I'm here! ...What?
Let's continue the story!
5. Commander Uzumaki!
The sun shone brightly on this awaited day. Men from all over the Land of Fire were lining up before the registration tables at the entrance of the training camp. Each and every one of them jotted down their names in scrolls and identified themselves. Once each would register, they would enter the camp area to set up their tents, like they were required to do. Starving from the long journey they made to arrive at camp, the rookies headed to the huge dining tents for a meal.
Stationed a few meters away were the lavish tents of the General and Commander. Right before them stood a tall, blond, young man, his hands on his hips.
He looked at the rookies with interest and something akin to nostalgia, but most of all, with pity. The scene before him reminded him of the time he had been one of them. It had only been a few years ago when he had trained in these same campgrounds for the war between the Land of Fire and small, rogue nations. At the time, he'd had only a vague idea of what he'd gotten himself into. He suspected several rookies present probably felt somewhat like that. He really did feel pity for them. He just knew what was to come.
His experience with the previous, minor war had made him see things he hadn't wanted to see. Well, to call it a minor war would be an understatement, because no war is "minor" to anyone who had ever been in one. They just range from bad to worse. But, he had to admit it hadn't been as huge as the previous ones, and it most likely wouldn't compare to the upcoming one against the Huns and the Akatsuki. Still, major destruction had fallen upon several villages and cities. There had been so much blood, so much horror, terror and screaming. People in many places had died. And one of them had been his old friend, Neji Hyuuga.
He still felt guilty that he hadn't been able to save his comrade. It haunted him to this day. He sometimes had nightmares of Neji's death that woke him up from his troubled sleep, sweating and breathing heavily. He looked over at the rookies again, feeling wistful.
He could also guess that several of them just wanted to help protect and defend their loved ones. He'd had thought the same thing back in his training days. Even though he knew that it didn't always work out, he understood those feelings. He could relate.
He had lost his parents to the Huns when he was a small child. (The Huns had already been on the move back then, but only recently had declared war officially.) His mother had hidden him in a closet while she went to help his father fight off the Huns, against his father's protests. They were both murdered that night.
News about the horrifying incident reached the ears of the emperor in the morning, and he had a funeral made in their honor on that same day. Minato, the boy's father, had been his right-hand man before Kakashi. He then decided to place the little boy in an orphanage, hoping a kind family would take him in and give him the love a child needs.
Sadly, it hadn't been as such. The blond had been bullied and mistreated by the other kids at the orphanage, and the women in charge wouldn't do a thing about it. They'd let it all slide and continued on with whatever entertained them. The poor boy had been miserable. He had cried himself to sleep every night when he thought no one would hear. He missed his parents immensely.
After about three years of torture, the nine-year-old had decided to escape the dreadful place. He wanted to go back to his old home, but didn't know how to get there, nor did he know where it was exactly. He had tried asking for help, but no one would pay him any mind. He ended up living in the streets of the large capital city of the Land of Fire.
Once the emperor heard word of the child's escape, he ordered some of his soldiers to go find him. He had become extremely worried and had wondered what the reason could have been for his escape. He'd decided to investigate the orphanage, and discovered that it wasn't a warm and friendly place as he'd thought it was. Immediately, he'd fired the women in charge and had replaced them with actual trustworthy ones. Not long after, the orphanage had become a much better place for the children there.
Meanwhile, the search for the boy in question went on for weeks, but to no avail could the soldiers find him. Said boy had thought they were going to take him back to that horrible place (he didn't know of the recent changes), so he'd hidden from the search party every time he'd spot them roaming the streets. It went on like that for weeks, until eventually they gave up, reporting to the emperor that they couldn't find him. The emperor had decided to end the search, deeply disappointed at the terrible turn of events. He decided to have scrolls with a drawing of the boy placed all around the city, just in case someone would spot him.
Another three years passed and the poor child still roamed the streets, just barely managing to survive each day. He wasn't sure if he was more miserable than back when he was in the orphanage. At least he'd had proper meals there. But no, he wasn't going back. He didn't know how, anyway. The city was too large, and he had most likely made his way to the other side of it by this time.
Everything changed one day when his hunger had been too grand. He had noticed a dark-haired boy who seemed a few years older than himself, walking calmly with a bag of groceries in his hands. Without thinking, the blond ran straight towards him, ready to snatch at least one thing from the bag. However, the older boy was fast to act. Before the little thief could manage to take a hold of an apple, he was rapidly pinned to the ground by the arm. He had stared in shock at the dark-haired boy, who was looking back at him with a frown, the small creases below his eyes lowering slightly.
After a few seconds, his captor had sighed. "You know, if you're that hungry, you could have asked me to give you something. I would have done it with no problem." He pursed his lips in disappointment. "But now, I think I will have to report you."
Immediately, the blond kid's eyes had widened. If he got reported, he'd definitely get found by the soldiers and taken back to the orphanage! He quickly tried to scramble free from the older boy's grasp, but couldn't do it; the latter was too strong.
He had started to panic, his breathing quickened. "Please don't do it! I don't wanna go back! I don't want to live there again!" he exclaimed fervently.
Oncoming tears became visible on the corners of his light blue eyes. He had once again tried to break free from the older boy's grip on him. The other stared at him for a few seconds, his dark eyes seeming to glow a crimson color by the sun's rays. Then, he looked away before standing up slowly, releasing him from his grasp. Not having expected this, the smaller boy had looked up at him in shock, a lonely tear trailing down his dirt-covered cheek.
"Alright. I won't tell anyone. You won't go back to wherever it is you don't want." The raven-haired boy adjusted the grocery bag in his arms and turned around, his long, low ponytail swishing gracefully. "If you don't want to keep living like this, you can come with me. I will make sure you won't have to resort to stealing ever again." He began walking away in the direction he had been headed to.
Some moments had passed, and the small kid wasn't sure what had just happened. He wasn't going to go back to the dreadful orphanage. The older boy had told him he wasn't going to report anything. And had even suggested to…join him. Not really knowing what this was about, but feeling something akin to hope, he had stood up from the ground and ran after him before he lost sight of his retreating back. What followed soon after became a new stage in his life. A rather comfortable one at that.
Fast-forwarding to the minor war that occurred a few years later, he had joined in due to selective service. Even if there wasn't such a thing, he'd still have joined. He wanted to protect everyone around him from any possible harm. He had people precious to him now, unlike in the dark times he'd gone through right after his parents had passed away.
Even though that was his resolve, compared to his former comrades, he'd been the dead last during the training. He had thought he was somewhat street-smart (having lived out in the streets for three years), but it hadn't paid off too well. The training had been stressful and nothing like he'd ever experienced before, but he had kept on moving forward without losing hope, that'd he'd be able to protect at least someone. His efforts and hard work had eventually paid off once he and the others had finally joined their seniors in the war against the rogue nations.
The blond, young man decided to stop his reminiscing and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. He didn't want to be further distracted by past events. He exhaled slowly and shook his head, then slapped his hands on both his cheeks, trying to compose his thoughts. He lowered them as a smile began forming on his lips.
Today was the day he would finally introduce himself as commander to these soon-to-be soldiers; his students, as you could say. General Uchiha had officially given him the position the other day, and he had been more than honored to accept. He would have never suspected that he would ever get this far (though, everyone had told him they'd seen it coming, and how obvious it was that he was going to be in charge sooner or later).
He looked up at the beautiful sky. The sun illuminated his handsome face, when he heard the scrunching of grass, indicating that someone was walking towards him.
"Naruto."
The blond male turned towards the familiar voice that had called out to him. "Sasuke," he responded equally.
"Itachi is about to depart and wants a word with us," the raven-haired male stated with a bored look on his face. Naruto nodded at his friend's words, then both of them made their way to where said man was located.
General Uchiha and his experienced troops were already joining forces with the other lands to protect a few villages that were currently in danger, as well as to stall for time while the rookies trained. Naruto still had a couple of months before he and his soon-to-be soldiers were to depart and join in the fighting. He needed to prepare them for the upcoming onslaught.
Once he and Sasuke arrived at Itachi's tent, they stood before him expectantly. "You wanted a word with us, General?" Naruto asked, slightly concerned.
The older Uchiha looked at them both before replying, "Not much, just that I trust you guys enough to train these men into the best soldiers they can be." He nodded at the blond. "And Naruto, I know I made a good choice in leaving this position to you." He gave him an encouraging smile.
"Don't you worry about a thing, Itachi - er, I mean, General Uchiha. I'll be sure to train these men as best as I can!" Naruto gave him his trademark grin and a thumbs up.
The older man gave him another nod, then turned towards his younger brother. "Sasuke, I also know that choosing you to be Naruto's Vice-Commander was the right choice. I know you'll keep him out of trouble." Sasuke just stared at his older brother while Naruto gave a small laugh and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
"Big Brother, please have a safe journey." The younger, raven-haired man looked at him with concern evident in his eyes. Sasuke rarely showed any expression other than that of boredom and annoyance, so it was surprising when he would clearly show concern over someone. Noticing this, Naruto smiled to himself.
Itachi smiled at Sasuke. "Don't worry about me, little brother. I'll be fine." He closed in on him, raised his hand and gently poked him on the forehead. The younger Uchiha just "tch'd" as he looked away from his brother and Itachi laughed at the gesture.
"Well, it's time for me to take my leave. I'll be seeing you guys in a couple of months." The older Uchiha went to mount his horse, Naruto and Sasuke following behind him. "I leave the rest in your hands, Commander, Vice Commander." Itachi nodded at the both of them, and gave them a salute before he turned and signaled for his soldiers to follow behind. He gave one last wave and rode his horse out of sight, leading the thousands of his troops.
The two younger men waited until their seniors were out of sight. Then, Naruto turned around to face his partner. "Well, let's get back. There are still a few things we need to do before we begin the training." He started to make his way back towards the tents as Sasuke agreed and followed suit.
"Hello! Nice to meet you! Hey, I see you have a sword. Well, I have one too!" Hinata suddenly tripped on a rock and fell on her stomach.
She had been practicing her male voice and actions for the last two hours. She had barely arrived at the camp and knew that she couldn't just barge in, talking and acting like a girl (pretty much being herself), or else her cover could get blown, and everything she had done so far would have been in vain. So, she had decided to take some time to practice being a man right outside the campgrounds. She had hidden behind some bushes and trees that made a pretty good hiding spot. There was a great view of the camp from there too; it was perfect. She had gotten to work immediately, though the Hyuuga hadn't known it was going to be this hard.
Hinata stood up from the ground and sighed. No matter what or how she did it, she could not come off as manly. She was too shy. How could she prevent herself from being shy around men? Especially men who were strangers to her. What if her voice sounded too high, or what if she accidentally squeaked when spoken to? She tried to make her voice sound like a guy's, but it only came out scruffy, as if she were a young boy. Trying to walk like a man only came off as kind of awkward, as if she couldn't walk properly. She wasn't sure how she was going to pull this off before approaching the camp.
The short-haired beauty started pacing back and forth in worry. The registration tables were closing in thirty minutes and she just wasn't ready. She pondered over her current predicament. She wasn't going to achieve in thirty minutes what she couldn't achieve in two hours. There was just no more time to get her act together. I guess that leaves me no choice…
She was going to risk it. She was just going up there to improvise everything. People usually tend to do better when they're under pressure, right?
Well, she was about to find out.
"Hiashi Hyuuga?" The men sitting down at the registration tables looked from the name in the scroll to the "man" that was right in front of them.
"Uh, yes! Yes! Um-uh, my-my father's name is Hiashi Hyuuga. I'm his eldest son here to take his place, since, you know, he's not in top form at this moment." Hinata tried her best with her male voice, still sounding scruffy, but seemed to have succeeded, since the men didn't question it. The three of them just raised their eyebrows and nodded.
Hinata gave a sigh of relief in her mind. She did not want to look suspicious in front of these men if she sighed out loud.
"Alright, your name?" one of them questioned suddenly.
"Hi-!" She was about to say her own name when she abruptly stopped herself. Uh oh. That didn't even cross her mind! How could she have forgotten to think up a male name? Now she only had a few seconds to come up with one! Come on, Hinata, think!
"Hi-…" she uttered, musing. Her mind swirled in search for possible names that begun with those first two letters.
The three men raised their eyebrows at her again. "Hi-… What?" They seemed to be running out of patience.
Hinata just then spouted whatever word came to the tip of her tongue. "-ro!" Well, that didn't sound good.
"Ro?" questioned the men at the very odd name. Hinata wanted to blush severely, but tried holding it back… if that was even possible.
She blurted, "Hi-…-ro! Hiro! Hiro Hyuuga!" There, that sounded better, and more realistic. She held back the big sigh of relief she was about to release.
"Hiro Hyuuga…okay." One of the men wrote the name on the list and kept the scroll, just like with everybody else's. "Okay, NEXT!" he shouted afterwards.
That was the signal. She was officially in. She made it.
Hinata thanked the men and made her way inside the camp. She held on to Akamaru's reigns as she led him through the large gate, managing to ignore all the men in her way as she searched for a good spot where she could set up her tent. The farther away from the others, the better. She was able to maneuver her way to a decent area that was a good distance from everyone else.
"Alright, here we are, Akamaru." Hinata tried to sound confident, but deep inside, she was nearly dying. She was so nervous, she could sweat a waterfall.
Trying to calm herself, she decided to set up her tent. "Okay, I better get to work."
Hinata grabbed the manual and took her time in reading the instructions. Step by step, she tried to follow them as she read. It was horrible. The sun was shining so brightly that it was awfully hot outside. She tried doing everything the instructions told her, but every time she had finally gotten to attach two poles, they ended up falling down and separating. For the next three hours, Hinata tried folding, attaching, connecting, and spreading, until she collapsed. The tent was just a huge bundle in the grass. She managed to sit up, feeling utterly exhausted.
"Okay, maybe I'll do it later." Hinata was a little frustrated with not being able to build her tent, but she wasn't the type to groan and complain about it. She tried to remain calm and collected, as typical of a Hyuuga, though she was a little sad that she couldn't get to do it yet.
At that moment, her stomach grumbled. Boy, was she hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since she left her home last night. The young woman glanced at the sky and guessed it must be about five o'clock in the afternoon. She needed to eat. Sounds could be heard from one of the large tents in which the men gathered to eat. It wouldn't hurt to approach them; she would just go in, grab something and come back here to eat it. Sounded like a good plan.
Hinata stood up from her sitting position and jogged her way towards one of the huge dining tents. "Here I go," she whispered as she took a deep breath and pushed one of the flaps to the side. She was not prepared for what she saw.
Before her, were hundreds of men chatting and laughing boisterously with each other. All around the tent, they were eating, joking, and even arguing loudly. Others were shirtless and comparing muscles with one another.
Hinata was not familiar with this unruly atmosphere.
She let out a shaky breath and took a timid step inside, but stopped herself abruptly. D-Did a naked man just pass by her!?
Yep, she was definitely not familiar with this atmosphere at all. Nor did she like it.
Her stomach grumbled again, reminding her of why she was here. The young woman sighed and forced herself to maneuver through the crowd towards the selection table, trying not to stand out in any way. She was smaller and slimmer than most men here, but she noticed some that looked similar, so hopefully no one would find her suspicious.
Once she arrived to her destination, Hinata looked at all the food that was available. White rice, shrimp, noodles, dumplings, beef, pork, chicken and fish. To drink, there was only water and tea. She was pretty hungry, so she grabbed a plate and put a little bit of everything on it. The Hyuuga heiress was used to high quality meals, but this food looked just as good right now, so she didn't mind at all. Once she stuffed her plate, she decided on sweet tea instead of water. Now on to head back to her unfinished tent…she would just sit on the grass and eat this...
"Hey! What's up?" Hinata paused mid-step and prayed whoever called wasn't talking to her. She turned around timidly.
"You seem pretty secretive and quiet over here. What's your name, man?" The young male who had spoken was looking straight at her. He had brown hair and red marks on both his cheeks.
"Uh-Um…" Hinata couldn't answer, she was sort of stunned. She hoped she wasn't blushing or else it would be pretty weird.
"Name's Kiba!" He gave her a smile and Hinata noticed two of his teeth resembled fangs. She also noticed that he looked kind of cute when he smiled. She really hoped she wasn't blushing.
"My- Ahem!" Whoa, she almost spoke with her normal voice. She immediately switched her voice to her scruffy one as she had done earlier. "My name is Hi-Hiro. Hiro Hyuuga."
Kiba furrowed his brows, as if something occurred to him, then his face immediately brightened. "Ohhh! Hyuuga? Like, Neji Hyuuga?"
Hinata widened her eyes at the name. How did he know of her cousin? There were only rookies here, no? She needed to find out. "You-You know Neji?" She stared intently at the young man called Kiba.
His smile widened. "Who doesn't? He was one of the men who helped Sir Uzumaki and Sir Uchiha during the last war. He died though… Are you related to him?" he asked curiously.
Of course! What was she thinking? It shouldn't be surprising that people would know about her cousin! He had been declared a war hero by the emperor.
She didn't quite remember either of those two names Kiba had mentioned, but she had a vague idea of who those men were. During Neji's funeral, it had been stated by the priest that Neji had given his life to protect someone with one of those two names. She couldn't remember whose it was. All that had plagued her mind that day was the terrible truth of her beloved cousin's death.
"Oh, haha, yeah. Um-uh, we-we're in the same family, but distant relatives. I barely knew him." Hinata tried to smile and hoped that Kiba had bought the story. She did not remember that she had told the men at the registration tables, that she was the supposed eldest son of Hiashi Hyuuga, Neji's uncle. Man, how that would later complicate things…
"Oh well, but at least you're in the same family! And kind of look alike…plus, you guys have the same eyes!" Kiba scratched the back of his head a bit. "Man, the Hyuugas have such rare eyes. I wonder how that came to be," he muttered to himself, musing.
Hinata gave a hearty laugh (tried her best to sound male) and smiled. This Kiba seemed like a good man. Guess she didn't mind him.
Just then, someone came out of nowhere and stood next to the young man before her. Kiba turned to him with a grin. "Hey, Shino! Meet my new friend, Hiro! He's a distant relative of Neji Hyuuga!"
The man named Shino nodded. He had dark brown hair and dark shades covering his eyes (let's just say sunglasses existed in this era, lol), seeming mysterious in a way.
"Hello, Shino," Hinata greeted politely. Said man just nodded his head again. Kiba quickly waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, excuse him, he doesn't talk much. He's not much of a talker." He smiled in embarrassment, not wanting to look bad in front of a member of the esteemed Hyuuga family.
"No, it's okay." For some reason, Hinata liked this Shino guy too. He seemed quiet and collected, kind of like her.
All of a sudden, a random man bumped into her at full force, sending her forward with her food and drink still in hand. She slammed right into Kiba, spilling all the food and tea right on him. The man that had bumped into her turned around and apologized. Hinata was about to repeat the same words to her talkative peer, when she noticed he'd walked right past her and punched the other man in the face. She gaped in shock.
"You ruined my shirt, you bastard!" shouted a ticked-off Kiba. He turned towards Hinata. "It's not your fault, Hiro. It's this idiot's fault for ruining my shirt." He glared at the culprit, who was trying to get up from the ground. Said man looked suddenly enraged and was about to return the punch, but Kiba was faster, punching him again. The older man fell back to the ground on his bottom, looking shocked, as if he hadn't expected the younger man to beat him to the punch (pun intended?). Then he stood back up, cracked his knuckles and neck, and positioned himself in a fighting stance. Kiba smirked and did just the same.
Hinata felt stuck in place. She couldn't believe what was happening. It had all just been an accident. Why were they going to fight over it? She wanted to intervene, to tell them to stop, but then noticed a crowd of other men slowly gathering around the two opponents. They all seemed hyped up and some of them even began engaging in fights of their own.
The young Hyuuga looked around in utter shock. There were now rambunctious shouts and growls, cuss words and insults thrown around, and already some unconscious people. It was totally motley. She knew that if she didn't get out of here soon, she would get easily beaten. She couldn't fight off any of these rowdy men, and even if she could, she didn't want to join in the senseless fighting. She had to quickly make her escape without getting noticed.
Hinata started to back out of the scene, heading towards the exit. Barely halfway there, she noticed that practically everyone else in the tent had joined in the brawling as well, and seemingly for no reason at all. It was now utter chaos all around. The lavender-eyed beauty did not intend to become a victim. She paced faster towards the flaps of the tent, anxious to leave this disastrous place.
"Hey! Don't think you can get away!" A tall man ran towards Hinata, raising his fist in the air. He brought it down hard, ready to strike her, when she suddenly wasn't there before him.
"Huh? Where'd he go? Oh, well." The man turned around and punched someone else that was close by. The other returned the punch, and then both engaged in a skirmish of their own.
Luckily, Hinata had avoided the man's fist by dropping to her knees, and then started crawling away as fast as she could on the grass. Since she was small and the men were bigger, she would barely be noticed if she stuck to the ground. As she neared her destination, her lavender eyes dreadfully laid on a group of men fighting it out right there, blocking the entrance.
Oh no! I won't be able to make it past them! How am I going to get away from here?
Hinata winced in defeat. She decided it was best to hide somewhere until the crazy fray was over. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, trying to find a good hiding spot. Her gaze stopped at a nearby table, which seemed almost isolated from the rest. There were hardly any men around it. There!
She quickly made her way over and crawled under it, having managed to avoid getting stumbled or stepped on. She really hoped no one would take the time to pay attention to this spot. If anyone did, they'd notice her right away, since not a single wooden table was covered with a tablecloth.
Hinata folded her knees up against herself, and closed her eyes tightly as she put both of her hands over her ears to block out the nearly deafening noise. Like that, she waited until it was over.
"Okay, so then we-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence and frowned. He was in the middle of a meeting, when he heard the heavy racket coming from one of the dining tents.
"What's going on?" Sasuke questioned, raising an eyebrow. The other people at the meeting looked at each other in confusion.
One of the emperor's council men, Mizuki, stood up from his cushion and looked straight at Naruto. "As the commander, you ought to check what on earth is happening with your soldiers. We will wait here." The others nodded in agreement.
Naruto stood up without hesitation. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he responded as he furrowed his brows, wondering what all the fuss was about.
"Eh, you can take all the time you need. I'll just rest here while we wait," a young man with a black, spiky ponytail stated lazily.
"Shikamaru's right. We'll just take a rest here meanwhile," agreed an older man with silver, spiked-up hair, and a dark mask covering half his face.
"You guys seriously need to stop lazing around! This isn't a resting place!" shouted Mizuki towards both men. The one with silver hair, Kakashi, and Shikamaru both ignored his outburst and laid back on the floor with their hands behind their heads, closing their eyes in the process.
Kakashi was the emperor's right-hand man. He was sent to the training camp to check and overlook everything and report to him on how the troops were doing. Shikamaru was Kakashi's own assistant. He was more of an adviser though, having proven how extremely intelligent and a good tactician he was, while he had fought during the previous war. He'd be of great help to the rookies.
But of course, both of these men were known to be very lazy. It really was no wonder why they were working together.
Kakashi and Shikamaru tuned Mizuki out as he continued to rant. Naruto did the same, being more focused on finding out the reason for the increasing clamor nearby. He paced over to the entrance of the meeting tent and opened the flaps.
"Sasuke," Naruto stated without glancing at him.
"Hn." Sasuke nodded and stood up, following him to go check out what in the world was going on with the group in dining tent number one; the largest of the three.
Hinata had yet to open her eyes and remove her hands from her ears. She didn't know how long it had been already, but she could still hear the muffled yells coming from all the crazy men. She was just going to keep waiting down here under the table until everyone calmed down.
All of a sudden, a commanding "HEY!" clearly rang throughout the tent, unexpectedly making everything become eerily silent. Apparently, whoever shouted had made all the rowdy men stop what they were doing.
Hinata wondered what had happened. She waited a few more seconds before she opened her eyes and removed her hands from her ears. Everyone really had become completely silent. She could hear her own breathing, which currently sounded too loud. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but let out a shaky sigh of relief.
Her heartbeat quickened when she sensed someone nearing her. She closed her eyes tightly and placed her hands over her ears again, dreading whatever was about to happen. The person stopped right in front of the table she was taking refuge under. Knowing she had no option, no escape, Hinata slowly removed her hands from her ears and started to open her eyes.
She first caught sight of a pair of black leather boots, almost touching the tips of her own. Her eyes timidly trailed upwards, noticing the man's dark and orange attire, then paused for a second before she lifted her gaze to his face. She regretted it the moment they made eye contact.
Piercing blue eyes looked straight at her lavender ones. He did not seem pleased.
Uh oh. She was in trouble.
Thanks for reading, guys! Let me know what you think so far :)
Ok, I'm going to explain the ages of some of the characters here, so you guys can get the picture.
Hinata, Kiba, & Shino - 21
Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, & Neji (If he were still alive) - 23
Till next time!