I don't own Naruto or any of the characters or situations associated with it.

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New Class

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Umino Iruka looked at the students arrayed in front of him, then glanced down at the note in his hand. A shadow at the door announced the new arrival and he coughed to get his class' attention.

"Today, we are having a new student join us. He recently recovered from an unfortunate incident and is resuming his education. Enter!"

The class stared at the silk-clad blond who strode confidently in through the door. Stopping beside Iruka's desk, he turned and bowed to the class.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are my family and my friends, my dislikes are those who would try to hurt those I care about. My hope for the future is to prove myself worthy of the position of Hokage."

Movenment at the back of the class caught everyone's attention as Aburame Shino rose to his feet.

"Uzumaki-san, my father requested that I relay to you his permission for you to utilise the first three levels of the Kikkai techniques as you requested. The payment you provided has been placed in the clan's coffers."

"Wait a minute," one of the girls half-shouted, "He's another bug-user?"

"You are only partially correct." Shino said. "He is not simply another bug user, he is the premiere Kikkai Host, carrying three colonies of Kikkai so deadly that even a half-colony would kill the Aburame who tried to Bond with them."

"The Uchiha know of the strength of Naruto-san's Kikkai." Sasuke spoke, causing several of his fan-girls to swoon. "My brother asked me to once again relay the sincere apologies of the Uchiha clan for the unwarraranted assault by one of our own and to inform you that the Uchiha clan confirms your right to use that which you have acquired as a result."

Naruto bowed acknowledgement to both Shino and Sasuke before Iruka took control again.

"If that is all the clan business for now, we have a lesson to begin. Naruto, there is a spare seat beside Hinata. Hinata, please raise your hand."

Hinata blushed furiously as Naruto sat beside her.

"Hyuuga-hime."

"N… Nar… ruto-san." Hinata managed to whisper, her hand clenched around the message in her pocket.

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"You wished to see me, Hiashi-sama?"

Hiashi looked up in surprise, he hadn't received any messages that his visitor had even been spotted near the Hyuuga compound.

"Ah, Naruto-san." He said, showing no signs of any loss of composure. "Yes, I wish to ask a favour of you."

"I owe the Hyuuga clan for saving my life." Naruto said calmly. "Without your nephew's warning, the injury inflicted by the first poisoned kunai would have been beyond even my Hive's ability to defeat in time."

Hiashi nodded. "Thank you. I seek your help because, as you said, you have a debt to the Hyuuga clan. From the fact that you received my message, I assume you have met my daughter? Excluding the day of your re-emergence, that is."

"Hinata?" Naruto asked, getting a nod in return. "She seems very nice, but she keeps turning red and even fainted once. Is it a medical condition?"

"In a way, yes." Hiashi replied after a brief pause. "However, that is tangential to why I asked you to come. When Hinata was young, she was the subject of a kidnapping attempt and since then, she has been kept under guard. Recently, though, the Hyuuga clan found itself needing to reassign certain people to meet all of the demands made upon us."

"And you want me, with my proven lethality, to bodyguard Hinata-san whenever she is outside the compound." Naruto said.

"You are the most logical one for this mission." Hiashi noted. "Additionally, I believe that Hinata may profit from some training outside the clan. Perhaps you could ask Anko-san…"

Naruto flinched. "Wow, talk about kill or cure! Kaasan'll either break her or turn her into the strongest Kunoichi around."

"If you offer my daughter your support, I doubt that she will break." Hiashi said with a ghost of a smile around his lips, then his expression firmed. "Purely out of interest, just how did you get in with no-one seeing you?"

"Ah… ummm, it's something only I can do thanks to my Hive."

Hiashi nodded, having used his Byakugan to check to see if Naruto was telling the truth. "I see, then I need not worry. Thank you for your time and I thank you for taking up the task."

"It is but a small portion of the debt I owe the Hyuuga clan." Naruto replied. "With your permission, Hiashi-sama?"

"You may go." Hiashi said, glancing down at his paperwork, then back up…

…to see an empty room.

"What the…?" Hiashi blurted, then he activated his Byakugan. A moment later, he deactivated it and frowned in thought.

"How in the thousand Kamis names did he do that? I know that it wasn't a Bunshin…"

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Hinata stared in shock at her father.

"Are you alright, daughter?"

Hinata swallowed nervously. "I… I think so… It just came as…"

"A surprise?" Hiashi finished. "I can see why."

"B… b… but…"

"Why Naruto?" Hiashi finished, giving his daughter a look of mingled love and exasperation. "You need support, Hinata, and there is no-one within the Hyuuga clan who I deem suitable at this time. The traditions of the clan are not what you need, but they are all that I can offer at this time. Naruto has no stake in whether or not you become the next head of the Hyuuga, so he can provide support for you, support given simply as support rather than a means of manipulating you as part of a plan dictated by the internal clan politics."

Hinata nodded, then her gaze slightly unfocused and she blushed furiously.

"I do not believe his guarding of you will extend to bathrooms." Hiashi smirked and Hinata's blush darkened.

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Hinata stepped through the main gate of the Hyuuga complex and promptly blushed as her eyes fell on Naruto.

"N… naruto-k… san…"

"Hinata-Hime." Naruto bowed, then he held out a bracer almost identical to the one her cousin wore. Hinata accepted it and slowly attached it to her left arm as she had seen Neji do.

"Hinata-Hime, may I…"

Hinata nodded and Naruto held out his hand. A Kikkai flew out of his sleeve and settled into the small hole in the bracer.

"Now, I can relay messages to you when it is needed, and if you speak to the Kikkai, the Hive will relay your message to me."

Hinata stared at her etched bracer with new respect for it, then she frowned slightly.

"But what h… happens if the kikkai is… k… killed?

Naruto blinked a few times, then reached out and touched the collar of Hinata's jacket.

"If it will make you feel safer, I can place a few backup Kikkai in there for you."

Hinata paused then motioned for Naruto to wait as she sprinted back to her room. A moment later, she rejoined him, wearing a small floral headband that kept her hair fixed into place.

"The flowers… your kikkai…" She stammered and Naruto nodded. Four Kikkai flew up and landed on her headband, moving to hide behind the fabric petals. Hinata smiled and then gasped.

"I took too long! We'll be late!"

Naruto smiled and pulled her to his side, ignoring her gasp of shock, then the world suddenly seemed to blink around them and they were stood just around the corner to the academy entrance.

"What was… that wasn't a shunshin… how did…" Hinata gasped, then went silent as Naruto placed a finger over her lips.

"I'll explain after the Academy finishes." He said gently, then he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. "My lady, may I escort you to your class?"

Hinata nodded, unwilling to trust her voice.

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"Hiashi-sama?"

Hiashi looked up from the piles of proliferating paperwork to see Anko standing at the door of his study. Grateful for the interruption, he motioned for her to enter.

"Naruto sent me a message and asked me to bring this to you." Anko said, placing a parcel the size of a pad of paper on the desk and starting to unwrap it. "It's a communication board, you can place it on your desk, on a table or hang it on a wall and Naruto can use it to send messages or listen to anything you say through his Hive. It'll ignore you unless you start a sentence with Naruto, Hive or Relay, then it'll let Naruto hear what you're saying while the Kikkai will use the board to send his answers back. He can also use it to send you a message, in which case his Kikkai will start by hitting the small bell set into the top.

Hiashi looked at the engraved sheet of metal, noting the sheer craftsmanship that had gone into engraving the various kanji into it. Not a single misplaced scratch marred the surface while all the kanji were placed with a level of care that he himself would have had great difficulty matching.

"Gaki took fourteen attempts to make that." Anko added, causing Hiashi to look at her in shock. "I also brought a small plant for the Kikkai to feed from, otherwise Naruto'll have to visit every few days to switch Kikkai. One of your helpers is repotting it now."

Hiashi nodded.

"You can also use this to communicate with Neji and Hinata directly, they've both got these nifty wrist-bracers." Anko said, lifting up her left arm to show off the metal bracer. "In fact, here's a list of all those who have the bracers, should you need to communicate with any of them."

Hiashi accepted the parchment and glanced at it.

"I see the Hokage is on the list."

"He has his own communication board." Anko shrugged. "He uses it as a relay, although he pays Naruto a small fee each month for it."

Hiashi nodded slowly. "What is the range for the link?"

"About fifty miles. More than that, although beyond that point the connection fades rapidly. It's only really good for short-range missions, gaki still needs special tags for his long-range jumps rather than his Kikkai. Something about chakra-flows and relative fragility."

"That is still an extremely powerful tactical advantage." Hiashi commented. "Knowing that he has his own version of the Hiraishin, I would retreat rather than face him."

Anko nodded, then frowned. "Wait, how did you…?"

"I saw him and my daughter vanish from just outside the main gate in a manner remarkably similar to that once used by my old friend Minato." Hiashi replied, his eyes once again looking at the board. "May I assume that a Hiraishin seal is within the board?"

"And the bracers." Anko confirmed.

"May I try the board out?" Hiashi asked and Anko nodded. "Hive, relay to Hinata. Location request."

A Kikkai emerged from Anko's sleeve and landed on the board for a moment, then started to fly around, briefly landing on certain Kanji.

"Return. Base. Company. Zero zero one?"

"Check the list." Anko advised and Hiashi looked again, then nodded in understanding.

"Number one, Naruto. Of course. You did say Naruto can listen through his Kikkai?"

Anko nodded again and Hiashi looked at the board once more. "Naruto, you will need to learn about my daughter if you are to guard her properly. You have my permission to take her out for a meal to do so but I want her home by dusk. That is all."

To Anko's amusement, the Kikkai seemed to do a double-take before flying to the symbol for acknowledgement, then it flew to the small hole in the base.

"Now, one more piece of business." Hiashi said, catching Anko's gaze. "My daughter requires more training, but I do not trust my clan to provide the correct form of training for her."

"And you want me to do it." Anko smirked, stretching her arms out. "It'll cost, I don't do things for free, you know."

"I am aware of that." Hiashi agreed cordially. "Of course, one of the things I must ask you to do is to give Hinata The Talk. I do not believe that she has received it… what is so funny?"

Anko managed to get her laughter under control and pulled herself back into a sitting position, although she refused to meet Hiashi's quizzical gaze.

"Sorry, it's just… you want me to tell your daughter about the shurikan and the kunai?"

Hiashi nodded, then sighed as Anko fell over howling with laughter again.