The next Hunter-nin found himself squaring off against the white-eyed girl, and he growled darkly behind his mask, which barely fit his enormous head. Everything about him was enormous, his body was built like a mountain, and he towered over Hinata the way the Hokage monument towered over Konoha.

"You are not the only ones who've mastered making clones," he stated in no uncertain terms. Crossing his hands into a familiar seal, he made his move. "Bunshin no Jutsu." Instantly, Hinata was surrounded by six new attackers, each taking up attack stances and ready to pummel her.

"Byakugan," she intoned, activating her bloodline limit and allowing her vision to encompass all of her attackers. Five she could see right through... literally. Not even water clones, these were the regular type. All flash and no substance. But the sixth... behind her and to her right. That one she could see a chakra circulatory system. That was her real foe. So she raised up her hand and readied herself in a classic Gentle Fist stance, open palm upraised. She did not yet turn to face him, content to let him think she was off-guard and unprepared until he moved in closer.

Each replication grabbed up half a dozen kunai and hurled in rapid succession, in effect bombarding her all at once from different angles with countless small objects. An ordinary shinobi would've been sliced to pieces by such an attack, even though at least half of the shuriken weren't real.

But she was no ordinary shinobi. She was the Heiress of the Hyuuga, and she was ready for them.

"Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou," she intoned, and her body sprang into motion. Arms swung up and outwards in complicated arcs, as chakra poured from her palms in tight beams of light. Each time a kunai came too close to her, her chakra slapped it away with enough force to break the kunai, sometimes slicing it clean in half. Shards of metal fell around Hinata, and she remained completely untouched.

To describe the Hunter's reaction as shocked was an understatement. Clearly he'd never heard about the Hyuuga's before.

Hinata allowed herself a small smirk, pleased with such a reaction, but that fatal moment where her attention was diverted, one of the kunai slipped past her defense and imbedded itself in the back of her leg, just below her knee. By sheer luck, the Hunter-nin had tossed this kunai at her blind spot, and unable to see it, she hadn't been able to counter it.

Hinata stumbled, her technique dispelled, and the replications sprang forward seemingly at once, but she quickly saw a pattern developed, and twisted her body, lashing out with her empty palms. It was awkward, moving about on only one good leg and on her knee, but she had always been very flexible, and adapted quickly. Her attack struck the real Hunter-nin full in the chest, and shot a blast of chakra into his system, overloading it. He fell into shock instantly and collapsed forward as she nimbly hopped out of the way before he crushed her.

The remaining replications vanished, and she collapsed.

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Aoimaru watched all of this unfold, hidden partly behind a nearby tree branch, his green eyes wide with awe as he saw the battle unfold. Naruto, Hinata, Shino... they were all barely two or three years older than he was, and they were all so strong. Impossibly strong. He managed a smile as he watched shy Hinata finish off her foe, knocking them aside, and felt a smile. He knew he'd made the right decision to come with him. They were strong, yes, but so were their foes... and it didn't matter to them. They were fighting to keep him safe at risk to their own lives.

"Hey brat!"

Aoimaru swung around as one of the Hunter-nins made his way towards him, brandishing the pair of wicked axes seen earlier. "You might've gotten some good help but we'll finish this mission yet!" he roared, charging. "DIE!"

Aoimaru screamed, grasping his head as he ducked, the axe whistling over his dark blue locks, missing his head to slam into the tree-trunk and became wedged there. He broke into a sprint, running awkwardly, the Hunter-nin fast in pursuit.

"You little monster!" His axe swung up high, and Aoimaru threw himself down and curled up into a ball, screaming for someone to save him.

His prayers were answered.

Naruto slid down onto the ground and pushed himself up right in front of Aoimaru, launching a kick that caught the Hunter full in the face. Three more Kage Bunshin slid down along the Hunter's sides and continued to knock him skyward with well-placed kicks.

"U-zu-ma-ki...!"

A final Naruto, the original, leapt up on the back of one of his duplicates and came slamming down with the force of a boulder, his kick knocking the Hunter-nin down onto the ground with enough force that he nearly buried his head up to his neck in the earth.

"Naruto Rendan!"

Aoimaru watched in awe as Naruto landed gracefully, and his clones popped out of existence. He flashed a thumbs up, teeth shining, and all Aoimaru could think was 'wow.'

"That was amazing!" he said, scrambling to his feet. Then, remembering his own actions, he stopped midway to Naruto. The others gathered around quickly as Aoimaru's head dropped down in shame. "I'm... I'm sorry," he said. "I got scared... I couldn't help."

Naruto's hand lightly landed on his shoulder in a friendly pat. "It's okay," he said, still smiling. "Lots of people freeze up during their first real fight. I know I did," he added, rubbing the back of his head as recalled the events with the Demon Brothers. "It's alright to feel afraid."

They ran quickly to join the others. Shino was busy prying the last of the needles out of his coat. Thankfully, only a few had penetrated, but it had been rough to catch them all. The poison numbed the skin on impact, so he had to double-check and make sure he'd pulled them all out. He waved off Naruto's help, his bugs would handle the poison and he'd recover in little time. Kurenai was already seeing to Hinata, tearing off one of the sleeves of her robes to form a rough bandages for her bleeding leg. Thankfully, the kunai had missed the bone or any major arteries, and it would be healed with little problem once they got back to Konoha.

"Alright, the plan worked," said Naruto, satisfied everyone was alive and relatively unharmed.

Kurenai allowed herself a smile as she finished tying Hinata's bandage... tight enough to prevent more bleeding but not so much that it cut off circulation. "Well done, Naruto." She did not need to add she was proud of her team, they knew how she felt. But Naruto had been an unknown factor before this mission, and she was pleased by his performance.

Celebrations, however, had to be put off, as Aoimaru swayed on his feet and then pitched forward, collapsing on the ground unconscious.

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Sensation returned perhaps half an hour later, when Aoimaru awoke to find himself being spoon-fed a rather disgustingly vile broth. He sat up, choking and coughing as the meal went down the wrong tube, and felt a hand gently pat his back to clear his airways.

"Sorry, we weren't able to wake you," said Hinata softly, placing the bowl and spoon aside. "And you weren't doing so well, we think you collapsed of exhaustion and starvation."

"Idiot," muttered Naruto, though it was in a half-friendly way, as he chomped down on some of his own rations.

The team had taken up shelter in one of the caves dotting the region, and looked ready to settle in for the day. With only a single entrance in or out, they could see trouble coming a mile away. Kurenai had even allowed for them to build a fire, for which Naruto was supremely grateful. Ramen wasn't nearly so good to eat cold.

"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Shino quietly, resting against the side of the cavern wall. He still hadn't fully recovered from the poison, and it left him weaker than usual. His breathing was slightly more labored than usual but at least he was in no danger of dying.

Aoimaru hung his head shamefully again. "Back home, if someone said they were hungry... they... they got taken advantage of. Beaten. Same if you were tired. Or showed any sign of weakness..." his voice trailed off.

Naruto frowned darkly at that as he swallowed a mouthful of noodles. He'd heard of how cruel the Mist ninjas could be but to be this bad to a kid? No wonder all the Mist Ninja he'd run into had turned out as messed up as they had.

"That's not how we work in Konoha," he said firmly, setting his meal. "If you're not strong enough on your own, that's what your team is there for. They help you, and you help them. That's what Kakashi-sensei always taught us."

The members of Team Eight respectfully decided not to point out the numerous times Naruto had acted on his own on numerous occasions.

"But I can't -do- anything here on land," remarked Aoimaru glumly. "I'm useless."

"When the time comes... you'll prove yourself wrong, Aoimaru. Believe it," he said.

This was the real hidden talent of Naruto, Kurenai mused. It wasn't just that he was strong, or determined, or even surprisingly inventive in the thick of combat. He had an ability to inspire people to do great things with his words and actions. He'd inspired Hinata, he'd inspired Konohomaru, now he inspired Aoimaru the same way. She could see it, the little dark-haired boy was staring up at Naruto in blatant hero-worship, hanging on every word.

It was no surprise. After a lifetime of being feared, he was clinging to the first group of people who hadn't hated him.

It was good for their mission, but Kurenai was still worried.

Hunter-nin. That meant Mist had sent them after the boy. Meaning either he had a bloodline limit and they wanted him exterminated, or else they'd confused his real nature with a bloodline limit. But she wasn't so sure anymore the boy -was- Sanbi. For one thing, the Three-Tails would've reacted to protect him if he'd been in serious danger, and so far nothing strange had happened. Not a proper test, since the last time he was attacked Naruto had rescued him, but still, she was starting to grow skeptical.

"Kurenai-sama?" came a soft voice, interrupting her thoughts. Kurenai shook her head to clear them, then turned back to the little boy.

"Mmm?"

"Did you really mean what you said back there...? That if worse came to worse you'd hand me over to the bad ninjas to save your team?" he asked quietly, glancing between Hinata, Shino, and Naruto before turning back to Kurenai.

She shook her head. "It was a bluff," she replied. "Necessary so they wouldn't notice Naruto's trick."

"But if there was no other choice... I mean..."

"I'm in a difficult position no matter how one looks at it," remarked Kurenai quietly. "On one hand, failing a mission is not highly thought well in Konoha just like any Hidden Village. And in this case, failing that mission means you've been killed or captured... which is tantamount to the same thing."

Aoimaru nodded.

"And on the other hand, we in Konoha don't abandon our comrades lightly either. None of us do."

"So what would you choose?" asked Aoimaru. He really didn't want to press her, but he had to know where he stood.

"That's a question on one of our Academy Tests," she replied. At this, her frown vanished, replaced by a playful smile. "Choice C," she remarked, indicating her own answer. The Academy Tests were tricky like that sometimes. Either A or B would suffice, but it was those who answered choice C who got it correct. More often than not, these were the ones who made it to Genin. Even if they'd penciled in C by mistake, thinking it was the previous question (as a certain blonde idiot had done). "I would put my effort into finding a way that I can bring you all back -and- complete the mission safely."

That was all that needed to be said, and with that, the team finished up their meal, set watches (Naruto first, Kurenai, and then Hinata until night fell) and turned in to sleep.

They still had a long way to go.

And they weren't out of the woods quite yet.

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There was one more Hunter-nin after them. Kurenai was glad it wasn't Akatsuki, but she was positive there was at least one more. Hunter-nin always moved in two-squads, the three-man teams and their commanders. They'd taken down seven... there should have been eight. So one of them had lagged behind or, more chilling thought, used their first skirmish to gauge the power of the Konoha team. If so, they had a fairly good idea of it now. Naruto's trick wouldn't fool them a second time.

And then there were their injuries to worry about. Kurenai had been forced to carry Hinata, unable to run on an injured leg. Shino was, while largely recovered, still weakened from the poison he'd taken the other day. And Aoimaru still wasn't as fast as any of them were. They were moving too slowly.

Still, some luck and a lot of running and they'd be back in Konoha. Medic-nins could take Hinata and Shino and they'd have the backing of some of the finest shinobi warriors this side of the world. Asuma and Kakashi could tear down any Hunter-nin who dared tried to pursue them that far, even if they did. And they wouldn't. It went against Hidden Village treaties. To break it would be to invite war, and no village wanted that, not now.

Still, right now, they were vulnerable, and she pushed her team as hard as she dared push them to get them back to Konoha safely.

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Author's Notes:

The test in question is made-up but sounds like something you could find in a Naruto-verse Academy test.