"I have a Plan."

You actually can pronounce capital letters with a bit of practice.

Everyone looked up from their dinner. I had just gotten back from ninjaing stuff and people. Everyone had managed to get hot baths, courtesy of Sasuke's fire jutsu (as had Tazuna's family), so they were in pretty good spirits.

"I thought we already had a plan?" Kurenai asked, sounding amused.

At least she was humoring me. I could work with that. Probably.

"A new plan, bigger and better with 75% more amazing." I pulled out a storage scroll, opened it up, and bit my finger to release the contents. A big poof of smoke, and stacks of Gato's files, papers and photographs were neatly arranged on the dinner table. Tazuna's eyes widened in astonishment.

Paradoxically, while ninjas were expected to be stealthy, in this world there was also the expectation of showmanship. I suppose it was only natural.

"The fruits of my labors, kids!"

Kurenai was scanning the papers on top, spoon full of fish stew temporarily forgotten, picking out bits of information with her keen scarlet eyes. "So what's the takeaway from this?"

"Gato is running arms, equipment, and supplies to both sides of the Mist civil war," I explained.

Kurenai blinked. "There's a civil war? I mean, it's not the most stable of countries, but last I heard the blood purges are over."

"Blood purges, yes- civil war, apparently not. A woman by the name of Mei Terumi is trying to overthrow the current kage. Interestingly, Zabuza went nukenin after trying a one person coup himself," I further explained. Kurenai tapped her chin thoughtfully, and locked her eyes onto me.

"That is interesting. Tie it together for me."

"Gato is planning on selling information on the resistance to the Mizu-kage soon. Basically, sell them out by using his relationship with them," I said.

Kurenai frowned, and put the spoon in her mouth, thinking. "Well, too bad for them. Mist could probably use new management from what little information gets out." She gave me a look. "You aren't suggesting we interfere?"

"I'm suggesting that when we take him out, we grab all the intelligence we can and let someone at home figure out what to do with it. I mean, helping a revolution succeed sounds like fun, but it might be a bit over our paygrade."

I'm glad I went this route. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I realized there was little chance of convincing Kurenai that we should take part in extracurricular regime change. It would probably work, but it was crazy. If I didn't know the Plot, I doubt I would believe it was a good idea either.

Our genin had the good sense to be quiet and listen, thankfully. This was probably the wrong lesson to be teaching them, but I think when we got home I was probably going to get in enough hot water for them to understand the concept of 'mission creep'.

"So where did you get all of this anyway?" Kurenai asked. I grinned, just a bit smugly I'll admit.

"Gato's local base. He's not at home right now, unfortunately. He has an armed floating palace of a ship he cruises around in. He should pull into port in the next few days, depending on weather conditions. We could do a hit on the ship before it pulls into port. It would be a good learning exercise."

Kiba and Naruto both jumped to their feet, Akamaru barking happily with them.

"We're gonna' fight?" "Finally, some action!" The two genin bellowed.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "We all saw action just a few days ago!"

"I was a spider, it doesn't count," Naruto said pouting.

"And we were up against a jonin, and then he got smooshed," Kiba agreed.

Sakura just shook her head and ate more soup, muttering about 'hot blooded idiot boys'.

"It's not a bad plan," Kurenai mused. "How will we get them all out there?"

I blinked. "Water walking…?"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "I haven't taught them that yet."

Oh. I suppose I was being fairly aggressive with my training time table. But not ridiculously so.

Kurenai looked thoughtful. "It will be helpful if we have to defend the bridge or Tazuna though. Let's see if we can get them to do it in time."

"Great!" I swept up the papers and shoved them onto a counter. "That soup smells great, I worked up a hunger."

I'd leave the papers out for Tazuna to sort through. Perhaps his business contacts could find something else for us to use.

••••••••••

The next morning we all set out bright and early to the work sight with Tazuna. Kurenai was going through the papers and guarding the site, whilst I would watch a bunch of kids fall in water.

"Naruto, make a few dozen clones and go help with labor," I ordered. Naruto grimaced in that fox-like way of his.

"What? Why?"

"Because a Hokage ought to know the basics of how construction works. That way you have an appreciation for infrastructure," I said. "That, and it's good practice with the jutsu."

The midget opened his mouth for a moment before sighing and creating a small horde of clones.

I turned to Tazuna. "He knows which end of a hammer to hold, but you might want to limit him to carrying stuff at first."

"I know how to deal with laborers," Tazuna snorted. "Go teach them your ninja magic."

I nodded. "Right. Follow me. It's time for the beach episode."

"Yay! Beach time, I want a ball!" Ringumo shouted, jumping up and down happily. The boys naturally all locked their eyes on her. I sighed. More training to do!

"You need to learn to water walk as a human too," I reminded. She pouted cutely.

"Poo. Fine."

We made our way down to the shore. Not particularly pretty: It was stoney, with choppy waves, rather than a sandy, sunny paradise. Reminded me a little of coastal Maine, actually. Oh well, work with what you're given.

"I'm not sure this counts as a beach," Shino mirrored my thoughts.

"Well… admittedly, it leaves a bit to be desired, but we're not here for fun," I stated.

I pulled out a scroll and produced a pile of silk shirts, grabbing two before sealing the rest up. I tossed them to Sakura and Hinata. "Alright, you're all getting wet today. I suggest stripping down, or you'll get water logged and make things harder for yourself. You'll also be learning how to regulate your body temperature with chakra."

"Doesn't Ringumo need one?" Kiba asked.

"Nope. I'm just wearing a genjutsu. It can't get wet."

Shino and Kiba went still for a moment, before blinking and stripping down to their underwear.

Sakura looked at the shirt in her hands indignantly, then back to me. "Why do I end up stripping so often on missions?"

I wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole. "So, my team already has started a bit on this, but I think we can get you all proficient with it in a few days. Ideally, we'd have a pond to start out with, but…" I shrugged. "Needs must."

I ran through the basics of the technique, and how it differed from tree climbing. Although it was second nature to me now, it honestly is a fairly difficult activity. Fluid is… well, it's not solid. And that changes things a bunch. You have to not only spread your weight out over the surface, but also kind of use your chakra to hold the water together.

Theoretically, if you had the chakra well of a jinchuriki and the control of Tsunade, you might be able to walk on air.

Probably still easier to use a wind jutsu.

Both Hinata and Sasuke were using their dojutsu to see what I was doing. That would help things along immensely. Ringumo already did this as a spider, almost instinctively, but she would need to relearn it as a human.

"So, since we don't want anyone drowning, each of you will be paired up with someone else," I stated. "This will also give you experience in teaching: Always a good thing."

Sakura raised her hand. I smiled.

"I've already made my choices, Sakura. You're with Shino."

"But-!" She tried, but I silenced her with a raised eyebrow.

"Naruto, Hinata. Kiba and Sasuke, with Ringumo."

"Score," Kiba muttered, even as Sasuke shot him a glare.

"Start shallow, just past the waves," I advised. They all wandered into the water, mostly looking unhappy. Except Ringumo, who was splashing around a bit.

Oh well. They'd appreciate it when they could walk on water.

••••••••••

Sakura

••••••••••

"So. I can kind of do it on flat water, but I don't have magic eyeballs, so I'm not certain how much help I'll be," I explained.

I was annoyed at sensei. He was always helping Naruto and Hinata get together, but could he pair me and Sasuke up? No. It wasn't like he was even being sneaky about it. Not to mention, I was almost naked again. At least he gave Hinata and I shirts.

It looks too tight on her.

Dammit, they were both my shirts, weren't they.

"Do not sell yourself short, Sakura. You are smart and loquacious. I doubt you will have problems explaining this."

I started and looked over at Shino. He adjusted his glasses, looking attentive. Even through his sunglasses, his gaze was very clearly fixed completely on me.

"Um, thanks. Well. We started on the edge of a pond before and used one foot until we could put weight on it… Let me try something."

I lifted my foot out of the sea and gently placed it on the slightly foamy surface. Focusing, I tried to push my chakra into and through my foot so that the water would kind of clump together, and I could push against it.

It was kind of working, but I was glad I had experience already, the water was moving, and I could vaguely feel my chakra washing away. I slowly put weight on it, until my other foot was off the stony bed.

I almost had my other foot out of the water when I suddenly was underneath. I was buffeted by the water, and even though I knew I was only in three or so feet of it, I found myself disoriented.

Hands grabbed me and hauled me up.

I sputtered and coughed. "I see why he wanted to make us have a partner for this," Shino said, still holding me so I could steady my legs.

I breathed hard for a few seconds, spitting out a last bit of sea water. "Today is going to suck."

Shino nodded. "It looked like you had the right idea though. We should both look out to sea, in order to watch for waves though. You were pushed under by a large one."

I had my breath back. "Right. So, you're going to try running the chakra kind of like in tree climbing, but imagine trying to stick a circle of water around your feet, distributing your weight across…"

••••••••••

Sasuke

••••••••••

Why did I always get stuck babysitting Ringumo? At this point, I'd seriously consider Sakura as a preferable training partner.

Kiba interrupted my train of thought. "So, you know what to do, right? Your sensei explained the theoretical, but…"

We had been practicing on still water. I wasn't even very good at it. No, to be honest, I couldn't do it. And now I had to teach others.

"Here. Lie on your back to start. You humans float like that anyway," Ringumo said, staring up at the sky.

"That defeats the purpose," I pointed out.

She chuckled. "We won't stay like this. You need to feel how it works. Didn't I hear Andoryuu say the bottom of the foot is the hardest spot to channel chakra through? So to start, channel it through your back. And your arms, and legs and hands! Once you figure out how to do that well enough to push you up to the very surface of the water, you'll find it much easier to work it out with your feet."

I blinked. Ringumo was always acting like a child, it threw me whenever she stopped.

"Just how old are you, Ringumo?" I asked.

"Hmm… That's kind of complicated. My Plane and yours run at the same speed, so there's no dilation, but our day cycles are longer, and we age differently. In human terms, I'd probably be … 15, 16?"

Kiba was failing to repress a grin, whereas I managed to keep my mouth shut. This child was 16?

"Bwah?" Okay, I failed to keep my mouth shut as well.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I know I act like a kid a lot-" Now she could read minds as well. Great. "Mostly because Mom and Andoryuu baby me so much. I was the last out of my egg, and I was a bit slow to grow. It gets frustrating at times, but I get away with a lot of things too, so…" she shrugged. "I've come to embrace it. I have a lot of fun."

My god, she's a natural ninja. Hide the truth. Make weakness strength.

"Plus Andoryuu always throws my ball, so… I'd do a lot for that." She looked at us both, grinning. "You'll keep my secret, right?"

Kiba nodded vigorously, and Akamaru fell into the water with a splash.

Ringumo stood up and pulled Akamaru out, into her arms. "Why don't you and I train? These two can figure it out, right?"

"Woof!"

I watched her carry the dog off about twenty feet before holding him on the water's surface.

"What just happened?"

Kiba shook his head. "I don't know, but I'm jealous of my dog."

••••••••••

Naruto

••••••••••

Dojutsu are amazing! Hinata caught on so quick by just looking at what I was doing. Pretty soon she was telling me what to do. And it worked!

"This is amazing, Hinata-chan! We're probably going to be the first ones done!"

Hinata smiled at me. I wonder if she's sick? She's got a really pale complexion, but she's usually flushed, all pink in the face.

I was barely standing on the water, holding hands with her, both of us wobbling slightly, as we rode up and down with the small waves that were constantly headed in.

It didn't help my concentration that Hinata looks very pretty dripping wet. And wearing a shirt that's probably in Sakura's size.

"Uh oh. Big wave coming."

Every minute or so a slightly larger wave would come. It got to be predictable, and we could just ride it out. Every five or ten minutes though, an even bigger one would come along. Neither of us could deal with those, you just had to fall in and let it go over, or risk getting tumbled around and breathing water.

She nodded, and I grabbed her by the waist, cutting off the chakra to my feet. We shot down to the beach bed, and she squeaked as we clung together, right before the wave shot over us, the water rushing past.

A few seconds later, I opened my eyes to see her looking back at me. My mouth felt dry, perhaps from all the salt. I idly noticed neither of us were letting go.

"Um." I stopped, unsure what to say.

Hinata let go suddenly, even more flushed in the face.

"W-we should have more time now."

I nodded, looking away. "Right. Won't see another of those for at least ten minutes."

••••••••••

Sakura

••••••••••

I was wrong. Shino is a great training partner. He listens, he's smart, he actually talks instead of grunting or rambling about ramen… He's even made several suggestions I hadn't thought of. I think we're progressing pretty well through this technique.

Somehow I found the two of us standing on the surface, gently undulating up and down with the rhythm of the sea, Shino standing behind me, his hands on my hips, as he focused on his chakra and my voice.

"Yes… okay… Just focus on the flow," I said carefully. "Just focus on it."

"I feel it. The flow rate must, in part, change in response to the pressure… I am going to lift a foot off."

I felt more weight on my hips, and compensated, before it went away again. I looked down, and saw only three feet holding us up.

"Ah, it is possible, but the chakra drain needed is not double, but slightly higher. Non-linear. So a higher surface area is more efficient. I suppose that is to be expected."

"But good to confirm," I nodded. "Let me try."

I slowly raised my foot opposite Shino's. We both wavered slightly before stabilizing.

"Would you say about 4.3 times?" I asked.

"Feels like four and a half to me, but you have very good control."

"With our chakra overlapping like this, we'll have to adjust slightly when we're more spread out. It will take even more."

"True, but while our techniques are bolstering each other, there is deconstructive interference as well, so while it may take more chakra, it should be easier to perform."

I blinked. "Oh, that's true. I hadn't thought of that."

This was fun. Perhaps sensei was right. Meeting others could broaden your horizons if nothing else.

••••••••••

Sasuke

••••••••••

Kiba and I were finally able to stand, even as the smaller waves went by. I had never noticed before, but the actual water doesn't move all that much. The waves were motion transmitted through the water. Sure, it was moving some, but mostly up and down, not along the direction of the wave.

My sharingan were of immense utility, as I could tell Kiba when he was screwing up. I could also see and react to issues in real time for myself, as a wave came in, disturbing the fragile layer that kept me afloat.

I looked over at Ringumo. She was sitting cross legged on the water, petting Akamaru.

Who was also sitting on the water, seemingly without a care in the world.

"Are we seriously losing to your dog?"

Kiba looked over and smirked, as Ringumo ran her fingers through Akamaru's coat.

"In more ways than one, it seems. He is a good boy."

"Woof!"

Ringumo looked back at us and waved.

"You do realize she's actually a spider. Right?" I asked dryly. A gigantic, horrifying spider that found humans tasty.

"Yeah, but not at the moment. Right now, she's a hot teenage girl. Isn't that what's important? She seems nice enough, anyway."

I pondered that for a moment. It had a seductive logic to it, but I knew there had to be a flaw somewhere. Otherwise Sensei would have not been so uncomfortable around Jorougumo.

"She hasn't asked to harvest your blood," I finally replied.

"So part of you is in that body?" he finally looked slightly disturbed.

"Naruto as well."

I realised we both were staring at her.

"Huh. You two make cute girls when you add Hinata's chest on."

"That's not how…" I sighed and shook my head, carefully stepping over, before kicking out his foot.

"Gah!-"

I got wet again in the resulting splash, but it was worth it.

Even when a hand grabbed my ankle and pulled me under.

••••••••••

Tsume

••••••••••

Fandangumo was doing a fine job fishing, and seemed to be having a lot of fun over on this side of the transdimensional divide, but ninja were not meant to live on fish alone.

I decided it was time to do a bit of hunting. There had to be something to eat. Well, probably. The natives had probably been working the island fairly clean. But, I was a jonin, right? I had survived in the Spider plane for weeks at a time completely on my own by hunting giant bugs. How hard could this be?

I was crouched on top of a tree limb in a forest not too far from the construction site. Maybe a couple miles. I was disappointed, honestly. There really weren't too many signs of prey. I'd have liked to bag a small island deer, or some coastal mangrove monkeys.

I couldn't catch what didn't exist. I finally came across a rabbit warren. So I sat on the tree, and spotted as many exits as possible.

"Right. Be vewy, vewy qwiet. I'm hunting wabbbit." I shot web out over several of the warren exits, then hopped down to another. A bit of chakra composition application and I coughed up a noxious fluid that I spit into the hole.

Unless I had been sloppy, there was only one exit left open.

Two minutes later, a half dozen grey blurs shot out of the tunnel. I smiled, my plan working. I spat out wads of sticky silk, nailing the rabbits before they could reach the underbrush.

Checking the other entrances, I found three more rabbits stuck to the webs over them. I plucked them out, and gave them an extra layer of web.

"Lord Frith was not kind today," I observed, a little Watership Down popping into my head. "But your people will not be destroyed."

I snapped their necks quick and painlessly, and gathered them together into a web bundle.

That was a good start, but if the woods were empty, perhaps some water fowl?

I proceeded back to the coastline with my bag of game. Rabbit was high in protein, but depending on the time of year, it had almost no fat. In fact, you could die from a diet of only rabbit. A duck would be a great compliment, duck fat falling just slightly short of goose as the most decadent of lipids.

Sadly, a quick run along the water line turned up several ibises and a spoonbill, even an egret, but nothing better than the rabbits I already possessed. It suggested that either the locals felt the same way about duck meat, or perhaps it wasn't duck season. I hefted my bag of dinner. Daffy finally had the last laugh.

••••••••••

I stepped into Tazuna's house, ready to share my bounty. "I've got rabbit!" I called out.

"Oh. One minute!" Tsunami's voice came from back in the house.

I slit open my impromptu tucker bag, and started pulling out my finds. Not jumbucks, perhaps, but they'd do.

"Oh, great!" Tsunami came into the kitchen. She was looking slightly flushed. "I can do a lot with these."

"Ah, you've returned with a successful hunt as well, Tsume-sama?" Fandangumo came from the back of the house. "I await dinner with gusto."

There was something… I took a quick look at him. Pink face. Clothes immaculate- but of course, they were genjutsu. Slightly elevated breathing.

I turned back to Tsunami. Elevated breathing, tousled hair, satisfied grin…

No wonder Fandangumo wanted to spend time over here.

Again, not with a ten foot pole.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, Tsunami-san. You will help her out with anything she needs, Fandangumo?" I asked with a smile. The spider-turned-human smiled back, just as politely but with a glint in his eyes that made Tsunami giggle.

"Of course."

"He's been most helpful," Tsunami said with a wide, beaming grin.

I'm sure. Oh well, if she's happy, and he is, I suppose I'm being a good spider sage?

I shut the door and shook my head. At least Tsunami wouldn't eat him. Though that was the least of my worries, really.

I came across Inari, who looked haunted. Oh dear.

"Hey kid. Want to learn some ninja stuff? Far away from here?"

He nodded, almost frantically. I was too late, apparently, but perhaps I could distract him. The midget needed cheering up anyhow. Hopefully he would have a decent life after the bridge was complete. I couldn't really replicate the kind of therapy-jutsu Naruto performed. I do have to wonder what prevented him from ranting here at the subject of Gato. I suppose there was twice as many of us...

Tsunami's giggle carried over from the kitchen, and Inari twitched.

I wondered no more.

"Let's go see Tazuna and my students. They're all learning how to walk on water. Well, not Tazuna." I held out a hand. Inari grabbed it and squeezed tight. I popped him up on my back and we were off.

••••••••••

A few flashsteps later and a quick jog deposited us at the work site. A quick check in with Kurenai and making sure the Naruto clones hadn't screwed anything up revealed nothing of interest, thankfully. My hunting had taken up a fair chunk of the day since it took so long to actually find anything. It was late afternoon by now, and I found our teams engaged in tag.

On the water.

I grinned. I hadn't really expected this much progress, but they did have two dojutsu users and Ringumo. It wasn't a particularly high speed game of tag, either. Someone had grabbed a pallet from the construction area and driven the planks down so they stuck out of the water and defined the game zone.

"Arf!"

"Agh! Leggo!" Naruto was being dragged down by Akamaru while Kiba slowly advanced up to him, one step at a time. The blond was trying to walk away, but it was hopeless with Akamaru hanging off his arm, distracting him.

"Fine then!" He bent over and stuck his arm under the water.

"Hey, don't do that!" Kiba shouted.

"All he has to do is let go, Kiba," Sasuke said, "It's perfectly fair."

Kiba sped up, trying to get closer to Naruto before Akamaru came up for air.

It wasn't to be however, as the small dog surfaced with a yap.

Kiba took a long leap, Naruto letting out a yelp as he tried to dodge. All three collided and ended up under water again.

"Does that count for Kiba or not?" Sakura asked.

I started clapping as the tangle of limbs broke the surface. Heads swiveled towards us.

"Impressive. You all are doing really well. I didn't really expect you all to get this far."

I saw several smiles appear at this. They should be proud. Now to see how far they had come.

"Line up at one end. We're going to have a race."

A few whoops let loose at this prospect, and everyone made their way over between two planks.

"No sabotage, I just want to see how far along everyone is. Maybe we'll try that in a few days time. On my mark. Three, two, one, go!"

You couldn't call it quick, really. It was a walking race really. Akamaru took an early lead, leaping off Kiba's head and prancing along, his light body allowing him a relatively easy time of it.

"Traitor!" Kiba barked.

Hinata and Sasuke were both putting their dojutsu to good work, breaking ahead of the humans. Ringumo was on their heels, with Sakura slightly ahead of Shino, who were both pulling ahead of Naruto and Kiba.

This did not go unnoticed by either of them.

"No way I'm coming in last!"

"That's my line!"

The two were getting pretty into it, though all that hot bloodedness might make them fall in if they weren't careful.

Hinata was first across the field, after Akamaru of course, with Sasuke only a few seconds behind.

Ringumo came across next with a comfortable lead before the next place, which seemed to go back and forth between Shino and Sakura several times. Sakura made it across the line just barely ahead though.

Pulling up the end though, Naruto and Kiba were really working hard, I had to admit. Several times they seemed to be on the edge of collapsing, but neither actually went under.

It looked like the extra experience Naruto had was going to carry the day for him, as they went into the final yards.

"No way!"

Kiba stopped and focused, and leapt the last few yards past the plank line, splashing into the water on the other side as Naruto stumbled over it himself.

I chuckled. "Looks like we have a tie for last."

"That can't count! He fell in!"

I shrugged. "Not until he crossed. All right, everyone. Time to get some food in us. Good work today."

••••••••••

After the race, we all got back to Tazuna's house to the smell of dinner. The fare was simply prepared, but I think all of us were drooling slightly by the time we were cleaned up and sat down.

Roast turnips and slightly stunted diakon radishes sat next to their greens, while we had several rabbits and fish assembled for the small horde of growing (and grown) ninja, as well as our hosts.

We all tucked in, and chatter crossed the table freely.

I ate with satisfaction at my small successes. Our teams were talking to each other almost as much as within themselves.

"Tomorrow, instead of hunting, you and I need to come up with a strategy in case we have to meet Zabuza. Neither of us can go toe to toe with someone like that," Kurenai spoke up, putting a bit of a dampener on my good spirits.

She was right, I couldn't assume everything would go without a hitch. As rookie Jounin, we really had no hope of just overpowering him with brute strength.

I nodded. "Right. I think enough of our skills work pretty well together. We can figure something out."

Kurenai smiled at something, and I turned my head to see Akamaru snatch a bit of rabbit off Naruto's plate.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"You failed to practice constant vigilance," I chuckled.

"I'll vigilance him all right," he mumbled, taking another piece from the pile.

I grinned. It all felt downright domestic in here.

••••••••••

Everyone was getting ready for bed, a bit of a production with 11 people and two bathrooms. It was to the point that I sent Ringumo and Fandangumo back for the night. Fandangumo probably needed to check back in with the web line anyway.

"Naruto. We need to talk." Sakura whispered in the hallway, dragging a frowning Sasuke behind her. He blinked, then seemed to lose his annoyance.

"What?" Naruto asked at full volume.

Sakura closed her eyes and looked up in the air. "Hush! We need to hash out a few things. Follow me."

Naruto sighed, but started following Sakura. I heard the front door gently open and shut.

Kurenai stuck her head in the room with an inquisitive look, eyebrow raised.

I nodded. "This was going to happen sooner or later," I said in a low voice. "He couldn't bust out the red chakra and not have them be completely oblivious. I'll supervise."

She frowned, and nodded, her head retreating back out of the room.

I popped the window open, and hopped out. My students weren't being particularly stealthy, perhaps thinking that they were home free having made it outside without being stopped. I'd have to correct that at some point, but it was useful to me at the moment.

I followed their footsteps at a distance, and suddenly became aware there was another predator stalking my prey.

They stopped about a hundred yards from the house. I positioned myself nearby in the trees.

"So what's all this about?" Naruto demanded.

"I want some answers. What happened in the fight with the spiders?" Sakura asked, arms folded in front of her.

"We kicked ass?" Naruto responded, smiling uneasily. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Bullshit, you don't. That's not how you felt at dinner the other night. I just want to understand." Sakura placed her hands on her hips, glaring.

Naruto cringed. "Can we not do this?"

Sasuke was standing on the sidelines spectating. I wondered what was going on in his head. Even for a jounin, it was hard for me to read the kid. I knew he had no ill intent towards Naruto, more curiosity, but that didn't narrow things down much.

"When we were in the prison," Sakura continued, "and you and Mizuki were arguing, sensei said you would had something to tell us when you felt like it. When is that going to be?"

"Not now," Naruto stated, blunt as a hammer. Sakura scowled back.

"That's not good enough! If you're going to explode into red chakra from time to time, we should know why. What the hell is that about? Is it a kekkei genkai, or what? Sasuke, help me out here."

Sasuke frowned. "I'm curious too. But I understand not wanting to share things. Still, this affects the team."

"Since when do you care about the team, asshole?" Naruto bit back angrily.

"Hey, I've cared about the team," Sasuke insisted.

"Oh yeah, when? When we're useful?"

Sasuke glared back silently.

Sakura snorted. "Why can't you let us know?"

"Because I do care about the team. And you'd get angry or scared and it would all fall apart!" Naruto insisted, turning to glare out at the mists. Sakura growled in frustration, restraining herself from lashing out physically.

"How do you know?" she demanded.

Naruto turned around. "Well, your basic responses to things are curiosity, googly eyes, or punching. You're managing two at once at the moment."

Things were not going well. I leapt down behind our other visitor. She jumped, and looked back at me.

"Ah- you knew I was here?" Hinata asked, eyes almost glowing in the pale light of the stars.

I could still hear the argument. "He needs you. You can do this. You've been trying since you got here."

She bit her lip, and nodded.

I gave an encouraging smile. "Go on. Oh, and I'm not here." I leapt up into the trees again.

I watched her fidget nervously for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and started walking forwards.

"Well maybe I'm not ready yet because I knew you two would act like this!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke looked towards the tree I was currently hiding in. "Who's there?"

Everyone froze. Even me. Hey, the best can make mistakes.

It turned out though I hadn't needed to worry. Hinata stepped out into the moonlight, her face set in determination.

"Naruto, no one's going to be angry, or afraid. They shouldn't be anyway," Hinata whispered, her voice carrying across the quiet scene. She walked up to the trio, willing herself step by step.

Naruto took half a step back. "Shouldn't... isn't won't."

Hinata kept walking forwards. "How could anyone who knows you be afraid?"

"Maybe it's pretty frightening. I-I mean… Sometimes…" Naruto's voice dropped into a mumble, at Sasuke's look, "I'm scared."

"I'm not," Hinata stated. Naruto shook his head, as Hinata continued to step towards him.

"You don't know what's inside me," he whispered.

The two were almost face to face. She took deep, even breaths, centering herself before she spoke again.

"I can see chakra pathways. And your seal. I figured it out a while ago, Naruto. It just makes you more amazing."

There was silence.

"Then you can tell us," Sakura said.

Sasuke let out his breath. "I thought girls were supposed to be romantics," he mumbled. Sakura shot him a glare. Hinata shook her head.

"No. I can't. There's a law, isn't there?" She asked Naruto.

Well. I hadn't expected this to happen. Since when had she known?

"Um. Well. Yeah?" Naruto was clearly shaken.

"A law? About Naruto? That makes no sense," Sakura muttered. Sasuke grunted in agreement, crossing his arms over his chest.

True. The whole law thing was absurd. And never enforced, except for the most blatant offenders. It hadn't happened for over a decade. I'm kind of surprised she even found out about it, but it is written down in the law books. Which is even more absurd, but once you start having unwritten laws, that sets a pretty bad precedent.

"Just tell them. They're your friends," Hinata said encouragingly, managing to reach out and touch his shoulder. She still turned red, but she held on.

Naruto swallowed. "I… fine."

He took a deep breath. "You can't kill a tailed beast, I guess? So the Fourth Hokage didn't. He sealed it inside a baby. As a kind of cage."

"But that's not at all what we were taug…" Sakura trailed off as the implications of this scattered through her mind. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. A million different thoughts raced through her head, a million connections into one conclusion. I could almost see the synapses firing behind her eyes.

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted.

There was more silence.

"What? How…? What?" Sakura seemed to have broken.

"I suppose this explains a lot," Sasuke spoke first. He gave Naruto a more measured look: Almost respectful. "You aren't going to explode into a giant fox any time soon, right?"

"I hope not. I didn't get a manual," Naruto frowned. "I'm not sure what it actually does for me. Except I have a ton of chakra. And maybe I get claws when I'm mad? I should probably ask sensei if he knows anything."

"And are either of you mad? Or scared?" Hinata asked, still looking at Naruto.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm not scared of Naruto. Who would be?" Naruto scowled, but Sasuke kept going. "I can't say I'm thrilled he has no clue why or how he started doing… whatever he did. That could go off in his face like a bad tag. And our faces. And whichever country he's standing in. I'm pretty mad no one talked to him about this."

Naruto blinked a few times, as though not sure Sasuke wasn't an enemy ninja under a henge. "Um, thanks?"

Sasuke shrugged again. He looked over at Sakura. She started, shaken out of her thoughts. She glanced back to Naruto, and then back to Sasuke, and back once more.

"What? Oh. Um. I- I don't know? Uh. I… I need some time." She started walking back to the house like a zombie.

"You mustn't tell anyone. Literally, there's a law," Hinata reminded her.

Sakura paused. "Right." She kept walking.

Well. That could have gone better. Or much, much worse. I suppose I shouldn't have expected for them to just laugh it off. They didn't have the perspective needed, nor did Naruto have the right arguments. That could change with time though.

The three genin stood there for a bit, silent and awkward. Sasuke grunted, seeing how close Hinata and Naruto were.

…

"Well. I'm going to sleep, unless you have some further earth shattering news to drop," Sasuke said, still sarcastic but not as biting as he usually would have made it.

"Uh, I think I'm out?" Naruto replied. He looked dazed, as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Poor kid.

"Right then," Sasuke decided, tersely. He turned, and followed Sakura's path back towards the house.

Hinata and Naruto were left alone in the silence. I held my breath. Finally, unexpectedly… It was Hinata who broke it, looking in concern at her crush.

"Are... You all right?" She whispered. Naruto sighed deeply, looking so much older now.

"I don't know," he admitted. Hinata bit her lower lip, and stepped closer.

"Could… could we hug?"

Naruto looked at her in astonishment, and it occured to me that he'd rarely ever received hugs.

"I… Y-yeah," he managed, with a slow nod.

They hugged. Well, Naruto sort of collapsed into Hinata who caught him, and then her face went the color of cooked lobster, and they ended up on the ground.

Well, they weren't dead, but they weren't moving either.

This was awkward.

…

"Thank you."

"... I always admired your determination. If you failed, you never let that stop you from trying again. And again. And eventually you would always succeed."

"You admired me?"

"Yeah."

"... Oh. … This is nice."

"Y-Yeah…"

A few more moments of silence.

"Um… Hinata-chan?"

"Y-Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"We haven't been on three dates yet, but uh… C-Can we… Be boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Hinata's whole body lit up in a blush, and she stuttered out her answer out of eagerness rather than timidity.

"Y-Y-Yes!"

Naruto smiled back, nearly blinding in its radiance. "Okay!"

They continued to lay there, hugging tightly, whispering back and forth. It was honestly so heartwarmingly adorable I nearly lost my lunch, but I kept up my watch.

Sooner or later they'd go back in, right?

I lay back on the branch. I was responsible for them, it might be a late night.