Here's the latest update hope everyone enjoys.

I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.

RETURN FROM THE MISSION, SUCCESS

Naruto and the others had not rushed themselves to get back to the village. Neji had checked out Gaara before they began their return journey and saw that Gaara would pull through physically. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he knew that their was no danger of him dying on the return journey. They poured water into his mouth which his body reflexively swallowed. They then began their slow journey back each of them taking turns carrying Gaara. There was minimal talk most of the way with the current situation weighing on their mind. As they walked by where their comrades fights took place they noted their friends weren't there so their spirits lifted somewhat. Each hoping that their assumption that their friends were fine were right. They knew there was a possibility they could be ambushed and that the others had failed, but they took their precautions with Neji using his blood limit to scout out the area ahead of them. In this manner they made their way slowly back to the village of sand. Neji finally saw the signs of the village with his byakugan and when he informed the others of this they felt a great sense of relief. Naruto got up quickly and let out a yell of relief. This was also part of what they did Lee and Naruto sitting an watching over Gaara while Neji scouted the area. Naruto exclaimed loudly and with a hint of pride. "Thanks too us the mission is complete! We did good huh!"

Lee smiled and agreed with him on this. "Konohas brightest weren't meant to fail! Right Neji!" Lee asked.

Neji looked back at his comrades amazed at how loose they were and said. "I don't know if it was thanks too us that Gaara's alive, also had it not been for Naruto's protection he would also be dead. I'm glad we succeeded, but I can't help but think this whole thing with Gaara's kidnappers is suspicious." Neji finished.

Naruto yelled at him quickly. "Damn Neji! Why are you always such a killjoy! You should be thankful for our success! Damn it, fine be a Neji, me and fuzzy eyebrows here don't mind being the heroes." Naruto said as he heaved Gaara up and began walking.

Lee walked behind him and said. "You don't need to call me that anymore Naruto. Now that I've grown my eyebrows are perfectly proportioned." He rubbed his eyebrows a little bit as he walked.

A loud laugh escaped Naruto's lips that he quickly covered up by fake coughing. Only Lee could have been fooled by that fake cough. Asking Naruto if he was okay Naruto answered. "G-gomen Lee. I think some sand got caught in my throat. I'll keep that in mind though, perfectly proportioned eye-brows." Naruto had to stifle another laugh.

Lee said. "Arigatou, Naruto-kun. That is the beauty of communication."

Neji was following behind them mumbling to himself. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean, be a Neji. Dammit Naruto your being crude as always.' Darkness was almost completely upon them now.

It didn't take long for them to come within eye distance of the village and shortly after that they saw two figures coming out of the villages gates. Shortly thereafter Temari and Hirai came upon them. Temari immediately going to Gaara and putting her hand on his forehead almost in disbelief. Naruto saw she had been crying and looked away when she said in a breaking voice. "Arigatou Naruto. I had faith you and the others wouldn't fail.

Naruto had looked away and right at Hirai. She was staring at him. He had no idea who she was, but he thought she was staring a little to hard and it made him a little uncomfortable. Temari was thanking Neji and Lee and turned to Naruto beckoning him to follow. Naruto did so with the others in tow. He felt that creepy girls stare on his back though and thought. Damn she's almost as weird as Hinata.

Once inside Temari had Naruto carry Gaara to the medics station to get examined. A yell got his attention. "NARUTO!" Naruto turned to see Sakura running towards them. She stopped a few feet from him a smile on her face and tear stains on her cheek. Seeing his condition the first question out of Sakura's mouth was, "Are you okay, what happened?" She asked she had wanted to hug him, but seeing Gaara in his arms she had to be a little more formal.

Naruto let out a chuckle and answered. "I'm okay Sakura, it's no big deal. Can you look at Gaara though he hasn't regained consciousness since we got him back." Naruto asked.

"Bring him to a bed in the medical station I'll look at him there." Sakura said.

Hirai and the others were a little uneasy that a Konoha shinobi was thinking about examining their Kage first, but before any of them could voice and objection Temari hurried them along. "Quit wasting time and get him checked out. His well being is really important to us, stop wasting time." Temari said. Her apparent faith in the Konoha nin quieted everyone's unease including Hirai.

Naruto first reaction was to want to retort, but he saw she had all the reason in the world and Sakura was already moving. "Gomen, we're going." As they walked Naruto whispered to Gaara. "It's been three years Gaara-kun. I know you can't hear me now, but wake up soon. We have a lot to talk about." He didn't think anybody heard it, but he was wrong. Hirai had been walking next to him a little behind his shoulder and not only read his lips, but heard the whole exchange.

She didn't comment on anything, but inner Hirai was livid. (Who the hell does he think he is talking to my... ano Gaara like that. He doesn't look special, why the hell does everyone trust this guy so much. First chance I get I'm gonna test him and show them. I don't like this blond bastard.) she didn't really know why she disliked him so much so quickly. Maybe it was jealousy that he was so close to Gaara, unfortunately even if it was the case, her pride wouldn't let her recognize it. They quickly entered the room and Hirai was made to wait outside with everyone else as only Temari, Naruto and Sakura went in to check on Gaara. This only added to Hirai's bad mood. She was so frustrated at the moment, on the one hand she was so happy that Gaara had returned and this whole ordeal was almost behind them. On the other hand she was just mad and she couldn't really pinpoint the reason why.

Inside Naruto fell into a chair as Sakura looked over Gaara with Temari assisting her. Naruto couldn't believe how exhausted he was. He had felt it for a while now, but he ignored it, but now that his mission was over and he sat in the chair exhaustion washed over him. He tried hard to remain awake and was treading on the line of consciousness as they examined Gaara. He tried to fight it, but after a while he realized he was fighting a loosing battle. Suddenly snapped awake slapping himself. Temari and Sakura were still examining Gaara when their attention turned to Naruto. He had totally spaced out. He considered the situation and thought it best if he left them to do whatever they had to do. He was going to be here in the morning he thought so he could find out the results in the morning. He got up and spoke to Temari. "Temari I think I need to find a room to stay tonight, if that's okay with you. I want to know what's gonna happen with Gaara, but I don't wanna distract you guys." He said. He doubted she would personally show him or anything, but he waited patiently.

Temari looked up at Naruto and told him. "Hai, Naruto that would be the least we could do. Go outside and tell Hirai, she'll show you where you can stay. She should be right outside."

Naruto started walking towards the door when he thought about something. He asked. "Hirai, right. Who is she? I mean what's she look like?" he was standing at the door.

Temari answered off-handedly. "She was with me when we went out to meet you."

Naruto automatically responded. "Alright, arigatou Temari." He stepped outside and closed the door behind him before what Temari said registered. He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered who she was talking about. He also felt that creepy sensation of being stared at and looked around. He jumped back throwing one hand above his head and the other in front of him in a protective gesture as he saw Hirai was standing next to him staring at him. "Hyyaaaa!" he yelled in surprised he quickly tried to hide his reaction by pretending to dust himself off. "You must be Hirai. Ano... Temari said you would show me where I can stay for the night." Naruto said.

Hirai hadn't been fooled by his actions. She kept staring at him and totally ignoring what he said. "How is Gaara? Is something wrong with him? Will he be fine?" She asked craving information.

Naruto unfortunately had no answers for her. "I don't know. He'll be fine though there was nothing fatal wrong with him, you'll have to wait until they're done in there. Gomen, I wish I could tell you more." Naruto said.

Hirai wasn't satisfied she wanted to know what was going on as soon as possible and this blond wasn't helping. She looked at the door next to Naruto wondering what was going on on the other side then looked back at Naruto. "I'll take you as soon as I find out what's going on." Hirai said.

Naruto didn't like that answer, true he was in no rush to get to his room, but still she didn't need to be so serious. He was weighing what to do thinking about how worried she must have been about Gaara. He saw her make up had run from all the crying she must have done and was about to start looking for Neji and Lee when the door opened and Temari stepped out. She spoke to Naruto. "Gomen Naruto, before you go I just wanted to thank you one more time. I thought I was going to be too late and not catch you. I hope you enjoy your quarters and pleasant dreams." Temari finished. She was about to go back into the room when she saw Hirai wasn't moving to show Naruto his room.

Naruto smiled and said. "It's no problem, I'm just glad I could help. Gaara's well being means a lot to me too." He didn't comment on the conversation with Hirai, he knew it was late and didn't really want to make a big deal out of nothing.

When Temari spoke again she directed herself at Hirai. "Why aren't you showing our guest to his quarters?" She asked a little sternness seeping through her voice.

Hirai didn't meet Temari's eyes. She looked down at the ground and said. "I want know what's happening with Gaara-kun." Hirai said, her demeanor one of a child who had been scolded.

Temaris voice and expression softened. She realized this must be hard for everyone. "Gaara's going to be fine, I'll tell you everything as soon as we find out everything. Now please show Naruto his room. The sooner you do so the sooner we can talk. I know it's hard to wait, but please be patient." Temari said. Without waiting for a response she walked back into the room.

Hirai turned to stare at Naruto once again, even though her face didn't show it Naruto sensed that she was angry. He didn't say anything as she briskly told him. "Follow me." Naruto put his hands behind his head casually and did as he was asked. As he followed Hirai they walked down a large corridor Neji and Lee were coming back. Naruto stopped he had wanted to ask Neji a question. Hirai stopped as well when she sensed he wasn't following her. She turned to see his attention was on his two companions from before she didn't say anything as they began to talk.

Lee asked his question first. "So what did they tell you Naruto-kun? No serious burn marks or significant injuries." A grin was on his face expecting nothing less.

Naruto guessed from this question that they had had a quick check-up. He hadn't had anything of the sort, but he knew his body and he felt fine. "Nah, I'll be fine. Just a little rest and I should be back at a hundred percent." Naruto replied.

Lee pumped his fist in the air enthusiastically. "That is magnificent news. We can begin our rivalry again tomorrow. I won't hold back, so I'm hope your ready!" Lee said he made a large circular motion with his right arm and then broke into the good guy pose. He then added. "The spring time of youth is just beginning for us." Behind him Neji's upper face had gone blue. Was he ever going to get used to being embarrassed by Lee he wondered to himself. Hirai looked at the guy and after listening to him for a little while she confidently slotted him into the weird category. Now all she was waiting for was for the name to be mentioned.

Naruto didn't really know how to respond to this so instead he turned to Neji and asked. "So what did you mean earlier when you said something about my life being saved by some sort of protection."

Neji looked at Naruto and almost instantly knew he was serious. "You still haven't noticed yet? Hmmm, you should notice it's missing eventually." Neji said coolly.

This irked Naruto to no end. "Quit trying to act cool and just tell me already." Naruto said loudly.

Neji turned to Naruto and met his eyes his voice quickly cracked back. "No. Find out for yourself you'll appreciate it more that way." Neji said. "We're going to go check on Tenten we'll see you in the morning." Neji continued. He turned away and began walking but stopped a few feet away and said. "By the way Naruto. It's not an act." Lee and Naruto both had a confused look about the last comment. Lee followed his team mate to ask about it. While Naruto just stood there thinking Neji still hasn't changed. Hirai was looking at Neji and thought. 'he is pretty cool, I like him.'

Hirai looked at Naruto and asked a question of her own. "What's that guy with the green outfit's name?"

Naruto looked at her and answered. "Him oh that Lee. Rock Lee he's pretty cool. When he's not being a freak." He looked at her and thought to himself, this girl isn't so creepy. She has some cool eyes.

Hirai nodded and filed the information away for later use. "Follow me." She said this time she wasn't so serious.

As they walked along the corridors of the Kages building Naruto asked Hirai a question. "Your golden eyes, are they a blood limit or are you the only one in your clan with eyes like that?"

Hirai had not expected that question at all and her answer came awkwardly. "H-hai, something like that. I ano, my baby brother has the same colored eyes, but I gomen I dunno." Hirai stumbled. She felt her face burning up with embarrassment and felt totally uncomfortable with the situation. Suddenly a hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to meet Naruto's eyes for the first time. What she saw in them she hadn't expected, but it was almost as if he understood her.

Naruto understood how she felt, he had gone through the same thing through his travels with Jiraiya. When people would ask him about his clan or his family and he had no answer. He had learned to deal with it, but it was never an easy situation to be in and he understood that. He smiled at Hirai and said. "It's okay, I was just going to tell you that they look cool." He took his hand off her shoulders and his smile widened a little bit as his eyes closed momentarily. Hirai had felt chills run down her spine when he took his hand off her shoulder. She turned around and kept leading him to his room. Naruto though still had more questions for this stranger in front of him. "So how long have you known Gaara-kun and Temari?" This question she could and did answer. They continued walking in silence for a while and reached his room fairly quickly. They bid each other farewell and she walked away. As she walked away her initial impression of Naruto had changed. She now thought, 'he's not such a bad guy, but I still want to test him.'

Inside of his room Naruto stared at the hugeness of it, his room was the size of a small house. The first thing he did was go to the restroom. He wanted to see how he looked like in the mirror. He found it quickly enough and as he approached it the first thing he noticed wasn't his condition, but Tsunade's necklace. It was alone, he immediately realized what it was that Neji had been talking about and wanted to kick himself for not having realized it sooner. He had lost Hinata's gift and she had in essence saved his life. He closed his eyed momentarily and thought about it there was nothing he could do about it now. He continued with his inspection of his body and then went to lay down. The fatigue he had felt when in the room with Gaara and the others had left and he now lay there thinking about Hinata. How would he explain it to her? He owed her and he owed her bigtime? He lay there wondering where the light eyed girl with the long hair was and what she was doing. It had been a busy time since he had gotten back with so many things happening. Now that he lay on the bed looking back on the days one of the things that struck him was how little attention he had given Hinata. Laying there on the bed he told himself. "That should change."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/

Out in the forests somewhere Hinata was about to take a seat at camp when her ears began to warm up, at fist only a little, but they got hot enough to make her wonder if she was okay. They had just gotten back to camp and joined Shino. She was about to tell them what had happened, but couldn't help but wonder. 'Why are my ears burning?'

PREVIEW

Poor Jiraiya was forgotten in the hot-springs will he stay forgotten.

RSO'S

midnight-angel-of-darkness- Yeah, Hinata's badass. No problemo.

crakbaby23- What's moving, and where too? Me neither.

Jeefus- me neither, but I'm excited too. J/K hope you enjoyed this ch.

Dragonman180- you wrong for that, yeah they have a mission, especially Hinata. Leave him there... wait that might not be such a bad idea.

acrazygirlofmanynames- yeah I guess that was obvious. nope he won't. Your mom is cool, naw it's not confusing you just got 22 men on the field trying to move the ball rushing or passing and the other half trying to stop them, then you got the various formations an...I guess it can be a little confusing huh.

causeiambetta- I quit gambling. J/K, I'm glad you liked it. I really couldn't think of a better way to cover their return. I'm not gonna say I planned this part out, but everything came together nicely.

narashikamaru21- yeah damn that girls fine. Umm how are you gonna make sure of that, I hope I don't regret asking that. Yeah the fluff will come, just be patient.

danny- Sannin or not he can't resist the fairer sex anyways he was caught off guard even Hinata conceded that had he been ready she wouldn't have been able to catch him like that. Oh wait till I beat the... get the explanation from Jiraiya it should be a good one. Hmmm I dunno their relationship is still up in the air for me. Don't know how I'll proceed with that. yet.

pokemonfan- I'm glad you've enjoyed reading the story. Yeah, but you can never get tired of hearing praise. (wink, wink) I'll try to hit on all your questions.

1. The comment by the aketsuki was not the same, they had worked hard to get Gaara so if they let him die then so would the Shukaku and all their efforts would have been in vain. I never said they were all immortal, but look at the differences between the two bijuus. Chiyo was able to bind the Shukaku by herself while the Kyubii required the summoning of the death god and deaths of the fourth hokage in order to seal the nine tails. I can't get to into why the ninetails helped Naruto because that would kinda you know spoil my story. Again the reason they weren't able to extract the Shukaku from Gaara was because the seal had been manipulated, that's why they had to release him while they figured out a way to work around that. Also you are correct if they had gotten the shukaku out of Gaara he would have died. Sorry, it's complicated, but the fox did not lie.

2. I won't do it in the same way the manga does it, I started from where I started so that I could branch off into my own thing, while I will use some elements from the cannon I will also add my own ideas into it. I don't know all the details of how I'll make Naruto progress, but I'll tackle those obstacles as I get to them.

3. Obviously when Temari threatened Ino it was a bluff, but Ino didn't call it. It wouldn't do any good if you bluffed someone and then after they didn't call you out on it they admitted they bluffed you. I may touch on it later, but right now it's not in my plans. Sorry, I know I left out some things and maybe I'll go back and edit it to fix it once I finish this arc, but right now my focus is on moving forward and getting this here arc over and done with.

4. Yeah, even in the manga he wanted to peep on Sakura when Yamato told him the story of how Tsunade beat Jiraiya within an inch of his life for doing that. Naruto just got done spending three years with a super perv, some of it was bound to rub off on him, as you've noticed he hasn't done anything of the sort since then and he should (still not sure if he will) return to behaving like a normal human being.

5. Not in this arc, but in the chunnin exam arc I may explore their relationship more. Worrying about someone is a sign of affection, true she may be harsh, but Naruto wasn't her first choice to send on the mission. Now that you mention it I might focus in on their relationship a lil more. I don't want my Tsunade to be one dimensional after all.

lol damn right Naru/Hina 4ever. I hope I answered all your questions, but if you got anymore feel free to ask.