Naruto and Hinata walked through the forest, trying to find any kind of clue as to where this Monkey Demon could be. There just had to be some kind of clue, yet the only kind of information that they had was that it would go after young women. Letting out a soft sigh, the young man couldn't help but scratch the back of his head out of frustration.

"Naruto, there is a way to lure it out you know." Hinata suggested.

The young man turned to stare at the princess, not sure what it was that she was even suggesting. Yet, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like it. Most of the ideas that Hinata had, he didn't like because it normally ended with her in danger and there was no way that he would allow it so long as he could help it. "What is it?" He asked, still waiting for the moment she gives her bad idea.

"The demon hunts for young woman right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well… what if I lure it out so-"

"No."

"But-"

"I said no!" Naruto snapped, glaring at her for a moment before his gaze softening. "No Hinata. I won't allow that. I don't want you to be put in danger just to lure a demon out here." The thought of Hinata going into danger made him get angry, not enough for him to lose himself but enough to make him want to punch a tree just to let out his own frustration.

Soon, he felt Hinata's hand grasping his own, rubbing the back of his hand right where his birthmark is. He wasn't sure why, but he always felt content when she did that. Turning his gaze back to her, seeing her smile deflated any and all anger that he had swirling deep in his heart. "Naruto," Hinata began, making Naruto frown a little. "I do this to keep our people safe."

"Your people." Naruto objected.

"Our people. Never think that you are not one of us Naruto. Anyway, I do it to keep them all safe, and if the only way to lure it out is to use myself as bait I'll do it. Just hide in the trees, that'll give you a better view of the demon approaching." Hinata said with her smile still in place. Damn it all, why did she have to smile up at him like that? It seemed that he would always give into her requests just with that bright and radiant smile of hers.

Letting out a soft sigh, knowing that he lost this battle. "Alright. But I swear to god Hinata that if that monster gets you that I'll never forgive you."

"Naruto, you and I both know that you'd still forgive me no matter what happens." Hinata said, her smile still in place. Damn it, she was right.

Looking around, Naruto pointed to a clearing as he said "We'll do it there. It'll be open enough for the demon to come out and for me to take it out." Hinata agreed before she started to make her way to the clearing. As for Naruto, he quickly leapt into the trees and jumped from branch to branch until he found a place high enough to give him a good point of view to see the demon.

Keeping a sharp eye, keeping his senses open, he would do all he could to keep Hinata safe. Sure, she knew how to fight and had beaten him a few times during spars but a part of him didn't want to fight her. Sure, he loved her, more than anything but for some reason he felt like there was more to it than that. It felt like there was a part of him that would never allow harm to her, even if it was from himself in training.

Running a hand through his hair, the young man knew that this was just really complicated. Ears perking, he thought that he heard something, like the sound of bushes or branches moving aside. Odd, he didn't sense anything. Looking around, he thought that he saw a flash of silver, or was that gray? He had no idea, but the moment he got a glimpse of it, it was gone. 'Must have been a wolf or something.'

Turning his gaze back to Hinata, he saw that she was just wandering around, pretending to look lost. Mumbling something to herself that he could just barely make out. Though, maybe it had something to do with her 'being lost' but really she knew where she was.

Honestly, he had no idea what was going on. The demon attacks were getting worse, he knew that much. He didn't know what the cause of it was, but, he knew that it had something to do with the Demon Kingdom just across the border. There was something, something dark there that he knew was the cause of it all. Taking a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves, the young man knew that he had to keep his focus on the task at hand. There was no room for distractions, yet his mind kept wandering to that one question.

What had caused this war between humans and demons?

Closing his eyes, he tried to think on what it could have been. What could have caused this in the first place? There was just so many reasons yet little to no answers that would come to mind. His mind plagued by people screaming, screaming for help, screaming as blood seemed to poor onto the floor. He couldn't make out what it was, everything was dark to him. He couldn't even make out what they were screaming about!

Suddenly his eyes snapped open, his body was shaking as if he was afraid. No wait, he was afraid. What had caused this? Nothing scares him! Shaking his head, the young man placed a trembling hand to his sweaty forehead as he tried to erase the feelings that he had from… whatever the hell that was. What was going on with him?

Taking a deep breath, Naruto thought he felt the ground shaking for a moment. Turning his gaze, he saw it. Some birds were flying around to get away from something, something big was coming and it was heading toward Hinata. "Maybe a fight will clear my head." Smirked Naruto.

The demon started to get closer and closer to Hinata and Naruto knew that he had to make sure that he timed this perfectly, or else there was a chance that Hinata would get harmed. Well, assuming that she didn't jump out of the way in time at the very least.

Growling softly, Naruto knew that he would catch Hinata before that demon even had a chance. Smirking to himself when the demon is confused as to why Hinata would disappear so quickly, it made him want to laugh to himself. Taking a deep breath, the young man soon saw the demon that had been attacking and kidnapping women.

It was huge, almost as tall as the tree line. White fur covered the creature and brown skin. It almost made Naruto think of a baboon or something but he didn't dare make that comment. Wrapped around its waist was some kind of… cloth. Yellow with brown spots, other than that, the demon didn't really wear anything else. 'Thank god he's covered…' thought Naruto with a shudder.

"Oh, a beautiful woman." Boomed the demon, causing Naruto to look up in shock. This one could… speak? Odd, all of the other demons that he had dealt with couldn't speak before. Did that mean that demons had thoughts and well… be civil? Shaking his head, the blonde warrior knew that he couldn't allow himself to think that. Even though he still hated to kill demons this made it all the harder than ever before. Letting out another growl, Naruto quickly leapt from the tree and charged toward Hinata just as the demon went to grab for her.

Quicker, he had to be quicker than ever before. There would be no way that he couldn't fail this now! Not that he hadn't had enough of his training with all of those weights, even at rest, he had always been fast. Not really sure why, must have something to do with his past.

'Almost there!' thought Naruto soon, he wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist and just seemed to have zipped by. Quickly, running to a tree quiet a distance away, Naruto calmly said "Just stay here, if you go out there it will be too distracted with you and I won't be able to focus with it trying to grab you." Hinata just glared at him for that. "Hinata, please don't fight me on this."

"Naruto, I can still fight." Hinata pointed out.

"I know that," groaned Naruto, really not wanting to deal with this right now. That demon wouldn't be in shock for much longer and he had to hurry up and deal with this thing. "Just wait for the right moment to attack okay?" Seeing her nod, he couldn't help but feel a little grateful at that. Quickly turning around, Naruto saw that the monkey was looking for its intended target, confused as to where she could have disappeared too.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto jumped into the trees and leapt until he was in the demon's line of sight. "Yo, monkey." Naruto called out, his arms crossed and looking board.

The demon looked at Naruto with a frown on his face. "A human male?" It said causing Naruto to roll his eyes. "Where is that woman?" It asked.

"Away from you. I won't allow you to take my princess." Naruto calmly pointed out with a narrow of his eyes. "I am her protector, if you want to get to her you'll have to get through me." Soon, he smirked as he added "And, I've taken down many demons since I've been in her service. Some even the same height as you and even some more powerful. I won't allow you to have your sick ways with my princess."

The demon just yawned into its hand. "Finished?" it asked.

"Uh… yeah?" Naruto said with confusion on his face. Wasn't this demon intimidated by anything?

"Okay." It said before swinging its fist at Naruto, causing the blonde to be knocked out of the tree. He didn't scream, he just sighed thinking that this could have gone easy but no. The demon thinks that just because it was bigger than him that it would easily beat him. Whelp, it would that it can't make a monkey out of Naruto Uzumaki!

Quickly twisting his body around, Naruto landed on his feet and leapt at the demon once more. Sword drawn from its sheath that was at his waist, Naruto swung at the demon. Hoping, and praying that this demon would be quick. Really, he just wanted to go on home and relax a little before Hinata has to do her duties around the manor.

The demon seemed rather surprised with Naruto's speed and tried to swipe at him. Yet, the monkey didn't know if he would be able to get a good hit in at him. It almost seemed impossible at this point. The demon in fact, seemed to be getting angry at the idea of Naruto not being hit. Jumping into the air, the young man wondered what the demon would be doing.

Until.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted before he went to make a run for it, hoping to get out of the way so he wouldn't be squashed. It would seem, that this demon hated not being able to grab at its enemy or its targets. It was more hands on, and for that Naruto was thankful for. Thanks to his speed, there was no way that it would be able to even grab a hold of him.

When the monkey landed on the ground, it shook. Some trees were smashed in the process and some of the ground broke apart. Naruto stumbled on his feet a bit but kept steady. Turning back, he said "I won't allow you to take her."

"Misunderstand." It said before he growled at Naruto before he went to grab at Naruto once more. Jumping out of the way, Naruto slashed at the monkey's arm, hoping to get it to stop trying to grab him. The monkey screamed from the pain, the pain by an infused chakra blade. "You misunderstood human." The demon tried to say again.

"Bull shit!" shouted Naruto as Naruto leapt up into the air and slashed his sword at the demon's face. Wanting to stun him enough so he could get Hinata further away. This demon was getting far too close to Hinata for his own comfort.

The demon growled at Naruto before he went to punch him while the young man was in midair. Lucky for Naruto though, he was able to twist his body around just enough to get out of the range of attack. After placing himself in range of the demon, Naruto swung his sword once more and slashed at the demon's wrist. The same one that he had already wounded before.

Growling, the demon used his other fist and punched Naruto, making contact. Naruto grunted from the force of the hit before hitting the ground. Dusting himself up, the young man saw the look of surprise on the demon's face, causing him to smirk at the way the demon just seemed to be staring at him. "What's wrong? Didn't think a human would be immune to pain?!" He laughed before he quickly picked up his sword and ran toward the demon, slashing at his left leg, and quickly appearing as he slashed at the right.

Oh yeah, there was no way that this battle would be lost to him so easily. Naruto was a powerful warrior that much he knew for a fact. Yet, he knew that he still had a long way to go until he was the best warrior in the land. "Naruto!" shouted Hinata, causing the young man to look at the princess as she rushed out to join him in the battle. Naruto slapped his forehead, hoping that she would have waited a little longer until she decided to join him in the battle at hand.

"There she is!" shouted the demon as he rushed to grab a hold of Hinata.

"No!" shouted Naruto as he rushed toward the princess, hoping to stop the demon. He dropped his sword in the process not thinking about anything other than to protect the woman he loved above all else.

The demon was getting closer, and closer to Hinata. Which was far too close for his own comfort, tightly shutting his eyes, Naruto hoped and prayed that there was something, some kind of god that would give him the power he would need to protect Hinata. "Hinata!" shouted Naruto as he stood in front of the princess and held out his hand, as if he was about to shove the demon's giant hand away. "Stay away from her!" Shouted Naruto as he soon felt the demon's giant palm against Naruto's smaller palms of both hands.

He felt the demon trying to shove him away, trying to get to the princess, but it seemed that no matter how hard the demon tried, it couldn't push Naruto away.

Opening his eyes, Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. HE was holding the demon off with his own two hands. He wasn't using his sword to attack or anything more than that. It almost seemed as if he had some kind of… "Super strength?" Naruto whispered. Shaking his head, the young man pulled one hand back and threw a punch at the demon, sending him back.

"Naruto how did you?" Hinata asked, though Naruto had no real answer. At the moment, he didn't know, nor did he care. If he could use it, use it to protect her than he'd use it to his own personal use of protection. Smirking to himself, Naruto turned to Hinata before telling her that they could win this one. Seeing her nod at him, that was when Naruto and Hinata rushed forward and attacked.

The monkey demon was in shock at Naruto holding him off. It tilted its head as it said "How did you stop me? You are human… are you not?" It seemed rather confused, but Naruto said nothing. Jumping into the air, he punched the demon in the head. Causing it to roar out in pain as it hit the ground. As for Hinata, she sent a kick to its face as well, though it wasn't as powerful as Naruto's punch.

The demon tried to get away, tried to move as fast as he could to block off any and all hits. Yet, Naruto wouldn't allow this demon to get away. Not after what it had done to all those women. For all he knew, it could have killed them, ate them. Or worse… Naruto shuddered at the thought. He knew that he had to stop this before it was too late! Running toward the demon, picking up his sword as he said "I won't allow you to hurt any other woman again!"

"No wait!" shouted the demon, watching as Naruto jumped into the air as he went to deliver the killing blow. "Wasn't trying to-" But the demon never had the chance. Naruto had managed to slice the demon through, imbuing his chakra into the blade as it was now capable to slice through the demon in half.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at his hand for a moment, the demon's body dissolving into ash, the wind blowing away the remains. What had happened to him? What was going on here? How was he able to do all of that in the first place? It was rather puzzling, but he knew that he would have to do something. What that was, he had no idea.

"Naruto, what was that?" asked Hinata.

"No idea, but… for now we can't tell your father. Let's keep this between us for now. Right now, we need to figure this out but on our own. I don't want your father freaking out about this alright?" asked Naruto, hoping and praying that she would listen to him about this.

"Okay. Well, let's get going. Father will want to know what had happened here with the demon." Hinata said as she started to walk on back to the manor.

Naruto looked at the demon before he started to walk away.

Meanwhile, in the bushes someone had been watching the whole fight. The mystery person couldn't help but frown as he saw what had happened unfold. He hadn't expected this to happen, it shouldn't have happened at all. He had made sure, prepared that all of this would be perfect, it was why he had been doing this all this time!

Then again, there was a chance of this happening, a small one. Looks like he'll have to do something, what that was he wasn't fully sure yet. But he'll have to find a way and fast before it got too far.