Thanks Crazy no Jutsu for the review. And Starfairy14s it's always great to hear from you. yep.
note: I do not own Naruto, in fact, I don't own anyone. That is considered illegal.
"thinking"
"talking"
Chapter 3 - Calm Before the Storm
by Zynthos
A group of five shinobi rushed up to the Hokage's tower, excitedly led by a blonde haired, whisker faced youth of sixteen. Behind him, pulled along by the former, was a stumbling, cute faced young woman. Her awkward footfall had less to do with the speed of the one in front of her and more to do with the hand that gripped her own. In his haste Naruto had grabbed Hinata's hand, urging her on. It was such a Naruto thing to do, and she knew there were no feelings exchanged through the simple gesture, but still, Hinata couldn't help but let her hopes run wild.
Following the two was a group of three: a pink haired kunoichi and a blond haired kunouchi separated by a brown haired youth with red marks underneath his eyes. A dog was following closely behind. The two girls exchanged knowing looks about the situation ahead, while the dog trainer just scowled.
As they ran up the steps they were immediately ushered in by a chunin. Tsunade was sitting in her chair, facing away from the group, looking out into the village. When she heard the shinobi walk into her office, she turned around, showing her grim expression to all of them.
"I need you to pack your things and be ready to leave within 2 hours," began the Hokage. "You will get our mission instructions at the east gate. That is all".
"Hey, Obaa-chan, why aren't you giving the instructions to us now neh?" a very loud Shinobi asked. A stress mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead.
"Naruto-kun..." a blushing kunoichi sitting next to Naruto whispered as a warning.
"We are waiting for information," replied the Hokage "That's all you need to know. Now GET OUT!"
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"Sheesh!" Naruto exclaimed, "Obaa-chan is really on edge today."
"Well duh," replied Ino, "I would be too if you asked me questions like that, stupid."
"Yeah, I agree with Ino-pig," continued Sakura.
"Hey! Who you calling Ino-pig, Forehead girl?"
"Snout nose!"
"Billboard brow!"
"Shut up!" Kiba cried, "You're giving me a headache!"
"Don't suppress the females!" Ino shouted back.
"What?!"
"ano…" said the quiet Hyuga.
"Yeah! Female supremacy!" cried Sakura, oblivious to Hinata.
"Oh for Kami's sake!" sighed the dog trainer.
"ano…" the pale-eyed girl tried again.
"Don't get them started," warned Naruto
"Too late," lamented Kiba. He looked over to the two kunoichi who had now started chanting "Rise up sisters!"
"ano…" Hinata whispered a third time
"I know how to shut them up!" Kiba proclaimed triumphantly
"How?" a very eager Naruto asked.
"Just watch," a very cocky Kiba replied. "Hey girls, look! It's Orlando Bloom!"
The two block radius around the Shinobi immediately became dead silent. At the realization that they had been tricked, every single girl, woman, and grandmother turned their attention to Kiba (excluding Hinata who was still trying to gather courage to mutter something again). If looks could kill, the young dog keeper would have been shot, cut in half, burned at the stake, hung, strangled, thrown off a cliff, stabbed, poisoned, and generally murdered… twice. Naruto and Kiba felt dwarfed by the giant amount of killer intent rolling towards them.
"On the count of three, run as fast as you can." Kiba whispered to Naruto while trying to stay frozen in place.
"Wait, you were the one that brought up Orlando Bloom" Naruto replied standing perfectly still.
"Why you…" cursed Kiba.
I think I read in a survival guide somewhere that if you are ever surrounded by a pack of angry women, you are not supposed to make any sudden movements. Instead, the best way to survive with at least three of your limbs is to slowly back away from the group. Apparently Kiba was not familiar with the guide and ran away, screaming his head off.
"Curse you Naruto!!!" Within seconds only Naruto and Hinata were left standing on the streets.
"Well, it's been good knowing you" Naruto said with a chuckle.
"ano… Naruto-kun?" a small voice said next to him
"Yeah?" Naruto asked. The said Hyuga blushed at being noticed even though she was the only one left with her crush.
"Will you… I was… d-do you m-mind having l-lunch b-before leav-ving?" Hinata's head was spinning, her nervousness almost claiming her consciousness.
"With you?" was Naruto's only reply. Poking her fingers together, Hinata nodded her to head, too anxious to say anything. The blush on her face deepened several shades.
"Sure Hinata." Naruto smiled when Hinata's face brightened. "How 'bout Ichiraku's 30 minutes before we have to leave?" Again, he was met by Hinata's fervent nods.
"You know" Naruto thought to himself, "She's kind of cute when she does that". Naruto smirked at his own comment.
"Alright, it's a date. See ya Hinata". With that Naruto left Hinata alone. Only one thought crossed her mind, one that nearly made her squeak with excitement and blush even harder. "It's a date… it's a date…"
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Sakura felt much better. Apparently pounding people to the ground is very therapeutic. Unfortunately, she and Ino had to leave the beating early in order to pack for their mission. She did a mental check of what had in her bag. "Tent? Check. Food and Water? Check. Medical supplies? Check. Weapons? Check. Makeup? Check." She poured herself a cup of water and sat down at the kitchen table. Ever since she had become a medical ninja Sakura had been swamped with working at the hospital as well as missions. It was good to have a brief moment to herself even if it was only for a few seconds.
A knock on the door awakened Sakura from her brief tranquil moment. "Strange…" She thought to herself, "Nobody's at the door…" She sat back down and took a sip of her water. "Weird tasting water… must be the ice".
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Hinata waited patiently on the stool in front of the ramen bar. After politely declining Ayame-chan's offer to serve her multiple times, she began to get the feeling that coming to the ramen bar half an hour before the set time wasn't the smartest thing to do. "Oh well," Hinata sighed inwardly to herself, "at least I won't be late". She was excited about the mission, as it was the first mission where Hinata had been paired with Naruto in a long time. However, logic caught up with her daydream. In this condition she would not be able to complete the mission. She smiled and blushed when she saw Naruto walking towards her. "I'll let myself daydream a little longer" Hinata thought to herself, succumbing to temptation.
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Seeing Hinata waiting for him at the ramen stand brought a smile to Naruto's face. Her state of blush and the smile on her face made his heart flutter for a moment. He didn't know when it had started, but his interest in Sakura had diminished. Perhaps it was her temper, but it had dawned on Naruto that he saw Sakura just as a close friend. A close friend who could punch your face in if you didn't say the right thing…
Naruto pulled out a chair and sat next to Hinata. He then proceeded to order 6 bowls of beef ramen. He was in a beef sort of mood today. Hinata followed suit, ordering a single bowl of miso ramen.
"So Hinata, are you ready to kick some butt?!" Naruto started. All he got in response was a flushed face, fingers poking together, and a shy nod. The following fifteen minutes followed the previously set mold where Naruto, between slurps of ramen, retold stories of his travel with the toad-sannin. He used large movements to illustrate captivating the one person audience, who would laugh and gasp at just the right moments bringing a smile to the storyteller.
After a particularly exciting tale about saving a princess from an evil ruler the two were interrupted by Sakura, Ino, and Kiba -- The latter limping his way around with the help of a stick.
"Guys, look at what I found" joked Ino.
"Maybe we should leave them alone," Sakura continued to jest, "It was probably getting pretty steamy"
"You two are a rather odd couple," Kiba, quoting Naruto from before, finished.
Hinata couldn't believe her friends would joke like that. Her face changed from light pink to dark crimson.
"Nah," replied Naruto flashing one of his famous grins, "Hinata and I are prefect for each other". At this Naruto pulled Hinata into an embrace playing along with the three other shinobi. Hinata let out a small "eep!" She couldn't take it any more. Her head was spinning, and her heart was beating so loud she wouldn't have been surprised if the whole world could hear it. Naturally she did what she did best and fainted in Naruto's arms.
"Neh? Hinata? Hinata!?" Naruto began to panic but became confused when he looked up he noticed the two girls giving each other a 'We know something he does not' look and a very pissed Kiba.
"Guys! This is no time to stand around, Hinata's sick. I need to get her to the hospital". He was stopped by Ino.
"I don't think you should worry about her too much."
"Why not?" the distressed youth asked.
"I would definitely consider her fainting a good thing..."
"Wait, I want her to faint?"
"Well, not really. I sure don't," an annoyed Kiba decided to add.
"So I don't want her to faint, but the repercussions are good?" the blond boy asked.
"You got'er Kotter!" Ino said cheerfully.
"Huh? Who's Kotter?" was Naruto's intelligent response.
"Don't ask me," was the girl's response "I heard an old man use it once."
"Then why did YOU use it?" Kiba asked.
"Naruto used a big word so I had to say something intelligent" Ino said defensively.
"Intelligent… Right…"
"Anyway, that's beside the point!" a flustered Ino said, "The point is that Hinata fainting is a good thing, right Sakura?" The rest of the group turned towards the pink-haired girl. The said girl was holding onto the counter steadying herself.
"Sakura?" Asked Naruto tentatively, "Are you ok? You don't look so good."
"Ohh…" Sakura groaned, "I don't feel so go-". She never finished her sentence as she fell to the ground, unconscious. Naruto turned to Ino.
"Ino? Is Sakura fainting a good thing too?"
Hokage Tower:
Shizune rushed into the room. "Hokage-sama, their operation, it's already begun!" The Hokage pondered for a moment before letting wisdom spout from her mouth. "F#$&!"
To be continued…
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AN- So I didn't wait until 2 week... Nobody hates me for lying do they? Good. Yeah, I'm subconsciously trying to stay away from action. Why you might ask? because I STINK AT IT!! However, I think it's become inevitable. Therefore along with your plot ideas (send a PM for this), and your writing comments, if you have any tips on writing action it would be appriciated. Once again my lovely beta readers Kovva and Krissy-Chan recieve props. Don't expect an early release date for the next chapter :P. Yep, that's it.