"WATCH OUT!"

Naruto's nose was inch away from being sliced by a sharp boomerang flying passed him, with only his body reflex acting in a flinch. "What the-?!" Looking ahead of him, he saw five people, scowling at them and preparing for another attack.

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Chapter 3 Of new mission clothes and physical attractions - Conclusion

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The sun was already setting on the background and the five ninjas from Konoha were still out of luck in finding the bandits who took hostage of a young boy from a wealthy clan back at their village. Naruto fisted his hands, he did not want this mission to take any longer, given that it was just a B rank. However, to everyone's dismay and confusion, those bandits were good at hiding. Earlier along their way, Akamaru could traced the scent of the boy through the coat that was given to them by Kakashi, and Kiba confirmed it. But Hinata could not see anyone around. The Hyuga heiress said she had pushed her Byakugan up to 20km ahead but there's nobody on sight. Naruto also sensed some presence a while ago but to his frustration, he too cannot pinpoint where exactly were the enemies. It's kind of frustrated everyone, especially Naruto.

But his frustrations were not totally about their bad luck in finding the enemy. He started to get upset as he noticed Hinata rubbing her tired eyes out, careful not to let anyone notice her discomfort, but not Naruto though. Since he was keeping his eyes on her, the blonde shinobi could see that she's overusing her Byakugan and her chakra was running out as well.

"Guys, we should call it a day and camp here," Naruto suggested and heard a sigh came from behind him.

"I think you're right. We have to let Kiba and Hinata rest." Sakura agreed, throwing a concerned glance at Team 8.

"Yeah, I really think we should. Alright, you three can rest for now. Will keep watch as you do." Kiba shrugged at Naruto, giving him a thankful nod before he and his mutt went to rest on a corner. Hinata, on the other hand, looked sulky, thinking that she was not really of help, yet Team 7 was very considerate. Her heavy sigh did not escaped Naruto, so he walked over the Hyuga heiress, a concerned look on his face. "Are you alright, Hinata?"

"Yes! I'm alright!" Hinata squeaked, giving him an awkward smile. That did not convinced the blonde though.

"You've been using your Byakugan for days, you really need to rest. I'll take it from here." Naruto gave her a toothy grin which faded gradually as he saw the brunette was still in a sulky mood. "Hey, don't think that you're holding out this mission, you've been doing all the work so far. You're doing great." And still looking great, he wanted to add.

Hinata blushed. His kind and reassuring words never failed to melt her heart. Just knowing that Naruto thinks positive of her was enough to wash her tiredness away. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." She smiled, genuinely this time. The slight gesture causing Naruto to scratch his neck, a light tinge on his cheeks. Hinata then walked towards a tree and settled there, Naruto's gaze never leaving her.

"Smooth~.." a voices cooed behind Naruto and as he turned around he found Sai 'smiling' at him. "That was a smooth move, Naruto-kun. I'm sure that impressed Hinata-chan."

"You..I'm not trying to impress her, you know?" Naruto waved his hand dismissively, picking up some woods to start a bonfire as it finally gets dark. "They really need to rest. And why do you think I was trying to impress Hinata, huh?"

Sai followed what the blonde was doing. "Ah, nothing. I was just curious."

"About what exactly?" Naruto placed a hand on his hip, holding up a small log on the other.

"Well," Sai looked up in contemplation. "I thought you like Sakura-chan cause you were always trying to get her attention before. But since you saw Hinata-chan this morning, you looked like you are, what was that word again?" Naruto tried to ignore the guy by distracting himself, stacking up woods on his arms until Sai finally remembered the word. "Lovestruck."

".!" The woods fell from Naruto's arms and struck his foot. "Aw! Aw! Aw!" he yelped, hopping on one foot while nursing the other.

"Ah sorry." Sai chuckled as the blonde ninja glared at him, pouting and blushing.

Did he hit a nail?

"I think these are enough." Sai suggested, gathering up the woods on the ground. "Anyway, did you check the paper I gave you?", he asked but Naruto just "Hmp!", strengthening his back with a serious look on his face. That was a sign for Sai to stop his teasing, knowing full well that Naruto was someone you DONT want to mess with. The pale skinned shinobi started to walk towards their camp, Naruto following quietly behind him.

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'Lovestruck, huh.' Naruto repeated mentally as he sat in front of their camp fire. He was not that familiar with the word, but it sure did have an impact on him. If the word meant staring at someone all the time, then he sure seemed lovestruck at Hinata. But isn't it the same as spying on an enemy? Looking at your enemy and staring at them during a battle is very crucial. If so, then does it mean that he was also lovestruck with the enemy. Naruto groaned, that sounded really weird because there's the word 'love' in it.

Maybe, he needed another example like...ramen!

Naruto's face lit up.

That's right. When eating a ramen, you also stared at it. If that's the case then he was lovestruck with Hinata the same way as he was lovestuck with ramen. The longer you stared at them, the more you become happier and more excited to eat-

Wait, that didn't sound any less weird.

Naruto scratched his head, glancing at Sakura who seemed to be having a deep thought. Sai sat across him, busying himself with his sketchbook, probably doodling. Behind him, Kiba and Akamaru already made themselves comfortable and were past asleep. And in one corner, there was Hinata.

'Ah, look at her, so fragile.' Naruto thought.

"Ahem." The sound of someone clearing his throat made Naruto to turn his attention to Sai who was smiling at him, showing him a quick sketch he made of some trees and mountains. The guy tapped his pen on the book as if asking Naruto to check something. The blonde ninja then figured that Sai was probably asking him to check the paper he gave him this morning. Reaching on his pocket, Naruto took out the folded paper and as he was about to flip it open -

"WATCH OUT!"

Naruto's nose was inch away from being sliced by a sharp boomerang flying passed him, with only his body reflex acting in a flinch. "What the-?!" Looking ahead of him, he saw five people, scowling at them and preparing for another attack.

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Seconds earlier...

Sakura saw Akamaru suddenly perking up from his sleep as if sensing something and while Naruto and Sai were occupied, she saw a portal opening not far from them and with it came five people. The group of bandits. One of the enemy made eye contact with Sakura and before either of them could recover from the shock, someone from the enemy side quickly threw a boomerang towards the Konoha ninjas.

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"WATCH OUT!" Sakura shouted, jumping off and landing on a fighting stance. The boomerang didn't hit anyone though and made its way rustling some trees all the way back to its owner. The commotion woke Kiba and Hinata and the two quickly stood up.

"What the-" Naruto stood in alert, seeing five people glaring at them. One of them was carrying a boy in his arms while the others were equipped with big ninja tools. It is obvious that these are the bandits that they were looking for the whole day. With the advantage of having tools made for attacking continuously from a distance, the enemy did not waste another second to throw another attack at them. As the the Konoha ninjas dodged the attacks, the enemies started running away again. Sai then summoned one of his drawn beast. The paper-like monster deflected the flying weapons, giving the other ninjas to go after the bandits.

"Shanaro!" Sakura used her one shot punch, causing a large crack on the ground and successfully separating their enemies apart. Since she saw one of them can open a portal, it is best to have them separated to stop them from escaping. The one using the boomerang was already being confronted by Sai.

"Naruto, I saw them coming from a portal. It seemed that one of them can open a dimension and travel through it." Sakura yelled.

'So that's why we could not find them. They're travelling from place to place using a dimension portal.' Naruto figured, eyes narrowing.

A female bandit landed in front of Sakura, halting her from chasing the others. "Guys, the boy is our priority. Make sure his safe!" Sakura called out, preparing to battle her enemy.

"Got it!" Naruto, Hinata and Kiba who was riding Akamaru were chasing after the 2 enemies, one of them was carrying the kidnapped boy. A chain shot towards them and circled on Akamaru's feet, pulling the two out from the chase.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata halted, motioning to help her teammates.

"Go, we'll take on this one!" Kiba said. Hinata nodded and continue her pursuit.

Naruto scowled, knowing that he could not take any drastic force to stop the enemy unless he got a hold of the boy. And as he kept on trailing them, one of the bandits turned at him, hands formed into a seal. A thick wall suddenly rose from the ground, Naruto lifted his prosthetic arm backwards and destroyed it with a punch. The bandit's eyes widened in fear as he saw the blonde ninja bursting out from the ruble with his fist coming at his face.

"Move!" Naruto growled, stopping his fist just an inch away from the bandit's face. The air pressure was so strong, it send the guy flying few meters away. The last bandit who was holding the child saw his comrade stumbling before him, he panicked and halted on his feet.

"Stop!" the bandit yelled, turning to Naruto before holding a kunai against the child's throat. "S-Stay there or I'll kill t-this boy!" he threatened, the boy then started crying.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata finally caught up with the blonde ninja and to her horror, she saw the bandit threatening to kill the child. "How terrible."

Naruto clenched his fists. By the way the bandit reacted nervously, he figured that he probably doesn't know how to fight and he came to a conclusion that he's the one opening the portal. If so, he will need to use his hands to weave a sign first before he can open a portal, that will give him a second to snatch the child and knocked the guy out. Naruto looked down at his prosthetic hand, realizing that he doesn't have full control of it yet, seeing what damage it did to the unlucky bandit earlier. If he get caught in the moment of rescuing the child, he might end up killing this guy.

As he was having an inner conflict, he felt Hinata's chakra suddenly flaring up beside him. "I'll never forgive you for raising a knife on that child," she spat, surprising Naruto at the firmness on her tone. He turned his head sideways to look at the Hyuga heiress and as he saw conviction on her face, Sai's word rang in his ears.

"Lovestruck."

Naruto smirked. Yeah. He was definitely Lovestruck, whatever it means. Turning back at their foe, Naruto cracked his knuckles and said, "Let's teach this guy a lesson..Hinata."

"Hmp!" Hinata nodded.

"S-Step back!" The bandit yelped, getting more nervous as Naruto took a step towards him, a menacing smirk plastered on the ninja's face. "I s-said step back!" He yelled, raising the kunai to strike it down the child's chest but the next things happened so fast.

"Byakugan!"

The bandit went paralyzed for just a second and when he recovered, the blonde ninja had already snatched the kunai and the child from his arms. His eyes widened as he leaned back, trying to move away from Naruto's attack. But Naruto wasn't planning on punching him, instead he just give the enemy a smirk before moving out of the way, revealing Hinata whose hand were set to pierce the bandit with her gentle fist.

"HIYAAH!"

The guy went tumbling on the ground, cold but only unconscious.

"That will make you out for atleast a day," Hinata said, staring down at the unconscious bandit.

Naruto smiled, admiring the sight of the Byakugan princess standing in a stance that showed grace and strength.

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The rest of the team finally rejoined them. Sakura took the child from Naruto and quickly checked up on him, good thing the child was just asleep, probably exhausted. Kiba informed that Sai already held the bandits tied and secured. Everyone felt relieved at the success of their mission, and as they decided to head back home, Hinata finally felt fatigue washed over her body. Her legs buckled but before she fell down on her knees, a strong arm caught her by her waist.

"Naruto-kun." she muttered tiredly, voice totally hoarse from exhaustion.

"You did great, Hinata."

"Thank you." Hinata blushed, trying to stand back on her feet. But to her and to the other's surprised, Naruto hoisted her up on his back, securing her legs on his arms for a piggyback ride.

"Oi, Naruto!" Kiba and Sakura called out, trying to save Hinata from the embarrassment and discomfort.

"What?" The blonde asked innocently. And Kiba and Sakura could not find the words to tell him that that's not a proper way to handle someone who has a crush on you since a very long time ago.

"Na-Na-Naruto-kun, I c-can still-"

"Nah, I can sense that you've used up all your chakra so just sit back and relax, Hinata. I can carry you home like this." Naruto said, turning over his shoulder to flash her that infamous grin of his, totally ignoring Hinata's super embarrassed state.

"B-B-But-"

"Ah, stop rambling Hinata. Just put your head on my shoulder and rest."

"P-P-Put my head-"

"Yup! You can wrap your arms around my neck so you won't fall too!"

"W-W-Wrap my a-a-arms-"

"And oh when we get back to Konoha, I'll take you out for some ramen."

"T-T-Take m-me o-out-"

Hinata was already near detonation.

Naruto just trailed on with a wide grin.

The rest of their team just shook their heads at them.

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A cold evening wind blew pass an open window and into the room of Uzumaki Naruto. The sleeping ninja moaned, shifting on his bed, muttering something incoherent as he went back deep into his sleep. Beside his bed, pinned on the wall, a paper gently fluttered against the evening breeze coming from the window, it was a piece of paper with a hand sketch portrait of Hinata Hyuga in her new mission uniform.


So that was the first arc! THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS! rlynn013, RavenShadow, qyu, JD, Danny Williams & Ludicc

HOPE YOU STICK AROUND!

NEXT CHAPTER!

Not wanting to attend the clan meeting, Hinata decided to go on a secret mission.

Naruto, on the other hand, just came back from another mission. But Kakashi wanted him to sit down and catch up on his Hokage lessons. As Naruto tried to escape somewhere to relax, he bumped into Hinata. And he just can't keep his hands off Hinata's business.

Chapter 3 SECRET MISSION...to the BathHouse!

PLEASE REVIEW! IT MAKES ME SMILE LIKE THIS! ^_^