The courtship of Naruto Uzumaki
XX. Guard duty
"For those of you who hadn't heard—a wounded man named Hoshi Ishii was found in the park last night. He had two small puncture wounds in his neck that we still haven't completely analyzed yet. He was missing a great deal of blood none of which was found in the surrounding area. He was rushed to the hospital, and given over a liter of blood in transfusion. If he'd been a smaller man or a woman he would have died. As it was, he revived a few hours ago. Unfortunately, he remembered nothing of the attack. He was apparently cutting through the park on his way home as he did every evening after work. He's a carpenter working at the Northeast end of the village." Tsunade paused, and looked over at her guards for that night's duty.
There were four jônin: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki. There were four genin: Kiyoshi Yoshida, Botan Kondo, Akira Ochi, and Etsu Koga. They were all twelve, and recently graduated to the rank of genin. Their jônin sensei was out on the same mission as all the others. It was the duty of the four young jônin assigned with them to impart some wisdom and training while on patrol. She'd informed them of that extra duty before the younger ones had arrived. They wouldn't be able to do much by way of training, but anything would be a help should the village suffer an emergency situation while awaiting the return of the more experienced jônin.
"Shikamaru will be in charge of the entire team, but you will patrol in pairs. I don't want any of the inexperienced genin together. Two should man the front gate while the rest of you patrol the streets. I want you to be observant and careful. Until we know the nature of the attack on Hoshi Ishii, I want you to keep a sharp eye out for any anomaly. Report anything that seems suspicious. Investigate carefully. Call for backup if need be. You've all been supplied with wireless radios. Wear them around your necks so your voice will be picked up more easily. You're on the same frequency so any message sent will be transmitted to all radio receivers. I'll have one with me, and someone in the medical unit will have one. Be specific about the help you need. Use the first names of the jônin team pair to communicate between groups. State your jônin name then the jônin name of the group you wish to contact. For example: Shikamaru to Naruto or Hinata to Hokage. Use Hokage to contact me or Medic for someone in the medical unit. These radios are not toys. You may test them once, but otherwise they are not to be used for frivolous conversation. They are for emergency or informational use only. Is that understood?"
They all nodded solemnly.
"Good. You are to begin and end your shifts at the front gate. Your shift is from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. Take turns at the gate. If you need a food, drink, or bathroom break inform the gate and take no longer than ten minutes. Don't patrol in a pattern. Be quiet and pay attention. Genin follow the instructions of your assigned jônin completely. If you have questions wait until your front gate duty to ask. Is that understood?"
They all nodded solemnly again. She waited for Naruto to make some smartass comment, but he was behaving very well this evening. She could have praised him for his exemplary behavior, but she'd discovered over the years that acknowledging bad behavior—even its absence—seemed to reinforced the behavior. Some kinds of behavior cried out for any attention so ignoring it was the best way to terminate it—if one had the patience.
"Excellent. Off you go. Your shift begins in ten minutes."
On their way to the front gate Shikamaru and Choji took the lead with the genin behind them while Naruto walked beside Hinata at the tail end of the group.
"Hi," he said softly.
"Hi," she returned just as softly.
"I guess it wouldn't e proper for one shinobi to kiss another hello," he suggested.
"Naruto! Don't you dare!" she hissed blushing furiously, and looking intently at the group ahead to see if they'd overheard anything. The genin were too busy whispering among themselves to pay attention to what was going on behind them.
He shook his head sadly. "I didn't think so. I guess I'll just have to wait for a more acceptable occasion. How 'bout a date tomorrow night?"
"Oh, yes," she agreed enthusiastically. She would happily receive and return such a hello on a more personal occasion.
"You'll let me take you someplace, right? Not just a walk in the park? That didn't turn out so well if you remember."
"Whatever you want, Naruto—if you allow me to cook dinner for you before we go out." She so wanted to cook for him—take care of him. He needed someone to look after him, and she was eagerly ready to take on the job as soon as it was offered. In the meantime, she wanted to impress him with her homemaker skills. She'd never cooked for anyone but herself before except in camping situations. She could only hope she compared favorably to the the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.
"You bet! I'd love a home cooked meal. Remember the gyūniku shichū you made for us on your mission to bring me home?"
"Yes, I remember, but I didn't make that meal by myself. You gathered most of the ingredients. I just heated them together," she reminded him. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but that mission was the first time she'd been alone with Naruto on a mission—or any time. It was the first time she hadn't fainted as soon as he spoke to her. It was the first time he'd noticed her as a girl, and not just a fellow shinobi. It was the first time he'd paid exclusive attention to her. It was the first time he'd kissed her even if it was pretend. That mission had marked the beginning of the wonderful change in their relationship that made her happier than she'd every been in her life.
"You knew what to cook, when, and for how long. I would have just thrown everything in the pot, and set it to boil. It was the best thing I'd ever eaten besides ramen. I think you're a great cook," he told her sincerely. There may have been other circumstances that colored his memory of that meal, but he knew he'd find anything Hinata made for him delicious just because she made it for him.
"Thank you. I hope you still think so after tomorrow night." She allowed a little doubt to creep into her voice, but his positive response reassured her.
"You bet I will. Hey, you know where I'd like to go tomorrow night after dinner?"
She shook her head smiling. She didn't care where they went as long as she was with Naruto. They could just sit and look at the stars again if he wanted to. She didn't want him to spend a lot of money on her—plus there were some lovely advantages to being alone together in a quiet, dark place. She was blushing again just thinking about it.
"I'd like to see a performance of that acting troop I told you about. I don't know how much longer they'll be in town. I heard it's a really good show—not just acting. There's a really good singer, acrobats, and a magician with the show. I've heard about it from a lot of people. I would have gone to see it sooner, but I wanted to see it with you. It should be really cool."
"It sounds wonderful. I look forward to it."
"Great," he said happily. He almost reached for her hand, but remembered where they were. In less than 24 hours, he and Hinata would be on another date. He hoped this one went better than the last—not that the last date wasn't pretty terrific—except for finding that wounded man. He could do without that kind of excitement on a date.
He should be tired after all the walking he'd done that day with Naomi, but he felt energized just seeing Hinata again. Too bad they'd see so little of each other while on duty. He was just grateful the Fifth hadn't rearranged the shifts so he'd be with Sakura and Hinata would be with Kiba and Shino. Those were their usual teams, but he'd see less of Hinata if their duties weren't synchronized. If he didn't know better, he'd think the Fifth was doing him a favor. But she didn't even know what was going on—not really. She acted like she knew something, but that was just teasing him as usual. He'd kept his feelings pretty well hidden. She couldn't possibly have a real clue about him and Hinata—could she?
When they reached the front gate, he realized he'd forgotten all about Lee waiting to be relieved—and waiting for something else. He tried to avoid the guy by lurking behind the others, but Lee wasn't having it. He jumped right in front of Naruto effectively halting his advance with the rest of his team.
"Naruto—" Lee began eagerly.
"I'm sorry, Lee," Naruto interrupted quickly. "I've got nothing to tell you. She's mad at me. I don't when I'll be able to talk to her again."
"You didn't ask her—"
Naruto interrupted again. The less he had to explain about his encounter with Sakura the better. "I really didn't get to say much of anything, but she suspects big time that you and I talked. I didn't confirm or deny it. You'll have to decide what to tell her if she asks." And he was certain she would ask. Of everything he'd said or not said, he'd seemed maddest about that idea.
Lee's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "I see. Maybe you can try again soon?" he asked hopefully.
"I don't know, Lee. She was really mad. Why don't we let her chill for awhile? The way things are going here, we aren't going any place else real soon. So there's no dangerous mission to worry about yet."
"Perhaps you are right. I must recover my patience. I will wait for things to calm down. Our mission is here in the village. I must be satisfied with that," he said with determination. He raised his head, and squared his shoulders. "I thank you for your help, Naruto. I know you did your best. I will see you later." He raised his hand in farewell, and walked off looking once again like the cheerful, determined Lee he usually was.
Naruto turned to join his team when Konohamaru caught his attention by leaping in front of him filling up the space Lee had just vacated.
"Hey, Naruto?"
"Yeah?" He looked ahead at the others before turning his attention to Konohamaru. Shikamaru was interviewing the genin. They hadn't seemed to notice his absence yet.
"Did Naomi like the tour this morning?" he asked eagerly.
"Why wouldn't she? I was there."
"You know what I mean, old man. You're just her cousin. What did she think of me?"
"She thought you were an obnoxious brat. What else could she think?"
"Naruto!"
He held up his hands to ward Konohamaru off. He certainly had a talent for pissing people off today—or maybe he shouldn't be so specific. He had that particular talent on any number of days. "Okay, okay. She thought you were nice. But I have to warn you, I told her about Moegi."
"What about Moegi?"
"She's your girlfriend, isn't she?"
"She is not! We're just friends. We all agreed that romance would just get in the way of our goals. Moegi wants to be just like the Fifth, and I want to be Hokage. We've got too much work to do to waste time that way. Team mates should just remain team mates," he said indignantly.
"That's very mature of you guys, Konohamaru," he said in surprise. The kid was continually amaing him. He was a lot more mature than Naruto had been at his age. Maybe losing his grandfather and guardian had been a more serious blow than he'd thought. He couldn't imagine the effects of losing the one stable person in one's life at such a young age since he'd never had a stable person in his life in his memory. It gave him a fuller appreciation and understanding of his ex-team mate, Sasuke's single-minded determination to exterminate the person who'd brutally taken away his entire family leaving him alone. He'd been only a little younger than Konohamaru when he'd suffered his tragic loss. It must have changed him a great deal.
He grinned. "Yeah, well, we can always change our minds later. We've got plenty of time."
"Sure you do. 14's too young to think about stuff like that. You should just leave it alone. Let Naomi think you're already taken. It won't hurt her, and she won't get too attached to you."
"No way! That's different. Naomi's not my team mate. I want her to know I'm available."
He frowned. "Well, I don't. Stop flirting with my cousin, Konohamaru. I don't want her to get hurt."
"I wouldn't hurt her!" he said indignantly.
"See that you don't by not encouraging her in the first place. She's too young."
"We're the same age?"
"Yeah, well, you're too young, too. Anyway, I think she has ambitions to be a ninja. She'll need to concentrate all her time and energy to catch up. Don't mess things up for her."
"Hey, Naruto, get over here!" Choji yelled over at him. "You're on duty now!"
"I've gotta go, Konohamaru. We'll talk about this another time."
"Not 'till I've talked to Naomi. We're gonna be friends whether you like it or not," he said backing quickly away then turning to run off toward home.
"Konohamaru!" Naruto yelled after him, but it was too late. The brat had the last word, and there was nothing he could do about it until tomorrow. Damn him!
"You sure are popular all of a sudden, Naruto," Choji said as he finally joined them.
"Not by choice," he mumbled.
"Okay, enough of that. We've got work to do. Choji, I want you and Kiyoshi to take the first shift at the front gate. The other pairs will be Hinata and Akira, Naruto and Botan, me and Etsu." He'd stuck himself with a girl again. He knew it was inevitable whether friend or foe, he'd always be stuck with a girl so he assigned himself the girl before fate did it for him. "We'll divide the village into three—from here right, middle and left." He pointed to the areas he'd vaguely described.
"I want to patrol the park area," Naruto volunteered. He wanted to have another look at that area at night. Maybe whatever had attacked Hoshi Ishii would return to the scene of the crime.
"Are you sure? That's where the wounded man was found, remember?"
"I know. I found him."
"What?"
"You did?"
Hinata said nothing. She hoped Naruto wasn't about to bring everyone's attention to her. She might be gaining self-confidence, but she wasn't ready to be the center of anyone's attention except Naruto.
"Yeah, I was sitting on a park bench looking up at the stars when I heard him moan. If it hadn't been so quiet, I might not have heard him at all."
"What were you doing in the park by yourself?" Choji asked suspiciously.
"Who said I was by myself? I was on a date." Okay discretion might be the better part of valor, but he really wanted everyone to know that he had a girlfriend.
"A date? You? Who's the unlucky girl?" Despite the questions all knowledgeable eyes drew bead on Hinata.
"None of your business." He'd said enough. He'd embarrass Hinata if he said anymore just now. He glanced apologetically at her. He wouldn't tell them anything else he tried to tell her with his eyes.
"Hinata, I think you're blushing," Choji teased.
Shikamaru took pity on her. "Okay, we're getting off topic. If the Fifth knew we'd spent the first 15 minutes of guard duty standing around gossiping, she'd have our heads. Naruto, you and Botan take the right side. Hinata, you and Akira take the left side. Etsu and I will take the middle. It won't matter if we overlap a little. Make a tour of all the streets, main, side and alleys. Don't neglect any dark corner or crevice. Look inside any abandoned buildings. We'll change patrol areas when we get back to the front gate. I think it should take from one to two hours for each of us to make a thorough patrol of our respective areas. Any questions? No? Then let's head out."
Naruto exchanged a smile, and nod with Hinata before she headed off in the opposite direction of his tour area.
As they headed out, Naruto's eyes narrowed as he studied the kid he'd been paired up with. Botan Kondo was of stocky built with light brown hair and eyes. He had a bounce to his walk, a cheeky grin, and dancing, mischievous eyes. Since he couldn't do much to match them up physically—was Shikamaru trying to match personalities? He didn't know if he wanted a kid too much like him. He always seemed to attract kids too much like him—case in point, Konohamaru. Someone too much like him probably wouldn't listen to him, would challenge his every utterance, and would need to be rescued somewhere along the line from his impulsive behavior. He gave a silent sigh of resignation, and led the way along the right (or east) side of the village.
"So you really found the wounded guy in the park?" It didn't take more than a minute for their quiet tour of duty to be interrupted by his inquisitive companion.
"That's what I said."
"And he was missing over a liter of blood?"
"So the Fifth claimed."
"What did he look like?" he asked eagerly.
"That's a ghoulish question."
He shrugged. "I just wondered what it looks like when you're missing a lot of blood. Do you shrink? Do you turn white? What happens?"
Naruto frowned at him. He'd never wondered stuff like that. Maybe this kid was interested in being a medical ninja. "Haven't you been in any fights yet? Haven't you been hurt or hurt someone else enough to see a lot of blood loss?"
"Not really. Are you asking what kind of missions I've been on?"
"Well, that might answer the question."
"I've been on three missions. The first mission we had to find a runaway kid. He had a fight with his parents, and decided to go live with his grandfather on a farm outside the village. He was only five. He fell and sprained his ankle so he was pretty easy to find. It only took us a few hours to search the village then start searching outside."
"No fighting involved, I guess?"
"Nope. The second and third missions were more of the same—finding something lost and returning it. The third mission involved a thief, but he wouldn't even put up a fight. He dropped to the ground and put his hands over his head as soon as we caught him," he said in disgust.
"Tough break. Haven't you even practiced fought and gotten badly hurt?"
"Not really. I was accidentally hit by a kunai blade once in practice. That was Akira, but he wasn't throwing it very hard. It didn't hurt too much."
Akira? Wasn't that the genin with Hinata? He certainly hoped the kid had better aim now. He didn't want her to get hurt accidentally by her own partner.
This kid was even lamer than he'd been as a new genin. That was the kind of kiddie stuff his team had been given when they'd first become genin. How were they supposed to learn how to be ninja if they weren't given better missions? If he hadn't demanded a higher level mission from the Third, he'd have been handling lame assignments for years. He sure wouldn't have been able to handle the chûnin exams, Haku and Sabuza, Gaara and the Shukaku, or any of the many people and creatures he'd had to fight during his genin years.
Naruto finally answered the kid's original question. "It was pretty dark back in the woods, so I didn't get a good look at him. The guy was pale, and looked asleep. He was really lucky that I found him or he'd have died of hypothermia."
"Wow. You saved his life."
"I've saved a lot of people's lives. You saved a life when you found that five year old runaway. That's what we ninja do. Now we'd better be quiet so we can hear someone or something creeping up on us. You can ask more questions when we've got our turn at the front gate. Okay?"
"Okay."
The kid managed to keep fairly quiet for the next hour as they walked the streets of Konoha checking out anything that looked suspicious. Usually all they found was a rat or a cat hidden in the shadows. Sometimes they met someone walking home who'd greet them and pass on. Nobody they passed looked especially suspicious, dangerous or questionable.
When they reached the park, he asked the kid to be especially quiet, and on his guard as they scoped out the area. He wasn't as quiet as Naruto, but he was quiet enough.
The woods themselves were as quiet as they'd been when he and Hinata had been there the night before. The night creatures could probably sense their presence by scent if not by sound. When humans were about, they were practically invisible. The only creatures that didn't seem to care who was about were insects. He could faintly hear the buzz of a mosquito flying past his ear, and the monotonous call of a few crickets. The weather hadn't turned cold enough to send them into hibernation.
Naruto saw nothing; he heard nothing; he smelled nothing out of the ordinary, but he felt that eerie sensation of being watched. He knew this was probably his imagination, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention all during the seemingly long walk through the park. When they were free of the woods, despite no evidence of any large presence but theirs, he felt relieved. However, he continued to have that watched feeling until they had turned onto a completely different street. What could have been watching him that he couldn't see besides his overactive imagination?
Hinata was given the park area for her second patrol shift.
Naruto had told her of the eerie watched feeling he'd had while patrolling the park, so she was prepared to feel the same, but she didn't. She had absolutely no sense of being watched. She used her Byakugan the entire time, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Either Naruto was imaging things as he'd jokingly suggested, or there was no longer any disturbing presence in the park. She tended to trust Naruto's instincts, so her guess was that the menace had left the area by her shift.
Nor did she sense or see anything else of menace or suspicion on any of her shifts. She and the equally quiet Akira had a completely silent and tranquil time on patrol. By the time they had their last shift, and front gate duty, she felt comfortable enough with her genin to ask him questions about his training. Once she'd gotten him talking, he'd lost his shyness completely with her.
Akira Ochi was a tall, gangling boy with black hair, and black eyes. His family was a long time ninja family. He was the oldest boy with two younger brothers in ninja school. His family had no gekkai kenkai, but they had a special family jutsu. It was a weapon possession jutsu. When a weapon was thrown, he could change its course and turn it back on the thrower. Right now he could only possess one weapon at a time, but he claimed his father could possess as many as twenty at one time.
"You need to learn chakra control," Hinata told him. Shikamaru had suggested that they all begin with this basic element of training since the Fifth had given them the duty of training their genin. It was how they all had learned to channel and manipulate their chakra. The beauty of this training was that the genin could practice this on their own without direct supervision.
"I know. That's what my sensei said, but we hardly got started on any training before sensei was called away. How do I do it?"
"My sensei taught us to control chakra first through our feet. We would climb trees just with our feet by focusing chakra on the soles of our feet. You must apply the chakra evenly and consistently. It takes a great deal of practice. Why don't you try climbing the wall beside the gate for now? I don't imagine there will be many travelers arriving or leaving before we end our shift. You shouldn't be disturbed."
So while Akira climbed and fell, and climbed and fell, Hinata watched the gate, and thought about Naruto.
He'd been so cute bragging to Shikamaru and Choji about their date. If she hadn't been so shy of attention, she would have hugged him right then to leave no room for doubt about who his date had been with.
She wanted to pinch herself every time she thought about last night to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
She was Naruto's girlfriend.
Naruto was her boyfriend.
She could talk to him without fainting. She could kiss him without fainting. She was still blushing, but she didn't even feel like swooning. Even when he gave her one of those hot, steamy kisses, she hadn't wanted to faint. She'd only wanted to be closer to him, and seek more kisses.
She'd come a long way even from when she was 15, and still fainted when he so much as looked at her. How had this happened? The more intimate they become, the braver she felt.
He liked her. Naruto really liked her. Would he come to love her one day, too? Oh, she dearly hoped so, because she loved him so much, she didn't know what she'd do if he couldn't love her back. She wouldn't even think about that now. It just made her think about what Kiba has said about being his rebound girl—and she really didn't want to think about that.
As Hinata kept one eye on the gate, one eye on Akira, and her mind occupied with daydreams about Naruto, she failed to notice that someone watched her from behind. Of the entire team guarding and patrolling that night, it was someone only she'd be able to see—if only she'd been paying attention, and using her Byakugan.