CHAPTER FOUR

Team Eight

[Flashback]

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Hinata waited anxiously for an answer. At her insistent pounding, it did not take long.

The door swung open. A pair of cherry-red eyes stared back with concern. Kurenai observed the elegant young woman she considered her own daughter. Hinata was outfitted in her standard mission gear. Slightly rumpled and worn from weeks of travel. Carrying a lightly burdened mission pack, it was apparent she had just returned from her latest assignment and had not yet been home.

Kurenai's velvety sweet voice spoke. "Hinata, what's wrong?"

At the sight of her beloved sensei, the weight of everything caught up to Hinata and she could no longer hold up the dam that kept the flood of emotions at bay.

"Sensei," she cried, and flung herself into her teacher's waiting arms.

A soft caress smoothed over the back of her head. The comfort of Kurenai's warm embrace did not leave her as she was carefully guided into the quaint living area. The room was swathed in welcoming neutral tones. Colorful and plush toys littered the space. Identical taupe sofas faced each other with a low oval-shaped table at the center.

Kurenai led Hinata to sit on one and promptly sat down across from her on the other. Her motherly gaze flickered over to the resting toddler in the corner play yard, then swiftly back to her pupil, her brow etched with worry. She leaned forward, dark curls falling over her shoulders, and gently urged, "Tell me what happened."

Hinata's sobs had quieted to soft sniffles. She rubbed her sleeve across her damp eyes roughly. Her lips quivered as she croaked out, "They took her."

"Who did they take?"

"My sister, Hanabi. I don't know all the details. I went to the Hokage Tower to debrief with Shino and Kiba when I overheard Naruto in his office. She was out on a two-week practice mission leading a team of Hyuuga genin to the Land of Lightning when they were kidnapped by the Kanedama."

A perfectly honed and hardened kunoichi, Kurenai exhibited no visceral reaction other than the tender look she gave her sweet apprentice. "I'm sorry, Hinata. Has Hanabi been located?"

Hinata shook her head in the negative, her mind working, demanding a solution. White pupils narrowing, a thought occurred to her. Naruto may not know where Hanabi was being held, but Sasuke would. She just needed him to cooperate. "Teach me genjutsu."

The genjutsu mistress gave the Hyuuga female a once over, trying to gauge her level of commitment to her request. Quirking her head she questioned, "Why do you need it?"

"I know someone who can tell me where Hanabi is, but I doubt he will give it to me willingly." It was the truth.

Kurenai sighed. "Genjutsu is not an easy skill to learn. Like everything else, it takes time. Time that we don't have."

"I don't need to know everything. Just teach me one scenario. A-a-a…" her eyes looked up, searching for what she needed. It hit her like lightning. "…an interrogation room!"

The older woman pondered over the suggestion. Her hand pinching her chin thoughtfully. "It could work. A dark room would be easiest. Not too complicated, less to manipulate and interact with." Her head nodded in agreement. Her eyes lifted to Hinata's. "Basic torture tools?"

"If possible. Restraints too."

"Preference?"

"Silk ties, I guess?"

Kurenai lifted a thin brow, then raised both quickly in acquiescence.

At her teacher's judgmental expression, Hinata flushed and tried to explain. "I don't want the restraints to hurt him."

"Alright then." Kurenai nodded. Hinata was a tender soul. It was in her character to want to make her detainee as comfortable as possible. Especially if he'd done no wrong. The jonin instructor had a sudden spark of ingenuity. "As a Hyuuga, you have an advantage since genjutsu is just another form of chakra manipulation. Not only can you see chakra, you have excellent chakra control, Hinata. Usually, only advanced genjutsu specialists are able to engage in a genjutsu while also interacting with the physical world. However, you have an advantage. You can also see the patterns and wavelengths of brain activity in the prosencephalon. We may be able to have you control the genjutsu without fully experiencing it yourself. You'll be more like a member of the audience than a participant."

The older woman stood and walked into the connected kitchen, ruffling through a locked medicine cabinet. She spoke over her shoulder as she searched. "As you know, I've been employed by Orochimaru to supplement my income since I can no longer be an active duty kunoichi with Mirai. What you don't know is we've been working on improving his genjutsu pills so that they are safe for military or recreational use, and contain none of the nasty side effects of the original.

"By synthesizing the components of his pills with the natural properties of the Genjutsu Tree Village Forest, we were able to create this prototype. Non-toxic, over-the-counter, canned experiences in an easy to digest liquid format."

The words 'safe' and 'non-toxic' struck her. Knowing her target's resistance to poisons, Hinata pondered on the effectiveness of this experimental drug. As Orochimaru's once desired host form, the sannin prepped Sasuke's body to be immune to poisons. However, from what Naruto told her, Sasuke keeps his distance from his old mentor as much as possible. Which means, Sasuke could be vulnerable to anything new Orochimaru produces.

Furthermore, it always struck her as odd that Sasuke could get drunk with Naruto or would sometimes ask Sakura for pills. Aren't alcohol and medicine technically poisons? So, there must be a threshold to immunity. Perhaps it was the intended use of the poisons that determined whether or not Sasuke was affected. His tolerance was built up against anything meant to kill, destroy or severely impair. Anything recreational or medical was ignored. This could work.

Her bright eyes sparkled with the revelation.

"We call it Genjutsu Narcotics Experiences, or GNE in a bottle."

Hinata did not miss the cleverness behind the name capitalizing on the similar sounding 'genie in a bottle.' It was genius.

A small vial, no longer than Hinata's pinky, was held out to her. She wasted no time to secure it in her grasp and inspect the fluorescent pink liquid. Completely awed and full of admiration, she exclaimed, "Kurenai sensei… this is revolutionary! You're amazing!"

A bright smile splashed across Kurenai's face before turning serious again. "I'll create the backdrop and infuse it in here for you. It may not be perfect, but it will do the job. Knock them out. Feed it to them. It only takes a couple minutes to work. This will take extreme focus. You need to be prepared to handle the consequences of your actions."

Hinata nodded in understanding, her brows pinched in thought.

Kurenai clapped her hands together. "Shall we get started?"

.

.

.

Surveilling the apartment she shared with Naruto from a nearby building, she scanned with her hereditary trait to ensure it was empty. For good measure, she confirmed that her now ex-fiancé was still sitting in the Hokage Tower.

He appeared to be locked in a fierce disagreement with Shikamaru. The neatly stacked papers on his desk were tossed in the air, like falling leaves scattering on the floor, after his implanted arm roughly slid across the surface. Shikamaru shook his head and lit a cigarette.

Disengaging her bloodline limit, she swiftly darted across the street and into the place she once called home.

She didn't have much time. The Sasuke messenger squad already had a day of travel on her. She needed to get to Mist and grab him before he departed or she would miss her opportunity to question him outside of Konoha. There was also the likelihood that Naruto planted spies to ensure she didn't break probation. It would be foolish to completely dismiss the idea. The faster she acted, the better her odds were.

Once inside, she took a quick shower, brushed her hair back and dressed herself in an all-black ensemble, that was easy to move in, to steal into the cover of night. She emptied her messenger bag and began to refill it with basic necessities for her trip, ignoring the stab of pain she felt in her chest.

Naruto proposed a few months ago and she moved in with him immediately after. She wished she could say that many happy memories were made here, but Naruto was so busy training and working long hours once he held the title of Hokage, that she often spent nights alone. Setting the table for two but eating the meals she cooked by herself. Staying awake late into the evening, so she could welcome him home like a good little wife would, only to fall asleep on the couch and wake up to empty silence.

She volunteered for this past month-long mission because she could no longer take the hollow loneliness that slowly devoured her in their shared space. With separation came clarity, and upon returning she planned to have a serious sit-down conversation with Naruto, but then the unexpected happened. And now it was over.

Strengthening her resolve, she decided to worry about her other belongings after she returned with her sister safely in hand. Or perhaps she would send a message to her father to have her things retrieved and brought back to the Hyuuga Compound for her. She sighed heavily and reminded herself to worry about it later.

A loud banging scared her out of her thoughts.

"Hinata! I know you're in there. I can smell you from here! Open up!"

Relief washed over her.

Kiba.

"Shino says he'll send his kikaichu in after you if you don't!"

Walking over to the entrance, she smiled as she could hear Shino's muffled protest.

"I said no such thing."

"Shhh. She doesn't know that!"

The door opened with a squeak.

Kiba turned away from Shino to give her one of his goofy, fanged grins. "Hinata! We were worried about you!"

Looking from one brawny man to the other lankier one, she noticed they had also cleaned up, dressed in non-standard mission gear, and carried travel bags. Her heart warmed at the show of support her comrades always gave her. She smiled wider, stepped back, and opened the door wide. "No Akamaru?"

The two entered the familiar space.

Kiba shook his head. "If we're going rogue, I can't bring him."

Hinata knew that behind the words, as painful as it was for him, he meant he would protect Akamaru best by abandoning him. Hinata could understand that.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Kiba's slanted eyes shifted side-to-side, effortlessly lifting the atmosphere. He was practically bouncing with rebellious energy. "So, what's the plan?"

"We leave tonight."

A/N: There will be a lot of flashbacks in this fic because I really want to provide more context and answer some of the questions that were left after MLA.

The Kurenai scenes were a bit technical but it better explains how Hinata was able to place Sasuke in a genjutsu (an MLA reader once commented that Hyuuga don't have ocular genjutsu and I thought "yeah, I know! LoL!"). It also provides more context on why Hinata didn't feel like her experience with Sasuke was real. More on that to come. Also, I don't know why I changed the spelling of "Hyuga" to "Hyuuga" in between stories/chapters. I apologize for the inconsistencies. I'll work on fixing all that once the story is over.

I was so encouraged by the comments that mentioned they are also NaruHina fans, are happy that there is no cheating, and can understand where Naruto and Hinata were coming from in Chapter 2. I enjoy the challenge of writing flawed characters while still doing them justice and making it all believable. The scene in this chapter where Hinata is preparing to leave and begins reminiscing is to give more depth to her breakup decision. It wasn't exactly a spur of the moment because she's throwing a tantrum (not that anyone said that). But it's pointing out that there were other/growing issues in the core of their relationship. These issues are ones that I feel like exist in the Boruto era (and some of the reason why I ship Hinata with other characters to begin with).

Some darker themes coming ahead. Sorry for making you wait for SasuHina steamy scenes, but if we're doing this sequel, we're doing it right! It'll be a few more chapters before that happens…

Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites, and follows. You've all been so supportive and sweet, and it's really been helping me with my writing anxiety. This "early" post is for you.

~LEA (Feb 21, 2023)