After a quick trip to a store to buy Naruto food other than ramen for the trip, the team set out. Asuma smirked as he was the looks of awe on his students faces. They walked towards the border of the Earth country at a decent pace.
After several hours of walking and taking in every sight, Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru were starting to get antsy.
" Hey, hey, I thought C rank missions were going to be more exciting." Naruto whined.
" C rank missions have almost no chance of combat. The only difference between them and D rank ones is you leave the village." The genin sunk a little as Asuma explained. Even Hinata looked like she had been hoping for an attack. " Don't slack off though," Asuma improvised. " The Leaf and Stone villages had a pretty bad war not long ago. If we were going to be attacked by someone, there's no place more likely than the Earth country." The genin perked up again and began scanning the trees for waiting assailants.
Asuma smiled and looked back down the road. The kids had completely forgotten they were still a day from the edge of Earth country's border. He lit a new cigarette and thought back to the war. He had been a genin and hadn't fought, but the news of the day had certainly filled his daydreams. Imaginary fights against scores of Stone ninja, back to back with the Fourth….
Asuma snapped out of his memory and looked back to Naruto, his heart beating quickly. He, like most of the jounin, knew that Naruto was actually the Fourth's son. Naruto looked nearly identical to his father, save the fox whisker marks on his cheeks. He'd even heard villagers mention how odd it was that the demon child would look like the Fourth. There was no way he could bring Naruto into the Stone village without someone noticing the same thing, and it was likely that they'd be vengeful.
The pleasure of the trip suddenly drained from Asuma.
---
That night, everyone was gathered around a small campfire.
" Kiba-kun?" said Hinata, breaking a short silence.
" Yeah?"
" The clan were taking the documents to…what are they like?"
" Well…" said Kiba, leaning back dramatically. " I don't know. My mom mentioned them a few times, but I didn't listen."
" Oh. What's the clan called then?" Hinata asked.
" Uh…." Kiba said, face blank. Akamaru yipped. " Oh yeah! The Zunagi clan! That's what their called." Akamaru yipped a few more times, obviously having listened better. " The Zunagi raise dogs like we do, but they use them differently. Instead of using them to help in battle, they train them to track people down by scent. Their dogs are a lot better than ours for that."
" So their nothing really special." Naruto said, crossing his arms. Hinata nodded. The clan did not sound too impressive.
" Oh! The last three of their villages Kage were from their clan too."
Naruto had just taken a drink of water and did a spit take. Asuma blinked, momentarily forgetting what had been bothering him.
" From one clan?" said a incredulous Naruto.
" That is quite impressive. They must be very talented." Hinata added.
" Yeah, yeah. The times that out clans have fought, though, the Inuzuka always win. Their not that great." Kiba said dourly. Akamaru yipped in agreement.
---
The next day went quickly and uneventfully. They came to the border between the countries just before nightfall. It was amazing in the difference in the terrain. The Fire country had a lush forest of trees, while the Earth country was a barren rocky waste. It looked like it was going to be a very hard walk for the next three days. They pitched their tent and slept, trying to relax before the hard journey.
Naruto woke early the next morning. He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. His bladder was uncomfortably full, so he dressed and got out of the tent.
The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon, the orange glow of the sky matching his jacket. He walked over by some bushes, out of sight of the camp, to pee.
" Ahh." he sighed as he relived himself, feeling the tension go away. He really had to go so it took a little while. He finished and zipped his pants up, then stretched and yawned loudly. He opened his eyes from the yawn and blinked as the trees came into view. However, he spotted a figure on a branch not far from him watching him.
" Aaah! Pervert!" he yelled. The figure turned and sped away.
Asuma, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata sprung up at the shout and rushed to the tent entrance. They nearly ran into Naruto as he tried to come back in.
" Who would do that…" Naruto grumbled. He then noticed everyone looking at him in shock.
" Naruto-kun, what was it?" Hinata asked.
" Eh, I just got up to go pee and when I finished, I saw someone watching me!"
Naruto looked at the others in confusion as Asuma, Kiba, and Akamaru sweat dropped and Hinata blushed as deeply as she had in her life.
" What? There was someone watching me! Really! When I yelled they ran!" Naruto pleaded.
" Naruto, I don't doubt that. But it wasn't some pervert. We're almost in the Earth country. Most likely, it was a Stone ninja spying on us."
" Oh." Naruto said, looking thoughtful. " But why's the Stone ninja watch me pee?" Hinata had to turn away and clap her hands to her mouth to stop herself from giggling.
" Naruto…" Asuma sighed, rubbing his temples. He felt what he called a Naruto Headache forming.
---
" Rocks." Kiba said blankly.
" Yep." yipped Akamaru.
" Lots of them. Everywhere. "
" Kiba, shut up." Naruto said sourly.
It was the second day in the Earth country. The first day had nearly killed their feet, and Kiba and Akamaru wouldn't stop whining about the boringness of the country, to the others dismay.
" There's even rocks in my shoe." Kiba said, taking his boot off and pouring gravel from it.
" Kiba, shut up!" Naruto shot back more loudly.
" No, you shut up! I'm bored! Its boring in every direction here! I have to do something to keep myself from passing out into a coma!" Kiba yelled back.
" Come on, though! Sing or something, just be quiet about the rocks!"
" Both of you, shut up." Asuma said, sighing.
" Why?" the boys shot back in unison.
" Look around."
They did. To their surprise, a group of twenty ninja had appeared around them. They noticed Hinata did not seem to have been taken as unaware as they had.
" Sarutobi Asuma. What is your purpose here?" asked one who seemed to be the leader.
" Me and my genin team are delivering some documents to the Zunagi clan." Asuma said, flexing his knuckles and looking around, assessing the situation.
" Indeed. Hand over your documentation." Asuma withdrew the scroll and handed it to the Stone ninja, who looked over it. When he had decided it was authentic, he handed it back. " You may proceed."
Asuma put the scroll away and motioned to his students. They fell in behind him, feeling the eyes of the Stone ninja on them. One of them tugged on the leader's sleeve and whispered something to him.
" You, boy, are you a Yamanka?" the leader shouted to them. Naruto looked back to them. " I asked you a question, boy." The Stone ninja said with a snarl.
" No. My names Uzamaki Naruto." It was hard to miss the glances that Stone ninja gave each other before they left.
It was nearly a half hour later when Hinata broke the silence.
" Um…Naruto-kun…is there some history between your family and the Stone village?"
" I don't know. I never met them." Naruto replied quietly.
" Oh. Its just…from how they looked around, I wondered if there was something."
Naruto bit his lip and cursed the damn fox. It had been nice lately, hanging out with Kiba and Hinata, who treated him normally, but he had hoped that in the Stone village he could walk around without the stares of hatred he usually received. He didn't know why, but the fact Hinata was concerned about him was kind of nice.
" Rocks." said Kiba, unaware of the conversation going on alongside him.
" Kiba, shut up!" Naruto said despairingly.
----
At camp that night, Asuma decided they would be keeping watches that night. Naruto was woken from a rather pleasant dream about ramen by Kiba for his shift and went out. He sat by the fires embers and tried not to doze off. After nearly a hour Naruto was snapped to attention by the crunch of pebbles being trod on.
He made no movement or sound. The crunch had come from behind him, so he focused and listened for another sound. There was another light footstep, allowing him to zone in on the sound. He spun, drawing a kunai and throwing it as a lone target came into view.
The person recoiled and leapt out of the kunai's path. The person was darkly dressed and had a cloth mask, so Naruto was unable to tell if it was a man or woman. However, it looked like an adult. Drawing a sword as it landed, it charged towards Naruto.
Naruto jammed the hand seal together and created several clones, which leapt towards the attacker, who sliced though one with the sword. However, the other clones landed their blows and knocked the unknown assailant over. One grabbed the sword away as the others wrestled the pinned opponent down.
" Now!" came a yell. From a dozen directions kunai came flying towards him. He stood dumbstruck. Moments before they hit, though, he was tackled out of the way by Kiba.
" Hinata, how many?" Asuma shouted, drawing his knives. Hinata activated her Byakugan. She almost lost control for a moment and channeled chakra into her missing eye, but caught herself. She focused in and searched for the attackers.
" Twelve people are circled around us. They have Stone village headbands." Hinata channeled chakra into her fingers, preparing to use Jyuuken. Kiba stood warily, watching for more attacks as Naruto got to his feet.
" Give us the blonde boy and we'll let you all live." said one of the Stone ninja.
" Like hell." chuckled Asuma, entering a combat position.
" I'll go." Naruto said, making his teammates turn to him. " They have us outnumbered and surrounded, and I don't want you guys getting hurt."
" Naruto, don't be a idiot. We're a team. We fight for each other." Kiba said as he drew a soldier pill for Akamaru.
" Kiba, shut up." Naruto walked towards the Stone ninja calmly, showing that his hands were away from his weapons. " Promise you won't hurt them?" he asked the leader, who nodded. Naruto walked next to the leader and left himself open for a knockout hit, which was quickly delivered.
" No!" cried Hinata. She began to race towards Naruto, who was being carried away by one of the stone ninja, but Asuma stopped her. The ninja raced off while they stood their in silence.
" Asuma-sensei, we have to follow them!" Hinata said pleadingly. " We can't abandon Naruto-kun!"
" Were not going to. But that was a bad situation. Now, we can track them and attack when we have to ad…" Asuma was unable to finish as he dodged a kunai. Five of the Stone ninja had returned.
Kiba and Akamaru performed the Human Beast clone jutsu quickly and took dashed off towards the closest opponent, who threw several shuriken. However, Kiba and Akamaru's impressive speed had only increased from the jutsu, and they dodged lazily as they loped in. Before the ninja could react, they threw a pair of flying kicks into him, sending him flying.
Asuma and Hinata were rushed by the other four. They knew who Asuma was, so three went against him while the other held Hinata off with a staff. Hinata found herself unable to get close to her opponents, held at bay with jabs and swings. For the first time, she found her Jyuuken hits completely useless. Without the ability to hit her opponents and close the chakra points, she found herself outmatched.
" You Stone bastards always go back on your word, don't you?" Asuma mused as he slammed his knife into the second ninja's chest. The wind chakra slacked though him viciously, ripping his chest to pieces and sending the body whirling. The last of the opponents that had attacked him backed away nervously, obviously aware he was facing a far superior foe. Asuma rated them at chunnin level so far. He saw Hinata was having some trouble and the ninja fighting Kiba and Akamaru had slashed one Kiba with a kunai, so he sped his fight with his last opponent up. He channeled a moderate amount of chakra into his knife and hurled it, striking true and destroying the man.
Kiba was bleeding badly. He and Akamaru had been distracted by some sort of mud clone and hit with a smoke bomb, and while he was coughing he had been hit. Akamaru and he were staying close to each other, dodging as the ninja exhausted his supply of throwing weapons. When the ninja drew a kunai and didn't throw it, they took it as a sign that he was at his last and Akamaru charged, Kiba following to help. Just at the transformation began to fail Akamaru delivered a punch to the ninja's face, knocking him unconscious. Akamaru transformed back into a dog and barked triumphantly.
Hinata was glad when Asuma appeared and struck down the ninja she was fighting. While Asuma looked unfazed, Hinata was out of breath. Her knuckles were bloody from the hits on the wooden staff, so she performed the Mystical Palm jutsu and closed the light wounds. Kiba came over with Akamaru, who was dragging the unconscious Stone ninja, looking proud. Hinata began bandaging the wound and healing it as best she could while Asuma surveyed the situation and their prisoner.
---
Naruto woke and immediately winced, feeling the ache in his neck from where he had been struck. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a featureless stone room that had been carved from rock. There was a iron door with a light coming though the cracks, illuminating the dismal cell.
At least I saved them. thought Naruto, sitting back against the wall. Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata had become friends of his, even knowing the truth of the demon, and he would have hated seeing them hurt. He liked Asuma too. Other than the Third, Iruka, and the ramen stand people Asuma was the only adult who was nice to him. He felt a twinge of guilt, thinking he should have fought rather then given up, but they couldn't have won.
He had just began to wonder what was going to happen to him when a small panel on the door slid open.
" I see your awake, you little bastard. You Leaf ninja don't have much fight in you, do you?"
" We kicked your countries ass." Naruto shot back.
" That was only because of your father. A son like you is quite the disgrace on his memory, isn't it?" The Stone ninja laughed.
" My father?" Naruto asked quizzically. " Wait, you know who he was?"
" Of course I do! Everyone in the Stone, hell, all countries know of him!"
" Who was he?" Naruto asked eagerly. The ninja blinked.
" You…isn't the Yellow Flash your father?" the ninja asked, losing some bravado.
" No, I'm a orphan. I have no idea who my parents are. Nobody in the Leaf does either." To Naruto's confusion, the Stone ninja paled before shutting the small window. He heard voices on the other side and crept over.
" We have a problem. He's not the Yellow Flash's son."
" He's lying. He looks exactly like him."
" I'm a interrogation specialist. I can tell when people are lying. He said, as truthfully as I have ever seen, he's an orphan and his parents are unknown."
" You have to be wrong. He's practically a picture of the Yellow Flash!"
" Don't you realize what this means? We sent word to the village we had the Flash's son. Without that leverage and the with dead team, this could turn into another war."
Naruto reeled for a moment before his mind clicked. Dead team. His team. They had killed them. After knocking him out they had killed his friends.
Something seemed to mist over his eyes, like a red fog.
BANG.
The Stone ninja jumped at the loud sound. They glanced over to the iron door, which was crumpled, as if something very powerful had hit it. BANG. A second, larger indent appeared.
" Dammit! The kids got some power! Get the first team down here and put the other two on…"
The Stone Ninja leader never finished as a primal roar erupted from behind the door and a third hit fell, tearing it off its hinges. Naruto lurched out, the demon foxes chakra pouring from him, eyes red and furious.
" You bastards. Your bastards, you bastards, you bastards!" Naruto screamed before launching himself at the leader. With the chakra increased speed and strength he tore into the man using his claw-like hands, carving his throat out in moments. He looked to the others, who drew weapons in terror. Naruto felt…hungry…and for some reason, they smelled nearly as good as a bowl of steaming ramen.
---
" Kiba's in position." Asuma whispered. He and Hinata were hidden over the entrance to the cave they had tracked the Stone ninja to, using the prisoners information. Kiba and Akamaru were creeping up from the side with several smoke bombs to make a diversion so they could take out any guards that were hidden. So far they hadn't encountered anyone. Hinata had yet to detect anyone with her Byakugan, so Asuma dropped down to the entrance. Once he gave them the all clear sign, the genin raced to him.
" All right. Hinata, you can't see anyone, right?" Asuma said, peering into the cave. It twisted down for a ways before turning out of sight. Hinata focused for a moment. Asuma hoped that she was being truthful when she said her Byakugan was no weaker with one eye.
" Hey, sensei…Akamaru smells a whole lot of blood down there." Kiba said as he placed Akamaru in his coat. Akamaru looked somewhat afraid. Asuma sniffed for a moment, picking up the scent himself.
" Asuma-sensei, I can see the edge of a large chamber, but that is at the edge of my vision. I didn't see anyone."
" Well, either our prisoner lied or Naruto escaped. You two stay here. I will send a clone back to get you if I think I'll need you." Asuma crept down the stone corridor into the caves recesses.
" Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, fighting back tears. She was so afraid from him…the killer intent that she had sensed from the Stone ninja made it seem they would have killed him as soon as possible.
" Don't worry, Hinata. He's fine. You don't take a prisoner for immediate execution." Kiba said, patting her on the back. Hinata squeaked and covered her mouth. " Crap, I didn't mean it like that. Just…don't worry. He'll be fine." Kiba said, trying no to stumble over his words more.
---
Asuma peered around the corner cautiously. He had arrived at the bigger section Hinata had mentioned. He nearly gasped at the sight. He counted eight Stone ninja dead in pools of blood, the signs of a vicious fight all about. The corpses weren't even all whole. Some and been partially dismembered or had what he was afraid were bites taken out of them.
He proceeded though a small cave complex. It had to be some sort of outpost. He had passed though a armory, barracks, jail, and command post before he found a small room with a water spring in it. He had found nearly thirty corpses, all killed horribly. In the spring room, however, he found a unconcious Naruto in the water. His clothes were burnt like he had been on fire, his jacket totally destroyed. The seal was vivid on his stomach, with oozing blisters and scabs rising from it. He had a kunai embedded in his leg and several vicious slashes.
" Asuma-sensei." Naruto said as he approached, quietly, shocking him. " I guess I died too. I think I got a few of the Stone ninja. I don't really remember, though." The weakness of Naruto's voice terrified Asuma more than anything he had ever experienced.
" Hey kid, your still alive. Don't worry. I'm going to carry you up to Hinata and have her take care of your burns. Close your eyes."
Asuma leaned over and picked Naruto up with ease. The boy fell asleep almost instantly, to Asuma's relief. As he walked back among the bodies, he wondered how Naruto had done all this. He grabbed a blanket from the barracks and wrapped Naruto in it. Grimly, he came to the conclusion the demon fox mast had helped. This wasn't the time for worrying about that, though, so he banished the thought. He arrived at the entrance to the cave, where he set Naruto down in front of a very worried Hinata.
" Hinata…" Asuma had no need to finish his request, as she had already begun to tend to Naruto's wounds. She first closed a number of cuts and scratches with the Mystical Palm jutsu before using her burn salves on Naruto's stomach and bandaging the wounds she could not tend to. She began to falter towards the end, exhausted from the chakra use.
" Hinata, take a break. Kiba, you help Hinata. I'll take Naruto. We're heading back to Kohona." Asuma picked Naruto up and began walking back towards the border.
The next few hours were a obvious struggle for Hinata. She struggled to maintain the chakra use to keep pace with the others, and a few times Kiba and Asuma tried to slow down for her. She wouldn't let them, though, and forced them to keep going at full speed.
Kiba kept on the lookout behind them. Asuma had to focus on the front and Hinata was in no condition to try, so he tried his best. The sun had cleared the horizon when he sensed pursuit.
" Sensei, were being followed. Me and Akamaru will take care of it." With a roguish grin he slid to a halt and bounded the other way, despite Asuma's protests.
Akamaru leapt from his jacket and began running alongside him. Kiba took out two solider pills and gave one to Akamaru before gulping the other down.
" Hey, remember how we caught mailman number fifteen a four days ago?" Akamaru barked.
" Yeah! Don't forget, mom said we have to pay him for the broken arm." Kiba said, remembering the incident. Kiba drew several smoke bombs from his jacket. They did the Beast Clone jutsu and hid behind a small bluff. Soon, the pursing ninja came into view. Kiba threw the smoke bombs in front of the group. Predictably, they dodged to the sides, expecting an attack from in the smoke.
" Piercing Fang!" yelled the pair in unison, thinking Please work as they slammed the hand signs together clumsily. Suddenly, they each felt a huge rush of power and leapt in their spiraling attacks, Kiba aiming for the ninja who dodged left and Akamaru the ones who had gone right. Unable to dodge while they were in the air, the pursuers were caught by the tornado like attack and battered away.
Kiba and Akamaru landed by each other and surveyed the fallen ninja. Akamaru transformed back into a dog and leap up in a high five before racing off with his partner towards their team.
---
Asuma stopped when he and Hinata were just inside the Leaf border, hidden in the trees. Both had been moving dangerously fast thanks to their chakra use, though Asuma's reserve was still plentiful. Hinata, however, looked ready to pass out from exhaustion. Naruto was still deeply asleep.
" Hinata, take a break. I'll keep watch." Without hesitation Hinata collapsed to her knees and rolled onto the soft grass. She fell asleep instantly, her soft snores mingling with Naruto's. If it wasn't for the fact they had just escaped a life threatening situation and it was a very un-manly thought, Asuma would have found it slightly cute.
" We got them!" said Kiba loudly, loping up to them.
" Shut up, Kiba!" Asuma said, motioning for him to hide. Kiba and Akamaru plopped down by their teammates. Though Kiba had the wound on his shoulder, he and Akamaru were in much better condition than the other two. Asuma remembered grimly how he had given up trying to learn medical jutsu because of how exhausting it was. The fact that Hinata had used the Mystical Palm so extensively on Naruto and then ran at full speed, covering as much distance as she had, was a credit to the girls willpower.
When he was sure there was no more pursuit he had Kiba carry Naruto, placing Hinata gingerly over his shoulder. They started back towards the Leaf at a slow pace, wary of their surroundings. It was barely a hour later when Akamaru smelled several familiar scents.
" Kiba, those guys are back." Akamaru softly warned.
" Sensei, I guess we didn't get them." Kiba whispered. Asuma looked though the trees, hoping to see their pursuers. With Hinata exhausted and Naruto nearly dead, he had to keep them away.
" Akamaru, use your Beast Clone." Asuma said, setting Hinata down gently. The girl stirred slightly but didn't seem to wake up. " Take Hinata and go. I'll deal with these guys and catch up."
" Ruff!" replied Akamaru, which Asuma took for yes. The dog performed the jutsu, picked Hinata up, then rushed off into the forest at lighting speed.
The four stone ninja slowly walked from the trees. Asuma was surprised at the job Kiba had done on them. Their bodies were covered with cuts and scratches, one's arm hung limply at his side, and another's face… Asuma blinked as he looked again. The ninja' face was partially caved in, like it had been crushed against a rock.
" Hey." said a female voice. Asuma turned. A young woman in a grey cloak was standing near him. She had a katana and a stone village headband. " Those kids you got are pretty good, Asuma."
" Thanks. You have me at a disadvantage, miss." Asuma said, drawing his knives.
" Oh, don't worry. It'll hit you." the woman said, drawing the katana. A second later she was inches away from Asuma, swinging the blade in a nearly invisible arc. Asuma barely blocked the hit, which was far heavier than he expected. The two ninja leapt apart. The woman landed and Asuma could sense her beginning to force chakra into the sword. The other four ninja charged and leapt for him. Asuma took a large drag of his cigarette, formed a hand sign, and blew out a cloud of flaming ash onto the ninja. They didn't dodge and were hit by the cloud, immediately lighting on fire. To Asuma's shock, they continued running at him, seemingly oblivious to the flames.
Asuma slammed chakra into his knives and slashed the first two that got near, cutting deep. They barely were fazed, however, and threw several punches at him. Asuma dodged with ease. The attacks were poorly coordinated and somewhat weak. He delivered a punch of his own to one and sent it sprawling. Suddenly, he understood.
They weren't alive.
The woman had used some reanimation technique on them. She was probably using them to scope out his techniques. He had to take them out quickly and completely. He focused a excessive amount of chakra into his knives and began slashing viciously at the undead ninja's. Each hit of the powerful wind chakra tore a large chunk of the corpses apart, and the four were quickly destroyed. Asuma looked back to the woman. She was still focusing chakra into the blade. Before he could act, she lunged towards him faster than he could see. He summoned a huge amount of wind chakra and forced it forward, creating barrier. The woman brought the sword down on the barrier, which was blasted apart with insane force. Asuma was hurled backwards into a tree from the force of the hit.
He landed on the ground hard and immediately knew he was unable to move. He felt his consciousness slipping away quickly. The woman smiled and stuck the blade into the sheath. Asuma noticed, for the first time, that the blade was made of stone, not metal.
Well shit. he thought as darkness passed over his vision.
---
" Come on Kiba!" Akamaru yelled at the boy, who was lagging behind.
" Hey, shut up! Naruto's heavier." Kiba snapped back. He was still sour because he had to carry Naruto. " Come on, lets trade for a while."
" No way. Sensei gave you fox boy, you have to carry him." Akamaru replied with a barking laugh. As if the laugh had been the trigger, Akamaru suddenly transformed back into a dog and he and Hinata went tumbling to the ground. Kiba landed and ran over to where they had fell.
" Ow." Hinata said, rubbing her head as she sat up. " How long was I asleep?"
" About a hour. You okay Akamaru?" Kiba said, ignoring Hinata and walking past her.
" Yeth. I habt a bloodly node thow." yipped the puppy, standing up. A droplet of blood began to trickle down his snout.
" Aw, man!" Kiba said, tossing Naruto aside and leaning over to help his dog. Hinata let out a cry and dove, catching Naruto before he landed.
" Kiba! You could have hurt Naruto-kun!" Hinata screeched. Kiba and Akamaru looked at her in surprise, blinking. They had never heard Hinata be loud before. Hinata set Naruto down gentily, making sure his head was on a soft patch of grass, then walked over Kiba.
" You idiot! Whats wrong with you!" Hinata said as she began to beat Kiba around the head. Kiba tried to protest, but He wasn't able to get the words out though the pummeling. Akamaru let a snorting laugh out though his bloody nose.
" Oh, thanks for carrying me, Akamaru." Hinata said, petting Akamaru on the head pleasantly. Akamaru smirked at Kiba, who was nursing a lump on his forehead.
" Aww. That's cute." said a voice, making them all jump. They turned and saw a woman standing by Naruto with a sword. " Tell you what. I'll let you and your boyfriend go."
" Deal." said Kiba. Hinata gasped.
" Kiba, how…" Hinata began before she was shushed.
" Hinata, Naruto's your boyfriend, right? According to the deal, you get to take him!" Kiba said, smiling. " Hey, don't worry. Me and Akamaru can fight her."
" Um, sorry to cut in." said the woman. " I didn't mean blondie here. I'm going to kill him. I meant you two."
"Oh! I thought you meant Naruto because he's Hinata's boyfriend." Kiba said, working it out in his head.
" I haven't told him yet, Kiba." Hinata said, looking bashful.
The woman blinked.
" This is how you people conduct yourselves in the field? How the hell did you beat us in the war? Forget it, I'm killing you all." She raised the katana and brought it down in a stabbing motion towards Naruto.
Before anyone could act Hinata had thrown herself forward, forcing chakra though her body to propel her faster. She dove in front of the blade and screamed as it was driven into her arm. However, the force of her leap diverted it from hitting Naruto.
" Hinata!" cried Kiba and Akamaru, scrambling to their feet.
" Woah. Nice one. I didn't even hit a organ." the woman said as she delivered a kick to Kiba and Akamaru, knocking them away. Using the sword as leverage, she forced Hinata to her feet. Hinata could barely think though the pain. " So, does blondie have some thing about girls with one eye or something?" The woman said as she began to pull the sword back out. Hinata pressed forward, forcing herself along the blade towards the woman.
" What are you going to do, punch me? It's not like you could kill me with one hit." the woman said, moving back out of Hinata's reach.
" That's why my clan invented the Divine Sixty Four Strikes." Hinata said as she slammed the jutsu together. She realized, for the first time in her life, why the jutsu had never worked for her. You had to have anger behind it.
" Wha…" was all the woman got out before Hinata landed a Jyuuken tap on her neck, slashing the Carotid artery open. It was a incredible rush for Hinata. Even with the dizziness from blood loss, the speed she was moving at and the ease of hitting the chakra points was amazing. The woman was unable to move or dodge as nearly every vital organ she had was stabbed with chakra and her chakra flow completely sealed. Hinata didn't notice when the woman died, she just finally fell back.
As the jutsu faded, Hinata suddenly felt her weariness return and slowly fell backwards.
---
Asuma was panicked as he raced after the woman's trail. He had came to shortly after being knocked out, and luckily the woman must have thought him dead. He kicked himself for losing to her. Still, she was one of the Eleven Masters, the elite of the Stone Villages ninja.
As he came upon the scene of the fight, he couldn't believe it when he saw the woman on the ground. From the blood dripping out her mouth and the motionlessness of her body, he knew she was dead. Naruto and Kiba lay by a tree, motionless. To his horror, he saw Akamaru by Hinata, struggling to pull a sword out of her shoulder.
" Akamaru! Stop!" Asuma said, landing by the dog, who ceased pulling instantly. " Good dog. Get Kiba up." Asuma began to inspect the sword wound as the dog went over and began to bark in Kiba's ear. It had missed all organs and arteries, and since the sword was a bit wobbly it probably had not struck into a bone. The wound was still nasty, however, and Hinata had lost a lot of blood.
" Hey! Hey!" Akamaru barked. It wasn't of any use. Kiba was out cold from the kick. Akamaru gave up and went back over to Asuma.
" No luck?" the jounin asked. The small dog shook his head no. " Well, its just us then."
" Really? What's going on, sensei?" Naruto said, stifling a yawn. He had walked over while they were distracted. He then noticed Hinata. " Hinata! What happened to her!"
" I don't know. That woman over there," Asuma said, motioning to the corpse " Attacked me and knocked me out. She then went for Kiba and Hinata. I don't know what happened, but Kiba's out cold and Hinata has a deep wound. Goes straight though her."
" Is she going to live?" Naruto asked gravely. Asuma almost did a double take. The boy looked so much different when he was sad.
" She is if we get to work. Come on. We need to take off her shirt."
Naruto's eyes bugged.
" Sensei, you pervert! We can't do that! And she's dying! We need to treat the wound!" Naruto said irately.
" Naruto," sighed Asuma, drawing out a medical pack. " I meant so we can bandage her arm."
" Oh." Naruto said, blinking for a moment.
They set to work getting Hinata's jacket off as carefully as they could. Naruto was blushing deeply, as, he noticed, was Asuma. Naruto averted his eyes as much as he could as they slid Hinata undershirt off. To their relief she was wearing a bra. Naruto almost slapped himself when he found himself lingering on her breast a moment too long. He'd never noticed before but she was quiet a bit more developed than the other girls in his class.
" All right, this won't do much, but its something." Asuma formed the seals for the Heavenly Palm jutsu and held it over the wound. It began to scab and pull together, but after only a few seconds the jutsu collapsed and Asuma fell back panting.
" Sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.
" Medical jutsu's are really hard, Naruto. You need a lot of chakra control and it uses a lot of chakra. I never got the hand of them. Hold her up for a second so I can get the spot on her back." Asuma said, sitting back up. Naruto complied and they sealed the wound on her back. As Asuma rested Naruto applied the gauze and began wrapping the bandage around Hinata shoulder. They put her coat back on, though they kept her shirt off. They'd need to change the bandages, and it would be more of a hassle taking the shirt on and off.
" Well, you get to carry Hinata. I'll take Kiba. We need to head out now." Asuma said, standing up. He walked over and grabbed the stone bladed sword.
" Right. Um, sensei, by the by, what happened to my clothes?" Naruto asked. Asuma looked back, remembering that Naruto's shirt and coat had been destroyed and his pants were partially charred.
" They got destroyed when you were captured, I guess. There's no time for that. Lets go."
---
Naruto felt incredibly awkward, running though the forest towards the Leaf Village, carrying Hinata, without a shirt. He could remember Asuma finding him and snippets of being carried, but that was all he could recall from a long period. He and Asuma hand been running for a while, Akamaru racing alongside them. They stopped every now and then to check on Hinata, who seemed to be stable.
He also was having trouble with a little part of his brain that couldn't stop thinking about how soft Hinata felt against him and how pretty she had looked without her large coat. He knew he shouldn't be thinking such things in the situation, but he couldn't get it out of his head. He tried to focus on getting back as fast as he could.
The sun was setting as the gate to the village came into view. There were more guards than usual waiting.
" Asuma! What happened!" shouted one of the senior chunnin.
" We got attacked bad. One of my students needs to get to the hospital fast."
" No need. We have a medical team here." The chunnin showed them to a tent.
" Naruto, you stay with Kiba and Hinata. I want you checked out too." Asuma said, heading for the tent entrance.
" Sir, you should stay to. Your pretty beat up." said the chunnin. Asuma looked to the mirror. One of his eyes was black and he had a lot of bruises.
" All right. How'd you know to have this ready?" Asuma asked, sitting down.
" Things have gotten complicated. Since you left the Stone Village has set a bunch of raids into our terrortory. The Third has sent a bunch of patrols out. The rumor is we could be sitting on another war here."
" Really? Why?" asked Naruto as the medical ninja took a look at the light scabs on his stomach, the last remains of the burn.
" Nobody knows. There's also a rumor that one of the Eleven Masters has been sent on the raids."
" Not a rumor." Asuma said, handing the sword to the chunnin. " My students got her."
" Actually, I was asleep." Naruto said, rubbing his head.
" That must have been Hinata and Akamaru." Kiba said, sitting up. " She knocked me out before I could do anything." Akamaru barked. " Oh, never mind. Akamaru says Hinata won on her own."
" Way to go Hinata." Naruto said quietly, looking over to where two medic-nin were healing the sword wound.
The chunnin left with the sword to take the news to Third. Everyone sat in silence as the medic-nin worked. After a half hour they finally stopped.
" What's wrong?" Naruto asked nervously.
" Nothing." said a medic-nin. " She's going to be fine. She'll barely have a scar. We've given her some plasma pills and a blood transfusion, so she should be fine fairly soon. She'll need a few days off, though. In fact," she said, looking at the clip board she had written on while looking them over, " You all should. Kiba, your wound isn't bad but it could get infected. Asuma, you have bruising on about a quarter of your body. Naruto," she said, forcing herself to sound normal when she mentioned him, " The burns pn your body are mostly superficial, so you'll be fine."
" How's Akamaru?" Hinata said, sitting up gingerly. She winced and put her hand to her shoulder.
" Akamaru had a bad bloody nose, but he's fine." replied Kiba, joining Naruto, Akamaru, and Asuma in a broad smile. " Good to see your okay, Hinata."
" All right, all of you, head to the tower." said the chunnin, who had returned. " The Third needs your versions of what happened on the mission. The Stone Village is claiming you attacked one of their bases."
" All right, lets go." said Asuma, standing up. He limped slightly as he exited the tent. The genin followed quickly, looking forward to their first debriefing.
---
" Now, I understand most of your story." said Ibiki, flipping though his notes. " Even the unlikely bits, such as a genin beating a S-Rank individual sound true to me. But what I don't understand is why You can't remember anything after you ' Saw Red' in the Stone prison, Uzamaki. Can you elaborate?"
" Not really. I've tried to remember what happened, but when I try, I just can't." Naruto said, sounding honest. A guard had been sent to his home to pick him up some new clothes. He looked somewhat normal in his black shirt and a fresh pair of orange trousers, but without the orange coat he didn't quite look like Naruto.
" Very well. ANBU has a technique that allows them to search though memories. We will be performing it now." Naruto almost fought back when the two ANBU ninja landed by him, but he knew that would be a bad idea.
Hinata watches with trepidation as the ninja performed the jutsu and Naruto seemed to fall into a trance. She didn't know what had happened, but she hopped, no, prayed that Naruto would be in no trouble. Their report had been questioned heavily by the Third and Ibiki, and she got the feeling something very bad was happening.
" Naruto, what happened after you hear your team was dead?" asked Ibiki.
" I killed the Stone ninja." Naruto replied breathlessly.
" How?" inquired Ibiki.
" I beat my way though the door and began clawing the one nearest to me. Several others attacked me while I did this, so I attacked them as well. I bashed one's skull in, tore our another ones neck, and beat the last until he stopped moving. I then hear movement…."
Hinata couldn't help herself from gasping as Naruto described how he had killed the Stone ninja. The deaths were brutal and she was shocked when Naruto claimed to have done things like biting out one's throat or dismembering another. When he came to a end there was a silence.
" You two, leave. Everything you heard is confidential." said the Third to the ANBU. They bowed and left. " Hinata, Kiba, Asuma, and Akamaru, what I am going to tell you is a secret. What happened to Naruto was somewhat expected. In the past, individuals with demons sealed within them have, in instances of extreme anger, been able to draw on the demons chakra to aid them. This is one such instance. The Fourth foresaw this, however. Part of the seal is designed to limit his use of the demon. He can only draw upon the demons chakra when protecting someone he cares for."
" Cool." said Kiba blankly. Asuma sighed at his somewhat dumb students reply.
The Third stood up and walked over to where Naruto sat. He shook Naruto slightly, and Naruto came out of the trance. He looked up at the Third fearfully.
" Did I really…" Naruto began to ask, looking terrified.
" Yes. You did. Do you understand why, though? It's because you though people you cared for were dead. I think that forgives your actions." The Third gave Naruto a wide, grandfatherly smile.
" Yeah, Naruto, that was awesome!" Kiba said, walking over and slapping Naruto on the back. Naruto smiled bashfully.
" You did good kid. Glad to have you on our team with a trick like that." Asuma said, lighting a cigarette. His father frowned at him, but made no mention of the oft-argued habit.
Naruto became aware after a second that Hinata was standing by him looking unusually nervous, even for herself. He turned and was about to ask what was wrong when she leaned over and kissed him. It lasted just a moment, but it sent a pleasant, numb feeling through him.
" Now there's a compliment." said the Third, causing Naruto and Hinata to snap out of it and blush.