My longest and MOST FAVOURITE chapter yet! Enjoy! (Reviews appreciated)

Chapter 7: I'll Be There For You

Morning rolled around as Kakashi, Guy, and Hinata woke up to the sound of birds and a gentle breeze hitting against their tents.

Hinata rolled over in her sleeping bag, mentally exhausted of the many things that had occurred in the past few days. All she could remember from last night was falling asleep on against Naruto's shoulder. Her face started heating up just thinking about it.

She got up and emerged from her tent, still tired as she walked over to where Naruto was sitting. He was gazing up at the morning sky.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun." Hinata said lazily.

"Good morning Hinata-chan." Naruto showed a big smile. She could see that he was as energetic as always.

"I-I'm sorry I fell asleep last night...I didn't allow you to get any rest..." Hinata apologized, feeling guilty that Naruto stayed up for her instead.

"It's not all that bad, I created a few shadow clones and took a power nap, I'm as rested as I can be!" Naruto exclaimed.

He went back to staring at the blue morning sky for a few moments, and Hinata came over and sat beside him.

"Thanks..Naruto-kun..for everything." She whispered to him.

Naruto responded by just putting an arm around Hinata's shoulders and pulling her close to him and gave her a long hug. She could feel her face getting red but somehow it just felt right. She hugged him back until he let go.

"I'll always be here for you Hinata." He smiled at her with his usual smile. Hinata felt warm inside, mostly because her crush had just hugged her, but still.

Kakashi and Guy came out from their tent as well, stretching and yawning.

"Good morning Naruto and Hinata, didn't know you two were both up yet." Kakashi said lazily. "I'm assuming everything went fine last night?"

"Yep, no trouble." Was all Naruto replied with.

"Glad to hear it." Kakashi replied. "Let's cook up some breakfast and get going, we're supposed to arrive in the Rain Village today."

With that, the four cooked up some more instant ramen courtesy of Naruto's handy instant-packs and enjoyed a quick breakfast. They all packed up and continued on their way to the Rain.

"We'll be there in a few hours." Kakashi said. "Meanwhile don't use up too much energy, we don't know what kind of greeting we may get."

"Yes Kakashi sensei." Naruto replied.

...

The four ninja were only a few more kilometres away from the Rain Village, where they intended to spy on the Akatsuki hideout that was allegedly there.

"Alright you guys, a bit more and we'll need to be extra cautious." Kakashi said.

They all landed on the ground when Kakashi sensed the presence of many other people in the area.

"I don't think we're alone her guys...keep your guard up." Kakashi explained.

With that being said two big thugs emerged from the small clearing in front of them holding weapons. Two from the left, two from the right and more coming from all directions.

"Look guys, it's some ninja's! Hahaha" the Leader of the group started mocking.

The rest of the thugs laughed along with him.

"Let's see if they can fight with their legs broken!" One of them said.

Just as he said that, three thugs came from behind and grabbed Hinata, pulling her back. One grabbed a knife and put it up to her neck.

"Give us all you have and we'll let the girl live." He said. "Make a move and she'll die."

"Let her go!" Naruto shouted.

"Let her go? But why? It's not like you can do anything or we'll kill her! Hahahahaha!" They all laughed with him again.

Kakashi and Guy were focused on the front of the pack, while Naruto was staring at Hinata. Her eyes showed fear as one thug has a knife against her neck.

"Don't do anything drastic Naruto..." Was all Kakashi whispered.

"Give her back! Or you'll pay!" Naruto shouted once more.

"Like we'd do that." A thug replied.

Naruto used this opportunity of standing around to gather up nature energy.

"Give her back!" Naruto screamed. He traveled so fast that no one saw him, not even the thugs, appear between the knife and Hinata. He broke the knife in two. He grabbed Hinata and kicked the the thug in the chest behind her, almost teleporting back to the same spot where he was standing before.

He set Hinata down.

"Hinata, I will protect you. Kakashi, Guy, let me handle all of them." Naruto's serious tone meant business.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto shouted, and ten more Naruto's in Sage Mode appeared.

The thugs attempted to attack with their weapons, but the eleven Naruto's all took one thug each. With Sage Mode they were all much stronger and faster than all of them.

"Kakashi, Guy, Hinata, move!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up to a tree.

"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto exclaimed. He created two gigantic wind shuriken, one in each hand and threw them at the group of thugs. Most retreated, but some were caught in the huge explosion of wind chakra, and were injured.

The thugs by now we're scared and retreated off back the way they came. Hinata fell to the ground as the two thugs holding her ran off.

"I-I'm sorry for causing so much trouble.." Hinata mumbled as her eyes noticeably began to fill with tears. "I guess I wasn't strong enough do defend myself." She whispered it so Naruto could hear.

Her head was down to hide her tears, thinking that this is the reason why her father had disowned her in the first place.

"Hinata, it's okay. You are strong, you just need to be more confident." Naruto whispered back to her. She looked up at his face, and stared into his eyes for a second before Naruto wrapped his arms around her back and squeezed. Hinata felt safe in his arms, as if nothing could harm her.

She felt better now, her tears drying up and confidence slowly building in her.

Meanwhile, Guy and Kakashi were talking on the side, letting Naruto and Hinata have their moment.

"Alright guys no more interruptions. Let's get going. Naruto use Sage mode every so often and Hinata use your Byakugan, make sure we aren't being followed." Kakashi sternly said.

The four ninja continued on their way for a few hours, finally reaching the outskirts of the Hidden Rain.

"Alright, we're here." Kakashi said. "We've gotta keep a low profile, so everyone take off their headbands and put on a change of clothes."

Everyone pulled out a change of clothes. everyone had on a dark cloak with different pants, as to not draw attention.

"Alright, everyone we'll split up into two teams and infiltrate the village. Naruto and I will be team one and Hinata and Guy, you'll be team two. This will be our meeting spot, so everyone meet back here in exactly 3 hours no matter the circumstance. If anyone doesn't show up we'll assume the worst." Kakashi explained.

They divided into their two teams and parted, Hinata and Guy going around the village a bit more to the opposite side. Naruto and Kakashi sneaked through near the front.

"Alright Naruto, keep a low profile. We're here for Intel only." Kakashi whispered. They were walking through the rainy streets of the Rain Village, with open shops on either sides of them.

"I know Kakashi sensei." Naruto responded back.

They wandered through the streets hoping to overhear any useful information, but for now they wait.

...

Hinata and Guy were on the opposite side of town, walking through the rainy town.

Hinata used her Byakugan to try to pinpoint any mass chakra's in her range, but no such luck.

"I don't see anything." Hinata whispered.

"Let's go further into town, maybe someone will give us a few clues." Guy responded.

The two ninja walked further into the Rain village, getting near the many shops and restaurants.

"Let's go into one of these restaurants, maybe we can overhear some information." Guy motioned towards a small bar restaurant.

The two walked up to the bar and sat down.

"What'll it be?" The bartender asked.

"Gimme a Saké, and a soda for the kid." Guy said in a tough-guy voice.

The bartender served both of them their drinks.

"You're not from around here, are ya?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah. We're both tourists. This is my niece. We heard such cool things about this village that we thought we'd take a look around." Guy responded. He had obviously made a cover up for the real purpose.

"Have you two heard legends of Lady Angel? It's popular in our village." The bartender responded. He picked up a glass and wiped it clean.

"No, actually, we haven't." Hinata spoke up slightly.

"Well, the legend is that Lady Angel is the one who watches over the village. People say she lives in the big clock tower in the centre of town, and watches us from above." The bartender seemed to catch their interest.

"That's an interesting legend." Guy managed to pipe up. "We should definitely take a look at that clock tower." Guy looked over at Hinata, she knew what he meant by that.

"Well, we better get going. Lots of sights to see!" Guy set down his bottle and both of them stood up.

"Take care now." The bartender kindly said.

Both ninja walked out of the restaurant.

"Let's go check out that tower." Hinata whispered. "I bet that's where the Akatsuki hideout is."

"Alright. Let's go!" Guy replied.

One could only know what danger lies there.