Chapter 5

"Only one of you?" the faceless figure asked in what seemed almost an amused tone. "I wasn't surprised when Nadare returned alone, but what could make you return empty handed and without your partner… Itachi?" Itachi's eyes remained steady… they were always steady… he stared back at the man mocking him, his eyes both vicious and unconcerned.

"The Kyuubi." He said no more. What else needed to be said?

"The Jinchuuriki is progressing much faster than we'd expected," noted another figure. "Perhaps we should move our timeline up." It was said like a statement, but everyone there knew it was a question.

"Yes," said yet another figure at the table. "That is exactly what we will do. Konoha cannot be allowed to gain a fully trained Jinchuuriki… our plans depend on it."

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Naruto breathed in deeply, the cold air refreshing and yet shocking as it filled his lungs… it felt almost palpable, as if he could put it in a jar. He loved the morning air. Opening his eyes he saw the window he'd left open last night. It was his way of ensuring he was up early without the bad mood that an alarm put you in. The sun looked like it had been up for perhaps half an hour… perfect.

He rolled off the couch slowly, yawning as he scratched his head. He hadn't felt up to sleeping in the rooms again, but the couch was pretty comfy. It was too much space though, he thought wistfully. He'd never felt so alone as he did at nights in this house… even when no one had been there to acknowledge him, and he'd been living on his own, he hadn't felt this lonely.

Perhaps it was that he knew what real acknowledgement and real companionship… real love felt like, he pondered as he began to brush his teeth. But such a beautiful morning made it impossible for him to feel dejected, and for that he was thankful. After grabbing some miso for a quick breakfast and getting dressed, he left the house for his old training ground. If he was going to take the Jounin exam, he was going to be ready.

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Hinata had been up for about an hour sorting through the things she'd brought with her. She'd looked them over for a few moments that night she'd returned, but hadn't really had the chance to go over them and decide what to do about it all.

She smiled faintly as she pulled out the very first pair of hair sticks that Naruto had bought her. For some reason, they still seemed the most precious to her. Standing, she pulled her hair back, wrapping it around into a proper bun before securing it with the sticks. Glancing over at the mirror she faintly thought that she enjoyed her hair like this as much as he did, before returning the rest of her things to their places, and heading out the door.

Neji was on a mission, and so her training in the Jyuuken form could not proceed for at least a few more days. But that was no excuse for her to not practice at all. She pulled one of the familiar doors open, stepping out into a training court yard the Hyuuga compound boasted.

She'd start with the breathing exercises.

Hinata closed her eyes and slowed her breath, focusing on the sound of the air slipping past her lips. In her mind she pictured a single candle burning brightly, zeroing in on the flame as it leapt to-and-fro. It was a type of meditation training designed to prepare her for the focus that the Shina-To-Be form required during practice.

Because of the nature of the exercise, she was never quite sure exactly how long she had her eyes closed. She was only really aware of when it was right to open them and begin her work-out, and that point was a feeling that was difficult for her to describe. She could no sooner tell you how she was able to taste the difference between strawberry and banana.

Purposefully she bowed then launched into a quick series of acrobatic maneuvers. She had been practicing the Shina-To-Be form for nearly two and a half years now, and she finally felt graceful in its sweeping, connected blows.

The form relied on grace and speed; on the ability to move the bulk of your body quickly by keeping your center of gravity relatively stationary. To an observer though, it appeared as if your body was making one, long fluid motion from the beginning of your strikes until you stopped; as if every single blow you landed was actually part of a single, larger move… which was not entirely untrue.

Hinata paused, focusing her chakra. She wasn't even breathing heavily yet.

"Wow," a small voice exclaimed for the doorway. Hinata turned to see her sister looking on in… admiration? The older girl smiled, as Hanabi strode over slowly. "That was… is that what you've been training this entire time?"

"Yes," Hinata replied, nodding her head.

"Do you still strike the chakra points with the form?" Hinata nodded again.

"Yes. It's called the Shina-To-Be form, but I've changed it to work with the Jyuuken." She paused for a moment. "I'm the only person that practices the exact form I do." It was something Naruto had readily pointed out with pride before, but rarely did she admit it.

"It…" Hanabi trailed off, and for a moment Hinata saw a flicker of recognition, then guilt in her eyes. "It's very impressive," she finished simply.

"Yes, I remember when Sora first demonstrated the form for me… I was impressed as well." Hinata looked over at the practice mat that was so familiar. "When I continue my training in the Jyuuken form I hope to combine them further to better suit my fighting style." She looked back to see Hanabi staring at her in mild shock. Had she said something wrong? Hanabi glanced around quickly.

"Don't let father hear you say that… he… is intent on you giving up your new form." She could tell that Hanabi wanted to say more, but what it was, she couldn't put a finger on. Hinata sighed.

"I expect father will be hearing many things from me soon that he would rather not hear…" Hanabi looked up at her sister in wonder. She really had changed.

"I must be getting to my morning exercises," Hanabi said softly, almost mumbling. Hinata smiled. Hanabi had always been more gifted at the Jyuuken than she was, but in many ways she saw a lot of herself, both her old self and her new self, in the younger girl.

"Good luck," Hinata told her with a smile as she walked out the door. Hanabi had grown up a little while she'd been gone. She was no longer as arrogant or headstrong as Hinata remembered. She seemed more… self-aware almost.

The Hyuuga heir practiced her form for another hour and a half before stopping to get some breakfast. She wanted to see if she could spend any time practicing partner training with Naruto.

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The man sat in a tree overlooking a familiar clearing. In it stood a blond 16-year-old who now towered over most of his peers at six feet. The man watched as Naruto practiced a form he hadn't seen before. The punches and kicks came fluidly and swiftly, and Naruto seemed to move with a precision that was rather astounding. Such technique was not the result of sheer determination; it was the result of skill and hard work. Good to know that he had it in him.

Suddenly, the blond ninja stopped. He turned to the stump in the center of the clearing and closed his eyes, forming a series of seals. The man watched intently as Naruto placed his hands on his stomach and murmured something. Those hand seals… Naruto had just performed some kind of sealing technique. Was he… restricting the Kyuubi in some way?

The man breathed shallow breaths, and Naruto closed his eyes, evening his own breathing. For a few moments it seemed as if Naruto had gone into a meditative trance of some kind, but with no warning Naruto's eyes burst open, and he shot forward at the stump, the strikes coming furiously and frantically. Something was different about the technique… it seemed more purposed and less technical.

"Oh?" the man said to himself softly. It certainly seemed as though Naruto had benefitted from his training mission. He looked on as Naruto stopped, drawing in several breaths, before walking back to the center of the clearing. The body language… he was favoring one side… it was how you would prepare for ambush from an area near where the man was stationed if you were an amateur.

He smiled beneath his mask. Naruto was sending him a message… he knew he'd been watched, and he knew where he was being watched from. Just as well… he wouldn't expect anything less from Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja…

Naruto, for his part, was beginning to get annoyed by the man in the tree. Honestly, did anyone really think that they could hide from him likethat? It was almost an insult to his ability as a ninja.

"Why don't you just come down here?" Naruto called out. There was a little movement from the tree, and moments later Naruto a lazy-looking Kakashi stood in front of him, his single uncovered eye peering at Naruto from beneath his half closed eyelid.

Naruto's thought process jerked for a moment. Seeing Kakashi brought several memories back to him at once, foremost his parents. He'd known… Kakashi had known the whole time and said nothing. Naruto glared at the Copy Ninja for a moment. He wasn't exactly angry at Kakashi… in fact Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about seeing his old Sensei. He settled on forcing the focus on to someone other than himself.

"I hear your prized student ran off," Naruto observed as if giving a weather report. Kakashi's face didn't change at all, but he was very surprised by the remark. It had almost seemed… cutting. Sora must have told him.

"I made a promise," Kakashi said. Naruto just stared at him. "To your father." Naruto's glared for a moment before looking away. "He made me promise… that you wouldn't find out from me." Kakashi stared at Naruto's averted gaze for a few more moments. "He didn't want you to be consumed by thoughts of everything you lost." Naruto slowly looked back to his old instructor.

"My mother never would have wanted that," he spat out much more venomously than he'd intended. Kakashi looked up at the sky and sighed.

"No, I don't suppose she would have." He listened as a bird flying overhead let out a pleasant chirp. "That's probably why your father loved her so much." He looked back at Naruto, who wasn't looking at him with quite the anger he had before. "Just like he loved you."

They stared at each other for a few moments, both wearing almost imperceptible expressions, (though Kakashi tended to look that way often due to his mask). Naruto stared down Kakashi as if he was challenging the older ninja to give an admission of some kind of guilt. But what little bits of expression Kakashi had on his face told Naruto that he was simply being honest; he'd been bound by a promise to his teacher… Naruto's father…

"Onee-chan won't be very understanding," Naruto told him, a tacit signal that he didn't hold it against the White Fang. Kakashi closed his eyes and heaved a sigh that Naruto wasn't expecting. Almost as if it actually bothered him that Sora would be so angry.

"I expect so." Kakashi looked back up at Naruto. "I hear you'll be in the Jounin exam?" Naruto smirked, telling the shinobi all he needed to know. "Well… do you think you can face me?" Kakashi had one hand in his pocket and the other grabbing his chin, his only visible eyebrow raised. Naruto grinned at the challenge. He honestly didn't know the answer, but given the opportunity he was anxious to find out.

Naruto launched at the Jounin with no warning, striking out. The masked ninja jumped backward, blocking the punches the Naruto began to fling. Naruto grinned and moved his hand in a yanking motion. Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Wait… there was a string in Naruto's hand! Glancing behind him he just barely saw the kunai on its path towards him.

Twisting around, Kakashi jump out of the way, avoiding the blade by the slimmest of margins. When had Naruto set any traps? What was he…?

Naruto raised his hand to his face in a familiar seal, and Kakashi looked behind him as he soared through the air, unable to change his trajectory. There was a tag on the branch he was about to land on.

"Kai!" The explosion kicked a giant cloud of dust into the air, and Naruto landed on the ground lightly, looking on at his handy work. Dusting off his hands he smiled and closed his eyes.

"Too bad it was a clone, or I really would have had you, eh Kakashi-sensei?" The tree behind the blond shinobi rustled, and Kakashi fell gracefully from the branch, his single eyebrow raised.

"Underneath the underneath," Kakashi muttered as if to himself. His eyes and mask suddenly turned up in a smile. "Good work Naruto, you have gotten much better." Naruto pointed at himself grinning like a fool.

"Of course I've gotten better! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and one day I'm going to be Hokage!" Kakashi stared at the somewhat self-righteous pose Naruto was striking with a certain calm. At least some things haven't changed…

"Naruto-kun," a soft voice called out from across the clearing. They both turned to see Hinata standing in her training outfit. "Would you like to train for a while?" Naruto grinned.

"Of course Hina-chan! Training with you always makes me stronger!" Hinata smiled at Naruto, and for the first time noticed Kakashi standing stoically next to the object of her affection. Naruto looked at Kakashi noticing the look of something on Hinata's face. She almost seemed… resentful? Maybe… maybe she was upset with Kakashi for the secret he held from Naruto? He smiled. She cared about others so much; it seemed like exactly the sort of thing she might do.

"Well, I have to go see the Hokage," Kakashi said nonchalantly. "I'll see both of you later." With a puff of smoke Kakashi disappeared, leaving the two teens to themselves. Hinata still had a slightly sour look on her face, and Naruto walked over to her with a smile, brushing one of the stray hairs not in the bun behind her ear.

The touch brought a blush to her face, and the sour look melted off her face replaced by a calm complacency. She smiled up at Naruto who was staring at her with the intense look his blue eyes always seemed to carry.

"How was your morning?" Naruto asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His face was now inches from hers.

"Fine," she uttered breathlessly. They hadn't really had much physical contact since returning to Konoha, not even the night before as they'd been too tired and busy to spend that much time appreciating each other's company. She felt her lips part as her eyes fluttered closed.

Naruto pressed forward the last inch or so and scooped her mouth up in his lips, eliciting a sound from Hinata that he found incredibly sexy. Her lips always seemed so soft, and he never tired of kissing her. It was even better now that they didn't have to worry about Sora popping out and making some snide comment while snapping a photograph.

He moved his hands up Hinata's back, enjoying the smooth curve of her body, unconsciously pushing her closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled away slowly. Savoring tender moments was something that was still particularly foreign to him, and although he could appreciate the feeling that such times brought, he still felt a bit out of his element.

"How'd you sleep?" Hinata asked softly, still reveling a bit in the intimate contact. Naruto frowned.

"Alright I guess," he answered half-heartedly. She stared at him with genuine concern and he sighed. He never could fool her. "The house is lonely," he elaborated quietly. He turned to look away, not wanting to look her in the eye. Insecurity, as he had thought earlier, is a sign of infinite trust when you show it, and Naruto still felt uneasy about trusting someone so much.

But Hinata was not clueless. On the contrary, she knew a lot about the things that Naruto felt, whether he said them or not, and she wrapped her arms around him gently from behind, burying her head into his back grasping tightly. Naruto smiled. He knew he could count on his Hina-chan.

Moments passed… Naruto wasn't sure exactly how many. He turned around and looked into Hinata's eyes as she let go of his torso.

"Gomen… Hina-chan…" Hinata smiled at him fondly, and he found himself being drawn to her. It was a feeling he was still a bit unfamiliar with, though he didn't fight it like he used to. Naruto slowly dipped his head, touching his lips to hers, feeling how soft and warm they felt.

"Hina—oh!" Naruto broke away quickly and looked up to see who had been calling his girlfriend. There stood Hanabi, looking properly startled and embarrassed. Hinata blushed furiously turning to her sister.

"Um… father… wants to speak with you." Hinata nodded in acknowledgement. "I think… the way he was talking during this morning's training… I think he's going to have us fight, Onee-chan." Hinata looked startled; not just by the revelation that her father might arrange a fight between her and her sister, but also that her sister had called her "onee-chan". It showed that Hanabi respected her ability now, at least as an equal. Respect was something Hinata was not used to.

"Right," Hinata said faintly before turning back to Naruto. He looked thoroughly worried.

"Hina-chan, this is exactly what we were trying to avoid," he began. "We should have worked harder to keep everything quiet… We weren't very good at it though. Neji spotted it the moment he met us." Hinata shook her head.

"This isn't about you, Naruto-kun. Don't put this on yourself." She turned and looked at her sister who was still waiting, staring at them with a guilty look on her face. "We're both strong, and my father underrates us both I think." She turned back to Naruto smiling. "Don't worry… if that is what my father wants, it won't happen tonight."

Naruto visibly relaxed, sighing in release. He smiled faintly at her, nodding.

"Alright... I'm going back to my house for the evening to practice calligraphy." He looked her straight in the eyes, grabbing her shoulders. "Let me know, alright?" She nodded, confidence returning to her face. Naruto gave her so much strength…

Jordan's Notes: I apologize that this chapter took so long. My sister had my first nephew last Sunday, and I started a new job almost exactly two weeks ago, so… but I got it done quicker than I would have imagined with my sister in the hospital.

I really enjoy writing this story. I don't particularly like this chapter though, but oh well. Let me know what you think, and I'm sorry this took so long. The next chapter should be quite exciting. Will Hinata stand up to her father? If so, how? What will Hanabi do or say? Has Naruto really forgiven Kakashi, or was his explanation unsatisfactory? Well… we'll find out, won't we. (And I do so apologize for how short this chapter is...)

NOTE: Sorry to my beta's… this one got posted without their feedback. I wasn't able to finish this in a timely manner due to the whole nephew-being-born thing, and I didn't feel like depriving readers of the next chapter any longer. Rest assured Seth, Sora, I'll be sending you chapter 6 for lots of feedback.