her hands. And she hated dilemmas. She was a bright girl, she'd gotten good grades at the Academy, but she'd always preferred a straightforward path. Even if it was a rocky one.

Fortunately, her problem was solved for her.

"HINATA! Hey Hinata!"

By creating a new problem to deal with.

Hinata's eyes snapped wide open as she whirled around to see a bright orange-clad boy coming running towards her across the beach, waving and yelling. Ordinarily, she'd been overjoyed to see Naruto coming to find her, but right now was -not- the best of times.

Quickly she waved her arms at him, trying non-verbally to quiet him before he spooked their objective.

"Hey Hinata we've been looking all over for you... Kurenai said to... what? What is it?" he asked, unable to comprehend her motions properly. "Hey who's that?"

The boy, having heard Naruto coming like a bull in a china shop a mile off, had slipped to his feet. Upon spotting him, and then even getting a glimpse of Hinata behind her hiding spot, he automatically assumed the worst, and took off like a shot.

"That's him! After him!" shouted Naruto, giving chase. Hinata quickly de-activated her bloodline limit (not wanting to waste chakra) and gave pursuit after them both.

The boy was a fairly quick runner, all things considered. However, both Naruto and Hinata were trained to overtake quarry and bring them down peaceably as part of their Academy training. Ordinarily, they would have caught the boy before he made it more than ten yards down the beach. However, the boy seemed to realize this quickly, and changed tactics to something neither of them had fully expected.

He turned at a sharp angle and ran directly towards the ocean. At first, the Genin thought maybe he was trying to swim away, but he'd never make it far with short legs, the water resistance would slow him down enough for them to catch him. But he did plan to swim.

He ran... on top of the water.

"WHAT!" yelled Naruto, so stunned he skidded to a halt on the sandy beach. "How the heck can he do water walking! He's not old enough to have learned that!"

Quickly, both Hinata and Naruto recovered from the shock and gave chase. Wherever the boy had learned the trick, they knew it backwards and forwards from their training, and they streaked off across the water as if it was simply a rolling hill of grass. In moments they'd overtaken their quarry and cut him off against some outcropping black rocks, Hinata to one side, Naruto on the other.

"Now don't run anymore, you brat!" yelled Naruto, his finger up and pointed so his audience had no mistake who he was talking to. "We're not trying to hurt you!"

"Yeah right!" shouted the boy, fists upraised, ready to defend himself. His stance was horrible though, he was clearly using most of his chakra just to keep himself from sinking into the water. And he didn't look like he knew any taijutsu beyond basic kicks and punches.

He seemed at once gifted and incompetent. How was that possible?

"Don't make me knock you out kid!" yelled Naruto back, raising up his own fist.

"Naruto-kun!" shouted Hinata, hoping to diffuse the situation. "Shouldn't we try something else?"

"Oh... yeah..." he said, shamefully lowering his fist.

The boy's reptilian eyes glanced from one to the other quick as can be, careful not to leave either out of his sight for too long. He was still very tense.

"We're not going to hurt you," said Hinata gently. "We just want to help."

"Liar!"

"Hey brat! Don't call Hinata a liar!"

"We just want to help you. We're from Konoha."

"Hidden Leaf? Nobody from Hidden Leaf helps anybody, they're all crazy killers and idiots!" scoffed the boy.

Naruto was having just about enough of this, and with deliberate strides, he made his way forward to give the boy a good knock on the skull to teach him some respect. Not too hard, of course, just enough to hurt the boy and show him they meant business, not injure him.

"Your viewpoint is slightly biased," a voice cut smoothly into the tension. Instantly all eyes were on the outcropping rock, and the figures who stood atop of it.

Shino adjusted his sunglasses, while Kurenai kneeled down so her shadow was no longer stretched down over the boy. "We are not here to hurt you," she said simply.

The boy glanced left and right and all around, but realized he was thoroughly surrounded on all angles. "... this isn't some trick?" he asked hesitantly, but he sensed somehow they were speaking truthfully enough. If they -had- wanted him dead, they had him surrounded and highly outmatched.

"You are misinformed concerning Hidden Leaf," remarked Shino casually, hands in the pockets of his coat. His stance was deceptive... his teammates had seen him strike lightning fast from that seemingly relaxed pose.

"That's what I heard back home," the boy replied defensively.

"And where're you from?" asked Kurenai gently.

"... up north," the boy said after a moment's thought. "You're really not with them, are you?"

"Them?" asked Naruto, relaxing a little.

"Those hunters... guys in black. They've been coming after me ever since I... since I..."

"... yes?"

"Since I ran away," the boy said, his voice cracking a little at the last word.

An Academy Dropout. That fits, thought Kurenai. A boy who ran away from home because he couldn't stand living there. And if he was indeed from up north... that meant the Water Country. Fits in with the Sanbi quite nicely. Hidden Mist and the Water Country in general did share their viewpoint of Konoha being a village of weaklings and backstabbers.

"I just wanna be left alone!" shouted the boy, suddenly very angry. The water stirred around his feet, and Kurenai stood, slipping a hand behind her back to grab at one of the scrolls hidden there. Naruto and Shino tensed for a fight.

But it was Hinata who instead asked simply "What's your name?"

Surprised by the odd question, the boy almost didn't know how to respond properly. But, reluctantly, he allowed himself to reply. No harm in answering something like that, after all.

"Aoimaru," he stated. Then, more boldly, "I'm Aoimaru."

The waters calmed and smoothed out in quiet little ripples.

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A childhood of distrust, resentment, hatred, and fear. An Academy student at once gifted with some techniques and horrible at others. Teased and ridiculed by his peers and given many the cold eye and shoulder from his classmates and teachers alike. When his strange powers had first manifested, he'd been scared out of his wits. After all, even little kids in Hidden Mist knew all about the Bloodline Wars that had been fought a generation before, how those with special powers had been singled out and executed, rounded up and killed, or died in vainglorious attempts to overthrow Hidden Mist.

So he'd run. Run as far and as fast as he could. Stowed away on a ship heading south and then hidden himself out down here in the Tea Country where no one would find him, or so he hoped. He didn't have very grand ambitions. Just wanted to be left in peace.

Unfortunately, there was more to his story.

"About a month ago, I saw a ship come in... I watch ships come and go sometimes," he added. "When I'm bored. So anyways I saw these figures in black on it, and I got this really ominous feeling."

Kurenai got a rather ominous feeling too. Figures in black brought back very bad memories to her. Images of herself on the wrong end of her own genjutsu. She managed to barely suppress a shudder.

"And they started searching soon as they hit land. Tearing up crates and just looking everywhere, questioning people. I didn't get a good look at them, I didn't want them to see me. I saw them leave after a few days, but last week they were back, and there were more of them. I... I think they're after -me-."

He shivered. It was late by now, mid-afternoon, and the sun was already vanishing against the treeline to the west. They'd walked back to the shore to properly talk, and get the whole story.

"Don't worry," said Kurenai, resting a hand gently on the boy's shoulder. "That's what we're here for."

"Our mission is to protect you," stated Shino quietly.

"Now that's -if- you want to come with us," stated Kurenai. Seeing Naruto's mouth open, about to protest, she shot him a glare with crimson eyes, and he snapped it shut. "We won't force you to come with us if you don't want to."

"And... I'll be safe, in Konoha?" asked Aoimaru. "You won't hurt me or... h-hate me?"

Kurenai opened her mouth to reply negative, but surprisingly, Naruto beat her to it. Among his amazing talents was his quickness for making friends, and Aoimaru's story about abandonment and hatred had moved him. No doubt because he'd lived a similar life. "No... we won't. And if anybody gives you any trouble kid, I'll give 'em a shot in the mouth!" he said, with an emphatic punch in the air for emphasis.

Aoimaru smiled, then turned to Kurenai and nodded. "I'll come."

Not exactly her plan A... but it worked.

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They returned to the inn and shared a hearty meal, then spent the entire afternoon napping (at least, Hinata and Shino did, Naruto was too anxious) and we ready to depart by night, hoping to use nightfall to slip past those who were hunting Aoimaru.

Three Genin, one Jounin, and one Academy Dropout found themselves gathered by the northern most exit to the fishing village. Here, in the shadows of a wide-branched tree, they began to make their plans.

"We'll stay close together," she explained, using a kunai to draw in the dirt. "Our objective is to keep Aoimaru safe at all costs, so I want Hinata watching the rear. Naruto, Shino, take either side. I'll be point. As soon as we move out, I don't want to hear so much as a peep out of any of you. No noises. Hand-signals only. Aoimaru," she said, her harsh tone relaxing just a fraction. "Just try and keep up with us."

He nodded, well aware of the grim nature of the situation.

"Anyone gets separated, don't try and find the others. Shino's bugs will seek you out and lead us to you. Or, if it's you, Shino, you can find your way back to us with them," she stated. She did not need to mention that Shino had, by her instruction, slipped a female of the destruction bugs on each of their forehead protectors (as well as the back of Aoimaru's shirt). They might've been creeped out. Kurenai was indifferent.

"We don't know who's after us, how many they are, or how strong they are," she added. "So our objective is this... a straight line home. Quick as we can. We avoid fights if we can. We run if we can. If we have no other option we stop and fight. Understood?"

Nods from all around.

"Good," she said, flipping her kunai deftly between her fingers then slipping it back into the holster at her side. "Let's go."

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Author's Notes:

Aoimaru roughly translates as Blue-Circle, or possibly Blue-Round, and seemed a fitting enough name for the character.