Team Eight look at Kurenai dumbfoundedly, disbelief colouring their faces as they processed what she had said. Well, disbelief was clear on Kiba and Hinata's face. Shino just pushed his glasses up. So, she supposed that counted.
Suddenly, Kiba jumped up, 'YOHOO!' punching the air. 'Finally, we'll get to see who's stronger!'
Kurenai shook her head, slightly amused. The boy had a one-track mind. She had already predicted that this is what will appeal to the boy in their session today. It was Hinata's response that concerned her.
The timid Hyuga girl pushed her fingers together in the manner she was so used to, 'Ano… Is it… Are we supposed to…?'
Kurenai nodded, understanding her hesitantly asked question regardless of the broken phrases, 'Yes.'
'It is logical,' Shino commented, looking at Hinata. 'Why you ask, Hinata-san. It is because we are a specialised reconnaissance team. It is expected for us to train for such missions.'
Still, Hinata wasn't certain, wiggling her fingers she said, 'Y…Yes but on Team 7…'
Kurenai sighed. She knew Hinata would have a problem with spying on Kakashi's team. She had known it even before she had been officially given her team. When she had observed her potential genin in the academy, she had quickly realised that Hinata had a soft spot for the trouble maker.
Never did she think it would hinder her performance. In fact, she might even go as far as to say that it motivated Hinata. She had never seen Hinata train harder than when she did at Tazuna's house in Wave. If only, it stayed at motivation and not turn into a liability.
She would have to manage this carefully. Forming attachments for shinobi was always a dangerous thing, especially for those who were on duty. That was one of the reasons why it was discouraged to be on the same team with one's boyfriend or girlfriend. And why most ninja didn't think about settling down until they had retired.
'Hinata,' she addressed the girl. 'I understand it may seem like a wrong thing to do but we have to train for espionage missions. And Team 7 is one of the few teams that are a possible target for it. We'll swap targets every week.'
Hinata pursed her lips but agreed nonetheless. Not that she had a choice anyway. A mission was a mission, regardless of what a ninja thought about it personally. Their feelings on the mission's objective mattered very little, and more often than not were a hindrance to the completion of the mission.
'Good,' Kurenai smiled at the girl's acquiescence. 'Now, Kiba where are they?'
Kiba and Akamaru both gave a few experimental sniffs and barely a minute later, he scrunched up his face. 'Ughh. The dobe's scent is so strong. What the hell has he been doing!'
Akamaru have an agreeing bark and Kiba pointed towards their general location. He was till quite young so he couldn't pinpoint their exact location. But that was enough for his sensei it seemed.
'W…what happened, Kiba-kun?' Hinata asked, concern clear in her eyes. Was Naruto-kun hurt? Was he bleeding? No. That couldn't be, she calmed herself. They hadn't even started training yet. How could he get hurt already?
But Kiba's response relaxed her a little. 'He's sweating like a pig!'
'Oh, okay,' Hinata nodded, satisfied by the answer. She, however missed the look of concern on her sensei's face.
'Now, I have a meeting with the Hokage. Your mission is to be observe team 7's training from an appropriate distance,' Kurenai then went over the basics of what a reconnaissance team should know. However, it was all revision since they were already aware of it.
'It goes without saying that you shouldn't be caught or found out. At the end of their training, you will 'exfil' from enemy territory and share your intel with me,' Kurenai finished, asking whether they had any questions.
'Ano, sensei. W…what happens if we are… caught,' Hinata fiddled with the jacket as she asked, still not comfortable with the mission parameters but determined not to let her team down. This was just training. They weren't doing anything illegal.
'Good question,' Kurenai smiled reassuringly at the girl. 'You will treat it as any mission in enemy territory. You have already gone over the formations and know the protocol. Follow it and you should be fine. After all, they are just genin like you.'
Kurenai then departed after making sure that the team had understood their objective. They had three hours to finish their mission. Surely, that must be enough time for even Kakashi to arrive at the Hokage's office, even as perpetually late as he was.
Hopefully, everything will go well, the black-haired beauty told herself as she vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the three genin to figure out a plan.
Ten minutes later, they were as ready as they were ever going to be and had formed three plans in case they were found out.
'Let's go,' Shino ordered, being the captain appointed for this mission by Kurenai.
'Hai,' the other two obeyed and followed the Aburame, his bugs letting him know the way as they went deeper into the woods surrounding training ground seven.
It didn't take long for them to find team 7 and each member of team eight hid as effectively as they could, crouching within and under bushes. Tension was thick in the air, as the need to pass their first solo mission was mounting.
None of the genin wanted to disappoint their sensei, who had put two months into their training, despite at first having some hesitation about each genin's overspecialisation. They had agreed unanimously that they would not fail Kurenai-sensei.
'Kiba, do you think this is far enough?' Shino asked quietly, hoping the brash teammate would recognise the need for subtlety. Although Shino's bugs told him so, he knew that Inuzukas' noses were highly important in recognising potential dangers.
Thankfully, he wasn't as stupid as to shout it out. 'Yes, I don't think they can hear us. Hinata?' he turned to the timid girl who was hiding under a bush.
Hinata was quiet for a few seconds before she responded, 'No. None of them can hear us.' While her ability to read lips was nowhere near as perfect as her father's or even her cousin's – as her training had been halted some years ago – she was still a Hyuga. She was fairly certain that none of them had realised that they were there.
And with that, team eight resolved to make any and all observations about team 7 that they could.
'What the hell?' Kiba asked, confusion dripping every word.
Honestly, both Hinata and Shino were equally confused. What were they meant to do with three dozen eggs?
It got even weirder Naruto quite literally chucked it Sasuke's face, and did not look at all sorry for doing it. In fact, the blonde looked quite pleased as the egg cracked on the unsuspecting Uchiha's face.
Shino raised an eyebrow at the move the blonde had pulled. Maybe he just got lucky. There was no other reason to think that Naruto could have seen through the blindfold or even known where Uchiha was.
Perhaps he had some sensory ability, he mused. But no. That hypothesis was proven false when right after that, he was hit with eggs from both the Sakura and Uchiha.
What was the point of the exercise, Hinata was wondering? It seemed to her that it was just a waste of time meant to ruin the genin's clothes and make them smell like rotten eggs.
Speaking of Kiba, the boy and Akamaru were literally on the verge of puking in the village's woods. It was by sheer will, that both seemed to be stopping themselves. For retching quite loudly in the bushes would most surely give them away.
Did the eggs really smell that bad? Maybe that was an incentive in a twisted, sort of way to do the exercise properly. Perhaps it was some sort of teamwork test. They hadn't arrived when Kakashi-sensei had apparently explained the logic of the exercise. Hinata carefully wrote her suspicions in a small diary. Coded.
Spies always needed to write intel in codes. Team Eight hadn't developed their own secret code very formally yet, but it was on its way. It was based on a system of numbers, and hand signs. Hinata personally thought it was quite clever.
Trust Shino to come up with such a clever idea. Admittedly, it was her idea to include the hand-signs. Although Kurenai sensei had said that it wasn't fool-proof, it was better than her own genin team had come with. That in itself was high praise, in Hinata's book.
She shifted her attention back to observing the three genin of Team 7 ruin each other's clothes by rotten eggs. So far, she hadn't noticed anything useful. Perhaps, Shino and Kiba had. Well, Shino properly. Kiba couldn't even keep his nose from scrunching up in an effort to keep the horrible smell out.
And hour later, it seemed that Kakashi-sensei had decided that enough was enough. And her suspicions turned out to be right. A warm feeling developed in her chest. She wasn't a total failure.
Even though she might not be a very good fighter, she had a good mind for analysing and examining things. Even her father had commented on it once or twice. And Hiashi Hyuga was notoriously hard to please.
'What are they doing?' Shino asked barely a minute before Hinata let out an involuntary 'eep!'
Kiba immediately pushed his palm against her mouth in an effort to keep her involuntary noises down.
'Hinata! What are you… Oi, Hinata!' he hissed, trying to shake the incredibly red girl awake. She had fainted! What the hell?! Kiba looked up towards Shino for help but the boy had already turned back to their target.
And soon enough, it became clear why Hinata had coloured crimson and fainted so suddenly. Naruto had suddenly stripped to his boxers as did the other two genin.
Kiba was not going to deny that he was jealous! He knew he had no reason to be jealous of the dead-last, dobe! But he was. And it frustrated him to no end. The idiot acted so high and mighty; acting as if he was already the Hokage and the hat was only waiting for him to put it on.
It drove him crazy. And that was not mentioning the fact that their teammate seemed to have a soft spot for the blonde idiot. He might have been a little dense in the academy, but he wasn't as dense as the blonde dobe who was now roaring with laughter and had jumped straight into the stream to avoid the wrath of the Uchiha.
It wasn't hard to figure out Hinata's feelings for Naruto. Even if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he could smell it. Pheromones! And that pissed him off more than anything! Her mother and sister had sat him down for the Talk last year and he had to say, it was potentially the most embarrassing, worst hour of his life.
Period. There was no argument about it. For an Inuzuka, puberty was different. For the most part, it was more intensified than normal humans because of their shared dog-like traits. Their smell of pheromones and their reaction to it increases by a lot and so did the affect of it on their moods.
And right now, Kiba was feeling angry and a not a little jealous at the idiot who was enjoying himself in the stream. What was it about him that she liked? Kiba just couldn't get it. He was an idiot, not at all smart, had literally the worst grades in their class, was a terrible ninja and wore orange.
Really. There was nothing to like about him. And yet, for some reason the girl who had now just woken up, liked him. It was a mystery to Kiba.
'Gomen….,' Hinata mumbled to her teammates, still quite red from watching Naruto dressed only in boxers. He was practically naked now.
'That is fine. And expected,' Shino said in that same tone he always used. 'Why you ask. For a main branch Hyuga, it would be expected to not be confronted and comfortable with almost nudity.'
Hinata blushed more than last time at his blunt way of putting it. Even Kiba thought it was quite blunt, as the Inuzuka punched Shino's shoulder lightly. But essentially, he was right. That was the first time she was seeing Naruto-kun without shirts and trousers that baggy jumpsuit.
As cute, blonde, whiskered ninja got out of the stream Hinata noticed how thin he actually was. She could even see his ribs. And she had a distinct sense that she would be able to see it without her Byakugan as well.
Quietly, each of them shared their observations with the team. In her own diary, Hinata noted with great sadness that it was obvious Naruto-kun didn't have a proper diet. Granted, she had heard and always saw him eating ramen but didn't he realise this was bad? Couldn't he see his own body in the mirror?
Why then didn't he eat something else. Even meat, if he didn't want to eat vegetables. As Hinata made a note of it, she decided she what she could do to help him. Maybe he didn't know how to cook.
He lived all alone, so that could a reason for why he always seemed to have ramen. Maybe she could offer to teach him how to cook. Involuntarily, she let out another 'eep' at the thought of the intimate setting.
Her and Naruto standing side by side in his kitchen, her shoulder rubbing against his. Him chopping vegetables and her making a stew. Him quite cutely putting a bit of sauce on her nose and her blushing. And before she knew it, she had passed out yet again.
And when she came to next, it seemed that Sasuke-san and Kakashi-sensei were sparring, Sakura-san was practising her stamina and endurance it seemed and Naruto was practising throwing shuriken?
Hinata berated herself for letting herself be distracted by such a thought. Thankfully, hidden as she was under a lot of bushes, her teammates seemed to not have noticed her second visit in the land of oblivion.
'What a moron,' Kiba commented from behind her. Akamaru gave an agreeing quiet bark. 'He still can't throw properly. How the hell did he ever graduate?'
Hinata frowned, 'Kiba-kun. That's rude,' she reprimanded him lightly but he was right nonetheless. Why was Naruto-kun still having problems with the basics?
'Indeed. It is quite surprising,' Shino agreed with Kiba. 'There must be some reason for it. It is not logical.'
Hinata could only nod in agreement. She remembered Naruto passing the throwing test quite clearly. It was the written portion and the clone jutsu that had always troubled him.
'I told you the dobe was an idiot,' Kiba smiled. 'I was right.'
'Naruto-san seems to have found an alternate to the clone jutsu,' Shino remarked, looking at the clone which Naruto was using as a target practice. 'And they seem to be tangible. Interesting technique. And one not meant for genin. It is… suspicious.'
Hinata turned her head to the side. 'What do you mean, Shino-kun?' Indeed, she remembered her father saying the something similar to a main family Hyuga during dinner after the graduation ceremony.
However, it was Kiba who answered, 'Yes. He made the same on the bridge. His clones have the same smell. That's weird.' The boy glared where Naruto's clone seemingly relayed their point of view of what original went wrong. And they tended to insult each other as well.
She could see that as Naruto-kun made his clones, he divided his chakra somewhat equally in them. But that couldn't possibly be true. If it were, he couldn't have made more than four at most. There must be something she was missing. Hinata wrote that in her diary. It was odd, to say the least.
'I can only presume it is a chunin level technique or higher that Naruto-san got by dishonest methods,' Shino informed them, much to their shock.
It seems that neither of their clan had seen fit to tell them of how Naruto-san had stolen the Scroll of Sealing and opened it. Maybe that was where he learnt it.
'Maybe that's why the adults are not fond of him,' Shino offered, still trying to solve the mystery that was turning out to be Naruto Uzumaki.
'I know. My clan doesn't like him either. They won't say why though,' Kiba added. They just told him to stay away from him.
'Perhaps…Naruto-kun's pranks,' Hinata offered to her teammates. While the Hyuga had never been antagonistic towards him, she distinctly remembered Ko-san telling her to stay away from him. Actually, he had used a much meaner word, which was decidedly untrue.
'No. They seemed to have that suspicion of Naruto-san before he started his practical jokes. I can only surmise it is for something beyond his control,' Shino replied, and immediately a few theories came to mind. None of them which were good. And none of them painted his clan in a good picture. That thought was highly disturbing, to say the least.
Hinata shook her head, 'That's just silly… Since he'll be Hokage someday.'
She was glad that even though Shino didn't seem to agree with her, at least he didn't argue against it.
There was only one person Shino could talk to about this, without raising suspicion. But he was also the laziest person he has ever met. Who knows if he would want to help or not? On the other hand, maybe it was not logical for him to involve himself in a situation that clearly was not his concern.
'Man! Sasuke's taijutsu is fancy,' Kiba almost whistled if Shino hadn't put a hand on his mouth to stop him. 'Nothing compared to Inuzuka style though,' the boy still managed to mumble through his covered mouth.
Hinata had to agree. Sasuke-san seemed highly proficient at taijutsu. Much like Kiba-kun. She idly wondered if he was as good as or better than her cousin. Definitely better than her. But then again, who wasn't. NO!
She shook her head. There was no use thinking on it now. She had a mission to focus on. Perhaps, she could focus on Sasuke-san's moves. Hinata focused her Byakugan on how the raven haired moved his legs and executed his kicks. It seemed he was focusing more on his lower body.
As a Hyuga she was aware of the ongoing debate if their style or the Uchiha style was superior, for years. As far as she knew, it had started after Konoha was founded by the Senju and Uchiha clans.
The Hyuga had joined later, right before the First Shinobi War. However, they hadn't taken part in the first war since their numbers were still quite low.
Observing Sasuke-san seemed like the best option. Not that she had against anything Naruto-kun of course, but there was no risk of fainting when she observed the Uchiha. She could see there was a lot of power behind each and everyone of his moves. Very much in contrast to the Hyuga.
But then again, when would she ever get to use this intel. Most likely, they would need to throw it away. Its not like she would ever be in any competition against the rookie of the year.
'Look at that! The dobe is trying to walk on water,' Kiba almost laughed out loud before he remembered they were supposed to be spying. 'He really is a shitty ninja!'
'Kiba-kun!' Hinata reprimanded him, very uncharacteristically, giving him a stern look that silenced the boy instantly. She hated when others put down Naruto-kun for his lack of skills. He tries harder than anyone she had ever seen. He didn't deserve such jokes on his expense.
'I would say that Naruto-san has the potential to be a good ninja,' Shino added after a while, surprising both Hinata and the dog-ninja.
'What the hell do you mean?' Kiba seemed almost offended. 'The dobe can't even walk on water. Or throw a kunai properly.'
'You didn't let me finish,' Shino said, silencing Kiba. 'Naruto-san has the potential if he would only apply himself properly.'
'H…He does,' this time it was Hinata who replied. 'M…More than…'
'Naruto-san has failed the academy exam three times already. And he has slept through most of the classes and skipped the rest. It is logical that he is as untrained as he is.'
Hinata tried to argue to that, but she had no response. It was true. Naruto-kun had wasted most of his time in the academy. But then, so had Shikamaru-san. She didn't want to point it out, but she didn't think academic ability necessarily relates to ninja ability.
'Che. As if,' Kiba scoffed, unconvinced. 'Nobody who kills an unarmed prisoner can be a good ninja,' he said heatedly.
Hinata frowned, pursing her lips. 'M... Maybe he had a g…good reason. M…Maybe Zabuza-san was a threat.' She didn't like arguing with her teammates. But she also didn't like when people put down Naruto-kun for no reason.
'He was not. Even Kakashi-sensei had scolded Naruto on his actions,' Kiba fixed his eyes on the boy who now floating in the stream.
'It was technically not a crime,' was all Shino said, before they all turned back to the sensation of Naruto-kun trying to stabilise his chakra yet again.
Hinata focused her Byakugan on Naruto, 'He's… going about it wrong.'
Wisely, this time Kiba kept any sarcastic comments to himself, knowing that Hinata would not take it well. She had to grow out of her crush sometime soon, right?
Hinata saw that he was trying to centre his chakra instead of pushing it towards his feet. Even Naruto-kun would know something like that.
Neither Shino nor Kiba got the sense that anything was off but Hinata got the distinct sense that something was wrong. And it made her more anxious that she didn't know what.
'S…Shino… can you send out your bugs,' she asked, not taking eyes off of the blonde who had just exclaimed something and was running off towards his teammates.
'Yes, I already have,' Shino replied, looking alarmedly from a sprinting Naruto to his teammates. 'Kiba. Have they sensed us?' They needed to be ready to pull out if they had been made.
Kiba channelled chakra to his ears and listened for a few minutes just as Hinata focused on their lips moving, all three ready to move at a moment's notice.
'No,' Kiba snickered after a while. 'The dobe is bored and he's tryna get the Uchiha and Sakura to spar with him.'
Hinata instantly felt a pang of hurt for Naruto-kun. The situation was all too familiar for her. Granted, she was never this enthusiastic about sparring with the other Hyugas but she requested nonetheless.
They main family denied her and branch family did it out of duty. And even then, they never tried their best to go all out. For fear of injuring her.
Sometimes she just felt yelling at them, the way Naruto-kun was doing now. How was she supposed to improve if nobody would train with her?
But her shy and timid nature got the better of her every time. She couldn't bear it, if because of her own clumsiness and weakness, she got injured and a branch Hyuga got his seal activated. The guilt would eat her alive. So, Hinata stayed quiet.
She could understand Naruto-kun's frustration very well. Better than her own teammates or his own, it seems. Again, Hinata cursed her fear of being rejected by the one she looked up to the most, causing her to not approach him.
Maybe someday… maybe someday she could be like Sakura-san, who was never afraid of approaching Sasuke-san.
A sharp intake of breath from Shino drew her attention to him, 'What is it, Shino-kun?'
'My bugs are dead,' was Shino's only reply and not a second later, they all saw Sasuke who launch a large fireball at his own teammate. Fear gripped her in that moment. Hinata's heart got caught in her throat. NO! Naruto-kun!
Hinata almost forgot about the mission. She didn't care whether they were supposed to be hidden. Until Naruto had jumped out of the way, yelling at Sasuke-san for almost killing him.
'Did that…,' Hinata asked, knowing Shino-kun was very sensitive about his bugs.
Kiba cursed under his breath while Shino replied, 'It seems Naruto-san stepped one some, while Sakura-san stepped on others. The rest were killed by the fireball.'
Hinata instantly felt sorry for her teammate. 'I'm s…sorry Shino-kun.'
Shino however, shook his head, 'It was logical that they would die at some point. But I would have preferred it to not be in such a way.'
However, she wasn't the only one thinking it was too convenient. Kiba though voiced her concern, 'Do you think we've been found out?'
While Hinata had been reading Naruto-kun's lips, she hadn't seen Sakura-san's or Sasuke-san's. Shino shook his head, 'Just before dying, my partners told me that Naruto-san was taunting Sasuke-san about his small fireballs.'
'So, we're still okay,' Kiba nodded, and Hinata felt relieved. She didn't know how she would explain to Naruto-kun if they had been found out. She knew it was probably cowardly but she couldn't bear to have him think bad of her, like almost everyone does.
Although, he was probably still mad at her about what she had said in Wave. Hinata needed to make up for that. She inwardly smiled to herself, knowing the perfect way to apologise. Even now, she could see that he needed it.
'It is not logical. They do not have a sensor,' Shino said, but his tone belied his confusion. Which was new because rarely, if ever, did anything stump Shino to the point of making him confused. At least, visibly so.
Hinata nodded, 'Only us three and potentially Ino-san have sensory abilities in our class.'
'Naruto has the luck of the devil!' Kiba growled grumpily. 'Are you going to send more out?' he asked, looking at the bug user.
Shino refused to sacrifice more of his partners on a couple of genin who were just brawling at this point. There was nothing to learn about their technique or intel to gather. There was nothing sophisticated about their fight. Even Sasuke-san had devolved into fighting like a barman, which was more than a little disappointing.
Kiba however, was quite glad of the events, and was smiling from ear to ear. 'I can't wait to tell Kaa-chan that the Uchiha prick's taijutsu has nothing on us.'
'A…ano,' Hinata looked from the brawling genin to Shino, 'I…think they know,' she said, her heart furiously beating, not wanting it to be true.
'No way,' Kiba protested. He hadn't smelled anything that would mean they were suspicious. 'That's not possible. Me and Akamaru would have known.'
But she knew it was. It was too coincidental to not be true. Or can it? Curse her stupid, weak Byakugan. If only she had been good enough to continue training with her father like Hanabi-chan now, they wouldn't be in this mess.
'How so?' asked Shino, now even more alarmed that not only Hinata and Kiba, but his bugs could have been fooled as well. The idea did not sit well with him.
He knew Naruto-san was an orphan but did the Uchiha clan have some technique to fool the Aburame's bugs? From what he knew of the famed, now nearly extinct clan, it was as possible as it was disturbing.
'I…I don't know,' came the Hyuga's reply and left team eight uncertain of the success of their first espionage mission. What would they tell Kurenai-sensei now?
'Just another one in my list failures,' Hinata thought morosely. But at least her father will not know about it.