Hinata's Story Chapter 3: Genin Cell Alpha, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 and don't be stupid enough to pay to read this story.

Hinata's Story: Underneath your Clothes

Chapter 3: Genin Cell Alpha

Naruto was excited to be going on missions again. Consequently he had woken up even earlier than normal. During training he had been expected to get up before the sun to begin practice. Ero-senen never got up that early, but somehow he always managed to catch Naruto every time he tried to sleep in and give him an extremely uncomfortable wakeup call. At least that was when the old pervert had even deemed to oversee his training. During those times Naruto usually worked until he fell into an exhausted heap and woke whenever he was rested and went back to working.

Unable to get back to sleep due to excitement, Naruto had gotten up early. One would think that we would find him casually walking toward the Hyuuga Estate arriving early so as to be certain to get to the Hokage's office on time. But Naruto had been unable to contain himself and wait in his apartment, so he had left to do some early morning training. He had gotten back home and showered with enough time to get to his appointment when he remembered that he was required to escort Hinata to the meeting. So when Hinata first spotted him moving toward the compound that was her home he was late and moving at a full tilt run.

Hinata had gone to bed crying the night before. It wouldn't do to suggest that she hadn't enjoyed her time alone, training with Naruto the previous night. In truth the only thing she hadn't enjoyed about it was the time it had ended. Naruto, used to rising early had suggested that the both get home early to make sure they were rested for their first mission together tomorrow. The thought of spending the day working with Naruto electrified her and left her unable to suggest they train a little longer.

While waiting for Naruto she found she could loose herself in the memories of it all. There hadn't been much special about the training, mostly they had shown each other the various methods they liked to use to train. Hinata's father would likely have been very displeased had he known that she had shown him her techniques for practicing the Hyuuga's Jyuuken /Gentle fist / style of fighting. He had in turned showed her several of his techniques and practice methods. After all the events of the day she had been emotionally worn out and somehow had managed to softly speak with him in depth about her fighting style and training methods as they had begun to work out ways to train together. It all seemed like a dream to her.

The dream had quickly become a nightmare when she had returned home. Determined to stop the foolishness she had confronted her father. He had just finished meeting with the Hyuuga mansion's architect when she was able to speak with him. Senator Kiree had been very unhappy that she had been admitted to see her father before him.

Hinata had intended to demand that the bet be called off immediately, but her father had interrupted her immediately and demanded to know what Senator Kiree had told her. Her father had become infuriated when she told him what had happened, but steeling herself for the confrontation she immediately demanded that the bet be canceled.

Her father had refused just as quickly. She'd tried convincing him the whole thing was foolish, then begging, but her father would not relent. Finally she had stated that she wouldn't compete in the exam. Hiashi was furious and had told her that if she didn't compete she would simply forfeit the bet. Then he told her that if she did not compete and do a satisfactory job he would disown her and send her to serve as a shrine maiden in a temple he knew of in the mountains.

It was with these thoughts Hinata had cried her self to sleep. She had awoken late and in not much better spirits. After getting over the shock of waking up late she had sat in her bed thinking things over. She had plenty of time to think thanks to how late Hokage-sama had scheduled their appointment. She had determined that as of now her only recourse was to defeat her sister in the Chuunin Exam Final Tournament. Some how she just knew she would fail. It didn't seem to matter how strong she got, she always seemed to fail at anything she tried.

Finding herself unable to hold back her tears, Hinata had stayed in bed crying. Being stronger than her sister wouldn't be enough she thought to herself, she would have to become more than what she was. But her Naruto-kun was depending on her to win.

Thinking about Naruto-kun helper her stop her tears, it always did. She knew he wouldn't give up. In her situation Naruto would give everything he had to help her. The truth was that was what he was doing. He was risking his life to keep her from getting that mark. Thinking this she just didn't think she could give Naruto-kun any less than her best.

Hinata, like most of the Hyuuga household usually awoke before dawn. Even after sleeping in and crying it was still early in the morning for most common people. She passed Hanabi in the hall. Hanabi was on her way out to meet with her genin team. Noting the redness of Hinata's eyes Hanabi had made a comment, calling her a weakling crybaby. After cleaning up she had to bear her fathers disappointment over her laziness as she ate breakfast. She had wanted to tell him that the Hokage-sama had requested her presence at nine and that she had elected to ensure that she was well rested before then, but had elected to keep silent.

Hinata had decided to wait for Naruto outside the gates of the Hyuuga estate, hoping to forestall any confrontation between her family and him. She walked outside the gates an hour before the Hokage's appointed deadline, so that she would be there before Naruto-kun. After waiting there for five and then ten minutes after the time Naruto-kun should have come she began to get worried. She figured she could run to the Hokage's office and be there on time, but if Naruto-kun hadn't forgotten and came to get her he would be late and could get into trouble. She had decided to wait for him when she finally saw his orange form barreling down the street at an incredible speed.

Skidding to a stop he slid right past the girl. Even before he came to a stop he started to yell. "Hurry up, we've gotta run or we'll be late!" he yelled as he started to run back the way he came; clearly expecting Hinata to run with him.

Hinata followed him and they immediately took to the roofs. Hinata hadn't noticed, but during the course of her training she had become quite fast. She was faster than anyone on any team she had been on for some time. Some of her instructors would have likely said that she was the fastest genin in Konoha. Unlike Hinata they would have been amazed to watch Naruto clearly moving faster than her. Hinata however was not only unsurprised, but seemed to accept it as if she had expected it.

Sliding to a stop in front of a clock Naruto exclaimed, "Oh no, we're going to be late."

Due to her speed Hinata managed to catch up only a couple of seconds. "I'm sorry, if only…" Hinata began softly.

Interrupting her as if he didn't even hear her, Naruto squatted down. "Quick, get on my back," Naruto commanded.

Hinata's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't possibly have heard him right. She just stood there looking dumbly at his back as her cheeks began to color. "W-w-wh-a-a-a-t?" Hinata began but was cut off.

"Hurry, we don't have much time." Naruto said quickly, waving his hands that were at his hips.

Turning beat red Hinata pulled herself forward and climbed onto Naruto's back. Naruto immediately hooked his arms under her legs and began making seals as he stood up. "Keep you're head down," he said.

This time Hinata didn't have to be told twice as she lowered herself into Naruto-kun's strong back. Her dreams had never done it justice. She barely noticed the lurch in her stomach as Naruto launched forward carrying the two of them toward the Hokage Tower at blinding speed. Hinata didn't notice the scenery as they all but flew by. She closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the feel of Naruto-kun's back as she pressed herself against it. She could feel the warmth of his body through his clothing against her cheek and feel his chest move underneath her hands as he breathed.

Hinata was so caught up in the sensation that she didn't even think about what people might think if they saw her clinging to Naruto-kun's back with her arms around his, hands pressed against his chest. This was fine, as only a highly skilled ninja could have seen more than an orange blur as Naruto rushed by.

Hinata would have thought that the ride was perfect if it hadn't come to a skidding stop in under two minutes. Had he been a generation earlier Naruto would probably now hold the record for the fastest trip from the Hyuuga estate to the Hokage Tower without the use of a teleportation jutsu. But, unfortunately the Fourth Hokage had found it beneficial to leave the estate at high speed on occasion and Naruto was in no danger of breaking his record.

Hinata opened her eyes to look up. She was impressed to be at the entrance to the village's capital building. She was readying herself to slide down Naruto-kun's back when instead of bending down to let her off he burst forward to run through the buildings large double doors.

Nearly falling off Hinata gripped Naruto-kun's jacket tightly. Apparently intending to run his entire way to Hokage-sama's office he began leaping off of walls, cabinets, banisters and anything else that would propel him around the building's many occupants. Hinata pulled her head back down into the small of his back without being told.

Naruto slid slightly as he came to a stop in the Hokage's office, his sandals making a squeak as they slid over the marble floor. Naruto lowered himself as he came to a stop so Hinata could get off. "See Hinata, I told you we would make it on time," the boy exclaimed happily.

Hinata had closed her eyes for quite another reason this time, when she opened them she found herself in Hokage-sama's office. Blushing fiercely she tried to get off of Naruto's back as casually as possible, however her poker face was little better than the Hokage's and completely failed to hide her shy embarrassment.

If Naruto-kun had said anything to assure her that they would make it on time it had been lost to Hinata in her previous happy daze. Not knowing what to say she simply took a seat next to the one Sakura was standing in front of and tried to sink into it.

Sakura had arrived at Tsunade's office early. She had been very displeased with her 'demotion.' Tsunade had told her that because usually only chuunin can enter an apprenticeship and because she would obviously be ready to be a chuunin when the training was done she could forgo the exam and she would be considered a chuunin.

Sakura had tried to confront her sensei the night before, but Tsunade had managed to avoid her; hence her early visit today.

"I thought you said I wouldn't have to take the chuunin exam," Sakura complained.

"What don't you think you can pass?" Tsunade asked innocently.

"It's not about that," Sakura replied. "It's just that I though that I already was a chuunin!"

"Unofficially you are," Tsunade replied.

"Then why do I have to take the exam?" Sakura all but shouted.

"I can't very well have people saying that I gave my apprentice special treatment," Tsunade lied.

"That's not true and you know it," Sakura retorted. "I just want to know what the real reason is," Sakura stated exasperated.

Sighing Tsunade answered her apprentice. "I had intended to summarily promote the two of you to chuunin when you're apprenticeship was complete, but I need teammates for Hinata."

"This is all about that stupid bet?" Sakura yelled.

"The bet is not stupid, Naruto's life is on the line," Tsunade yelled.

"It's not like Hinata will loose," Sakura muttered.

"She will if she doesn't get over her lack of self-confidence," Tsunade replied, "which she won't do if she's not on a team with you and Naruto."

"What?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"You see Hinata thinks she's weak, but when she realizes she's as strong as the two of you, she'll finally be able to see how strong she really is," Tsunade explained.

Tsunade could tell that Sakura didn't buy it. The Hokage couldn't blame her as it was a complete lie.

When Sakura called her on it however, Tsunade was ready. Interrupting Sakura's retort before she could complete the second word Tsunade spoke in an annoyed voice.

"Look, until you've studied psychology, I don't expect you to dispute my psycho-analysis," She said as she walked toward a shelf and began removing a few large books. "If you'd like," Tsunade continued, "you can start with these."

Seeing the books on psychology something clicked in Sakura's mind. She didn't see books; she saw answers. Those books held answers to questions that had pained her for years. The answers to why Sasuke felt he had to leave her, why he couldn't just forget about his brother, and most importantly how she could help him and heal his pain.

So when she realized what Tsunade had offered her, she responded with one word: "Please."

Seeing her trick had backfired Tsunade had nothing to do but let her take them to begin studying. On the upside, she thought at least that will keep the girl busy until she realizes the real reason. By then she should know to keep quiet about it.

Jiraiya arrived thirty minutes early just like Tsunade has requested. When he got there he saw the pink haired girl he was supposed to be teaching. Groaning to himself he walked into the office. The last thing he needed was to have a student that believed in being punctual to this much of a fault.

Jiraiya grumbled to himself as Tsunade requested her apprentice step out of the office. Taking a seat he let out a loud sigh as Tsunade closed the door.

"So am I here because you don't trust me not to keep my hands of a couple of little girls or because you don't trust me to teach them?" Jiraiya asked casually. His poker face was actually quite good.

"What?" Tsunade asked in a gasp.

Exasperated Jiraiya leaned forward. "Did you call me here to threaten me about how I treat the girls or to tell me to treat the Hyuuga girl with kid gloves?" Jiraiya asked, "Or is there some jutsu you think I can teach her so she can beat her sister?"

"I don't expect you to teach either of those girls anything," Tsunade replied her irritation starting to show. "I just made you their instructor so that it wouldn't interfere with you training Naruto."

"About Naruto," Jiraiya began.

"What about Naruto?" Tsunade asked as she walked back to her desk.

"I told you that when I was finished he'd be ready to be a Jounin. Why are you putting through this exam? When I took him you didn't have a genin that could beat him. Did you make some kind of bet on him as well or is that girl's little sister such a hotshot that you think she could take him on?"

"Her name is Hinata and her little sister's name is Hanabi, and as I was explaining to Sakura this isn't about her or Naruto, it's about Hinata," Tsunade tried to be patient as she explained.

Jiraiya had decided to be blunt "You saw her fight just like I did, if she can't beat her sister there's nothing that I can teach her that can give her the heart to do it."

"As I said, I'm not expecting you to teach her anything," Tsunade said, then grinned. "I'm counting on Naruto to do that."

"Well he does have that effect on people I suppose," Jiraiya said and sighed. "But she won't be any use to anyone if she can't perform without the boy there."

"I know, but that part will be up to her," Tsunade sighed for the first time this morning herself. "We can only hope she's able to learn that most important thing before she looses it."

"Well I guess we chose the best kid for the job."

Taking a deep breath Tsunade tried to focus on the positive. "Well I didn't call you here to discuss Hinata. I wanted to discuss how we are going to allow Naruto and Sakura to complete their training."

From there Jiraiya and Tsunade had discussed the logistics of how they would each be able to train their pupils. They eventually agreed that as long as they were just doing C and D ranked missions than they would be able to use the training time to continue teaching their pupils. Sakura would spend most of that time to with Tsunade to continue her training while Hinata and Naruto would train with Jiraiya.

They had just come to this conclusion when a chuunin office worker handed Sakura a cipher to relay to Tsunade. Technically he should have handed it to her in person, but the communiqué didn't come under a very secure cipher and consequently the chuunin didn't feel it was important enough to worry about. Besides he didn't want to be the one to wake Hokage-sama from her paperwork, if that was what she was doing.

Sakura knocked before announcing the message she had received. After hearing Tsunade's response to enter she stepped in and handed the message to Tsunade. As Tsunade read, Sakura backed up to stand against one of the chairs in the office.

That was when Naruto had made his flamboyant entrance. Seeing Hinata on his back Sakura got angry. That moron probably didn't realize how embarrassing that was for her. If he had carried her around in public like that she was going to beat him silly.

Naruto's loud voice and the screech of his sandals alerted Tsunade to his presence. She looked up just in time to see Hinata's blushing face as she tried to hide in one of the chairs.

As her eyes turned to meet Naruto's he spoke up excitedly. "See, I made sure I got her here on time Tsunade-ba-chan."

Grinning to herself, Tsunade turned back to the communiqué. "I asked you to escort the young Miss Hyuuga here so you could get to know your new teammate. It would have been quite alright if you had been late, Naruto." Tsunade explained in an off-handed tone as she finished reading the message she had received. "Please sit down next to your teammate and wait for a moment."

At this Naruto turned to sit down. Sakura who had been standing waiting to see if she's be sent back out choose to sit down. Naruto was left with the seat at the end next to Hinata. Thinking nothing of it Naruto sat down next to her, blissfully unaware of the fact that Tsunade had arranged for their to be only four chairs so she could arrange for him to sit next to the shy girl.

Tsunade reread the message and then reread it again. Naruto didn't like to wait and his excitement over finally being able to go on missions again made him antsy quickly. Before he could speak out to complain about the wait Tsunade spoke up.

"Well, Congratulations Alpha team, it appears we've got you first mission," Tsunade said with a grin. This particular declaration was met with grumbles from Sakura and Jiraiya, though Naruto seemed eager enough. Suddenly remembering something Tsunade stopped herself from continuing her half thought up speech/pep-talk.

"But before that there is something important we need to discuss," Tsunade said bringing a fist to her mouth in a thoughtful gesture. "We should have discussed this before we got back," she continued still trying to decide how to say what she wanted to say. Finally deciding she continued.

"Sakura, and Hinata, you both are aware of what was sealed into Naruto the day he was born." Though it had been a statement and not a question, Tsunade stopped waiting for them to respond.

Shocked Naruto turned to Sakura and mumbled her name questioningly. His uncharacteristic fear found its way back to him as he looked first at his old teammate and then back at the new. Even though she had defended him the other day, did she really accept him as him and not the kyuubi? And would she change her mind? And what about Sakura-chan, he wondered? He thought he should know the answers, but he was afraid to hope.

Naruto's sudden response and change in attitude shocked both of the girls. Before they could answer the Hokage however, Naruto turned to face her. "How did they…?" Naruto couldn't seem to even say it out loud.

Tsunade was touched and though a couple of them would never admit it, so was everyone else in the room. Few things could derail the happy go lucky rollercoaster that was Naruto, but so far it had happened twice in as many days.

Seeing Hinata was about to answer Tsunade held her tongue. "Ano…," Hinata said as she hesitantly reached out to touch Naruto's shoulder. The touch sent a jolt through Naruto's whole system causing him to suddenly turn toward the shy girl.

The sudden movement caused Hinata to retract her arm and stutter some more. "Ano…uh…Kabuto…he…uh…told us," Hinata finally managed to get the words out of her mouth. Her voice was quiet, even for her, but it seemed incredibly loud to all present.

"Kabuto…" Naruto muttered.

"Yes," Tsunade replied. Her voice cal and quiet seemed harsh and deafening to those who had just been listening to Naruto and Hinata's even quieter tones. "The fact that he broke the Third's Edict will have to be added to his list of crimes and the Bingo Book."

Naruto seemed to be overcoming his fear, but was still silent. Sakura looked at her sensei incredulously. "Compared to betraying Konoha that can hardly significant," Sakura said flabbergasted.

"On the contrary, it carries the penalty of death," the Fifth replied. She could have dropped ice cubes down the backs of both of those girl's shirts and not gotten them to look as shocked and sit up as straight.

"W-w-what w-will h-happen to us?" Hinata stuttered out softly.

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you," Tsunade said seriously.

"You can hardly blame us for a bunch of stupid people who can't tell that Naruto isn't the demon they hate so much! If they can't tell the prison from the prisoner, than that's their own stupid fault," Sakura shouted.

Sensing the girls fear Naruto yelled out. "You can't blame them! The law was that no one of this generation was allowed to even know about the law. Even if they asked they had no way to know that it was a secret!" By the time he was done Naruto had stood up from his seat.

Raising her hands in a placating gesture Tsunade tried to explain. "No one is suggesting that either of them is at fault Naruto," she said before turning to Hinata and Sakura. "However as Naruto just mentioned there is a law that no one was to tell any one of your generation that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of Naruto."

"What?" Sakura shouted again. "Some of us lost parents to that thing, didn't we deserve to know how it was really defeated."

"Deserve?" Tsunade asked angrily. She stood up and slammed her hands on her desk rattling its contents. "Didn't Naruto deserve to at least live a normal life after what he lost to defeat that monster?" Tsunade asked venting anger. "When he dies he will be the only shinobi in the history of the world that will have ever given every living breath in the defense of his home and how has he been treated? That law was created to attempt to give Naruto a chance at being accepted by his peers and it stands!" Tsunade slammed her hand against the table to emphasize the last point. Sakura and Naruto both felt compelled to sit back down

Feeling she needed to calm herself after looking at Hinata, who seemed about to burst into tears again, Tsunade took a deep breath and seated herself again. "I'm sorry I yelled at the two of you," Tsunade said looking at both the girls. "I need to tell you that you are never to tell another soul about this. What is sealed in Naruto's belly is his secret and if anyone is to be told, it will be by him and not the two of you, is that understood?"

"Yes," the both answered quietly after a brief pause.

"You are also not to discuss it with any of the adults or where anyone else might be able to hear you," Tsunade informed them. "Do you understand?" she asked again.

"Yes," they both answered again.

"I also expect that you'll want to question Naruto about all of this," Tsunade continued "You are not to discuss it where it can be overheard, and if Naruto doesn't wish to discuss it or any part of it you are not to pressure him."

Grabbing the letter that she had received, Tsunade decided to change the subject. "Now that that's settled, it's time we discussed you mission," Tsunade said as she began to read the message again.

"You'll be recovering a missing person and bringing him back to his father, then escorting him to the capitol where you will act as his body guard until he's returned to his father." Tsunade turned away from the letter to face them. "You should all be able to handle something that easy right?"

"No way, absolutely not!" Naruto yelled out.

Everyone was momentarily stunned. Sakura was about to grab Naruto and beat him down before the Hokage did. Sakura didn't want to have her sensei's temper directed any where near her. "You can't expect all our missions to be exciting and dangerous you…" Sakura yelled at her former teammate before Tsunade's belly laughter cut her off.

Tsunade had just realized how long this mission might take. She was thinking about how she might be able to get Hinata and Naruto sharing a tent when she couldn't help but laugh. Noticing everyone staring at her, she gave a wicked grin and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" Naruto said exasperated. "You can't assign us something like this on the first day! We're a new team. Sakura and I have worked together before, but we've never worked with Hinata and Hinata and Sakura have never worked with Ero-senen before. We need something small so we can get used to working as a team before we go on any big missions."

Sakura dropped the fist she was about to hit him with as well as her jaw. Tsunade was taken aback as well. She had expected him to complain about how boring the mission was, especially sense she had initially chosen a mission best suited for Hinata to show off her skills. Smiling to herself she was impressed by Naruto's growing maturity.

Jiraiya chuckled to himself, the kid sometimes managed to impress him too. "The fact that they haven't worked with me before shouldn't be a problem," Jiraiya explained. "I won't be taking any action unless absolutely necessary to protect your lives or accomplish the mission. It will be up to you three to complete this mission if you expect to be able to function as chuunin."

"Ah, tell us something we don't know Ero-senen," Naruto mumbled. "You decide to try and go six hours without peeping at women?"

Jiraiya was about to scream at his apprentice when he suddenly realized that if he had to travel with those two girls he might very well have to. Desperately he began to contemplate his options

"Jiraiya is right, so all that leaves if for you and Sakura to get used to working with Hinata and Hinata to get used to working with you. That shouldn't be much trouble for people with any hope of becoming chuunin any time soon." Dropping the letter on her desk Tsunade continued, "Besides this looks like it's just some over eager daimyo who's making too big a fuss about his son staying out too long."

Seeing Naruto wasn't impressed Tsunade sighed and continued. "There's not much we can do as you were specifically requested for this mission."

"How could a daimyo know he was back or about our team already?" Sakura asked a little surprised.

"Actually he doesn't, he requested Hinata specifically," Tsunade replied.

"Wait, this couldn't be another one of those cloud punks attempts to steal her eyes again could it?" Naruto asked angrily.

Normally Hinata would have become all warm and gooey inside hearing Naruto being concerned for her, but the thought of someone trying to capture her for her eyes had always frightened her. Sometimes she had wished she could give up being a Hyuuga and just be normal without having to worry about blood limits and people trying to steal them.

Hinata wasn't the only person that was bothered by the idea. Maybe it was because he had never had any family to tell him scary stories, but the thought of having his eyes removed always wigged him out. He hadn't thought about it much during his fight with Neji, but afterward he had thought about it, and it had scared him a lot more than he would ever admit.

"I doubt it," Tsunade replied. "He didn't ask for her by name, he just requested the 'Hyuuga girl that had helped during our last diplomatic mission.' Besides, if that's what he wanted why would he arrange a mission to the Fire Capital where it would be almost as difficult to abduct her as it would here?" Tsunade asked.

"That's just it," Naruto replied. "Who said they would try to abduct her in Fire Capital? If it were me, I'd request a mission that would take her some place safe to make everyone feel secure and abduct her before she got there. If everyone assumed that I wouldn't try anything until the end than it would just make the job easier."

Seeing that Hinata was getting a bit worried by the way she was cringing in her seat, Tsunade thought it would be best to put an end to this particular line of thought. "That's very good Naruto, if I ever need to have Hinata abducted, I'll know who to ask." Tsunade couldn't help but smile at her little joke. She had to keep herself from laughing when she saw Hinata. The poor girl didn't seem to know whether to still be afraid or blush at the innuendo. Naruto seemed oblivious to the implications.

"I think you're over thinking this one Naruto," Tsunade assured him. "The daimyo in question met Hinata on our last mission and it seems like he was impressed by her. I understand that the cloud tried to abduct her as a little girl, but if someone was trying to steal the secrets of the byakugan, they'd find out really fast that there are easier people to abduct than Hinata."

"Ok," Naruto said, apparently mollified.

"Ok," Tsunade said glad that it was finally over. "This trip could take a while, so everyone will need to pack for a long trip. Meet Jiraiya at the West Gate at noon, he will have all the mission details for you then. However Sakura I will need you to come here at 11 so that we can discuss your study material for the trip."

"What?" Sakura asked shocked. "You can't…" Sakura stopped when she saw Tsunade lift her hand. She knew better than to get her sensei too angry and she had been treading on thin ice all day.

"You may be gone for as little as a week or as long as a month," Tsunade explained. "We can't have that interfering with you medical studies now, can we?"

"But…" Sakura began hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I won't give you too much, I also can't have you too busy studying to complete the mission," Tsunade said trying to reassure her. "I'm sure Jiraiya will use the free time during the mission to continue Naruto's apprenticeship as well. Now everyone but Jiraiya is excused, we have a couple of things still to discuss."

Sakura had something to do before returning home to pack so Hinata and Naruto found themselves alone as they left the administrative building together. They began to walk toward their respective homes when they both sensed that they were surrounded.

"The monster's back!" shouted a happy voice as the blurs jumped out of the shadows. Hinata let out a sight eek and lifted her arms into a warding gesture until she noticed who it was. Naruto didn't even notice Hinata bumping into him as she cringed; he just balled up his fists and made a guttural noise.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto yelled. "What did you say?"

Konohamaru's eyes bright eyes lit up in excitement hearing Naruto's voice. "Hey everyone Naruto-nii-san is back too," Konohamaru yelled excitedly.

Surprised by Konohamaru's reaction Naruto backed up slightly bumping back into Hinata causing her cheeks to redden slightly. Oblivious to the girl and still upset Naruto continued questioning Konohamaru. "Who are you calling a monster?"

Konohamaru looked abashed and stole a quick glance at his shoes before he continued. Moegi, who had her arms crossed, began taping her foot as she looked annoyed at Konohamaru. "Hinata-onee-chan," Konohamaru replied abashed.

"What?" Naruto asked shocked while Moegi yelled at Konohamaru. "I told you to stop calling her that!" the girl was indignant.

"Konohamaru, why do you call Hinata a monster?" Naruto asked while scratching his head, clearly baffled.

"Naruto-nii-chan, have you ever seen Hinata-onee-chan fight?" Konohamaru asked nervously.

"Well yeah," Naruto said.

"She's really scary when she fights, so I call her a monster, because she fights like one," Konohamaru said finally looking up to see Hinata and Naruto.

Hinata was somewhat embarrassed by the boys nickname and Naruto just seemed thoughtful. "Well she's really strong and she's really, really fast," Naruto thought out loud. Hinata kept getting redder every time he complimented her.

"She's not just strong and fast, she's really tough," Konohamaru interrupted. "When she saved me, that mean woman kept knocking her down, but she always got up. Hinata-onee-chan really scared her. She was so scared that she ran away!"

At this point Moegi decided to take matters into her own hands and use her ultimate attack: Maiden's tears-no-jutsu. "You guys just don't understand a woman's heart," Moegi said between sobs.

"I-i-it's Ok," Hinata stuttered out. "I kind of like his nick-name, i-it makes me sound brave."

"Sound brave?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Hinata you are brave," Naruto said as if it was the most obvious thing to anyone with eyes. Hinata could only blush a little more while her hands did anything they could think of to make her less visible.

Writing Hinata's behavior as normal for her Naruto turned to face Konohamaru. "Well if Hinata doesn't mind you calling her that then I apologize for getting angry at you Konohamaru," Naruto said.

Turning back to Hinata, Naruto bowed low to her. "Thank you for saving my friend," Naruto said. Naruto closed his eyes and smiled to himself, he'd finally come up with an excuse to bow to Hinata, so that they'd be even. With his eyes in that position he couldn't see Hinata's face flushing bright red.

When Hinata didn't say anything Naruto lifted his head as Konohamaru yelled out. "Oh, hey Hinata-onee-chan can you teach us your new voice jutsu?" Konohamaru said jumping up and down on each leg.

Drawn from her reverie Hinata turned to the boy with an inquisitive look. "What voice jutsu?" Hinata asked.

"I heard you had a voice jutsu that could melt someone's spine," Konohamaru replied anxiously.

"Cool, can you teach that to me too Hinata?" Naruto asked excitedly

"I-I wouldn't know any jutsus like that," Hinata said shakily.

"We heard you used it yesterday," Udon spoke up.

"Yeah, we heard that you used it on some old geezer yesterday and nearly killed him!" Konohamaru said excitedly.

"Yeah everyone's talking about it," Moegi supplied. "They say yesterday after noon when you were by the Hospital you let some old guy have it."

"Oh, you mean that!" Naruto started to laugh. "She was just really mad at the guy and yelled at him.

"Oh really," Konohamaru said, clearly not convinced. "Then why did the guy get blown across the street?" Konohamaru asked smugly.

Seeing Naruto was stumped Hinata spoke up. "Hokage-sama hit him."

Putting one hand behind his head Naruto closed his eyes and started to chuckle. "That's right, she did, didn't she? I thought maybe he was talking about someone else." Turning to Konohamaru Naruto began to speak conspiratorially. "You're right though Hinata can be really scary sometimes."

Suddenly changing gears Konohamaru yelled out, "Naruto-nii-chan, check this out!" The boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to be replaced by an incredibly gorgeous woman. Leaning forward in the most provocative manner she could manage the naked woman winked at Naruto.

Grinning wickedly to hide his embarrassment Naruto walked over toward the jiggling girl before giving her a critical eye as he walked to the side and then behind her. "That's pretty good Konohamaru," Naruto said slapping the girls backside causing the illusion to be dispelled.

Part of Hinata wanted to be mortified while the other wanted to be impressed. She'd seen Naruto-kun use that jutsu before and was actually proud of him for coming up with it. But seeing how he'd looked at Konohamaru's illusion she was a little nervous. He didn't pass out like a lot of men do, but he had looked really closely. Had her Naruto-kun become a pervert? If he was, could she help him? If he wasn't could she make him…? No, no she couldn't think like that!

Hinata was brought out of her reverie by Naruto's excited voice. "Well it looks like your ready to go to stage two: Harem-no-Jutsu!"

Hinata was slightly abashed. He can teach that kind of thing to Konohamaru, but he wouldn't do that while Moegi was still around would he? "So that means you have to learn the most useful jutsu ever, Kage-Bunshin," Naruto yelled causing Hinata to sigh in relief.

Hinata forgot about the mission and getting ready while she watched Naruto teach his three subordinates Kage-Bunshin. It was a fairly difficult technique that drew heavily on the Bunshin-no-Jutsu. He treated them like younger siblings. Absently wondered what it would be like if she could get along that well with her little sister. Naruto it appeared would make a good big-brother, maybe even a good father. The thought had Hinata resembling a tomato when Naruto finally told everyone to keep practicing and he'd work with them some more when he got back.

"Where are you going Nii-san," Moegi asked.

"You can't just start to teach us a jutsu and leave before we learn it," Konohamaru said indignantly.

"Hey, I learned it from a scroll without any help," Naruto replied. "Besides we've got a mission we have to get ready for."

"Nii-san, are you on the same team as Hinata-onee-chan now?" Udon asked.

"Yes, we are," Naruto replied, "and we've got to go pack for our mission since we could be gone for a while on a super-cool exciting mission." Naruto grinned and gave the Konohamaru corps a thumbs up.

Turning to face Hinata he yelled to her, "Come on we don't want to be late." Naruto started to jog away. Finally remembering the mission Hinata chased after him.

It was 15 minutes after the assigned meeting time when Naruto showed up. "Hey, sorry I'm late," he yelled as he ran up to them.

"Baka!" Sakura screamed at him. "I've been waiting here for over half an hour! Where have you been?"

"Half Hour," Naruto squawked, "I thought I was only fifteen minutes late."

"That's not the point!" Sakura yelled clearly not willing to give up her anger at Naruto. "Maybe you wouldn't have been late if you hadn't spent so much time teaching your friends your perverted jutsus," Sakura seethed out as she stalked toward him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he stepped back away from his enraged teammate.

"Hinata told us all about it," Sakura said as she began to crack the knuckles in her fists. "Kage-Bunshin, huh? I don't think Hinata would be that embarrassed about Kage-Bunshin."

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you Hinata," Naruto said nervously, before beginning to turn to lead Sakura back toward the group in a loop.

Speaking audibly for the first time during the encounter Hinata began to stutter. The truth was that she had tried to greet Naruto-kun when he arrived, but the sound had gotten caught somewhere in her chest. "Ano, S-Sakura-san, he r-really did only teach them Kage-Bunshin."

"Uh-huh, you don't have to lie for him Hinata."

"B-but I-I'm not," Hinata stuttered out a little more loudly.

"Oh, then why did Naruto apologize?" Sakura asked, "And why were you embarrassed?"

Hinata didn't know what to do. She couldn't lie and tell Sakura that Naruto had been teaching them a perverted jutsu, because he really hadn't. And she really couldn't admit the real reason she had been embarrassed. So all she was able to do was blush some more.

"So the truth comes out," Sakura said victoriously.

"Hinata's not a liar!" Naruto yelled at Sakura for probably the first time in his life. Feeling bad for yelling at her Naruto continued in a much more subdued tone. "I was apologizing because I embarrassed her and she was embarrassed because I told Konohamaru that he had to learn Kage-Bunshin before I could teach him the next perverted jutsu."

Sakura was surprised. She didn't think Naruto had it in him to yell at her. Jiraiya was ecstatic; not even he could makeup drama like this. "Ok, so Hinata wasn't lying," Sakura said, "But that doesn't mean it's ok for you to be wasting time playing with your little friends when you should be getting ready for our first mission!" Sakura began to stalk towards him again.

"Hey it's not my fault the cleaning lady wouldn't let me into the Laundromat," Naruto yelped as he moved his hands in front of himself in a warding gesture. "I had to do my laundry by hand!"

"Oh really, and what did you do to her to make her kick you out of the Laundromat?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Nothing, she just has something against me," Naruto wailed trying to back away even faster to keep away from Sakura.

"Oh and what could she possibly have against you?" Sakura asked again, but was shocked when Naruto just looked away and didn't have a comeback. She stopped moving when she saw Jiraiya and Hinata's disapproving looks. Sakura deflated the instant she realized what had happened.

"Oh Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't realize; it'll be better now, I…" Sakura began before Naruto interrupted.

"I don't need your pity Sakura-chan," Naruto said in the coldest voice Sakura had ever heard him use. "I've been dealing with this all my life; I don't need your pity to handle it now."

"Ok," Sakura grinned and began to pump her fist, "so what are we going to do to get back at her?"

"Nothing," Naruto said

"But why not?" Sakura asked surprised.

"What good would it do, she'd just have more proof that she was right," Naruto said quietly.

"But I thought that's why you always pulled those pranks," Sakura said without thinking.

In reply Naruto just turned and began walking out the gates. Jiraiya immediately turned to follow him. Hinata waited until she had given Sakura a dirty look before following herself.

Sakura stood transfixed. She felt guilty about what she'd said to Naruto. Even Hinata had given her a dirty look. Hinata! Sakura didn't know how she could face Naruto again after that.

Everyone had kept following Naruto even though Sakura hadn't followed. They hadn't done a thing, because both of them felt it wasn't their place. This was something Naruto would have to work out with Sakura on his own.

Suddenly Naruto stopped. Turning his head back he lifted his hand and waved. "Hey, Sakura-chan, are you coming or not?" Naruto yelled to her and began jumping up and down when she didn't respond.

Hearing the earnestness in Naruto's voice she could tell that the baka had already forgiven her. Silently she ran to catch up with the rest of her team

Jiraiya allowed him self to fall behind a bit so he could talk to Sakura privately. He reached out and touched her shoulder to keep her from walking past.

"You know, what Naruto needs from you isn't sympathy, it's acceptance," Jiraiya said softly so Naruto couldn't hear them. He spoke so quietly that Hinata, who was closer, had to strain slightly to hear them.

"I do accept him, but when I hear about things like that, how can I not feel sorry for him?" Sakura asked.

"Do you think Naruto feels sorry for himself?" Jiraiya asked.

"No," Sakura said hesitantly

"Then why should you?" Jiraiya asked. "Look, right now Naruto probably feels a bit vulnerable. Most of his friends don't know about the seal. He's probably scared that if they find out they'll all look at him differently, or even hate him. What he needs is to be shown that not everyone will treat him differently."

"So I should try and treat him the same?" Sakura asked, uncertain if she could to that.

"Yes," Jiraiya answered thoughtfully. "Perhaps some day he'll be comfortable enough to share his feelings with you, but until then the best you can do is to treat him normally and if the way other people treat him gets him down try and help him get his mind off of it."

"Thank you Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said softly as Jiraiya began to move ahead of her.

"Hey," Naruto's yelling voice broke everyone out of their reveries. "Does anyone know where we're going?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"What?" Sakura yelled indignantly, before she started to stalk toward him. She paused for a moment, but remembering what Jiraiya had just said she made an effort to act like she had before and continued to stomp toward her annoying friend if with a little less spirit than before.

"Hey, I just started walking," Naruto wailed. "I figured you guys knew where we were going and would take the lead."

"Baka!" Sakura yelled as she grabbed one of his arms that he held in front of himself and punched him in the face. "What if we're going the wrong way?" Sakura yelled as she put him in a headlock and continued to pound him.

"Ahem," Jiraiya coughed trying to get everyone's attention, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of Naruto's pummeling and Sakura's yelling voice. "Did you even think about that!" she yelled.

"That's enough," Jiraiya said a little more loudly.

This time his voice was drowned out by Naruto's voice as he tried to talk himself out of trouble between punches. "There's only one road...ouch...We couldn't be going…the wrong way…yet!" Naruto said as pleadingly as he could manage under the circumstances.

"That's enough!" Jiraiya finally yelled, finally making it through the din.

Naruto and Sakura both stopped and looked toward Jiraiya. It was one of the funniest things Jiraiya had ever seen! Naruto hadn't even tried to stand up. And not only had Sakura not let go of him she still had one fist in the air ready to pound him again. Jiraiya was having trouble standing up straight he was laughing so hard. Hinata had to put a hand to her mouth to keep from chuckling herself.

"What?" Naruto asked confused. Equally confused Sakura didn't let go of Naruto's neck as he stood up, causing her elbow to be lifted over her head. That was too much for Hinata. Right in front of her Naruto-kun stood dumbfounded with Sakura right in front of him, her arm wrapped around his neck in an obviously uncomfortable position, both looking dumbstruck. Hinata couldn't keep herself from laughing.

Her laughter wasn't high and squeaky like some of the girls Naruto had heard laugh. Nor was it forced, like a lot of the girls that had made fun of him. Her laughter was soft and smooth. It seemed to flow out of her naturally, soothingly.

Sakura however wasn't soothed. She didn't appreciate being laughed out. Letting go of Naruto she stomped two steps forward and put her hands on her hips. "What's so funny?" she asked.

This managed to stop Hinata's laughter very quickly. Looking both scared and abashed Hinata was worried that she might have offended her new teammate. She didn't want to be the cause of another team breaking up, especially not on their first mission. Fighting back tears she began to apologize while Jiraiya still laughed.

Hinata's only got a few words of her apology out before Jiraiya had stopped Laughing and interrupted. The words she did get out however were lost on Sakura who couldn't hear them over the laughter of the man she was glaring at.

"That's enough," Jiraiya said again. "Well before we left I was going to brief everyone on the mission, but with Naruto's late arrival we seem to have gotten a little ahead of ourselves."

"This is our target," Jiraiya said pulling a photo out of his inner-vest pocket and holding it in front of him. Everyone gathered closer to take a look at the photo. The picture revealed a teenage boy with meticulously kempt, short black hair and dark eyes. He had a youthful appearance, but was probably a couple of years older than Naruto. A real pretty boy if Naruto had ever seen one. The guy probably kept a comb in his back pocket Naruto thought.

"Ooh, he's cute, don't you think so Hinata?" Sakura asked while ogling the picture.

"Uh, I guess so," the shy girl responded hesitantly.

"Figures," Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"His name is Sutra Renjiro," Jiraiya supplied. "He was sent to Konowei city on an errand for his father, the local daimyo, and hasn't returned."

"So why ask for ninjas?" Naruto asked. "The guy's probably just living it up with the girls in the city and doesn't want to go home."

"Maybe, but his father's agents confirmed that he left the city 3 days ago and hasn't returned," Jiraiya replied.

"So does his father know where he is now?" Naruto asked.

"No, that's why we've been called in," Jiraiya sighed out.

"Not much to go on," Naruto said putting his fist on his chin in a thoughtful gesture.

"Well Konowei is in Sutra district, so presumably if his father is the daimyo, Lord Sutra then he should be headed to the capital Sukuro city right?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya supplied.

"But Sukuro is easily a three day walk from Konowei, why is Lord Sutra even worried?" Naruto asked.

"They left by carriage, even at a slow pace they would have been there by the next day," Jiraiya said.

"So what, do we just head to Konowei and have the Sakura and Hinata hook up with the local fan girls and then have us hit the bars looking for guys bragging about the recent conquests?" Naruto asked.

"That's up to you guys," Jiraiya replied. "I told you if you expect to be chuunin you will have to be able to lead a team without help, so you'll all have to figure out how to accomplish this mission on you own. If you can't than you have no business taking the chuunin exam."

"So you're not going to train me anymore?" Naruto asked.

"No I'll be training you up until the beginning of the chuunin exam, just like Sakura will be trained by Tsunade, but you'll all have to learn how to accomplish missions without the help of an instructor."

"Well Sakura what do you think?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Sakura responded surprised.

"Well if we have to do this all ourselves, what do you thing we should do?" Naruto asked again.

"Well I figure that if he's in town, he's probably safe, but it he's not we need to find him as fast as possible," Sakura said. "So we should probably search the road between Konowei and Sukuro first."

"Well," Naruto muttered as he began drawing in the dirt on the path. "Konowei is here," he said making and x mark in the dirt. "Sukuro is here," Naruto made a mark above and slightly left of the first. "And we are here," he made a mark a fair distance to the right of both marks. "If we follow this road it will take us to the road in-between the two about a quarter of the way to Konowei," Naruto said drawing connecting lines and standing with a grunt.

"Well we can either loop around and cover the quarter of the road closest to Konowei twice or we can try and leave the road and go straight to Konowei," Sakura said gesturing with her foot. Hinata paid rapt attention, but didn't say anything.

"The problem is we might be slower running through the forest and may get lost without a more detailed map and compass," Naruto interjected.

"You're right, it will probably be faster to stick to or near the trail," Sakura agreed. "So we'll just have to loop around I guess."

"So what do you think, Hinata?" Naruto asked startling the girl.

"I-it all sounds ok," Hinata said softly.

"Hey, you don't have to agree with Sakura just to be nice," Naruto said a little bit too loudly, "If you have an idea let us know."

Naruto's smile was infectious and his look was so earnest that Hinata couldn't help but smile a little as her cheeks turned slightly red. It took her a moment to gather her courage to answer. "Well I could use my byakugan's far-sight to look down the road toward Konowei. If I can see far enough we might not have to go very far before we head toward Sukuro." It felt like a whole book once she got it out, but she had managed to get it all out.

"That's great Hinata!" Naruto said excitedly.

It was either due to curiosity or thoroughness, but Sakura wanted details. "How far can you see?"

"Several miles in one direction," Hinata said nervously.

"What?" Naruto yelled. "I thought your eyes let you see all the way around you."

"I can do that, but only for a hundred or so yards," Hinata replied embarrassed to be talking about herself.

Sakura prodded her with a few more questions about her byakugan's ability before she was satisfied that Hinata wouldn't miss anything, Naruto giving Hinata complements about how cool it was all the while. Hinata was fairly red before they decided to take off at a fair clip toward the City. Once Hinata could see Konowei and be sure that Renjiro wasn't between them and the city they would turn around and head for Sukuro.

One of the basic abilities that ninja are expected to develop is the ability to travel at prodigious rates. This skill is necessary for both pursuit and escape. It is part of the initial training that students go through at the academy. Genin will then usually spend a great deal of their first couple of years doing basic missions that give them an opportunity to practice their skills and increase their strength, speed and endurance. These missions along with regular practice and training make up a genin's early career and are expected to prepare them for more stringent missions. Among the things it should give them is the speed and stamina to travel most of the day at high speed through most terrain that that ninja can expect to travel through. It is expected that due to the difficulty of passing the chuunin exam that any chuunin will be able to do so

These particular genin, though they don't realize it, are all capable of traveling much faster and longer than most chuunin. This is likely due to the special nature of each of their training, giving them far more strength and stamina than most chuunin posses.

Aided by the fact that they were able to travel by road as opposed to more difficult terrain they had been able to reach the junction with the road between Konowei and Sukuro not long after night fall. They road had joined another causing Sakura to yell at Naruto about his previous statement about the road they were on taking them straight to the junction. Naruto had defended his statement by saying that Konoha was a hidden village; you can't expect the posted roads to go straight to it. Sakura hadn't been convinced.

Further conversation had been sparse. Naruto had tried to engage Hinata in conversation, but it had been difficult. She answered most of his questions with as few words as possible and had difficulty getting them out. Naruto took the girls shyness as evidence that she was having difficulty with the run. She was wearing a fair amount of weight, which he could attest to from their run earlier that day. He had offered to slow down, but Hinata had declined and when asked had assured him that she was all right. Naruto figured that the best way to train with weighted clothing was to push yourself as hard as you can to get stronger, so he said nothing else.

While Naruto may have had some trouble with the silence, Hinata had enjoyed watching the young man run. Being this close to him was electrifying her as was the concern he was showing. It also however seemed to tie her tongue and make speaking to him more difficult.

They stopped when they arrived at the junction. "I guess it's time for you to do your thing, Hinata," he said before walking over into a clearing and lied back looking at the stars.

"Y-yes," Hinata had stuttered out. It had taken her a moment to remember what her thing was but when she did, she quickly brought her hands in to the appropriate seals and activated her byakugan.

It didn't take Hinata long to find their man. It surprised her a little. He wasn't very far from them and was hiding in forest not too far from the road.

"I think I found him," Hinata said softly.

"Oh," Naruto said sitting up, "I thought you said it would take longer than that?"

"Uh," Hinata got out before she was interrupted.

"Why are you complaining?" Sakura lectured, "She did better than she thought."

"Uh, he wasn't very far," Hinata said

"Really, where is he?" Naruto asked as he began to look around.

"About a mile that way," Hinata pointed down the road toward Konowei. "He seems to be hiding off the side of the road."

"Is he ok?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know," Hinata replied

"Is anyone near him?" Sakura asked again.

"No," Hinata replied.

"Anyone between us and him," Jiraiya asked.

"I'll have to look," Hinata replied humbly. She should have checked that she thought. Lifting her hands back into the appropriate seal the veins around her eyes bulged as she searched the area between them and the boy. She also checked just behind them and just past the target.

The search took a few minutes. "There is a group of men not far from here they are on the other side of the road."

"How close?" Naruto asked with a grunt as he stood up.

"A little closer to us then to the Renjiro," Hinata said.

"Not you too Hinata," Naruto wined. Hinata's surprise was evident on her face. "I expected it from Sakura, but one look at his pretty face and you're both fawning over him."

Hinata's face started to redden and she was about to make a reply but Sakura beat her to it. "Just because we remember his name doesn't mean that we're fawning over him," Sakura yelled stalking toward her male teammate. "Not all of us are bakas."

"Um maybe we should get going," Hinata said hoping to prevent a fight.

"I think your right," Naruto said weakly.

Sakura just sighed and stopped. "We should probably go through the trees to avoid tipping off the other group of people incase their after our target. Can you lead the way Hinata?"

Hinata didn't hesitate to take to the trees and moved a fair way into the wood before turning toward Konowei and their target. Naruto grumbled, because he was on the wrong side of the road and had to walk back across it.

They made it to where the man Hinata had found without much trouble. Hinata took the lead Sakura and Naruto were behind her in flanking positions and Jiraiya held back watching them.

They had to slow down to get by a scout. They moved around him, though Naruto had wanted to simply go over him in the trees to see if he was even good enough to spot them. The girls had overruled him, though Hinata's opinion almost had to be pried from her lips. She thought it was best to go around, but she really didn't want to disagree with Naruto-kun.

When they finally arrived the young man in question was asleep on the ground with a jacket thrown over him. The only clue that he might have been in distress was that there was no fire. That could also have been due to a lack of skill as a woodsman as well however.

They all landed silently and began to walk toward the slumbering young man. Naruto took the lead as he walked toward the jumbled heap that was the young man's sleeping form. Hinata reopened her byakugan by channeling chakra back into her eyes. She didn't have to use the seals again as she hadn't completely released it.

"Naruto-kun, look out!" Hinata screamed just before the apparently sleeping young man jumped out and grabbed Naruto's arm and placed a wicked looking knife at his throat.

"Drop you weapons or..." the young man screamed. Meanwhile Naruto slid under his arm while throwing his head back to keep his throat clear of the knife. A quick pull of to the young man's arm and a twist of his own body and Naruto landed on top of his assailant, twisting his knife arm behind his back. Bending the boys elbow, Naruto placed the tip of the knife on the boy's spine just above where Naruto's own knee held him down.

From this position Naruto finally got a good look at the knife that had been at his throat. The blade was as long as Naruto's forearm; it had a curved tip and a jagged edge along the back. Naruto had to repress a shiver.

"Fight all you want Renjiro, but you're going back home to your old man," Naruto said loudly, as he knocked the knife away from the young man's back.

"Baka!" he yelled. "If I could get home I would be there already."

"Really," Naruto drawled out as he pulled Renjiro up by the arm twisted behind his back. "Tired of all the attention that the girls have been giving you pretty boy?"

"Does it look like there are any girls here looser!" Renjiro yelled back.

"Naruto, let him go," Sakura yelled.

"Sure," Naruto said as he pushed the young man forward and away from the knife on the ground.

"Uh, are you Sutra Renjiro?" Hinata asked softly.

"Yes," Renjiro sighed out, mistaking Hinata shyness for the breathless excitement of a fan girl.

"Are you alright Renjiro-san?" Sakura asked.

"I'd be fine if it weren't for the village idiot over there," Renjiro replied.

"Hey," Naruto yelled back. "You pulled a knife on a fully trained ninja. Which of us does that make an idiot, weakling?"

"Fully trained ninja, I heard you coming a mile away," Renjiro retorted.

"Hey if I'd have been trying to sneak up on you, you'd be dead," Naruto yelled back.

"Oh, I suppose you only sneak up on people you're going to kill, huh?" the nobleman's son sneered out.

"Yeah, that's about right," Naruto said. "You got a problem with that or do you just want to die?"

"That line might work on farmers and little boys," Renjiro said haughtily. "But I can see you, and you are all genin level ninja."

That comment caused Sakura to clench her fist as a vein bulged in her forehead. 'Blast you Tsunade, thanks to your demotion nobody respects me!' Inner Sakura stomped around Sakura's head.

"A baby sitting job like this..." Naruto began his retort.

"That's enough!" Sakura screamed just before she stepped between Naruto and Renjiro. "Both of you..."

"I see who's in charge here," Renjiro looked around Sakura at Naruto.

"Would you have a problem with it if I was?" Sakura asked menacingly as she lifted him up by his shirt.

"No ma'am," Renjiro replied quickly.

Naruto started to laugh at the young man's predicament. He got to see Renjiro glaring at him before Sakura backhanded him. Unfortunately he didn't get to see the look on Renjiro's face as he watched Naruto climbing out of the crater his body had made in the tree. Sakura, however secretly enjoyed the look. 'That'll teach that baka to disrespect me!' the inner Sakura raged.

Setting the young lord down gently, Sakura did her best impression of Tsunade's innocent, closed eyed motherly smile. She must have nailed it perfectly, because she could here Renjiro shuffling away from her. Tsunade-sama could be scary.

Jiraiya was trying not to laugh at the whole situation. However everyone was too absorbed with other things to notice his sniggering. Hinata had run over to Naruto and was trying to verify that Naruto was alright through her stuttering. Renjiro couldn't take his eyes off Sakura.

"Now that that's over with," Sakura muttered as she opened her eyes. Still smiling she turned to the young lord who had backed himself against a tree.

"Ouch," Naruto mumbled as he walked back toward Sakura. "You didn't have to him me that hard you know Sakura," Naruto told her while rubbing the back of his head.

Ignoring him Sakura continued talking to the now only slightly quivering young lord. "Renjiro-san, so you said that you were trying to go home?"

"Yes," he replied hesitantly.

"So what happened?" Sakura asked casually, as if nothing unusual had happened. Naruto and Hinata both walked up to hear his answer.

Regaining a little confidence Renjiro stood up a little straighter. "I was heading home when my carriage was attacked. I ran away, but instead of searching the carriage, they chased after me. I managed to loose them and have been hiding around here trying to get past them."

"Why didn't you head back to Konowei City?" Naruto asked.

"Because they were obviously after me, or they would have just looted the coach," Renjiro replied as if it were obvious. "They undoubtedly expected me to go back to Konowei and will have people waiting for me."

"Hinata can you check?" Sakura asked

"Ok" she replied softly and began the seals needed for the byakugan. Renjiro had never seen the Hyuuga blood limit and so he was a little shocked when he saw her eyes go even whiter than they had before as her irises expanded and all but disappeared while veins bulged on the side of her head. She looked toward Konowei City for a couple of minutes before her eyes returned to normal. At least Renjiro thought it was normal as her irises were just a slightly different shade of white than the rest of her eye.

"There isn't anyone between us and the city, but there could be agents in the city, I wouldn't be able to tell," Hinata said at length.

"That's great Hinata," Naruto said.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly.

"Well, your father hired us to take you back home, so that's what we're going to do," Sakura said forcefully.

"Hinata, how many people where in that group of men you saw?" Naruto asked.

"About 20 in the camp and maybe as many as 10 scouting the area," Hinata's replied in her usual quiet voice.

"Did they look like they were ready to move?" Naruto asked again.

"I don't think so, I think they were waiting." Hinata said nervously.

"Those scouts looked more like they were trying to keep someone from passing that trying to find someone," Sakura thought out loud. "That's probably why they haven't found Renjiro yet."

"Then we should be able to rest for a few hours and sneak past them in the early morning," Naruto supplied.

"If they switch watches in the normal way, that's when they'll be the most tired," Sakura agreed. "What do you think Hinata?" Sakura asked.

Hinata was a bit surprised to be asked her opinion, so it took her a moment to respond. "I think that everyone could use a rest before we move," she said simply.

"Yeah we've been running all day and we might need to fight some of those guys if they get lucky and catch us," Naruto agreed

"Well, Hinata, you're the only one that's seen them are you comfortable that they're not looking for us," Sakura asked.

"Well…I think so," Hinata replied.

'Just great,' Renjiro thought. 'Why don't' you just tie me up now. I think so? That's the best that they can do! Why did dad hire such losers to come find me? That woman hokage was probably trying to slight him. Well when he got back he'd see that she never did that again!'

"Hey, Ero-senen," Naruto spoke to the old hermit for the first time since they arrived. "Are you gonna take a watch, or do we have to do that ourselves too?"

"How many times have I told you not to call me that in public?" Jiraiya said both angrily and loudly. He kept himself from yelling as he didn't wish to give away their position to anyone that might be close enough to hear.

"Bout as many times as I've told you to stop being a pervert," Naruto replied lazily.

Renjiro was drawn from his reverie by the somewhat heated discussion of the old man and the loud mouth ninja. "Who is the old man?" he asked.

Seeing that Sakura had stepped away and Naruto was still engaged in conversation with his Sensei Hinata realized he must have been asking her. Nervous Hinata took a moment to reply. "He's our sensei," Hinata said simply and quietly.

'Just great, genin ninja that haven't left their sensei,' Renjiro thought. "If he's in charge, why isn't he the one giving orders?" Renjiro asked.

Seeing that Hinata didn't have an answer to that he decided he may as well get some sleep. He'd survived for the last three days by constantly moving and avoiding the bandits. If these rookies thought that they could just stay in one place then at least if they were keeping watch they should provide him with enough time to get away. It's not like three genin ninja and some grandfather of an instructor would be a match for 30 bandits.

Renjiro went to sleep while the shinobi ate and decided on the watches. Everyone was eating something dry, but the loud mouth he noticed was trying to heat instant ramen with his hand. What an idiot was his last thought before going to sleep.

Renjiro was shaken awake while it was still dark. He was given a cup of instant ramen and chopsticks before he was fully awake. He had already eaten about half of it before he even questioned why it was hot. Looking around he couldn't see any fire that those fools had made. Well, whatever they had done, it would be too late now and if it drew the enemy to their position, then at least they were about to leave.

The rookie ninja had finished eating and packing before he could finish the ramen. The white eyed one, who had woken him, approached him. "We should be going now, please hurry," she said breathlessly.

Renjiro hated it. Everywhere he went he ran into girls like this. There were the soft spoken ones like this one, the loud and obnoxious ones, and the ones that took every opportunity to press themselves against him. They all followed him around as much as they could. He'd enjoyed it once, but that was before her; before he realized. Now he just couldn't get them to leave him alone.

Seeing that they were alone while everyone was getting ready, he decided it would be best to deal with her now. She'd been the one to wake him up and the only one to talk to him this morning. He figured he better put a stop to it now or who knows what she might be brave enough to try next, sharing sleeping bags?

"I don't know how to say this," he began. Hinata who had been about to leave froze. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you," he finally got out. Hinata began to blush. She didn't know how to deal with this.

"No," Hinata said softly while trembling slightly.

Seeing that he was crushing the poor girl's world he tried to do what he could to explain himself. "You see, I'm sorry, but…"

Hinata didn't know how best to explain herself, and was shocked by the young lord's statement.

"I'm in love with someone else," the both said almost in complete unison.

It's likely Hinata had never been in a situation where someone was more speechless than her. However at this moment Lord Sutra Renjiro, son and heir of Lord Sutra of the Fire Kingdom, found himself blushing like a school girl and at a complete loss for words. This had never happened to him before. No matter what had happened, he had always been able to talk to women about anything under the sun, but he found that he was so embarrassed he couldn't get more than a syllable out of his mouth in front of this girl. He felt as helpless as a fish out of water. Woman had been chasing for as long as he could remember. He could always tell who was chasing him. He had never been wrong. Now that he was, he didn't know what to do!

Hinata found herself in uncharted territory. She didn't know how to approach this. In front of her there was a boy blushing more than anyone she had ever seen and babbling incomprehensibly. She felt she had to say something. "It's all right, I'm sure you're nice and all, but I met him before I met you and I don't really know you."

Hinata didn't know what to say seeing that this hadn't helped. She was about to try again when the sound of Naruto and Sakura's conversation got louder and more heated.

"What are you some kind of litter bug, or are you trying to give our position away?" Sakura asked Naruto heatedly. She couldn't believe he still hadn't grasped the concept of stealth.

"We're not staying here, so it won't help them find us," Naruto said simply.

"What?" Sakura asked

"Look they look like they're just waiting for us, but if they do find it, they won't know what way we went, so they'll probably use a basic circular search pattern, and that will take time, giving us more time to get away."

"That won't stall them much," Sakura said simply.

"Yeah, but I could use some Kage-Bunshin to leave an obvious trail toward Sukuro, but not on the path we're taking and then leave a less obvious one back toward Konowei," Naruto explained his plan excitedly. He seldom got to explain one of his tricks to someone, he kind of liked it.

"We could do that, but we don't know how skilled these bandits are," Sakura explained. "They could just follow the obvious path and be able to find us faster."

"Hinata, can you check on the bandit's positions?" Naruto directed his voice toward her. He didn't yell, but made sure she could easily hear his voice.

Hinata was glad for the interruption. She nodded her head in reply and then walked away from the stammering young man as she performed the seals for the byakugan.

It took Renjiro a minute to realize she was no longer in front of him. Turning around he caught sight of her in time to see the veins on the side of her face bulge out. Everyone else just waited on her expectantly. He couldn't understand how the others could get used to it. It quite simply freaked him out.

After a few minutes of silence Hinata spoke up. "There still isn't anyone behind us, the main group is still in the same spot, and the scouts on this side haven't gotten much closer," Hinata reported. She had made sure to be thorough and look everywhere this time.

They left immediately. Hinata was glad and she did her best to avoid the young lord, who Naruto had taken it upon himself to make sure he could move stealthily. He spent most of his time getting more upset at Naruto as he kept telling him how to move to keep from leaving a trail. The boy was a fair hunter, so quiet and stealthy movement was easy, but he couldn't cover his trail very well.

Due to the prince's lack of ninja training they covered the ground much more slowly than they had the previous night. They were however able to get past the obviously tired sentries just before dawn. Hinata kept using her byakugan to scout ahead as they moved and continued to do so after they passed the main forces and the intersection of the road they were on and the one that would take them back to Konoha. The sight had Renjiro nauseous. He wanted to ask her to stop but didn't dare.

They traveled all day and when it became dark they arranged the watches and went to sleep early. Not much was said between them and in the morning they ate just as quickly as the day before and left in silence. Seeing no signs of pursuit they decided that they should be far enough away to travel on the road today.

Hinata had been avoiding Renjiro since their encounter the previous morning. But now that they were on the road the need for stealth seemed less present and everyone began to feel that they could talk freely.

It was mid-afternoon when Renjiro finally had his chance. He found himself next to Hinata with the other two younger shinobi a fair distance ahead and the old man behind. "So, what's this man you're in love with like?" Renjiro asked casually.

Hinata had hoped he wouldn't say anything. She had hoped to avoid him for a little longer, but couldn't move away from him without it being obvious. Further since it was their mission to protect him, she couldn't leave him by himself.

"H-he's very strong," Hinata said very softly.

"Oh, so you like the big muscle man type," Renjiro replied in a deep voice while doing several body-builder-like poses.

"N-no," Hinata replied still not feeling at ease talking to the young man. "He is powerful, but that's not how I meant it."

"You don't mean that he stinks do you," Renjiro immediately responded. His voice was higher and more nasal, because he was pinching his nose. Renjiro could tell that the girl had been embarrassed by their encounter the day before, so he was doing his best to put her at ease.

"No," Hinata said again, this time a little confidently.

"So how is he strong?" Renjiro asked. "Those are the only two definitions I know."

Hinata may have starting to get a bit more comfortable talking to the young lord, but she still wasn't all that comfortable talking about the love of her life. It took her a moment before she began her hesitant reply. "H-he's always been hated by most of the people he's met for something that wasn't his fault, but no matter what they say or do to him he never gives up his dream. He puts on a happy face even though he's really very sad and never lets what they do affect him."

"I don't mean to be rude, but guys that go through that are usually walking time bombs," Renjiro replied. "Eventually they crack and hurt a lot of people before they can be stopped."

"But he's not like that!" Hinata replied defensively. "He's very kind. He can't stand to see anyone get hurt. When he sees people that are suffering he always does whatever he can to help them."

"Are you sure?" Renjiro asked, clearly not convinced.

"Once he saw…me getting hurt by someone and he got very angry with him," Hinata began her story hesitant to reveal specifics, especially about herself. "He got so angry with him that he swore he'd beat him, but when the time for their fight came he was able to see that that person was suffering too. So even though he swore to beat him he helped that person as well."

"I think I'd like to meet this person," Renjiro replied.

Hinata didn't reply and it would have been suspicious if they hadn't all but bumped into Naruto and Sakura who had stopped facing a large group of rugged men.

Both parties said stood facing each other. Each expected the other to speak first.

Naruto ran out of patience first. "Hey guys, you're in our way, move," Naruto said completely unintimidated.

The Fool probably didn't even realize what was going on the bandit's leader thought. "Hand over the Sutra boy and the rest of you may leave," the leader said.

"Hey, you see the headbands?" Naruto asked. "You sure you want to do this?"

The leader just laughed. "Three little ninja against all of the Hidden Tigers," the leader said dramatically. "You don't stand a chance."

"Three of us?" Naruto asked turning around to see who was missing. "Lazy perverted sensei," Naruto muttered.

"Hey do you know any swimming holes or places to sunbathe near here?" Naruto asked.

"Baka, what has that got to do with anything?" Sakura yelled at her teammate for loosing what little intimidation value they might have had.

"I'm just trying to figure out where Ero-senen might have gone," Naruto replied defensively.

"That's enough," the bandits' leader said. He was very upset about being ignored. He'd show them not to disrespect him. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," Naruto said simply

"Should we?" Sakura asked

"Is it too much to expect that if after fighting tooth and nail to build the strongest band of brigands in the area for three years that people would at least have heard of you? I'm Toshiro Yukio." The bandit's leader yelled out.

In response Naruto spoke softly. "Is it too much to expect that after saving whole villages and spending your entire life helping people that just one girl would be able to see something other than a monster and actually love you?"

This kid's got issues Yukio thought.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Hinata said softly trying to reassure the blond shinobi.

"That's nice of you to say Hinata, but you really ought to just speak for yourself," Naruto said.

Heart broken Hinata tried to find something to say, before she was interrupted.

"That's enough melodrama," Yukio yelled as he drew a large machete. "Hand over the boy, or we'll take him from you by force!"

Suddenly all of the bandits began to brandish decidedly vicious looking weapons. Renjiro also drew his knife.

The three shinobi however didn't seem to be intimidated. Sakura was putting on her fighting gloves. Hinata relaxed back into the Hyuuga's fighting stance, with her hands in front of her palms down. Naruto just started to stretch a little and pop his neck.

The bandits looked dumbstruck that three shinobi were so relaxed that they didn't feel the need to draw weapons. Somehow they found that intimidating.

"Stay next to Renjiro!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled at the same time. Both charged the bandits at exactly the same moment. They dealt with several bandits in quick succession, disabling each of them in a single barehanded strike. Sakura however was a bit more spectacular as her opponents flew significantly farther away, thanks to whatever the technique was that Tsunade used.

The bandits began to counterattack after those first few moments. Naruto ducked and twisted under a bandit's swinging sword arm. Now behind the bandit, he grabbed the arm and pulled sending the bandit to the ground onto his face. Just before the bandit hit the ground Naruto performed a cartwheel back the way he came adding his weight to the sword bearing bandit's face plant and kicking an enemy who was approaching from behind in the face with the same fluid movement. He landed facing the now dazed, but still standing bandit. One solid kick to the gut bent his opponent over exposing his head to a firm knife hand strike to the base of the skull sending the man into unconsciousness.

Sakura grabbed a spear that had been meant to skewer her. Pulling it and it's bearer toward her she used it to block a swipe from another machete like weapon. She stepped forward to punch the blade wielding bandit in the face, dropping him instantly while she yanked the spear away from her other hapless opponent. Sakura stepped back to avoid a strike as she gripped the spear like a baseball bat. Stepping into her swing she broke the spear against three bandits, sending them flying into the air. Naruto had to dive to avoid two of them.

Renjiro was slack-jawed as he watched the two of them. He had met several ninja in his life, but he'd never seen them fight. How could beginners be so powerful he wondered? He was far to absorbed to notice the bandits approaching them from behind.

Hinata however, saw the bandits with her byakugan before they even tried to attack. They were a relatively small number, and they were probably planning on grabbing Renjiro and running while everyone was busy fighting the bandits that were blocking the path. Hinata had noticed them as soon as she'd opened her byakugan.

When the bandits jumped out of the brush on either side of the path behind them Hinata charged them. She took thee steps behind Renjiro and began to fight. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a girl or the fact that these bandits couldn't see what Sakura had done to their teammates, but they all charged straight for Hinata. They seemed to be in a race to be the one to beat her up.

Hinata stepped to the side, avoiding the first to arrive; leaving her leg extended causing an extremely muscular, shirtless man to trip. In a single smooth motion she turned to her side and sent her hands out to either side smacking the first man in the back as he fell and the next man in the chest. Hinata began to move swiftly to intercept as many opponents as possible. The hand slaps that she sent them as she moved expertly between her opponents didn't look very impressive but disabled most of her opponents with usually only one or two strikes.

Naruto and Sakura saw the ambush at approximately the same time. Naruto was still on the ground after dodging the bandits that Sakura had sent flying his way. He pushed himself off the ground just like a sprinter and dashed straight to Hinata.

Sakura seeing Naruto run back toward Hinata was able to see what was happening instantly. She tried to follow, but was blocked by three mountainously large men each grinning at her smugly as they massaged their knuckles.

Seeing that Naruto was going to make it in time Sakura decided to stay. She was going to enjoy taking these muscle bound oafs down a peg or two.

Naruto was impressed seeing the way Hinata moved between her opponents. She ducked under one's arms here and slipped around another there. Each time her hands shot out in a bare handed slap. It didn't look like much but every time she put someone down they didn't get back up.

Naruto got there just as one of the brigands decided to run past her and went straight for Renjiro. The young lord brought his knife up in a ready position and was about to block his would-be abductor's blade when Naruto started to skid to a stop. Naruto's body slid under Renjiro's arm and collided with the bandit with all the force of a MACK truck sending him flying into one of his companions near Hinata. A few Jyuuken strikes later and Hinata started to walk carefully around the bodies of her downed opponents to get back to Renjiro.

Seeing Hinata had matters well in hand Naruto couldn't suppress a grin as he turned around and began to move back toward Sakura. He was about half way there when he was able to fully see Sakura's situation.

Sakura was surrounded by three incredibly large men. They each had arms as big as Sakura's waist. They were probably usually very proud of this fact as they each wore tight pants and little if any clothing on their burly upper bodies. Two had shaved heads though one had a long pony tail.

It wasn't the size of her opponents that had shocked Naruto and all but stopped him in his tracks. It was their position. All three of them were crying while all the remaining bandits were standing back each with an expression of either shock or terror. Two of the behemoths were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy. The third was lying on his face with Sakura holding his arm straight up while she stepped on his shoulder. Naruto was sorry he missed it, though he was reminded again of how scary women could be.

Sakura stepped off the big man's shoulder blade and dropped his arm. "Now get out of here!" she demanded. The remaining bandits didn't waste any time getting up and leaving. A few of them limped slowly and half nursed some injury of some sort including each of the burly men Sakura had brought to tears.

"There's nothing quite like watching grown, battle hardened men cry for their mommies," Sakura said while grinning.

"Well there's something I agree with you about," said a bandit that had stayed behind. A quick look showed that he was the only one who had stayed behind. He dropped a tattered cloak to reveal equally tattered clothing. He was one of the few of the bandits who had worn any armor. The shattered remains of some of the armor that others had worn before Sakura had him them currently littered the ground.

He wore a battered breastplate and in his belt he wore a sword. He may have once been a samurai from his appearance. His hand reached clumsily for the sword on his belt as he approached. Yet despite what he must have seen he exuded no fear. Quite the opposite, despite his lackluster appearance there was something intimidating about him.

His eyes, they had to be his most unsettling feature. They were gold, like a coyote. The way he moved seemed to resemble the languid pace of a predator approaching cornered prey. His eyes seemed to glimmer menacingly as he approached Naruto.

Something about his appearance seemed to emanate an almost palpable sense of terror in the air. The three ninja and the young lord couldn't move. They felt surrounded. Like there were people watching them from the trees. Things seemed to brush up against their legs. Some of them even had to look down to make sure there wasn't anything at their feet. Their skin crawled as if covered in bugs.

The swordsman drew his sword out of its sheath slowly and carefully as he walked. The hissing of the sword on scabbard hissed dryly reminding the four of throats that had at some time gone bone dry. He raised the sword over his head in preparation of the slash that would cleave Naruto in two. Naruto felt a pressure in his back like there was someone staring at it preparing to put a knife in it. Every nerve in his body told him to turn around and face the unseen assailant behind him, but he couldn't seem to move. Time seemed to slow down for everyone as the tattered warrior took his last few steps toward Naruto before he would be close enough to cut him in two.

Hinata felt like she would be torn apart by the warring forces in her body. She felt pressure on her body trying to pull her away her instincts telling her to run. Yet there was another pull trying to make her stay completely still, as if by staying still she wouldn't draw attention to herself and would not be found. A similar battle threatened to rip apart her heart as the fear for her own life battled the fear of loosing Naruto.

The tension in her body and soul seemed to build until she was sure she would be destroyed at any moment. Then suddenly there was a terrible tearing rip. "No!" she screamed as the terrifying warrior took his last menacing step toward Naruto and began to step into his swing.

Hinata had propelled herself halfway there when she realized that she would never make it in time. Her fear and hesitation had finally exacted its horrible price on her. She saw the blade move toward where Naruto's head had been only to be dropped when Naruto punched it's bearer in the stomach shattering his breast plate and sending the fighter onto his back a few feet away.

Hinata reached Naruto just as the bandit began to struggle to his feet. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata, each took a menacing step toward the bandit. The bandit, his armor now bearing a jagged hole over his stomach, stood shakily and backed up a step. "How did you over come the Reikon Isukumi /Soul of Paralyzing Terror?" he asked gasping.

"I have a scarier bellybutton," Naruto said in a gravelly sounding voice.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get a better answer and that he had seriously underestimated his opponents the bandit reached behind him to remove a small package. His actions caused each of the leaf shinobi to tense and enter their combat stances.

Pulling on an edge of the package caused a spark lighting what appeared to be a fuse. He threw it straight at Naruto. Hinata jumped toward Naruto to tackle him while Sakura attempted to jump toward the desperate bandit.

The package exploded in a blinding flash of light and when the shinobi could finally see again the bandit was nowhere to be seen.

A Branch family member had escorted Hanabi home as soon as she had been done with her mission. She was told her father wished to see her. It was just as well she thought as team training would probably be canceled today.

They had gotten a simple mission as usual. It was a little more exciting than most of their missions, but it was still very simple. Some farmer was loosing chickens to some scary sounding creature. He was too scared to deal with it himself, because of the strange noises he heard, so he hired ninja to do it for him.

Hanabi had found the culprit easily enough with her byakugan. It was a juvenile fox with its leg caught in some kind of trap. It was far to slow to elude them, but it had tried an interesting trick. Unfortunately it had no way of knowing that Hanabi could see it the whole time so after a brief chase the battle had begun.

It hadn't been much of a battle. Three shinobi versus a lame fox, but Hinote-Sensei had insisted that they treat it as such. Suraido-senpai had used his mud slide jutsu to cover the area in mud all but stopping the fox in its tracks. Kei-senpai then ran along the top of the mud toward the fox, though she left the whip she would normally be brandishing coiled on her hip. Hanabi had been so tired of it all that while expelling charka from her legs to dispel the mud she had also ran toward the fox intent on killing it with a single Jyuuken strike. Kei-senpai had gotten there first and stopped her.

Then she had the audacity to remove its leg from the trap and put it in a splint! She had then picked up the fox kit in her arms and said she was going to take it to a vet. Sensei had told Kei-senpai that their mission was to kill the creature eating the chickens, not help it. The girl's reply had been that if she took it with her it wouldn't be able to kill the chickens.

Hanabi had been disgusted. But it had gotten worse when they got back to the farm. The farmer's wife had immediately started fawning over the little animal. She had helped Kei-senpai to patch it up and feed it. Neither had left the fox's side all night as they waited to see if anything else attacked the live stock that night. Nothing had, so they had come home.

Once they had reported to the Hokage, Hanabi had immediately been brought home. She had been allowed to bathe before seeing her father in the training hall. When she arrived the floor had been covered with padding. Her father was standing looking wistfully at the vaulted ceiling of the hall when she had arrived.

"Excellent Hanabi," Hiashi said as she entered. "You have done well and soon you will be graduating from this training hall."

Hanabi's curiosity was piqued. She had never seen her father train himself or anyone else in any room other than this one. She wondered what she could possibly be graduating to.

"Take a look around this room Hanabi," her father continued placing his hand on her shoulder and moving the other arm in an all encompassing gesture.

Hanabi obliged by looking around the room. At the wooden floor now covered in thick mats, the Paper doors and windows. The expansive room was simple yet elegant. Many places in the Hyuuga compound were very ornate, but not this place. Hanabi had always found its simplicity soothing. In this room form always followed function. There was not a single aspect of the room that did not have a function of some sort. There was nothing superfluous or ornate about it.

"When you can walk around this room, you will be finished with it," Hiashi said.

Hanabi was shocked. "But I can walk around the room father," Hanabi replied slowly, "you have had me run around it many times."

"Ah, you've run around the perimeter of the dojo, but this will be slightly different," Hiashi replied knowingly.

"I don't understand," Hanabi replied.

Smiling down at his daughter Hiashi stepped away and removed his overcoat. Beneath the robe his clothing were tied at his forearms and ankles. He placed his robe in the crook of his arm and walked toward the far wall. However instead of stopping or turning when he got there as Hanabi had expected he shocked her by putting a foot on the wall and continuing to walk up it.

Hanabi watched in awe as her father walked across the ceiling. His Hair seemed to be the only part of him that was obeying the laws of gravity as he moved. Hanabi's mouth was still hanging open when her father finished walking toward her.

"That is how you will have to walk around this room if you expect to leave it," Hiashi said before he chuckled to himself. His choice of words gave him an idea.

"How do I do it?" Hanabi asked excited to be learning a new skill.

"It's a simple exercise of expelling charka from your feet. You must expel a specific amount of charka from your feet, enough to hold you up, but not enough to push you off. It's a simple exercise of control that shouldn't be very difficult for a Hyuuga. It should be easy for you."

Hiashi began to walk away from his daughter and stopped by the entrance. "There is some chalk on the dais that you can use to mark you're progress. You will stay here until you can walk across the room. Someone will be at the door should you need anything. You're meals will be brought in should it be necessary." Hiashi smiled as he left the girl alone to her task.

A couple of hours later Hanabi was lying on her back looking at the chalk marks on the wall. She remembered her teammate's reaction to when she had confronted her about the fox.

"How can you keep a fox like that," Hanabi had said angrily. "A fox once nearly destroyed our home and killed a lot of our people."

"So," Kei-senpai replied, "this fox didn't."

"What does that matter?" Hanabi had asked perplexed, but still angry.

"A ninja killed my brother," Kei said. "Should I kill every human I see, or just every ninja?"

"That's not the same," Hanabi had huffed.

"Isn't it?" Kei asked snidely

"No," Hanabi said

"Look if I go around killing every fox I see, I'll only be doing what the kyuubi was doing; killing innocent creatures," Kei began to get more forceful as she continued to speak. "I would be mocking the people that died defeating it."

"It's not mocking," Hanabi had said angrily.

"By killing innocent animals, I'd be showing that I was the same as what they were trying to protect us from and I'd be emphasizing how weak we were by only being willing to fight things weaker than us."

"But you said you wanted to become Anbu, aren't you trying to get revenge for your brother?" Hanabi pounced.

"I don't want to become Anbu to get revenge," Kei said quietly. "I want to become Anbu, so I can keep people from having to loose family to dangerous people, like the one that killed my brother."

"Sure, so you say," Hanabi responded snidely.

"Tell me Hanabi-chan, does hating this little fox make you happy, or does it just upset you?"

Kei-senpai had asked in a sincere voice, but Hanabi just scowled.

"My mother told me that hating something can never make you happy, it only hurts," Kei-senpai said. "By hating the man that killed my brother, I only be giving him the power to hurt me even though he's not here anymore."

"So you're saying that by hating the kyuubi, I'm just giving him the power to hurt me, even though he's already dead?" Hanabi had asked.

Kei-senpai hadn't responded. "Why do you want to keep him?" she asked after an uncomfortable silence.

"He reminds me of a boy I saw at one of the chuunin exams once," Kei-senpai had replied embarrassedly.

"What? How?" Hanabi asked surprised.

"Well he won his fight by tricking his opponent, just like this guy tried to do," Hanabi's teammate began to relate as she picked up the fox. "But you see the boy was facing one of you Hyuugas and he had closed all of his tenketsu but he never gave up and he managed to break free of it, just like this guy never gave up even though he was hurt with his leg in that trap." Kei-Senpai had scratched the happy kit behind the ears; to which it had responded happily.

Hanabi remembered the boy in question. She had seen him the day before in front of the hospital. She didn't know whether to be upset with her for liking someone who had stood up for her sister, or to be happy, because she thought her sister might like him too and Kei-senpai might be able to take him away from her.

Hanabi's reverie was interrupted by her lunch being pushed into the training hall. Her father looked in disapprovingly. Hanabi decided at that moment that she wouldn't leave that room until her father was suitably impressed.

End Chapter 3

Sorry about the wait, I had hoped to post the story this last weekend, but couldn't get back to it. In the end I think the couple of day break helped me take a new look at it and get it polished as well as it got. I've replied to all the reviews I got from the Chapter 3 Teaser, please take a look at the reviews section for the latest review from me, Kloset Author it includes an out-take from Chapter 1. I will reply to any reviews from the latest chapter in a week or so or whenever it looks like the reviews have nearly stopped.