IV. New Squad, New Mission.
(...)
"I wish you hadn't done all that..." The familiar voice kept saying. Everything was dark, He couldn't see a thing. Did he have his eyes closed? Or was it that his surroundings were absoluetly engulfed in pitch black darkness? Either one, his mind and spirit were starting to feel the natural effects Darkness had in the psyche of any human. Fear. Loneliness. Sadness. Pain. But why? None other than him had walked alongside Darkness for so long a time, and in such an intimate way. Why would he, of all possible people, feel afraid of the dark? It didn't make any sense.
"Why...? Why did you have to make that choice?" The voice said. He looked around him, trying to find the source of it, but it was for naught. He wasn't able to see anybody else.
"Who are you?" He asked, trying to not let his fear out through his voice, though he was starting to feel like his will was going to break.
"Did you think I was going to be happy...? Is that it?"
He turned on his feet (that is of course, assuming that what his feet felt was solid ground), and two events took place in the swiftest speed he had ever felt before. First, a blinding beam of light shone through the whole black void, and rendered his eyes useless. And then, right when he thought he could get a glimpse of whatever it was causing the light, what he could get to see was the face of one person he would never in his life or even death forget.
Brown hair that used to be shoulder-lenght, and that now reached her back. Dark eyes that in the past shot kindness right, left and centre, and that right now conserved their color albeit not the same kindness. Soft, white skin with which he had dreamed countless times as a kid. Wondering how in th world could that be even happening, his left eye (purple coloured, containing a pupil surrounded by a ripple pattern) and his right eye (crimson-red, one central pupil and three tomoes surrounding it in a shuriken-like motion) suddenly felt eager to make that dream a reality, and Uchiha Obito himself felt like he needed to hold her hand. His eyes widened with so much surprise that it hurt... He hadn't been so shocked in many, many years.
"Rin...!"
He tried to run towards her, but she shook her head. She was crying. She looked as old as him, perhaps. Her body was covered with a white, silky and shiny tunic that made her look like an angel. For all he knew, she could have been an angel from the start. Right from the first time he met her. Perhaps now, she was just revealing that angelic nature of hers to him... For whatever reasons. Obito tried running faster, putting his whole strenght on it... But be it by the thickness of the previous darkness, or by the speed with which that very angel flew away from him, he couldn't catch up. Despair came to his body in the form of coldness and fear.
"Rin!"
The angel turned on her feet, no wings needed, and then another quick thing happened. She glared at him with so much hatred he felt his heart ache... And his ears caught the roar of a creature so powerful and threatening that he lost his balance and fell to his knees. His eyes were no longer seeing Rin, or the darkness around him. He knew that roar very well. It belonged to a creature with ten tails.
As soon as the second roar was heard, Obito woke up. Soaked wet in sweat. Gasping. Only a faint breeze drifted through his improvised window. He was back at his cell. A dream. A nightmare. Biting his bottom lip, he stood up and walked clumsily towards the window pane. He gazed at the sea beyond his prison, while the full moon shone right in front of him, as if trying to mock him for his attempt at using it. Obito's eyes lost brightness again, and his expression regained its normal serious, cold demeanor.
"I did it because... I thought we would be able to be together..." He said lowly. "...Not that you really wanted me to be with you, anyway. Isn't it... Rin?"
(...)
"Oh, so you really came today!" Naruto smirked defiantly. "I guess you missed my feet kicking your ass..."
"...Wrong. What I missed was your feet trying to kick my ass. Trying and failing, that is." Sasuke answered as he walked towards him. The sky was as blue as it had never been before, not even during previous summers. No clouds. Leaves kept falling. Well, that was the village hidden in the leaves, after all. Naruto had gone all the way to the training fields. Everything seemed calm, lively and beautiful, if one would decide to overlook the many holes and craters in the ground and several tree logs and trunks, and many of them had small, black marks in them. The place had been receiving Naruto's harsh training's outcomes mercilessly.
"Huuuuh? Someone woke up in a good mood!" Naruto said, not taking his smirk off his face even once. Sasuke feigned being annoyed, while still displaying his usual arrogant smile. "I guess you think you can beat me... Why don't we give it a try? I was training anyway."
"No time for that." Sasuke folded his arms. It was then that Naruto realized how he was wearing the same outfit as Kakashi. A Jounin uniform. And hell, it made the blond jiinchuuriki happy to see Sasuke not only wearing that, but also his Konoha headband. Proudly. For once, he smiled with no rivalry or mischief, and displayed honest happiness. But then, obviously, wearing your uniform in Konoha only meant that you were either going to, or coming from a mission.
"It seems you got it..." Sasuke nodded. "...Godaime needs us at her office. Now. Plus, she did mention that you had some sort of appointment today with some girl... Or woman. Whatever. So, yeah... Get your ass ready."
"Oh shit!" Naruto facepalmed, and felt terribly guilty all of a sudden. What with all the things ("things") that had happened the prevous night with a certain black-haired woman, he had all but forgotten (yet again) about Konan. And he did say that once she had recovered, he would listen to whatever it was she had to say so badly. It had been Tsunade the one saying that she would be fine the day after... And, well, now was the day after. "Yeah, I totally forgot about that... Anyway, how's the night with... You know...?"
"Bakka. You don't need to ask." Sasuke said, turning on his feet and asking him to follow his lead with a hand sign. "Ikuso."
"Oi, oi, oi... No bossing the boss around, got that?" Naruto said, feeling relieved inwardly to not having to hear Sasuke talking about Sakura. Or rather, he was relieved that Sasuke knew him enough to not force him to talk about something he'd feel bad about. Naruto ran to catch up with him, and then kept walking alongside his friend. It seemed as though it was going to be a long day.
"By the way, that outfit suits you, Sasuke-chan..."
"I swear to Kami, I will kill you if you say my name like that again."
"Yeah, haha, you've been trying to kill me for... How long was it, again? Yet, here I am. Alive and strong enough to send you flying, Sasuke-chan..."
"Naruto, teme, I'm warning you. Just because you and I are Jounin now doesn't mean we're equal..."
"Oh yeah, I forgot! I need my uniform. Hey, let's stop by my place for a sec, okay? Sasuke-chan?"
The black-haired Uchiha's forehead vein itched incredibly threateningly, and Naruto knew Sakura's bad mood for jokes had been passed on to Sasuke. Laughing out loud, Naruto ran for his life as Sasuke chased him angrly, shouting his name.
(...)
"Are you feeling better? Like, do you feel strong enough to walk?"
Following these questions, she tried to stand up from the wheel-chair. It soon became clear enough that she couldn't do it, as the sole try of moving her waist sent incredible pain to the rest of her body, and made her sweat as much as if she was running a marathon. Konan fell on her wheel-chair again, exhausted from just trying it. Her frustration became quite noticeable, as she scowled whenever she looked at her own reflection in the window. Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura (who had been there for a while, wearing her Jounin vest and trying to help) looked at each other, and then helped Konan to be more comfortable.
"It's okay. Don't push yourself. It's not like anybody can recover from such a wound overnight. Not even a Jiinchuriki." Tsunade went back to her Hokage seat, and her apprentices carried Konan's wheel-chair next to her. The ex-Akatsuki's forehead, covered by sweat, was wiped clean by Sakura, while Shizune let her drink some water.
"What... What is going to happen to me?" Konan asked. The three medics axchanged a look again, and then looked at her.
"We're not sure." Sakura said. "I mean, what's important it's not just the fact that you were wounded, but also for how long were you wounded and more importantly, for how long were you bleeding. What sort of places were you resting at, and what-have-you. I'm afraid there's a possibility you might be infected..."
"...It's not like we're blaming you, or anything." Shizune said. " On circumstances like yours, it's more than understandable that you were on that state. But in a medic's opinion, you're quite lucky to be even alive. You should have died right after being stabbed... Who did this to you, again?"
"It was Madara..."
Shizune and Sakura looked at each other yet again, and frowned.
"You mean the Madara, or the masked man who impersonated him?"
Konan looked at them, perplexed. It was then that Tsunade finaly joined the conversation and sighed with a slight tone of frustration.
"She had no idea that Madara was dead all along." The Godaime looked at Konan, whose skin suddenly lost color slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, the man you knew as Madara... The one pulling the strings inside Akatsuki... He was never Madara to begin with. He was a former shinobi of this village. Uchiha Obito."
Konan's reaction, despite the fact that before she seemed actually scared of that thought, wasn't one of much surprise. She did seem impressed to some extent, but didn't lose her demeanor. She merely frowned while gazing at the floor and then snorted.
"Yahiko did say... Whether he was a criminal or an idiot, he did have some sort of huge effect by using that other man's name. In the end, he was right... As he always was. But I take it you did fight the real Madara during the war? Godaime-sama?"
"Yeah..." Tsunade frowned at the mere thought of it. Just remembering Uchiha Madara's face sent a chill throughout her spine. "...And almost died because of that. He wasn't the kind of ninja that could be beaten by anybody but my grandfather. In the end, we not only end up losing Kami-knows-how many men from our Shinobi Alliance, but also didn't manage to kill him, or cause his soul to leave that accursed Edo Tensei."
"Edo Tensei?" Konan raised her eyebrows, and then looked through the window. "That damn Kabuto... So he did replace Orochimaru's gross jutsu during the war, after all. But then... How did you...?"
"Oh, believe me. I wasn't sure we had even the slightest possibility of even touching that man. Not even we, the Five Kage, were enough to deal with him. But, well... I guess as time goes by, and as the new generation takes after the previous one, even the strenght of a man such as Madara ends up being surpassed by the new generation's. He never expected our children to weigh just as much as he did, not even once. Neither did we. In the end, though, we had to seal him away. Barely, but we managed to. He lies now on the Kohaku no Johei. The pot where the Hachibi used to be sealed. And may Kami have mercy on us, that he stays there forever." Godaime took a short sip to her cup of tea, while Sakura and Shizune nodded with rather gloomy expressions. Konan could feel the same frightening sensation of insecurity, thinking what could happen if the pot suddenly broke.
But before that thought had much more development, the door to the Godaime's office opened and three people entered the room. First, a tall man with gray-white hair and a Konoha headband covering his left eye, wearing a jounin outfit and a small pocket book on his right hand. Following him, a young man with spiky-yellow hair, bright blueish eyes and about as tall as the first one. Next to this one, another young man with blueish-black hair, and deep black eyes. The three of them seemed to be having their own conversation...
"...by that, Kakashi-sensei? Are you saying that we're still weaker than you?" The blond said childishly, his expression resembling a puppy-fox about to start being annoying. "Tsk, tsk... Come on, now that Team Seven is back, shouldn't we have our bell-test again? You know, so we can prove we're better?"
"Naruto may be a dimwit, but he's right. What's that about not being mature enough yet?" The other youngster said, frowning.
"You're still kids, this is the tenth time I'm saying it, already..." Kakashi answered, reading his book and sighing frustrated. "...'Taku, you two. Why don't you go ask the Godaime for that? Right, Tsunade-sama?"
The blond and the black-haired looked in front of Kakashi. Tsunade's dangerous forehead vein began itching slightly, and even more troublesome than that, this time Sakura had joined her shishou in the same threatening expression. Shizune and Konan felt a tiny sweat-drop of awkwardness fall down from their heads, as the two young men went pale.
"Is there any problem?" Tsunade and Sakura asked together, with a tone that conveyed blood-thirst. In fact, both women seemed to be shrouded in a dangerous, murderous aura. Kakashi smiled through his pseudo-mask once he saw his two students hide behind his back, shivering.
"N-no! Problems? What is that? Sasuke, do you know what are they talking about?" The blond one asked nervously.
"Nope. No idea. No idea at all. Don't ask me, Naruto." Sasuke replied shaking his head with unnecessary force. As Sakura went after them, her vein itching more dangerously, Konan approached Shizune.
"Say, is she like that all the time?"
"Y-yeah. Don't take neither of them lightly, or you will die." The nervous woman said. "Last time, I tried to..."
"Mind if I join the convo, Shizune?" Tsunade asked with kind voice. But Shizune knew better, and both her and Konan trembled with fear.
"I-it's okay! Hahaha! N-nothing relevant, Tsunade-sama, nothing relevant at all!" The black-haired medic said, while Konan nodded (also with unnecessary force).
"Anyway..." Tsunade said it so that all the people present in the room would hear. Sakura stopped her pursuing Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi stopped reading and grinning around, and Shizune and Konan went more serious. "...Konan. You're now healthy enough to talk. What was that you needed to say to Naruto?"
"Hai..." Konan looked at the blond Jiinchuuriki and smiled. He returned the smile. "...I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
"Baka. It was no trouble at all... Okay, for the medics it was, a little..." He stood corrected, fearing Tsunade's vein close to burst. "...But I'm glad you're okay. What happened to you anyway?"
"I was right before the war... Madara... No, this person impersonating Madara..." She felt the air around her and especially around Kakashi and his team grow thicker and more tense. "...Well, he came to Amegakure. He needed Nagato's Rinnegan..."
Silence. Everyone looked at each other. Naruto's fists trembled.
"So he...?"
"Yeah. He took Nagato's corpse... And from what I've heard about the war, so he did with his Rinnegan."
"Tch! Meddling with Nagato every single time... Anoyaro..." Naruto folded his arms. "...Now that I think about it, Kakashi-sensei..."
"Yeah." His master replied. "The Rinnegan we saw on his left eye back then was probably Nagato's..."
"...But that's the issue." Konan finished his sentence. "...Only his left eye was the Rinnegan, right?
"Yeah."
"So, whatever happened to the other one? Nagato's corpse must still have the remaining Rinnegan, I'm sure... If that's not the case, that man must have kept it safe, somewhere... Naruto..."
Team Seven exchanged some frightened, yet serious looks within themselves, similar to Tsunade and Shizune, who already knew the details and were listening carefully to pick up anything new from the person who had fought Obito personally.
"...I don't want to put any more burdens on your shoulders than you already have... And I know I'm in no place to say what I'm about to say, given what we and our selfish perceptions of life did to your village. But..." Konan gazed to the floor.
Tsunade and Naruto shared a quick expression of complicity. Every ninja (including Sasuke) looked at Konan, and felt their bodies ache with the memory of Konoha obliterated and its people laying in the ground, dead. Well, Sasuke hadn't been there, but he could tell how hard it had been on the rest. His feelings were different. There was remorse on his eyes, due to the fact that what Pain had achieved was the very same thing he had wanted to do not too long before him. As the fake Madara had quite appropiately said once he and Taka met halfway through, Pain had merely "beaten Sasuke to it". And what made Sasuke feel even worse was knowing that, had he beaten Pain to destroy Konoha, he would be the one at whom the others would be looking in that same way. Not Konan. That is, if he had actually managed to survive. His teasing Naruto about who was stronger was merely a way for them to be friends. Right after the war, it was more than clear just who from them both was stronger... Though both of them were close to die, Sasuke was the one closest to actually doing it. And no doubt, that would have happened before, had he been the one to reduce Konoha to ashes.
Konan's eyes begun to shed silent tears. "... Please... Find it. Find Nagato's Rinnegan. I don't want it to fall on the wrong hands. I don't want to see Nagato's... Amegakure's treasure being used for anymore bloodshed. I'm begging you..."
"...Konan..." Naruto said with low voice. "...I don't hold any grudge against you anymore. Even after what happened to Ero-sennin... Or to Kakashi-sensei... And I'm sure that, if you give the village a chance, everybody will find it stupid to feel any hate towards you."
Konan looked at him, her eyes widening. Naruto took some steps until he was close to her, and knelt down so their faces met each other. He smiled at her, trying to transmit as much warmth as when he did with Sasuke every time he felt guilty.
"Oh, right. Here, I brought this for you..." Naruto used his hand to find something on his backpack. Several seconds later, he put a bouquet of flowers on Konan's lap. The blue-haired woman's eyes finally shed all the tears she was holding back, as she recognized them. They were made of white, bright paper.
"This is..."
"Yup. You called it the flowers of hope that never died, when you gave them to me. Well, why don't you do the same, and never die? I mean, because you're already a flower of hope, right?" The blond jiinchuriki then grabbed one of the bouquet's flowers, cut it's stem, and put it gently on Konan's hair. The woman merely sobbed and hugged him thankfuly. Tsunade sighed, while shaking her head.
" 'Taku. What's with this kid and his sudden women-skills?"
"Yosha!" Naruto said happily, going back to his team. "Don't worry, Konan! We'll get the Rinnegan back from wherever it is, right Sasuke?"
"Bakamon... Do you even have a plan?" The Uchiha replied while smirking (yes, smirking arrogantly again) and folding his arms as usual. "Don't make a girl a promise you're too dumb to keep, dobe."
"Wha' wuzz that?" Naruto glared at him. "Teme, always ruining my poses like the cold-blooded bastard you are. Want me to kick that thin ass of yours?"
"Antatachi!" Sakura yelled angrily. "The hell you think you're both doing on Godaime-sama's office, ya jerks?"
Kakashi and Shizune sighed, and the ex-Akatsuki's tears were replaced by chuckles in no time. Tsunade, though inside wanted to join Sakura's scolding the two of them, felt the same warmth as Konan did. Needless to say, the blond woman smiled to herself. ""Always ruining my poses", huh? Mattaku... He's becoming more and more like you, Jiraiya."
"Oi, Omaera!" She yelled, performing a professional control over her already infamous anger forehead-vein. Team Kakashi (Kakashi excluded) suddenly paralyzed and faced her, as soldiers did whenever addressed by their authority. "Tch! Always making this office look like a bar... 'Taku!... Anyhow... Recovering the Rinnegan is a request that Konan here has already made to me as the Hokage. I've already dispatched several ANBU squads and Chuunin Recon teams to have a go at it. Don't treat this as an official mission yet. We need more intel."
"Huh? But I thought that was the whole reason we were even called here, baachan...!" Naruto folded his arms childishly.
"Baka! Did you listen to me at all? We need more intel, as in we need to know the location of Obito's Sharingan Transplantation Facilities. He might have got tens of them scattered in the world. Until we even know where one of them is, we can't make the Daimyo's pay for this mission. Missions aren't all about fighting, you know! What're you gonna do if you almost die while an assignment and then you have no money to pay your rent, brat?"
"Can't you be simpler than that? I don't get all that stuff..."
"*Sigh* Kakashi, would you...?"
"What she means, Naruto, is that if we don't convince the Daimyo to pay you for this mission, you don't get to eat any ramen ever again."
"WHAT?" The blond's jaw dropped. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other, the same thought dancing inside their minds. "That was a little bit too harsh."
"Just like you've heard."
"But, but, but!... Agh! Wakkata... So, what do we have to do, baachan?"
"Just focus on the mission I'm giving you today." She went more serious than before. "You are all to form a five-men team and look for this person. "
The Godaime threw a picture at Kakashi with the skill of a Shuriken Master. The latter caught it displaying the same mastery, and took a look at it, followed by his subordinates. The picture was of a young man, probably their age or perhaps only a year older. He had his eyes covered with a black stripe of cloth, and long red hair. The picture had been taken while he was seemingly running away. His expression was hard to describe, as half of one's expressions were noticeable by one's eyes. Though Kakashi could tell (along with Sakura) that he was quite scared.
Sasuke frowned a bit, as the man's red hair reminded him of Karin, and subsequently, Karin reminded him of his heated conversation with Kabuto, back to his fight against him alonside Itachi. "People from the Uzumaki Clan all have red-hair". The young Uchiha gazed at Naruto for a second and then back to the picture.
"Could it be...?"
"What's his name?" Sakura asked. Tsunade closed her eyes and layed her head on her intertwined hands.
"He himself doesn't seem to know. But I have reports of him running away from a place that, only minutes later, gets entirely destroyed. As for how or why do these places get obliterated in the first place, I don't know. So far, it seems he's running away... But it could be anything other than that, for all we know."
"What's so important about him?" Naruto said, rubbing his spiky hair.
"He seems to be a ninja, but there are no records of him being from our village... And also, none of the other villages have recognized him as theirs, either. Furthermore, he seems to be getting closer to the only place that's getting in the way of our absolute alliance..."
"Otogakure?" Kakashi asked, earning Tsunade's positive nod as approval.
"Whether he is from Otogakure, or he's just getting close to it by chance alone, we must get to him and learn more from him. We're in a tight position as it is... If we even let a tiny thing like this develop into a serious matter, our international relationships might get damaged. He's managed to escape from Kirigakure, Iwagakure and Sunagakure's hands... I don't want to share their failure, let alone give the Raikage the pleasure of feeling superior to us. Kumogakure is the only village beside ours from which that man has yet to escape."
"What should we do with him once we find him?" asked the Uchiha survivor.
"Bring him here, and we'll know what our next step is."
"Understood. We'll take care of it... By the way..." Kakashi was the one rubbing his head now. "...You did say five-men team?"
"Yeah. There's a high chance you might be entering Oto. I have a bad feeling about that place." Tsunade shook her head. "I've sent ANBU already, but every four-men team gets reduced to three. Either by death or complete incapacitation. That damn Orochimaru... Kami knows what has he been doing with that place... Sasuke."
"Yes?"
"You need to be on this mission. You have intel on him, even though small."
"Okay." He nodded.
"Actually, I need all of you. Sakura as a medic, Sasuke as the intel source, Kakashi and Naruto as both attack and defense assets, and we need a fifth party member to secure a successful infiltration. Even though Sasuke has some information, Otogakure itself might have changed... We don't know what exactly lies beyond the border."
"Then I think the best choice you have..." Konan said, all of a sudden (earning Shizune's alarmed look, as if saying "don't interrupt Tsunade-sama!"). Everyone stared at her expectantly. "... Is having a Hyuuga within the team, right?"
Silence. Then, all of them shared thoughtful looks. Tsunade's mind, however, was already made up.
(...)
"R-really? Me?" Hinata's cheeks were totally coloured red, just as Naruto expected. He chuckled a bit as he turned his room upside-down (again) while looking for the one gift Jiraiya had given him right before his death.
"What's that? Haha, it's like you were saying that you can't do it..."
She had spent the night (and what a night indeed) on his flat, and while he trained and went to the meeting with his team, she had decided to stay there and make some breakfast for the both of them. As she and the blond jiinchuuriki had the actual breakfast (yet another moment she was trying desperately to record on her mind, so she could never forget it), he had given her the details of the meeting... The last bit of the tale, of course, being that she had been hereby summoned to join Kakashi's team in their mission. Well, all of them were jounin. She was more than appropiate for the job, as almost every other Hyuuga was either out in another mission or protecting her father and Hanabi, who were also out visiting the Fire Daimyo.
"It's not like that... It's just that, well... I seldom have any missions with you. It took me off guard. But I'm happy!" She smiled, which made Naruto's heart jump. "I...I'll do my best!"
"Did you know...?" Naruto finally found what he was looking for, and put it in his back pack. He sat beside Hinata on his bed (she was still wearing his shirt, which made him be torn between going on a mission and make love to her right then and there).
"What is it?"
"You look beautiful when you smile." He kissed her on her cheek quickly, and chuckled. She went all red again, but chuckled as well.
"You look hot on a Jounin vest, Naruto."
"Do I? Really?" Naruto posed as Rock Lee (which made Hinata laugh).
"Yeah. On your own way, but you do."
" "My own way"? Huuuurmmm... I wonder what you meant by that!" He smirked, feigning disappointment, while she stood up and kissed his lips as quickly as he had kissed her cheek before.
"I'm going to look for my uniform. Where do we meet?"
"Oh, right. The mission." Naruto said, shaking his head (and trying to wipe out any "impure" thoughts from it while doing it) "Etto... Right. Um... We meet at the gates, as usual... Kakashi-sensei'll do the briefing and stuff."
"What were you thinking just now, apart from the mission?" Hinata asked, hugging the blond ninja around his neck and letting him hugging her around her waist.
"Gee, I don't know. I forgot." Naruto said, smirking with a mischievous, fox-like expression.
"Huuuh..." Hinata chuckled. "...You know, they do say that the Byakugan allows the user to read minds. For all you know, I might have seen what you were thinking!"
"I wouldn't be ashamed if you did, to be honest."
"Oh, so you do remember! Liar..." Hinata kissed him on his lips again, this time taking her time. Several seconds later, she stood there, hugging him and letting her face dig in his chest. She felt happier than she had ever felt before, as if she had suddenly received her father's approval, or as if the village had finally began caring for her as a person on her own. No, even if those things had happened, she would still be happier by knowing Naruto and her could be together, just like that. He had filled the void space in her heart like nothing else could before, and like nothing ever could in the future. As far as she knew. But as much as he was doing that for her, she knew she also had to the same for him. Even more, knowing the hardships he had gone through, and knowing the ones he'll probably go through in the future, what with being one of the most acknowledged ninjas in the world currently.
"Naruto..."
"Yes?"
"You met with her, didn't you?"
There was a silence that lasted for some seconds. They felt longer than days, though. Hinata tightened her grip around his neck, hugging him even harder, trying her best to not ruin the moment. She then felt his hands caressing her hair, and kissing her forehead.
"Yeah, I did."
"H-how was it?" She asked, completely surprised that he had answered so easily and calmly.
"Like it always is. I made her mad for being like I am, and got punched for it. I mean, it's fun and all... It's like the old Team Seven, and that's what I was fighting for since long ago. So, no complaints..."
"That's not exactly what I meant."
"I know full well what you meant." Naruto hugged her harder as well. "But, you know... Sooner or later, I need to get over her, right? I would never feel at peace with myself if even after last night and after being with you like this, I still can't get over her. It wouldn't be fair to myself. And more importantly, it wouldn't be fair to you. After all, you've waited so long for me... I can't just let you slip through my fingers... Especially now that I know how does it feel to be loved like this."
"Last night..." Hinata looked at him in the eyes. "... Naruto, last night was the best night I've ever had. I've never been happier."
"Well..." Naruto smiled at her again. "...I'd say that makes me happy, but that night also made me the happiest I've ever been, so I don't know if it's possible to be any happier than what I am now. I do love you, Hinata. But I want you to teach me how to make you feel like I do..."
"I don't really know myself. I guess we'll have to learn together." She answered, smiling back.
"Fair enough. Let's go on more dates... No wait, let's go to other villages. What do you think? I've never been to Kumo, or Kiri, or Iwa... And we're all friends now, right? We could, I don't know, have some sort of holiday together?"
By the time he had finished the sentence, he could tell Hinata wanted to do just that. She had just let out a loud cry of excitement, and thrown herself at him, kissing his lips.
(...)
The Leaf Village was sunny that day. From the morning to the time in which Team Kakashi met to ready for the mission, the sun had never stopped shining. Leaves had never stop falling and dancing gracefully. Wind had never stop drifting pleasantly. It really was the perfect weather for vacation. And the fact that Naruto had actually invited her to go with him on a trip hade made her temporally fly inside her mind. Pleasant weather, and Naruto. Foreign cuisine, and Naruto. New landscapes, and Naruto. The sea, and also Naruto. It was beyond perfect. She had already traveled oftenly with her father, but nowhere near other villages. That was off charts before, as the secrets of the Byakugan were way too important to give other villages the chance to get it. But with an alliance getting nearer by the second, and with Naruto being considerably stronger than her father, Hinata felt like this time she could actually feel like flying. The best feeling in the world. After all, and unlike many would think, the main Family of the Hyuuga Clan has way more responsibilities than the Second Branch. And even worse, being the Clan's heiress only meant she was to be trapped inside a cage almost as frustrating and infuriating as the one her cousin Neji had been thrown into.
Neji...
"I wonder what would you say to me now, niisan... Now that me and him actually are together, somehow." She said to herself, as Naruto and her walked beside each other through one of Konoha's main streets. Both of them knew for sure that their classmates would be out in mission already, so there was no danger of another Akamaru issue. She was wearing her jounin outfit too, which suddenly made her come back to reality and remember that she was on a mission. Not on a date. "Still... " She thought. "...If only I could... Just for a little while... Hold his hand..."
She tried to move her hand to his nimbly. Softly. But every time she thought she had it, Naruto seemed to be looking at her. Which made her nervous. After several tries, she had finally given up as her eyes caught the sight of Konoha's Gates from afar. In less than ten minutes, they would be there, and from that point onwards, she would not be able to talk to him or be with him in the same way... For as long as the mission itself took. And obviously, he didn't want the others to know that she and him had...
...But, unlike everything she had thought, she felt her stomach make a gimastic turn as soon as Naruto's hand suddenly grabbed hers. She looked at him right away, her eyes widened and her cheeks redder with each passing moment. His expression was... Calm. He really seemed happy, and once he caught her reaction, he smiled in his foxy, bratty way.
"I know you've been trying to do it. Next time, don't be so shy."
"B-but... Your teammates..."
"Pfft... Kakashi-sensei will be more focused on his book, and the other two..." His left eyebrow itched so fast that only Hinata's eyesight, accustomed to these fast movements, was the one able to catch it. "...They will probably be like us. So don't worry. And even if they notice, so what? We're not doing anything wrong, right?"
His hand and Hinata's intertwined together, and she felt warmer again. She blinked happily, and muttered a faint "I love you" on his ears. He only moved his lips and replied with the same line, as they walked calmly towards the gates.
Minutes later, the squad was already gathered. Naruto (who was glad, honestly glad that Hinata had been called to the mission), finally could breathe more easily while having Sasuke and Sakura around, together. Kakashi made a hand sign and then, in a circle, they all stooped together.
"Okay, so, Hinata... Welcome to the team." Kakashi said with his kind smile.
"H-hai! I'll do my best. Thank you for choosing me."
"This is my first time ever talking, let alone working with you..." Sasuke greeted her with a hand shake. "...Sorry if I'm a bit of a jerk."
"Hah! Yeah, don't mind him." Naruto laughed. "Being a jerk is about all he's good at, isn't that right, Sasuke-kun...!"
"Don't push your luck, futari domo..." Sakura said while Sasuke readied his smartass reply, her expression as scary as possible for a teenage girl. But then, as suddenly as she had made that expression, she changed it and smiled kindly at Hinata (with the skills of a professional actor, or perhaps those of a person with dual personality issues?). "It's been a while since we worked together, Hinata. Help me control these guys, okay?"
"Okay." The Hyuuga replied, smiling as well.
"Moving on to the mission..." Kakashi came back, coughing loudly. "...There are some details I need to give you before we go. First, Hinata, our mission is to look for, find and if possible, capture this man..." He gave the black-haired ninja the picture Tsunade had shown them before. Hinata looked at it for some seconds and returned it to him. "... He seems to be a village-less shinobi, and apparently he lacks enough memory to remember anything about himself. He appears to be running away from someone or something, but so far it's too soon to tell. He might as well be going on rampage... Every place he meets, gets obliterated. Chances are we might actually need to go into Otogakure to find him. If that's the case, Hinata, you'll be in charge of making our infiltration succeed. Got it?"
"Wakatta."
"Perfect. Now, what are the provisions we got? Besides of food, of course... No Naruto, Ramen is not considered as "provisions". We need something different." He said, as Naruto made to show him one of his ramen-to-go cups. The jiinchuuriki let out a loud "hmph" and gazed away chÃldishly.
"We got some large bread, water and some nutrient pills I designed myself." Sakura said, showing them to the rest of the team. "If we made even portions, we can last for weeks without eating the bread."
"What about weapons?"
"I got plenty of them from my Granny Cat, the Uchiha weapons supplier. We got some weapon summoning wristbands... Here." Sasuke took ten wristbands from his back pack, and handed them over to the rest of the team in sets of two. "Touch the symbol drawn in the middle and you'll summon shurikens."
"Cool!" Naruto wore one of them and punched Sasuke softly in his shoulder. "I like your style."
"Well, you do want to be like me, don't you? If I recall correctly, that is..."
"Heh. Keep dreaming."
"Hinata, have you got anything for camping?" Kakashi asked over Sasuke and Naruto's shared glare of rivalry. Hinata chuckled, while nodding.
"Yes. I have some tent summoning scrolls, they work similar to Sasuke-kun's wristbands."
"Great. What about you, Ramen-freak. Got anything helpful for us?" He said to Naruto, who snorted defiantly and smirked.
"Yeah, I got something neat. You'll see what's it about soon enough. For now, just give me your hands, okay?"
Perplexed, the four members of the squad gave Naruto their hands at the same time. Naruto merely put his hand over the middle point at which all hands met each other, and with his left hand he made half a seal. Afterwards, a black, ink-like, kanji-like mark crawled over each member of the team's skin like a small snake. Kakashi's eyes widened.
"No way... You...?"
But Naruto merely put his index finger on his own lips to ask for silence. He winked an eye at his sensei, while Sasuke and Sakura discarted Naruto's gift to the team as unimportant, and rose from their positions. Hinata, still perplexed, looked at Naruto.
"What was that for?"
"Heh, you'll see soon enough, Hinata. Don't worry." He whispered on her ear. She blushed a bit, and paid attention to Kakashi's second cough.
"Okay. Now the last things before we leave... I'm not gonna be the captain this time."
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.
"Don't get your hopes up, dobe... You're not gonna be the captain regardless. Ramen-freaks aren't suited for the job." Sasuke said, folding his arms yet again and smirking.
"This time, Sakura will be the captain."
"What?!" Both Uchiha and Uzumaki yelled. Sakura and Hinata shared looks of surprise.
"Not only is she a Medic Jounin, but also has the best chakra control out of all of you four. She's smart, and will think up the best solution in any pinch we may have. This is a perfect opportunity to test those skills in a real mission. Up until now you've been Chuunin. But now, you're Jounin. A Medic Jounin. Give it your all, Sakura."
"H-hai!" The pink-haired kunoichi replied. Hinata gave her a warm smile. Both of them girls looked at each other, and they walked closer to each other as both Naruto and Sasuke pursued Kakashi everywhere around to know why they hadn't been chosen as Captains.
(...)
"So, Sakura... What formation should we follow?" Kakashi asked, as the first hour had passed since their departure from their village. Naruto and Sasuke (who had a clearly annoyed expression due to them not being the Captain) walked a bit closer to her to hear what she said. Hinata chuckled at the sight of Naruto's face.
The pink-haired ninja unscrolled a small map of the area, while the other's heads gathered together.
"Tsunade-sama's intel says our target is most likely going to show up in here..." She touched one particular point in the map with a red circle around it. "...A small village with low inhabitant numbers and only a couple of business establishments. Bars and one inn. This village usually supports Tanzaku Town every single year, but today everybody would be at home resting, as it's Sunday... Which makes everything all the more dangerous. That being said..."
She scrolled the map back, put it on her back pack, and asked them to stop.
"Our best bet is not to aim for chasing the target around, but to ambush him. Take him by surprise. If he is really being pursued by something or someone, once he falls for our ambush, we'll know what or who is it that's after him. If he's not being pursued and is just causing trouble, even simpler. We capture him and that's the end of it. We only have two chances to perform the same plan... This village or the next one, which is directly at 12 o' clock, around two to three days on foot. We better finish the mission on the first try, though... As soon as we go to the second village, we'll already be too close to Otogakure."
"What are our roles then?" Sasuke asked, tightening his forehead protector.
"Once we get to the village, we need to form two teams. Sasuke and Sensei can use Katon, right?"
"...Yeah." Both of them answered.
"...So your role is to be in the lookout for any possible "chasers" our target may have. If there are any, use your Katon to create a fire wall and that'll separate them from out target. Naruto can use Kage Bunshin without having too much a hard time with his chakra levels, so he'll act as your back up, while Hinata, another Naruto and me chase and deal with the target at the same time. Best case scenario, there would be no "chasers" at all, and we'd be finished in no time."
"What about worst case scenario?" Hinata asked.
"There are chasers, and they are strong enough to force us break the team. I need Naruto with me so the target can't take me out, and also Hinata, so we can track him should he run for it. If Sasuke, Sensei and Naruto's clone can't deal with them, we'll have to attack together... All of us, and let the target run for the time being."
"I see. Should we do some recon, then? Put some traps, at least to avoid using an immediate, flashy Katon?" Kakashi proposed, as they continued walking across the woods.
"Actually, that might be a good idea... If the chasers are weak. But in the case they're not, separating them from the target with a Katon would send a strong enough message." Sakura tapped her forehead with her hand, thoughtfully. "Okay... Sensei, you and Sasuke will have one layer of booby traps from a determined distance away from where we'll be waiting for the target. If they don't fall for them, then that means it's time for Katon."
"Understood." All of them said.
"Okay. Let's move." Sakura and her team nodded in agreement, and all that could be seen from them was a black blur of people jumping through tree branches.
(...)
As the starred sky bathed the ground with its light, and the crescent moon looked like it wanted to hide behind some clouds from ill intentions, the small village had all its houses and buildings turn their own lights off. Time to sleep for everybody, apparently, as the prospect of one of the most hated days worldwide sent waves of boredom and apprehensiveness to all inhabitants. Little did they know that while children went to bed, and parents started their routine of either going to bed themselves or trying to get the most from the night (if you know what that means), danger crossed the main and only street in the form of four hooded human silhouettes.
Black robes, and looks vaguely resembling thos of a black ops ninja , they looked as frightening as the shinigami itself. They walked silently, towards the other exit of the village. The woods before the country border.
"Are you certain he's there?" asked one of the figures in the middle. He had a strong, male voice.
"Yeah. No mistaking it. He's got to be tired... We've been after him nonstop since days ago." Said the shortest one, to the right. A female voice, though as cold as the first one.
"Yeah, but because of your little fiasco last night, Sensei had to join our pursuing mission..." Said another figure in the middle. Another woman, albeit apparently older. "...Disgraceful. I wonder if he wants us dead now..."
"But that guy did get away from Sensei, though. Doesn't that tell us how good he is...?" Said the one to the left, a man, the tallest one of the four, whose voice didn't match said height as it was softer. "...If he eludes even Sensei, then he's more likely to do it with us as well."
"Hmph..." The first one to talk shook his head. "...Good? He was lucky. Sensei just happened to be low on chakra at that time. He won't be that lucky this time, though. Let's go."
All of them stopped walking for a split second, and then dashed towards the woods like hovering shadows, or dark water flowing in a straight line. Their steps were muffled by the grass on the ground, and as they ran effortlessly, the moon got out of its hiding and decided to illuminate the forest, if only a little, as if it wanted to see what would become of the shadowy squad.
As they entered the forest, and jumped from tree to tree like agile apes, they eventually found the way to the deepest heart of the forest. This place, however, was more illuminated than the rest, and the trees didn't cover the sky as much as it did previously. Under the orders from the man in the middle, they stopped right on a particularly thick tree branch. Their target was right in front of them.
A young man, his long red hair loose and falling like waterfall over his shoulders and face, and his eyes unseeable thanks to the black cloth obscuring them, was sitting against a tree trunk, gasping continuously and apparently wounded in his left arm. He was wearing a robe similar to theirs, though white and much more dirty and torn, due to his reckless way of running. He had apparently noticed already that he was not alone. He was gazing left, right and centre, as if a twig had just snapped suspiciously near his position. It seemed as though he was too tired to stand up anyway.
"Look at him... What a pathetic sight." The leader said, and gave the signal for going further ahead. Resembling dark spirits, or dark water again, the squad landed several feet away from the young redhead, who greeted his teeth in frustration and prepared a kunai. The leader chuckled.
"Come, now. This has been going on for too long, don't you think?"
"It's been going long because of you people. If you really want it to be over, then get your asses away from me!" The redhead said, his anger as sharp as the kunai he was weilding.
"You should know full well already we can't do that. See, there is a reason why you must come with us..."
"I don't care. I couldn't care less, actually. Shove your reasons up your sorry asses and leave me alone. Or else." He stood up, barely, and pointed his kunai at them. One of the hooded women gave him a smug applause.
"Oho... He wants to play already? Cute." All of them grabbed their own kunais as well.
"Get him." The leader ordered.
However, that one order couldn't be fulfilled. As soon as they took one step, the air around them produced the same sensation as when someone threw weapons at you. And sure enough, several kunais with explosive tags flew towards them and stabbed the ground. An explosion was unleashed, and sent one of the hooded pursuers flying, while the others landed away with difficulty. The leader, who had stayed behind, backed off a bit.
"What the...?"
But before he could analyze anything else (and before the redhead's widened eyes), his second step backwards triggered another set of flying, explosive kunais against him. He dodged as barely as he could, and landed beside the rest of his team.
"Trying to get us caught in traps, are we?" The talles one of the hooded crew said. "Well, it's not gonna work unless you put yourself into it more-..."
But his words were interrutped by the sound of the earth beneath him cracking. Seconds later, three of the four pursuers fell into a well dug hole, deep enough to darken every sight of them. The leader snapped his tongue annoyedly while doing some quick hand seals. His right hand hit the floor after he was done, and the earth that had previously crumbled and turned into a well, suddenly rose up similar to an elevator. The rest of the team was back.
"Tch! That is it. I'm killing you right here and right now..." The older woman said.
As soon as she took a sinle step more, and while the redhead backed several steps off, a male voice was heard in the air.
"Katon! Goukakyou No Jutsu!"
An incredibly large fireball flew with amazing speed at the middle point between both pursuers and theit target. The leader and his crew managed to pull back with enough timing to not get roasted with the fire.
"So it's not him... It's someone else entirely, huh?"
And as if life itself had decided to answer his thoughts, two smoke bombs snapped in front of them, revealing the figure of two men they knew very well. The one in the right had a set of glowing, red eyes, and his hand was emiting loud, bird-like noises while shrouded in lightning. The one in the left, whose hand was also in the same state, had gray, spiky hair and was glaring at them with another red eye, just as fearsome as the first one's.
"I see... Konoha seems to have some interest in our guy as well, huh...? Hatake Kakashi... Uchiha Sasuke..." The leader said, earning his subordinates' surprise. The attackers, one their names were mentioned, took several steps forward.
"I hope you excuse us... But you're gonna have to come with us." Kakashi said, weilding his Kunai.
"What if I said "no"?"
"Sadly..." Sasuke snorted. "...There's no if. Ikuso, sensei!"
(...)
To be continued.
(...)
I hope you guys liked it! Thank you so much for adding my story to your favorites and adding comments. It's really something that's sent happiness to my heart to see people interested. Please look forward to next chapter.