Hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

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

BEGINNING TO BUILD DETERMINATION

Shino had set up a simple camp for them and was polishing his gourd when Hinata and Kiba walked back into the camp. Shino observed them coming into camp and offered his greeting. "Is everything fine?" he asked as he began finishing up with his gourd and began putting it away. They took a seat around the fire Shino had started before responding.

Kiba sat down with Akamaru laying down next to him and said. "We're good. We couldn't find the old man, but he should be back before morning." Kiba said. He started playing with Akamaru's fur rubbing him behind the ears.

Shino began to scrutinize Hinata and he saw she was hiding something and something was on her mind as she reached up and started rubbing her ears. He thought maybe he should leave it alone, but his better judgement wouldn't let him. He thought she would broach the subject herself, but he nudged her anyways. "Your mind seems troubled Hinata. Can we offer any support?" Shino asked. He noticed her start minutely and saw her gathering her thoughts.

Hinata's ears had been burning and she had been rubbing them lightly. It had been a minor distraction, but she had been startled when Shino asked her his question. She tried to organize a good anwer, but gave up and just made a stab at it. She looked at Kiba and apologized. "Gomen, Kiba. I should have told you the truth, but I guess I just wanted to get everything worked out in my mind. I, I did find Jiraiya and I...ano... I accidentally knocked him out." She said. She immediately looked down not wanting to see Kiba's upset face.

What she didn't expect was his enthusiastic response. "Really! Way to go Hinata!" She looked up to see him looking at her with an admiring grin on his face. A smile touched her face when she realized he wasn't upset with her.

That smile was short lived as Shino began to talk. "I'm really disappointed Hinata." Shino said.

Kiba interrupted him standing up for her. "Chill out Shino that old bastard probably deserved it." He said.

Shino shot Kiba a looked and quickly and efficiently responded. "Regardless of if he deserved it or not. He is our guide and duty, to leave him out there unconscious in terrain we are unfamiliar with is unwise." There was an edge in his voice, he let out a long exasperated breath and resumed speaking in a normal voice. Kiba hadn't thought of it that way and now sat in silence. Hinata also sat silently as Shino continued. "It is true this mission is a bit strange, but it was given to us by the Hokage. She is familiar with Jiraiaya and knows his skills well, so how would we be able to face her if he were hurt due to us." Shino turned to Hinata and talked especially to her. "I don't know your reasons for doing what you did and I won't force the issue, but I'll tell you the real reason I'm disappointed. For as far as I can remember you've made an effort to change to get stronger. I know who you admire and my question to you now is. What would our blond comrade have done? What should be done now?" Shino asked. Shino didn't know Hinata's exact relationship with Naruto, but he knew he was someone Hinata respected deeply. He even knew that Hinata's bracelet was because of Naruto and not Neji like she wanted everyone to believe. He never brought it up or told anybody else out of respect for his friend, but he thought this was a good time to push her to take responsibility. He quieted down and waited to see how Hinata would react.

Kiba had been lost by Shino's last comment. Blond comrade, what the hell did Ino have to do with any of this he wondered. He never knew Hinata admired her. He felt out of his element and sat quietly not wanting to say anything and be made like a fool. Instead he sat quietly looking at Hinata acting as if he knew what was going on.

Hinata on the other hand knew exactly what Shino was talking about. She began to feel ashamed for her actions. She had nearly abandoned the mission, her mission especially, the Hokage had trusted her in more ways then the others and she had been the first one to have her determination swayed. She wondered what Naruto would do as she rubbed her bracelet and knew it wouldn't have been what she had done. As she thought about it more she knew Naruto would try to correct his mistake and in thinking about that she knew what she had to do. She stood up and as the Shino and Kiba looked at her she told them. "I'll go fetch him. I know it was my fault for acting the way I did and I have to correct it." She saw Kiba was about to offer his help or at least say something and she kept talking before he could get a word in. "I want to go alone, I think that is what Na..Neji would do." She had almost said Naruto, but had luckily stopped herself. She was about to start playing with her fingers and luckily caught herself. She shouldn't be wasting time she realized.

Kiba asked. "You sure you don't want either of us to come along? I wouldn't mind." He said looking at Hinatas back.

Hinata stopped and thought about it. She knew it would be easier with Kiba accompanying her, but she looked at the situation and once again thinking about what Naruto would do she answered. "No, I will be fine. Arigatou, I'll be back soon." With that Hinata began her journey back to the hot-springs.

Jiraiya had lost track of time as he lay there looking up at the stars. He had a lot of things going through his mind. Things like, will Hinata tell the others? How will I explain it to them? Will Tsunade really kill me if she finds out about this? He had all these questions on his mind and had even entertained the idea of running away and becoming a hermit. After all he was the frog hermit, just didn't always live like one. This would be a perfect opportunity for a change of lifestyles. After all nobody would be able to find him. He lay there thinking all these things with other questions popping into his head like who was that little girl and the humiliation of being beat down like that. Oh nobody was gonna find out about that. Even though Jiraiya was deep in thought he was keenly aware of his surroundings and sensed someone walk into the hot-springs. He felt instantly re-energized at the thought of hot young girls coming for a dip in the hot-spring. He had to find someplace to hide so he wouldn't be noticed as he pe... did research. He tried to get up quickly and stopped as his back cracked. He had lost time of how long he had been laying on the ground and forgotten how much pain his body was in. He lay back down and thought to himself. This situation sucks. He closed his eyes and waited for the reaction from whoever was there when they found him.

What he hadn't expected was a shocked yell of concern for him. "Oh my god, Jiraiya-sama. G-GOMEN, are you okay? What happened to you?" He opened his eyes to see Hinata heading towards him and get down on her knees to make sure he was still alive. His eyes shot open as she grabbed his wrist and placed freezing cold fingertips on his neck.

He looked up at Hinata who had started in surprise to his quick reaction and asked. "Why are your fingers so cold?" He said pulling away from her fingers.

Hinata pulled her hands back at this comment, she hadn't noticed at all until he said that. "G-gomen, Jiraiya-san, I-I washed my hands before running out here to find you." She replied. She had only actually ran when she saw him lying there. She had jogged before that not expecting to find him in this condition. She turned saw his tenkoutsous were back to normal and thought this strange. She remembered hitting him full force so they should have still been clogged. She thought maybe she was wrong and had hit him softer than expected. However that wouldn't explain his dislocated shoulder or the missing molar she had seen when he spoke. It was towards the back so it wouldn't be seen normally, but Hinata had sharp eyes and thought the whole thing was a little curious. She asked Jiraiya. "What happened to you?" She asked worriedly.

Jiraiya had thought about how he would answer this question, but now that it was posed he took bits and pieces of his stories. "I slammed into the stone you punched me into and lay here unable to recover for a while. Some thugs came and assaulted me while I lay here. Luckily I had nothing of value, but they still worked me over. I'm fine now, but for a while I thought I would die here." He was really working the guilt trip and saw it was working. In his mind he felt a sense of relief as she swallowed the story hook line and sinker.

Hinata was feeling so ashamed of herself, Jiraiya didn't know Shino had already laid a guilt trip on her so he didn't know his story wasn't the only one affecting her. She was looking down into her lap her hands curled into fists and began apologizing. "G-gomen, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault I should have reacted better." Now that she said that she remembered the reason she did what she did re-surfaced and some of her shame left her. She looked at Jiraiaya and asked. "Why were you out here though. It looked like you wanted to look at the girls in the hot-spring." She looked at him accusingly almost daring him to justify himself. She didn't know she was dealing with a pro.

Jiraiya's mouth opened as if he had been insulted. "Is that really what you thought Hinata?" She didn't say anything so Jiraiya kept going, he pretended to loose hope and began to explain himself. "I guess that's what it might have looked like to you. So I'll come clean. I'm an author and I was just trying to gather information for my book." Peeping is just a bonus. He didn't say that though. He saw she wasn't buying it yet. "I write my books for people who are looking for love. I mean sometimes don't you feel like that? Completely clueless about what someone you care about wants. I came to the springs to listen to what girls talk about when they're alone. Things that they would never talk about to their counterparts." He saw her look away a little and knew he had an entrance. "I'm sure there are things you tell your female companions that you would never share with a guy. I just want to help people in search of love. Am I so wrong for that Hinata?" Jiraiya asked. His voice now totally sympathetic.

Hinata didn't know what to think. He looked totally truthful in what he said. She didn't know why she felt a little hesitant to believe him, she could tell he wasn't lying she picked that up very quickly. With Jiraiya though even though everything checked out she couldn't help but have a little lack of faith. She turned her Byakugan on and asked him. "What is the name of your book?" She was familiar with a lot of literature and maybe would know the book he was talking about. After all she read those kinds of books once in a while herself.

Jiraiya answered almost immediately with no hesitation. "Icha Icha Paradise. I have different volumes out already and it is a very popular book." He said with a hint of pride in himself.

Hinata had never heard of the book, but she saw he was telling the truth. "Gomen, I've never heard of it." She said now feeling worse than ever. She had totally jumped the gun and hurt him without cause. She had to do her best to make it up to him.

Jiraiya saw he had been successful in getting out of this mess. All thoughts of becoming a fugitive disappeared. He smiled as he spoke to her. "It's no big deal. All of my books are meant for guys, it's little wonder you haven't heard of them." He tried to lift his arm to give her thumbs up, but pain shot up his arm and he winced. He had not noticed it was dislocated yet. He had just lay there the whole time without moving. Hinata saw this and quickly went to help him.

She took out a Kunnai and saw Jiraiya's look of fear. She told him. "Don't worry Jiraiya this shouldn't hurt to much. I just want you to bite down on this when you feel any pain." She said as she placed the Kunnai in Jiraiya's mouth with one hand and grasped his hurt arm with the other hand. She felt his shoulder to see what she needed to do. It didn't take long, she asked him. "Ready?" Jiraiya didn't respond, but gave a tiny nod of his head. He didn't know if he was ready. Hinata suddenly slammed an open palm on the outer part of his deltoid the other hand holding it firmly directing it to re-locate it. She felt Jiraiya tense with pain, but it was over before he knew it.

Jiraiya reached over and began rubbing his shoulder. Hinata had let go of his arm as he began to test his mobility with it. He looked at Hinata and said. "You're pretty good Hinata." Jiraiya then slowly got up. His body feeling totally sore, but at least there wasn't any real damage. He rolled his tongue in his mouth and noticed he was missing a tooth. That explained his sore jaw, or at least partially explained that soreness. He still had a lot of questions in his mind, but he let them go. He wasn't getting answers and they still had a long way to go. "We should head back to camp." He said. He began to walk with a very slight limp.

As they began their journey back to camp Hinata asked a question not knowing if she would get an answer. It was probably a question they should have asked at the outset of the mission, but as it was it had not really crossed their minds. Until now and Hinata asked it. "Jiraiya-san what exactly is our mission? I know we were assigned to assist you and that is our mission, but that isn't all is it?" She looked up wondering if he would inform her without her having to ask. She only saw him looking back at her knowingly. She knew she had to ask him now. "What is your mission?" She stopped walking as he had stopped as well. She looked back at him as he looked solemn.

He knew this question would have to be answered. He had actually been surprised this question hadn't been asked before. He had given them the destination, but none of them really clicked to it. Since it was just him and Hinata he thought he could trust her. "I'll tell you what you can tell the others first. This is and information retrieval mission. There is an organization comprised of dangerous criminals. They are each extremely powerful and gathered together to form this organization. We have gleaned information about their intent and need to prevent them from accomplishing their goal." He saw she was being attentive and liked that. He didn't get to specific, but laid out the general premise. "We know about a few of their targets, but have no information on everyone they are after or when they intend to begin their operations and how. For this reason I am heading to our destination to meet with someone who shares our same goal in stopping them. It should not be difficult, I hope. However there's always the chance of it becoming extremely difficult." Jiraiya said. She looked at him with an intent gaze. He had told her a lot without telling her anything.

Hinata realized this and knew he wasn't going to get into specifics. She was beginning to realize that this person was indeed very cunning. Her own mission seemed to become exponentially harder with this realization. However she needed to get some information about what was happening. "What makes this mission different? Criminal organizations exist everywhere. What are we going to do specifically?" Hinata asked.

This was something Jiraiya didn't want to answer, but saw no reason to lie. Hinata seemed to be extremely observant. "I'm sure you know of a boy named Sasuke Uchiha. Are you familiar with what happened to his clan?" Hinata nodded her head she had heard of this story. How Sasuke was the only survivor and his brother was the one who had destroyed the clan. "The one who destroyed the Uchiha is a part of this organization and if my information is correct which I believe it is he is not the most dangerous member of this organization." Hinata's eyes widened a little at this information she had no idea what had happened to Itachi after he left the village. "I've told each of you to think of something you wish to improve upon, tomorrow we begin to train. If the person we seek has been captured or worse than I will need all of your help to succeed. However at your current levels... I need you all to get better. Do you get what I'm saying Hinata?" Hinata gave a small nod trying to process the information. All the implications hadn't hit her yet. Jiraiya did her the favor of driving th point home. "It may not be a big deal or it could turn out to be a life or death situation and I need you three to be as prepared as you can be. I asked each of you individually, because of a part of becoming better is also being able to identify your flaws. I already know what you need to work on, but tomorrow we'll find out if you see it and we'll begin training. We may not have much time so each day we need to make progress." Jiraiya finished this and began walking away. Hinata stood there for a while, considering the source of information Hinata felt a convulsion of feeling inside of her. She began to follow him slowly with a multitude of thoughts running through her mind.

PREVIEW

The day after, or is it.

RSO'S

narashikamaru21- Yeah, it is alot of chapters and dammit I can't see any end in sight yet. You mean you aren't sweating to update your story for our pleasure. Shame sticks on you. J/K. We are getting impatient.

causiambetta- lol yeah I thought it was a nice touch. I dunno, we gotta see how much info. the public gets before Naruto is a hero there. The difference should be there though.

dragonman180- not yet, sorry.

danny- Yeah, damn kids. j/k I don't think the situation will get better yet. P.S. Why didn't you tell me sooner. You must want to die...j/k.

shadowneji- of course, Neji is supposed to be cool. glad you like it.

pokemonfan- while it's true Kyubi gives that impression he's never come out and really said it. Not that I can remember. Yeah it's my idea though. Don't worry about being to harsh, your questions were rather refreshing. Yeah, I wish every one would just realize I'm... I mean Naruto is a perv. Thanx for the compliment it felt great reading that.

acrazygirlofmanynames- yeah, I'm glad your happy.