Shinobi Odyssey

"Normal speech."

"Speaking in a foreign language."

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and all the characters from the anime and manga. The Stargate franchise is owned by MGM. Please do not reproduce this story without the permission of the author, huntsvilletiger.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Don S. Davis, AKA Lt. Gen. George Hammond (August 4, 1942 - June 29, 2008).

Chapter 4: Past and Present

Earth – Denver, Colorado

"You were right," Jennings reported. He handed the folder he was carrying over to the rogue NID cell's leader. "According to the latest communication intercepts between Cheyenne Mountain and the Pentagon, the SGC has some new alien visitors. How'd you know?"

Hoskins smirked. "I have my sources," he answered cryptically.

"Well they certainly seem to be everything your sources claimed they were. Rapid healing abilities, multi-spectral vision, enhanced strength, and that appears to just be the tip of the iceberg of what they're capable of. I can see why you wanted to re-focus our surveillance assets on finding out more about them."

Hoskins flipped through the material in the folder. "Any chance they'll be moving them?"

The other man shrugged. "To soon to tell for sure, but my guess is they'll keep them at Stargate Command for at least a couple of weeks while they try to locate their home world. Thinking about a snatch op?"

The cell leader looked thoughtful for a moment then frowned. "Yes, but we'd never be able to pull off the mission with our current resources."

Jennings raised an eyebrow at the answer. His question about abducting the two alien teenagers had been meant as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek remark. He hadn't really expected his superior to be seriously considering it. Judging by the reports, grabbing either teen if they were unguarded and alone would have been a tricky, although not impossible, task. However, when you took into account their current location and the forces protecting Cheyenne Mountain, it became a suicide mission with zero chance of success. They might as well try stealing all the gold out of Fort Knox. It'd be easier.

"Problem?"

"No, just surprised. I was under the impression you wanted us to lay low for a while after our Salt Lake City safe house was raided," Jennings carefully responded. There was a whole alphabet soup of government agencies trying to track down the remaining rogue NID cells, so those suspected of being informants or just less than 100 percent devoted to the cause were mercilessly dealt with.

"I do, but let's just say someone I report to has expressed a great deal of interest in Mr. Uzumaki," Hoskins replied.

Jennings nodded his understanding. The Trust supported the cause, but they also expected a return on their investment. He could imagine the kind of medical advances they might glean from studying the alien boy. One of the organization's board members probably saw dollar signs and decided to pressure his cell leader to acquire 'samples.'

If that was the case, he needn't worry. The Hoskins he knew was a lot of things, but reckless wasn't one of them. Their cell had remained undetected for as long as it had for a reason after all.

Hoskins looked up from the report he was still reading. "Cassandra Fraiser? Isn't she the alien girl the head of the SGC's medical department adopted a few years ago?"

"Yeah. Apparently, she's bugging the doctor to let her meet the two other alien kids."

"And you found this out through the wiretap program we infected the Colorado Springs telecommunications switching computer with?" Jennings nodded in response. Hoskins stood and walked over to the window. "Interesting. Find out the girl's cell phone number and add it to the list. Make sure the program is set up to record text messages as well as calls."

"No problem, we can do that when we download the cache."

Hoskins continued looking out the window, as Jennings departed to make the necessary updates to the software. As soon as the door closed, his eyes briefly glowed. "Yes, very interesting indeed," he said to his reflection in an eerie, deeper voice.

Stargate Command

Seeing the major's eyes drift down to the bag of microwave popcorn he was eating from, O'Neill tilted it in her direction. "Want some? It's got real butter flavor," he said in a passable impression of the voice from the brand's TV commercials. Carter smiled back at him, but shook her head, no.

They, along with General Hammond and the rest of SG-1, were in the briefing room watching the highlights of the security camera footage of Naruto's 'escape attempt' and the chase that followed. After running out of the commissary, the young ninja had created a number of shadow clones that had base security running around in circles for the better part of an hour.

Presently on the monitor, Naruto was running down a corridor. Dr. Fraiser grabbed an SF by the shirt and pointed excitedly for the man and his partner to give chase. The two men ran past her and then disappeared around a corner in pursuit of the blond. As soon as they were out of view, there was a noticeable change in the doctor's body language. 'She' grinned, then pulled out the ID card she had surreptitiously palmed from the SF whose shirt she grabbed, and swiped it through the card reader on the wall next to the elevator.

However when the doors opened, 'Dr. Fraiser' found 'herself' face-to-face with the very teed off genuine article, who just happened to be riding the same elevator. There was a puff of smoke when Naruto dropped the henge and tried to make a run for it. However, the real Dr. Fraiser grabbed the young ninja before he could take a single step and yanked him into the elevator car with her. The doors closed and the recording switched views to another camera located on a different floor that showed the irate M.D. getting off the elevator and half leading, half dragging the whining blond by the ear back to the infirmary. The recording cut out right before the pair reached their destination.

General Hammond shook his head in amazement. "This base has a 20 million dollar internal security system and one of the best trained security forces in the world, and a fifteen year old makes fools of both while raiding our kitchen."

O'Neill couldn't help but agree. Naruto had evaded all attempts to corner him by skillfully using his shadow clones as decoys and often disguising himself as the very people chasing him. Half the time, they hadn't even been sure which level he was on. The worst part was O'Neill was fairly certain the teen had just been 'playing.' At least, that's what the part of the video where the real and undisguised Naruto actually stopped, waved at a security camera in one of the corridors, and then waited for the SFs to catch up before taking off again seemed to indicate.

However, O'Neill also thought Naruto had unintentionally done them a huge favor, which was something he intended to discuss with General Hammond in private before his CO called Captain Meyers, the officer in charge of base security, into his office. The young captain was new to Stargate Command, and in both senior officers' opinions, had not maintained the same level of preparedness and training for his men as his predecessor. Part of the problem was Meyers was a very by-the-book type of officer, and frankly, thinking outside the box and having the ability to adapt to the unexpected were much more important than the ability to follow SOP when it came to dealing with the kinds of security threats the SGC faced.

When O'Neill went to 'point out' that reality to the young captain after Dr. Fraiser caught Naruto, he was surprised to find Meyers on the phone scheduling additional time for the SFs at the training grounds and kill house located on Fort Carson, the army base literally across the road from the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain. It was generally the sign of a good officer that he or she realized their mistakes and immediately began taking steps to rectify them without needing to be told by a superior. At that point, O'Neill's visit changed from making sure the captain was aware he screwed up to making sure he didn't make a new mistake while trying to fix the first.

O'Neill knew from experience that military men and women in particular tended to have especially strong subconscious pack mentalities borne out of the knowledge that their very lives depended on teamwork and looking out for each other. The belief that you can trust your comrades-in-arms with your life is essential to the morale and fighting spirit of any combat unit. That was why the SGC made it a point to never leave anyone behind or give up on anyone missing in action or captured, no matter the odds.

A good leader could use that subconscious desire to 'run with the pack' to his advantage by saying something like, "you failed to keep up with the squad," and then giving the person being disciplined a standard or goal to reach for in order to redeem themselves. The fact those on the receiving end were undoubtedly already angry with themselves for failing their comrades' trust, meant the simple leadership tactic could often motivate someone more than all the yelling in the world could hope to accomplish.

With that in mind, O'Neill toned down the ass chewing he'd originally planned on delivering and then spent the following two hours discussing tactics and ways to make the SFs' training exercises more realistic to the kinds of situations they were likely to encounter with the young officer.

The best part was all this particular lesson had cost was a few bruised egos instead of the lives that might have been lost against a more hostile intruder. As a result, the colonel didn't feel the need to pile on Meyers and the SFs, which could potentially hurt their morale and resolve to meet the standards of the 'pack.'

"In their defense, sir," O'Neill offered, "the kid is a ninja from another planet. It's not like he's some random teenager we picked up off the street."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, "were not the ninjas of Earth renowned for their stealth and infiltration skills as well as their fighting ability?"

"And according to Hinata, he pulled the same stunt at the hospital in their village once, and even they only caught him after someone spotted him eating at his favorite restaurant," Daniel chipped in.

"Any chance Miss Hyuuga told you what their hospital did to prevent him from escaping a second time?"

Daniel smiled at the general's question. "She did mention someone named Shizune being very skilled at tying knots."

"Well in that case, let's put ol'Doc Fraiser in charge of security," O'Neill added helpfully. He'd stopped by the infirmary on his way down and could attest to the fact that Naruto would definitely not be making any further excursions from his bed until the good doctor released him.

General Hammond chortled. "Any serious suggestions or comments?"

"We could always replace the card readers on the elevators and blast doors with thumbprint scanners and upgrade the corridor security cameras to thermals, sir. It's probably something we should have done a long time ago, anyway," Carter suggested. "My guess is his disguise technique probably doesn't have the same thermal properties as real flesh and blood. If that's the case, his body heat should appear to be distributed differently to a thermal imager when he's using it. However, I still don't understand what this chakra of theirs is or to what degree they can manipulate it, so I can't be one hundred percent certain of that."

Daniel leaned back in his chair at the conference table. "I don't know how much this will help, but the term chakra originated here on Earth in ancient India. It usually refers to the energy centers of the body located along the major branches of the nervous system. There are a number of similar concepts in other Eastern religions, philosophies, and martial arts. Now this is just a hypothesis, but maybe the people of Naruto and Hinata's world discovered how to unlock some kind of biophysical energy and adapted the concept of chakra to explain it."

"Well, we have seen people with unusual abilities before. For example, when Cassandra was infected with Nirrti's retrovirus and temporarily developed electromagnetism powers, or Ayiana, the woman Dr. Michaels' expedition found frozen in the glacier in Antarctica, who had similar healing powers to Naruto. We're still not completely able to explain either incident," Sam agreed.

General Hammond raised his hand for the others to be quiet for a moment when he noticed Siler come up the stairs from the control room. "What is it, Sergeant?"

"Excuse me, General Hammond, sir, but you wanted to be notified when the UAV was ready for launch."

"Right. Begin the dialing sequence; we'll join you in a moment."

Daniel shot a questioning look at O'Neill as the group got up from the conference table and made their way toward the stairs leading from the briefing room down to the control room. "We decided to send a UAV to take a closer look at the planet where we found the kids."

"Chevron six, engaged," Sergeant Harriman could be heard calling out from his seat in front of the dialing computer.

"Why?" Daniel asked, midway down the staircase. It was a bit unusual to 'waste' a UAV by sending it to a world they had already visited and had no plan of returning to.

"Chevron seven, locked." The control room filled with a shimmering light when the wormhole formed.

"P3X-4117 is one of the gate addresses we obtained from the Ancient repository. A normal Goa'uld, especially a minor one like Tilgath, shouldn't have had any knowledge of its existence," Carter answered. As they reached the landing, they could now see the small, unmanned aircraft sitting on the launcher's rails through the Control Room window.

"Couldn't he have discovered it with one of his ships?"

When they reached the Control Room Carter stood next to Daniel. "Possibly, but P3X-4117 is still way outside the region of space Tilgath normally operates in. Why would he risk sending one of the few motherships he has a quarter of the way across the galaxy to find a strategically insignificant planet that likely doesn't have any significant natural resources and then decide to build a base there?"

"UAV launch in 10…9…8…7…6…5…"

The propeller on the UAV spun to life.

"4…3…2…1…Launch." The rocket booster ignited causing the UAV to shoot forward with enough airspeed to stay airborne once it exited the Stargate on the planet. The UAV left the launch rails and then vanished through the event horizon, leaving behind only a trail of smoky rocket exhaust to be sucked up by the Gate Room's ventilation fans.

"Receiving telemetry from P3X-4117," the technician piloting the drone from the Control Room reported a few moments later. The overhead monitors in the Control Room switched from the screensaver to the video feed from the UAV.

"The target should be a little over five klicks to the left on the far side of a pair of hills," O'Neill informed the operator.

"Yes, sir." The technician pressed the smaller of the two joysticks in front of him to the left to rotate the UAV's camera turret.

Everyone watching the monitors was taken aback when instead of the expected Goa'uld vessel and base, a devastated, crater pockmarked landscape appeared. The technician focused the cameras in on the center of the area revealing that all that remained of the Ha'tak and stone structure were large scattered piles of still smoking debris strewn among the craters.

"Teal'c, any idea what we're looking at?" General Hammond asked.

Teal'c studied the video monitor for a moment before answering. "The damage appears consistent with an orbital bombardment by several Goa'uld motherships."

O'Neill leaned over the technician's shoulder and pointed at a group of dark specks in the bottom left of the video monitor. "Can you zoom in on those?"

The technician nodded and sent the necessary commands to the UAV. The camera angle shifted slightly and the image zoomed in on the specks just outside of the bombarded area, which turned out to be the bodies of around twenty Jaffa.

"Colonel, are those the same Jaffa killed by the boy and your team?" Hammond asked.

"No, sir. We were a lot closer to the gate." He turned to the technician. "Can you zoom in on a single body, airman?" The video image changed once again to where all that was visible on the screen was the body of a single Jaffa warrior lying face down in the dirt. He had clearly been struck by a staff weapon blast in the stomach. The camera panned across several more bodies in the group, all appeared to have been shot execution style in the head or symbiote pouch. There were no signs of the warriors' weapons. After scanning the area for several minutes, the UAV's cameras spotted several large groups of slaughtered Jaffa but no sign of any survivors or the attackers.

Teal'c scowled, not liking the implications of what he was seeing. However, it was Daniel who spoke up first. "This looks more like a massacre than a battle. When one Goa'uld attacks another, I thought the whole point was to gain territory or assassinate the attackee in order to take over his or her armies and fleets?"

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "The victor in a battle usually absorbs the forces of the vanquished, thereby increasing his own strength. Despite their well-earned reputation for brutality, the Goa'uld rarely execute Jaffa who surrender or are captured en masse. Any Jaffa who refuse to swear allegiance to their new 'god' are taken prisoner and put to work as slave labor, as recently happened to Master Bra'tac and Rya'c on the planet Erebus before their rescue. That is not to say it is unheard of for a Goa'uld to simply slaughter an enemy so completely and then abandon the battlefield, however, it is seldom done without good reason during a major conflict like the one now occurring between the System Lords and Anubis."

The General frowned. The logical part of him could easily explain away the incident as yet another example of the seemingly never-ending infighting among the Goa'uld. On the other hand, his instincts, honed during combat missions flown over Southeast Asia in his youth and the decades in uniform that followed, were screaming at him that there was something more going on. Maybe it was the fact that the massacre followed so closely on the heels of SG-1's encounter with the two teens currently in his base's infirmary, or Tilgath's unexplained presence on P3X-4117, or simply the brutal efficiency and overwhelming firepower used against such a seemingly insignificant target. Whatever the case may be, General Hammond couldn't escape the conclusion that something was 'off' about the whole affair. Looking at the faces of the members of the Stargate program's flagship team, he could tell their thoughts were leading them in similar directions.

Noticing the General scanning his team's faces, O'Neill acknowledged what his superior had already guessed with a subtle nod. "Sir, I'd like permission to take SG-1 back to P3X-4117. By the looks of things, whoever attacked the planet is long gone, and we might find some clues about what happened and why Tilgath was on the planet in the first place. At the very least, Carter should be able to retrieve the gate address of our new friends' home planet from the DHD's memory."

General Hammond checked his watch. There were a number of teams currently off world, who were scheduled to either return to Earth or report in. "The next available window in the gate schedule is three hours from now. Take SG teams 3 and 18 with you for backup. And Colonel…"

"Yes, sir?"

"Watch your six."

O'Neill gave a rare salute. "Always, sir."

"I could have sworn I put that new English for Japanese speakers book over here somewhere," Daniel muttered to himself as he dug through yet another of the perpetually growing stacks of books and academic journals that populated his office. Despite having only received the volume in question a few hours earlier, he had already misplaced the book and couldn't seem to locate it after fifteen minutes of searching.

While Daniel searched, Hinata kept herself entertained by looking at the various artifacts and photographs lining the shelves and walls of the cluttered workspace. She and her escort had been on the way back to the infirmary from the commissary when they ran into Daniel, who offered to take her the rest of the way after he picked up some books from his office.

She was beginning to get a little worried about how long Daniel was taking, though. She didn't like the idea of leaving Naruto alone for too long, especially after the stunt he pulled earlier while she was taking a long overdue nap on the bed next to his. Hinata knew Naruto well enough to realize sneaking out of the infirmary had merely been his way of dealing with his frustration with their situation, but she fretted about the possibility their hosts wouldn't be as understanding if it happened a second time.

A moment later, Hinata let out a surprised 'eep' when a loud crashing noise announced Daniel had been buried alive by a dangerously teetering stack of books whose collapse he had accidentally triggered. Falling books from the first stack caused four other stacks to give way, burying him even further. Hinata cringed as each stack fell. Before she could get to Daniel though, an olive drab sleeved arm stuck up from behind the large worktable in the center of the room and waved. "I'm alright! Go back to whatever you were doing, I'll only be a couple more minutes."

"A-are you sure you don't want me to help, Jackson-san? I don't mind."

Daniel slowly clambered to his feet, almost slipping back to the floor when a book got underfoot. His glasses had been knocked askew and were only hanging on by the end of his nose and a single earpiece. "Thanks for offering, but I've got it. I have a system for keeping all this organized, believe it or not, and I don't want to mess it up," Daniel claimed between sneezing fits caused by the cloud of dust the falling books had kicked up.

Hinata sighed, but nodded indulgently for Daniel to continue his search before resuming her own exploration. She figured he would eventually admit he couldn't find the book on his own and ask for her help.

At least, that's what always happened when Kiba, who claimed to have a similar system for organizing his room, lost something. Usually after a few days of digging through his room, Kiba would give up and ruefully ask her and Shino to use their abilities to help find the misplaced item.

Their teammate's slovenly habits annoyed Shino to no end, and Kiba's sister, Hana, had once declared…probably correctly…that her little brother's 'system' was throwing everything on the floor until even Akamaru refused to go inside and their mom threatened to use a fire jutsu to clean his bedroom for him. Hinata, on the other hand, honestly didn't mind. Being a bit of a slob was just part of what made Kiba, Kiba. Plus, she liked being able to give something back to one of her teammates. Both boys had been too good of friends to her over the years for her to even consider doing otherwise. However, she would admit to being embarrassed by some of Kiba's 'reading material' that she inevitably saw with her Byakugan while searching his room.

Hinata just hoped they, along with her family and the rest of their friends, weren't worrying about Naruto and her too much. The young kunoichi was especially concerned for her pregnant sensei, who was still dealing with the death of her husband, and that Kiba and Shino might do something foolhardy in her absence. Both boys tended to be overprotective of her. Kiba in particular was prone to acting before he thought things through all the way, and even Shino could be surprisingly rash at times, especially when it came to defending friends or his pride.

Her thoughts of home were interrupted when she reached Daniel's desk and noticed a hardbound textbook with English as a Second Language, Japanese Speakers' Edition, Volume 1 printed on the cover in kanji sticking out from under a stack of paperwork. She carefully pulled the book out from under the papers, making sure not to get them out of order.

She was about to announce her discovery to Daniel, when she saw the picture frame sitting next to the papers and book on the desk. The bronze complexioned woman in the photograph was strikingly beautiful, and Hinata could tell by the warmth and affection evident in her expression that the woman was deeply in love with the person taking her picture.

"Oh, good. You found the book."

Hinata turned her head to find Daniel walking toward her. Seeing the glint of a gold wedding band on one of his fingers, she put two and two together and smiled. "Is this your wife? She's very pretty."

"Yes, she was," Daniel answered with a forced smile and sadness evident in his voice. He picked up the photograph and stared at the woman's face, obviously lost in some memory.

Hinata realized what was wrong even before Daniel opened his mouth. His expression was identical to the one she had often seen her sensei wearing over the last few weeks. She reached out and gently touched Daniel's arm, breaking him out of his reverie. "S-she's d-dead?" Daniel nodded. "I-I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Hinata said softly. She felt guilty that she'd reminded him of his loss with her question. He and everyone else she'd met at the SGC had been so kind to her and Naruto.

"It's okay. You didn't know," Daniel replied. He smiled more genuinely when he saw the sincerity and genuine concern in her eyes. He could also tell she was curious about what had happened to his wife but didn't want to open any more old wounds by prying.

He was thankful for Hinata's consideration. Despite her having died over four years ago, he was still not over Sha're's death. Sometimes he wondered if he ever would be. He couldn't even bring himself to stop wearing his wedding ring. The last time he tried, he didn't even make it to his car before he was overwhelmed by the urge to run back into the house and retrieve the ring from its place atop his dresser.

The process of regaining his memories after returning to human form a few months earlier hadn't helped matters. Having the excitement of remembering the love of his life shattered by the sudden realization that she was dead was like losing her all over again. Only his work and the support of his friends had kept him from sinking into depression.

However, maybe it was time to quit avoiding the subject. Sha're wouldn't have wanted him to grieve for her for the rest of his life. She would have wanted him to be happy and able to move on with his life.

Daniel decided to take the next step toward healing by talking about his late wife for the first time in months. He started telling Hinata the story of his and Sha're's life together, his search for her after she was taken as a host for Apophis' queen, and finally the day she died in his arms after Teal'c shot her to save his life.

Hinata sat on one of the stools around the worktable in awe for nearly an hour as Daniel told his story. A torrent of thoughts and emotions washed over her as she listened to the tale. She wanted to cheer when Daniel got to the part where he, Colonel O'Neill, and the rest of the first expedition through the stargate were finally able to defeat Ra and help the people of Abydos free themselves from slavery. She blushed mightily when he described how he and his wife fell in love and the year they spent together. She couldn't help imaging what it would be like if Naruto one day loved her the way Daniel had obviously loved Sha're. She felt a sense of horror deep in the pit of her stomach when Daniel described learning his wife had been chosen as a host by a Goa'uld on the planet Chulak. Then she was deeply moved by Sha're's selfless last gift that had allowed her husband to forgive his friend for what he'd had to do. And finally, she felt a wave of compassion and admiration for Daniel when she understood how difficult it must had been for him to soldier on after losing someone so precious.

In short, Hinata was overwhelmed. Daniel's tale was one of the most amazing stories of love, friendship, loss, and adventure she had ever heard. Then there were the deeper implications of what she had learned. The idea of other civilizations predating hers by thousands of years was mind-boggling. Little was known about her own world's history from before the start of the Age of the Hidden Villages a hundred years ago, as too many records had been lost in the violent era that preceded it. Even the idea of life on other worlds wasn't taken seriously by anyone other than a handful of philosophers and astronomers.

However, after being spirited away to one alien world then winding up on a second that was possibility the very world her ancestors had originated from, Hinata was starting to get used to having everything she thought she knew turned upside down. Which made it rather ironic that after all she had just been told it was the next words out of Daniel's mouth that finally knocked her for a loop.

"If you don't mind me asking, you're in love with Naruto, aren't you?" The sentence, delivered more as a statement of fact than an actual question, struck Hinata like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.

'I'll take that as a yes,' Daniel thought in amusement when she nearly fell off her stool. The look of shock and embarrassment on Hinata's face when she realized he knew of her 'secret' was priceless, especially considering how obvious her affection for the boy was to anyone paying attention. It was a minor miracle that Naruto hadn't figured it out himself.

Of course, Daniel knew he didn't have a lot of room to talk. He'd been just as clueless of the fact Sha're had fallen in love with him until her brother, Skaara, spilled the beans. For that matter, he had been equally unaware of Hinata's feelings for Naruto before Janet and Sam tipped him off.

Looking at her now, he could tell Hinata was absolutely petrified that he might tell Naruto about her feelings. It was a fear the archaeologist could sympathize with. He too had been painfully shy as a teenager, especially around the opposite sex. Despite having had his fair share of crushes in his youth, Daniel didn't work up the courage to actually ask a girl out for a date until his sophomore year of college and didn't have his first serious romantic relationship until he met Sarah while working on his PhD.

He attempted to allay Hinata's fears. "Don't worry, you don't have to say anything, and I promise I won't tell him."

She looked relieved, if still rosy cheeked. However, Daniel wasn't ready to let her completely off the hook just yet. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking.

"You know, when you're young, it's easy to think you have all the time in the world, but when you get older, you realize just how fleeting time really is. People go in and out of your life constantly. You should make the most of the time you have with those you care about, because you never know how long you'll have together." Daniel paused and looked down at the picture frame in his hands, once again rubbing his thumb across his wife's face. He looked up, locking eyes with Hinata. "I know you're scared of getting hurt, but sometimes love is worth the risk. As painful as losing Sha're was, that pain was nothing compared to the joy and happiness she brought into my life. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't trade a second of the time we had together or love her any less, even knowing what would eventually happen to her. Do you understand?"

Hinata nodded slowly. She really did understand, but she didn't know if she had the courage to act upon that knowledge. What if Naruto not only rejected her but pushed her away, as well? The thought of losing the friendship she had with him, even though it wasn't the kind of relationship she really wanted, was terrifying. She dipped her head to think and avoid Daniel's gaze, but looked up when she sensed the arrival of a third person.

"Daniel Jackson, Colonel O'Neill asked me to remind you to be in the Gate Room in one hour," a stern looking Teal'c said. "He also said I should make sure your office had not attacked you, again."

While Daniel turned to look at the clock on the wall, a brief flash of sorrow and guilt crossed Teal'c's face when he spotted whose photograph Daniel still held in his hands, only for it to disappear when the other member of SG-1 turned back and let out a loud groan at the realization of how much time had passed.

Daniel quickly explained to Hinata what Teal'c had said and that he had to get ready for a mission he likely wouldn't return from until late that night. He deliberately left out what planet he was going to, since he didn't want to get her and Naruto's hopes up in case the mission turned out to be a bust.

At hearing the part about the Colonel's second order, Hinata's mouth twitched as she suppressed a smile while her eyes darted to the large pile of books sticking out from behind the worktable. To her surprise and Daniel's consternation, Teal'c smiled when he saw what was she was looking at.

"Apparently, O'Neill was correct to be concerned for your safety."

"Hey! I keep telling you two, I have a system," Daniel protested after hearing the friendly dig at his cluttered working space. He rather liked his office just the way it was, thank you very much. It was the only room in the whole base that didn't feel like…er, a secret underground bunker built during the Cold War.

"A likely story," Teal'c replied, his eyes still dancing in mirth.

He then nodded directly at Hinata and held out his hand for her to use to pull herself to her feet, earning a blush and demure smile from the shy teen for his thoughtful gesture. Once standing, she bowed politely to Teal'c as she'd been taught was good manners for a lady. He seemed pleased.

Teal'c turned to Daniel. "Shall we escort Hinata Hyuuga back to the infirmary?"

Naruto jerked his head toward the infirmary entrance at the sound of approaching footsteps. He tensed up in anticipation, but his shoulders slumped in obvious disappointment seconds later when he saw it was just two of the nursing staff returning from their break and not whom he had hoped.

One of the returning nurses noticed their newest patient's downcast countenance and whispered something to her colleague. The redhead looked at Naruto and 'aww'ed. Then both women flashed knowing smiles at the young shinobi.

Naruto's face immediately flushed bright pink. He tried to convince himself that it was because the two admittedly attractive women mistakenly thought he was checking them out, and not because they'd just busted him for being disappointed they weren't Hinata. Why would he possibly feel embarrassed about getting caught looking for Hinata, after all? She was his friend, and she was late coming back from lunch. He glanced at the clock on the wall for the nth time. It wasn't like he was keeping track of the two hours, seventeen minutes, and thirty-two seconds that had passed since she left…um, okay, bad example.

He was merely worried something had happened to her because she said she wouldn't be gone for more than an hour. Yeah, that was the reason. He wasn't anxiously counting the seconds because he missed her company or anything like that?

While Naruto was busy with his denial, Dr. Fraiser arrived and mouthed, "be nice, don't tease him," to the pair. The two twenty-something nurses responded with totally unconvincing 'who us' looks. The doctor shook her head in mock exasperation before motioning for them to get back to work.

She really couldn't blame the nurses for giving into the temptation to tease. The two romantically inexperienced fifteen year olds were so awkward, yet cute around each other that it was hard not to laugh at times.

'At least they appear to be normal teenagers in that department,' she mused.

Naruto looked up. Seeing how she had stopped scowling at him like she had been since dragging him back to the infirmary, he gave Dr. Fraiser a huge, squinty-eyed grin.

She was instantly reminded of the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland," which was Cassandra's favorite book from when she was younger. The comparison was fitting. Like the fictional feline, Naruto was impertinent, mischievous, often infuriating, but oddly endearing, nonetheless.

Her own experience with the blonde was the perfect example. Despite the fact she had spent a good half hour after his little jaunt through the SGC trying to convince herself that strangling him wouldn't be a violation of her Hippocratic oath, Dr. Fraiser had to admit she was growing fond of Naruto. They all were, really. Colonel O'Neill had already stopped to 'sneak' Naruto the remainder of the meal he'd run out on. Even the SFs, the very guards Naruto had lead on the chase, seemed to have taken a shine to the teen. Two of them had stopped by when they got off watch to visit.

Don't get her wrong, Naruto still managed to get on nerves she didn't even know she had, especially after he discovered the call button on his hospital bed's controls. (She was ashamed to admit the fact he wouldn't be able to reach the button had influenced her decision to strap him down almost as much as the need to keep him from sneaking out of bed.) In fact, Naruto only had two rivals for the title of her most difficult patient. The first was Teal'c, who didn't seem to comprehend the phrase, "take it easy for a few days." The second was Colonel O'Neill, who…as much as Dr. Fraiser admired his character and valued his friendship…she had to admit, as a patient, could probably have tried even Mother Teresa's patience.

However, like the Colonel, there was something about the teenage ninja that made it nearly impossible for most people to stay angry with him for long, and trust her…she'd tried. No matter how good of a mad she got going, she'd inevitably end up smiling or laughing along with the blonde. Kind of like she was doing now.

It was at this point that Naruto decided to see if he could take advantage of Dr. Fraiser's apparent good mood with his 'puppy-dog-eyes no jutsu.' He'd managed to con Shizune with it a few times back home. Granted the medical-nin had eventually become immune to the technique, but Dr. Fraiser had never seen it before, so he remained optimistic.

He gave Dr. Fraiser a sad, soulful look, making sure his lower lip quivered ever so slightly. Once he had her maintaining eye contact, he slowly glanced down at the heavy leather straps securing his arms and legs to the hospital bed, causing the doctor's eyes to follow his, before returning his gaze to her face.

Dr. Fraiser rolled her eyes, but her expression still didn't show a trace of anger. When Naruto didn't relent in giving her the pitiful expression he was trying to con her with, she let off a sigh of resignation and started to reach toward the strap securing his left arm.

He perked up, thinking she might finally be willing to release him. Yes! He did a victory dance in his head but tried to maintain the innocent expression on his face as the doctor's hand got closer and closer to the buckle. However, when she was just inches from touching the leather strap, her hand abruptly changed direction and reached upward for something on the small, wheeled table that was pulled across his bed.

Perplexed, Naruto watched her pick up two of the English-Japanese flashcards Captain Miura had used earlier to start teaching Hinata and him some basic English vocabulary. Dr. Fraiser held one of the cards up for him to read. He decided to indulge her, figuring she wanted him to prove he had actually paid attention to the lesson before she would undo his restraints.

He read aloud first the English, then the Japanese side of the first card. "Nice. Nice." 'Easy enough,' Naruto thought with a grin.

Dr. Fraiser held up the second card.

He couldn't remember the second English word right away, and had to think about it for nearly half a minute before he recalled how to pronounce it. "Tra...tru…um, Try. Try."

She then held up both cards side-by-side, and Naruto read them again. "Nice. Try." He said the Japanese words without having to see the back of the cards again. "Nice try."

Naruto grinned proudly for a moment until he suddenly realized the hidden meaning of the little quiz. The grin was instantly replaced with a surprised, then annoyed expression. He decided to communicate that annoyance by the only method available to him at the moment…he stuck his tongue out her. Dr. Fraiser couldn't help but let out a small laugh, which she tried to cover up with a cough. She ruffled his hair affectionately before walking off.

Naruto sulked. That was just cold! Weren't medically professionals supposed to be kind and nurturing? Why then did every single one he knew try to confine him to bed when he was feeling fine, starve him with hospital 'food', yell at him for voicing his opinion, bonk him on the head when he complained, or tie him up when he tried to sneak out for a few minutes to get a little fresh air? He couldn't even get away from their kind on another planet for cripes' sake.

'I hate being in the hospital!' He flexed his muscles against the heavy padded leather straps and then cast a dirty look at Dr. Fraiser's back while she talked to one of the nurses. 'Especially, when certain people with no sense of humor tie me up!'

Naruto nearly panicked when the doctor chose that moment to turn around. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding when she didn't give any indication she'd spotted him and walked off in a different direction.

After she finally caught him following his 'escape', he had discovered, much to his horror, that an interest in medicine wasn't the only trait Dr. Fraiser shared with Sakura. The blond suppressed the urge to shudder at the memory of the two long minutes he'd been trapped in the elevator with the older woman. Talk about killing intent! He'd rather bathe in barbeque sauce and then take a stroll through the Kyuubi's cage than go through that again. Well…at least until he was in a better position to outrun her, that is.

His wound was almost healed, so he figured she'd have to let him go soon. All he had to do was stay out of trouble for a little longer.

Of course, his nose chose that moment to start itching. It started out as minor tingle, but rapidly grew in intensity. He tried to ignore it, but found the harder he tried the worst the itch became. The more he thought about being unable to scratch his nose, the worse the itch became. Even breathing seemed to make the itch worse. He tried rubbing it against his shoulder but couldn't quite reach the itch. He squirmed against the restraints and fought the urge to scream.

He looked around in desperation for Captain Miura hoping to ask her to free his arm or at least scratch his nose for him but couldn't see her. He stared at the ceiling with his whole face twitching in frustration at his inability to find even a small measure of relief.

He was debating which would get him in more trouble, yelling or breaking his arm free to scratch, when a small dainty hand with wonderfully sharp fingernails reached out to scratch his nose. "Ahhh! Higher. Higher. A little to the left. Oh yeah! Scratch right there! Harder! Yeeesss!" Naruto practically melted into the mattress as every muscle in his body went limp at the same time. He looked gratefully up at Hinata with a big goofy grin on his face. "Thanks! You are now officially my most favorite person in the whole world! No! Make that both worlds!"

Although her cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink due to the physical contact and Naruto's melodramatic declaration, Hinata laughed. He could be so silly sometimes. It was one of the things she loved about him.

She was surprised when she noticed him staring at her with a startled expression on his face. "N-Naruto-kun?"

He grinned at her. "That's the first time I've ever heard you laugh out loud like that…I like it!"

Hinata blinked owlishly for a moment before she realized Naruto was right. Whenever she had run into him back home she usually barely managed to say hello before becoming too flustered to even talk, much less laugh. Then it register that Naruto had said he liked her laugh, too. The slight blush on her cheeks reappeared as she stared down at her feet with a small, yet happy, smile.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." It only took her a few seconds this time before she could look up at him again without feeling faint. Naruto had complimented her not once, but twice, and she hadn't make a fool of herself by fainting or freezing up. She'd even managed to thank him without stuttering. Hinata swelled in pride at the seemingly small accomplishment, causing her smile to brighten.

She had grown progressively more comfortable around Naruto as they spent time talking and studying together. To Hinata's amazement, Naruto seemed to enjoy their conversations almost as much as she did and showed an uncharacteristic amount of patience with her. Of course, she tried to remind herself not to get her hopes up and read too much into things. It probably had more to do with their shared predicament forcing them to turn to each other for moral support, not to mention him being somewhat of a captive audience, than any increase in courage on her part or change in the way he felt about her. Still, she couldn't forget the way he had held and comforted her when she was so upset the night before. She knew he'd do the same for any of his friends, that was just the kind of person her Naruto-kun was, but it had made her feel so close to him at the time.

Naruto was caught completely off guard by the mega-watt smile that lit up the normally shy kunoichi's face. She looked so beautiful.

His recent discovery that Hinata was a girl, and a rather attractive one at that, had completely flummoxed him. That didn't mean he'd been unaware of her gender before yesterday. He wasn't that oblivious. Even during their time at the academy, Naruto would have admitted he had thought Hinata was cute if pressed, although it was something he would have had to think about first. It was just that he'd always thought of Hinata as a friend first and a girl a very distant second.

He wasn't sure why the brief glimpse of her almost naked the day before had changed his perception of her so much. Between creating his Sexy Jutsu and the time he spent traveling with Jiraiya, he'd long ago lost any innocence he may have had when it came to seeing the feminine form in the buff. Maybe he was so affected because Hinata was someone he knew and cared about and not one of the floozies his perverted teacher liked to cavort with?

Hinata was one of the nicest people he knew. She was constantly handing out jars of homemade medical salve and cooking food for everyone to eat during missions and training. She always seemed to have something nice to say about everyone, even him. More than that, he trusted her. There were very few people he felt truly comfortable dropping his mask enough to revealing his inner most worries and insecurities, and she was definitely one of them.

He noticed Hinata looking around for her chair and frowning slightly when she realized someone had moved it while she was gone.

Naruto patted the bed. "You can sit here…um, if you want to, that is."

Hinata nervously bit her bottom lip for a second before deciding to take him up on the offer. She rolled the over-bed table out of the way and sat down facing Naruto slightly. Her hip pressed up against his thigh. They froze and looked at each other. Both unnaturally aware of the warmth of the other's body pressed against their own.

Naruto tried to break the tension. "I'd scoot over to give you a little more room, but I'm a little tied up at the moment."

She was a nervous judging by the two fingers she started pressing together. "I-it's okay. I don't mind...I-I m-mean t-the you not being able to scoot over part, n-not the you being tied up p-part!"

Naruto grinned at her and laughed. "That's good for me. I have more than enough people who want to see me tied up already."

Hinata blushed heavily but smiled back. She was relieved he hadn't caught on to the naughty little fantasy that had flashed through her mind for a brief moment, prompting her stuttering elaboration.

Not being privy to Hinata's thoughts, Naruto was thinking about how he liked seeing her smile. Back when they were in the academy, she'd always had this sad look in her eyes that made him vaguely uncomfortable, because it too closely mirrored what he felt in his own heart but tried so hard to keep hidden. Before he learned about her family situation during the Chuunin Exams, he'd been completely mystified as to what could possibly make Hinata feel the same kind of sadness he did. She had a family, came from a prestigious clan, and while she wasn't exactly in the running for rookie of the year, she did well enough to be ranked in the middle third of their academy class. In the end, he had naively assumed he was mistaken and it was just another example of Hinata being 'weird.'

'Weird.' Naruto felt a twinge of guilt. He hadn't thought about the incident in years, but he could suddenly vividly recall the first time he called her that word.

They were around seven or eight and in the academy. Hinata came up to him during their recess period like she wanted to say something. He remembered being so excited that someone actually wanted to talk to him, but she just stood there looking at the ground and nervously pushing her fingers together. When he tried to say something to her, she got all fidgety and looked like she was getting a fever. Then the bell rang, and she ran off. When she left that first day he was disappointed but figured she was just worried about getting in trouble for being late to class.

Then the same thing happened again the next day, and the day after that, and every day for the rest of that week. By the following Monday, Naruto was frustrated and convinced she was just messing with him like everyone else in their class did. She and her friends were probably having a good laugh at his expense somewhere.

He wasn't going stand for it. When she came up to him during recess, he snapped at her. He'd planned to act all cool and show her by walking away, but things didn't work out quite that way. As soon as he said, "You're weird," Hinata's head shot up, and they made eye contact for the first time. She had the most heartbreaking, devastated expression he'd ever seen on her face. Then her eyes started to tear up, and she ran away.

He'd felt like such a heel, especially when he overheard two of the girls from their class later that day talking about finding Hinata in the girl's restroom crying.

She seemed to avoid him for a long time after that. He assumed she had decided to pretend he didn't exist like all the adults in the village. He wouldn't have blamed her. After a couple of months, they started running into each other again. He made a point of being nice whenever he saw her so he wouldn't hurt her feelings again, but he still thought she was kind of weird. He never apologized for making her cry either. His stupid pride got in the way.

Naruto frowned at that thought. Pride was also the reason he made Sasuke his rival after the Uchiha massacre instead of trying to be his friend. Would things have turned out differently if he'd done the opposite? Would Sasuke have accepted his friendship? Would he still have left Konoha?

'What if I hadn't been so prideful and quick to judge? Would Hinata and I have become friends sooner?' One of the things he was starting to realize after talking to her over the last couple of days was she, like him, didn't have any friends before she was placed on a genin team. 'If I had been a little more patient, maybe neither one of us would have been so lonely growing up.'

He looked up when he felt Hinata pensively staring at him, probably wondering why he'd suddenly gotten so quiet. "I'm sorry I said you were weird."

Hinata blinked at the abrupt change in topic. She had no idea what he was talking about. "Huh?"

Naruto elaborated, "Back when we were in the academy, you kept trying to come up to me to talk, but I called you weird and made you cry."

She knew what he was talking about now. "N-Naruto-kun, that was eight years ago, and it wasn't your fault. If…If I hadn't been so shy…" Her voice trailed off.

Naruto didn't like seeing Hinata's smile fade or the sadness starting to creep its way back into her voice, and he especially didn't like that he had caused both while trying to apologize. He stretched against the arm restraint toward her hand that rested on the bed a short distance from his own. He had to strain to reach her, but managed to hook one of her fingers with one of his and pull her hand into his grasp. He marveled at how comfortably her warm slender fingers intertwined with his own for a moment before giving her hand a light squeeze.

"Hey, none of that. I was the one who was a jerk. I just brought it up because I was kinda wishing I hadn't been too proud to say I'm sorry. We could have become friends sooner."

Naruto smiled when a now blushing Hinata looked up.

"Besides, being weird isn't so bad. All ninjas are weird to one degree or another. Hell, I'm weird, and so are all of our friends, for that matter." Naruto immediately thought of running into Lee and Gai-sensei when they were leaving Konoha. Despite the fact it had been pouring down rain, their two green spandex wearing friends had been doing laps around the village on their hands while shouting about the power of youth. His smile broke into a full-fledged grin when he realized Hinata was thinking of the same thing. "Some more than others."

Hinata snorted. She gasped in horror at the noise she'd made, but relaxed when Naruto chuckled and squeezed her hand again reassuringly.

"W-what about Neji-nii-san? He's not weird," she asked, feeling a little surer of herself.

"Oh, Neji's the weirdest one of us all." Naruto paused, looked around as if to make sure no one was listening in, and motioned with his head for Hinata to come closer. She leaned in. "Hyuuga Neji…your cousin," Naruto continued in a low, conspiratorial tone, "…the pride of the Hyuuga clan…wears a man-skirt."

Hinata slapped a laughing Naruto's arm with her free hand. "Naruto-kun! That was mean! Neji-nii-san wears a traditional Hyuuga clan combat uniform…for men!" She tried to act indignant, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away. The corners of her mouth began to turn up in a smile, as she struggled to keep from giggling. "But it does kind of look like a skirt, doesn't it?"

"At least it goes with his hair," Naruto confirmed. They both cracked up and started laughing.

"You're incorrigible," Hinata said between giggles. "I really shouldn't be laughing. Neji's family."

"I do my best," Naruto replied with a wink. "Besides, somebody's got to keep him from taking himself too seriously and getting all, 'this is your fate,' again," he added, doing a very bad impression of Neji that prompted a fresh round of laughter. "Who better for the job than his family and friends?"

"Hai."

Naruto's World

"Wakie, Wakie, my little song birds," Jiraiya teased when he saw the first signs that his two captives were starting to regain consciousness.

"Damn you! Let us go!" The spiky haired, scarred one of the pair yelled at Jiraiya when he woke up enough to realize his arms and legs were being restrained within the fleshy wall at their backs.

The other shook his head to clear it and looked around the chamber in amazement. The last thing he could remember was walking into the new bar they'd found and talking to the weird bartender with the bushy white mustache and glasses behind the counter. "Where the hell are we?"

"Inside of the belly of my frog," Jiraiya answered with an amused grin.

"What?! You! You're that sannin, the one who uses frogs, aren't you?!"

Jiraiya chuckled to himself. This guy was definitely not the sharpest kunai in Rain. "Now, now, I'm the one who's supposed to be asking the questions here."

"You'll get nothing out of us!"

"Oh, really?" Jiraiya said while holding up a single feather. Both men stared at him in confusion.

"What's the feather for?"

"It's for tickling, of course. If you don't want to get tickled to death, you'll answer my questions like good boys."

The two shinobi looked at Jiraiya like he was out of mind.

"Now, about your leader Pain…"

Below deck of the patrol boat Kakashi and the male half of Team 8 had commandeered, Shino was beginning to question the wisdom of their chosen course of action. Largely due to fortuitous circumstance, sneaking into Hinanjo was proving to be easier…if somewhat more uncomfortable…than expected.

Currently, he, Kiba, Akamaru, and their three prisoners were crammed into the small hold of the patrol boat. In addition to being too low to stand up in, between all the gear tucked away in every nook and cranny and the boat's assorted machinery, there was barely enough space for its six occupants to sit down in the confined space. Shino didn't even have enough room to stretch his legs out to their full-length unless he planned on using Kiba as a footstool.

That was to say nothing of how much the small steam engine that powered the boat raised the air temperature. It was so hot, even he had seen fit to strip down to just his pants and t-shirt. He normally avoided doing so even on the hottest summer day, because the sight of the small flaps of skin where his bugs entered and exited his body tended to make people squeamish. However, the only people around to see them at the moment were Kiba, who had never been seriously bothered by what the dog-user called his teammate's 'little friends', and their three bound and gagged captives, whose opinions Shino frankly didn't care about.

However, the worst part was not the heat or claustrophobic conditions but the smell. Judging by the rancid stench of dead fish that still clung to the wooden hull, the patrol craft had originally been built as a fishing vessel and served in that capacity for a number of years before being adapted to its present role. In addition to the fishy aroma, there was the wet dog smell originating from Akamaru and the fact one of their prisoners obviously ate a lot of cabbage with predictable results. Shino supposed he should be thankful he didn't have Kiba's acute sense of smell. When he wasn't holding his nose, Shino's teammate had taken to cursing loudly and kicking their bound, gassy prisoner in the leg whenever the man broke wind.

Adding to their collective misery were Kakashi's boat handling skills, or rather his lack thereof. The jonin seemed to hit every last wake, ripple, and wave at just the right angle to induce a slow rocking motion that lasted just long enough for the boat to reach the next disturbance in the lake's surface, leaving everyone below deck feeling slightly nauseous. Shino winced as the boat hit another's wake, this time with enough force to jar his teeth, for a change. Why had the legendary Copy Ninja picked now of all times to discover the one skill he wasn't automatically a natural at?

Of course, Shino was aware that things could be going far worse, even taking into account the abominable conditions in the hold and Kakashi's driving. Their approach had so far gone undetected, largely due to Kakashi spotting the chakra-laced rain that began a couple of hundred meters from the part of the lakeshore where they first arrived when he uncovered his Sharingan eye. Without that one bit of luck, they would have unknowingly revealed their presence to whoever had cast the detection jutsu and likely caused every shinobi within a ten-mile radius to give chase.

And that was the real problem that had Shino worried. Barring the unlikely possibility of spotting Jiraiya along the waterfront, there was no way they could search for the sannin without going out into the rain and being instantly detected. Even his kikaichu, which were normally ideal for searching a wide area like a city, were not much help in this downpour. The heavy rainfall would simply knock them out of the sky when they tried to fly.

He didn't have a clue how Kakashi planned to find and contact Jiraiya. Unlike Kurenai, who liked to plan out missions in detail beforehand and kept her subordinates in the loop at all times, the masked jonin was either making it up as he went along or felt no compulsion to inform them of his intentions. Despite the age-old maxim that "even the best laid plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy," the bug-user firmly believed it was far better to adapt a well thought out strategy to unexpected circumstances than to play it by ear. Needless to say, Shino was far outside of his normal comfort zone.

"We'll call it a day, then, but I'm leaving you here," Jiraiya announced with a dismissive wave as he started walking toward the passageway leading to the next chamber of his summon's stomach. "I think it's time I had a little talk with your 'god'."

The man still restrained by the fleshy walls stared at the sannin's retreating back dumbly, but he jumped in fright when the small frog that had been his partner just minutes earlier let out a ribbit.

Once the passageway entrance sealed shut behind him, Jiraiya finally allowed himself a laugh at the trick he'd used to get the man to talk. 'I don't know why everyone thinks this interrogation thing is so difficult. A little summoning, a well-timed Kawarimi no Jutsu, and bingo! Instant blabbermouth!'

In truth, Jiraiya was relieved his ruse had worked. He would freely admit he had neither Ibiki's finesse nor the capacity for heartless cruelty that might have been required if either Rain shinobi had called him on his fake 'turn a man into a frog' jutsu.

However, the sense of relief was fleeting due to what he'd learned. Hanzou, one of the most powerful shinobi in living memory, had been killed; Amegakure had been wiped off the map; and both supposedly owed their destruction to one man…Pain.

Jiraiya could scarcely believe the legendary Salamander Hanzou was dead. The Hanzou he remembered had seemed nearly invincible. The Amegakure leader had not only managed to keep his country together in the face of some of the most powerful armies in history, but also defeated the combined might of Tsuande, Orichmaru, and himself. Hanzou probably would have easily finished them off, too, if he hadn't had to withdraw in the face of approaching reinforcements from Konoha lead by the man who would eventually become the Fourth Hokage.

Oh how Jiraiya would have loved to have seen that match up, if for no other reason that to watch Orchimaru stare in disbelief while the student of his "baka of a teammate" used the Hiraishin no Jutsu, which the blonde had unveiled in combat for the first time earlier that day, to defeat Hanzou. The look on the snake sannin's face when he later found out the young jonin had single-handedly wiped out an army of Iwa shinobi had been priceless enough, as is.

Still, the question of just how powerful this Pain character really was remained. While Jiraiya had grown much stronger in the eighteen or so years since that battle, he somehow doubted Hanzou had been content to rest on his laurels either. If Pain really did best his old enemy in one-on-one combat, there was a good possibility he was more powerful than either of the two remaining Legendary Sannin.

Then there was what happened to Amegakure, itself. A hidden village along with its entire population annihilated in a single night by one man? The only survivors the few shinobi who had been away from the village on missions at the time? It was almost too much to believe. A hidden village, even one of the smaller ones like Amegakure, was a difficult enough target to destroy if you had an entire army backing you up. Not that Pain had stopped there. According to his prisoner, Pain had gone on to kill Hanzou's entire family, all his friends and associates, and clients of the village who maintained connections to Amegakure, not even sparing their infant children.

'What was it he called it, ah yes, Pain's "heart of blades." Sounds about right. No wonder these people fear and respect him, but to revere him as a god is still ludicrous.' The very idea of a shinobi, no matter how powerful he or she was, claiming to be a god was an affront to all of shinobi culture. That had been true since the Sage of the Six Paths, the first shinobi to unlock the secrets of chakra and the father of chakra-based ninjutsu, defeated a powerful tyrant posing as a god and founded the ninja world.

His distain didn't change how seriously the sannin took the threat, however. Among the enemies Jiraiya had encountered in his lifetime, those who were the most feared by their own people usually failed to live up to the hype. They only appeared powerful because they were often the biggest fish in their small, isolated ponds. That kind of villain rarely lasted long once they encountered serious opposition from the outside world. Unfortunately, Pain sounded like he could very well be the real deal: not a god, but a shinobi above the level of most kages in terms of power and skill, who was also highly intelligent not to mention absolutely ruthless.

Not for the first time, Jiraiya found himself wishing the Fourth was still alive. The Fourth's very existence had served as a massive deterrent to would be tyrants and troublemakers like this Pain. Simply put, Namikaze Minato had been in a league of his own, and the whole shinobi world had known it. After Minato's death, the threats and enemies confronting Konoha seemed to grow in strength and numbers with each passing year.

The boy who would one day be the Fourth Hokage didn't begin his shinobi career all that impressively, though. When Jiraiya first met Minato, he was a ten-year-old genin fresh out of the academy. He was clever and talented, but no rookie-of-the-year genius. Jiraiya's first impression of the newly minted genin was he would probably make chuunin one day but didn't have the necessary drive to make jonin. He worked hard enough to get by as a shinobi, but never seemed to take his training in the 'the lives of my teammates and myself could depend on this' way he should have. All things considered, the young Minato Namikaze had been nothing more than a slightly better than average rookie genin.

That all changed after the first C-ranked mission Jiraiya took his Team 7 on. The mission was a simple two-week long patrol near the border with the Land of Grass. As Grass was an ally of Konoha, the patrol was a fairly safe choice for a green team of genin on their first mission outside the village. At most, Jiraiya had figured they might run into some bandits or smugglers, but more than likely, his three genin would spend the next fourteen days counting trees and complaining about the field rations.

For the first twelve days, that's exactly what did happened. Then late in the afternoon of their thirteenth day on patrol, Team Noda, a team of genin who had graduated from the academy two years before Jiraiya's rookies, and their jonin-sensei arrived to relieve Team 7. Like the previous team had done for them, Team 7 took the new arrivals on a tour of their assigned patrol sector pointing out various things they needed to keep an eye on over the upcoming two weeks.

The two teams encountered nothing out of the ordinary until they were almost to the mouth of the narrow valley leading to the strategically located village of Tokorono. Then all hell broke loose, and they were suddenly surrounded by scores of enemy shinobi. The two Konoha genin teams had run smack dab into a large group of Iwa shinobi, who were the lead element of the invasion that began the Second Secret World War.

In the running melee that followed, Noda was severely wounded and Jiraiya separated from his genin team after six enemy jonin jumped the pair of Leaf jonin-sensei. It ended up taking Jiraiya nearly twenty minutes to fight his way back to where his three young subordinates were, only to be greeted by a horrific sight upon his arrival. Two of his genin had been brutally slaughtered, and a quartet of sadistic Iwa chuunin were in the process of beating Minato, the lone survivor, to a bloody pulp. Enraged, Jiraiya tore into the four chuunin with a vengeance, finishing them off almost before they realized he was even there. The future sannin then carried his bloodied and battered genin to Tokorono where they met back up with Team Noda and were evacuated along with the villagers by the arriving reinforcements from Konoha.

The lives of the six survivors of Team 7 and Team Noda were never the same after that day. The formally fractious group of older genin, who had miraculously survived their baptism of fire largely unscathed, forged a friendship that would last their entire lives and went on to become the first legendary Ino-Shika-Cho team. Their sensei, Noda, who lost a leg in the battle, was forced to turn over his genin team to another jonin and spend the rest of the war behind a desk at the Konohagakure Information Bureau, where he made a name for himself as the Leaf's head of intelligence and spymaster extraordinaire. After the war ended, he took early retire and opened a bar that soon became a Konoha landmark and the favorite watering hole for the village's jonin. Then there was Jiraiya's lone surviving student.

While Minato was recovering in the hospital, word reached Konoha than the genin's entire family had been killed during a raid on the small coastal village they lived in by one of Iwa's allies. The news caused the already devastated boy to retreat further into a deep depression, which lasted for months. Eventually, he seemed to snap out of it, and once again became the friendly, easy-going kid everyone remembered.

Jiraiya knew differently. The death of his family and two best friends had a dramatic effect on the formally complacent blonde. Where before he had performed his duties as a shinobi in a lackadaisical fashion, he now threw himself into his training and missions with a determination that was almost frightening in its intensity. At the first Chuunin Exams held after the war, Minato came out of nowhere to thrash his competition, winning the finals and earning a promotion in the process. Eighteen months after that he made jonin. By the time he was seventeen, he was the equal of any of the Legendary Sannin. By eighteen, his ability arguably surpassed that of even the Hokage.

Despite this, the blonde remained a relative unknown outside of Konoha until the start of the Third Secret World War. It was during that conflict that the rest of the shinobi world would discover that behind the now adult Minato's friendly smile beat the heart of a warrior and protector and the legend of Konoha's Yellow Flash would be born.

In fact, it was Minato who was largely responsible for ending the war. After he finally perfected his original Hiraishin no Jutsu, he used the technique to single-handedly end a pair of bloody two-year old stalemates on first the Grass and then the Rain Country fronts.

However, his masterstroke had been a bold plan the Third Hokage and he cooked up to take out the hardliner Tsuchikage and daimyo of Earth Country, who both insisted on fighting to the bitter end even after it became apparent to everyone which side would be victorious. The pair of dead-enders had wanted to continue the war in order to avoid the personal consequences of their misguided empire-building adventure for as long as possible, no matter the cost to their people.

The first step of the plan called for Minato to fake his own death during a battle with a group of elite Iwa jonin. The Third had correctly guessed that in their excitement to verify the death of their most hated enemy and reward those responsible, the Tsuchikage and Earth Country daimyo would order the Iwa jonin to report to them in person, bypassing the pair's normally strictly-enforced security measure of not meeting with anyone outside of their carefully monitored inner circle.

The resulting pandemonium when a grinning Minato used the seal he'd secretly planted on one of the Iwa jonin to teleport into the Iwa council meeting, landing right between the two leaders announcing his 'demise', and whisk the pair back to Konoha before anyone could react had been enough to convince the remaining members of the council to readily agree to the surrender terms written by the Third that Minato left behind on the podium. Jiraiya smirked at the memory. 'The brat always did know how to make an entrance.'

However, the most amazing thing about Namikaze Minato was not his accomplishments during the war or rapid growth in strength and skill. No. What had truly made Minato special was, despite all his accomplishments, nothing he did after his tragic first C-ranked mission was ever about him. The fame and glory he gained as Konoha's Yellow Flash, his elevation to the status of legend following his death while defeating the Kyuubi, and even his becoming the Fourth Hokage were nothing more than superfluous results of what truly drove him. Namely, a desire to never again be forced to watch helplessly as someone he cared about was killed or hurt.

Jiraiya was suddenly reminded of another blond-haired apprentice of his who never gave up on his precious people either. "Your son may not have grown up knowing you, but he certainly inherited your and Kushina's spirits. You would have been proud." The sannin wiped away a bit of moisture from the corner of one eye at the memory of the long dead student he had come to love like the son he never had and his student's beautiful wife who had treated him like a beloved uncle.

"Must have something in my eye," he muttered. "Okay, enough pussyfooting around," Jiraiya announced loudly, switching gears, and once again adopting a smile. He'd never been the type to wallow in his grief. 'Better to be thankful for what you still have and enjoy life than obsess about what you've lost and turn into a sourpuss. That's what I always told you, isn't it, Minato?'

He made the snake sign with his hands and opened his mouth. His lower jaw stretched almost as if it were made of elastic as a toad pulled itself out of the sannin's mouth. The toad's disproportionately long body seemed to take forever to emerge.

Finally, Jiraiya could close his mouth. He worked his jaw back and forth a few times, wondering, not for the first time, how his now dead former teammate could stand using the unusual summoning technique so often. The feeling someone had just shoved a telephone pole out of his open mouth was bad enough, but the aftertaste! Ugh! He liked toads well enough, but even he didn't particularly care for having his mouth taste like one for the next few hours.

The toad crossed its arms, feeling insulted after having guessed why Jiraiya was making the odd face. "Alright, you'd better have a good reason for dragging me out here! Naruto's 'combination' is…"

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Jiraiya looked up at the toad's face, which, despite the summon creature's body only being slightly wider than the sannin's head at its thickest, now towered above him. "This isn't for training. I've got something to take care of, and I figured I should let you out just to be on the safe side."

"What for?"

"I'm going to have to fight someone, and I have a feeling it's going to get pretty rough."

"Must be if you're thinking of releasing me," the toad replied, real concern now apparent in his voice. An opponent tough enough to worry one of the sannin was someone to take seriously.

"It's just a precaution. Now hurry up, I want to press the seal and get you out of here."

The stretched flap of skin wrapped around the toad's elongated belly unraveled like a scroll, revealing that it was covered in writing and seals. One prominent seal in particular stood out. It was identical to the one on the belly of a fifteen year-old genin, who was currently light years away.

Jiraiya's fingertips glowed as he pressed them against a security seal in a corner of the 'scroll.'

The toad jerked its body, causing the flap of skin to wrap around him like a suddenly released window blind. "How long is this business of yours going to take?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Not long, but if something does happen to me, get yourself to Naruto."

"What the hell are you saying? The combination to Naruto's Eight Trigrams seal is written on my belly. Time has weakened the Fourth's seal! That's why he left the seal behind, in case it needed to be reapplied! You can't just give it to him like this!"

"Getting ahead of yourself a bit, aren't you? I'm not dead yet. Still, the combination was Minato's, so it should pass on to Naruto at some point," an annoyed Jiraiya countered

"He's not ready," the toad shot back. "Remember what happened the last time you tried messing with the seal? Just opening the seal the tiny crack that you did then caused the Kyuubi's chakra to pour out, overwhelming Naruto, and taking control of him! Opening the seal more could allow the Kyuubi to escape! Somehow, I doubt that's what the Fourth had in mind!"

Jiraiya frowned. "No. I was Minato's teacher, remember? He never did anything without a purpose. I think he knew something extremely important and sealed the Nine-Tails in his son, hoping Naruto would learn what to do with it."

"You're over analyzing," the toad chided.

"Maybe, but lately, I've begun to doubt the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha was the act of God everyone has made it out to be. I think the Kyuubi was summoned."

The toad practically exploded. "You're nuts! The Kyuubi has been around for ages! It appears whenever the evil of men reaches a peak, wrecks havoc across the land, and then vanishes without a trace! No one in the universe could summon a monstrosity like that!"

Jiraiya sighed. "No…there was once a person who could."

"Who?

"The founder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara."

The sound of laughter filled the chamber. "Uchiha Madara was one of Konoha's founding fathers! He couldn't have been around to summon the Kyuubi fifteen or sixteen years ago!"

"True, Madara was supposedly killed in the Valley of the End by the First Hokage, but still, I've got a bad feeling about all of this," Jiraiya answered. "So, just humor me, okay?"

The scroll toad sighed and signaled his acquiescence to the sannin's request. "Fine."

"Oh, and one more thing," Jiraiya said as he turned to leave. "If something does happen, make sure Gamabunta gives Naruto his parents' chest, too. The brat's waited long enough to find out about his heritage."

'If I ever decide to retire, I bet I could make a pretty good living as the captain of a charter fishing boat,' Kakashi daydreamed. 'It would be just like living in Icha Icha Island Paradise.'

Of course, he'd already discovered a problem with his newfound retirement scheme. Steering a boat seriously got in the way of his reading. He'd lost his place more times than he could count when he had to look up to dodge other boats or steer back into the buoy-marked channel. Oh well, he could always hire a first mate to handle the seamanship stuff.

Kakashi took a moment to look up from his book at the rapidly approaching skyline of Hinanjo. Contrary to what Shino believed, Kakashi actually did have a plan. His plan was to wait and see what Jiraiya's plan was. Admittedly, as plans went, it wasn't much, but Kakashi had a hunch that the problem of finding the sannin would soon take care of itself. He'd known Jiraiya for a long time, and if there was one thing the man wasn't, it was subtle.

As Kakashi pondered his options for contacting Jiraiya once he knew his location, there was a sudden and dramatic let up in the rainfall. In less than a minute, the sun was beginning to peak out from behind the clouds.

"Yo! Shino, Kiba! Get up here!"

A load bang came from forward of the wheelhouse when Kiba none too gently flung open the hatch leading below deck. The two sweaty and slightly green-looking chuunin climbed onto deck. "It's about damn time," Kiba growled. His annoyance only grew when he saw the glassy smooth lake surface. "What the hell have you been doing to make us rock around so much?"

Kakashi appeared puzzled. All he had done was steer the boat. "Hmm?"

Kiba started to stalk toward the masked jonin. "Why you…"

Shino decided to interrupt and remind everyone of the mission before things got out of hand. "The rain, and I assume the detection jutsu, have ended. Do you want me to send my kikaichu out to search for Jiraiya, now?"

"Do it." Finding Jiraiya before he revealed himself was a thousand times more preferable to waiting until after.

Shino nodded and then released a cloud of insects into the air.

Kakashi just hoped they found him before the shit hit the fan. He had a bad feeling that the sudden change in the weather signified things were about to start happening, and the last thing he wanted was to get caught in the middle of a battle between S-ranked ninjas with two young chuunin in tow.

On top of one of the city's western towers, a swarm of paper butterflies swirled together, unfolding, and combining until the form of Konan began to appear. In front of her, a man with a long blonde ponytail, heavy metal studs set in the skin of his face, and wearing an Akatsuki robe stood patiently.

"Well?"

"It's Jiraiya," Konan reported.

"Jiraiya-sensei? Really now, just his name takes me back."

"What do we do, Pain?"

"Kill him, of course. I hold no more love for him, and I took out this body to finish off an intruder."

For the briefest of moments, Konan's eyes widened in shock. Luckily, Pain had turned his back to her to look out over the city. She schooled her expression, and responded as impassively as possible. "As you wish."

"Tell me where he is."

"The industrial area to the south of the tower."

"I'll hold him off until you get there," Konan said as she scattered herself to the wind.

"Don't mind me. If you get an opportunity to kill him before I arrive, do it."

A single kikaichu landed on Shino's outstretched finger. Kakashi feinted boredom as he watched the chuunin communicate with the insect.

"Jiraiya-sama is in an uninhabited district on the opposite side of the city."

"Damn," Kiba cursed.

Kakashi stepped into the wheelhouse and pushed the engine throttle forward.

"Hey, why don't we cut across the city on the rooftops? It'd be a hella lot faster," Kiba yelled into the wind as the boat began to pick up speed.

"You know, Kiba, I didn't think of that. I bet we could even ask one of the hundreds of ninja patrolling the streets if he knows a good shortcut," Kakashi replied in a cheery voice, his one visible eye turned looking like an upside down 'U'.

"Good idea! We cou…HEY!"

Akamaru let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like the canine version of laughter, before going back to enjoying the wind in his face with his tongue hanging out.

Behind his collar, Shino hid a smile from hearing his now sulking teammate finally beaten at his own game. Maybe there was a good side to working under Kakashi, after all.

"Traitors," Kiba grumbled under his breath.

Jiraiya watched the woman reforming from the swirling cloud of paper in front of him. "Konan, you've improved your jutsu and grown into one hell of a woman."

Jiraiya frowned, and it wasn't simply because of the unwelcome surprise of seeing one of his former students in the garb of a member of Akatsuki. He used to easily get at least a blush out of her with his teasing when she was younger. If nothing else, you'd think he would get some kind of reaction, even if it were merely to let to out an exasperated breath at him still being a pervert after all these years. Instead, Konan merely looked at him with the same emotionless expression she'd been wearing since she first tried to attack.

It wasn't unusual for ninjas to were a mask, both literally and figuratively, in combat, but Jiraiya could sense that this wasn't an act. The Konan he remembered had been a gentle, cheerful girl who could be coaxed into smiling with the smallest show of kindness or affection. The woman in front of him now didn't look like she knew how to smile. What had happened to the sweet child who gave him an origami flower folded out of a bread wrapper all those years ago? There had been such life and hope in that child's eyes despite the desolate squalor of the war torn land she lived in. The dead, forlorn eyes of the woman in front of him couldn't possibly belong to the same soul, could they?

The rebel Rain ninja Jiraiya had used as bait in his trap cried out. "You…you're the Emissary Angel!"

Jiraiya gave an amused half-smile. "You're an angel now, huh? Can't say the title doesn't fit you, Konan." He was disappointed when there was still no change in her expression. "That would make you this 'god's' proxy, wouldn't it?"

The Rain shinobi made a break for it, crying out that Jiraiya was an intruder, as if Konan was unaware of the fact. The sannin and his former-student didn't even break eye contact when she ordered him to leave.

"Who, or what, is Pain?"

"None of your business, sensei," Konan said while she formed wings in a flurry of paper. She propelled herself skyward with a pair of powerful flaps before coming to a hover thirty feet in the air in front of Jiraiya. "God's orders: I'm supposed to kill you!"

Jiraiya tucked himself into a roll, easily evaded the chakra-sharpened paper projectiles Konan had thrown from her wingtips. He was surprised at how wide off the mark her aim was. Was she attempting to drive him into a trap instead of killing him outright? He never got the chance to find out though, because as soon as he came out of his roll, he spotted an opening and attacked, first spraying Konan with oil to stop her from using her paper jutsu and then seizing her with a jutsu that allowed him to extend his long hair to entrap her.

"Mind telling me what happened to the other two? I'm assuming they're not dead," Jiraiya asked. "Well?"

Konan wouldn't look him in the eye, but he could see signs her emotionless façade was starting to crack slightly.

"I figured as much," Jiraiya said, taking her continued silence as confirmation. "So which one of them is this 'Pain'?"

"Why'd you come looking for us after all these years?!" Konan shot back with some heat in her voice.

Jiraiya frowned. "I wasn't looking for you. I was looking for Akatsuki's leader. I was told you were dead. I never imagined you'd end up where you are now."

Konan glared at him. "I bet you wish you had followed Orchimaru's advice and killed us, but you didn't. You saved us. And now it's too late, we follow his ideals."

"No, I don't. What I wish is that I took you back to Konoha with me," Jiraiya answered firmly.

He really had considered bringing them back with him, but Konoha wasn't exactly welcoming foreigners into the village with open arms back then. His old sensei wouldn't have been able to help, either. By the rules laid out in Konoha's constitution, the village council had more say than the Hokage in deciding whether or not to allow a foreigner to join the village, even if the individual in question wasn't a trained shinobi.

While Jiraiya didn't doubt the council would have leapt at the chance to obtain Nagato's rinnegan bloodline, he couldn't guarantee the same welcome for Konan and Yahiko. That had been one of the factors influencing his decision to teach the three kids ninjutsu. If the kids agreed to come back with him, he'd planned to use the other two's knowledge of Konoha ninjutsu as leverage to get the council to accept them into the village. If they chose not to, they'd at least have the skills to survive in Rain and potentially even help their country recover from the war.

Then shortly before he completed their training, he received a letter from Minato detailing the trouble his protégé was having getting the village to grant his fiancé citizenship. Gaining citizenship for a shinobi from an allied hidden village who was marrying someone from Konoha was a lengthy but straightforward affair. There were security considerations that had to be addressed for sure, but the village also stood to gain access to whatever jutsu the foreign shinobi had learned in their home village. As a result, every courtesy was extended to the applicant.

Normally, the fact Kushina was a jonin and from one of Konoha's oldest and most steadfast allies would have been enough to all but ensure her application was approved. The village would gain a large number of jutsu, including a few original ones known only to her, and the odds of her being a spy were so infinitesimally small they were almost laughable.

Unfortunately, there had been a shift in power on the council in Danzou's favor shortly before she applied. The old bastard seemed determined to keep any outsiders from joining the village and was fighting to deny her request. If he could make trouble for someone like Kushina, Konan and Yahiko wouldn't have stood a chance. Danzou might even have tried to have the kids imprisoned for life or assassinated by Root agents to prevent the ninjutsu they had learned from falling into the hands of Konoha's enemies.

With a heavy heart, Jiraiya had decided it was in Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko's best interest for him to leave them in Rain while he returned to Konoha. Seeing what appeared to have become of his former students, he now found himself wishing he had taken them back with him and fought tooth and nail for them to be allowed to join the village.

"Why didn't you, sensei?" Konan asked. A drop of water ran down her cheek, but Jiraiya couldn't tell if it was a tear or a raindrop that had fallen from the towers above.

"I wasn't sure the village council would let the three of you into the village, and I was afraid of what might happen if they didn't. I thought you'd be safe here, that you'd be able to take care of yourselves."

"Well, we weren't," Konan replied in a shaky voice. "You have no idea what we went through after you left, sensei."

"You're right, I don't," Jiraiya said. "What I do know is that whatever happened to you, it doesn't justify what you're involved in. What Akatsuki is doing is wrong."

"That's your opinion, Jiraiya-sensei," Pain announced as he landed on a ledge above them.

Jiraiya looked up at the new arrival. He didn't immediately recognize the man as one of the boys he'd taught, but he still looked vaguely familiar and there was no mistaking those eyes. "So you're Pain, eh, Nagato."

There was a series of explosions followed by one of the massive towers near the center of the district collapsing.

"Holy crap," Kiba said in an awed voice. "Can you feel that chakra?"

Shino nodded. His kikaichu were highly agitated by the sheer amount of energy in the air. He idly wondered if the feeling of insignificance he was experiencing in the presence of such powerful chakras was what his bugs felt in the presence of the humans that towered above them.

They were only catching glimpses of the battle as Kakashi maneuvered the boat through the canal deeper into the city, but what they could see was enough to make them realize they were witnessing one of the absolutely epic battles in shinobi history.

That was why their new plan was to get as close as possible to the battle without putting themselves in a position where they might get caught in the crossfire. The idea being to meet up with Jiraiya the second the battle was over and get the hell out of Hinanjo as quickly as possible.

Kakashi guided the boat alongside one of the deserted docks that lined the canal. The few people who lived or worked in this section of the city had wisely fled when the battle started. Kiba and Shino jumped onto the dock to secure the boat's mooring lines.

A loud crash rang out from above as something or someone impacted the opposite side of the tower that stood over the dock. Huge chunks of masonry, massive pipes, and steel beams rained down on the three Konoha shinobi. The tower seemed like it would hold for a split second, but gravity won the tug of war between it and the tower's compromised internal structure. The rain of debris became a torrent as the tower collapsed completely. A great cloud of dusk rose into the air.

When the dust cleared, there was nothing left but rubble blocking the canal and the smashed remains of a wooden boat floating on the water.

End of Chapter 4

Military & Stargate Terms & Abbreviations

Cheyenne Mountain Complex (CMC): The underground U.S. military facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado that houses NORAD and Stargate Command.

Fort Carson: U.S. Army base located less than a mile from the CMC. Units stationed there include three brigades of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 10th Special Forces Group, and several support units.

Kill House: A purpose built structure used by special operations teams to practice indoor combat tactics. The walls of a kill house are often made out of materials that will stop bullets and prevent ricochets, typically thick wood panels backed with steel, to allow the use of live ammunition in training. Also referred to as an assault house.

P90: A personal defense weapon (basically a kind of submachine gun) made by FN Herstal that fires the 5.7X28mm SS190 round.

Peterson Air Force Base: USAF base in Colorado Springs. Peterson is co-located with the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and shares runways with the civilian airport.

SF: The Air Force equivalent of an Army MP.

Stargate Command (SGC): The military organization that operates the stargate.

SOP: Standard Operating Procedure.

UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

USAF: United States Air Force.

Author's Note

The chapter ended up being a little over 16,000 words long, and I actually decided to move some of the scenes from chapter 4 to chapter 5. With the missing material included, it would have been well over 20,000 words. There's a lot of backstory in Chapter 4 that seems insignificant now, but will be important for the story later on

P.S. I know "Nice Try" probably doesn't translate literally from English to Japanese, but it was funny, so I decided to go with it.

Chapter 5 (Make that Chapter 6) Preview

Sasuke instinctively blinked, some part of his subconscious mind stubbornly insisted he could not possibly have just seen his former teammate standing there. It had to be some other girl who coincidently had pink hair…and the same striking emerald green eyes…who just happened to have guessed his name…then said it in Sakura's voice. Sasuke should have been relieved when he reopened his eyes a millisecond later and did not see Sakura's green eyes staring back at him. Unfortunately, the reason he could not see Sakura's eyes was not that he had mistaken someone else for the volatile kunoichi, but because the fist now hurtling toward his face obscured his view.