Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO. I do not take part of the creation, production and distribution of the said anime. The characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This fic is written for pure enjoyment and is highly fictional. If such occurrences happen to the original plot, then it is a case of pure coincidence.

Chapter V

It has been an hour since Shikamaru called them, sixty minutes since he was typing something in the computer, and three thousand six hundred seconds since the men were patiently waiting for the plan to come up. As a group of people who were bored, the boys were chatting merrily about the mission…

"Man!" Kiba stretched. "All those genins are a waste of time! I'm so beat!"

"That's an understatement," commented Lee. "Shikamaru assigned us to get the names of the people Hinata-chan spent time with for the last couple of months and, at the same time, search for Mr. 1683."

"At least you weren't assigned to follow her," Chouji blurted out, obviously hurt from Kiba's and Lee's statements.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What's so good about being chased by the whole Konoha while looking for Mr. 1683?" He sighed and picked something from his kunai holster. The Uchiha stared at the green liquid light-heartedly. "It's a good thing we got this from granny or else the Konoha General Hospital would be profiting because of me… again." He gave emphasis to the last word, remembering the last time he visited the hospital. It was when a group of men confronted him. They made it quite clear that they don't want a traitor in Konoha. The result: a whole month-pay for sevnm individuals courtesy of Uchiha Sasuke.

Typical.

Lee got the point and nodded. He looked over to Neji who was quietly leaning against a nearby tree. "What happened to your mission, Neji?"

The Byakugan master stilled, averted his eyes. "Tenten was with Hinata-sama."

That alone made Lee silent and the men looked skeptical.

"Why are you so afraid of her?" Kiba asked curiously.

Shino cleared his throat. "As far as I know, Tenten is kind, always smiling and helpful to others."

Chouji looked mortified. "You say that because you weren't there. Tenten is scarier than Temari."

"Temari is not scary. She's homicidal," Shikamaru corrected behind the monitor.

"Okay. I rephrase. Tenten is scary especially if she's at the verge of anger," Chouji spoke timidly, secretly looking at Hyuuga Neji who was smirking.

"How so?" Sasuke asked out of curiosity.

"She plays with her kunai with her right hand for one moment. Then she started wagging it near one of her buns. After a while she struck the bench she was seating on with the kunai."

"Ummm… I don't see the point here," Sasuke replied weakly.

"The kunai embedded to the hilt."

Silence.

Lee laughed merrily. "That's all? Pardon moi, but that's nothing compared to the death threats we, Neji and I, received from her. Every time I do my "my rules" she starts drumming the nearest tree, which meant: I'll pin you if you don't stop. Right, Neji?"

The Byakugan master nodded, remembering. "You paid no heed to her that's why you got pinned. As I recall, you were almost dissected alive."

The taijutsu expert chuckled nervously. "But she wouldn't do that unless she's pretty angry…"

"Yah, pretty and angry," commented Kiba. Akamaru barked happily at his master. "That's right, Akamaru! She's even prettier when she's smiling."

Neji was startled by the given comment while Lee grinned at Kiba.

"She appeared more feminine when she wore sleeves," Shino added.

Chouji decided to join in. "I wonder what she looks like without her buns…"

Before Neji could bark a reply for the two, Sasuke spoke, "Do you think she'll consider repopulating the Uchiha Clan with me?"

The Hyuuga scoffed. "You don't fit the list."

"What list?"

"Her Ideal Guy List," Lee answered for Neji. "You have to be older than her by a year or younger than her by at least 3 months, prefer taijutsu than ninjutsu and genjutsu, taller than her by an inch, blah, blah... That sort of list."

"Why is she still single then?" Kiba asked, eyeing at Neji. "I know a certain guy who fits her description…"

"She said, 'Love will find me.'" quoted Lee.

Neji cleared his throat, seemingly oblivious of the change of topic. "Weren't we supposed to discuss about the mission other than TenTen?"

"Why, Neji. You sound too annoyed," the bug collector remarked. "Do you have any special relationship with her?"

"Such as?"

"Is she your girlfriend?" Kiba teased.

"Yes," the Hyuuga answered plainly. Deprived from any emotion, his voice was. Seeing his comrades' expressions, which range from utter shock to pure happiness, he carefully added, "I mean, she's biologically a girl and technically a friend but she's not legally my girlfriend."

"Oooh…"

"So nothing is going on…" whispered the shadow-caster behind the computer. Shikamaru grinned, as though a boy receiving what he wanted in life, and typed something.

Neji eyed at him before uttering, "Yes, nothing is going on." Obviously Shikamaru is up to something.

"Alright!" Kiba howled. "Now that the Hyuuga has pronounce that nothing is going on between them, I can finally pursue courting Ten-'' a shuriken whirled pass the dog trainer- as in 1 cm away-and embedded itself to the nearest tree.

"So nothing is really happening?" Chouji stared absent-mindedly at the shuriken thrown none other than Hyuuga Neji.

"Absolutely," confirmed Neji, glaring at Kiba, his mouth set in a thin line.

'Geez, they're not even together yet and he's already that protective.' Kiba thought. He inwardly snickered.

"Okay. Break time's over and let's get started," Shikamaru ordered, who suddenly appeared behind Kiba. Everybody gaped at him before they nodded.

"As we all know, Rokudaime Hokage-sama assigned us to search, locate and capture the guy Hinata-chan fell in love with. Our client gave us sufficient details about his man. However, his whereabouts are unknown and so is his physical appearance. Now, let me make it clear, that no matter how unreasonable it is or how troublesome it is we must complete this mission. Any questions? None… Good. Now we move to the plan I've conducted." His eyes darkened. "Data gathering."

The boys blanched. Lee courageously raised his hand.

"Yes, Lee?"

"With all due respect, Shikamaru, I didn't know you do sidelines for Jiraiya-sama! What's data gathering got to do with our mission?"

Shikamaru sweat-dropped. "You're talking about the data gathering I'm talking about, right?"

"You mean peeking?"

"No!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Data gathering! Looking for clues!"

"…"

"Finding some info useful?"

"…"

He sighed in exasperation. "Talking to girlfriends about their friend's love-life."

"Oh…" They brightened for one moment. Then the thought registered to their brain cells.

"What the what?" hollered Kiba.

Sasuke grabbed the strategist shirt and shook him fiercely. "That's more unreasonable than the mission! Can't you think of anything else?"

"My love life with Sakura-chan is more important than Hinata-san's," cried Lee.

"Cut it out!" Shino screamed. Instantly, Sasuke released Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru," Neji called his attention.

"Yes, Neji?" Shikamaru tried to straighten himself up.

"Shino, Chouji and I are single…"

The shadow-caster clenched fists, for the lack of better term. "DON'T YOU THINK I ALREADY KNOW THAT? I HAVE A PLAN, DAMN IT! Now be seated!"

They followed.

The strategist took deep breaths to calm himself. 'Thou shall not do unto others what you do not want to be done unto you.' He briefly imagined a certain female sand-nin's voice. With restrained violence, he turned the monitor to face the general public.

It read "MizuSuna Chakrapoint". He did something with the mouse and the image transformed into a slide show. The first slide reads, "Anonymous Genin # 1683".

Shikamaru arranged himself before uttering, "Our mission is to hunt down Anonymous Konoha Genin # 1683. What do we know about him?" He pressed the enter button and the slide changed. "Anonymous Konoha Genin # 1683. Name: Uzu. Age: unknown. Rank: Genin. Physical Features: not stated. According to Hinata-chan, Mr. 1683 is kind, lively, caring, and always cheers everyone up. He's willing to defend Konoha and is very much like the Rokudaime."

He pressed the button again. This time, the slide showed a list. "Here is a list of the people Hinata spend time with for the last couple of months."

'So that's why he wanted to get those names,' Sasuke thought.

"As we all know, Kiba, Shino and Akamaru were assigned to interrogate the male, particularly genins. Unfortunately, he is not one of them. So to make it short, we move to another plan." He clicked the mouse.

"Data gathering." A new list appeared, one shorter than the other, mainly because only 4 people are listed.

"Here are Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Tsunade-sama and Tenten respectively. Our objective is simple; find out what they know about Mr. 1683 based on their conversations with Hinata. That is why I assigned four men of our team to acquire the information we need from these four creatures. Am I making myself clear?" The men reluctantly nodded. He clicked the mouse. A picture of Ino appeared.

"For Yamanaka Ino…" Pause. "Rock Lee."

"Nani? Demo, Shikamaru, why not Sakura-chan? She's my girlfriend after all," complained the taijutsu expert.

"True, true… But I think that the two of you would rather talk about your relationship than Hinata's. Besides, you were complaining a while ago that your previous assignment was an understatement," Shikamaru pointed out. "Isn't Mission: Ino a challenging one?"

"…"

Their strategist continued. "For Haruno Sakura… Uchiha Sasuke."

The Uchiha stared at him squarely.

"Nani!" Lee exclaimed. "But Shikamaru! Sasuke-kun is Sakura-chan's first love!"

"So?" Shikamaru seems to be uninterested.

"First love never dies!"

"True love never dies," he justified. "Lee, if you love a person, set her free. If she comes back, she's yours. If she didn't, then she never truly was."

Lee was momentarily taken back. 'When did Shikamaru became so poetic?'

"Next we go to Tsunade-sama." He paused. "My choice is Chouji."

"I understand, Shikamaru… Any piece of advice?"

"Don't take any snacks, chips or anything that is processed or cancerous. Keep your voice down and show her respect. Don't talk about your date or you'll be fed up with wedding planning. I recommend that you bring sake."

"Okay…" Chouji mentally listed down the notes.

"Gambatte, Chouji." Shikamaru wished his friend good luck. "Finally, for Tenten…" drums… "Hyuuga Neji!"

Neji gave him an are-you-trying-to-match-make-me-with-TenTen-again eye.

Shikamaru smiled innocently at him. He continued, "Kiba, Shino and Akamaru will assist me while you poor- I mean- four men went on with your duties."

The remaining three stared blankly at him.

Shikamaru just winked. With that, he clicked close the dialog box and shut down the computer. "We'll meet here exactly before nightfall. Wear your radios as discreetly as possible. Meeting adjourned."

"My dear friends, we commemorate today the…" the minister continued in front of the Konoha population. Normally, they were gathered here for the inauguration of their new Kage. Today, however was not normal because the Kazekage and the Hokage were seating side-by-side listening to the speech for the last hour.

'Why did Kages even bother with peace treaties if they had to listen to this speech?' Rokudaime Hokage thought as he sighed in vain. It had only been an hour but he felt as though he had been listening for a whole day! He was, beyond doubt, completely bored. He quickly glanced at Sai who was smiling. He didn't look bored but he could feel his advisor's urge to run away. Naruto tried to contain his laughter but to no avail. He erupted into a fit of giggles instead.

He glanced over to the Sand. Kankurou yawned while Temari stared blankly at the microphone with murderous eyes. Godaime Kazekage-sama was the only one who seemed to be wide-awake. In fact, he was staring at the minister with the coldest eyes Naruto has ever seen. Apparently, the Kazekage is itching to form a seal and crush the poor old man.

'Better do something.'

"Peace is not something to given freely but-"

"Minister," the blonde interrupted. All heads turned to his direction but the Hokage appeared to be oblivious by them. "We would like to sign the contract…"

"Now," Gaara menacingly added.

The ministered sweat-dropped. "Very well… If that is your Excellencies request then-"

"We're not requesting. We're commanding," Naruto clarified.

The old man swallowed a big lump in his throat. "Scrolls." Instantly two scrolls appeared in front of him: one bearing the Fire Country seal, the other with the Wind Country's. "Sign at the bottom part."

The two nodded and scribbled their names.

"U… zu… ma… ki… Na… ru-to!" The Hokage mumbled under his breath.

"Sabaku no…Gaara."

"Done!" The Hokage exclaimed. He handed the pen. The Kazekage followed the suit.

They shook hands.

"I, Rokudaime Hokage, greatly acknowledge your presence and hope to tighten our ties with your country."

"For and behalf of the Wind Country, I, Godaime Kazekage, forge my trust with yours in about two hundred years or so," narrated Gaara.

"Same here!" Naruto grinned at him. "I hope you visit our famous stall, Ichiraku Ramen House! The delicacies there are great!"

Gaara nodded. "What do we do next?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Naruto whispered back.

"You exchange scrolls, your Excellencies," Kankurou whispered the answer.

They did what they were told to do.

"With the power vested in me, I end this ceremony," said the minister.

"Well, it I think it's time for the pictures," declared the Hokage.

"You completely missed the ceremony," Hyuuga Hiashi said sternly over his shoulder. The victim of his rage: Hyuuga Hinata. It was a normal routine, him being the clan head, to reprimand his daughter in the midst of their clansmen. Still, the feeling of regret penetrated on him. Especialy today on the date of his deceased wife's birth.

"I'm sorry, Father…" Hinata mumbled, trying to catch her breath. She ran a mile to get there only to miss the ceremony? She just wished her father was not disappointed at her as she was to herself.

"I thought you have changed. You disappoint me, Hinata." She flinched. Thankfully, her head was bowed down so her father wouldn't she her facial expression.

"When are you going to take the ANBU exam? As I have heard, your former teammates are very successful jounins now. Far from your level. Neji's already an ANBU."

Her father could try as much as to slap her and not hurt so much. "As soon as possible… Otou-sama."

"Hanabi's already a chuunin. I expect much greater results from you."

Hinata tried to stop the tears from escaping from her eyes. Why can't Otou-sama be proud of me? "Hai… Otou-sama…"

"You are dismissed," She nodded and turned, eyes closed. As she passed by, she wished she couldn't hear the whispers that surrounded her. But she could and it was almost unbearable.

"She is definitely not like her sister."

"If Neji was born in the main family, we would have a greater future ahead of us."

"Hmmp! First-born spoiled heiress."

She took a deep breath before walking stiffly, away from the gossiping crowd.

"KONOHAGAKURE!"

'Naruto-kun…' She whirled about and looked up. Sure enough, the blonde was dangerously standing on the brass railing, waving the scroll he's holding gleefully at them.

"THE PEACE TREATY IS A SUCCESS! WE ARE AT PEACE WITH THE WIND COUNTRY! ITSN'T IT GRE-eh…ehe… Ahhh!" And his voice was cut off. Why? He accidentally slipped and was now falling from the very high Hokage monument.