(A/N) Some of the wait for the old elders to decide, and Fuu antics.

"The barbeque was really good," Tenten said to Fuu. "Thanks for suggesting it."

"Indeed!" Lee shouted, and Hinata shied away from the volume. And the flashbacks to his...enthusiastic eating habits.

Tenten patted her shoulder sympathetically.

Fuu beamed. "Of course! It's one of the few places around here that doesn't mind me!"

Hinata was suddenly and very quickly reminded of Naruto. Sasuke had mentioned in passing that their team only ever ate at Ichiraku's because nowhere else let Naruto in. "I-I see. It's good food though."

Fuu, if possible, beamed wider, starting to skip. "I know the owner! They're super nice, and have the cutest little girl! I babysit her sometimes if no one else is available!"

"What else can you do around here?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Well, there's the opossums," Fuu said, tapping her chin. "We could go feed them!"

"Why would you feed the trash gremlins?" Kiba asked, clearly confused. Hinata had to admit she was confused as well, given that in Konoha, opossums were creatures to be avoided, not fed.

"They aren't trash gremlins!" Fuu protested loudly, stopping in her walking. "They're adorable fluffy sweethearts! Most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Kurenai asked cautiously.

"It's kinda a tossup on which ones you get," Fuu admitted cheerfully, continuing with her skipping. "I can usually get the fluffy ones though!"

"That isn't reassuring," Tenten remarked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

They got back late in the afternoon, and Kurenai dismissed her team, saying she'd handle the debriefing and stuff. Team Gai went with their sensei.

"Should we go get dinner?" Kiba suggested, rolling out his shoulders. "I'm starving!"

Hinata giggled. "Y-You're always s-starving Kiba-kun."

"Didn't Team 7 get back earlier today?" Shino asked quietly. "Perhaps we could trade stories?"

"Good idea!" Kiba decided, grinning, Akamaru barking in agreement. "I think I can smell them! Let's go!"

Hinata giggled again, following her boisterous teammate through the somewhat crowded market place. She could tell Shino was following her, even if she couldn't really hear him.

Sure enough, Kiba led them straight to Ichiraku's. Hinata could see Team 7, minus Kakashi, which she wasn't particularly surprised about, although the extra two people, a large man with a giant sword on his back, and a slimmer person sitting next to Naruto. Naruto was gesturing animatedly, and while the person had to dodge the occasional stray arm, they looked fully invested in whatever Naruto was saying.

Sakura noticed them first, waving them over. "Hey team 8! Did you get back from your C-rank?"

Sasuke turned as well, nodding to them. "I hope it went better than ours."

"Yours wasn't a C-rank," the large man said gruffly.

"It was supposed to be," Sasuke sniped back. "Then you showed up."

"Actually," Sakura said, raising a hand. "It was upped to B-rank when the Demon Brother's showed up. Then to an A-rank when Zabuza and Haku showed up."

Hinata blinked. "W-what happened to y-you?"

Naruto opened his mouth excitedly, only for Sasuke to slap a hand over it. "I'll tell her, dobe."

"Basically, we were supposed to escort a bridge builder," Sakura said while the boys argued. "But Gato wanted him dead, so the Demon Brothers were first in line to try, but we took care of them quickly, they're probably dead now by the way, then we ran into Zabuza, who fought sensei, who passed out after Zabuza was knocked out by Haku, who left with him. We thought he was a Kiri Hunter-nin at that point though."

"Oh d-dear," Hinata said faintly.

"So we dragged sensei to Tazuna, he's the bridge builder, by the way, his house, where we met his daughter and grandson, the daughter, Tsunami, was super nice, but the grandson was super bratty." Sakura wrinkled her nose theatrically. "He like, insulted everyone, then Naruto talked some sense into him, so he was a bit more mellow the rest of the time."

"He was really annoying!" Sasuke added quickly, shoving Naruto's head away. "Team 8, that's Haku, he is a boy by the way, don't get confused, and that's Zabuza. Zabuza, Haku, that's Team 8, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba."

Hinata waved shyly, retreating behind Shino. Zabuza was just so intimidating, especially with the giant sword. And he'd make Kakashi Hatake pass out.

"Later, after sensei woke up, we fought them again, but Gato interrupted before anyone got hurt too badly, then we all teamed up to kill all the thugs Gato brought with him. Then Zabuza chopped off Gato's head, and that was that! We convinced them to come with us ca-" she was abruptly cut off by Sasuke, who had slapped his hand over her mouth.

"We were convinced to come because Sasuke recognized my mentor mark," Haku said calmly, pulling off one of his gloves to show a mark Hinata recognized easily. The same one that stared at her any time she took off her gloves.

(A/N) Congratulations. The story drops off on that wonderful conclusion! I know I said 3-4 last chapter. I was wrong. It was 1.

I'm telling you, America and Australia swapped their opossums. It's ridiculous. Konoha has American opossums. Trash gremlins, the lot of em.

I won't be replacing this one until December. It's almost September, although I would hope you know that, and it's nearing Nanowrimo, during which I don't update because I'm focusing on Nanowrimo. Which is National Novel Writing Month, and in November. But rest assured, the four currently empty spots will be filled after November. Also I'm pausing adding new stories because we're moving!