Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
AN: See what happens when you don't rush things, they turn out better. I was in such a rush to get to the time skip that I was cheating my story out of its potential. Did so with Flames of War and made the same mistake with Black Illusion (rewrite pending). Don't get me wrong there will be a time skip soon but there will probably be chapters explaining what everyone was doing during the time. Some people are worried about how Ino will even have a chance with Naruto; fear not, she has a really good chance. More drama and battles up ahead (and already started on next chapter)!
Thank MissyNaye for helping by being my Beta!
LonewolfBloodstorm: All 3 girls are going to be doing something different, a different specialization and such but will share a common point. If you're wondering about paring, yes Ino is going to make push for Naruto.
Useful76: He will, he's still young, they bother are.
TheDon1023: Exactly, Konoha is in no way the good guy. Naruto's number 1 goal in life is not to help the unfortunate and misguided.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Chapter 17: Choice of Attack
The force that was sent to assault Oto was currently camping for the night. Ino was sharing a tent with her new team leader and the other two were actually a married couple and wanted their privacy in another tent. Ino didn't know what to think of Hana yet as all they did was run so far.
"How's Naruto doing? Can you tell me about this Hinata? I can't believe he actually got married! He must have really fallen for her if they got married at their age." This got Ino ranting mode.
"Yeah right, he doesn't love her. They only got married because her stupid family was causing trouble and that was the only way to keep her out of it. Hinata's the kind of person who would call herself your friend then take your boyfriend. She can't even take care of herself. Sensei had to hire a maid because she can't do anything herself. You know she had the nerves to try and make me look like the bad guy when she told me they were getting married." Ino's rant didn't end for three more hours and Hana being a person who loves gossip, was all ears.
"Why did you give up on him?" Hana asked.
"What do you mean why? He's married now, that's why," Ino said.
"Yeah, he may be married, but that's only because that was all he could do to help her. If you like him as much as it sounds like you do, then you shouldn't give up. Hesitate, and they might fall in love for real and you'll regret it later," Hana said.
"Maybe, but I thought about and decided that right now the most important thing is to get stronger. I'm not going to waste my time or chances to become the best possible ninja because I was too focused on boys. I'm still young and I already made Chunin. I'll probably wait until I've been a Jounin for a while before I worry about boys. If it's too late for Naruto by then that's too bad," Ino told her.
Hana decided that was good reasoning. She herself was only 18 and she only had one boyfriend before. Ino was far younger and would have all the time she needed. They decided it was best for them to get some rest
Hinata awoke and found that Naruto was already out of bed and probably already out of the house again. She knew that he had important things to do, like run the village, but it would be nice to be able to have breakfast with him. She looked at the clock and saw that it was about ten minutes before Tayuya would arrive.
She got out of the bed and went to the bathroom to get cleaned before getting dressed. Tayuya was on the allow list to enter the house and Anko was there was well so the girl would have no problem getting in. She had been a big help, mostly with the boredom though. At first Tayuya wouldn't talk much and when she did foul words came out, but over the few weeks she been working for Hinata that changed a lot.
After dressing in a blue kimono Hinata found, Tayuya had arrived on time and made breakfast already. While eating, the new Uzumaki thought about her schedule for the day, which was absolutely nothing. Today was a resting day with no training and no missions. Now that she wasn't on a fixed schedule as a student, free time was boring time. The closest things to friends were Anko and Tayuya, and the latter of the two did nothing but follow her around.
While Anko didn't have any friends she seemed to be doing something every day. Naruto had making Jutsu as a hobby and side job. Getting a hobby, that sounded a good idea. She could probably start collecting antiques like her mother, but that would probably just end up as a waste of money. If she was going to spend money it might as well be on something useful, she may have a lot of it, but not everyone did. Then it hit her, a hobby that could take care of her free time, help people, and well as help the opinion of Naruto and her.
After finishing breakfast, Hinata left the house with Tayuya right behind her, and they made their way to the Konoha Shinobi Academy. The trip took them 20 minutes because they walked rather than leaping from roof to roof. Although Naruto didn't ask her to and probably didn't care about it, Hinata was raised to be 'refined' and roof hooping would destroy that image.
Although it was far from rare that a ninja came to the academy Hinata was a special case. She recently graduated yet already a Chunin, student of the Hokage, and wife of the Hokage. The teachers would use her arrival could be used to motivate students.
She decided to go Iruka's class since he was her last teacher. She knocked on his classroom door and was a few moments before the scarred teacher opened the opened it. He was surprised to see Hinata at the door. He couldn't think of a reason why she would be visiting his classroom. He prayed he wasn't in any type of trouble with the Hokage or something.
"Ah, sorry for stopping by suddenly, but I was wondering if you would allow me to observe you class today," Hinata said.
That didn't sound too bad. "I would be honored to have you as a guest in my classroom today Hinata-sama," Iruka said. "Will your friend join us as well?" He asked referring to Tayuya who was standing behind her.
It was then Hinata spotted Konohamaru, Sandaime's grandson in the classroom. It was easy to do so with his making faces at Iruka's back. "No, she won't." Hinata knew exactly who Tayuya was and what she did. She wasn't going to disrespect Sandaime by bringing the ex-Oto Nin in his grandson's class.
Iruka and Hinata walled into the classroom and Tayuya stood in the hallway. She didn't know why Hinata didn't want her to go into the classroom with her, but she wasn't complaining. She didn't like kids that much anyway. Life for Tayuya was better in Konoha, even if she was far more afraid of Naruto than she'd been of Orochimaru. The blonde was at least stable and somewhat normal.
Back inside the classroom, Iruka yelled to get the students attention. "I want you all to meet Uzumaki Hinata, a former student of mine. She graduated less than a year ago and already became a Chunin. Her sensei is none other than the Godaime Hokage. She will be observing our class for the day." There were a series of "ohhs" and "ahhs" and Hinata felt herself getting a little red in the cheeks.
"I have a question!" an excited Kunoichi to be said. Iruka look to Hinata to see if she wanted to take any questions. She nodded to him letting him know that questions would be fine.
"Is Hokage-sama really cute like my onee-san said?" The girl asked.
"No, and he's a liar!" said someone Hinata didn't know how she missed, Hyuuga Hanabi.
"Hanabi-san, you will not insult Hokage-sama in my classroom!" Iruka yelled.
"Calm down Iruka, it's not illegal for people to voice their opinions," Mizuki said.
"Even so, insulting the Hokage, in front of his wife no less, is not acceptable behavior for someone who plans to become a ninja," Iruka responded.
"It's fine Iruka-san, she is my little sister and she is upset about what our father did." Hinata knew it was wrong to make Hanabi look like the bad guy, but it had to be done. She could see the bandage around her sister's forehead and knew it was there to cover the seal that was more than likely on her head now. Hanabi receiving the mark was not a new concept to Hinata. When she was the heir, it was common knowledge the girl would receive it one day.
Because of Hanabi's outburst Iruka decided there would be no more questions for now. While he enjoyed teaching kids it was heart stopping moments like that made him reconsider his occupation ever now and then. He didn't know the Hokage personally, so he wasn't sure how he would react to such comments.
Mizuki was sick of Hinata's presence. Why that woman was here, he did not know, nor did he care. He especially hated how all the other Shinobi praises the demon and he could not understand why it was made Hokage. 'To think she used to be the heir to the Hyuuga. Those bastards probably sold her to him for more power and were betrayed afterwards. Now the Hokage is a kid, the Hyuuga clan head is a kid, and he's probably on the demon's payroll. Not to mention that because he hands out Jutsu, the clans will all back him.' In his opinion Konoha was on its way to hell and now that Oto was about to be destroyed Mizuki had nowhere to go. Until he does, he would just sit and smile.
Little did he know that while he was on his mental rant, he was glaring at the back of Hinata's head. It was a subtle glare and only one person noticed, Tayuya. Hinata treated her better than he own family used to and in Oto, you didn't get paid, you got to live. Here she got a nice sum of money for being the girl's personal assistant; well that's what Hinata described her as. She would be watching this Mizuki and the first time he slips she was going to make sure he fell on her kunai.
To the surprise and awe of everyone in the room the Hokage appeared out of nowhere. A lot of the students didn't recognize him as he was wearing a standard Konoha uniform with a hitai-ate on his forehead like most Konoha Shinobi. He looked around and was a little surprised that he was in an academy classroom but he found who he was looking for, he would ask why she was there later. He also found someone else who he would bring with them as it concerned both of them.
"Hinata, something happened and I'm going to need you to come with me. Hyuuga Hanabi, come down here, you have to come with me as well." He could see that Hanabi had no intention of getting up, but he had no time to be playing games with kids so he used chakra strings to pick the girl up and bring her to him. "Tayuya you come with me as well." When she was next to him he made a few hand seals and with a gust of wind and scattered leaves all four of them were gone.
"You think she's in trouble for what she said? And she's the liar, he is really cute!" said the girl who asked the question earlier. Everyone was wondering if he did hear what Hanabi said and planned to punish her for it. Iruka and Mizuki were hoping it wasn't another invasion. They hoped the Hokage wouldn't take his friends and family to a safe place and let everyone fend for themselves.
At the other end of the shunshin was the hospital. Hinata was worried and confused as to why they were there. When he arrived in the classroom and said something happened the first thing that came to her mind was another attack.
"Sakura burst into my office a few minutes ago and was looking for you. She told me what happened and I immediately came to get you. She told me that your mother was in the hospital because of a suicide attempt," Naruto said. Hinata and Hanabi's eyes grew wide at the news and the both ran into the building.
Her mother tried to commit suicide? Why would she do something like that? When did she do it? Would she be ok? There were tons of questions going through Hinata's head while she was being led to her mother's room by Sakura who was waiting in the lobby for them to arrive. When they arrived they still weren't allowed to see her because the Tsunade and other medics were still working.
"This is all your fault One-sama! Ever since Otou-sama was put into prison everyone has been calling us traitors and even the rest of the clan hates us now. They won't talk to us, they took all of our valuables saying they don't want us give them our enemies. They won't even allow me to train in Jyuuken anymore. The academy is good enough they said," Hanabi said.
Naruto stud in front of Hinata while her little sister yelled at her. He was in this situation before, sitting with his back to the room his mother was in waiting for someone to come out and tell her how it went inside. He hoped she wouldn't be receiving the same news he gotten those years ago. He leaned against the window on the opposite side of the hallway wondering if this was his fault.
He closed his eyes and wondered what he should do. He didn't expect this kind of backlash for imprisoning Hiashi. He should have though, the families of traitors are often treated that way and with Hanaya's personality it's not really surprising what she did. He would have to have a talk with Neji. Hinata told him the boy didn't like the main family, but Naruto assumed he would be happy with Hiashi being in jail. It seems he wasn't. Hinata was probably thinking this was her fault. "If it means anything to you Hanabi, I'm sorry this happened," he said.
Because his eyes were closed and he wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings, he didn't notice it until he was already hit. A chakra enhanced punch to his chest that sent him through the hospital wall. The first thing he did was pump some of Kyuubi's chakra into his body to heal his wounds. Once that was done he stood on the air for a second and then used Hiraishin to warp back into the hospital. He didn't know why Tsunade punched him like that, but he intended to find out.
"You don't get to be sorry. You're the Godaime Hokage, the things you do affect the lives of everyone in the village, everyone in Hi no Kuni, maybe the entire world. You can't ruin people lives then say you're sorry when things don't go how you expected. Is that what you're going to tell the families of the Shinobi who don't make it back from Oto? I've been told what happened between you and the Hyuuga, even about Dr. Tusurui," Tsunade said.
Naruto still had one of his tri-kunai in his hand from when he warped back into the building and the way he was looking at her know that he wasn't too pleased to about being punched. "You're going to fight me in the hospital? I made you mad so you're going to kill me? No matter how many people get hurt in the crossfire? Jiraiya told me you always say you'll protect your family no matter what, but I guess you forgot that being married to that girl makes them your family as well," she said.
Naruto's narrowed his eyes and put his kunai away. Fighting here would cause too much damage and loss of life. He never thought of Hinata's family as their family because they abandoned her and she didn't seem to put much thought into them. Seeing her crying over her mother told him that she still cared for her. "Hinata, I'll be in my office. I'll be there if you need anything," Naruto said before warping away.
There were three sound bases that they were going to attack. The group would split into 3after getting a good distance inside of Ta no Kuni and then launch a simultaneous assault on all 3. Each group would consist of about 100 Konoha shinobi. The remaining Oto shinobi per base should be a smaller number and or quality of ninja so Konoha should have an overwhelming victory. First they actually had to enter the country and that meant passing the border they were at.
The Hyuuga in the group could see the Oto border patrol and with the 300 gathered Shinobi, the four Oto nin would be absolutely no trouble, but because they wanted to be stealthy in their approach, they sent two Jounin to deal with them. Once they were killed, the group pushed on. One more day and they would reach their destination.
Ino was bit nervous but so was everyone else. She knew she was strong enough to handle herself; she was a Chunin, a rookie, but still a Chunin. She had a ton of Jutsu, weapons, and a tri-kunai could call a Kage level reinforcement to her, though so didn't want to have to use the last option.
Looking around it seemed amazing to see all of the ninja traveling together like this. She then heard yelling up ahead and when she got closer there were sounds of a battle. That was odd because she was pretty much at the front of the group. The group slowed down and the Hyuuga went to work. After about a minute of observing they reported what they saw, about 50 Oto shinobi fighting against about 30 Taki shinobi and 350 samurai. It seemed like the leaders of Ta no Kuni and whoever was leading Oto didn't see eye to eye. This usually happened with ninja clans not villages but Oto was still small and new enough that Ta no Kuni would hire someone to get rid of them.
Kagami and Jiraiya whom met up with them last night were discussing what they should do. They could either go around them and attack their base while they were away and wait for them to come back, if they came back, or they could help the samurai and Taki shinobi. The second option seemed like the better of the two, but they didn't want to get involved with Ta no Kuni if they didn't have to. They weren't exactly supposed to be there.
Kagami decided they would help the battle. Two things helped her make the decision, first was the fact there were Oto Nin there and second was that people would know Konoha would not respond lightly to an invasion.
She gathered 100 of the Konoha shinobi, including Hana's team, Kakashi's team, Jiraiya, Gai, and Kurenai. Once they were gathered, they took off to join the battle. They weren't in any particular formation, just running as fast as they could towards the battle. Ino decided to show off a bit. Her air step Jutsu only held her in the air for about a second but if you continuously did the Jutsu you could run on the air. It took a decent amount of Chakra to pull that off, but with the amount she had in reserve, it was worth it.
Kiba saw Ino pull ahead of everyone by running in the air and that was the moment he decided he was going to make Kakashi pay. He and Shino were originally supposed to be on Naruto's team, but they had to go and mix up the teams and now he missed his chance to be pulling off cool Jutsu like that. Kiba also decided he was going to try and ask Ino out again after the war. The Hokage was married so she had to be free now.
Ino was in front of the entire group with Jiraiya and Kagami directly behind her, probably on purpose. Luckily for the Konoha forces the Oto were facing away from them so when Ino bolted out of the tree line with 99 ninja behind her, the Kamaitachi hit the ones that were in the makeshift outpost looking the wrong way.
Hana and her three dogs turned into giant wolves and they all performed Gatsuuga. The four giant drills passed Ino and smashed into the building, destroying it instantly. The wolves jumped back and then Kagami performed Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu. That barrage took about 14 of the Oto Shinobi who were in the outpost.
Jiraiya summoned a large frog and jumped to where the Oto Nin was fighting the Taki Nin. Hana, while still in wolf form told Ino and her teammate to get on the back the other wolves. When they did they followed after Jiraiya.
The commander of the Taki Nin who tasked with removing the Oto Nin from the country was worried when he saw the four wolves and the large toad come their way; he knew they were not part of his forces. That worry only diminished a little when the man he recognized as Jiraiya started to dispatch Oto Nin. When he saw the amount of Konoha shinobi behind the man, and the legends he recognized, he began to wonder if the local lords would still honor their deal now that Konoha was here. His biggest concern would be if Konoha wanted a cut, Taki was considered the weakest of all hidden villages and they needed this and if Konoha pushed their way there was nothing they could do about it.
After the battle, which ended quick with Oto being pressed from both sides by a far superior force, the hundred Konoha shinobi were staring down the samurai and Taki ninja. Neither army assumed the other friendly just because they were fighting Oto Nin. Kagami, the commander for the Konoha forces stepped forward and so did the Taki commander.
"I must thank you for your assistance. The battle would have gone on much longer had you not arrived," the Taki Nin said.
"You're welcome, but I must ask why are Taki Nin in Ta no Kuni, battling Oto Nin no less?" Kagami responded.
"We were hired by Ta no Kuni, or at least what's left of the country," he responded.
"What do you mean what's left of it?" Jiraiya asked.
"I thought you would know by now. Ta no Kuni is in the middle of a civil war. There was a fight between the two northern Oto bases and the one here in the south. The shinobi defeated today were the last of the south base. The worst part is that Kumo has been supporting the northern faction, though only minimally. The Lords of this country hired us to get rid of Oto now that their weak." There were a few gasps from the Konoha nin when the part about Kumo was said.
'Fuck!' Jiraiya thought. They came just a little too late! If Oto now had an alliance with Kumo, then Konoha wouldn't be able to go stomping around without potentially causing a war with them. What does Kumo have to gain by support a civil war in small country like this and why is Taki doing the same? Their mission was to get rid of Oto, but doing so could cause war, so they needed further instruction from the Hokage. Jiraiya himself would say fuck Kumo and keep going, but he wasn't the Hokage, and he was glad for that fact. The job carried too much responsibility. They could either wait for a messenger to contact Naruto or they could call him here. Jiraiya didn't plan on waiting days between messages or even hours sending messages via toad. So he grabbed a tri-kunai and tossed it in the ground in front of Kagami.
Five minutes later, nothing. The toad hermit was getting worried, normally he would be there in two seconds tops, and the Taki shinobi were looking at him strangely. A minute later Naruto finally appeared. He was wearing his Konoha uniform with the white cloak like his father over it. On his back was a very large scroll and he had the sword of Kusanagi in his hand. In other words, he was prepared for a fight.
"The last time someone used that I was pulled into a fight with two 'S-Class' missing-nin, so this time I grabbed a few things after I got out of the shower. What's so important you had to call me all the way out here?" Naruto said.
They told him everything that happened. 'Ok this is definitely a reason to call me here.' His first instinct was to tell the Taki Ninja to go home and have Konoha go forward, but then he remembered something. 'You're the Godaime Hokage, the things you do affect the lives of everyone in the village, everyone in Hi no Kuni, maybe the entire world. You can't ruin people lives then say you're sorry when things don't go how you expected.'
"I'll call for a meeting with Takigakure no Sato and discuss things with them. In the meantime, you and the rest of the hidden Konoha forces are to secure this area," Naruto said. A loud "Hai, Hokage/Godaime-sama" could be heard from all the Ninja. Naruto then warped back to Konoha.
He appeared in his bedroom and instantly noticed that Hinata was in there changing clothes. She was surprised to see him appear like that, but it happened so often she was used to it. He wasn't surprised to see her changing clothes; she was his wife, even if they haven't done much yet. That and she still had on underwear.
"Hinata, I know this is probably a bad time but I would like for you go somewhere with me tomorrow. We'll be leaving the village and may not be back for a week but I must go and I don't want to leave you here while I'm gone." Naruto said.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"We'll be going to Takigakure no Sato," he responded.
"I'll go. Tsunade-sama sent me home saying sitting there all day won't help and I probably won't be able to see her for a while even after she's stable. Ano, umm, Naruto-kun…" She then started fiddling with her fingers looking nervous. "Hanabi-Chan is in the living room, she didn't want to go back to the compound so I told her she could spend the night here. Is that fine with you?"
"That's fine Hinata; she can stay as long as she wishes to. In fact when we get back I'll buy us a bigger house and then she and you mother can live with us if they want. I've been thinking about it for a while and I think now is the time to do so," he said.
"But isn't this the house you got from your parents? Are you sure you want to leave it?" Hinata asked.
"Yes it is but it's just a house. I may have a lot of memories here and moving to a new house won't erase those memories," he replied. He then left to send a message to Taki requesting permission to visit.
