A/N: Well here I am back with another chapter. I don't think it is my best work, but I hope that everyone likes it anyways.
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Naruto.
The rest of the night went without incident and the next morning Team Samui bid the twin nobles farewell as the Leaf shinobi take over their protection for their trip to the capital of the Land of Fire. Tenten sees, as promised, that the old Naruto has returned. He looks as though he had slept for the first time in days and laughs with Team Samui as they swapped stories about Killer Bee while the young nobles are being prepared for their journey.
As Samui and her team are heading back to their ship Naruto shares a farewell smile and fist bump with each one, but to everyone's surprise Karui steps in and gives him a quick hug instead. Afterwards Karui punches him on the shoulder and points a finger at him. "Don't get any ideas. That was a onetime thank you hug and if I ever hear about you bragging, I'll come back and beat you up again." Without waiting for a reply she turns away and purposefully walks aboard the waiting ship. Samui and Naruto traded surprised looks and Omoi just watches her walk by, his mouth agape so wide that the sucker falls out of his mouth.
The young nobles had brought a carriage and horses along with them on a second ship, along with wagons to bring along all of the items they felt were necessary for a long trip. With a carriage, three other wagons, horses, servants and their royal guards they made very slow progress towards the capital.
About the middle of the second day Maku, Ookami's ninken, lets out a short bark and she begins to sniff the air. Tenten looks over and nods at Hanabi who activates her byakugan and starts scanning the area. Maru's warning bark about danger is confirmed when Hanabi goes into a fighting stance. "There are about two dozen that I can detect coming at us from all directions."
Naruto seeing them gathered together looking agitated walks over and after hearing the news takes command. "Hanabi and Shimata you both are close range fighters, so I want one of you on either side of the carriage with the personal guards to protect the nobles. "Tenten, you and Ookami split the rear guard position. I want Tenten between Hanabi and Ookami so that she can get any sensory updates and can adjust your positioning as she sees fit. I will be taking the point position and I have given each of you a marked kunai so if you get into trouble call out and either I or a shadow clone will come to your aid."
He smiles as they take their positions without hesitation and then walks over to the captain of the royal guard. "We have around two dozen people coming this way and their intentions are not yet known. My teammates are in place just in case the strangers are hostile. Can you make sure the royal assistants stay out of the way if combat starts?"
The captain nods and heads off to alert his men to a potential conflict. Each person takes up their position around the caravan as it continues to make its way down the road.
Realizing that they had lost the element of surprise twenty-four armed men come running out of the forest towards the caravan. Naruto summons a dozen shadow clones that rush to meet the six nearest bandits. Tenten unrolls a scroll and sends a flight of kunai towards the bandits rushing towards her position. Ookami gives a military ration pill to Maku and after a quick jutsu the dog transforms into a copy of its owner before they launch an attack. Hanabi takes up the Hyuga style fighting stance as Shimata casts a genjutsu at the closest bandit who becomes confused and starts throwing shuriken in every direction.
On Hanabi's side, one of the attackers' stops running, forms a few hand signs. Suddenly the ground under Hanabi's feet softens and reaches up like tentacles pulling her down into the earth up to her waist. The rest of her attackers let out a victorious roar and they throw their kunai at Hanabi as the jutsu is released and the earth around her hardens back to normal, locking her firmly in place. She is able to block four of the five kunai but due to being trapped she misses one of the kunai which imbeds itself in her left arm, causing it to go numb from the sudden pain.
Pushing his way to the front of the group is a huge man wielding a huge executioner's ax. He looks down at Hanabi with his black eyes, a rictus grin across his face. Two royal guards come up beside Hanabi and thrust at the ax wielding shinobi with their spears, but he swings his ax and lobs off the heads of the spears. As they look down at their now useless weapons the rogue reverses his swing and beheads both of them showering the immobile Hanabi with their blood. He looks back down at Hanabi and licks his lips. "I think that I am just going to split you right in half. Then it will be easy to scoop up those pretty eyes you have little girl."
As he raises his ax high into the air Hanabi holds up her right hand and fills it with as much chakra as she can muster, hoping that it will be enough to deflect the huge blade. "NARUTO!" She screams out his name in desperation.
There is a loud clang as the ax strikes something hard, but Hanabi feels no pain. With trepidation she opens her eyes that she had recklessly closed in her panic. The ax had been expertly twisted at the last moment to avoid her protective hand and if it were not for the golden fox's head made of chakra hold it firmly in place the blade, a mere fraction of an inch from her face, she would have surely met a gruesome death. She hears Naruto's voice speak behind her in a rage filled growl. "You better hope she is okay, or you will die wishing I had killed you quickly." His voice changes to one of concern. "Hanabi, you are covered in blood. How bad are you hurt? Talk to me Hanabi."
"The blood isn't mine, I'm only hurt a little." Is all she can manage to say as she watches the huge man in front of her try in vain to extricate his ax from Naruto's grasp. She watches as the weapon is plucked from his hands as if he were nothing but a child with a toy and the metal bends with a horrible squeal as the fox's jaws clamp down hard enough to nearly fold the blade in half. The rogue shinobi just steps back and forms a seal creating three earth clones that rush towards them with kunai drawn.
Naruto drops the crumpled ax and summons a half dozen shadow clones that rush towards the enemy's earth clones, and then he takes a look around to see how everyone else is doing. While he is distracted a third rogue shinobi uses an earth style: tunneling technique to sink into the ground, move across the battlefield unseen and raises up next to the carriage. His eruption from the ground sends up a spray of rock that scatters the nearby guards. He then reaches up and draws back the curtain, a tanto glowing with crackling energy drawn ready to strike. Nahima seeing the blade lets out a scream of fright as her brother wraps his arms around her protectively.
Naruto hears the young noble's screams and with no time to use a jutsu he tackles the rouge from behind. They both slam into the side of carriage and fall to the ground in a tangle of limbs as the enemy shinobi begins to slash frantically with his blade. Naruto grabs the shinobi's arm as the two roll around on the ground trying to gain control of the weapon.
Their struggles bring them close enough to Hanabi, who thanks to her flexibility from years of training, leans backwards nearly folding her back parallel with the ground and delivers a precise gentle fist strike to the enemy's spine paralyzing his body from the waist down giving Naruto the distraction and leverage to easily finish off his opponent with a punch to the throat that crushes his windpipe.
As the rouge shinobi futilely claws at his throat Naruto stands up with a snarl and starts looking for next enemy to kill. He is disappointed to see the other two rogue shinobi fleeing with the few remaining bandits as Tenten and Ookami, who had beaten off the bandits they were facing, were coming to the aid of the caravan defenders. He resists the near primal urge to chase down the axe wielder and tear him apart and instead kneels beside Hanabi, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder. "Hanabi, please tell me you are okay."
Hanabi can hear the near panic in his voice as he begins to check her wound and then looks for any others. If her heart had not been racing in panic from her near death experience it might have skipped a beat from being touched so gently by Naruto. "Mostly, I might have twisted my knee when I was trying to get out of the trap earlier and my arm hurts from this kunai wound but I don't think it is real bad." She is able to turn just enough to look at Naruto and lets out a cry when she sees one of Naruto's hands covering a red patch staining the side of his jacket. "Naruto-kun you are hurt." She begins to frantically tear at the earth holding her in place with her good arm so she can get free and help him.
He looks at her with a smile that tries to hide his pain. "Yeah, he got one good cut in before you paralyzed him Hanabi, you saved my life, thanks." He bends down and starts digging with one hand while the other clutches his wound. "Now let's see about getting you out of the ground."
Hanabi tries to grab his hand and stop him from digging, begging him to stop before he makes his wound worse. Tenten comes over and lays a hand on his shoulder. "She's right Naruto, why don't you just go sit over there and let Ookami look at that wound while Shimata and I dig Hanabi out."
"She is hurt too. Have Ookami look at her wound first." Naruto gestures to the blade still stuck in Hanabi's arm.
Ookami quickly examines Hanabi and then Naruto. "You are bleeding now and she won't start till I pull out the kunai. Please do as sensei asks and as soon as Hanabi is out of the ground I will heal her wound, I promise." Ookami takes a stance and gestures for Naruto to sit in that 'I am not going to take no for an answer' pose that every nurse and doctor he has ever met seems to do so easily.
Hanabi nods vigorously until Naruto relents and sits down. "Okay, but Hanabi keep your byakugan activated and focus on the surrounding area. I don't want the enemy making another attack while we are busy licking our wounds." He looks over at Ookami chuckles and then winces a little. "Sorry Ookami that was a bad joke." He ignores her eye-rolling and looks over at Shimata. "Go check on the Hotano-samas and make sure that they are okay and then come back and help Tenten."
Hanabi nods at Naruto's request and starts scanning the area with her byakugan, but it is obvious that her main focus in on Naruto's condition.
As she is digging Tenten leans over and whispers into Hanabi's ear. "Are you sure you are okay?" After Hanabi nods her head Tenten smirks. "Good then I can ask you about that Naruto-kun statement." Hanabi's resulting blush reminds Tenten so much of the girl's older sister that she just smiles and pats her affectionately on the head. "Are you planning on competing with your sister for more than who leads the Hyuga clan? You know, the future Hokage would be a real catch for any woman, maybe I should start being a little nicer to Naruto-kun too." Tenten giggles at the angry look the young girl gives her in reply. "If you can glare at me like that then you are going to be just fine."
Ookami walks over, pulls open Naruto's jacket and after examining the wound her hands begins to glow green. "You are lucky, the wound is shallow and grazed off your ribs. It will hurt for a few days but you should be fine."
Naruto nods at her assessment. "I'll be fine by tomorrow, Kurama will patch me up pretty quick. I did not know that you knew medical ninjutsu, that's pretty cool Ookami."
She smiles at his praise. "Yes, I am studying medical ninjutsu so that I can heal humans and ninken. I want to make sure if anything ever happens to Maku or my teammates that I can take care of them." The small black dog gives a happy bark. "Kiba had told me that during the war many lives might have been saved if only they had received better medical attention in the field or had been pulled off the battlefield quicker. We are going to work hard so that we can fill that role if ever there is another need."
Naruto gives her a proud smile. "I think that is a wonderful goal to have, and I am glad that you are here to help with all of the injured."
Naruto then turns his head to the side with an unhappy glare. "Yes, I know that I would be fine if I had not been so careless." Naruto seems oblivious to the stares he is getting from everyone as he continues to argue with someone that only he can seem to see. "Listen, the nobles were in trouble and I did the quickest thing I could… yes I got hurt, but that guy was using chakra tanto and by the way it hurt I am guessing he was using lightning chakra on the blade." He nods as if agreeing with some unheard comment. "Yeah, it did feel a lot like a chidori. Man I hate lightning release attacks. He was able to pierce your cloak and disrupt my chakra flow at the same time, my whole left side went kind of numb, if she…"
"Was Uzumaki-san injured in his head?" Nahima asks as she and her brother approach.
Tenten chokes back her initial inclination to crack a joke and bows to the nobles. "No, Uzumaki-san is talking with the Kyubi sealed inside his body. He only sustained a cut along his side during the attack."
Oshima's face lights up at the mention of the Kyubi. "That is right. I had forgotten that Uzumaki-san is a jinchuriki like Bee-san. He has the nine-tailed beast sealed within him correct?"
Realizing that he was being talked about Naruto blinks and then looks over at Oshima. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that Kurama likes to comment from time to time on what I am doing. Usually I don't talk out loud when we are talking, but I guess I am still a little out of sorts from that sword cut I received." He points at the blade as Shimata was about to pick it up for a closer look. "Be careful there may still be some residual electrical charge left in the blade."
Nahima turns and is frozen in place as she notices for the first time the dead body just a few feet away from where she is standing and turns away quickly from the sight of the dead body, his eyes frozen open with a look of panic. Her brother comforts her till a guard helps Shimata cover the corpse.
Once it is covered she looks back at Naruto. "It has a name?"
Naruto stands and flexes a little to see how well Ookami has performed her duties as a healer and smiles. "Absolutely, each of the biju are as unique as you or I. They have names, personalities, desires… you name it."
"Fascinating, I would like to hear more about them and how you came to be selected to be the jinchuriki." Oshima says as he leads his sister back to the carriage. She nods in agreement at her brother's request.
The nobles were not hurt in the attack, but several of the royal guards and a few retainers were killed. It took about an hour to get everything settled and all of the major injuries tended to before they could start moving again.
Naruto summoned a toad and sent a message to alert the Hokage about the attack and their current location. The evening of the next day Guy and Rock Lee, who had ran nearly nonstop from the village, arrive per the Hokage's orders as additional protection for the duration of the mission.
Guy and Rock Lee are introduced to the young nobles and afterwards Tenten takes great pride in introducing her students to her former sensei, while Naruto and Rock Lee go off to the side for a private discussion.
They two young men smile at each other and shake hands. "Lee I have been meaning to find you and…"
"No Naruto, please let me be the first to apologize. I swore that if I did not immediately apologize the next time we met that I would circle the Leaf Village a thousand times hoping like a toad." Rock Lee holds up one fist in a determined pose. "I am truly sorry for striking you without a formal challenge."
"I should have held my tongue and not made that comment in front of a friend." He bows deeply to Rock Lee. "I humbly accept your apology and ask if I may still call you friend?"
Rock Lee responds by smiling and taking a taijutsu stance, which Naruto responds in kind, their extended arms are crossed. After a moment they straighten and bow to each other. "It would be an honor to have you call me a friend Naruto."
Tenten sees the whole thing and her heart swells happily as she watches as an old wound is healed. She turns to say something to Guy and immediately sweat drops.
The man who could be the fiercest taijutsu master in the world, maybe who ever lived, is standing there with tears streaming down his face. He wipes his dripping nose with the back of his sleeve and looks over at Tenten. "Have you ever seen a more splendid display of youth in your entire life? Once made the bonds of youthful friendship can never truly be severed."
The rest of the trip goes without incident, but the twins take more of an interest in Naruto and have him walk closely beside their carriage as they ask him questions. Most of them are about the biju and he explains how he became a vessel for Kurama on the day of his birth and how over time they have become friends. He also talks about the war and some of the enemies that he has faced during his time as a shinobi. During more than one of their rest breaks they ask him to demonstrate some of the different techniques he knows. For the rest of the journey to the capital Hanabi stays closer than ever to Naruto and she listens happily to his stories and to her obvious delight she smiles when he asks her to help him with some of the demonstrations, along with Rock Lee.
When the caravan arrives in the capital city the twins are whisked away into the royal compound to be prepared for an audience with their uncle. Before leaving Oshima walks over to Naruto and gives him a slight bow. "I wanted to thank you again for protecting us on our journey and I wanted you to know that when I get home I will be talking with my father about you and how well you protected us during the attack. I am glad that the injury that you sustained while protecting us was not severe."
She straightens her stance as if trying to make herself look more mature. "I will soon reach the age where I will begin looking for a suitable husband worthy to marry a princess of the Land of Lightning. My father might be interested in having his daughter marry the future Sixth Hokage as a way to further cement the good relations between our two nations." She smiles at seeing his face go red with surprise. "You do not have to answer me now. I think I would prefer a little mystery until I am ready to come and claim you for my groom." She gives Hanabi, who is standing nearby with her eyes wide with shock, a victorious smirk and walks away.
On the trip back to the Leaf Village only Naruto and Rock Lee, who are lost in discussion about their recent mission and some new training regimens, are the only ones who don't seem to notice how out of sorts Hanabi seems to be as she walks near the blonde haired shinobi, and really has been like that ever since the ambush. Guy smiles as he walks closely beside Tenten and quietly comments. "Ahh, the beauty and power of young love, does it not stir the soul and warm the heart?"
She gives her old sensei a weak smile. "Yeah, but I am worried that she may not be mature enough yet to handle rejection. I have seen too many times how he accidentally hurt Hinata without realizing what he was doing before he finally got a clue, and I don't want to see Hanabi hurt the same way."
Guy puts a fatherly arm around her and gives her a warm hug. "That is the power of a youth, Tenten. A young heart can easily be broken, but it is also resilient and there is time for it to heal and to take another chance. It does not mean that we don't forget those we have loved, it allows us to better appreciate who we have in our lives now and love them for who they are. A young heart needs love if it is ever to grow or it will become cold and hard like a stone." He looks at her with a gentle gaze that she has seen only in times when he really wanted to share something he felt important. "Maybe it's time to open up and give your heart another chance too, Tenten."
She places her head on her friend and teacher's shoulder. "I know, and I promise to think about it, okay."
Guy places an arm around Tenten's shoulder and smiles fatherly.