Naruto: The Heart of the Storm

Chapter One: Returning Home

"Naruto-kun…" If I don't tell him now… He'll never know how I feel… "I-I… I love… you…"

And then, Hinata slipped into darkness.

The Hyuga child lay splayed across Naruto's arms, a huge gash in her stomach. She… she loves me? Naruto felt Hinata slipping away, he handed her to Jiraiya, he knew the Toad Sage could help her. He'd be there when she woke up, but first…

"You! You did this to her!" The blond yelled facing the bandits that had attacked the caravan Hinata had been travelling with.

Let me loose… Let me KILL THEM!!!

No, you won't kill them…

Red chakra gathered around Naruto's body. His canines lengthened and his eyes turned blood red with slits for pupils.

I will!

"RAAHHRR!!" Naruto roared and charged the bandits, smashing them into trees and flinging them away.

Hinata, do you really love me? How could anyone love… me?

Memories flooded his mind.

Hinata offering him her lunch one day at the academy. I'd spilt my ramen.

Hinata offering to let him cheat of her at the Chunin exams. Why would she risk it for me?

Hinata boosting his spirits before the Chunin exams finals. She was always there for me.

A beautiful figure dancing on the water. How could I…

…

How could I let this happen to her!?

Naruto growled again. He didn't love Hinata, (at least, he didn't think he loved her) but he cared for her. She was one of his precious people.

A sudden thought crossed his mind; she may have been delirious after being wounded, but then he realised he didn't care if she meant it.

She's not the first person who cared for me... but she is the first to say that… He flicked his wrist, sending a thug tumbling. That she loves me!

Two years later. Konoha. Hokage's office.

Tsunade sighed. She just couldn't keep up with all this damned paperwork. Iwa and Kumo were both threatening war. Orochimaru still had Sasuke and would soon try to take his body. They were still low on ninjas three years after the invasion. And to top it all of, Hiashi was trying to get the Hyuga council out of prison.

Flashback no Jutsu!

"Are you sure about this Hinata?" The youthful looking Hokage stared across her desk, her hands folded in front of her. "They are very important people, and these are some pretty hefty charges."

The dark haired girl gasped. "Y-you mean your going to l-let them get away with this? With trying to k-kill Naruto-kun?" The Hyuga child couldn't believe it, Shino and Shikamaru both told her how protective the Hokage was of her 'little brother' and yet here she was not going after people who tried to hurt, no- murder Naruto just because they were important.

"No!" The blond sannin slammed her hands on her desk. "They are not going to get away with this, but you do realise that when they find out you were the informer, they may try to kill you."

The pupil-less girl nodded. "I know, Shino and Shikamaru s-said that you could send me on a t-training trip, like Naruto-kun is on until they calm down."

The Sannin thought for a minute. "I have a better idea." She scribbled on a sheet of paper. "You are…" She crossed something out "Going to find Naruto and Jiraiya…" She signed the letter and folded it up. "Deliver this…" She put it in an envelope and handed it to Hinata. "And then, train with them for two years!"

Tsunade beamed, like putting the shy girl with her crush for two years with only a pervert for company was the best idea in the world. This is the best idea in the world! She thought. Sometimes, being Hokage is too easy!

At the thought of two years alone (well, almost alone) with Naruto, Hinata did the only thing she could think of.

She fainted.

Flashback no Jutsu – Kai!

Tsunade groaned. What had seemed like the best idea in the world at the time had become a horrible nightmare. Sure Hinata and Naruto were improving at an astronomical rate but… Things back in the leaf village had been really bad.

When Hiashi found out that Hinata was sent to join Naruto he was furious, and tried to demand her return. Keyword-try.

Then he found that the entire Hyuga council was under arrest for plotting the assassination of a leaf village shinobi. Fortunately for him he'd never said anything during the discussions, but the fact he hadn't stopped them meant he had to tread carefully around the fifth Hokage. He was sure that his fellow council members were being interrogated by the Yamanaka family, and possibly even Ibiki Morino himself!

But as he hadn't said anything about killing the demon brat he couldn't be imprisoned.

Then he found out who had told the Hokage about the plots and plans of the Hyuga elders.

When Tsunade found out about Hiashi attempting to have his own daughter assassinated it had taken the combined strength of Shizune, Sakura and the two ANBU guards to hold her back from beating the head of the Hyuga clan into a bloody pulp.

Shortly after Hiashi had formally disowned Hinata, and announced Hanabi as clan heir.

This was actually a good thing, as now Hiashi had no control over Hinata. If he hadn't, he could have easily interfered with something Tsunade found quite cute. According to Jiraiya, Naruto and Hinata acted like a married couple, barely needing to talk to understand what each other was thinking.

This wasn't the only change in the two however, Hinata was apparently a lot more open and out going (Naruto had rubbed of on her), and Naruto would actually think before doing something. It seemed like her wonderful idea may have given her a headache, but caused Naruto and Hinata to mature greatly.

The slug sannin glanced at a calendar. Unless that pervert holds them up they should be back today…

At that exact moment, just outside of Konohagakure.

"Three?"

"Go fish. Four?"

"Go fish. Three?"

"You asked 'three' last time!"

"So, you might have just picked one up!"

"But that's stu- Hold on, someone's coming."

Kotetsu and Izumo leapt to there feet, hiding the cards.

Three figures approached the gates. One was an old man with long white hair and a red vest. (A/N: I don't really need to describe him do I?)

Next to him walked a young man about a head shorter than him. He had spiky blond hair and was wearing an open white coat that reached down past his knees and had a blue trim that rose into flames at the bottom. Under it he wore an unbuttoned black shirt, revealing his chest and stomach. He wore simple black pants and standard shinobi shoes. His hitai-ite was worn around his waist like a belt. In his left hand he held a sword (he's holding the sheath). The sheath was black with seven gold rings spaced evenly along it. The handle was easily big enough to allow for two handed use and was covered in intricate seals.

On the blonds other side was a woman with long dark blue, possibly purple hair tied into a pony tail that reached her waist. She was garbed similarly to the blond, with a white coat (this one with lilac trim) open, revealing a loose kimono top and long pants, both lavender. She like the blond wore standard shinobi shoes, but her hitai-ite was tied across her eyes. She used a purple strap to hold her sheath to her back. The handle was poking over her right shoulder, and the entire sword was much like the blonds, although hers was white compared to his black it also has seven golden rings along the sheath and intricate seals on the handle. Apart from the colour the only difference between the swords are the patterns on the sheaths. The blonds are sharp and jagged, turning suddenly in on themselves, seeming to writhe as if in pain, whilst the purple haired shinobi's to flowed across the handle, seeming to shimmer and ripple like water.

"Halt, state your name and reason for entering Konoha." Kotetsu spoke up as the trio reached the gates.

"You idiot" Izumo nudged him "Don't you recognize Jiraiya-sama of the sannin?"

"I recognize him it's those two I don't know!"

The blond looked shocked. "Aw come on! How can you not remember the future Hokage!?" The girl grabbed his arm and raised one eyebrow. "Yeah I guess your right… it has been three years."

The two guards stood still for a moment and until…

5…4…3…2…1… Now!

"Naruto! Hinata! Wow you two have grown!"

"You'd better go meet the Hokage before you do anything else, she's expecting you."

Twenty minutes later, inside the Hokage's office.

"Well if that's all obaa-chan we'll get going now." The blond turned to go. "Hinata-chan and I have to meet all the others… actually, could you get them to meet us at training ground 13 please? But don't tell them it's us, say it's some compulsory new training or something." The fifth Hokage nodded and waved for them to leave.

As Jiraiya tried to leave however she grabbed his jacket. "Oh no you don't! You have to give me the full report. I want to know every little jutsu they know." Jiraiya pouted and slumped down in a seat. He was way behind on his 'research' because both Naruto and Hinata kept interfering all the time.

One hour later, training ground 13.

The Konoha 12 (minus Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata of course) had all met up on the way to training ground 13. No-one knew why they were all being called there but Sakura thought it was for some sort of special training thing.

"YOSH! With additional training my fires of youth shall burn brighter than ever before! This is indeed a great day!" That was of course, Lee who was of course, ignored.

"Well, what kind of training could we all do together? I mean it's not like we all share a style or something." Sakura sounded bored, but she was in fact incredibly excited about extra training, if it was important enough to get all of them together it had to be good.

Shikamaru groaned, "It's probably something that none of us are good at, light Genjutsu… how troublesome…"

Suddenly Neji spoke up (oh my god!) "It appears our 'teachers' are here already."

The group looked ahead, and sure enough two people sat under a tree waiting for them. The couple were dressed in white cloaks (jacket/coat things, like what the fourth wears) and both had swords.

"What the, they're only our age! How can they teach all of us?" Ino screeched.

The girl looked up at her. "We are here not so much to teach you, as to test you Yamanaka-san."

"Alright, does anyone else think it's freaky that she's looking at me with a headband covering her eyes!"

"I can hear you Yamanaka-san." The girl stated; she must have good hearing because Ino had been mumbling.

"Umm, so what are your names anyway?" Sakura tried to help her fried out of an awkward situation.

"And how did you know I was a Yamanaka?" The others nodded. Then the boy spoke up drawing attention to himself.

"I told her; we are leaf shinobi and I recognised you after seeing you with your father once." Upon seeing his open chest many of the girls drooled.

Whoa… he's HOT! Almost as if she could see them the purple haired woman slid over, grabbing his arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

Kiba whistled, whew he's one lucky *bleep*. "So, what kind of a test is it?"

"Put quite simply, a series of duals. You guys all pair up and we see which pair can beat us." He started.

"But you are picked randomly; we've already had the Hokage pick pairs, since we don't know all of you." The girl finished. It wasn't true, but the others didn't need to know that.

"Alright, the first pair is Sakura and Lee." The white cloaked couple stood and walked into the middle of the field that was training ground 13. About one third of the training ground was covered by a small lake, and it was rimmed with trees.

"YOSH! Sakura-chan! I will show you how brightly our fires of youth burn together!"

The couple sweat dropped and drew their swords. "Alright, no lethal force, keep fighting until we are either unable to continue or give up." Seeing Lee nod the blond continued. "Ok then, lets fight!"

A/N: Ok I'll try to keep chapters at least this length now:

I will be having flashbacks to the timeskip, showing Naruto and Hinata's training and the development of their relationship, but first to see what they can actually do! On to the next chapter: Memories of Defeat!

Please Read and Review, if I haven't explained something properly or if I've missed something don't hesitate to tell me!