A/N: Okay, format change. From now on, chapters are going to alternate between the 'present' and the 'past'. That way you get to see how things got to where they are, as well as where they go. (and I'm too lazy to make this fic long enough to stretch over the years it takes place in.) This one's in the 'present'. Anyway, thanks go out to: jolteonforever, QuietInsomniac, World's Neighbor, Rangerfan58, iNsAnE nO bAkA, DarkRavie, Brown Eggs and Green Ham, jazzy2may and WhyMustIWrite.
Naruto's world is owned by some rich Japanese guy. I am, unfortunately, poor – not to mention American and female. Therefore, I obviously don't own Naruto.
Blue eyes watched carefully. Her 'siblings' were nearby, the girl knew, but that didn't mean that they could save her if her target realized that she was there. Still, the risk needed to be taken. Hinata unconsciously chewed on her lower lip as she worried, gaze flicking from window to window of the little house before her.
Her father wouldn't particularly care, she knew – the man had long ago seemed to run out of patience for his timid eldest child – but others in the Clan would notice if she came in late at night too often. And he was one of the worst. That boy had taken to watching her closely. He was ever so polite, never a breath or a toe out of line – the Clan Elders loved him, were constantly holding him up as the shining example of what a Hyuuga should be. But every time she looked at him, all Hinata could do was wonder if he was secretly laughing at the blindness running rampant through a Clan which prided itself on its' vision.
Giving a tiny huff of air, the eleven year old dragged her attention back to where it belonged. A slender hand rose slowly, fingers forming a simple seal taught to her since birth. Those blue eyes sharpened, vision shifting until she saw the world in shades of grey broken only by the bright blue sparkle of chakra. She held her breath, hoping desperately that her target had not noticed the short spike of energy, and feeling as if the thundering of her pulse should be audible for miles around.
After an endless moment, Hinata released a cautious breath, a little of the tension easing out of her shoulders. Hidden deeply in the low bushes scattered throughout the property, Hinata leaned forward as she focused her sight to look through the walls in front of her. Suspicions had been raised, and the loyalty of the family in residence needed to be determined, if they could. Unfortunately, while they could, sometimes, peg someone as one of them… it was impossible to clear someone completely of suspicion.
Still, better to know for certain that a person in question was definitely an enemy – as careful as they had to be anyway, they had to be absolutely paranoid around those that they knew were hostile.
Therefore, surveillance was a cornerstone of their information network. The Byakugan was an invaluable tool for that, and one of the only things that she would thank her family for, but… but possessing it tended to put Hinata in the direct line of fire, making it only natural to assign her the dangerous task of close surveillance on those suspected of harboring treason against her Village.
-
Motion in one of the windows drew her eye, and the blonde leaned slightly towards the house she was watching. Focusing carefully, she searched the part of the room visible to her until she identified the younger daughter of the family. The girl was tiny, only two or three years old, and happily dragging her stuffed… something… through the house. Ino noted the child and smiled. It was a slow, surprisingly wicked expression on those pretty, delicate features.
Reaching blindly into the pocket of her grey jacket, Ino clicked the 'talk' function of her two-way radio – a glorified walkie-talkie, actually, but hey, they made do with what they had – and carefully brushed her thumb over the mike. Flicking it back off, the girl withdrew her hand, fingers already flying through a familiar set of signs even as her eyes never left the child.
An odd sensation of twisting and stretching, the familiar feeling of falling, of flying, and Ino blinked, a little disoriented for the briefest moment. And then she smiled again, shifting to hide the expression in the fur of the toy in her arms. Now brown eyes peered curiously at the tiny fingers, taking a hesitant step or two, letting herself become accustomed to how the new body moved. Ino had grown accustomed to possessing small children, and this time she was pleasantly surprised – the toddler was surprisingly well balanced for her age.
The Academy student spared a heartbeat to think that the little one she was possessing would probably make a good kunoichi one day – but then she returned her attention to her mission. Ino loved it when there were toddlers in the house. The babies were big enough to provide her a way to look around, but too small for them to bother corrupting. Small children don't know how to keep a secret, after all, so just about anyone under the age of five or six could be safely dismissed from suspicion. The parents and sister, however, were another story.
She knew the mother was gone, both parents were Chunin and the woman was away on a mission with her team. Sasuke – and a borrowed Akamaru – would signal from the gates if they came back early. That left the father and the teenage daughter. Shikamaru thought that the teen was the most likely, since they mainly focused on recruiting the younger generation, but Ino disagreed. She thought that the older daughter may be, but she was sure that the father was one of them. Her gut instinct told her so, and thus far, her gut had proven to be surprisingly accurate. Now it was time to try and find out for sure.
Plastering a wide, beaming grin on her borrowed little face, Ino set off to find 'Daddy', toddling as quickly as her now-short legs would carry her.
-
The 'click' of the radio caught his attention, and Kiba instantly tuned a part of his mind to the small device. A quiet boom sounded, as if someone had gently tapped a blunt fingernail against the mic, and then a rustling sound, as if that same finger had then slid across the plastic. Kiba scowled, but obediently moved to go and check on his blonde friend.
Kiba may have been the powerhouse of this particular group, but on a surveillance run, Hinata was queen. Her eyes gave her an unmatchable advantage, so if she said that there was trouble… Kiba moved faster. Around the west side of the house, the light breeze had picked up, and was now a decent wind. The tracker's face paled as he realized that his teammate must have chosen one of the trees to hide in. And with the mentalist currently out of her body…
A particularly hard gust of wind shifted the trees more quickly, and Kiba bit back a curse as he saw a flash of blonde hair begin to slide sideways. The boy broke cover, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be seen as he dashed to catch his mentally-absent friend before her body fell.
-
Hinata slowly released her breath. The man she watched returned to his table, settling back to his paperwork but not quite dismissing the thump he had heard outside. The man kept glancing towards the window. Ino had almost fallen out of the tree she had chosen as her vantage point, and Hinata had been sure that the noise Kiba had made catching the girl would be the death of them. She moved carefully until she got within the sight of her 'brother' and subtly signaled for a retreat. That had been too close. Besides, the man was on guard now; they would have to watch another night.
----
Sasuke cursed, anger and fierce determination shining in his eyes. He impatiently tossed black hair out of his face, and glared once more at the kunai buried to their hilts in their targets. Eight targets, each the size of his palm, set up at various angles and heights. Seven targets held a kunai in the exact center. One target had a kunai just a fraction of an inch away from the center. The one target hidden behind a tree, where he had had to bounce his kunai off of one tree and the ground in order to hit it.
Still… he had to get this right! He couldn't afford for his aim to be less than perfect. Itachi's aim had been perfect and someone had still neutralized the young ANBU Captain. Not that they'd ever found a body, but Sasuke knew that his older brother would never have willingly left him alone in such a hostile environment. And last night…
If a fight had broken out, if he had needed to go back up his 'siblings'… The boy narrowed his eyes, mentally replaying and analyzing every minute motion he had made. Then he smirked, an expression that should have been out of place in the pale, narrow face. "I see" he muttered. "That's what I did." He never got the chance to re-try the complicated jumping throw, however, as a commotion attracted his attention. 'Right on schedule' Sasuke thought as Naruto came barreling over the hill.
"You JERK!" the blond shouted as he drew near. "You're LATE!" The shorter boy stopped, arms crossing irritably in front of him as he glared. "We were SUPPOSED to meet for lunch, Sasuke. You promised. Now come on – you need to get out more. Believe it or not, there's actually more to life than training!" The blond huffed before muttering in a low, irritated voice. "Besides, it's not like you ever show anybody how good you've gotten. I still can't believe that you slack of so much in class! I mean, come on! If I was as good as you, I'd totally be the number one student in class! Not that Shino jerk."
Sasuke smiled fondly, the expression tinged with sadness as he listened to his best friend go off on one of his favorite rants. 'Shika was right, all those years ago.' he thought, watching the excitable blond gesture with his hands as he fussed. '…God, this is killing me, keeping everything from him, but… Naruto really wouldn't have been able to keep a secret like this. Heh, he'd have probably marched right up to one of the murderers and demanded to know just who the hell they thought they were. But… at least they haven't tried to recruit him. Honestly… they probably also realized that the loudmouth can't be quiet to save his life.'
The sadness was replaced by a small but genuine smile as he straightened out of the crouch he had been in and nodded to the other boy. "Okay, Naruto. Help me pick up my blades, and then I'll come to lunch."
-
As Sasuke turned away, Naruto's expression shifted. His smile faded, replaced with an old sadness that, had either of them known it, matched the one the Uchiha had worn just a moment ago.
Bright blue eyes studied his friend's profile, his surprisingly sharp mind noting the weariness in his gaze, the slight dragging of the taller boy's muscles. Sasuke was tired – not just the physical weariness expected after a hard training session, but a mental and emotional exhaustion that worried his cheerful best friend. Sasuke was keeping secrets – had been keeping them for years – and it was obvious, at least to Naruto, that those secrets were wearing away at the quiet boy.
'But Sasuke won't share them with me.' Naruto thought with a pang of hurt. 'Why won't he let me help him? I know he likes me, but… why won't he trust me?' Naruto gave himself a mental shake, pushing such dreary thoughts away. By the time Sasuke turned back to him, the blond's usual sunny grin was firmly back in place.
If he couldn't take some of the weight off of Sasuke's shoulders, he figured, then maybe he could at least cheer the other boy into forgetting about it for a little while.