DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I don't own Hikari Aino.

A/C: Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated, as well as readers' suggestions/ideas. (Particularly when it comes to Lemons – I really suck at those! :S) Flames and mean comments are not welcome – saying 'no offence' means squat. If you don't like what you're reading don't leave a comment!

NOTE: This chapter contains more than one point of view. If you're confused, or if this is slightly boring for you, please let me know so I can improve the other chapters to make them a little more exciting.

ALLEGIANCE

Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.

HIKARI'S P.O.V~

I finally managed to drag my exhausted body to the room Sakura and I shared after being busted by a surprisingly lenient Kakashi-sensei. Although, judging by the evil 'smirk' I saw on his face, I knew I was probably in for it the next day - and most likely taking my friends down with me.

Dead woman walking…

Although, the gods must have been on my side for once, probably filled with sympathy that I had just hung myself out to dry for shadowing Kakashi-sensei after he told me to go to bed due to the training we were going to be having early the next day.

At least, we hope it will be on time tomorrow like Kakashi-sensei promised, but we're not holding our breath because he's never on time. Hell would freeze over first before our illustrious sensei would be on time for once. Anyway, the gods must've been on my side, because Sakura, of all people, wasn't in her room settling herself to sleep and beginning her nightly ritual of moaning Sasuke's name and pissing me off.

I didn't want a repeat performance of what occurred last night. Not that I didn't enjoy it and have the best night's sleep I'd ever had in awhile, but I didn't want to press my luck. Sasuke, Naruto and I might've gotten away with it once, but it didn't mean that we wouldn't get busted for it the second time.

"Did you enjoy your moonlight stroll?" a teasing drawling voice rang out behind me.

I flinched and turned warily to look behind me, seeing a smirking Sasuke and a cheeky looking Naruto standing in the doorway. I sighed, I knew I should've closed that door the moment I walked in.

"Yes, it was most informative." I replied flippantly, yawning.

I frowned when Sasuke and Naruto simply walked into the room and sat down in front and beside me as I slid clumsily into my futon.

"Was there a co-ed slumber party scheduled that I didn't know about?" I asked dubiously, eyeing both boys off suspiciously. They shook their heads.

"Then why the heck are you in here? This is the girl's room." I demanded, not in the mood for the boys to annoy the hell out of me before I could go to sleep so Sakura couldn't ruin it all with her bloody moaning.

"We wanna know what you found out when you were spying on Kakashi-sensei!" replied Naruto, Sasuke nodding in agreement.

I groaned in frustration and forced myself not to start crying. What did I do to deserve the title of honorary snitch?

~SAKURA'S P.O.V~

Teeth brushed? Check.

Hair braided and ready for bed? Yep.

Great, time to go to sleep and hopefully dream once more about my beloved Sasuke-kun...

I sighed dreamily, picturing that raven-haired Adonis in my head.

Then for some reason, an image of Naruto and that irritating bitch Hikari barged in and sidled up to my Sasuke - and for some reason, he didn't seem to mind. In fact he started smirking when Naruto hooked an arm around his neck and to my horror, I watched Sasuke hook an arm around Hikari's shoulders. It looked like some sort of group pose for a photograph.

I growled underneath my breath.

No! Stay away from him, you bitch! He's MINE!

I forced myself to calm down as I approached the room Hikari and I were sharing, expecting that she would be asleep already. But I was irritated when I could hear not one but three voices in the bedroom. I peeked inside and felt my jaw drop open when I saw Hikari telling both Naruto, who was sitting Indian-style in front of Hikari, holding onto her every word and looking for some reason very upset; and Sasuke-kun who was to my chagrin sitting beside Hikari on her borrowed futon.

I was even more upset when I realised exactly how close he was sitting to her in comparison to Naruto, who was always sitting or leaning into everybody's personal space whether they liked it or not, but for some reason the idiot was not doing this with Hikari.

"…In all honesty, Kakashi-sensei was just mostly comparing Naruto and Inari, and claiming that both of them were a lot alike that Inari realised." Hikari was explaining. She yawned deeply and looked completely uninterested in continuing this conversation.

My eyebrow rose.

So they were discussing what Hikari had discovered when she followed Kakashi-sensei after dinner tonight?

Deciding that I should be apart of this conversation, I pushed the door open wider and walked into the room, pretending that I hadn't heard a thing. Sasuke-kun, Naruto and Hikari looked up at the same time, and I took note of the separate expressions on their faces, one I wasn't surprised to see there and made me roll my eyes in irritation. While the other two surprised me completely.

Naruto, as usual, grinned happily at me which I ignored completely. He's gotta learn sometime that my heart only belongs to Sasuke-kun, who was glaring at me in irritation, while Hikari's face instantly dropped in anguish. I glared at her for that. What did I ever do to her?

"Why are you in here, Naruto? Sasuke-kun?" I asked curiously.

~HIKARI'S P.O.V~

I almost started crying the moment Sakura walked into the room with a big beaming smile on her face, that both Naruto and I knew was for Sasuke's eyes only. Naruto and I exchanged glances at one another before I sighed in resignation and flopped back down on my pillow and rolled over to try and get some sleep in before Sakura could ruin it for me.

"Why are you in here, Naruto? Sasuke-kun?" She said with a hopeful, but still curious tone in her voice. Sasuke replied with a 'hn' before leaning over and whispering into my ear while making it appear that he was just getting to his feet.

"Sleep well, Hikari." He whispered and touched my hand before getting to his feet and heading for the bedroom door.

"Talking with Hikari-chan about what she learnt after spying on Kakashi-sensei." replied Naruto, helpful as ever.

Sakura barely paid any attention to what Naruto had said, except to nod and watch miserably as Sasuke sauntered past Sakura and disappeared down the hallway to the room next door. Naturally, Naruto shrugged this off, used to Sakura snubbing him and turned towards me.

"See ya later, Hikari-chan!" He murmured into my ear and pecked my cheek.

I grabbed Naruto's wrist and squeezed in return before muttering a slurred reply which Naruto snickered at before getting to his feet and disappearing just as quickly as Sasuke did out the door before Kakashi-sensei or Tsunami could catch him and scold him for being in here.

The door closed with a click before I heard Sakura sigh unhappily and moved towards her futon. I thought that she would finally let me get some peace and quiet before her voice broke the silence and I cursed to myself.

"I don't know what's going on between you and Sasuke-kun, Hikari. But I don't like it and I'll find out what's going on if it's the last thing I do." Sakura promised with a sulky tone in her voice.

I chose not to dignify her statement with a reply and pretended that I had already fallen asleep.

~KAKASHI'S P.O.V~

Instincts told me that my students weren't following my instructions to go to bed and rest up for tomorrow, that was more than likely to be a training day - but then again, trouble was always rude and liked to spring up without warning, so there was an incredibly strong chance that my plans would most likely be changed

…again.

I sighed, unhappily wondering why I even signed up to be a genin mentor for a bunch of disobedient, stubborn and unreliable genins.

Closing my book reluctantly and somewhat resentfully, I got to my feet and limped somewhat clumsily towards the door of my borrowed bedroom to go and inspect their rooms, hoping that my charges were actually sleeping. Opening the first door that had both Sakura and Hikari slumbering within, I ducked my head in and saw that both girls were out like lights and to my amusement, Sakura was even snoring a little.

Chuckling at this, I retreated and went on to check up on Sasuke and Naruto. Even before sticking my head inside I could hear voices. Or to be more precise, Naruto's loud voice.

"I still can't believe that Kakashi-sensei believes that Inari and I are similar." I heard Naruto whispering to an obviously disinterested and tired sounding Sasuke.

"Yeah, Inari should be insulted about being compared to you, dobe." muttered Sasuke and I could swear that I could picture an arrogant smirk on that Uchiha's face.

And right on cue I heard Naruto suddenly snap "You take that back, Teme!"

"Dobe, if you don't shut the hell up right now, we… or should I say, you are going to get busted by Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke reminded him somewhat irritated before falling silent.

Naruto muttered something that sounded like curses before he too fell silent. I didn't bother stick my head into their room, but decided to let Naruto sleep in the next day, as punishment for trying to keep his teammates up. I had learnt that Naruto was a very eager student and loved training, mostly, to my amusement and exasperation to one-up himself against Sasuke.

A pipe-dream I'm afraid.

The next morning, I decided to 'shock' my students by getting up early to wake them up. To say that they were shocked was an understatement. The looks I got were mostly ranging from curious (Hikari) to suspicious (Sasuke).

"Rise and shine. We have some training to do today." I reminded them as they begrudgingly rose to their feet and strapped on their weapon's packs and forehead protectors.

I watched as Sasuke moved to kick Naruto awake.

"No, Sasuke…"

The Uchiha turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow, waiting for me to explain myself.

"Let Naruto sleep in…" I explained before turning on my heel and walking out of the room, followed by Sasuke who was frowning at me in suspicion.

After a quick breakfast, we headed out for training.

Don't sleep in too long, Naruto…

~NARUTO P.O.V~

The sound of an overly loud bird swooping past the window scared the crap out of me, causing me sit up bolt right on the futon and look around in confusion. Realising it was morning, I yawned and looked over expecting to see Sasuke lying on his futon with his back facing me.

He wasn't there.

The fuck?

I got up from my futon and walked out into the hallway. The teme was probably just taking a leak, I told myself. So I wondered over to Sakura-chan and Hikari-chan's room and banged on the door.

"Hey, Hikari-chan? Sakura-chan? Are you awake?" I called out, then flinched when I realised that I shouldn't have just done that and prepared myself to be smacked over the head by a pissed off Sakura for waking her up.

When nothing happened I frowned and slid open the door. The girls were gone too.

They must be downstairs having breakfast… Good, I'm starving!

Strapping on my weapon's pack and tying my forehead protector around my head, I bolted downstairs and I looked around the corner expecting to see the old man, Tsunami, that brat Inari, Kakashi-sensei, Hikari-chan, Sakura-chan and that Sasuke-teme… but saw nothing.

"Eh? What's going on here?" I muttered and spotted a piece of paper on the table. I picked it up and felt my jaw drop open in offence when I read the note.

Naruto,

Kakashi-sensei decided that you needed to sleep in for some reason. So we've gone on without you.

Hurry up and catch up with us. We need you (although, Sasuke's being a dick and teasing you saying that we'd be better off without you. Don't worry, I already punched him for that comment…and earned a glare from Sakura… what's up with that?)

Hikari xx

"Oh c'mon!" I groaned and balled the paper in my hands.

I can't be too mad at Hikari-chan and…Sasuke. At least they let me know what's going on. Kakashi-sensei's got some nerve leaving me behind.

I'm just as strong, if even better than Sasuke so why make me sleep in? I tossed the paper ball over my shoulder and pulled on my sandals before hitting the road to find my so called team.

"I hope they haven't started anything fun without me." I grumbled under my breath and made little dust clouds underneath my feet as I ran.

Eventually, I decided that I'd probably make better time jumping from tree to tree, but before I could jump into the nearest tree I almost tripped over something soft, wet and unmoving.

"Huh?"

I looked down and saw that another innocent animal had been…er, well…slaughtered? Only this time, not by me and it wasn't another cute little fluffy bunny.

If it had been, and Sakura and Hikari had found out by the time I caught up with them and Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, they would both be completely in my face and threatening to kick my ass from here to Konoha and back again.

And considering it was Sakura we were talking about, it would probably be very possible for her to be able to do this. And knowing Sasuke, he'd probably kick back and watch it happen, despite Hikari-chan telling me that Sasuke wasn't like that and actually values my friendship like she does.

I'd believe that when I see it with my own two eyes…

There was something that really bugged me about this. Just by looking at the dead animal, it was clear that it hadn't been mauled by another animal, it was killed by another human's hands.

This is too fucked up. Who'd kill an innocent animal?

~SASUKE P.O.V~

I still don't see why Kakashi-sensei decided to let that moron sleep in… he's the one who needs all the training he can get…

I stood off to the side of the bridge pondering these thoughts while waiting for Kakashi-sensei to start this training session, still slightly suspicious about the impromptu decision he had made this morning when we were rudely awakened.

Things got weird when the same fog we encountered en route from the ferry suddenly came back, blocking our view from the entrance of the unfinished bridge.

Great… this isn't highly suspicious at all… I thought sarcastically as I immediately stood up from my perch and became alert.

I looked over and saw Kakashi-sensei, Hikari and Sakura doing the same thing all three of them frowning, while that coward Tazuna froze where he stood with a terrified expression on his face. It was weird because I keep expecting Naruto to do something stupid, like loudly asking what was happening and give away our position to the enemy, and I couldn't help but feel a little insecure about that.

"Do you sense anything?" I almost jumped when Hikari's voice suddenly spoke in my ear.

At first, I merely shook my head, but then I frowned when I instantly sensed something dangerous headed towards us.

"Over there." I indicated with a slight jerk of my head in the direction of the bridge's entrance and felt Hikari tense up beside me.

She nodded.

"I sense it too. This is bad."

Before I could tell her how completely obvious her statement was, a bunch of shadow clones suddenly appeared before us in the form of Zabuza.

Kakashi-sensei turned his attention towards the end of the bridge and prepared himself to fight with our enemy. Both Hikari and Sakura moved into their defensive stances, pulling out kunais and both with serious expressions on their faces as they eyed off the Zabuza clones.

The bastard smirked at us and I snatched up a kunai from my weapon's pack and advanced on him, dispatching all of the clones, who didn't put up much of fight, much to my utter contempt.

"My my. You have improved since the last time we fought." a mocking voice spoke from behind me.

I straightened up and turned to see the real Zabuza standing there with a cocky shit-eating grin on his masked face. I glowered at the missing-nin just as both Sakura, who seemed visibly disturbed by Zabuza's reappearance and Hikari, who was frowning cautiously, came up and stood either side of me with Kakashi-sensei pulling up from the rear, with Tazuna standing not too faraway from us looking on in horror.

"You'd make a fine rival for Haku here." He tells me, looking me directly in the eyes and caused me to stiffen at the mere thought, just as Haku sauntered out from behind Zabuza and stood next to him with a serene expression on his effeminate face.

"But you and those weak looking girls standing beside you are still novices and have much to learn about being ninja." Zabuza continued levelling us off with a calculating glance.

I bristled, mostly because he had just insulted my abilities as a ninja and because he had just insulted Hikari for being weak. I really couldn't give a shit about Sakura, mostly because she was an annoying girl, most obviously in the wrong career because she had to be constantly rescued by either Naruto, Hikari, Kakashi-sensei or myself, and I really don't have the time nor the patience to do that.

The four of us tensed up just as Zabuza immediately conjured up some more of those clones and like before I cut them down where they stood without breaking a sweat. Zabuza smirked smugly, like he knew something we didn't.

"I stand corrected. You have progressed a lot further than I had anticipated." Zabuza compliments me, but I barely acknowledge it, instead intensifying my glare. I just hoped that that idiot hurries up and gets here soon…

NARUTO P.O.V~

Hold on, guys, I'm coming. I'm not gonna let that teme hog all the glory! I thought desperately as I propelled myself along the tree branches.

I sincerely hoped that Hikari-chan and Sakura-chan were alright and that Sasuke was protecting them or at least letting them assist him. I knew that something fishy was happening wherever my team were, because there was something really freaky about the way the animal had been killed.

It was almost inhumane and done out of some sort of twisted pleasure. And I had a feeling it had something to do with Zabuza and his bloodthirsty ways…

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as I watched my more serious, albeit arrogant and most definitely selfish student take down everything Zabuza threw at him. Kinda reminded me of Obito back when we were Genin ourselves - it must be some sort of Uchiha family trait.

But at the same time, I observed the reactions between both Zabuza and that hunter-nin who apparently went by the name of Haku (or so Zabuza had told us only moments before). It became quickly apparent that these two were definitely in cahoots and a quick exchange of glances between Sasuke and I, confirmed that we were on the same page about them.

"Why don't we settle this together, one on one?" I heard Sasuke say to Zabuza who raised an amused eyebrow at my student, who immediately dropped down into his defensive stance.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun. That's so brave of you!" coos Sakura on my immediate left.

I sighed. This girl would approve of anything Sasuke did - even if it was a diabolical act, I'll bet.

I had to stifle a snort of laughter as I heard Hikari idly mutter under her breath for somebody to pass her a sick bag. I gotta hand it to her - she certainly has some spunk, and I'm impressed and counting my blessings that she isn't like Sakura, and constantly stalking Sasuke for his attention and undying affection.

I shuddered at the mere thought.

Haku smirked and started forming handsigns which projected a series of ice shards towards Sasuke who dodges. Haku, apparently undeterred by this, merely snatches up a kunai and advances on Sasuke who frowns, but nevertheless moves to meet up with him head on, while Sakura, Tazuna, Hikari and I watch on warily…

~NARUTO P.O.V~

I was halfway towards to where my team were when I could sense something very wrong behind me back at the house. That, and the fact that I had seen some weird markings on a bunch of trees. I backtracked and turned, heading back for the house.

When I got there, I watched in horror as two thuggish looking strangers advanced on Inari, who was standing there with a determined look on his face.

"When I said, you had to stop being such a crybaby, I didn't mean 'go out and get yourself killed'" I muttered to myself as I dropped down from the tree branch I had been perching on and moved quickly to help Inari and Tsunami from these losers.

"Stay away from my Mom!" Inari orders them in a strong, defiant voice that Kakashi-sensei probably would've been proud of.

I gasped in fear as Inari charged at them and I quickly made handsigns. One of the thugs, looked down at Inari with a superior smirk on his face as he slashed down at Inari's body. I quickly swapped Inari with my shadow clone that I had made to look like Inari.

Inari looks at my shadow clones with confusion.

"Naruto followed some weird marks on the trees back there." My clone explained to Inari, before turning its attention towards the thugs and cracking its knuckles in anticipation of a good fight before he and a second clone knocked the two moron's block's off…

~SASUKE P.O.V~

I easily sidestepped my opponent's kunai slashes before seeing an opening and kicking the bastard square in the face, causing him to stagger slightly and fall to the ground.

But it was only for a split second before he was on his feet and coming back for more…

~NARUTO P.O.V~

Once I had taken care of those bozos, I turned towards Inari with what I hoped was an apologetic expression on my face. I scratched the back of my head nervously.

"Er…I just wanted to say…sorry for being such a jerk back there. I guess I let my anger get the better of me." I explained sheepishly to Inari, who simply nodded back at me with a small smile on his face, and trying to wipe away unwanted tears from his eyes.

I grinned at him as I placed a hand on the kid's shoulder, causing Inari to tense up slightly before he looked up at me questioningly and momentarily forgetting that he was about to start crying.

"It's okay to cry you know. Even when you're feeling really happy." Inari looked at me in surprise before nodding again.

"Gotta book." I said before turning and running like my life depending on me towards the bridge - it was the most obvious place my team would be.

And I had a feeling something bad was still happening… and it was happening where they were.

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

"Haku,"

I turned my attention towards Zabuza who was staring at the young boy with disapproval.

"If you continue fighting the way you are, the chances of you winning a slim to nil."

Then as though heeding what Zabuza had said, Haku formed more handsigns.

"Makyō Hyōshō" mutters Haku, which sends an array of ice crystals towards Sasuke that immediately formed around him.

Sasuke frowned from within the crystal circle as he pondered his next move. Both Sakura and Hikari were worried about what was going to happen next and were especially afraid for Sasuke's safety. Of course for different reasons.

I frowned.

"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals?" I said out loud.

This technique was something that I had never heard of before, and it was definitely not something I was willing to observe for myself. I charged towards Sasuke to help him, but was blocked by Zabuza.

"Uh uh. You're my opponent." Zabuza declared. I tensed up.

Oh goody…

But reacted in horror when Sasuke was almost immediately set upon by kunai flying at him from every direction by Haku, who had somehow managed to conceal himself within the crystals. I felt frustrated, not being able to help, because I had no idea how this jutsu actually worked.

Shit!

Hearing running feet, I turned and saw Sakura rushing towards Sasuke with a throwing knife in her hand.

Good girl!

Sakura got as close as she could before hurling the kunai towards Sasuke, each of us expecting him to grab it out of thin air, but were dismayed with it was caught by Haku instead.

Suddenly, Haku is hit from behind.

"Who did that?" Hikari asks, looking for the person.

She beams from ear to ear when Naruto suddenly appears - looking pissed off and eager to fight.

I'm gonna be 21 next week. So hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up by then :D