Hey everybody! Happy New Year's Eve!
Now let's count down...to this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
3-2-1-HAPPY NEW CHAPTER!

Chapter 9: The Meeting...?

Branches slapped Naruto's face; Kiba nearly tripped and fell, and Akamaru was behind him in case he did fall; Shino stepped on something squishy; Neji tried hard to keep Gloo safe, though he had no idea why.

None of them cared what happened to them, as long as they got Hinata back. They ran through the dense forest, determined to get their teammate/best friend/cousin back.

Finally, they burst through the trees, all breathing hard.

"Where's Hinata?" Naruto asked. The other boys looked around. He was right; Hinata was no where to be found. All they saw was a cave with a fire pit in the middle that was recently doused. Although, Naruto thought he saw something in the cave.

Neji activated his Byakugan. Quickly, he found Hinata, the kidnappers, and some boy. "Up there!" he pointed above them. All the other boys looked up. Sure enough, there was a wind platform floating above them. There were three men, and Hinata being carried bridal style by the big, strong man.

This scene seemed familiar to Naruto. Where has he seen this? Oh yeah, it was outside his window when he woke up in the middle of the night. So they were the ones. Naruto got angry with himself. Why hadn't he looked closer? If he knew that that was them, he would've stopped them and then Hinata would be back home safe and sound.

With a sudden burst of anger, Naruto poured chakra on his feet. He leaped to a tree, then on to the mountain, then back to the tree, until finally, he was high enough to reach out for the man who was carrying his friend (who could turn out to be something more). He landed once more on the side of the mountain, then jumped towards the big man. The three men spotted the young ninja coming towards them, but they didn't move, only watched him.

Naruto didn't notice this; he was only after Hinata. Soon, he was close. As if in slow motion, his right hand formed into a fist. It went back behind him, way back. When he was close enough, he thrust his fist toward the man's face.

Down below, Gloo was going crazy, shaking more and more. When he saw one of his master's friends leaping toward his old master, he started garbling again. "Grlarrb, brlark, grrllb, bgrrrl!"

Neji noticed this and got scared. He was tempted to let go, but he remembered he was stuck to him.

Kiba also noticed this. "Gloo is trying to warn us of something," he said.

"How do you know?" Neji asked.

"That's the way Akamaru barks when he's trying to warn me of something."

Neji's eyes widened. "Naruto wait!"

Too late. Naruto was already swinging his arm hard towards the man with the expressionless face. It was as if there was a rocket on his arm. His eyes were red with the fox.

Naruto's punch made contact with the man's nose. But instead of feeling a hard skull, he felt...goo. Black slime splattered everywhere as his hand went completely through the man's face.

His hand continued to go through; his body continued to fly through the air. Soon, his shoulder was through, his face was next to the now black face of the man. Naruto was too shocked to remember to look down at Hinata. Everything was still slow motion.

Finally, he snapped out of it, only to find himself still in the air, heading straight for the trees below. His arm was still in the punching postion, as if it was frozen. He quickly turned around at the now distant figures. The man's head was gone, but his shoulders were completely covered with a black substance. Naruto hoped that wasn't blood.

With his head still turned, he crashed into the forest.

Neji, Kiba, and Shino all saw this happen. They saw how Naruto jumped from tree to rock; they saw how he leaped towards the big man with Hinata; they saw how he went through him as if he was a hologram; they saw him fall in the trees.

Except for the time Naruto fell in the forest, Gloo kept garbling the whole time.

"Is that what he was warning us about?" Shino was more stiff than usual.

Suddenly, the wind platform swayed. It appeared as if it was weakening. After a few seconds, the platform completely dissapeared. The four figures were still motionless, and they began to fall.

"Get out of the way!" Kiba was already running to the forest. The other two boys and Akamaru followed.

With a huge thud, the four people banged on to the ground. After a couple of minutes, Neji's head poked around his tree to see what happened to them. Gloo had stopped shaking so violently.

What he saw disturbed him. He saw the others also peeking at the bodies. On the floor were the thin man, the big man, a random teenage boy, and Hinata. The thin man's arms were gone, the big man's head and feet were gone, the random boy's legs were gone, and Hinata's body was black. They were spread out, except Hinata's body was on top of the big man's body in a cross.

The body parts were also black and spread everywhere.

"What...happened?" Kiba asked. He continued to examine the bodies.

Gloo jumped out of Neji's arms and slithered over to his old master. The colors were fading from his clothes and that, too, turned into into goo. The other three bodies also faded to black like Hinata's body. Then they all turned to jelly.

"Are they all made out of goo? Like Gloo?"

"I...I don't know," Neji replied. "It seems like it."

"Not to interrupt or anything, but shouldn't we look for Naruto?" Shino suggested. Kiba and Neji looked up at Shino. He was right; they needed to look for their fourth teammate (excluding pets).

"However, we shouldn't all look for him. We still need to find Hinata," Shino added. Right again.

Neji took lead now. "Kiba and Akamaru, you'll look for Naruto. With your nose you'll find him easily. Shino and I will look for Hinata."

Kiba didn't argue. Neither did Akamaru. They nodded their heads and then headed deep into the forest.

Neji activated his Byakugan again, and Shino put his bugs to work right away.

With the wind, Kiro was able to hear the footsteps of many people coming towards them.

"Damn, they found us!" he said. "Jug, make copies of us; I'll make a platform." Jug quickly did as he was told. He finished just as Kiro was done with the wind platform. He had created exact copies of everybody in the cave out of his own goo. He told them directions, and the copies (except the sleeping copy of Hinata) nodded in understandment. They walked over to the platform and got on.

"Okay, now let's use the secret passage. You remember where that is, right?" Kiro was talking to Ryu.

Ryu looked at him, then his brows came together in a frown. "Of course. I am the leader of this mission."

Kiro rolled his eyes and Jug ignored him as he went to pick up the unconcsious body of Hinata.

Ryu walked over to the back of the cave where his fake bed was. In fact, everything was fake here. Everything was made out of goo, except for this back wall.

He moved the bed away and tapped on the wall three times. The wall slid open to the side, revealing a dark narrow passage. Ryu stared at it for a long time, until Kiro suddenly pushed him.

"Hurry up! They're here!"

With that, he, Kiro, Jug, and Hinata (who was again carried over his shoulder) walked in the passageway.

After the last person stepped inside, the wall slid closed.

Please Review!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, you guys!
For those who celebrate this, I know it's somewhere in February, but HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
Did you know we won't see an 08 or 09 or 0-anything when we're writing dates until 2100?
WHOAH!