Nothing Is Easy In Konohagakure

Naruto leaned in the middle of his group, trying to get them to work together. In the end, he decided to have Hanabi attack from the side, or behind, while he had Keiji and Takeo distract the other team. Of course, Hanabi had to make a clone, because Neji would definitely notice the missing member of his team, but as it was, she could only make illusionary clones, unlike Naruto's Kage Bunshin. And, according to the ANBU, Naruto wasn't allowed to perform even a single jutsu. That made things harder.

Neji's team, however, was pretty much ignoring Neji, aside from maybe the occasional piece of advice. Konohamaru had taken Neji's suggestion more literally than Neji had hoped—now, Konohamaru himself was hoping to outsmart Naruto, as opposed to allowing himself to be showed how to outsmart Naruto. And, of course, because Konohamaru thought so, Moegi and Udon followed him mindlessly, listening to his plans, and completely ignoring Neji.

While Neji was still trying to force the group to listen to him, and threatening to use force, Naruto's team had already made their way through the forest. They dropped in on the group, and Neji visibly blanched. Why did he just jump down, out in the open, instead of sneaking around? He could see that Hanabi had the flag, and that she was staying back because she had it, and because the strongest teamwork in the group was probably between Keiji and Takeo, so they were defending her.

"Guys!" Konohamaru began. "K-M-U!" he called, pointing at the other ninja, in the order, Hanabi, Keiji, and then Takeo. The other two nodded and immediately made a dash for their respective opponents, Konohamaru carrying the flag for his team.

Naruto winced. Konohamaru was the hand-to-hand sort of fighter, and would notice automatically that Hanabi was not tangible. "Keiji!" Naruto called out, motioning towards Konohamaru with his head.

Keiji automatically understood the motion, though it wasn't subtle. He threw a kunai at Konohamaru, which just barely grazed his shoulder. Konohamaru's attention turned towards Keiji, and Moegi continued to attempt to fight him. Keiji was the second best team member of Hanabi's team, but that didn't mean he was average. Really, he was above average, while Hanabi was just… pure genius.

Hanabi growled underneath her breath. Really, Keiji was acting like he was protecting her. As if! She soon, however, realized that this growl was a mistake, for Neji had heard it. He couldn't find her, obviously, as the Byakugan was an unfair advantage—though, as Neji so kindly pointed out, sometimes certain people had certain advantages and Naruto would have to deal with that.

Neji smirked, and yelled towards Konohamaru that the real Hanabi was hiding, while the one he was trying to get to was actually an illusion. Hanabi sighed and flung forward, ready to defend the flag. Her position had been given away. She might as well defend herself instead of giving them the advantage of ambushing her.

Keiji was fighting Konohamaru and Moegi with increasing difficulty. As it was, Keiji could rather easily take on either Konohamaru or Moegi. But both was a stretch…

Neji finally gave Konohamaru orders that he followed. "Do Kage Bunshin!"

"Can't!" Konohamaru called back as he formed the seal for a regular Bunshin. 'But this'll buy time…' He exchanged a glance with Moegi and nodded, and Moegi knew what he had in mind. She performed a Henge, and turned herself into a copy of Konohamaru.

Soon, the area was filled with Konohamaru illusions, a Henge who looked like Konohamaru, and Konohamaru himself. Keiji knew that scrutinizing the clones would not work, for, really, even he knew that Moegi had been around Konohamaru long enough to know every detail about him. So, he fought.

He pulled out a shuriken, attached to a wire, and began spinning it around his head after performing a few seals. "Sharp Edged Whirlwind!" he called out. As he spun the shuriken around and around his head, destroying many of the illusions—which was the most optimal way to find the real Moegi and Konohamaru—a whirlwind formed above his head, which soon flew off. The shuriken fell limply to the ground, and Keiji let it lay there. It had served its purpose.

Now, forming a different seal—much like the one Ino Yamanaka used in her Shinranshin no Jutsu, in fact—he controlled the whirlwind. His seal was a box, and he moved it along with the whirlwind. He turned it towards Hanabi, though not close enough to harm Hanabi herself, just a barrier to protect her.

This left him open, however. If they were able to figure out what was wrong with his jutsu, his team would be in trouble. If he moved it too quickly or broke the seal, the whirlwind would dissipate. He was working on the former of the two problems.

Takeo, however, was still busy with just Udon—and he was the weakest of the Konohamaru-Moegi-Udon team. Takeo was a poor fighter, but he did have his good qualities. He was very good at survival tactics, informational memorizing, and chakra precision. He had just yet to find his calling, that's all.

Naruto was currently working on thinking up a strategy. After all, how hard could it be? How could he get Hanabi out of her vulnerable position? Then, it hit him! Have Hanabi give the flag to Keiji, and have her protect Keiji! She, most certainly, would not have a weak point she'd need to protect. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, wrote a quick note to Hanabi, and threw it at her.

She grabbed it with ease, being sure not to allow anyone else to see the note. Keiji, she would admit grudgingly, was doing a good job of protecting her, though the weaknesses of his jutsu weren't hard to figure out, and were easy to break.

She smirked when she read the note. Perfect. She hated having the damn flag, anyways. She crumpled the note, no longer caring if they read it. By the time they did read it, she'd have already carried out the instructions of the note, anyways. Go ahead and let them distract themselves by reading old information.

Hanabi ran forward, holding the flag tightly against her back. She ran to Keiji and quickly broke his seal. "What?" he demanded with a growl.

"Take the flag," she commanded, handing the flag quickly to Keiji. "I can protect you from two people better than you can," she explained with a small smirk.

Keiji grumbled, but acquiesced. What other choice did he have? It was not a good thing to anger the young Hyuuga genius, after all. A boy—who had given up all hopes of being a ninja—had proven that to him long before he had had a chance to even really know her at all.

Hanabi's method of destroying the clones was much more effective than his own. She used Juken on them, making them dissolved with ease. She finally came to Moegi, who fell to the ground after a hit to her solar plexus, which would usually just make you lose you breath with a simple punch—but with the Juken, it was devastating. She came to the real Konohamaru not too long afterwards, who was somewhat dangerously close to Keiji. He had been heading for the trees for an aerial attack. Not a bad strategy, but it had come too late. She had hit him with a chest blow, which was even more effective than hitting the solar plexus. He was also now out.

The only one left was Udon. Which didn't matter, now that Hanabi thought about it. All she needed was the flag. As soon as she plucked it from Konohamaru's back, the ANBU rushed forward.

"Naruto's team had succeeded. Team Uojini passes their mission, Team Yuka fails," the ANBU called. Udon sighed, knowing that Konohamaru and Moegi wouldn't be happy when they awoke. Yes, it had all been a mission. And only one team could pass it. That was their motivation—it was not just a game.

"Also, Naruto gets the full 7 points for leading the winning team. Neji gets 2 points, one for being able to convince a team to actually work, and another for good leadership skills and observation. This test is over," the ANBU member in the monkey mask said, before all of the ANBU members disappeared in a synchronized blur.

Naruto sighed. Finally. And now he could talk to Hinata.

----

Naruto was surprised to see her still at the training area, Kiba and Shino having already left to their respective areas. It was dusk, and chilly. As if to prove this, before Hinata noticed Naruto, she pulled the jacket tighter around herself.

"Ohayo, Hinata-chan!" he called out, waving madly at the surprised girl.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun," she replied back gently, getting to her feet from the blanket on the ground. She bent down and folded the blanket up—it was the same blanket they ate lunch on top of daily, the same one everyone sat on when they were taking a break or just talking. Needless to say, because of Akamaru and the eating stains, Hinata washed it nightly—not that she'd ever tell Kiba it was mainly because of Akamaru.

Naruto arrived at the blanket just as Hinata was straightening herself back up. "You've waited for a while, ne?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head. Before Hinata could protest, he held up a hand. "Come on, we need to finish talking. We might as well talk over dinner, ne? My treat!" he exclaimed with a bright smile.

Hinata was surprised to find her heart still fluttering at the sight of his bright, illuminating smile. By now, he thought that the madly fluttering feeling would have gone away. She thought it would at least have abated slightly by now. But, no, it was all she could do to stay a normal skin color constantly.

"Uh, h-hai…" she said softly. Naruto smirked at this action. For the longest time, she had been the weirdest person in his life. But… she was now most definitely the cutest. Much cuter than Sakura and all the other girls combined.

----

"I'm not taking the glasses or the coat off until you take your jacket off," Shino said, a small pout playing on his lips.

"Fine. We'll turn around and then face each other again. Toss them to the side where I can see them," Kiba growled, not wanting to be screwed over in the deal. Shino nodded silently, and they turned their backs to each other. Shino unbuttoned his jacket carefully, shook it so that the sleeves were right, and then laid it down. He took off his glasses, an act usually done only before showering and bed. He folded the glasses together and tossed it gently onto the floor buffeted by his jacket. Kiba had been down taking off his jacket before Shino had even finished unbuttoning his coat, unzipping it haphazardly, and shrugging it off onto the ground behind him.

"Ready?" Kiba asked. Shino grunted an affirmative.

They turned simultaneously, and stared at each other. Kiba was well toned—after all, he spent a lot of time outside. He was even somehow tanned, which confused Shino, as Kiba didn't take off his baggy jacket. Underneath the jacket was a thin tank top, which explained how he could stand the jacket constantly. Shino, however, was pale and skinny—he had little muscle tone, but Kiba knew that skill and chakra precision could easily make up for the lack of muscle.

But the main thing Kiba was staring at was Shino's eyes. Shino had two very good reasons for hiding his eyes behind his dark glasses: one was that it was Aburame tradition, the other being he had very girly eyes. They were a beautiful blue, shimmering with long, dark brown eyelashes. Having never seen all of Shino's face before, Kiba couldn't help but gape.

Shino shifted uncomfortably under Kiba's gaze, but not taking his eyes off of Kiba's chest. Just as Shino's eyes enthralled Kiba, Shino was enthralled in Kiba's well-toned chest.

Kiba walked forward towards Shino and cupped his cheek. "Beautiful…" he whispered softly. Shino would have hurt anyone else who used that term on him. Kiba was the exception.

"Sexy?" Shino asked, the statement more like a question. He wasn't used to complimenting on appearances.

Kiba captured his lips in an awkward kiss, for Shino towered over him. Shino nearly pulled back, but he deepened the chest as well. He stopped Kiba before he could go any further, pushing a tentative hand at his chest.

"My parents will be home soon. We'd better look… normal. My dad is perceptive," Shino explained. And then, Kiba pouted.

"Well, damn," he muttered, quite annoyed. They'd have to do that again sometime…

----

"So… I need to be less submissive…" Naruto mused to himself. He turned to Hinata, a look of determination in his eyes. "Hinata-chan, I…" he began. He didn't know how he was going to finish the sentence, speech, promises, or whatever. He did not know how he'd be able to live up to what he'd be saying—really, he had very little experience. As in none. The most he had had was the accidental kiss with Sasuke, and… Naruto hoped that that didn't count.

Hinata had also thought about what she was going to say. Rather, Kurenai had dropped by to give her advice. Half of it was things she couldn't use—practice abstinence before marriage, don't touch in inappropriate places—things that a mother should say to her daughter, only for her daughter to do the exact opposite. Except, Hinata was planning on following all of those rules, and it took a while for Kurenai to say something relevant to her case.

"But the most important thing, other than not letting a guy touch anywhere on your anatomy except maybe your hands, face, and neck, is that you shouldn't rush things. Too many relationships end because they try doing things before they're too ready. And, Hinata, believe me—you're the type of person that needs to take it slowly. I understand you have to marry Naruto so you don't have to marry Shino. But, other than marriage, only do things when you are good and ready. Got it?" Kurenai asked firmly. She really did treat Hinata like a daughter, and Hinata could see that, especially in this one talk. Similar to what a real mother would do, except a bit more extreme, she'd kill anyone who touched her wrongly without her consent. And she'd teach her how to stand up for herself and her rights.

"Shh," she began gently, stopping him by holding up a hand. "It'll come when it comes," she explained with a gentle smile. Naruto smiled back. Hinata was right—it would come when it came. Naruto couldn't help but think how wise Hinata was to be able to say such a thing, and solve their 'problem', which really wasn't a problem in the end, with just a simple sentence.

A/N: Teehee, sorry for those who are groaning at the 'it'll come when it comes' thing. Don't worry, it'll come soon. But not a lemon. Never a lemon. Not from me. Never from me. Don't even think 'bout it. XD

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