AN: I went back in the story and corrected some things, altered some sentences, added some content. I would recomend going over the first three chapters again to see the updated story, but not much has changed so it isn't necessary. I don't own Naruto. Also, I have come to a new revelation, I have at least three more stories to write after this one, not any related to this. The next I plan to work on is another Naru/Hina, slightly different change in the story line. I also have an idea for tenten/naruto, sorry naru/hina fans. The way I m getting out of breaking Hinata's heart is I am changing the very begining of the story, Hinata has never even heard of Naruto in this story, and the Hyugas won't play a big part at all, except for being mentioned. Ok, that is the plan. Here is chap 4, I am leading up to another fight, the first one Naruto will have to work for. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: Memories

Damn it. Why is everything so dang complicated? Naruto was standing at the city gates getting lectured by Jiriya. He was no longer wearing his robes giving to him by Tsunade marking him as the future Hokage, but instead wore a white t-shirt under a blue jacket. His orange pants had been traded in for light brown ones. If Jiriya had not been telling him off, he might have noticed that Naruto looked like a mirror image of his father, with fox whisker marks on his cheeks. "Jiriya, Hinata and Sakura are both coming with us. I don't care if that makes us a five man team. No one here has the strength that Sakura has and there is no way I am going to leave Hinata here alone the day after I got married to be attacked by more Akatsuki! If you are so worried about the effectiveness of our team, maybe you should stay behind." Jiriya sighed. There was no dealing with him like this. So much like his father… Jiriya finally relented.

"Ok, fine. We are all going. And going now. Ready?"

"Yeah, but I think I am team leader on this one, Jiriya."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine." He leaned over to Shizune. "He thinks that just because he could beat everyone here to a pulp that it makes him a better leader…"

"I heard that." Naruto started walking out the gate, Hinata holding his hand on one side and Sakura walking on his other. Jiriya laughed and was about to say something about sticking to one women, but Shizune saw it coming and smacked him in the head, causing him to fall on his face. She started after the friends, dragging the perverted sennin along the ground by his leg.

Naruto and his team had been walking for hours with Shizune reading to the Hokage-in-training from a diplomatic book, explaining the relationships with other lands and ways to change them. Hinata was just enjoying the time with Naruto's hand in hers. Suddenly a soft, furry something began brushing against her leg. It wasn't just a passing brush either. It was constantly brushing up and down her leg, going almost dangerously high. Hinata stifled a giggle. It was very ticklish… very, very ticklish. She looked at Naruto to see him facing backwards and nodding intently towards Shizune. Hinata was barely keeping her laughter in check, but then one of the tails brushing against her went slightly slower then it had been, slow and sliding. Another tail joined it, just barely tickling her under her shirt in the small of her back. She had given up wearing her trademark coat after… well actually it was just yesterday. Instead she was wearing just a pair of black shorts, a black shirt and a dark purple jonin style vest. This newest feeling of the second tail caused Hinata to crack. Hinata was suddenly on her knees laughing hysterically. Sakura, Jiriya, and Shizune just stared at the young woman that couldn't stop laughing. Sakura had never even seen Hinata laugh like this. The most I have even seen her do is a shy little giggle with her hand on her mouth. Naruto smiled.

"Well, I guess I will have to carry her."

"Naruto, stay back! It might be some new form of enemy jutsu!"

"Sakura, I think I will take my chances…" Naruto picked her up bridal style, and almost instantly Hinata stopped laughing and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, bringing him down for a kiss.

"See, she was probably just laughing at when Shizune said that one thing about how shinobi need to never show emotion." Hinata giggled at him. Jiriya knew what had probably been going on, but while he knew Naruto's secret he wasn't going to tell Sakura and Shizune without his permission.

"Naruto, if you and your wife are done now we should keep moving." Sakura walked up next to Hinata as Naruto fell back towards the still lecturing Shizune.

"Hinata, what was that all about?"

"Oh… um… Naruto was… rubbing… my hand…" Hinata blushed, not knowing what to say. Sakura just stared at her, not knowing what was so funny or even ticklish about that. Maybe it is one of those things mama always says I'll understand when I fall in love… Sakura was suddenly lost in thought about Lee while Hinata sent a fake glare towards the back of Naruto's head.

"Hinata, how did you meet Naruto? I mean, I know you had a crush on him for years, but when did you actually meet him. I had never known him before the ninja academy, but I remember that you blushed at him on the first day." Naruto turned around and started waling forward again, he also wanted to hear her story.

"Well, I met Naruto a few days before my fifth birthday. I was playing on the playground by myself… some kids walked up to the swing I was on and pushed me off. I remember that I started to cry a little, but before I had time to run away the leader of the bullies was on the ground with a bloody nose. I stopped crying and looked up at my savior. That was the first time I saw Naruto. He just smiled at me and said, "Hi, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am going to be Hokage one day! Don't be sad, you're too pretty to be sad!" Instantly, I felt better. Naruto was soon chased off by the bullies and I left to go home. In the few days later I met Naruto and we swung on the swings together. I never even spoke to him, I was too shy. After I was… almost kidnapped... I was forced to stay inside the clan's complex. I never forgot Naruto, though. Besides my mother, Naruto was the only person to ever call me pretty or care about whether or not I cried." Naruto remembered those times on the swings. He remembered running back to the Third Hokage on that day that he had started swinging with her and yelling at the top of his lungs that he had found a friend. The Third had merely smiled. Naruto had been crushed when he had arrived some days later and, for the first time, his nameless friend who would always sit and listen to him go on about his plans and dreams had disappeared. But Naruto had lost that memory along with many others over the years, painful memories that he never cared to remember. He hadn't even recognized Hinata when she and him were in the same academy class. Man, I didn't know that she was my first friend and also, now, my lifelong friend. Naruto smiled at the thought. It was strange how things like that happened.

"Hinata, Sakura, do you want to hear my favorite memory of Hinata?" Sakura said sure, though Hinata was sure she would blush at whatever he said.

"It was that mission we went on to go find the scent bug to find Sasuke. I remember many things that happened on that trip. There was when Hinata used her own technique that she had designed herself to defeat the bug users. There was when she actually found the bug. There was at the end, when Hinata didn't get mad at me for ruining the mission. But my favorite memory I have of Hinata is when we were on our way there. We had pitched camp early, and I was out. I woke in the middle of the night to go pee. When I was out there, though, I saw something I did not expect. Hinata's clothes." Hinata let out a squeak of embarrassment at realizing exactly what memory he was referring to. "I had no idea what was going on, but suddenly a figure appeared on the stream nearby, right next to a waterfall. The light was horrible, so I couldn't see anything but I knew it had to be Hinata. The figure danced on the stream and as she did the water flowed up and around her to the motion of her hands. In the end, the figure was inside of a sphere of water droplets that shined like diamonds. It was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Completely without thinking I started walking out to tell her how beautiful her dance had been, forgetting the fact that I had seen her clothes back on a rock. I slipped and fell into the water, and when I got up the figure was gone. I arrived back at camp to find Hinata already asleep, or so I thought. The next day I tried to complement her without giving it away to her teammates."

"Really? Naruto, I didn't even know you knew it was me."

"Well, I didn't exactly think it would be polite. You were already blushing so much I though that you would pass out if I mentioned to you how beautiful you looked as you danced naked on the water."

"Well, I know if anyone told me that in front of other people that I would have passed out…" Sakura was laughing inwardly at the idea of shy Hinata having a heart attack while Shino and Kiba stared at her.

"WOWOWOWOWOW!!! I am going to totally use this in my next novel!" Jiriya had his notepad out and had been vigorously taking notes throughout the entire story. Naruto spun around and snapped his fingers. Instantly Jiriya's notebook burst into flames.

"No, you won't. I doubt Hinata would find it flattering to be found in one of your books." Jiriya picked up the ashes of his book with tears in his eyes.

"N…naruto… why did you have to do that?" Jiriya began to sob and Sakura was forced to drag him with them by the collar of his shirt.

"You know, I can't believe how stupid I was over my life. I mean, look at all the stuff I missed. I had a person who loved me right next to me, and I ignored her. I had potential friends all over the city, and I just tried to prove how much better I was then them. I could have trained with Lee instead of playing pranks and have already reached my level of expertise years ago. Above all, why on earth didn't I see that you liked me? I mean, even if I never even knew you from the academy, when we took the chunin exams I should have seen it. The way you fought, the way you were willing to let me cheat. I never even knew you liked me as a friend until I visited you after your fight with Neji."

"Yeah, and you wondered why we all called you an idiot."

"Hey, you aren't supposed to agree with me!"

"Wait, Naruto, you… visited me?"

"Well, yeah! I thought it was partially my fault that you got hurt as bad as you did…" Naruto frowned, remembering that time. What if I had lost her then? I wouldn't be married right now, that is for sure. I wouldn't even have a girlfriend. I might even have given up… Kurenai wouldn't have set me straight and I would have blamed myself for her death. I don't know what I would have done…

"Naruto, how did you find out when you visited me?"

"I don't think you want to know…"

"Please, Naruto. I want to know how you found out. Kurenai wouldn't ever talk about that time."

"You were dying." Everyone in the group stopped walking and turned to face Naruto.

"W…what?"

"You were going to die that night, the doctors said. I had been there since after Gaara fought Lee and when the doctors let me in to see you they told me… they had given up. I blamed myself. I didn't want you to die, you were just the kind girl who was shy, but you had stood up to Neji so that made you strong too. So the Kyuubi offered to bring you back. He poured his own chakra into you, forcing the tenketsu open where the doctors hadn't been able to, like what he did with me in my fight with Neji. He also healed you a lot, which is why you were even able to move a few weeks later. I passed out. When I woke up, you were in stable condition and Kurenai was blocking me from seeing you. See told me that you admired me… and that you liked me."

"Naruto… you saved me?"

"No, you saved me." Naruto smiled and pulled her closer. "Even when everyone else thought I was just some loser, to weak, the last in the class, you believed in me. Like right before the fight with Neji. And then you gave me a gift that I had never received before. Love."

"Naruto…" He kissed her. This time Jiriya was writing on his forearm everything that happened. He snickered to himself until he watched the ink on his arm slowly disappear.

"What?"

"Jiriya, no taking notes on us."

"Hmph… fine. I have enough notes already to make my next book. It is about this girl named Akuras and a young man named after an eel…" Jiriya was suddenly frightened as killing intent hit him, enough to make even a sennin stop in his tracks. Sakura turned around with an evil look on her face as she cracked he knuckles. "Jiriya, I think that maybe you should change the names of the people in you story if you ever hope of doing "under cover" research again."

"What? Did I say Akuras and Eel, I meant to say Noi and Jicho!" I will just move it back one more in the series.

"Good…" Sakura began walking again and everyone followed, a little startled by Sakura's crazy personality.

Jiriya was growing more and more uneasy. They had been walking almost all day and were about halfway to sound, but on the way there had been no one. Not one person had passed by them going either way. No citizens, no shinobi, no one. If I was going to ambush us, it would be around that next bend coming up. There was a sharp twist in the path. It needed to go in between two huge rocks, each over twenty meters tall. It would be the perfect place for an ambush, no place to maneuver. Long range and jutsu specialists would be able to kill them in one shot. Jiriya prepared himself subtly. Naruto had already been ready for it. He had sensed two presences following them a few hours back. They had gone around the team and were now somewhere up ahead. Naruto assumed that they were near those two giant rocks. Nothing is easy anymore. Naruto had been secretly multitasking as he listened to Shizune. He had been trying to create a rasengan on one of his tails. It was difficult, as he was still not used to how the chakra flowed through the tails. It wasn't as… focused. It was almost like the tails had chakra lines that were twice the thickness as regular chakra coils. He had managed to produce a rather large, yet unstable, rasengan but it was not easy. I guess that I will have plenty of time to practice against the two people I felt before. They felt like water users, maybe mist ninja? I can't let myself get trapped like last time, even if the guy said it was a one-of-a-kind jutsu. They seemed really strong, but maybe not. Shizune had kept ready most of the entire day, only to stop when Naruto wasn't paying attention. She felt the tension rolling off of Jiriya and knew that the rocks up ahead would pose the perfect place for an ambush. Sakura was lost in her own thoughts while Hinata leaned against Naruto and watched the road ahead blissfully. Naruto suddenly stopped. Something wasn't right. He could feel the ninja's up ahead, just beyond the crack in the rocks now only a hundred meters away. But there was something not right, something in his instincts, human and fox, told him that all was not as it seemed. They are weaker... traps?

"Everyone, I am going to go ahead for a second, follow me a minute." Naruto kissed his wife before disappearing. He had gone into the forest beyond the two rocks. Where are they… ah… oh, no! Two very poorly made clones stood next to the crack, not poorly made in shape but the amount of chakra put in. They were merely decoys. No, Hinata! Naruto jumped up onto the top of the rocks to look for his friends, instead he saw exactly what he had feared. The area he had just come from was now filled with mist. Damn it! Hold on, guys! Naruto jumped down into the mist.